The Daily Word of Righteousness

Doing Good, and the Resurrection, continued

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; Idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions And envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21—NIV)

Honestly now, does the above passage sound like it does not matter how a Christian behaves?

What about the idea that "Jesus did it all" and we are just to wait until we go to Heaven?

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (I Timothy 6:12—NIV)

Does the above verse sound like Jesus did it all?

What about waiting until Christ in us obeys the Apostles?

Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. (I Corinthians 15:34—NIV)

Does the above verse sound like we are to wait until Jesus acts in us?

I could have put several passages under each of the three headings. We have believed a lie, that is all there is to it. We are trusting in our traditions instead of the New Testament writings.

You know what? The churches in America are not bearing witness of Christ. There is a lot of preaching going on but the witness has been killed. The lampstand has gone out. This is because there has been little stress on righteous behavior, on doing good.

The Lord Jesus said when people see the good works of the Christians they will glorify God. Preaching is one thing. The testimony is something else again. The testimony is the moral Nature of the Lord Jesus exhibited in works of righteousness. When these are not in existence we are not bearing a true witness of Jesus Christ.

Witnessing is not telling others about Jesus. Witnessing is showing others the Nature of Jesus in our conduct.

I have purposely avoided mentioning the difference between the resurrection of the royal priesthood and the resurrection of those who are saved but not of the royal priesthood. I have done so to keep the concept of the relationship of our behavior to what we can expect in the day of resurrection as simple as possible so American Christians might be alerted to the danger they are facing if they do not begin to serve God in earnest.

I know the virus of "faith alone" is also active in other countries, but I am more familiar with what goes on in America and so I address my own nation.

I think the relationship between our conduct now and our resurrection later is as I have described. For those who wish to examine the differences between the resurrection of the priesthood and that of the saved nations another essay titled, "The Path to Glory," might be of interest.

If we do not start doing good we are going to have a miserable resurrection.

In the day of resurrection we are going to be clothed in our own conduct. We are working on a building, a house from Heaven, a robe from Heaven. The characteristics of our house, our robe, are being created now by our conduct.

To be continued.