Very soon you will run out of places that you will be able to hide from this, as with the approaching forced “obedience or face the consequences” that are coming upon this world, the places to hide from yourself and your relationship to Christ are going to be diminishing. As David said in Psalm 139:7, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?”
The person that you believe yourself to be in Christ will be exposed soon, and you will see whether or not that person was real or just imagined, a fictional idea of what you felt like, and not who you behaved as. There are more people who think they are Christians than there are actual Christians, of that you can be assured, many more will hear “Depart from me” (Matt. 7:23) than “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matt. 25:23) Why? Because they have not only based their entire lives on how they felt about Christ, but by the works that they have done, thinking that they were accomplishing them for Him, while in fact they were only being done to assist them in the continuing emotional state that made them feel saved.
These are being deceived and have deceived themselves twice over, with their own emotional state and the employment of works to embolden that state. They will sit in their “assigned” pew each Sunday morning, and then not contemplate the words spoken for more than a few minutes after the service is over, they may read the Scriptures, with the intent at times to study them, but many times it is at a time that revolves around a previous engagement or their favorite television show, their priorities revolve around themselves and the desire not to be inconvenienced. You may use Gandhi or Mother Terresa here for examples, fulfilling all the requirements of Galatians 5:22-23, portraying every fruit of the Spirit, but no profession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, using works as a path to the throne room of the Most High, deceived in every step of the way.
It is not our character and conduct that shows our faith in Christ, it is our faith and trust in Him, these traits will be the natural outpouring of that faith. “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.” (Mark 9:41) The key words in this verse? “In my name.”
It is the easiest way to discern not only when we are in the presence of a brother or sister in Christ, but it should also be the best example when you are looking at your own supposed walk with the Lord. Are the works done by you or through you, do those who are the recipients of those works know that they are being done because of Christ, or was that something that you believe they just should have known and understood. Do they know you are a Christian or are you just assuming they should know? Again I repeat the words, good intentions will find no rewards waiting for them in heaven, and many who have lived a life supposing themselves to be saved will find themselves in a place that at first they will not be able to understand why they are there.
It will be because they have not spoken His name in any of these works, it will be because they based their “walk” with Christ on the accomplishments of their works, because they attempted to emulate His life without the faith and trust in the Father that exemplified His life. We are saved by grace through faith, (Eph. 2:8) not by our emotional state, not by our works, and the fruits of the Spirit are only shown by those whose faith rests in Christ.
Each of us should be able to look back on our lives and see the times that we spoke to others of the Lord Jesus, but many cannot do much more than recall reciting a verse of Scripture at what seemed like the proper time. How do they know that you are a servant of the Most High God? Because you have said those exact words to them. How do they know that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior? Because those were the exact words that came out of your mouth when you were speaking to them. So, have they?
It is God that looks on the heart, (1 Sam. 16:7) people cannot do that, and there are far too many that are believing something about themselves that is far from the truth. All you need to do is look around and see all the “good” people, all the nice, polite, kind, and caring individuals on this planet that are just as deceived as many of those that are sitting in the pews right beside you every Sunday. Good people headed straight to hell, and deceiving themselves all the way there.
