What Happens to the Careless Christian in the Day of Christ?

The Gospel accounts contain several warnings to the careless Christian, explaining to him what he can expect when Christ returns. The fearful fates of the five foolish virgins and the servant who wasted his Lord’s talents give us some idea of the severity of the judgment facing the believer in Christ who neglects his salvation.

And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. (Matthew 25:10)

"The door was shut!"

The door was shut against whom? Against the unbelievers?

The door was shut against "virgins," each of whom possessed the "lamp" of the Word of God. The five foolish virgins were they who had gone "to meet the bridegroom." This hardly is a picture of the unsaved.

Multitudes of believers in Christ will be denied entrance to the Kingdom when the Lord returns. They will be denied entrance because they have not maintained the Life of Jesus in themselves. They have been too busy in the world. They have neglected their salvation and will not escape the inevitable penalty.

As for the Christian who wasted his Lord’s money:

And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:30)

Notice, in the above two incidents, the virgins and the unprofitable servant, that judgment is not executed on the careless believer when he dies but when the Lord returns.

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (I Corinthians 4:5)

Salvation has to do with what happens to us in the Day of Christ, not with what takes place at the time of our physical death.

To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (I Corinthians 5:5)

"That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

Not when the incestuous believer dies but in the day of the Lord Jesus.

The reason we are emphasizing this is that the current doctrine suggests the purpose of receiving Jesus is to shun Hell and to make Heaven our home. The concept is held that if we do not go to Hell when we die we can rest in the assurance we shall lead a blissful life forever in our mansion in Heaven.

Such is not the teaching of the New Testament. The teaching of the New Testament is that when the Lord Jesus Christ returns He will reward each of us according to his works. It is our belief that if the believers understood they were going to be rewarded in the Day of Christ according to their conduct, their deeds, they would behave in a different manner.

The Lord Jesus did not come to save men from Hell but from their sins. Whoever sins always will abide in Hell. Whoever serves the Lord in righteousness will abide in eternal life. Grace does not change these immutable facts. The Lord Jesus did not come to change the fact that sinners always are in Hell. Rather, He came to deliver us from our sins so we can behave righteously and enter life.

If today’s careless "saints" understood thoroughly that when Jesus comes He will not say to the lukewarm believer, well done, good and faithful servant, they would repent of their coldness and begin to seek the Lord. Our common sense tells us this is so.

But we are being taught, in many instances that we can hide our abominable behavior behind a covering of grace. Those who teach this will be cast out of the Kingdom when Christ returns.

Our conscience and our common sense warn us that the day of reckoning is coming. Religious teachings have a way of destroying conscience and common sense, and so we are warning the Christian people that they indeed will be rewarded or punished according to their works when Jesus appears.

Those who are removing from the churches the normal fear of the Day of Judgment by teaching that a profession of belief in Jesus will shield the individual from reaping what he is sowing shall suffer punishment at the hands of Jesus, for they are false prophets. They are destroying the Lord’s inheritance.

The Book of Hebrews is a warning to believers in Christ that they will not escape God’s anger if they neglect their salvation and turn back into the ways of sin.

The Book of Hebrews does not emphasize an individual’s going to Heaven or Hell when he dies. Rather, the writer of Hebrews speaks of the danger of dying in the wilderness, that is, of losing our joyous confidence and zeal in the middle of our pilgrimage; of not living in the Spirit and pressing forward to the rest of God. The "rest" of God is not Heaven. The rest of God is the state of abiding in victory in Christ in God and all else that goes along with victory.

What will be the condition of the careless Christian (of whom there are a great many today) after he dies and before the Lord comes and demands an accounting of the talents that have been entrusted to him?

The current teaching that every believer will ascend into the new Jerusalem when he dies is neither scriptural nor logical. Will God take the deceased into glory and then, in the Day of the Lord, deal with him concerning his diligence or lack of it? Is this sensible? It appears our current doctrine covering this aspect of redemption is woefully inadequate, leaving the dying believer unprepared for what he or she will experience after death.

There is little scriptural support (where are the passages?) for the commonly held belief that all believers in Christ, regardless of their behavior in the world, are brought into the Presence of God when they die, there to live forever in mansions of delight. As we have stated, the apostolic concept of being "saved" is not that of where we go when we die. Rather, the concept is that of being saved from Divine wrath when Christ comes in His Kingdom.

Although the Scripture does not have much to say about what happens to the believer when he dies, it seems reasonable that each believer in Christ is evaluated as to the formation of Christ in him and then placed in a suitable area of the spirit realm, there to await his placement in the Kingdom of God at the appearing of Christ.

It is neither scriptural or reasonable that people will be changed in moral standards, attitudes, mannerisms, dedication to the Lord, or in any other area of personality by reason of their physical death. Rather, they join with their family members to await the Day of Judgment. If they are happy, generous people in this world they will continue to be the same in the next. If they are mean, rebellious, stubborn, moody now, there is no reason to believe they will be different after they die.

What would cause them to change? The sins we practice are spiritual in nature. Gossiping, hatred, strife, the seeking of preeminence, pride, anger, are all spiritual in nature. They are of the personality of Satan. Why would the bitter, spiteful person be any different because he or she died? In fact, the bitterness and spitefulness probably will increase because the individual no longer will be able to vent his spite on his acquaintances still living in the world. This is true whether or not the person has been a believer.

It seems reasonable also that these areas of waiting are places of instruction and, hopefully, of opportunities for spiritual growth. Many ardent young disciples have died before they have had much of an opportunity to learn to love and trust Christ, to learn the lessons those who have wandered for many years in the wilderness of this world have been taught.

Surely there are opportunities for spiritual growth and service after we die and before the Lord returns. We cannot be certain such is the case. We cannot say thus saith the Lord because there are so few passages that describe life after death.

Of one fact we are certain: the careless Christian is facing a terrifying experience when the Lord returns. To have the door of the Kingdom of God shut in one’s face, to be cast into outer darkness, to be tormented to the point of weeping and gnashing one’s teeth, are stern consequences indeed.

The written Word of God warns the negligent Christian that he will face an angry Christ in the Day of the Lord. He can expect to experience fiery torments, unbearable remorse, spiritual suffering, for an unknown period of time.

Perhaps he will be saved by this fire. Or, he may receive the maximum sentence—that of being separated from His Creator forever while in confinement in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. His may be the blackness of darkness forever, being alone!—without God!—without hope!

We are not speaking of the people of the world. We are referring to Christians who have neglected Christ. They will receive numerous lashes. The current belief that punishment can be avoided by a profession of doctrine is producing moral chaos in the churches of Christ.

Christianity is not a set of doctrines. It is not a philosophy. Christianity is a new creation, a creation of righteous, holy, and obedient personality and behavior. Apart from the new creation there is no Divine redemption. We have been misled.

Christian ministers place most of their faith and hope in the individual’s thought structure. If they can convince someone to change his beliefs they are delighted. They suppose they have accomplished much in the Kingdom.

But the Kingdom of God has little to do with one’s beliefs. The Kingdom of God is Christ formed and dwelling in the heart. The more of Christ we have the more of the Kingdom we have, our thoughts meanwhile excusing or accusing us.

To live daily in vigorous interaction with the Lord is to enter the Kingdom. To hold to a set of beliefs about theological or historical facts is of value only as that set of beliefs leads us into vigorous interaction with the Lord Jesus. Otherwise, our beliefs are without value in the Kingdom.

We must search the Scriptures, not primarily for the sake of knowing the Scriptures, as valuable as such knowledge can be, but in order to come to Him who is the Truth. There is no eternal life in the Scriptures, only in Jesus.

When discussing His actions on returning to the earth, Christ never raised the issue of a person’s doctrine. He spoke of how He will punish the wicked and reward the righteous.

It may be true that Christianity is the most misunderstood religion in the world. Christianity, contrary to popular understanding, does not consist of a set of theological teachings, belief in which guarantees bliss after death.

Christianity is Jesus Christ. Christianity is the entering of the Life of Jesus into us so our personality is changed for eternity. Christianity brings righteousness of personality and conduct. Such personality transformation is not possible under the Law of Moses or under the rules of any other religion to the extent possible under the Christian new covenant.

Our present conception of the Christian salvation as the holding of special knowledge is closer to Gnosticism than it is to Christianity.

The actual purpose of the new covenant is to make an eternal end of sin. The bulk of the New Testament writings have to do with commandments which we are to keep, as the Spirit of God assists us, until Christ is formed in us. Christ formed in us and living in us is the new covenant. In every and all instances, the goal of the Christian salvation is to change the behavior of people from sin to righteousness. Any Christian teaching that does not demand our change from sinful behavior to righteous behavior is not of God but is "another gospel."

God has given us the iron of the Word of God, the blood of the Lamb of God, and the fire of the Holy Spirit of God that we may be able to put all sin out of our life.

Christianity the Kingdom of God, is Christ in us. If Christ is in us a new, righteous creation is coming into view. If there is no new, righteous creation in the process of coming into view, there is no Christianity, no Kingdom of God. It is as straightforward as that.

The purpose of Divine grace is not to bring a fallen race into Paradise. The purpose of grace is to provide the forgiveness, wisdom, and power necessary for our conversion from the old Adam to the new Adam. Apart from such change there is no salvation.

The altering of the concept of the Divine redemption from a new creation into a revised thought structure and a ticket to Paradise is the deadly product of Christian theology. This alteration has destroyed the testimony of the churches and as a result the welfare of the nations of the earth, which depend (without realizing it) on the light of the churches for moral guidance.

May the Lord Jesus Christ help us repent before our generation of Christians is lost to the eternal purpose of God in Christ, before numerous believers enter death unprepared for the realities of the spirit realm.

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