Identifying With Christ Is Not Sufficient 2
Identifying With Christ Is Not Sufficient, #2
Why do you call me, "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46)
It appears to me that the current overemphasis on grace (unqualified forgiveness) works against our keeping the commandments of the Lord and His Apostles, and also against our being utterly diligent in listening to Jesus Christ and obeying His voice.
The only people who will be able to stand in the age of moral horrors, and who will be able to help others to stand, are those who are completely obedient to God. The issue is one of stern obedience. In fact, God is going to shake the heavens and the earth so that all disobedience is removed from His Presence.
Perhaps you, the reader, if you are a seasoned Christian, will find that new demands are being made on you. The bar is being raised. There are new hurdles to jump.
Now you have a choice. You can continue to yield to your sinful, fleshly nature and blame people and circumstances for your discomfort, or you can turn to Christ in order to regain your peace and confidence.
Do you know what is taking place? You are being prepared to follow the Lord in the Battle of Armageddon. Every soldier without exception who will be permitted to follow Christ in the work of installing the will of God on the earth will have been called, chosen, and then proven utterly faithful in obedience to God.
The Christian churches of today contain numerous adherents who are willful, stubborn, divisive, full of rage and bitterness, unforgiving, selfish, cruel, spiteful, malicious, jealous, gluttonous, unbelieving, haughty, lovers of being preeminent, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, and practitioners of other evil works. If you are a church member you know this is true.
Do we think that such are going to be given an all-powerful body like that of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then selected to ride behind Him on a white war stallion? Are the Christian church members of today, most of whom are babies when it comes to judging good and evil, to be given the most powerful weapon in the universe—the sword of the Word of God? Are those who never have denied themselves, who never have taken up their cross and followed the Lord faithfully, to be charged with smashing the nations with a rod of iron?
If we believe the above is true we do not understand the new covenant, and we are not hearing from God in these days.
New demands are being made on our obedience and diligence. I think the Spirit of God is going through all the churches that name the name of Christ and is looking for those who will obey Him totally.
It simply is not enough to name the name of Christ, to be identified with Him. To confess our faith in Christ is the necessary beginning, the action that gives us the authority to be a child of God.
Now we are invited to enter the program of salvation, that is, the work of cleansing from us all the works of Satan and the creating in us of the Substance and Virtue of Jesus Christ.
Every believer is invited to enter the program of redemption. All that stands between you and a clear conscience before God in the present hour is the faith that God can indeed change you, and a willingness to be transformed from disobedience to total obedience. There is no power that can hinder your total conformity to the image of Christ, except your own unbelief and disobedience.
The One who upholds all things by the word of His power has enough wisdom and power to readily accomplish your total transformation into His image. It remains only for you to believe and obey.
Will you do this?