To Encourage You

1 Peter 4:17-18 “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And ‘If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’”

I remember it very well. I was in Russia on a short-term mission trip and had the occasion to meet with one of the full-time missionaries and a group of Russian youth. As we were discussing matters of faith, one of the teenagers asked us, “When you became a Christian, what did your family do? What did your friends do?” This young man was struggling with the cost of becoming a Christian. He was beginning to realize that there definitely was one, and he was weighing it all very carefully. You could see how hard it was for him to decide. Contrast this with the lighthearted gospel presentation that can be found on so much of “Christian” television. One of the ministers I’ve seen ends every message with a simple invitation to “ask Jesus into your heart,” and says if you just repeat his brief invitation with him, you have now become a Christian. Yet, I’ve never heard him say anything about what it means to become a Christian. I’ve never heard anything about the cost of it all. I’ve never heard him say anything about repentance, i.e., turning from sin and the ungodly lifestyle into which every person is naturally born, and turning to serve Christ as their Lord and King.

You see, Jesus put it this way in His Sermon on the Mount: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14). Did you hear that? The way to eternal life is HARD, the gate is NARROW, and those who find it are FEW. And why is that, for isn’t salvation a free gift available to all? Didn’t Jesus do everything that is necessary for us to have eternal life by dying on the cross? Don’t we just have to believe this to be saved?

But here’s the rub. What does it really mean to “believe”? James challenges us with the following clarification in James 2:19: “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” And then this in the following verses: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.”

What James is telling us is that for a person to truly place their faith in Christ, they must be willing to turn to Him with a belief that ACTS. It’s not just a matter of saying the right words in a simple prayer. No, true faith goes much deeper than this. It is a change in the direction of one’s life that is towards God rather than away from Him. It’s a faith that will result in obedience, not that the obedience saves us (for we are not saved by works, as Ephesians 2:8-9 clearly says), but true faith will produce obedience. It will endure hardship when it is tested, and it surely WILL BE tested as the passage above from 1 Peter 4 clearly says. It’s a life that will face trials of possible rejection by family and friends. It is a life that will face the day-by-day decisions to either love God with our actions or money and the things money can buy. It’s a faith that endures the fires of testing that God will place the believer through as He disciplines us to bring Himself glory. You see, although Jesus reaches out to sinners with His wonderful grace in His offer of salvation, it is NEVER His intention that we stay the way we were after we believe. And we can be “sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). That maturing process will inevitably involve testing, fiery trials, challenges to reveal to us (for God already knows) if we really believe and how strong that belief really is.

But so few are willing to endure such things. Many aren’t interested in bearing the cost. As they weigh the sacrifice that will come from turning from a life of sin like that Russian teenager did, they aren’t willing to make that turn, and so back they go to the way they were. But it’s such a foolish choice. Think of Judas who turned against the Lord of Glory for thirty pieces of silver. And what was the result? As Jesus said of him, “It would have been better for that man if he had not been born” (Matthew 26:24). Thus, the warning from the apostle Peter above, “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

You see, trouble is inevitable in this fallen world. Often that trouble becomes even greater for the one who truly believes. Yet, there is coming a time for every Christian when all of that trouble will end. As the apostle Paul said in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” However, for the unbeliever, even for those who live a relatively pain-free existence in this life, there is coming a time when their trouble will surely begin, and that trouble will last for all eternity.