6 / 16
The Amish Voice 6
3. THE JUDGMENT OF THOSE WHO LIVE BY THE
FLESH (v.21).
Very simply, those who live by the flesh shall not inherit the
kingdom of God. This can be clearly seen: if God is righteous,
then people must live righteous lives in order to be accepted by
Him. However, people ignore the fact of God’s righteousness
and His demand for righteousness. People divorce their
behavior from religion. People...
• profess religion
• practice religion
•
talk religion
• defend their beliefs about religion
However, they go ahead and live like they want regardless of
their religion. If they want to do something, they do it feeling
that God will forgive them. There are few people who really
think that God will reject them. They feel that they will have
done enough good to be acceptable to God...
• enough kindness
• enough religion
• enough works
• enough service
In the final analysis, most people just think that God will accept
them. This attitude comes from a false concept of God, a
concept that looks upon God as a father who is indulgent and
who gives his children the license to do some wrong.
This is a fatal mistake. It was the mistake that some of the
Galatian church members were making, and it is the same
mistake that teeming multitudes of religious people have made
down through the
centuries.
“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God?” (1 Co.6:9).
Believers are to inherit a kingdom, a new heavens and earth
where God will rule and reign. They are to be given eternal life
and given the glorious privilege of being citizens in God’s
kingdom and world. They are to live with Him and serve Him in
perfection for all eternity. But this glorious privilege is to be
given only to genuine believers, those men and women who
have truly given their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ— given
their lives to live as Jesus Christ says to live. No matter how
religious a person is—no matter how much zeal a person may
have in keeping religious rituals and in attending services and in
giving to charity—if he does not live a pure and righteous life,
he “shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
“Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit
the kingdom of God?” (1 Co.6:9).
“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom
of heaven” (Mt.5:20).
“For without [the Kingdom of God] are dogs, and
sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and
idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a
lie” (Re.22:15).
ILLUSTRATION:
The love of God should always be balanced with the judgment
of God. Listen to this story from Warren Wiersbe’s
Meet
Yourself in the Psalms.
[He] tells about a frontier town where a horse bolted and
ran away with a wagon carrying a little boy. Seeing the child
in danger, a young man risked his life to catch the horse and
stop the wagon.
The child who was saved grew up to be a lawless
man, and one day he stood before a judge to be sentenced
for a serious crime. The prisoner recognized the judge as
the man who, many years before, had saved his life; so he
pled for mercy on the basis of that experience.
But the words from the bench silenced his plea, “Young man,
then I was your savior; today I am your judge, and I must
sentence you to be hanged.”
One day Jesus will say to rebellious sinners, “During
that long day of grace, I was the Savior, and I would have
forgiven you. But today I am your Judge. Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire!”
If you play with fire, you will get burned. Allow Christ to be
your Savior, so you will not have to face Him as the Judge in
the terrible day of judgment that is coming upon all the world.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why do some believers take their salvation lightly?
2. What are some specific things you can do in order to keep
your relationship with the Lord alive?
3. What inheritance are you expecting to receive from the
Lord? On what basis do you make these claims?
4. For what will we be judged when we face the Lord?