I’ve road-tested this truth and experienced first-hand both the positive results and negative consequences of my right and wrong beliefs.
It’s past urgent that we get our facts straight.
Do you know you’re right with God? How do you know?
Christian or Non-Christian, John 3:36 is a tidy little summary of the facts for all of us: John the Baptist said,
“And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”
Gulp.
Non-Christian: in case you’re not clear,
“There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
Christian: If we claim Christ and are wantonly, unrepentantly sinning, we're not right with God and will experience increasingly severe discipline until we repent. I’ve conducted the experiments and assure you that it’s true.
God loves us too much to let us do whatever we want if it’s harming us and others.
Jesus said,
“If you love me, you will obey my commands.” John 14:15
“If someone claims, ‘I know God,’ but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.” 1 John 2:4
It would be like a loved one who tells you how much they love you but continues to do something you’ve told them repeatedly deeply injures you, without making any effort to change, and maybe not even apologizing for it. Would you believe they loved you? Is there evidence they love you?
Ouch. In case you’re not persuaded:
“Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. Hebrews 10:26-27
If you’re feeling smug, here’s an obstacle I’ve run into in myself and in the world. I can confidently say there are many headline-making sins I don’t commit (anymore) by the grace of God. Some of these are the ones some Christians like to demonize with zeal, all the while mindlessly overlooking or even openly indulging some “lesser” sins we can self-righteously minimize or justify.
If we’re “sin-scoring,” we’d do well to “pull the plank from our eye” and read a few of the New Testament lists (e.g., Galatians 5:19-21, Romans 1:29-31, or 2 Timothy 3:1-5) and see how we “score.” I know it keeps me in a posture of repentance and dependence on Jesus.
Some of you will no doubt point to the many verses like:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
“Isabella, don’t be a self-righteous legalistic prig! That’s a terrible sin!” For sure it is! Every bit as evil as wanton sinning. PLEASE know that I would never cheapen the cross by saying we can ever be worthy of Christ’s death for us. Plus, I’ve tried it, and it’s exhausting and futile. The point is:
“If two or more witnesses accused someone of breaking the Law of Moses, that person could be put to death. But it is much worse to dishonor God's Son and to disgrace the blood of the promise that made us holy. And it is just as bad to insult the Holy Spirit, who shows us mercy. We know that God has said he will punish and take revenge. We also know that the Scriptures say the Lord will judge his people. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” (Hebrews 10:28-31)
If we say we know and love God, we can't keep living like someone who doesn’t.
If you're getting the distinct feeling that God is lifting his hand of mercy and grace from your life or from our nation because we’ve abused it, you may be right!
If you’re wondering why you don’t hear this in church, that’s a good question worth asking.
Good News
Again (and again), I’ll say that for the moment, the GOOD NEWS remains GOOD and timely:
“Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. Acts 3:19-20 (NLT)
It's that simple!
AMEN.
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