“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:45-51 NASB1995)
We cannot just “claim who you are in Christ” and then go on
living in sin, presuming upon God that he is going to let us into his heaven.
We cannot give lip service only to God and then expect him to receive us into
his family and to forgive us of all our sins. Jesus Christ did not give his
life up for us on that cross so that we could go on living by the flesh, living
however we want, doing whatever it is that we want to do without regard for God
and for his will and purpose for our lives. His gospel of salvation has
conditions.
Yet, that is the kind of Christianity that many are being
taught today, that God does everything for us and that nothing of us is
required of him other than a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ. But
lip service only does not “seal the deal” for you so that you can keep on
living in sin, and not in walks of surrender in obedience to the Lord, just
living life however you want it, for your own pleasure. We cannot just “get
saved” and now salvation and eternal life with God are guaranteed us no matter
how we live our lives.
And it doesn’t have to be that these people who believe this
way are living horribly wicked lives. They could be “good deed doers” who are
kind to other people and who live fairly morally pure lives, and who regularly
attend gatherings of the church (or of the false church), and who serve in
areas of ministry within these congregations. But their lives are not
surrendered to the Lord to do his will and purpose for their lives, but they
are still lord of their own lives determining their own paths. Jesus is not
their Lord!
And if we are people who appear to have started out well
with our faith in the Lord Jesus, who served him with our lives, for a time,
but then we went back to living in sin, and not in walks of obedience to the
Lord, and that is where we remained, and if we did not repent and return to
following the Lord, but we continued to live in sin and for self, the
Scriptures teach us that we will not have salvation from sin, and we will not
have eternal life with God. For they also teach that we must continue in Christ
true to the end.
So, we should never take God’s grace and his salvation for
granted, thinking that since we “prayed the prayer” that we are now assured
salvation from all sin and heaven as our eternal destiny, but regardless of how
we live. Sadly so many people believe that way, convinced that because they
made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that when they die that heaven is
where they are headed. But if they denied Jesus in this life, by living for the
flesh, and not for God, to do what they want, and not what God wants, then when
they die or when Jesus returns, they will not inherit eternal life with God.
We should also not have this mindset that either we will
live a long time or that Jesus will not return for a very long time and so it
won’t matter if we play with sin for awhile and just have a good time, and that
we can wait until right before the end and then get our lives right with God. For
there are no guarantees that we will ever have that opportunity to get our
hearts right with God, or that even by then that we will want to be right with
God, for our Lord may come at a time we are not expecting him. And if we are
still living for the flesh, we will end where there is weeping, not in heaven.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John
6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32;
Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2;
1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
An Original Work / December 18, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
“About
midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other
prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84
Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.
I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!
Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.
I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!
Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.
Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!
Woe to The Hypocrites
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