The Daily Word of Righteousness

Judgment and Rewards, #33

Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (Romans 11:22)

But what of the overconfident Christian of today? He has been taught that as long as he has made a profession of Christ he has no need to fear God. He is spiritually proud, self-assured, self-confident. He will tell God what to do and God is required to do it.

He does not believe in working out his own salvation with fear and trembling. He believes that he cannot be lost, and that he will suffer no serious inconvenience in the Day of Christ. He will be "raptured" out of the world's problems before too long whether or not he is living a godly life.

There is no genuine fear of God in him. He cannot comprehend that the righteous are saved with difficulty (I Peter 4:18). To him, salvation is a free ride to Heaven; it has little or nothing to do with his conduct on the earth. Because he has stated that he receives Christ as his Savior, he no longer will be held to account for the kind of person he is.

This is the current understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

But this is not what the Scriptures teach. This is not the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the Kingdom of God. This is the word of the "False Prophet."

The current attitude toward salvation is far removed from the truth. Those "believers" who are living careless lives will be visited with Divine fire in the near future.

The Scriptures, which never can be altered, state Christ will not erase the name of the victorious saint from the Book of Life. It is implied those who are being overcome by the evil of the world are in danger of having their names erased from the Book of Life. Revelation 3:5 is addressed to Christians.

It is this scriptural danger that caused the Apostles to tremble in remembrance of the terror of the Lord. Our God is a consuming Fire. The Scriptures, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31) is addressed to Christians.

The terror of the Lord Jesus and the need for repentance must be proclaimed to the Church of Christ in the present hour. The saints are asleep because of false teaching.

The trumpet of the Lord is sounding in order to wake us up. Let us arise and go to meet the Lord. He has a special work to perform in our day. Let us not be counted among the multitudes of professing Christians who are not taking up their cross and following Christ.

Either we will awaken and judge ourselves now or else the Lord will wake us and judge us later. It is not a delightful experience to have God destroy our flesh in order to save our spirit.

It is a risky business indeed to gamble on being saved as by fire. Instead let us come to the Lord for cleansing today, even though our fellow "Christians" may scorn our concern over our soul's welfare.

To be continued.