Do you know Him and does He know you?
In a culture of all different types of Pseudo-Christian people who whole heartily deceive themselves into thinking they are the real thing we have to be extra cautious to separate ourselves from this infectious deception. I owe my all to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because He and He alone rescued me from this subtle deception. As we delve into the reality of our condition from a Biblical perspective; please dig into the reality of the depths we have in Christ and search your heart to see if you belong to the Good Shepherd.
I deal with people daily on the job, within my family, and in my every day dealings. They say they are Christians but their lifestyle says something totally contrary to their profession. What is a Pseudo-Christian and do you know any of them or are you that one I am speaking about? A Pseudo-Christian is a individual who follows the beliefs of the Christian church but fails to apply them in his or her daily actions. Also can be defined as one who sincerely believes he or she is Christian and even has a level of "righteousness" in their actions but is really motivated by their own selfish interpretation of the Holy scriptures. The selfishness is deep rooted and they honestly don't see it. Christianity is more than a profession and this is clearly seen in scripture. Many hold to Romans 10:9 as the true conversion but simply this is just one of the many first steps.
Matthew 12:30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
My heart sinks when I think of the reality of an eternal Hell in which the worm does not die and there is weeping and gnashing of teeth not for an age but forever. This should partly be our motivation and as we see in the scriptures Christ spoke more of Hell than He did Heaven. Heaven and Hell; we have never seen anything like it in this age. We are in this discombobulated world and we can maybe catch a glimpse of Heaven when we see a sunrise or sunset but regularly all we see are the effects of sin. I see Christians always talking about Heaven and no-one talks about judgment. Talking about getting crowns of glory but no-one mentioning condemnation for the wicked. Can you imagine Noah in his day warning the people about the coming judgment in which no-one had ever witnessed before. Do we not have the same task that he had but only with more tools and proof upon proof? Christ is coming back one day to separate His sheep from the goats and we have the foreknowledge of this truth that has been written for us in His Word.
Why then, do we call out names and give warnings about the false teachings? Well the answer is two-fold.
1) We are following our forefathers going back to Deuteronomy 13 and 18 in which Moses wrote and also the Apostles teaching that we have in the New Covenant.
2) We embody the love of Christ. In the Bible we always see love accompanied with truth (John 17), they go hand and hand like peanut butter and jelly, Joel Osteen and bad preaching, Creflo Dollar and prosperity, TD Jakes and emotion, or Rick Warren and ecumenicalism. Look at the intro in the book of Jude the brother of Jesus the Christ.
Jude 3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jude wanted to just write about the joys we have in Christ but because of the culture they were in he had to warn them about this false teaching. Why? If he did not warn them about the heresy; could he have really said he loved them? Of course not just like if you had a friend who was driving to his demise off of a cliff you would in the same way tell him urgently about his forthcoming disaster. How much more should we feel about souls that will spend an eternity in Hell? I would like for you to analyze your faith as Paul emphasized more than once.
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.
Let me ask all of the Christians a question. You give birth to a beautiful baby boy and he is the most joyful being in your life. Months and years go by and the baby still remains as adorable as he was when he was born but you see a major problem. The problem is he is not growing at all even though he eats like normal and has no apparent health problems. What do you do? I would hope that you would take him to get checked out to see if he is OK. So why will you not do the same thing for your professing only Christian(not really) brother or sister? Would you be worried about what they would think of you? Or maybe you might offend them. No of course not!! You see you are propelled by your love for them and should be even more when it comes to eternal affairs.
Philippians 1:3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
You see salvation is a progressive thing. Yes we are saved once and once only but Christ chastens those he loves as the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 12:5-6 until the perfect comes again. In our journey as a Christian we are to daily strive for the likeness of Christ.
Romans 8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
I ask you again, “Do you know Him and does He know you?” Do not take the grace of our God fro granted or use it as a license to sin. The Truth the Bible has conveyed leaves us without an excuse and we will stand one day before a Righteous, Holy, and Infinite God and be either commended for trusting Jesus for the only acceptable propitiation or be indicted for our wickedness. I leave you with this passage from 2 Peter 3, but answer he question “Do you know Him and does He know you?”
2 Peter 3:1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
