“Household Salvation”
“And
they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy
house.” (Acts 16:31)
Almighty
God, in His infinite mercy and grace, has graciously provided us fallen,
degenerate, sinful human creatures eternal salvation. God’s Salvation is
available in God the Son; the Lord Jesus Christ Who is the Saviour of the world.
The Holy Bible clearly tells us how to obtain God’s Eternal Salvation. One does
so by choosing to repent of his sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
trust in Christ for forgiveness of sin, cleansing from sin, salvation from an
eternal Hell of fire and brimstone, and for eternal life in God’s perfect
Heaven. God bestows all this as a free gift upon the person who personally
makes the decision to repent and to believe on, trust in, and receive Christ as
his or her own personal Saviour. That promise is clearly stated in several
places in the Bible; one of them here in Acts 16:31.
The ONE thing you must do above all other things in this life is
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him as your own, personal
Saviour. You exist because you were created
by God as an eternal being who will never cease to exist. To believe on Christ
will give you a blissful, perfect life in God’s Heaven that will never end. To
not believe on Christ will doom you to the eternal torments of fire and
brimstone in a never ending Hell. If you have not yet believed on Christ,
please do so now. Please read my sermon, “One Thing Is Needful,” and pray those
prayers in that sermon from your heart.
Now
looking back again to Acts 16:31, in addition to his or her own personal
salvation, this scripture promises more to the Christian believer. God
promises that his “house” will also be saved. “House” refers to his
family. I believe it particularly refers to your immediate family, the family
members who customarily live together with you in one house: your father and
mother, your brothers and sisters, and then your husband or wife, and then your
children. It is customary for you to live together under one roof with these
family members, though typically not with all of them at the same time.
The
human family is most precious to our Creator God. In Genesis chapters 1 and 2,
upon creating the first 2 human beings, Adam and Eve, God ordained the human
family. He ordained it to be close, intimate relationships of love among its members.
Therefore it should be a most heart breaking thing for any Christian believer
to know that he or she has family members who are lost and undone, not trusting
in Christ as their Saviour, and therefore headed for the eternal torments of
Hell. God is not desirous that any person perishes in Hell. In particular, God
does not want any Christian believer to have family members perish in Hell.
Therefore He gives us this most wonderful promise in Acts 16:31. If anyone will
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, not only will that believer be saved, but his
or her “house” (family) will also be saved. That does not mean that this one
believer’s faith is blanket coverage for salvation for the remainder of the
family. It means that if he or she will believe this promise and follow
God’s leading in being instrumental in bringing the rest of his or her family
members to also believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then God will be faithful to
see that that the rest of the family does just that.
“Come thou and all thy house”
Let’s
look in the Old Testament to see examples of God saving households, families.
The book of Genesis tells of God destroying the whole world with a flood
because of mankind’s wickedness. “But Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” (Genesis
6:8) So God instructed Noah to build an ark to keep him and his family
safe from the flood. Let’s read what kind of person Noah was. “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked
with God.” (Genesis 6:9) Because Noah was that
kind of person, God chose to save him from drowning in the great flood. The
Bible does not give us any description of the spiritual condition of the rest
of Noah’s family at that time. Each of them could have been similar to the
above description of Noah, or each of them could have been much less noble than
that. So, let’s look at what God does for Noah’s family. “But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come
into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with
thee.” (6:18) There is a good chance that
the remainder of the family was included because of the merit of Noah in God’s
eyes. “Thus did Noah; according to all that
God commanded him, so did he.” (6:22) Noah’s personal
total obedience to God was key to the rest of his family being saved from
drowning in the flood.
When
Noah and family finish building the ark, look at the invitation God gives to
them. “And the Lord said unto Noah, come
thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in
this generation.” (7:1) Each and every one of God’s
words is totally accurate and precise. (“Thee” is a singular pronoun.) Here,
Noah is the only one God speaks of as being righteous. Nothing is said, for or
against, the righteousness of the rest of his family. Therefore, we do not know
how righteous or unrighteous they were. But in this verse God issued all of
them an invitation to come into that ark of salvation. And because God, at the
time of this invitation, commended Noah for his own, personal righteousness,
likely the invitation to the rest of the family hinged upon Noah’s
righteousness before God.
“And
Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.” (7:5) Again we see Noah’s perfect obedience. “And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives
with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.” (7:7) “…and the Lord shut him
in.” (7:16) Tho Noah’s entire “house” is now safely
inside the ark with him, notice carefully that God again refers to Noah in the
singular. Read the entire passage in your Bible to see God sending the great
flood. “And every living substance was
destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the
creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the
earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the
ark.” (7:23) Again, notice the attention
given to Noah, because he was seen righteous before God. I believe the rest of
his family was saved because of the righteousness of perfect and upright Noah. “Believe… and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”
“Bring them out of this place”
In
Genesis 19, we read of Righteous God raining down brimstone and out of heaven
upon the wicked, perverted cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and thus completely
destroying those cities because the inhabitants’ gross sins had become very
grievous to God, especially sodomy and other sins of sexual perversion. At that
time, Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lived in Sodom. In II Peter 2:7, God calls Lot a
just man. Therefore God made plans to save just Lot, and his family,
from the coming destruction. Reading what is recorded in Genesis 19 about the
rest of his family, we can readily see they fall far short of being “just.”
“And
the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son in law, and thy sons,
and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of
this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is
waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy
it.” (Genesis 19:12-13) These “men” talking to Lot
are actually angels sent from God, and are called angels in verse 1. Because
Lot was just, they called on him to bring his entire house out of the
path of destruction, which even included the sons-in-law of Lot.
“And
Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and
said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But
he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.” (vs. 14) The sons-in-law refused the invitation to escape
destruction. And from what is recorded in the next 2 verses, apparently Lot’s
sons also refused to flee. “And when the morning arose,
then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two
daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.
And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of
his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto
him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.” (verses 15-16) We see God’s abundant mercy here in having the
angels take Lot’s family by the hand to “pull” them out of that condemned
place. How desirous our Lord is to save. In the next verse the angel commanded
them, “look not behind thee…lest thou be
consumed.” “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar
of salt.” (vs. 26)
Lot’s
sons-in-law and sons perished because they refused the command to flee. His
wife perished because she disobeyed a command of God while fleeing. But still,
what I want to emphasize here is God’s plan to save Lot’s entire house
because Lot was just.
“A lamb for a house”
In
Exodus 12, God smote dead all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and
beast, to make Pharaoh let God’s people go. But God prepared salvation for His
people, Israel, so that none of them would be smitten dead when God’s death
angel passed through Egypt at midnight. And in thus “saving” them, He again
dealt with them by households. “And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying…Speak ye unto all the congregation of
Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every
man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house.”
(12:1-3) At this time, God ordains the feast of
the Passover for His Nation, Israel. This lamb is to be killed as a sacrifice
for that feast. Each Israeli family is to prepare a sacrificial lamb for
their house.
“And
the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on
the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.” (Verses 6-7) The family member who applied the blood for each
household would take the stick with hyssop tied to the end, dip the hyssop into
a bason containing the fresh blood and strike each of the side posts and then
the upper post over the door, thus forming a cross with that motion, a
foreshadow of the cross our Saviour, the Lamb of God, would die on over 1000
years later. “For I will pass through the land of
Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both
man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am
the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses
where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague
shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” (Verses 12-13) “And none of you shall go out
at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass
through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel,
and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not
suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.” (Verses 22-23) God clearly warned them not to go outside of their
houses, which were covered with the blood of the lamb.
“And
the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and
Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all
the firstborn in the land of Egypt…There was not a house where there was not
one dead.” (Verses 28-30) Those were the
Egyptian houses and they were not covered by the blood of the lamb. But each
and every Israeli household was saved by the Lord God Who provided a plan of
salvation for their houses.
“Travail”
If
you are a Christian believer and there are members of your house (immediate
family) who are not Christian believers, they are lost and on their way to an
eternal Hell. This is the most tragic condition anyone can be in during this
life, and that terrible condition of your beloved family members should
constantly weigh on your mind until it is changed. Jesus Christ is the Saviour
of the World and therefore is the only Being Who can save them from going to Hell.
But God has ordained that you, as a Christian believer, also enter into the
role of being a “lesser” savior to your house. God has ordained that you
enter into the toil, travail, and labor with our Lord of “birthing” them,
bringing your lost family members into the new birth, doing your part to lead
them to Christ and His salvation. For a person to receive Christ and
thereby be transformed from eternal death to eternal life requires absolutely
no toil, travail, and labor on the part of the person who makes the decision to
trust in Christ. But to then have the marvelous joy of seeing other lost and
doomed souls get saved, it is necessary to enter into the toil and even the
suffering of our Saviour.
In
Acts 16:31, God promised salvation to your house because you are a Christian
believer. Now you must be faithful to do your part to see that promise
fulfilled. This is a most wonderful and gracious promise from God to you.
Because of it, you do not have to see any member of your immediate family
perish in Hell. So, by all means, claim this promise and act upon it. You
cannot be lazy, careless, and indifferent and still have faith to see this
promise fulfilled. You must get to work in the field of harvest in order to see
their precious, eternal souls get saved. A most grave responsibility is
included in this wonderful promise in Acts 16:31. You are responsible to do
your part, a most important and necessary part, in bringing the members of your
house to salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you neglect your duty regarding
your family’s salvation, God will judge you for that.
“Heavenly
Father, please teach me the grave importance of all the things written in that
last paragraph. Reveal to me just how important a role Thou hast ordained for
me to fulfill in bringing my lost family members to salvation in Christ. And
then clearly guide me and help me to do Thy complete will concerning this. I
pray this for all other Christian believers also. Amen.
You
might ask, “Well, where do I start?” If you have been a Christian for some
time, and have not yet read this promise in God’s Holy Bible, or if you have
read it and did not take notice of the certainty and the significance of it,
then you should repent of that lack of attention to the Bible, God’s Guide for
our daily life here on earth.
“Lord
God, please forgive me for not having given enough attention to Thy Holy
Scriptures to see that Thou hast promised salvation to the rest of my house
because I am a Christian believer. Please give me faith now to know without a
doubt that I do not have to see any one person of my family die lost and undone
and therefore perish in an eternal Hell. Amen.”
You
received salvation as a free gift. But you were saved “unto good works.” (Ephesians
2:10) God has ordained many good works for you to do after becoming a
Christian. One of the “works” you should immediately start doing is constantly,
daily, offering up praise to God for His wonderful gift of salvation that He has
so graciously and freely bestowed upon you. You should present your body, your
life, a living sacrifice that now totally belongs to God to be used in
whatsoever way He desires to use you for His Glory. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service.” (Romans (12:1)
“Heavenly
Father, thank Thee for providing salvation for me. Lord Jesus, thank Thee for
loving me with the greatest love there is, in that You gave your life for me,
suffering that agony and death on the cross in my place, as a sacrificial Lamb
for me. Thank You for drawing me to You and saving me from the punishment of my
sins in Hell. Thank You for giving me eternal life and a home in Heaven. Please
help me to now present my body, my entire being, my entire life, and all my
time and resources to Thee as a living sacrifice to be used for Thy Glory in
whatsoever way that Thou doest desire. Help me to be holy. Help me to be acceptable
unto Thee. Help me to truly believe that all of this is a reasonable service
unto Thee Who loves me with the greatest love there is, in that You gave Your
Life for me. Help me to know how greatly it behooves me to give my
all to Thee because You gave Your life for me. Please help me now, in turn, to
give my life for Thee. Amen.”
In
order for you to have strong, unwavering faith to believe God’s promise to save
your family, you must ask God for that faith, because all good gifts come from
above. In your own power, you do not have that faith. So please ask God to
increase your faith, as His disciples did in Luke 17:5. Ask Him to give you
strong faith and ask Him to show you what is required for you to do on your
part in order to increase and strengthen your faith.
“Almighty
God, I acknowledge that all things are possible with Thee. Also, our Lord tells
us in Mark 9:23 that all things are possible to him that believeth. So please
help me to believe, Lord. Please help my unbelief. Please increase my faith.
Please give me unwavering, strong faith in Thee. Please show me what You
require me to do in order to grow in faith and become a mature believer with
strong faith. Amen.”
Ask
God to send His Holy Spirit to search your heart and to show you all that is
wrong and all that is displeasing in your life to God. One thing that will draw
your family members to Christ is for them to see you live your Christian life
before them as a perfect testimony. Ask God to show you any ways in which you,
as a Christian, have failed your family, by you being disobedient to God. It is
important to also ask God to make you aware of all the ways you wronged your
family before you became a Christian. Some of those wrongs may have been done
in ignorance because you did not yet know the Bible and what God commands us in
the Bible. God readily forgives, but you need to confess and ask for
forgiveness on any such matter the Holy Spirit brings to light to ensure that
it ceases to be any barrier between you and God, and also that it ceases to be
any hindrance to you being used by God to help bring your family to salvation.
“Heavenly
Father, I fully open my heart to Thy Holy Spirit for Thee to search my heart
and to show me any and all things I have done wrong against family members in the
past. Please help me to truly repent of and forsake these wrong ways. Guide me
about confessing them to family members and give me the courage to do just as
You direct me to do concerning that. Amen.”
“Unequally yoked together”
If
you were a Christian believer when you married, and you knowingly married a
person who was not a Christian, then you sinfully disobeyed God’s commandment
in II Corinthians 6:14. “Be ye not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
And what communion hath light with darkness” When
you married a child of the devil, you may have been young, madly in love with
stars in your eyes, and therefore living in a fantasy world thinking that
everything will work out for the good because “we deeply love each other”.
Drunken on such thoughts of living happily ever after, you flippantly brushed
aside this most important command of God and sinfully disobeyed it. Now you are
no longer young and have not lived happily ever after married to a child of the
devil with the devil as your father-in-law. It is time for you to truly repent
of knowingly and willingly disobeying God’s command forbidding you to yoke up
with an unbeliever. Ask God to have mercy on you, forgive you, and to save your
house.
“Intercessor”
If
you are not already doing it, start praying for the salvation of your family,
interceding regularly, daily for them to be saved. Each time you pray for them,
remind God of His promise to save your house. Tell God plainly and boldly that
you believe that promise and believe He is going to save your house. Repeatedly
tell God that you offer your life as a living sacrifice to be use in whatever
way He deems best to see your family saved. Be faithful to intercede daily for
them. A little further on in this sermon, I plan to talk more in detail about
intercessory prayer. At this point, I mainly want to say that it is a must
for you to do. So please start now and intercede unceasingly until your family
members are all saved.
“Heavenly
Father, convince me of the great importance of constant, regular intercessory
prayer on my part in order to see my lost family members get saved. Teach me
what to pray. Give me divine strength to pray powerful prayers. Help me to pray
and faint not. Amen.”
“Train up a child”
Your
children are members of your house. If you have children who are not in
obedience to God, the Bible plainly says that you have failed to train them up
in the way they should go. “Train up a child in the way
he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) Here is another wonderful promise God gives us. A
child who is properly trained up in the way he should go will not depart from
that way. But the first part of that Scripture is a command of God, commanding
parents (and any person who trains up children), to properly train them up in
the way they should go.
If
you have children who are not living right, this Scripture teaches us that they
were not trained up in the way they should go. You may just naturally be
reluctant to accept that as being absolutely and certainly true. But still, it
is perfectly true. If you believe that you trained them properly by reading the
Bible to them, taking them to church, and such, but still they departed from
living a “Christian” life, then this Scripture bears out the certainty that you
failed in some areas to properly train them. It may be that tho you taught them
properly in word, you did not always teach them properly by your
deeds. Children will recognize hypocrisy in their parents more readily than
other people will recognize it. Seeing certain sins in your life will train
them not to believe in the necessity of forsaking sin. Tho you are appalled
at them committing sins that you would never commit, God is just as displeased
with the “pet” sins you cherished and committed as you trained up your
children. If your children’s ungodly lives are a sorrow to you, then likely
while you were training them up, there were sins in your life that were just as
much of a sorrow to your Creator. In all honesty and sincerity, ask The Holy
Spirit to search your heart and show you all the areas in which you failed to
properly train up your children in the way they should go. Then, out of a
sincere heart, repent of those things to God.
“Heavenly
Father, please send Thy Holy Spirit to thoroughly search my heart and show me
each and every way I have failed to properly train up my children in the way
they should go. Give me a heart to fully acknowledge each and every failure and
sin that Thou doest reveal to me, and help me to repent of and forsake all of
them. Amen.”
Likely
God will also lead you to repent of those things to your children. That may be
difficult to do. Sinful pride will have to be forsaken and you may have to ask
God for the courage. But making this matter right is necessary if you are going
to see those children saved. So call on God to help you overcome any
difficulties and to completely do everything that He leads you to do. Much
is at stake here, the eternal salvation of members of your house. I cannot
emphasize that too much. Considering these high stakes should enable you to, by
God’s grace, lay aside all sinful pride and fully obey God’s leading regarding
this most important matter. How sad and remorseful it would be, for you to
stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ with the blood of your lost children
on your hands and you be judged for failing to train them up in the way they
should go. If you have children who are not living a Christian life, their
salvation should be a first and main priority (above other household members), because
God specifically gave you the duty and the command to train up the
offspring of your own body in the way they should go. He gave you no such
command regarding your parents, siblings, or mate in marriage.
“A living sacrifice”
Now
I want to leave off speaking about your children only and talk about any and
all household members who are unsaved. As you daily, without ceasing, intercede
in prayer for their salvation, ask God to show you what else He would have you
to do toward leading them to Christ. If you have blatantly wronged any of them
in the past, likely He will lead you to ask them to forgive you. That takes
courage, of course. So call on God to give you that courage. God will likely lead
you to speak to them about their lost condition. Over all, I believe that doing
this in person, talking to them face to face, is best. But if courage is
lacking to do it in person, consider writing it in a letter and sending it to
them. Likely that is more easy to do. This method also has other advantages.
You can write the letter when alone with God, leisurely taking your time to do
a good job, listening to what the Holy Spirit tells you to write, and are
therefore likely to be able to “compose” a better appeal that way. Also, your
family member who receives it can read it alone, away from your presence, and
therefore would be more likely to feel no pressure or intimidation from you,
which should result in them giving your appeal more careful, unbiased consideration.
Whereas, speaking to them in person may result in a tense situation that
hinders you from speaking well, or they may just tell you they do not want to
hear such and walk away from you.
Ask
God to give you the courage to fully offer your life as a living sacrifice to
God to allow Him to do anything to you that He wills to do for the purpose of
bringing your lost family members to salvation in Christ. Think carefully on
what Paul said in Colossians 1:24. “Who now
rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the
afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.” This verse teaches us that we Christian believers are to know that
suffering in the flesh for the sake of Christ, and in particular for the sake
of His Body (Christians) will definitely be a part of our life here on this
earth. May God help us not to shirk away from this “painful” aspect of being a
Christian, but instead help us to rejoice in these sufferings, just as the
Apostle Paul rejoiced in them. It will be necessary to do that in order to
truly present yourself as a living sacrifice.
“Heavenly
Father, please give me the courage to accept the sufferings and afflictions
that Thou hast ordained to come my way, knowing that Thy Grace is always
sufficient. Please help me to be like Paul and rejoice in these sufferings,
knowing the great glory that will come from them. Amen.”
Seeing you victoriously endure any and all afflictions, trials,
and suffering that God allows to come your way has Great Power to draw your
lost family members to Christ. That is
one of the most powerful means God will use to save them. May He help you to
not shirk from the fire and water that He will put you through. Expect it and
fortify yourself with God’s all-sufficient grace. I think it would be most rare
for God to bring on the death of a believer in order to bring lost family
members to salvation. Still, He might choose to do that. We should be willing
to lay down our physical for any cause of Christ, just as He lay down His Life
for us. Always bear in mind that He is a loving God, that He will do nothing
without Divine Purpose, and that any and all sufferings that come our way
greatly glorify Him. Totally yielding yourself to Him during this life is the
one thing you will never regret for all eternity.
“Heavenly
Father, please help me to fully commit my life unto Thee without any
reservations at all. Help me to always bear in mind that I am in the Hands of a
loving God Who only wants the best for me, and for my family, for all eternity.
Amen.”
“Do not cease to pray for you”
How
faithful Paul was to pray for those people. (Colossians 1:9) One of your main
duties regarding the salvation of your household is to intercede in prayer for
them without ceasing. “But when ye pray, use not vain
repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for
their much speaking.” (Matthew 6:7) So, if we are to “pray without ceasing,” as
commanded in I Thessalonians 5:17, how do we avoid vain repetitions while doing
that much praying. I cannot answer that for you. You will have to ask God’s
Holy Spirit to always guide your praying and to always make it acceptable to
God. One thing to keep in mind is that Christ did not forbid all
repetition. He forbad vain repetitions. I believe a lot of repetition
can be done in prayer that will not be vain. May God guide each of us in this
important matter.
“Lord
God, please help me to fulfill the role of intercessor that Thou hast ordained
for me. Please help me to pray without ceasing. Also, I ask Thee to keep me
from using vain repetitions when I pray. Teach me how to pray, Lord. I pray
this for all other people also. Amen.”
I believe that praying the scriptures is the most powerful praying
we can possibly do. We can fully rest assured
that we will not go amiss with our praying when we take God’s Holy Scriptures
and turn them right back to Him in prayer. Here are a few examples of powerful,
purely scriptural prayers you can pray for your lost family members.
“No
man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” (John 6:45) “Heavenly Father, please draw
my dad to the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
“I
call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before
you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou
and thy seed may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19) “Heavenly Father, I praise Thy Name that by Thy Grace I have
chosen eternal life in Jesus Christ. I now intercede for my lost mother. Please
lead her to choose life and blessing. Please save her from choosing death and
cursing. Amen.”
“Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts
4:12) “Heavenly Father, send Thy Holy Spirit
to convince my brother that Jesus Christ is the only One Who can save him from
going to Hell and take him to Heaven. Please lead him to believe on and trust
in the Name of Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour. Amen.”
“Behold,
now is the day of salvation.” (II Corinthians 6:2) “Lord God, please convince my lost sister of the dangerous folly
of putting off a decision to trust in Christ. Please remind her that she has no
promise of tomorrow and no promise of any future chance to get saved. Convince
her that now is the time for her to call on Christ to save her. Amen.”
“It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31) “Almighty God, please smite
my husband’s heart with powerful conviction and show him just what a fearful
thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Amen.”
“Prepare
to meet thy God.” (Amos 4:12) “Heavenly Father, please lead my wife to prepare to meet her
Creator God in Judgment by repenting of her sins and trusting in Christ to save
her. Amen.”
“For
our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29) “Lord God, please smite my son’s heart with powerful conviction
and show him that You are not a God to be trifled with. Show him that Thou art
a consuming fire and that Thy Holy Wrath is hot and heavy against his sins.
Show him the eternal fires of Hell that await him if he rejects Christ. Turn
him from his sin and save him now, Lord, please. Amen.”
“Choose
you this day whom ye will serve.” (Joshua
24:15) “Heavenly Father, please lead my
daughter to choose to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Please deal with her most
powerfully right now to make that decision right now. Amen.”
Of
course, you would want to call your family members’ names as you offer up such
intercessory prayers for their salvation. I kept each of those prayers very
short and right to the point of the text I based each one upon. But as the Holy
Spirit leads you in your interceding, you can make each of those prayers just
as long as you feel led to do. As you daily read your Bible, you can also make
that Bible reading time into this kind of intercessory prayer time. If you
truly do not want to see your lost family members perish in an eternal Hell
that should lead you to pray several Bible chapters each day.
You
should forsake worldly pleasures, eating, drinking, socializing, TV, hi-tech
excitement, and such. Fasting adds much spiritual power to your prayers.
Ask God to help you endure times of fasting to put more power in your prayer
life. You should crucify the flesh, and come out of the world by ceasing to
live for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Daily live hours in God’s Holy Bible, turning salient scriptures right back to
God in powerful intercessory prayers for your lost family members. When you
finish the entire Bible, then start over again at the beginning, doing the same
thing over and over till your entire household is brought safely into the Ark
of Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Such praying would be repetition, but I
do not believe that it is vain repetition at all.
I believe there is much more spiritual power in praying aloud than
in praying silently in one’s heart and mind. “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death, and was heard in that he feared.” (Hebrews
5:7) That “strong crying” might refer both to tears and to a loud voice. Tears
from a broken heart also add much spiritual power to our prayers. If your heart
is not broken over the fact that family members are one heartbeat away from
eternal Hell fire, it certainly should be. Ask God to give you a broken heart
over their lost and undone condition.
Years
ago, I heard a marvelous testimony of a drunkard who got saved. For many years
he regularly drank much whiskey because he just loved the drunken effect it
gave him. His boisterous drunken escapades were well known to most everyone
around him, and likely some Christians who knew him had no faith that such a
sinner as him would ever get saved. But a godly Christian man, strong in faith,
got a heavy burden for that lost drunkard. When the Christian had the occasion,
he spoke to the drunkard about Christ. Also, he earnestly interceded in prayer
for the lost man’s salvation. That intercessor prayed the entire Bible through
more than 3 times, praying it for that lost man. Praise God that drunkard got
saved. By the way, those 2 men were not of the same household. So rest assured
that God will save all of your household if only you will just believe His
promise to do so, and if you will earnestly intercede in prayer for them as God
leads you to do, and do anything and everything God leads you to do concerning
their salvation.
“This
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.” (I Timothy 1:15) Always keep your eyes on this Divine Truth
that our Lord Jesus Christ is in the business of saving sinners. Always
have a repentant heart because of your evil sin of unbelief, in that you are
prone to give in to doubt that God will save all your family tho He clearly
promised to do so in Acts 16:31. Paul had previously murdered Christian
believers. So he well knew what it is like to be the chief of sinners.
Therefore he well knew how rich in grace God is to save the worst of sinners.
Just as Paul did, each of us should also regard our own self as the chief of
sinners. Doing so will enhance our faith to see any sinful member of our house
get saved.
“Heavenly
Father, impress upon me the deep meaning of the truth that Christ came into
this world to save sinners. Forgive me for doubting Thy wonderful promise to
save my lost family members. Amen.”
“While we
look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen:
for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen
are eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:18) You look at
your lost mother who prides herself on, and trusts in, the decent and “good”
life she lives, her church attendance, her good deeds, her kindness to
everyone, and such, and you think that she will never come to repent and trust
in Christ. Ask God to help you to get your eyes off of her and to fix them upon
Christ who came into this world to save sinners just like her.
You
look upon your husband who is kind and loving in many ways, and a faithful
provider for his household, but he has no use for God, the Bible, church,
religion, or anything along those lines. He doesn’t want anyone to ever talk
about such things to him. If you focus your sight on that determined, adamant
attitude of his, it will be easy for the devil to convince you that nothing
will ever cause him to change. Don’t do that. Instead, focus your gaze upon the
unseen things that are eternal. Gaze upon a loving Saviour Who came into this
world just to save sinners just like your husband. Gaze upon Christ pouring out
the last drop of His life’s blood just to save your husband. And in faith,
believe that God will save all of your house, just as He promised to do in Acts
16:31.
You
look upon your son who is steeped in deplorable sins of immorality, liquor and
drugs that are rapidly destroying his physical life. The words that flow from
his mouth are most filthy and ungodly. He curses you and God when you try to
talk to him about God. And as you look on such an adamant sinner, it will be
easy for you to sin away all of your faith and to think it impossible for him
to ever change. Don’t do that. Repent of your evil heart of unbelief. Focus
your eyes upon our All Powerful Saviour Who came into this world to save
sinners just like your son.
“Almighty
God, do help me to have strong faith to always look on the unseen. Give me a
vision of Christ the Saviour most desirous to save all my lost family members.
Save me from the sin of looking on my sinful family members and then concluding
that they will never change. Keep me from that sin of unbelief. Help me to
never forget that all things are possible with Thee. Please give me strong,
unwavering, single-minded faith. Increase my faith to believe Thee for my
family’s salvation. Amen.”
“Take
heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in
departing from the living God.” (Hebrews
3:12) Revival begins with Christian believers and revival is the
responsibility of Christian believers. In a sense, the wicked sinners are
no factor. Our evil heart of unbelief is a major barrier to seeing many lost
people get saved, especially our lost family members. “Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of
Israel.” (Psalms 78:41) Each and every
time that you doubt God’s promise to save all of your household, you are
committing the sin of limiting Almighty God Who has already promised to save
all your house if only you will believe His promise. What a paradox. Almighty
God has unlimited power and has promised us that, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth.” (Mark 9:23) Whatever we do, we do
not want to be an obstacle to God and limit Him in the wonderful things He
desires to do for us. God forbid that we limit Him.
“Almighty
God, please save me from limiting Thee by unbelief on my part. Please help me
to be strong in faith to see Thee work great works of salvation for many
people, including my family. I pray this for all other people also. Amen.”
You
have absolutely NO reason to believe that God will not save your lost family
members as He so faithfully promised to do. But still, you look on a family
member who is a wretched sinner steeped in many, deplorable, abominable sins,
and furthermore boasts that he or she will never repent of sin and trust in
Christ. And you make the choice to believe that filthy sinner instead of
believing a Holy, Almighty God Who never lies and Who promised to save your
house. Think seriously on just how foolish you were in choosing whom you
believe, and what a grievous sin that is in God’s Sight. Then truly repent of
this sin of unbelief that is allowing precious, lost family members to continue on their way to
an eternal Hell.
“Heavenly
Father, please reveal to me just how awful my sin of unbelief is, in that I am
so prone to believe a lost family member’s stubborn rejection of Christ more
than I am prone to believe Thy merciful promise to save my house. Forgive me
for limiting the Holy One of Israel. Also reveal to me just what a terrible sin
that is, and for Thy mercies sake save me from continuing to commit that sin.
Give me a heart to always believe Thee in unwavering faith. I pray this for all
other people also. Amen.”
Absolutely refuse to believe that wicked,
sinful family member, but instead believe God Who is able to do exceedingly
abundantly above that which we ask or think. Always meditate on the fact
that Christ came into the world to save sinners. Daily call upon God to
keep your faith strong and to block out all doubts and sins of unbelief as you
daily intercede in prayer for your family’s salvation.
And
then as God enables you to become more and more victorious in these areas,
start praising God for saving your family even before they get saved. There
is much power in doing that. I cannot emphasize that enough. It is a most
bold exercise of faith that honours, glorifies, and pleases God greatly,
thanking Him for what He promises to do, tho the deed is not yet done by God.
And we can expect God to honour that thanksgiving on your part by saving your
lost family members. Offering up that praise in advance is one thing that
will keep you from slipping into discouragement, despair, and disbelief.
When you speak to lost family members about God, at times they will lash out at
you in most cruel and savage ways, verbally and possibly even physically. Satan
will eagerly try to use their attacks to drive you to hopeless despair to get
you to give up all hope and faith, and cease doing anything toward bringing
them to Christ. At times like that, when the enemy brings you to your lowest
point, trying to render you totally defeated, the one key to maintaining
victory at such times is to offer up praise to God that He is going to save
your family. Boldly declare to God that you believe Him instead of
believing the enemy and tell Him that you praise His High and Holy Name because
He is going to save your family. If lost family members grow stronger in their
opposition to you and to God, do not let that bring on discouragement. Do the
opposite and just praise God more that He is going to save them. Such faith on
your part will be most pleasing to God. Praise is a most powerful weapon in
our spiritual warfare. By all means, do not fail to use it. How foolish to
be engaged in such important warfare where the eternal fate of your household
hangs in the balance, and fail to use the powerful weapons of warfare that God
has provided.
As
God leads you to do so, declare to your lost family members that you believe
that God is going to change them, lead them to repentance and to putting their
faith in Christ to save them. If they laugh, mock at you and such, for saying
that, just tell them you still believe it and that you believe God and His
faithful promises instead of believing them. If they boldly declare that they
will definitely not come to Christ, then you just as boldly declare to them
that you believe God instead of them. Tell them that God has promised to save
your household and that you totally believe Almighty God’s promise. Tell them
that, with great joy, you look forward to the day when they will soon be saved.
God will be most pleased with you declaring such to the lost sinners of your
house. He will honour your declarations of faith by saving your house. Your
firm declarations of strong, unwavering faith to your lost family members will
be a key tool God will use in bringing them to salvation in Christ. No matter
how strong a front of opposition the lost family members put up to you, you
firmly standing on God’s promises will allow God to work powerfully in their
hearts to convert them.
Pray
the Scriptures for Christian believers as well as for lost people. One of the
best ways to train up your children in the way they should go is to pray the
Scriptures for them. Have your child read a verse at a time, you pray it, and
continue that till Heaven comes down and glory fills both your souls. Pray the
scriptures for whomsoever you pray. Please pray Ephesians 3:15-20 for me, especially
verse 19. “And to know the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” Oh how I desire that. Please pray that for me.
“Heavenly
Father, teach me everything I need to know about faith and intercessory prayer.
Teach me all I need to know about offering up praise to Thee, praise for what I
look forward to You doing in the future, fulfilling Thy faithful promise to
save my house, and many other marvelous, miraculous works for my family. Teach
me what a great and powerful weapon praise is. And teach me how to properly
offer up praise to Thee from a heart of faith that will make that praise into a
powerful weapon against the enemy. I pray this for all other people also.
Amen.”
“Ye
are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he
that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (I John 4:4) Always bear in mind that you are on the
victorious side. Almighty God, Who promised to save your house, is your
Captain. He is fighting for you. He has all power over Satan and your lost
family members. Believe Him fully and totally trust Him to save all of your
house. Absolutely refuse to believe the devil and your wicked, sinful, lost
family members in their defiance against God. It is no less than your duty
and responsibility to do that.
It
is most proper to thank God and praise Him in advance that He is going
to save your family in His time. It is most likely that thought, “in His
time,” will come into your mind. When that happens, think right back to what
the Scriptures teach about God’s time to save people. “Behold, now is the day of salvation.” Therefore we should always have a sense of urgency as lost family
members continue on in sinful rebellion against God, always only one heartbeat
away from eternal Hell fire. They have no promise of a future chance of
salvation. We should never be complacent. We should never be at ease in Zion
regarding their salvation. Earnestly ask God why He
lingers in saving them. Desperately ask Him to show you anything more He
desires for you to do toward their salvation. And with God’s Help, always be
broken hearted over, and maintain a sense of urgency regarding their tragic,
lost condition, knowing assuredly that time is steadily running out.
“Your faith to God-ward is spread abroad”
If
there are other members of your house, besides you, who are also Christian
believers, then it is important that each and every believer in the family
become dead earnest about the salvation of the other family members who are not
Christians. As God leads you to do, convey that to the other Christians in your
family. Consider asking them to also read this sermon. You bond together with
them in agreement for God to save your house. “Again
I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing
that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in
heaven.” (Matthew 18:19) Here, Christ
promises us that there is extra strength in unity. All of your saved family
members should join together in faith, believing God to save the remainder of
your house. Also you should join together in doing each and every thing God
leads you to do regarding their salvation; interceding in prayer, speaking to
the lost loved ones, and such. God gave you an absolute promise in Acts
16:31. Join with your saved family members together claiming that promise
absolutely.
Believing
that promise and trusting in God to fulfill it will branch out into multiples
of souls getting saved. What a blessed thought that is, and how confident
we can go forth into the “family” field of harvest, knowing that God has
promised to save our house. For instance, you have 1 brother and 2 sisters who
are each married with children, and every person in those 3 households is lost
and on their way to the eternal torments of Hell. First, you believe God to
save your brother and 2 sisters, because they are of your house. Then when God
honours your faith and saves those 3 siblings of yours, you tell them everything
in this sermon, ask them to read this sermon, and from there teach them how
that they are each to be a savior to their own house and believe God to save
their houses (their spouses and children). When those 3 spouses get saved, then
each of them is to become a savior to each of their houses (parents and
siblings). Proclaim that to them and pray that God will get them to work
toiling and interceding for the salvation of their houses. When all the family
members of those 3 spouses get saved, then that branches out into more in-laws
and such additional family members who then can claim this promise for all
their house, parents, siblings, spouses, and children. Think seriously on how
this saving of souls will spread if each Christian believer will hastily come to
be the savior of his or her house, as God has ordained that we do.
“Oh
Brother Richard, you are getting ridiculous putting this forth like a magic
foolproof formula guaranteeing that so many people will definitely get saved.”
Well, if that is the way you feel about it, tell that to Almighty God Who
promises to save your house and is soon to judge you regarding what you do with
that promise. Time is running out. You need to hastily act on that promise. Immediately
upon getting saved, the new Christian believer is assigned a well-defined
mission field by God. That mission field is his or her house. God’s promise
to save them is definite. “Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Believe that entire promise. The Judge of the universe holds each of us responsible for working
our assigned mission field and for claiming this promise. God forbid that we
fail Him or our family in this gravely serious, eternal matter.
As
God leads you to do so, ask every Christian around you to read this sermon.
Let’s pray that each of them will do as God ordains they do for their lost
family members’ salvation. Pastors, evangelists, church teachers, and church
leaders, as God leads you regarding this, keep it on the front burner. If
you believe this sermon, then preach it and teach it in your church. Likely God
will lead you to pray individually with church members, interceding for the
salvation of their house. Speak to them the words God gives you to encourage
them to have strong faith and to not despair and give up, but rather to toil
and travail with Christ until all their house is saved. Each and every
Christian believer is assigned a definite mission field, his or her house, and
we are given a definite and wonderful promise that the lost ones in that
mission field will definitely be saved. God forbid that we allow any
precious family member to perish because we failed to do our part.
Millions
of Christian believers on this earth have lost family members. Most of those
Christians are not aware that the lost people in their household are a mission
field specially assigned to them and they are duty bound to act on God’s
promise to save their house. Lots of Christians are neglecting their own
personal mission field, their lost family members. May God help us to make
other Christians aware of this grave responsibility they have and guide them
into working their mission field.
Each
Christian should have a special burden for his lost family members and should
be most desirous to see them get saved. But now let me speak just a short word
on an important, related topic. We must be careful not to become selfish and
self-centered regarding lost souls. We are not to focus solely on our house
and forsake the rest of the lost world around us. We should still be concerned
and burdened for all lost people in the world, and therefore do any thing and
every thing God leads us to do toward winning them to Christ. If we selfishly
center on our family’s salvation only and have no concern for the many
other lost souls around us, for whom Christ died, God will be displeased with
this and will therefore withhold blessings. While trusting in God’s promise to
save our house, let us do all we can to win anyone and everyone to Christ.
“Lord
Jesus, help me to truly care about all the lost souls You died for, and do all
I can to win any and all people to Thee, knowing that You are not willing that
one should perish. Help me to not be selfish, concerned only about my beloved,
lost family members. I pray this for all other people also. Amen.”
One
question of doubt might easily come into our minds regarding this promise.
“What about the apparent exceptions to that promise in Acts 16:31?” We
see godly believers who desperately pray and beg God to save their family, but
still a family member dies lost, apparently. “What has gone wrong there,
Brother Richard?” I do not know. But I do know one thing for sure. God did
not go wrong. His promise did not fail. So first and foremost of all, keep
your eyes on that fact and always keep your eyes and all your attention and
faith sharply focused upon our Perfect God Who gave us this perfect promise and
Who never fails us in any way. Consider my use of the word, “apparently,” a few
sentences back. That lost family member may have gotten saved before death
overtook him or her. There is always that possibility. Also, among the
Christian believers in that house, one or more of them may have failed to do
their duty in being the savior of their house. One may have done so out of
ignorance. One may have clearly been led of God to intercede in prayer or to
speak to the lost family member about salvation, but still willingly refused to
fulfill this duty that God clearly led them to do. Therefore it greatly
behooves each of us believers to do our part. With fear and trembling, we
must keep our eyes sharply focused upon our Saviour and His Promise, and
earnestly pray that we will not fail to do our most important part in our
family’s salvation.
“Brother
Richard, I have already had a family member die who never professed to be a
Christian. That loved one died long after I became a Christian. Now, upon
reading this sermon, God has showed me that I failed to do my part regarding
believing God for their salvation and doing my part working to win them to
Christ. What can I do about that now?” Regretfully, we cannot turn the clock
back. So I know of only one thing you can do about it now. Repent of it,
ask God to have mercy on you for that sinful failure, and ask God to save you
from ever again being so neglectful in such weighty, eternal matters.
My pastor friend, such as that is one reason why the Great
Shepherd sets pastors over His flock, to teach, lead, and guide them regarding
these grave, serious matters of eternal life and eternal death. God forbid that you be neglectful in the heavy
responsibility to preach and teach these matters to His flock that He has
entrusted into your care. To do so will bring you much remorse on Judgment Day.
Pastor, earnestly pray to God asking Him to show you just how much emphasis to
put on “Household Salvation” and how often He wants you to remind your flock of
it. You have a church house full of Christians who have a specific mission
field assigned to them, their lost family members. Pastor, you must do as God
leads you to do, in training your flock to each work their mission field.
Pastor,
think on all the recreational and social functions and amusements your church
regularly carries on. Think on how often you eat, drink, and be merry with your
church members in your home, their homes, and every nice restaurant within 30
miles. All the while, they are sinfully neglecting their God assigned mission
fields and letting precious, lost family members die and perish in Hell. Christ
didn’t set you as a shepherd over His flock for the purpose of you all having
all the fun in life you possibly can. He did it for the purpose of you and your
church people entering into the travail and toil of bringing more lost sheep
into His Fold, especially the lost family members of your church members. What
remorse we will have on Judgment Day, if we neglect our duty toward them for
earthly and worldly thrills. It behooves us all to get as serious about the
tragedy of lost souls as our Lord is.
“Lord
Jesus, please help me to be just as serious about the fate of my lost family
members as You are. I pray this for all other Christians also. I pray that
church pastors will all do Thy Will regarding guiding their church members in
their duty to do their part in bringing lost family members to Christ. Amen.”
“Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” My dear Christian friend, because God put that promise in your
Bible, I believe there is only one reason that a member of your house will
perish in Hell. You yourself will have to fail that beloved family member in
order for them to perish. You do not want that to happen. You
do not want to find yourself standing near them with their blood on your hands
when they stand before the Great White Throne Judgment condemned to Hell. How tragic
it would be to have them look upon you and your bloody hands and sob to you in
their hopelessness, “You failed me. You did not believe God’s promise to save
your house. As a Christian, you lived in pleasure instead of entering into the
toil and travail with Christ to see your family brought safely into the Ark of
Salvation. I hope you enjoy eternity in Heaven while I am tormented in flames
forever.” You do not want to experience that. Whatever you do in
this life, believe on and act upon this wonderful promise. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and
thy house.”
“Pass the time of your sojourning here with fear”
Upon
trusting in Christ, the immature, newborn Christian spiritual baby is prone to
entertain such thoughts as these. “I’ve got it made now. Heaven is my eternal
home, so I have no worries and no cares. I can now live to have as much fun
(clean fun, of course) as possible while here on the earth.” But God
ordained that you do much higher and more noble things during your Christian
life on this earth. Therefore it behooves you to obey your Creator by
passing your time here on earth with fear. Totally submit yourself to God to
completely do His Will. And by all means, do not fail to be the savior to your
house that God ordained that you be.
“Heavenly
Father, help me to now fully place my life in Thy Hands. Please help me to
truly desire for my life here on earth to be exactly what Thou would have it to
be. Please sober me up and cause me to pass my time here on earth in fear of
Thee. I desire to be the savior to my house that Thou hast ordained that I be.
Please help me to do that. Guide me about asking others to read this sermon. By
Thy Mercy and Grace, may none of us Christian believers fail to claim and act
upon Thy wonderful promise to save our house. Amen.”
(This is the end of the sermon, “Household Salvation.” “Heavenly
Father, please use it to bring many entire families into Thy Ark of Eternal
Salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”)
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