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SIN AND SALVATION Jesus said there would be "many" lost people in the day of judgment who thought they were saved (Mat. 7:21-23). He said that their claim of salvation would be based on RELIGIOUS WORKS, yet they would still be guilty of WORKING INIQUITY (Mat. 7:23). That tells us something about the hearts of many people: they've never seriously faced their SIN issue. They simply went through whatever religious routine that was presented to them (baptism, a prayer, joining a church, new convert course, etc.) without any genuine Holy Ghost conviction of the heart about their SINS. Instead of feeling like a condemned sinner, the average "convert" today feels no conviction at all over sin; he thinks he's doing God a favor by finally taking time to "get saved." His attitude is, "Well, I'd better go ahead and get that free ticket to heaven before time runs out." Sure, salvation is free, but it's free for SINNERS who feel convicted and condemned in the light of God's holiness (John 3:18). Salvation strategists who approach the issue as if they are playing chess or planning for retirement are manifesting no heart conviction, only schemings of the natural mind, so they become salvation professors without becoming salvation possessors. It's very simple: You can't be BORN OF the Spirit when you aren't CONVICTED BY the Spirit. That is the number one reason why most religious people will end up in hell. They failed to accept the fact that they were HOPELESS SINNERS who stood condemned before a HOLY GOD and that salvation was a matter of God doing THEM a tremendous favor, not the other way around. "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." (Luke 18:13) "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." (Mat. 1:21) "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." (Rev. 1:5) "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." (John 16:8) "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Rom. 8:2) "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) True salvation in Christ doesn't ignore or bypass sin; it confronts sin head on, convicts it, condemns it, cleanses it, and then creates a new heart after the holy image of Jesus Christ (Col. 3:10). Anything less is a subtle counterfeit from the devil.