Trial of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some love the Lord, and continue like that till death.  At the simple and first hearing of the Gospel, these submit themselves to the leadership of God and godly men.  They understand clearly that they are being called to become godly in all they do. 

Some hate the Lord, and continue like that till death, regardless how the Gospel is presented.  Their love for wicked behavior, and a certain pride of freedom from restraint is too much for them to let go and obey. 

Some think they love the Lord.  Yet continue till death dabbling in sin and rebellion.  They never grasp the purpose of the Gospel.  And they certainly don’t ask too many questions in that regard.  They think they are acceptable just as they are.  And make no attempt to rectify their situation, regardless the strength of God’s motivating call.

It is not hard to see when we love the Lord.  We are self-witnesses to the willing obedience within us.  It is not difficult to take note when we hate the Lord.  There are millions of instances where we can clearly see we do not bring Him honor. 

But the lie we speak (in both word and deed) when we say we love Him yet traffic in sin and rebellion is far more tricky to detect for the one who lives like that.  Not to mention that “mainstream” sugar water gospel teaches that the Lord loves us regardless what we do. 

They fall for a trap that was laid long before they were born.  There are billions of such people waiting for judgment even now.  And their number will only increase as the end of things draws near.  The Lord is not fooled by numbers of men who conspire to live a lie. 

The hideous nature of this way of life is that such people have switched off the natural fear of God within them.  It is as if you set your alarm to get up in the morning, only to continually hit snooze, or even shut the thing off, and go back to sleep.  You teach yourself to approach your responsibilities with very little care.  What these people will miss, however, is far more than a paycheck.  Teenagers are naturally irresponsible like this and must be taught to respect the expectations of life.  Adults are expected to overcome such behavior.  This is the function of the Grace God extends to us all.

The Grace of God can be misunderstood easily by the one who does not think it through.  For a time the Lord will overlook a stumbling nature within the Christian.  During this transition period, between sinner and believer, trust is the more important item on His agenda.  But there is certainly an end to such treatment.  There is a place where willing obedience is expected and commanded.  It is wise to consider the goal of the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on our behalf.  And to do this considering we could bring up any variety of tasks man might attempt.

To get from point A to point B there is supposed to be an attaining; that moment when we arrive at point B.  There are moments in between the two that we use to gauge our progress.  But the goal is the entire reason for each endeavor.

Now there are many things a man might do where actually reaching the goal isn’t really all that important, eternally speaking.  We might try to quit smoking, for instance.  But it isn’t an eternal struggle if we fail.  It simply limits our life span here in the body.  Or it causes us embarrassment or sickness.  A man might want to save $100,000.00 before he retires.  But it isn’t a matter of salvation if he falls short.  He simply finds himself unable to fend for himself during his last few years on this earth. Perhaps we want to lose weight.  But just can’t seem to “get-er-done”.  No worry, eternally, it isn’t the body the Lord is overly concerned with. 

But we can’t take that same approach to our response to the Gospel and expect a warm reception when we see Him face to face.  The Gospel deals with spiritual matters while we live in this fleshly tent.  What we do here, regarding godliness, has a direct response from God when we leave this “place of testing”.

Many have read or heard the saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”  And shouldn’t we all desire to hear the Lord say that to us?  But how can that be said if we’re not a faithful and good servant?  Surely we don’t think the Lord will lie to us in that moment.  No, He will speak what is true according to what we have done.  That is, how we have responded to the message of the Gospel.

No one answers to me for anything.  But it is wise (in fact essential) to ask the question: “What makes us  think we deserve to be received with those words if we act as if there is no requirement for holiness in the Gospel of Christ?”  I know this is a harsh question.  But if we don’t answer it truthfully what will become of us when we meet Him face to face?

Some will read this post thinking I am pointing my finger at them.  What can I do to change that?  It is a harsh truth we do not hear all that much about.  When was the last time someone spoke these things to you after a worship session?  When was the last time you spoke these things, in love, to another?  Do we have a right to ignore the subject simply because it is considered too harsh?

We all know these things in our heart and mind.  For the Lord has said that there is absolutely no excuse among men in regard ignorance of purity.  So I feel pretty sure of myself to speak about it.  Yet we seem to accept folly among us without qualm.  And we call it the Grace of God. 

The Grace of God is more a spot light on a highway than an endowment regardless our obedience.  He extends it to us while we come to our senses.  But as we learn to do what is right and pure we find the shadow of His Grace leaving the former things we did and following us like a focused spot light as we encounter the next teaching.   

Consider Grace to be like the spot light of a helicopter when it lights up the criminal at night.  If the man submits and waits for the coming correction he has a chance of redemption.  God is the Living God.  He is not the God of our past evil ways.  He is the One who calls us forward into obedience.  The man who continues to drift back will find himself living outside the bathing light of God’s Grace.  And he will subject himself to a rather harsh “take down” in the end.

The following must conclude this post:

I have actually heard some say that the Ten Commandments don’t apply to Christianity.  Who are they trying to kid when they say such things?  Those articles of God are the very goal of our salvation.  And we are fully expected to reach hard to accomplish them within us.  How we “reach hard”, however, is the very key to understanding and accomplishment.  “It’s all attitude buddness!”  Do we really love the Lord or don’t we.

I started this post by speaking of how some love the Lord.  And this was no willy-nilly shot in the dark.  The love for Jesus is the very point where we find it easy (or impossible) to break from the things He has hated from eternity past, and will hate for eternity to come.  We don’t obey the Ten Commandments in the same way we might obey the speed limit (we do it so we don’t get punished by a ticket and fine). 

To approach obedience to laws, simply out of fear, will never transform the heart of anyone.  But to learn to love them because they are the “house rules” of the One we intend to live with forever becomes an entirely different motivator.  In our society rules of obedient citizens are broken all day long (as long as we don’t get caught).  But there is a place where secret disobedience will not be tolerated.  In fact, it will not exist.  And since there will be no death, the inhabitants will not disobey.  (Ponderous thought, aint it?)  That place waits for those who learn to listen and obey here.

I know it’s a hard thing to ask each other to chase after holiness.  Someone may say to me, “Who are you to call my relationship with God into question?”  I will answer, “I am just like you.  I too am subject to the rule of God upon me.  And we are challenged to fearlessly proclaim the entire Gospel to each other.”  It’s not judging folks.  It is an encouragement toward eternal life!  As opposed to a temptation to eternal death we witness today.

If a transformation to godly living wasn’t the entire reason for life on this planet it wouldn’t be as hard as it is.  But this place I’ve often called a “place of testing” is just that.  Life here tests the heart of every man, woman and child.  The bottom line question hovering over our heads could be phrased like this:  “We will subject them to temptation, hardship, and even death.  All the while I will remain hidden from their senses.  We will see if they will humble themselves to take good counsel from others, and  learn to willingly love Me in spite of it all.”  You will not find that quote in the Bible.  So there’s no need to ask for chapter and verse.  But isn’t that the entire subjective experience we all share as we live out our lives?

Get it right folks.  The time to “work” is shorter than you know.  Submit yourselves to the rule of the Lord Jesus or face the consequences of rebellion.  We are all warned by the Holy Spirit, the Bible, nature, and example.  There will be absolutely, unequivocally, and eternally, no excuse. 

Prolog:

What those who obey are to become has not been revealed to man.  But we can easily testify to what will happen to those who do not.  Love does not accuse, divide, hate, or willingly destroy.  To whatever extent we gain a friendship with God we learn to love as He loves.  To whatever extent we lack that friendship, we lack true love.

 And do not mistake this:  A love that is untested is no love at all.  You may create a life for yourself in which you are sheltered from the things that might provoke a sinful response within you.  But that doesn’t mean you have conquered that sin. 

Who can provide themselves such opportunity to be tested in this way?  No one can prescribe a testing better or more complete than the Lord of Life.  Ask and you will receive so that your love will become strong and true.  Only the cowards will refrain from asking such things from the Lord.  It is only the strong who are willing to allow the Lord to tear their heart of stone out of their chest and replace it with a heart of flesh.