“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” (1st Cor. 6:9-10)
The list throughout the Scriptures is quite extensive of those who will never set foot in heaven.
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1st Cor. 6:11)
So, we try to be good, to be polite and nice, always getting along with just about everybody, but there’s a problem with that. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23)
So, what are we to do, it sounds like a hopeless cause. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
That’s how simple it is my friends, that entire message, however it is given takes at the most five minutes. How many minutes have you been saved by grace? Now, how many minutes have you spent telling others how they also can find salvation in Christ?
At the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will give our account, and this is only conjecture on my part, but I believe the wicked, those who will stand before the Great White Throne of Judgment will be given a lot more time to offer their excuses than we who have been saved will. Every one of them will have had at least one thousand years to ponder what they will say, some many thousands more. You may have at best a few moments.
“We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” (2nd Cor. 5:8)
This is not when the rewards will be given out, this is not when we will be glorified, for in our glorified state we “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1st Cor. 13:12)
Again, purely conjecture on my part, what I offer is not in the Scriptures, but in my mind at the present time it makes logical sense. No sin of any sort is allowed in heaven, all who have been crucified with Christ will give an account, the reasonings we will offer, you may call them excuses or rationalizations if you prefer, will be understood fully as just that after we are glorified, so it makes sense, at least to this poor writer of letters, that the account we will give will be before we are glorified, before we walk through, as it were, the gates of the eternal Kingdom of the Living God.
So, the best reasonings that you can think of today for why you did or did not obey Him in love who gave His life for you is the best you will have to offer in that moment.
Just you and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you been rehearsing what you have planned to say to Him or did 1st Corinthians 11:31 just come into your thoughts. “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.” Judging ourselves means we have taken a good hard look into the mirror of our soul, found what is disgusting in the sight of the Lord, and started to take out the trash.
We are not called to be sinless, that is an impossibility in the flesh. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1st John 1:8) But we are called to be holy. “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1st Peter 1:16)
Not moments of sin, not those fleeting thoughts of unrighteousness, but the stoppage of the continuation of a sin.
It would be wise of you to consider this, for if you do not, you may rest assured the Almighty will remind you of it. He tolerates no errant children for very long.
Stop thinking of the excuses you plan to give Him when you two finally meet face-to-face, start praying like David did, “Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.” (Psalm 19:12)
Judge yourself, look at those detestable things in your life, and yes, pray about them, but begin to act upon ridding them of your life also.
