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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Requirements and Purposes of the Two Resurrections, #3
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23)
There is a wicked, blind, proselytizing error throughout evangelicalism. The notion that lukewarm church-attenders because they profess belief in Jesus will be carried to beds of bliss in Paradise, while ignorant people and babies will burn in the Lake of Fire for eternity because they never heard of Jesus, is one symptom of this blind, pharisaic spirit.
If we hear the Gospel we must accept Jesus and be baptized in water, repenting of our sins. If we hear the Gospel and do not do this we come under condemnation. No amount of good works on our part will avail to permit our entrance into eternal life if we reject the Lord Jesus when He is presented to us.
Also we must, after receiving Jesus, practice the good works of the Kingdom of God. We must walk in righteousness and holiness, obeying God, showing mercy and humility in our attitude and behavior. If we do not do this we stand in danger of having our name blotted out of the Book of Life.
He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. (Revelation 3:5)
The statement "I will not blot out his name out of the book of life" reveals clearly that it is possible for a member of the golden lampstand, the church of Christ, to have his or her name blotted from the Book of Life.
It is not that we add to our salvation by practicing righteousness or that we earn our salvation. Rather it is that the salvation in Christ always produces and is accompanied by righteous, holy, and obedient behavior. Whoever truly is in Christ is a new creation, a righteous creation. If this is not the case, if there is little or none of the fruit that always accompanies true salvation, then we have received the grace of God in vain. We still are in our sins.
By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. (I Corinthians 15:2)
It is possible to believe in vain!
We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (II Corinthians 6:1)
If we do not truly repent and serve the Lord, our receiving of Jesus, the sweeping of uncleanness out of our "house," has done little more than prepare the way for seven devils worse than the first to enter us.
Faith apart from works of righteousness is dead—absolutely dead! It is worse than worthless because the Christian faith apart from righteous works tends to destroy our natural adamic integrity, making us as salt that has lost its taste. We become good for nothing in the world.
God's people of today must be warned of the fact that God will not acquit the wicked. The place for rebels against God is the Lake of Fire. We cannot use our profession of belief in Jesus as a legal maneuver with which to outwit God so we can practice wickedness and inherit eternal life. This is what many Christians are doing today and they will reap what they are sowing. God cannot be mocked.
To be continued.