Today's Word -- Judgment Begins Here

 If you are in a church where your preacher says it is okay to sin against God and still make it to heaven, you need to flee that church. Where unrighteousness is preached, it is also practiced. God is coming for a holy church, not a good enough church.

1 Peter 4:16-18

{16} But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name. {17} For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? {18} And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Hebrews 2:2-4

{2} For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment, {3} how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, {4} and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

According to Matthew Henry's Commentary, "When God brings great calamities and sore judgments upon whole nations, he generally begins with his own people." For example, in Isaiah 10:12 the Lord tells Isaiah that He will judge Mount Zion and Jerusalem before He judges the king of Assyria. In Jeremiah 25:29 the Lord tells Jeremiah that He is bringing disaster on the city that bears His name. And again in Ezekiel 9:6 the idolaters in the Lord's sanctuary will be the first slaughtered. 

God is calling each one of us to be holy like He is holy. We are each responsible for receiving the salvation and spiritual cleanliness which God has given the believer through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ (Savior) and His Holy Spirit (Fire of God). Through the blood we are saved when we believe in the name of Jesus Christ.  Through His holy fire we are made pure: unblemished, untarnished, unstained. 

I am responsible for believing God's Word. I am responsible for accepting the salvation He has proffered through His Son Jesus Christ. I am responsible for seeking the baptism of His Holy Spirit and obeying Him. I am responsible for living my life according to the Word of God. I am responsible for repenting daily for sins I (may) have committed against God. For tomorrow is not promised to anyone, even God's people. So I must be always ready to meet Him. It is less stressful to be ready than it is to worry about being ready! 

I am responsible for sharing the gospel with everyone I meet. I am responsible for living a life that glorifies God. And I am responsible for attending a church where the full gospel, the true Word of God, is preached, that I may hear with my ears and my heart the integrity of God's Holy Word. I am responsible for Who I worship and how I worship Him. 

I am responsible for my thoughts, my words, my actions. These must align with the Word of God that He might be glorified in me and through me. 

I am responsible for how I will be judged. Will I be found lacking? I hope not. Will I be ready? I hope so.