The just shall live by faith.
Felix, himself Paul’s judge, trembled as the apostle preached to him of “righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come.” Just for a moment the doctrine of the judgment was pressed so closely home to his calloused senses that he trembled as he thought of appearing himself before the Judge of all.
You may take a live coal from the fire and by handling it lightly, toss it from hand to hand without scorching your fingers. But if you firmly grasp it then it burns its way into your flesh. Multitudes hold the doctrine of the judgment so lightly that it has little effect on their daily lives. In a general way they believe in a day of reckoning, but it is not held firmly enough to burn its way into the heart and life.
You readily comprehend the truth that the world will be judged. You may even feel the satisfaction which the Psalmist expressed when he saw that evil would not always triumph, and that workers of iniquity would not be able to corrupt judgment in the day of God. But your thoughts must bring the matter nearer to yourself than that.
“Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Not merely the world in general and not solely the wicked who have lived in wantonness, but “every one of us.” Not as a church member, or in your family, but singly and alone you will meet the account that is kept in heaven’s books. What will other people say? Does that make a difference to you? Are you afraid to follow the Lord because of the reproach of Christ? Of what value is the record the world may write when the books of heaven are recording the story of your life?
Your life is made up of three things deeds, words, and thoughts.
1. Your Deeds.—God “will render to every man according to his deeds.” Rom. 2:6. Don’t deceive yourself by what you profess. “He that doeth righteousness is righteous.” The apostle writes of those who “profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him.” Titus 1:16. Not what you profess, but your deeds determine your destiny.
2. Your Words.—“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.” Matt. 12:36. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Therefore it is fair that your life should be judged by your words. Foolish frivolity in your heart will manifest itself in lightness of speech. Vanity within flows forth in “great swelling words of vanity.” Hatred of God’s law and lawlessness within your heart will lead to words against the Divine standard of righteousness. When you realize that even your offhand and idle words and especially the words uttered with determination and forethought are recorded, you may well pray the Psalmist’s prayer: “Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.”
3. Your Thoughts.—Your deeds and words are seen and heard by others, and may be controlled so that the true condition of your heart is not always revealed. But the judgment will not be according to the world’s standards. “He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.” Luke 16:15. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Heb. 4:12, 13.
The law of God is spiritual, and by it every secret sin will be revealed. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Eccl. 12:13, 14.
The whole aim of the Gospel is to teach you how the righteousness of the holy and perfect law may be fulfilled in you—by Jesus Christ the righteous One. The judgment will reveal all your works of self, and blessed are you whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered in that day. Since it is the law of God that is to be the standard of judgment, it isn’t strange that Satan should seek to lead you to despise the law, and to continue in sin. Lawlessness is a special mark of the last days in prophecy. In the same last days, when the “hour of His judgment is come,” you won’t be surprised that the message of the Gospel is in a special sense a call to loyalty and obedience.
When you are brought face to face with the judgment you cannot afford to treat with contempt the law which places you under sin. Now, when not only in the professedly godless world are people rushing on in sin, but when even in the pulpits and the religious world the law of God is being treated as an outward thing, the time has come that the Gospel calls in a “loud voice,” “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come.” Rev. 14:7.
Living By Faith- E.J.W., and A.T.J
Maranatha