He who can stand in the Presence of God always has been and always shall be the individual who fits the above description.

The person who behaves righteously, who speaks the truth, who does not take advantage of the weak, who cannot be influenced by the wealthy, who will not listen to gossip, who does not delight in wickedness—he is the person who is accepted of God. If we follow the Lord Jesus with all our heart He makes us to be this kind of righteous individual. Such righteousness of personality and behavior is the mark of the new creation. Now we are ready to "ever be with the Lord."

But the person, Christian or not, who behaves unrighteously, who speaks lies (and there are many Christians who do), who takes advantage of the weak and poor, who seeks to please the wealthy and influential, who tolerates and participates in gossip and slander, who tolerates and participates in evil—that individual is abiding under the wrath of God. He is the enemy of God.

He may profess to be a Christian. He may attend a church that holds to the inspiration of the Scriptures. He may be correct in all points of theology according to the constitution of his Christian church. He may proclaim "grace" from the housetops. But he is a sinner. He is under Divine condemnation because of his wicked behavior. He is under greater condemnation than the individual who never has heard the Gospel of the Kingdom.

The Christian preachers may denounce the teaching of the preceding paragraph but they are in deception. The Christian churches have been destroyed morally and spiritually because of the ignorance of their preachers and teachers concerning what the Apostle Paul meant by the grace of God.

It is what we are and do, not what we believe or profess, that concerns God primarily. Truly receiving the Lord Jesus Christ causes change to take place in the human personality. We are transformed in personality and behavior.

We cannot see the Lord or have fellowship with Him until we become holy. Only the pure in heart can see God, not those who are "saved by grace" but the pure in heart.

Christ always and forever teaches us to be holy as He is holy, to be pure as He is pure. He always leads us in paths of righteousness, of holiness, of obedience to God. If we learn these lessons from Christ we enter eternal life in the Presence of Almighty God. Righteousness and holiness are the signs of eternal life and are eternal life! If we do not learn our lessons, if we do not bear the fruit of righteousness and holiness, we are cut out of the Vine, out of Christ.

God does not wear blinders with respect to the behavior of His saints. God does cover our sins by the blood of Jesus so the Lord Jesus may have the opportunity to bring us to repentance and to convert us. But the Divine atonement is more than a covering. It is the redemption of what we are in personality and behavior until we become fit for the Presence of God.

The Christian salvation is not limited to forgiveness. Salvation includes transformation. Salvation is our deliverance from the person and ways of Satan and our entrance into the moral image and Person of Christ. Forgiveness is permission to enter the plan of salvation.

To be continued.