"Miserably Saved"

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast." -(Eph. 2:8-9)
"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." -(Gal. 2:21)
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by FAITH. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster." -(Gal. 3:24-25)

I don't enjoy being a bearer of bad news, but this thing has to be exposed so that the people who want to be set free... can be... of what I'm about to tell you; There is something very terrible happening today in evangelical churches of America. Sin and scandals are rampant among both ministers and the laity. "The Church" has become a laughingstock among the unsaved, and the Name of Jesus has borne severe reproach, and this has now been going on for a long time. Will the true Church victorious please rise to it's feet?!!!! We are called a "glorious Church without spot or wrinkle" (Eph. 5:27). What is going on here?? Well, that's the bad news. But what I'm about to expose is the reason for that bad news:

Thousands of (if not more)"Christians" are "MISERABLY SAVED".

Yes, you heard me right. But what does it mean to be "miserably saved", and why are people living this way?
To discover what this means, let's examine the symptoms of this terrible disease:

Do you...
- find that reading the Bible, praying, going to church, and fasting feel like "chores", or like a "check-list" to do in order to make sure you're on the "right track"?
- find no real pleasure in studying the Bible, spending time with God, and talking about spiritual things? (and do you get annoyed by people who do?)
- feel sort of condemned and less spiritual if you have not been doing "enough" of those things you know Christians are supposed to do?
- find yourself saying things such as ... "I haven't read my Bible yet today." or... "I need to read my Bible." .... or..... "I haven't spent enough time in prayer." or.... "I have not been praying loud or fervent enough."?
- see very little of the fruit of the Spirit in your life: "love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, humility, self-control?
- find that God and the supernatural seem distant, and not even very real and relevant at all?
- prefer (and be honest) to watch some sort of worldly movie or tv show or sporting event rather than engage in some spiritual activity like a Bible study or prayer meeting?
- find yourself wanting to do some very evil things that would be pleasurable (and that most unsaved people are doing and having fun), but you're not allowed to?
- find that you just absolutely cannot break out of some terrible habit that you know displeases God, and you are ashamed of it, and you never want any one to know about it?

Well, if you have even most of these symptoms, then join a very large crowd: You are......
"MISERABLY SAVED". Sort of like "Lot" and "those who died in the wilderness" from the old testament. And you know you were saved by "grace through faith" in what Jesus did for you on the Cross, but then..... something happened. You caught a disease, the "miserably saved" disease!

Imagine for a moment that the manner in which you live your life is like a body; And that only "God's Way" can give your body perfect health & wholeness. What happens, then, if some other way gets in there? It's like you've contracted a virus that makes you sick.
This is exactly what happens, many times, to the Christian. "God's Way" is for us to fully trust Christ (called "the Way" in John 14:6) and what He has done for us at the Cross; In other words, the Cross must ever be the Object of our Faith; That being the case, we are "IN CHRIST" and sheltered from the harmful works of the enemy (satan). Also, the Holy Spirit, Who works exclusively within the parameters of the finished Work of Christ, will then mightily help us. Any other method devised by man will not work; This is God's prescribed order of victory (See Rom. 6:3-14; 8:1-2,11; 1 Cor. 1:17-18,21,23; 2:2; Eph. 2:13-18; Col. 2:14-15).
Now most Christians, at salvation, do have their faith anchored in the Cross. "Jesus died for me" is easily understood and believed, and so they receive salvation based upon the sinless Sacrifice of the Son of God and the shedding of His Blood. But... that's just the beginning; A whole life follows of living for God, and that is when the trouble begins. Obviously, victorious Christian living above sin in not automatic, or else there would be no troubles whatsoever, right? Yet we sure know that that is not the case!
God requires one to live his Christian Life the same Way that he got saved: By grace through faith in Jesus and the Cross ALONE for justification from sin and for righteousness. Now... on one hand, this is very easy; But on the other hand it is very difficult. What makes it difficult is that man, through his pride and upbringing in the world and through satan's influence, has a habitual tendency to trust/rely upon SELF to earn his own righteousness; And then to compare himself with others. This, in effect, is an insult to God's sacrifice (Christ offered on the Cross) in that it deems it insufficient. In God's eyes, it is unbelief in His chosen method to obtain Righteousness, instead opting for man's method - whatever that may be.
For every believer, if he is not watchful, there is a tendency to revert back to this old way of living according to self-works.: "Have I prayed enough today?" "I never miss any of the church meetings; I feel pretty good about my spirituality.". This mixing of "works-righteousness" in with "grace through faith" is extremely dangerous for the believer, for it "frustrates" the grace of God in His life (Gal. 2:21), "quenches the Holy Spirit" (1 Thes. 5:19), and lowers him into a state of worldliness and lukewarmness (1 John 2:15-16; Rev. 3:15-17). One can be in such a state and still be saved (just as the unbelievers in the wilderness with Moses were still helped and fed by God); However, the Holy Spirit will be extremely limited to help the individual, resulting in a very difficult manner of living: He will not enjoy the riches of God's grace (on the one hand), and he will also not enjoy the pleasures of sin (on the other hand). Hence the term... "miserably saved". For many people who follow this path, the frustration of such a lifestyle can become too much to bear, causing them to ultimately "give up" and "fall from grace" (which of course is disastrous, for it means that his soul is then lost) (Gal. 5-4). A person who has "fallen from grace" may still go to church, go through religious exercises, yet ...his love and passion for Jesus is gone, he is un-moved and hardened by convicting preaching, continues joyfully in secret sins, and is completely disinterested in spiritual matters of any sort. He may even (and probably will) still profess himself to be a Christian, yet does not possess the power (Holy Spirit) of a true Christian (See 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Titus 1:15-16).
"THE SIN NATURE": Every natural person born into this world has inherited a "sin nature" from Adam's impure blood-line. At salvation, a person is "born again" and receives "the Divine Nature" from JESUS' pure blood-line. And while many believe that the sin nature (also called "SIN" or "THE FLESH") is then eradicated, this is not the case; It remains, but is rendered powerless and inactive/dormant as the believer is "IN CHRIST", sort of like grass lies in a dormant state during winter or drought conditions. Now... the OBJECT OF OUR FAITH (not our tinkering with sin) determines whether that sin nature remains dormant, or whether it springs back to life. If the object of our Faith remains in CHRIST AND THE CROSS, then we are "under GRACE", the Holy Spirit moves in our life, the SIN nature will not have dominion (because it remains "dormant"), and we will not WANT to tinker with sin. But... if the object of our faith becomes US: our self-effort in keeping some sort of "laws" (whether it be GOD'S law: the ten commandments, or laws that we , our church, a denomination, (etc.) devise/formulate) as a means of righteousness (to be "good", or to be right with God to please Him), then we are "under LAW", the Holy Spirit is quenched from working in our life, and (the) SIN (nature) will once again have dominion. Certain bondages of sin will develop, habitual vices that the Christian cannot overcome while in this state. This is illiustrated in the following scripture- Rom. 6:14:
"For sin shall not have dominion over you (The sin nature will not have dominion over us if we as believers continue to exercise faith in the Cross of Christ; otherwise, the sin nature most definitely will have dominion over the believer): for you are not under the law (means that if we try to live this life by any type of law, no matter how good that law might be in its own right, we will conclude by the sin nature having dominion over us), but under grace (the Grace of God flows to the believer on an unending basis only as long as the believer exercises faith in Christ and what He did at the Cross; Grace is merely the Goodness of God exercised by and through the Holy Spirit.)."
So how does one get out of the "miserably saved" mode?
First... he needs to REPENT. Repent of what? UNBELIEF and PRIDE, two things that God hates. Unbelief because he doesn't have faith that God will keep him solely by grace through faith in His prescribed method : The Cross. And PRIDE because he has mixed his way (self-works to earn favor) with God's Way (faith in the Cross alone).
Next... he needs to make THE CROSS OF CHRIST the sole object of his faith, daily recognizing that It alone keeps him in favor with God, because that without It (and the blood that Christ has shed), he is nothing but "the chiefest of sinners". He needs to understand that no religious (or spiritual, or man-made) activity HE does (or how he does it) will have any effect on his "spirituality". CHRIST is now his spirituality, period, and it doesn't matter if he prays a little, a lot, or not at all on any given day. There is no more pressure on him to "perform", to "measure up".

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for him who believes." - Rom. 10:4

Unfortunately, many people who are in the "miserably saved" lifestyle, and who hear and understand the message of The Cross for daily living, REFUSE it, because there's an "offence" to "The Cross" lifestyle (see Gal. 5:11), with negative social repercussions. They know that a TRUE RADICAL separation from "the world" will be required, putting them at enmity with not only blatant sinners, but also many of their "Christian" friends as well, because... there is also a misconception of what "separation from the world" means in the modern Church. To many professing Christians, this means... "I don't drink, I don't chew, and I don't go with girls who do!"; Or... "I am not involved in immorality, I don't watch "R"-rated movies, I pay my tithes, I pray, I study the Word, I fast, I work in the church, I witness, I PREACH, I am involved with charity... I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ahhh, perhaps we've found a KEY here... The focus of this mind-set focuses upon "I"- rather than upon "CHRIST AND HIS SACRIFICE"!

(Let's allow this to "sink in" for a moment)

IF... by a miracle, a revelation by God, we begin to focus upon the LATTER, we soon begin to realize that WE DO NOT HAVE SUCH STERLING MORAL CHARACTER AFTER ALL! God, Who looks upon the HEART, also sees those ugly things such as PRIDE, TEMPER PROBLEMS, BITTERNESS, MEAN-SPIRITEDNESS, JEALOUSY, GOSSIP, A CRITICAL SPIRIT, etc., etc.. And to Him, those things are just as bad as all those other things that we have BASED OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS UPON!

If, upon reading this, you have not been convicted, then congratulations; Spread the good news of trusting in Christ and the Cross for daily living. But for you who have realized that you do indeed have the "miserably saved" disease, and are sick and tired of being "sick and tired", of living a defeated Christian life with the devil's foot on your neck..... Are you ready to BREAK FREE??! You know in your heart that you want to do it, so now the Holy Ghost is daring you; He just dares you to ... "step out onto the water and walk to Jesus."

Say a prayer to God something like this:

"Father, I have sinned against YOU in Your sight, having placed my faith in something else other than in Your Way. I am sorry for my unbelief and pride; Please forgive me and wash me in the blood of Your Son Jesus. I realize now that I am NOTHING without You, and that there's NOTHING I can do to earn favor with You, except simply to trust in the CROSS, and that this alone places me "IN CHRIST". Help me LORD, to take up my Cross daily in following Your Son Jesus, to never slip back into law and works to try to please You. Give me the courage also to stand my ground among other people who refuse to embrace Your Way. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

At times, it may just be you and Jesus out there on the waters of life; But God will see to it that you have some others with you from "THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE CROSS".

To the Lord Jesus Christ be glory, and power, and dominion both now and for evermore! Amen!