Do we of today realize the Lord is a hard businessman? Do we think because He is loving that He is not hard enough to shut the door against those who are foolish? We American Christians do not have a true vision of Jesus Christ.

The first class of people in the Lake of Fire are the fearful. This is because fear is the opposite of faith. It was fear that drove the Israelites back into the wilderness for thirty-eight years.

We might think the Lord would have a tender heart toward a person whose only sin was fearfulness. But this is not the case. God is looking for rulers who move forward victoriously in Him. These are the ones whom God rewards.

Jesus did not want His talent back. He wanted the talent back plus interest. He wants to see the image of Christ in us, not just a recitation of how we took "the four steps of salvation."

His master replied, "You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so when I returned I would have received it back with interest." (Matthew 25:26,27—NIV)

Hard words! Harsh words! It is difficult to imagine the Lord Jesus saying this to someone whose only sin was hiding his talent. Would we picture Jesus responding this way to a Christian? Do we believers in America really understand God's plan of salvation, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God? Sometimes it appears we are preaching "another gospel" from that presented by the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles.

"You wicked, lazy servant." Christian people in America are living in the flesh, not serving the Lord in many instances. And they are being told there is no problem because they are "saved by grace and how they behave does not really matter." They are told God sees them only through Jesus. They are told once they have accepted Christ they can never be lost. They are told they will hear nothing negative at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

In other words, multitudes of Evangelical Christians are being lied to Sunday after Sunday.

American Christians, perhaps for the most part, are facing a very grim future when the Lord returns. They think they are going to be caught up to Heaven in a "rapture." This is not true. They are going to give an accounting of how they used that which the Holy Spirit had given them.

Wicked! Lazy! Yet his only sin was that of burying his talent, not using that which had been given him by the Holy Spirit.

Again, to imagine this is happening to an unsaved person is not in accordance with the text. We are speaking here of the servants of Jesus Christ who have been given the talents of the Kingdom of God. To deny this is to deny the plain words of the Scriptures.

To be continued.