REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE

REPENTANCE
UNTO
LIFE
by
DAVID W. DYER
“A Grain of Wheat” Ministries
Publication
REPENTANCE
UNTO
LIFE
First Printing 2008
Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations are from
the New King James version of the Bible.
More copies available from:
“A Grain of Wheat” Ministries
P.O. Box 644
Leominster, MA 01453 U.S.A.
or
davidwdyer@yahoo.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE . . . . . . . 5
1. REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE . . . . 9
2. THE REPENTANCE PROCESS . . . 31
3. THE TRUTH WHICH FREES US . . 43
4. THE COMING JUDGMENT . . . 71
PREFACE
We read in Proverbs 1:7 that “The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge...” Here we
learn that in order to begin to have “knowl-
edge” – which must include knowledge about
the Person of God – we must have something.
This essential something is called “the fear of
the Lord.”
What then is this fear? It is a reverent respect
for God. It is a realization of His unlimited
power. It is a consciousness of His purity and
holiness which present a standard by which we
are required to live (I Pet 1:16). It is the inner
knowing that some day we will be judged by
Him for our actions, words and even thoughts.
It is something which, if rightly understood,
causes us to tremble before His almighty pres-
ence. It is a sentiment which impels us to seek
Him to cleanse our lives so that we will be ready
when He comes.
Yet much of the church of our day seems to
lack this fear. Those who “tremble at [His]
word” (Is 66:5) seem to be in the minority. The
fear of the Lord, which should be fundamental
to everything, is treated as if it were out of date
or something only for severe, uptight, legalistic
Christians.
5
The result of this lack of godly fear is that
many believers are involved in sin. Their lives
are not pure and holy. They do not reflect the
character of Christ in their daily living. Many
are committing sexual sins. Others are addicted
to prescription or illegal drugs. Others are dis-
honest, angry, irritable, do not keep their prom-
ises and/or think only about themselves. Still
others have secret abortions, spend hours suck-
ing in online pornography, hate other believers,
do not forgive those who offend them and yet
still proclaim that they are converted to Christ.
How can it be that the church which Jesus
wants to present to Himself without spot or
wrinkle (Eph 5:27) seems to be overflowing with
such impurity, filthiness and sin? How is it that
those who “name the name of Christ” have not
departed from iniquity (II Tim 2:19)? Not only
have they not departed, it seems that many,
even from the pulpits, are justifying ungodly
behavior.
Yet there is hope. Believers today need to
pray, urgently seeking God, that by His mercy
we His people might come to know the fear of
the Lord. We read: “... by the fear of the Lord one
departs from evil” (Pr 16:6). If, by God’s grace
we can experience this holy fear, it will change
our lives. It will cause us to seek His face. It will
impel us to cry out for His salvation and purifi-
cation of our beings.
How is it that we can have more of the fear
of the Lord? It is by seeing Him. It is by under-
standing more about who He is. It is by glimps-
6
ing His power and glory. It comes by a true
understanding of His word, receiving more rev-
elation concerning His purposes and knowing
more perfectly His will for His people.
This small volume is an attempt to address
this need. It is a short writing about what this
author understands to be some of the lost fun-
damentals of the gospel. It is his prayer that God
will use it to speak into the lives of the readers
and draw them ever more into an intimate rela-
tionship with Him which will transform their
lives.
DWD
7
“For they have healed the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace!’
When there is no peace” (Jer 8:11).
“When you walk through the fire,
you shall not be burned, nor shall the
flame scorch you” (Is 43:2).
8
1.
REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE
“Then God has also granted to the Gentiles
repentance to life” (Acts 11:18).
The preceeding verse demonstrates a pro-
gression of activity. It indicates an action which
results in the receiving of some benefit. The
action here is called “repentance.” The benefit is
termed “life.”
This “progression” was experienced by all
the participants of the early church. The fact that
this included both the Jews and the Gentiles is
indicated by the word “also.” It was something
basic and essential through which they had
passed and which they considered fundamental
to their being believers in Jesus.
It was this experience that provided the
proof for the Jewish believers that they, and then
later the Gentiles, had been genuinely convert-
ed. It was this repentance and the receiving of
this Life, which was at the core of their under-
standing of what the message of Jesus was.
9
As it was in the days of the book of Acts, so
today it is imperative that every believer both
understands and experiences this progression.
In order for our faith to be genuine and the ben-
efits of our faith to be fully realized, all of us
need to pass through this process.
For us to receive the fulness of all the bless-
ings which are ours in Christ, it is essential that
we comprehend precisely what is being said in
the above verse. To this end we will spend a lit-
tle time and investigate some of these terms.
WHAT IS THIS LIFE?
To begin, exactly what is meant by the word
“life?” Every inhabitant of the earth already has
a kind of life or they would not be here. Just
what variety of life is this then which requires
our repentance to obtain? Obviously it is some-
thing which natural people do not yet have. It is
something which they yet need to receive.
Perhaps some would think that this “life”
refers to a future life in heaven. But this is not
the case. Others might imagine that this is some
extension of their human life so that it will not
die but will go on living forever. However, this
too is not what is meant.
Still others might suppose that this life is an
improvement of their human existence, sort of
like a gasoline additive which might give them
more power and better mileage. Yet, this also is
not what is meant by “life.” The life spoken of
here in this verse is the very life of God!
10
We can be certain of this fact due to the use
of a special word for “life” in the original Greek
texts. It is this specific word which gives us true
understanding. This word “life” is translated
from a unique Greek word, “ZOÊ.” The Greek
word ZOÊ was chosen by the writers of the
New Testament to refer to God’s own life. So we
understand that the life which we are intended
to receive is the life of Another – the very life of
God Himself.
Although the English language only has one
word for life, the Greek it much richer. It has
several words which refer to unique varieties of
life and distinguishes between them. All believ-
ers should be aware of this distinction because it
greatly influences our understanding of what
certain Bible passages mean.
For example, when we read in John 10:10
that Jesus came to give us life, what sort of life
could this be? If the Greek word here were BIOS,
for example, then Jesus might have come to
improve our physical existence, helping us be
healthy or prosperous. If this word were
PSUCHÊ, which is also translated “soul,” then
we could assume that He came to make us
happy and well-adjusted.
However, the word used here is neither
BIOS nor PSUCHÊ but ZOÊ which refers to the
uncreated life of God the Father. Jesus came to
make available to us the Father’s life and make
it available abundantly! This same distinction is
critical to understanding other passages of the
Holy Scriptures also.
11
ETERNAL LIFE
This ZOÊ life is described in other parts of
the New Testament as being “eternal” (I Jn 1:2).
This word eternal in the Greek is very special. It
means “spanning the eons” or “ages.” It signi-
fies a kind of life which is without beginning
and also without end. It is a variety of life which
was never born and can never die. It is a special
sort of life which has always existed, is now
today existing, and will exist forever.
Only God possesses this kind of life. The
Bible says that only He has “immortality” (I Tim
6:16), the variety of life being described here.
Throughout the ages God has been the only
immortal being. Not only does His life not die or
grow old, it cannot be killed. It is immortal and
immutable. We read: “...it was not possible that
he should be held by it [death]” (Acts 2:24).
Now there is some good news. It is news so
wonderful that it is almost impossible to
believe, yet it is true. God has decided to share
His very own life with human beings. He has
made a decision to impart this never-beginning,
never-ending life to mere mortals (Jn 3:16).
When they receive this life, they too can become
immortal (II Tim 1:10). They too can have His
eternal life. This means that they also will never
and can never die. They have “...passed from
death into [the immortal] life” (Jn 5:24).
If we take a minute and meditate upon this
idea, it seems almost unthinkable. The possibil-
12
ity that we, mere human beings, could receive
the life of an infinitely superior being is just
incredible.
What seems to be being offered to us here is
the opportunity to leave the human race and
become part of another race. This new race con-
sists of people who have received an immortal,
uncreated life – a life so superior to their human
one it is beyond natural comprehension. Those
who are part of this new race are called “the
sons of God.” This is, in fact, a newly created
species, a new variety of being which the Bible
calls a “new creation” (II Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15).
Men and women could hardly dream up
such a thing. Science fiction also falls short of
what this really means. But the truth is that the
God of the universe has opened the door for
anyone who is able to hear, understand and
respond, to become something unprecedented
in the universe – something which has never
been heard of before. They can receive into
themselves the life of an immeasurably superior
being, allow this life to completely fill them and
then permit this new life to express itself
through them in every facet of their living.
Even though some may not have under-
stood this yet, it is in fact the message of the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
ONE IMPEDIMENT
Yet, there is one problem. There is one thing
which blocks men and women from receiving
13
this unspeakable gift. There exists an impedi-
ment to this process of experiencing this new
life. There is something which bars us from
receiving this life and, even if we have already
received it, also inhibits us from being ever
more full of this life. This problem is called sin.
You see, God is supremely holy. He is not
just a little holy or partially holy. He is so
intensely holy that a sinful person who some-
how or another came into His presence would
be consumed. They would be in terrible agony.
His holiness is so pure, so concentrated, so
extreme that anything which was unholy could
not endure His presence. No one who is sinful
could stand being anywhere near God.
God’s life is holy. His life is righteous by def-
inition. His life is as spontaneously holy as our
human life is naturally sinful. God does not
have to try not to sin. He is not trying to resist
temptation. He naturally abhors sin since it is
contrary to His nature. His holiness is simply
who and what He is. It is His very essence.
Of course this explains why sinners like to
keep away from Him. This is the reason that
they find every excuse to deny His existence.
Even the thought that God might be real already
impacts the conscience of an unholy person.
To understand our God better, perhaps we
could think of the analogy of the sun. The sun is
actually a continual nuclear explosion. It is so
intense that we cannot look at it for more than a
few seconds with unprotected eyes. Imagine
then, not just looking, but coming up close to
14
the sun. A person would be consumed by its
fiery intensity.
Now our universe consists of billions of
such stars. There may be in fact billions of galax-
ies, each filled with countless stars. And each of
these stars is burning with an unimaginable
intensity like the sun. Yet our God, who created
all this, is much greater still! He is much more
powerful and the glory of His holy presence is
still more intense.
We read in Isaiah 33:14 concerning what it
will be like in God’s presence: “The sinners in
Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hyp-
ocrites: [They ask] ‘Who among us shall dwell
with the devouring fire? Who among us shall
dwell with everlasting burnings?’ ”
Here the prophet is contemplating what it
will be like in the very presence of God. This
passage clearly indicates that God’s presence is
intensely powerful and burning. Confirming
this we read in another place: “For our God is a
consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). The presence of
the Creator is a location where no sinner will be
able to endure. It will cause any such person
extreme agony and destruction. Just like the
sun’s effect on our natural body, the intensity of
God’s presence is too much for a sinner to bear.
A further proof of this is the way in which
the coming Beast will be destroyed. He will
come to his end simply by the appearing of
Jesus. We read about: “...the lawless one...whom
the Lord will consume with the breath of His
mouth and destroy with the brightness of His
15
coming” (2 Th 2:8). It is the intense, glorious,
“brightness” of His appearing which will utter-
ly destroy the man of sin.
When we stand before God, truth – power-
ful, pure, undiluted truth – will permeate the
atmosphere. There all our “refuge of lies” will
be swept away (Is 28:17). All our excuses for our
behavior; all our self-justification concerning
our words, thoughts, attitudes and actions; all
our blaming others for our condition; all our
imagining that we are better than we truly are
will be seen with the utmost clarity.
It is God’s very presence which will produce
this effect. Nothing will be secret or hidden. All
we have said, done or thought will be evident
before the entire universe. The conscience of any
sinner will be in the most extreme agony with
no way of escape. We read that He will: “...bring
to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal
the counsels of the hearts” (I Cor 4:5).
Everything secret will be exposed. It is the light
of the presence of God which will do this.
Today God hides Himself (Is 45:15). He is
not clearly revealing Himself to the world. No
doubt He does this for our benefit. It is so that
we will not be consumed. When and if God
reveals Himself in all His fulness, any and all
sinners will be destroyed.
This is not because God hates these people.
It will be simply a natural consequence of sin
coming into contact with His holiness. The
nature of His person is just so extreme that any-
thing which would be contrary to it simply
16
could not withstand the experience. This is
something which cannot be altered. God does
not change (Mal 3:6). He simply is who He is.
For another example of this truth, we can
look at what will happen when Jesus appears in
His glory at the end of this age. Here we find
that when the heavens open and He begins to
descend, the unbelievers and sinners are going
to suddenly invent a new religion. They are
going to begin to pray.
But instead of praying to God, they will pray
to the rocks and hills. They begin to desperately
plead with these mountains and rocks saying:
“Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him
who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the
Lamb! (Rev 6:16).
At this point in time, death by having a huge
rock fall on them will seem preferable to the
agony and torment which the presence of Jesus
will create in their minds.
I hope that this is abundantly clear for every
reader. Sin and God do not combine. They can-
not coexist. God’s presence will destroy all sin.
This is not because God has some intolerant
attitude about the weakness of mankind. It is
not because He is uptight about “a few little
sins.” It is not because He is does not under-
stand or is not sympathetic about our faults and
failures. It is simply a fact. It is a result of who
God, our creator, is. The intensity of holiness
which defines His nature, combined with the
awesome, unlimited power of who He is, will
simply destroy any sinner.
17
GOD’S APPEARING
One day God is planning to reveal His pres-
ence to the universe. Sometime soon He will
hide Himself no more. God is not content to
simply exist in an eternally concealed fashion.
His will is to be revealed in His greatness to all
creation.
However God loves the human race which
He made. He does not want to simply extin-
guish them all by revealing Himself in His ful-
ness without them having some sort of prepara-
tion which would enable them to survive this
event.
This then brings us back to our original
thought. God’s plan for us to endure His com-
ing is to make an exchange of life. His idea is for
us to receive His own life and by doing so
become a variety of being which would wel-
come and enjoy His appearing.
We must become the same kind of creature
that He is. We must receive and become saturat-
ed with His holy life and nature. Such a creature
would suffer no negative impact when He
appears. Not only would this kind of being sur-
vive in the presence of God, it would thrive
there.
It is our sin which today separates us from
God. It is also our sin which will cause us future
agony and destruction when we are in His
immediate presence. Therefore, it is necessary
for us to become free from our sin. It is only by
18
becoming liberated from sin that we will be able
to endure in God’s presence when He appears.
REPENTANCE
The first step of God’s solution to our sin
problem is called “repentance.” This is a step
which we must take. While it is true that God
Himself helps us with this necessary procedure,
it is a decision that only we can make.
Repentance is an essential part of the salva-
tion process. In fact, it is so crucial to our expe-
rience of the new life, that without it we can go
nowhere. Since this is so, it seems expedient for
us to take some time and examine this process
carefully.
When John the Baptist came, he came
preaching one thing: repentance. He said:
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
(Mk 3:2).
As Jesus began His ministry on earth, He too
proclaimed this same message. We read: “From
that time Jesus began to preach and to say,
‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ ”
(Mt 4:17). This repentance then is the first and
essential step for us to be able to receive the life
of God which He is offering to us.
There are many today who seem to want to
skip this step. They urge many to accept Jesus,
but without the initial repentance necessary to
proceed very far or with much success. They
seem to believe that simply “accepting” Jesus
and all that He has done for us is enough for the
19
sinner to later “go to heaven.” They present a
truly wide and easy way.
The fact is however that Jesus does not need
“acceptance.” He is not craving acceptance from
you or anybody else. God is not waiting nerv-
ously, anxiously hoping that someone, anyone
will accept Him. And then, if they will only
accept Him, He will forget all His uptightness
about their sins and their sinful condition. Our
desperate need is not to accept God but rather
for Him to accept us! We need to be accepted by
Him! And His acceptance of us requires an ini-
tial step on our part – repentance. A full, thor-
ough, complete, deep, heartfelt repentance.
What then does repentance mean? It means
that we realize the many sinful things which we
have done. We also begin to see what we are. In
God’s light, we become convicted of our deeds
and of our natural tendency to do a great vari-
ety of evil things which are contrary to God’s
nature.
Next, we confess before God what we have
done and what we are and then acknowledge
that we are worthy of death. True repentance
involves this realization: in the eyes of God, we
are worthy of death. Yes, genuine repentance
means that we realize that we deserve to die for
what we have thought, said, done and, in fact,
are. This is an important part of the repentance
process.
Reason with me for a moment. If we are not
worthy of death or do not think that we are,
what possible reason could there be for some-
20
one to die in our place? If we are not guilty
enough to deserve the death penalty, what need
would there be for anyone to substitute for us in
this execution? If our guilt is not sufficient to
warrant our death, then why would we need
Jesus to die instead of us? Therefore, it must be
impossible for anyone to receive a Savior which
they neither want or feel as if they need.
Baptism is meant to be a symbol of this very
fact. It is not simply a dunking or a bath. It is a
declaration to the universe that we have under-
stood and accepted our need to die. In true bap-
tism, we recognize our sin and are proclaiming
that we are joining ourselves with Christ in His
death and looking to His resurrection for our
salvation. We are stating publicly that who and
what we are is worthy only of death and that we
are believing in Christ to change us through the
substitution of His life for ours.
Any “repentance” which has not been pro-
found enough for the person involved to under-
stand that they are worthy to die, is faulty. Such
“repentance” will not take someone very far in
their Christian walk. Without true, deep, thor-
ough repentance, such people have no way for
God to cleanse them and substitute His life for
theirs. Therefore, they will make very little
progress in the spiritual life.
Why, for example, would anyone want to
have their life taken away and exchanged for
that of Another if they still believe theirs to be
pretty good? If, in their own estimation their life
is serving them well, there is no logical need for
21
it to be replaced. No one would want to be dom-
inated by the life of Another if they still like and
approve of the one they have. They would never
wish to die to themselves and have God live in
their place.
But concerning God’s judgment on those
who sin we read: “Anyone who has rejected
Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimo-
ny of two or three witnesses” (Heb 10:28). It was
God who gave this law. His penalty for sin is
death. This death was applied for many differ-
ent offenses, even ones which we consider
insignificant. For example, the Old Testament
gives us the example of a man stoned to death,
following the direction of God Himself, for col-
lecting firewood on the Sabbath (Num 15:32-36).
This same judgment was also mandated for
those who committed adultery, used drugs,
practiced homosexuality, consulted spirits, com-
mitted incest, had sex with animals, blas-
phemed, murdered, were rebellious sons and
many other such things. In short, just as Adam
and Eve’s sin resulted in death, so any and all
who sin reveal that they are worthy of death.
“The soul who sins shall die” (Ezek 18:4).
The physical death which was mandated by
the Old Testament law is simply a prefiguring or
a shadow of the future. As we have seen, death
or destruction of the sinful soul will be an
unavoidable result of the direct presence of
God. It is when He appears that the sinful life
and nature will be burned up.
God’s sentence upon sin is death. Sin and
22
God cannot coexist. “The wages of sin [any and
all sin] is death” (Rm 6:23). We have clearly
understood from the beginning of this chapter
that the very presence of God will judge who
and what we are. So we easily understand that
someone full of sin or even with a natural ten-
dency toward sin, will have His judgment exe-
cuted upon them. These individuals, merely
appearing before a holy God, will suffer judg-
ment by His presence.
Therefore, our repentance – the acknowl-
edgment of our deeds and our condition and the
recognition of our worthiness to die – is essen-
tial for us to escape His wrath by receiving His
new life. Our repentance opens the way for us to
become dead to ourselves and full of His life.
Thus, we prepare ourselves for the coming
day when Jesus will appear in His intense, blaz-
ing glory. It is when we truly repent that we
open our hearts for God to do His glorious sub-
stitution work in us, changing us into His own
image.
If we do not really see our sin, it is because
we lack light. The only way we can truly repent
is if God in His mercy shines His light into us.
When He draws near to us, the light of His pres-
ence exposes who and what we are. When we
lack this light and the accompanying conviction
of sin, it is a proof that we are not truly intimate
with our Creator. But when, through God’s
favor, we are able to see Him with more clarity,
we also see our sin. This then enables us to
repent.
23
SORROW
Repentance is something we do when we
finally see our sin. When we realize, in the light
of God, the evil of our ways we begin to be
sorry. When we understand how we have
offended others; when we see how we have
grieved God; when we know how our words
and actions have caused pain and suffering to
those around us, then we are in a condition of
being ready to repent.
True repentance involves sorrow. We read
about Paul saying to the Corinthians: “Now I
rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that
your sorrow led to repentance... For godly sor-
row produces repentance to salvation, not to be
regretted...” (2 Co 7:9,10).
Repentance means that we have a great
sense of remorse concerning the sins which we
have committed and even our very condition of
being sinful. We become truly convicted of the
gravity of our sins and their consequences.
Genuine repentance involves the realization
of the ugliness of our condition. When we truly
see ourselves we will see something very abhor-
rent. The experience of Job is an example of this
truth. He was, in his own estimation, a right-
eous man. In fact, from a superficial standpoint
he was doing pretty well. He helped the poor.
He succored the homeless. He did not speak evil
of others. He did not lie, cheat, steal, take advan-
tage or make commitments to others and then
24
break them. In many, many ways he was much
more righteous than many who call themselves
Christians today.
But at the end of his trial, God revealed
Himself to Job. God’s genuine righteousness
was seen, and in this brilliant, intense light Job
saw that his own efforts were merely human
and defective. He says: “I have heard of You by
the hearing of the ear. But now my eye sees You.
Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and
ashes” (Job 42:5,6).
Please note Job’s reaction. When he saw true
holiness he abhorred himself. He realized that
what he was, even though in human terms it
was esteemed, was really rotten. It was worthy
of repudiation. He abhorred what he saw in
himself. He hated the flesh, the fallen nature
and even the self-righteousness which he had
seen in himself. The result was repentance –
sincere, heart-rending repentance. This is the
only reaction which is acceptable to God.
When Peter was preaching on the day of
Pentecost, his hearers had a similar reaction.
They were “cut to the heart.” Peter had accused
them of participating in the murder of Christ. In
verse 23 of chapter 2 of the book of Acts, speak-
ing about the death of Jesus, he proclaims:
“...you have taken by lawless hands, have cruci-
fied.”
No doubt these were not the very men who
held and pounded the nails. Yet they were con-
victed by the Holy Spirit of being just the sort of
person who would do such a thing. They had
25
consented to His death. Through the preaching
of Peter, they sensed a deep inward guilt, cut-
ting straight to the heart. The direct result of
such conviction of sin was repentance (vs 38).
Another biblical reaction to the revelation of
God’s person is self-loathing. In Ezekiel chapter
20 verse 43 we read about something which will
occur in the coming millennial kingdom of
Christ when He will restore all those from the
nation of Israel to their land. There He will
reveal Himself to them. And what will be their
reaction? They will realize their sin and loath
themselves. We read: “And there you shall
remember your ways and all your doings with
which you were defiled; and you shall loath
yourselves in your own sight because of all the
evils that you have committed.” True repen-
tance also involves self-loathing.
There are many today in the church who are
preaching positive thinking. They imagine that
you should “love yourself.” Dear brothers and
sisters, let me tell you as plainly as I can: This is
a serious mistake. This will take you nowhere
spiritually.
While it might give you some false sense of
“self-worth” in the psychological realm (which
is merely the human soul) it will not promote
one iota of spiritual growth. It might adjust your
mind humanly speaking and perhaps give you
some emotional consolation but it will not trans-
form you into the image of Christ.
In fact, according to the gospel of John, self-
love will result in the loss of your life or “soul.”
26
We read: “He who loves his life [self or soul]
will lose it, and he who hates his life in this
world will keep it for [have it exchanged for]
[God’s] eternal life (Jn 12:25).
Now why would this be? It is because when
we approve of and love what we are, we will not
repent. We will not loathe and detest ourselves.
We will not sense the need for Someone superi-
or to live within us taking the place of our natu-
ral life. Therefore when Jesus appears, we will
not be very transformed. Then and there the
intense holiness of who He is will consume
what is natural, human and sinful. It is not pos-
sible for the sinful life to endure in His presence.
Here we find a reliable promise of God. This
is a fact upon which we can depend. If we love
who and what we are; if we approve of our-
selves, if we imagine that we are pretty good, if
we do not loathe and detest ourselves, then we
will lose our natural (PSUCHÊ) self-life the hard
way.
It will be lost at His coming. It will be con-
sumed by the intensity of His holiness. But if we
hate our life because we have seen what it real-
ly is in the light of Jesus’ countenance, then He
will work in us to exchange it for His own eter-
nal life.
True repentance – something which occurs
when we see ourselves in the light of God – gen-
erates sorrow, self-abhorrence and self-loathing
accompanied by a willingness to be rid of what
we see. It means that we now understand our
need to die and have our life replaced by God’s
27
divine one. We agree with God’s judgment on
our flesh and open ourselves to receive His
great salvation.
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
As we have been seeing, true repentance
depends upon the revelation of God. Jesus is
“the light of the world” (Jn 8:12). When we draw
near to Him or He comes near to us, His light
shines in us. As this light dawns, we begin to see
ourselves with much more clarity.
A person in a completely dark room sees
nothing. This is like our condition before we
know Christ. But as a small light begins to shine,
then the person in the room begins to see their
surroundings. The brighter the light, the more
clearly everything is seen.
In the same way, the closer we come to Jesus,
the brighter His light shines and the more clear-
ly we see our sin. In fact, this is an excellent test
for us to know if we are genuinely becoming
more intimate with Jesus: if we are increasingly
seeing our sin.
As a young believer I imagined that after
more than 36 years of walking with the Lord I
would almost be walking without touching the
ground, really feeling holy. But my experience
has been that, with the passing of time, I see
more and more of my sin. This has given me an
ever deepening opportunity to repent more
completely and have God’s new life grow with-
in me.
28
Repentance is not merely a one time thing. It
is not something which we do once at the begin-
ning of our Christian walk and then it’s over.
Instead, genuine Christianity involves an ever
deepening sense of our need for a Savior. It
means that we see more and more clearly what
we are as natural humans and how much we
need our life exchanged for His.
The more thoroughly we repent, the more
completely we can be transformed. The more
we understand how much our old life is worthy
of death, the more we can be changed into His
image. An ever increasing repentance makes
way for the life of God to fill us and replace
what we are.
Now why is this so? It is because unless and
until we see the need for our old life to die, God
will not – in fact cannot – do His work in us. He
is certainly not going to force us to experience
this transformation. He will not apply the death
of Jesus to us in the areas of our life where we
are unwilling to die.
Jesus will never force transformation upon
us. Our lack of willingness to be crucified will
always stop His work. Therefore, we must first
see ourselves in His light and then agree with
God’s sentence upon us. Then He will operate
in our interior to apply both the death and res-
urrection of Jesus to our soul life (PSUCHÊ).
As long as we approve of what we are, we
will want to hold on to it. While we think we are
O.K. then there is no need whatsoever for any
change. Certainly we would not feel a need for
29
a death sentence to be executed upon us. There-
fore, we remain as we are: untransformed, natu-
ral men and women.
True progress in the spiritual life – genuine,
eternal transformation into the image of God –
can only come to the degree to which we see
ourselves in the light of God. Then, and only
then, are we willing to “deny ourselves and take
up our cross.” This means that we are willing
for our own life to be put to death.
30
2.
THE
REPENTANCE PROCESS
A few people begin their Christian walk
with a blaze of sin-revealing, soul-searching
transformation. They are, from the beginning of
their experience with Jesus, repentant in a pro-
found way. Their sin has been deeply exposed
and they are ready and willing to experience
both the death and resurrection of Christ.
These believers have entered deeply into the
presence of a holy God and there they have seen
themselves in His light. This revelation of their
“self” and sin generated in them a profound
repentance which allows the Holy Spirit to do
His work in them quickly and without much
resistance. Such people progress very rapidly in
the spiritual walk.
Virtually all of what are known as powerful
“revivals” throughout church history have been
accompanied by this tremendous conviction of
31
sin. Deep, heart-searching repentance has been
the result. These “visitations” of God have
brought a blazing light which convicted men
and women both of their sins and their sin – of
the error of their actions and words and also of
the nature of their flesh which produces such
sins.
Those converted during these times of
God’s visitations almost always become God
fearing, holy people whose testimony continued
strong until their physical deaths. This is
because the transforming work of God – the
exchange of His life for theirs – is greatly facili-
tated by a deep, soul-searching repentance.
But many, if not most believers today, are
not brought to Christ in this manner. They have
not come to Him with much, if any, conviction
of sin. Instead, they are urged to come to Jesus
for any number of benefits. Perhaps they are
seeking healings, blessings, solutions to person-
al problems, financial prosperity or any other
such things. Many, instead of seeking to be free
from who they are and what they do are instead
looking for help to continue on living as before,
except without so many problems. Such con-
verts will make very little progress spiritually.
As a note here, I would like to state with the
utmost clarity that most of the so-called
“revival” experiences of our modern day can do
nothing to aid the transformation process.
Falling down, barking like a dog, jiggling,
laughing or any other such phenomena, do not
transform anyone. They do not convict of sin
32
and therefore do not generate repentance.
Consequently, they are at best a waste of time.
Worse still, they are often simply a delusion – an
emotional experience which many mistake for
something spiritual. Such experiences are not
the work of the Holy Spirit of God.
As we saw in the beginning of this chapter,
in order to survive the coming appearing of
Jesus Christ in His power and glory, we must be
changed to be like Him. We need to be trans-
formed from what we are into what He is. We
must have our life exchanged for His.
The key which opens the way into this most
necessary experience is repentance. We must
realize what we are and repent, crying out for
deliverance from ourselves. We must be willing
to die so that our sinful self will live no more
and so the life of Jesus can fill our entire being.
Repentance is directly related to our trans-
formation. Simply put: little repentance = little
transformation; more repentance = more trans-
formation; deep, thorough repentance = unlim-
ited transformation into the image of Christ. We
should never imagine that admitting and
repenting for our sins is a negative thing. It is an
act which opens up wide vistas of new spiritual
blessing in Jesus Christ.
WHAT IF WE DID NOT BEGIN WELL?
Even if we did not have a proper beginning
to our Christian life – that is to say we were not
deeply convicted of sin and therefore have had
33
a very shallow and insufficient repentance –
there is still hope. It is not too late. Today we can
seek God’s help so that we can come to a com-
plete repentance.
You see, it is He who actually makes our
repentance possible. Remembering again the
verse with which we began this book we see
that God “granted” the Gentiles repentance
unto ZOÊ life. They did not come to this on their
own. It was He who arranged it for them. Those
in darkness do not, and in fact cannot, see their
true condition. It is only by the mercy of God
when He shines upon us that we see how fallen
we are and how much we need salvation. It is
when we begin to glimpse His extreme holiness
that we understand our filthy sinfulness.
Genuine repentance is not something which
we can generate ourselves. It is not an act of
scrutinizing our past or present and trying to
work up some kind of sorrow. There is no value
in self-effort, attempting to feel guilty or trying
to remember every single, little sin which we
might have committed.
True repentance needs the light of God to
work. It is only His presence which can generate
it. Although we all too easily can resist this work
of His conviction of sin, we cannot produce it
ourselves. Our need is to seek His presence. It is
from Him that the necessary light will come. As
we walk in intimacy with Him we will increas-
ingly see sin in ourselves. Then we will have the
wonderful privilege of repenting and being
cleansed by Him.
34
Even if we began poorly in our spiritual
walk, even if we never have really repented,
today God can guide us into this glorious bless-
ing. He can still shine His light upon us. If we
are genuinely hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, He will make sure that we are
satisfied (Mt 5:6).
We should be always seeking the face of
Jesus. In this light, we can see just what we are
and repent. This repentance opens the way for
His death and His life to be applied to us.
We read: “But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from
glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord”
(2 Co 3:18).
It is as we see His glory that we are both
exposed and transformed. It is in the light of His
countenance that we see ourselves compared to
His exalted pattern. Our repentance then opens
the door for His life to fill what we once were.
AN ILLUSTRATION
I would like to share with you a little story
that may help to illustrate this point. Many
years ago my wife and I were in the Florida
Keys. One Sunday, we went to visit a church
meeting. I was surprised to find that I was the
only man there. The rest were women and chil-
dren. When the pastor began to preach, I began
to understand why. This dear brother preached
a legalism and condemnation you could almost
35
feel. Needless to say, we did not return for
another dose. One of those kind of meetings
was enough.
A couple of years later we were back in the
same area again and we ran into a woman from
that church in a parking lot. She began urging us
to come to a meeting. I was quietly thinking,
“That’s about the last thing I could imagine
doing.” Yet she kept insisting and insisting. She
said that the preacher had changed. He had had
an experience with God which made him differ-
ent.
I must confess that it was with much reluc-
tance that I went again to that meeting. Yet,
when the pastor spoke, it was obvious that
something had changed. Now he was filled
with the love of God. He was ministering by the
Holy Spirit. Something significant had hap-
pened to this brother. In my curiosity I had to
know what had taken place, so I arranged to
spend some time with him and ask him about
his experience.
What he told me was something like this: He
had been fasting and praying for a greater expe-
rience with the Lord. One morning he woke up
about six o’clock and stood up beside his bed.
There he became transfixed by the presence of
God. The only way he could describe the expe-
rience was by saying that he came face to face
with the Spirit of Truth – undiluted, pure, burn-
ing truth.
His experience was as if the Spirit reached
inside of him turning over, uncovering and
36
exposing many things. These “things” were atti-
tudes, thoughts, words and actions. He became
intensely convicted of his sin. This “Truth”
shone brightly into him. Then and there he was
brought to a profound repentance.
When this experience ended, he again
looked at his clock. He had been standing there
by his bed for about one half hour. But this thir-
ty minutes had made him a changed man. His
time in the presence of God had convicted him
and transformed him. Now his life was much
more full of the love and life of Jesus. How
much all of us need more of just such an experi-
ence!
REPENTANCE IS AN
ONGOING EXPERIENCE
Repentance is not a once-and-for-all type of
experience. It is not something which we do
once, at the beginning of our Christian walk,
and then never have to do again. It should be an
ongoing process in the life of every believer.
Why is this? It is because the closer we get to
Jesus, the more light we should see. He is the
light of this world (Jn 9:5). His presence is noted
for its intensity of light. Therefore, if we are gen-
uinely getting closer to Him, we should see our-
selves with ever increasing clarity. The light
should be getting brighter.
In fact, this could be considered a test of the
sincerity of our walk with Jesus. Are we in fact
seeing more sin? Is the sinful nature being
37
exposed in an ever expanding way? Is there a
deepening repentance in our life?
If not, then something is wrong. Somehow,
somewhere we have stalled in our Christian
experience. We are not moving closer to God. If
our repentance is, in fact, increasing then we can
have confidence that our relationship with our
Creator is becoming very much more intimate.
CONVICTION AND CONDEMNATION
There is certainly a difference between con-
viction of sin and condemnation. Many believ-
ers suffer from a lot of condemnation but very
little conviction. Condemnation can come from
several sources. No doubt the devil and his min-
ions work in our mind to condemn us. Many
also waste a lot of time condemning themselves.
Others, sometimes friends and relatives, may
also help to condemn or make us feel con-
demned.
But true conviction of sin comes from the
Spirit of God. A large part of His mission is to
“convict the world of sin” (Jn 16:8). So today, He
is working to expose our sin and help us to
repent.
When God convicts us, there is nothing gen-
eral or fuzzy about it. He always convicts us of
something specific and concrete. His light
exposes something which really happened in
the past or today exists in our lives. This is not a
vague feeling of guilt. God’s light always comes
with a penetrating clarity.
38
It is not possible to completely define the
difference between conviction which comes
from God and condemnation from another
source. Ultimately, this requires spiritual dis-
cernment. We must learn to know the voice of
our Shepherd and follow Him (Jn 10:27).
We need to develop an intimacy with our
Creator which enables us to discern which
things come from Him and which do not. There
is no substitute for this intimacy and discern-
ment.
Although no one should spend their lives
under condemnation from sources other than
God, there is also another danger. Far too many
believers label the conviction of the Holy Spirit
as “condemnation.” God is trying to convict
them of sin, but they resist this work of the Holy
Spirit calling it condemnation. This is a common
ailment, but one that is spiritually dangerous.
When we reject the conviction of the Spirit,
labeling it as “condemnation of the devil” we
resist the work of God in our lives. We block the
wonderful things which He wants to do in us.
The transformation process is halted. Since the
Lord respects our will, when we resist His work
to convict us of sin and then change us, His
work will simply stop.
Therefore, we should be very careful not to
err on this point, quickly and lightly rejecting
something which may be from God. Walking in
the fear of the Lord, we must prayerfully con-
sider before Him thoughts which might be gen-
uinely convincing us of sin.
39
I realize that there are many today who suf-
fer under a lot of “condemnation.” However,
one cause of this may actually be a lack of repen-
tance. When we have repented of some specific
sin for example, then we can have absolute
assurance that it has been forgiven. Once we
have confessed our error before God and
acknowledged the gravity of it, then it is
removed from us as far as the east is from the
west (Ps 103:12). It is gone. God does not
remember it. Consequently, we should not
allow thoughts about it to torment us.
The more thoroughly we allow the Holy
Spirit to convict us of sin, the less there is in our
lives for the devil or others to condemn us
about. Once we have confessed and forsaken a
specific sin, then we should not allow our minds
to dwell on it.
We do not need to constantly be confessing
the same sins over and over again. If we find
ourselves in this situation, always feeling
grieved over sins for which we have already
repented, this is a sure sign that condemnation
is at work.
There are more than a few believers who
labor under a tremendous feeling of guilt.
However, in my experience, many such cases
are the result of not having truly repented.
There are frequently many, many things in
these believer’s past which have not been
brought into the light. There are things which
they are trying to forget and leave behind with-
out bringing them to God in confession and
40
repentance. Therefore, their consciences contin-
ually condemn them. They are not truly at peace
with God. This causes them to feel generally
guilty about little things in the present, because
they have never really cleared up other things,
perhaps much more serious things, in the past.
Far too many believers are trying to move
forward in the Christian life without having
cleared up the past. They are struggling to move
on while dragging a huge burden of sins for
which they have not repented.
Needless to say, they go nowhere. Their
spiritual progress is blocked. They never seem
to grow spiritually. Due to their weakened con-
science many such believers are also vulnerable
to the influence of evil spirits, especially in the
area of condemnation.
These sins of the past could be: sexual sins,
murder, abortion, lies and deception, prostitu-
tion, hatred, unforgiveness, drug use, thefts,
unkind words or acts or any number of other
sins. No matter what sins we have committed, it
is a great relief to confess them before God. A
tremendous burden will be lifted from our
shoulders.
Confessing may be embarrassing. It might
be humiliating. It might even mean going to
prison for something which we have done. Yet it
will generate great joy. It will liberate much
more of the salvation of God. It will unlock the
spiritual progress which we need so much.
While we resist the conviction of the Holy
Spirit and refuse to confess and repent, we
41
remain in our private little prison of condemna-
tion and defeat. Our troubled conscience will
not allow us to remain in the presence of God
for very long. But once we repent, what libera-
tion and freedom will be ours to enjoy! What
great joy and transformation will be ours com-
ing from the presence of our Savior!
While our sin remains unconfessed and
unrepented of, it inhibits our relationship with
Jesus. It limits our access to His intense holiness.
When we try to approach Him, still carrying our
sins, we may manage to touch “the hem of His
garment” once in a while, but we won’t be able
to stay in His presence. We may be able to “feel”
His blessing from time to time, for example dur-
ing a time of worship, but we will not feel com-
fortable around His extreme purity for long
periods of time.
This is because in Jesus’ presence, our con-
science is touched. As we mentioned in the
beginning of this chapter, who He is will cer-
tainly impact who and what we are. So the only
way to stay in the presence of God, the only way
to walk continually in His presence is to be thor-
oughly repentant. We must respond to and
repent for everything which His light is expos-
ing. To remain in intimacy with God, we must
respond to what the Holy Spirit is touching
within us.
42
3.
THE TRUTH
WHICH FREES US
Inevitably we come now to a very difficult
part of our discussion. In order to really grasp
the importance of repentance it is essential to
unmask a few of today’s Christian teachings
which impede such repentance. These teachings
seem to indicate that sincere, thorough repen-
tance is unnecessary. They offer a kind of substi-
tute, teaching an easier and less costly way to be
accepted by God.
The process of arriving at the truth of these
things may be a little difficult. This is mainly
because there are so many entrenched notions
about these subjects. But please, read the follow-
ing sections carefully. These things are of the
utmost importance if we are to be found accept-
able to Him when He comes. We dare not err
when trying to understand these precious, eter-
nal truths.
43
Unfortunately, not a few modern concepts
concerning the work which Jesus Christ accom-
plished for us on the cross are wrong. Yet they
are prevalent among congregations of believers
all over the world.
I am convinced that these erroneous teach-
ings are largely responsible for the fact that
many believers do not seem to be making very
much spiritual progress. There are very few
Chrisitans whose lives reflect in any significant
way the pure life of Jesus Christ.
There are several doctrines common among
us today which seem to be good and even
attractive but they are not completely true. They
do not accurately reflect the heart of God or the
gospel message. They are a subtle twisting and
therefore a corruption of the truth. They are
ways of thinking, quasi-biblical concepts, which
have crept into the body of Christ and robbed
her of her spiritual vitality and power.
The reason for exposing these errors is not
merely to discredit them or to try to show that
this author is “more right.” This examination is
exceedingly important because these teachings
all have a similar effect.
Such doctrines all serve to diminish convic-
tion of sin. They work to deceptively free believ-
ers from any and all sense of guilt when they
have not truly made things right with God.
They provide Christians with many plausible
excuses to justify the fact that their lives do not
reflect the nature of their holy Creator. They
combine to form a web of theology which elim-
44
inates almost completely any need for a deep,
heart-searching repentance.
Therefore these errors are responsible for
much weakness in the church today. They turn
people’s hearts from real repentance. They justi-
fy continued sin. They “superficially heal” the
sin of God’s people (Jer 8:11) providing a kind of
spiritual Band-Aid for their unholy condition,
therefore retarding the cleansing from sin which
we so desperately need to become really inti-
mate with God. These erroneous doctrines are
like malicious computer code which have
invaded the church and robbed it of its over-
coming power.
TODAY’S CHURCH IS NOT HEALTHY
If we are honest we must admit that the spir-
itual health of today’s church is not good. She is
not well. The proof of this is the rampant sin in
today’s congregations. Adultery, sex outside of
marriage, lies, deception, abortions, cheating,
power struggles, gossip, backbiting, hatred,
envy and self-seeking of every kind is abun-
dant. The dress, habits, values and sins of the
world are invading the church.
In the struggle for righteousness, the world
is winning. The influence of the world over the
church is far greater than the influence of the
church on the world. Instead of the world
becoming ever more righteous, the church is
becoming ever more worldly and sinful.
Although there are a few precious exceptions,
45
the general trend is obvious. Anyone who can-
not admit this is simply being willfully blind.
Something is definitely wrong. But what is
it? It is that Satan has succeeded in insinuating
into the church some ideas which are erroneous.
He has managed to twist some fundamental
Christian truths into partial lies which rob
believers of their relationship with Christ.
Instead of deep repentance we have a weak-
kneed, watered-down, pusillanimous sort of
message which makes God into the one who is
seeking people to accept Him. No holiness is
demanded. No fear of God is sought or taught.
We have accepted a variety of “easy believism”
which all but eliminates the question of sin from
our thinking.
How did this happen? Where did the church
go wrong? Since these errors about which we
are speaking are deeply entrenched and have
been instilled into the church over a long period
of time, our discussion of necessity will take
some time and thought. There is no quick, sim-
ple answer to our present dilemma.
Yet I believe as we look into the word of God
together, His light will shine upon us to show us
a new and living way. We will try to take each
false idea in its turn and show how the scrip-
tures have been insidiously twisted to eliminate
the power of God and keep it from impacting
our lives. By the grace of God, we can come to a
new understanding of His will which will impel
us into His arms.
46
ELIMINATING SIN
God’s plan for sin is to eliminate it from our
lives. The devil’s tactic tries to eliminate it from
our vocabulary and our minds. God’s idea is to
change us into His likeness so that we no longer
sin. He intends to actually make us holy. The
enemy’s diversion is to make us imagine that
Jesus is no longer worried about what we do,
think or say. The devil would like us to believe
that no matter what the real situation is, God
thinks that we are holy.
Today’s church seems to preach a message
that God is not very concerned about your sin.
Perhaps this is not something directly stated,
but there is a generalized, subtle thought con-
veyed that perhaps previous generations of
Christians were too severe. Maybe things in the
past have been too legalistic.
Perhaps the God of the Old Testament who
appeared in fire, smoke, earthquake and an
insupportable trumpet blast on Mount Sinai has
changed. Maybe He has rethought His position
and has decided He would be more acceptable
and popular if He simply became more lenient.
Possibly He has “moved on” from His previous-
ly intolerant attitude.
Contributing to this impression is an errant
understanding of forgiveness. The church’s gen-
eral teaching concerning this theme has
stretched God’s forgiveness far beyond what He
meant it to be. Today it seems if we will only
47
receive Jesus, He will immediately forgive all
our sins – past, present and future. Further, once
we do this “accepting” He no longer pays any
attention to whether we sin or not but has sud-
denly become blind to what is going on.
According to the doctrine which is so popular
today, once we become God’s child then sin no
longer is of any consequence to us or to Him.
While it is true that Jesus can pardon any
and all sin, it is not equally true that He will do
so without regard to our motives. The blood of
Jesus is of the highest value to us and to God.
This blood is a result of the death of God’s
only Son, the most precious, intimate, special
thing to Him. Jesus did not donate blood as
someone might do at the Red Cross. He was tor-
tured, suffered and died to shed His blood. It
came at the highest cost. Therefore, this blood is
invaluable in God’s sight.
This means that when we apply to God for
forgiveness on the basis of this blood we must
do so with the utmost sincerity. There can be no
playing around. We cannot be partially repen-
tant or not be wholly willing to forsake our sin.
God knows the motives of our hearts. He
understands our secret thoughts from afar off
(Ps 139:2). This means then that without sincer-
ity of heart in our asking for forgiveness, we
cannot be forgiven. We read: “...let us draw near
[to God] with a true [sincere] heart...” (Heb
10:22). Anything less than this will not work.
God will not forgive a hypocrite. Anyone
who thinks they can fool Him or simply use His
48
forgiveness as a way of escaping the conse-
quence of their actions is in for an unpleasant
surprise. “God is not mocked” (Gal 6:7). There
can be no forgiveness without one hundred per-
cent sincerity. We read: “And you will seek Me
and find Me, when you search for Me with all your
heart” (Jer 29:13).
We also read of King David admonishing his
son saying: “As for you, my son Solomon, know
the God of your father, and serve Him with a
loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord
searches all hearts and understands all the
intent of the thoughts” (1Ch 28:9).
LACK OF REPENTANCE
It is also true that God will not forgive sins
for which we have not repented. If we have in
our lives, either in our past or present experi-
ence, sins for which we have not yet repented,
they are not forgiven. It is not true that once we
“receive Jesus” the heavenly slate is wiped clean
and we can just start over as if nothing had ever
gone wrong. Instead, we must repent of those
sins of which we are conscious.
Further, we need to repent of those hidden
or forgotten things which He brings to light as
we walk with Him. Then and only then are they
forgiven and forgotten by God. “And God
requires an account of what is past” (Ecc 3:15).
I am not urging a whole lot of introspection
here. I do not mean that we must spend a lot of
time in digging around in our past to find every
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tiny little error. I am simply saying the obvious.
Nothing in the past or present is hidden from
Him. We must be sensitive to His Spirit so He
can convict us of our sin and our sins so that we
can repent and be cleansed.
Further, it is important for us to continue to
be open to the work of the Holy Spirit to bring
these things to our remembrance so that we can
enjoy further repentance and transformation.
No known, unrepented sin is forgiven before
God!
Sinning, unholy believers are NOT forgiven
and will not be unless and until they repent. It is
complete foolishness for us to imagine that they
are. There is no possibility that the Father would
accept the infinitely precious blood of His own
Son as an offering to excuse an insincere, sin-
ning believer: “...for the Lord searches all hearts
and understands all the intent of the thoughts”
(1Ch 28:9).
JUSTIFICATION
Another doctrine which has been stretched
far beyond the truth is that of justification by
faith. Today, many seem to think that this means
that if they believe a few facts about Jesus, such
as things concerning His diety, His death and
resurrection, etc. then from that point onward
they are completely justified before God. They
imagine that from then on, God “can’t see their
sin but only the blood of Jesus.” Nothing could
be further from the truth.
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God always knows when we sin. That’s
right. Every time we sin, He knows all about it.
Our Father keeps constant count of the number
of hairs on our head (Mt 10:30). How could it be
that He would not notice when we sin? Since
this is true, just what does it mean to be justi-
fied?
To be justified means that God considers us
to be just. He has a relationship with us and
interacts with us as if we were, in fact, just. He
has fellowship with us on this basis because of
the blood of His Son. He does this, indeed He
has “legal” grounds to act in this way, because
of something which is called “faith.” We are jus-
tified before God by our faith in Jesus Christ.
Just what then is faith? This is a subject
which is extremely important for us to under-
stand since it is by this we are justified. If we
have it, then God will count us as just. Without
it, He will not. So it is essential that we have this
faith and know what it is so that we can contin-
ue to enjoy this blessed relationship with God.
WHAT IS FAITH?
Simply put, faith is our response when God
reveals Himself. He shows us something about
Who He is and we respond by affirming that
this is indeed He. We read that Jesus: “...mani-
fested His glory; and His disciples believed in
Him” (Jn 2:11).
Please notice the order of these things. First
Jesus manifested Himself. Then, the disciples
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believed. Unless and until God reveals some-
thing of Himself to us, it is impossible to believe.
We cannot define with human words just how
God reveals Himself to each person. With Him
there is an infinite variety of ways and means.
I firmly believe that each and every human
being has had, or will have, the Person of Christ
shown to him during his life in one way or
another. Faith is when that individual has a pos-
itive reaction. Disobedience is when someone
rejects what he perceives. When God reveals
Himself, the human heart either loves and
approves of what it perceives or hates it and
rejects it.
Faith is not a mental exercise. It is not simply
affirming some facts concerning Jesus. We are
converted because we have somehow glimpsed
and believe in the Person of Christ and not
merely in some doctrinal truths concerning
Him. We are saved by our faith in Him and not
by a theology about Him.
True faith is our response to God’s revealing
Himself. When He does so and we affirm that it
is indeed Himself, then, and only then we are
justified. When He speaks, we listen. When He
reveals His character, we love Him. When He
shows us His ways, we approve of them. When
He convicts us of sin, we agree with what we
see. This is our faith response to His revelation.
God, on His part, then interacts with us on the
basis of Jesus’ blood, considering us just.
But let us suppose that we sin. We do or say
something which offends our Lord. In our spir-
52
it, God reveals His displeasure. We sense His
speaking in our conscience. He reveals to us
how our error has offended Him. But maybe we
do not respond in faith. Possibly we reject His
voice in our conscience. It could be that we resist
what He is revealing concerning His justice and
our failure in relationship to it. We, in our
thoughts, justify ourselves. Instead of believing
– responding in repentance and then being jus-
tified by Him – we reject His revelation.
Thus we are no longer living by faith. We are
not responding positively to His revelation of
Himself. He is speaking but we aren’t listening.
He is revealing something, but we are resisting
this revelation. We are not believing and affirm-
ing what He is showing us. He is convicting us
of sin, but we are rejecting this conviction.
Can it be then that He still considers us just?
Are we still walking by faith? Is our past faith
enough to fool Him into not realizing that we
are rebelling against Him at this moment? Are
we justified before Him in our current rebellion?
Certainly not!
LIVING FAITH WHICH JUSTIFIES
In order for our faith to be genuine, it must
be up-to-date. It must be active today, right now.
James makes this very clear when he says:
“...faith without works is dead” (Js 2:20). What
he means is that if our faith is living and there-
fore genuine, it will manifest itself today in our
actions. Our “works,” – the things which we do
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and say – will reflect our living faith. They will
prove that we are in living contact with our
Creator.
Our present faith is alive when it brings us
into an intimate relationship with God and God
into communion with us. It is in this way that
we “walk by faith” (II Cor 5:7). We walk in
moment by moment communion with Him,
responding continuously in faith to what He is
revealing of Himself to us each moment. The
results of this faith-generated communion are
our actions or “works” which reveal that our
faith is living.
On the other hand dead faith will not justify
us! A faith that is not up-to-date, a faith which is
not at this moment responding to what God is
revealing, cannot please God. It is dead and use-
less. Even demons have a kind of faith, perhaps
more than many Christians. They believe many
facts about the Most High. They even have the
good sense to tremble when they think about
them. But they do not have communion with
God. They are not in a faith relationship with
Him. They are not responding moment by
moment to His leading. They are not being jus-
tified. In the same way, a Christian’s dead faith
cannot justify him or her before God either.
Dead faith is something merely of the past.
It is something which we once believed when
we responded to the Lord. Dead faith is a static,
mental thing of which we were once convinced.
But such facts of the past do not constitute a
faith which justifies us right now before God.
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For example, let us suppose that one day
you believed in Jesus. He revealed Himself to
you and you responded positively to this reve-
lation. You believed into Him and became born
again. At that time, your faith was living. You
were justified by Him.
But how about today? Is your faith still
active and living. Are you still responding to all
that He is revealing to you concerning Himself
and His will? Are you enjoying living commun-
ion with Him? Is your faith at this minute the
kind which is justifying you? Or do you find
yourself in a position of being somewhat distant
from Him?
To be justified by faith today, you must have
a faith which is active today. Let us take as an
example someone who received the Lord some
years ago. But in the interval between then and
now, they began to live in sin. Let us suppose
that they began having sex outside of marriage,
began lying about something, started cheating
or stealing money at work, began using drugs
and/or any number of other such things. Can it
be that God considers this person just and right-
eous? Has He gone blind and become a fool?
In order for this person to again be justified,
they must repent. They must reactivate their
faith and become obedient. They must respond
to what God is speaking to them in their spirit at
this moment and repent. If and when they do so,
then God will again consider them justified. He
will again have communion with them based on
the blood of Jesus.
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But if and when someone continues on in
sin, if they oppose the work of the Holy Spirit in
their lives, if they resist His conviction, then
they do not have a living faith. Therefore, they
are not being justified.
Such persons need to repent. They need to
seek forgiveness from God by repudiating their
sin and seeking for that part of their sinful soul
to be put to death together with Jesus. Then, and
only then, can they again qualify to be consid-
ered justified in the eyes of God. This is genuine
justification by faith.
We are told clearly: “The just shall live by
faith” (Gal 3:11). It is only when we are “living
by faith” in the manner which we have been dis-
cussing that God considers us just.
CAN WE GO TOO FAR?
This then raises an important question. Can
someone go too far? Can a child of God sin and
keep on sinning in such a manner that he or she
can no longer repent? The answer seems to be
“Yes.” It appears to be possible for people to
harden their hearts, go against their conscience
and resist God to the point where they can no
longer repent. They can no longer be sorry
before the Lord with sincerity.
We read in Hebrews 6:4-6 and verse 8: “For
it is impossible for those who were once enlight-
ened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and
have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and
have tasted the good word of God and the pow-
56
ers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew
them again to repentance, since they crucify
again for themselves the Son of God, and put
Him to an open shame...whose end is to be
burned.”
Please notice here that the end of such
believers is “to be burned.” Perhaps you will
remember the beginning of this theme when we
spoke of the intense, burning presence of God.
Also, you will recall how anything sinful and
not transformed will be consumed there. The
presence of a Holy God will burn up anything
which does not correspond to His nature. This
verse verifies the truths about which we have
been speaking.
Therefore, we all should have a good
amount of godly fear. We should treat our pre-
cious relationship with Jesus as a serious and
extremely important thing. We should never
play with sin or with our Lord’s sacrifice for us.
Let us live with an awareness of the serious
consequences. “Knowing, therefore, the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men” (II Cor 5:11).
(Please note that the context of this verse is
speaking only about believers.)
Esau is an example of someone who could
not repent. He had come to this point of hard-
ness of heart where he could not make himself
genuinely repentant. His heart was not soft
toward the Lord. He had treated the precious
things of God lightly and traded them for tem-
porary, earthly gratification. Yet one day he real-
ized what he had lost and wanted it back.
57
However, it seemed as if he wanted it back
without truly recognizing his sin. Perhaps he
was sorry he had lost something but was not
willing to humbly confess his error in doing so.
He was willing to tear his garments, but not
rend his heart (Joel 2:13). Even crying and weep-
ing before God could not get him back what he
had lost. He could not bring himself to genuine-
ly repent. “For you know that afterward, when
he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was reject-
ed, for he found no place for repentance, though
he sought it diligently with tears” (Heb 12:17).
This terrible story should be a warning to us
all. We never should play around with the pre-
cious things of God. We must come to Him with
reverence and godly fear. We must pay the high-
est respect to what He has done for us. Our
repentance must be sincere. Our faith must be
living. Only in this way will we be found to be
pleasing to Him when He comes.
Still another passage from the Bible confirms
this same truth. “For if we sin willfully after we
have received the knowledge of the truth, there
no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a cer-
tain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery
indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
“Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies
without mercy on the testimony of two or three
witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do
you suppose, will he be thought worthy who
has trampled the Son of God underfoot, count-
ed the blood of the covenant by which he was
sanctified a common thing, and insulted the
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Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said,
‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.
And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the liv-
ing God” (Heb 10:26-31).
This passage is clearly speaking about
Christians. Only they could qualify to be “we,”
already having “received the knowledge of the
truth” and being “His people.” Once again we
are told of the “fiery indignation” of Jesus
toward the unrepentant and the “devouring” of
those who are disobedient. The word “adver-
saries” here does not have to be “enemies” or
unbelievers but those who have set themselves
against or in opposition to Jesus.
The “sinning willfully” about which we
read here cannot mean that we occasionally do
things which we know are wrong. The truth is
that all believers do this once in a while. It must
mean that this individual persists in known sin.
He or she continues rebelling, resisting the con-
viction of the Holy Spirit, over a long period of
time. Such stubborn rebellion seems to produce
a hardness of heart which, over time, makes it
impossible for such a believer to repent with
sincerity.
A MODERN EXAMPLE
We have had a recent experience with some-
one in a similar situation. A man we know com-
mitted adultery with another man’s wife, a sis-
ter in the church. When we went to speak to this
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brother, we urged him to repent – not just to say
a quick “I’m sorry” but to arrive at remorse and
self-abhorrence. We suggested that his actions
might, as other similar situations have done:
destroy the marriage of this other woman; pre-
cipitate divorce; leave children without one par-
ent and perhaps without financial support and
cause any number of other devastating, painful,
evil, long-lasting consequences. Like ripples in a
pond from a thrown stone, sin, any and all sin,
has consequences which impact many other
lives around us.
As our conversation progressed, it came to
light that this man’s life had a long history of
adultery and sexual sin. It was something which
had dominated him for a significant number of
years. It seems that he had never been able to
arrive at a profound, genuine repentance which
would have enabled God to cleanse him. So we
suggested that this was his need – to arrive at an
abhorrence of himself and his lusts and truly
repent.
His response to us was something like this:
“I’m already restored.” “I’m already back with
God.” “I don’t need anything like you’re sug-
gesting.” “I reject this idea!” Sadly, we had no
choice but to leave him with his rejection of a
heart-rending, soul-searching repentance.
It seems entirely possible that without such
a repentance, this sin will continue to operate in
his life and impact the lives of others also. The
latest news I have heard about him is that he is
now pastoring a church in a nearby city.
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John teaches that there “...is sin leading to
death” (I Jn 5:16). This does not necessarily refer
only to physical death, but could certainly also
refer to the ultimate destruction of the sinning
soul. It seems that there is a point beyond which
a Christian can go which makes them unable to
repent any more.
John explains that we do not need to pray
for such a person. Any such prayers would be of
no use. Their destiny is sealed. While prayer for
other sinning believers will result in God’s “life”
growing in them (as we also see in this verse),
prayer for such an unrepentant person would
have no positive result.
The truth is that it is almost impossible for
us to know when someone has gone too far.
There is no humanly definable point when we
can be sure that someone can no longer repent.
Only God knows our hearts. Only He knows
where that point is. So, dear brothers and sisters,
let us stay away from that line. Let us not let our
faith waver. Let us maintain a living faith rela-
tionship with our Creator and let Him lead us in
ever deepening repentance.
YOU CAN’T REALLY BE HOLY
Still another untruth which is very common
today is that Christians can’t really be holy. It
seems that many, if not most believers think we
can put aside a few of our grosser sins, but actu-
al, visible holiness is not possible. They seem to
believe that they can be improved a little in this
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life, but to be genuinely holy is just a pie-in-the-
sky dream. Combined with this belief seems to
be another thought that God doesn’t really care.
It doesn’t matter very much to Him if we are
completely holy or not.
This lie then disarms believers from ever
achieving the goal. They never hope to be truly
purified from sin. They never expect to be
changed dramatically and so they simply
accommodate themselves to a life of imperfec-
tion and sin.
Yet God in His word admonishes us to be
holy. We read: “...but as He who called you is
holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’ ” (I
Pet 1:15,16). We also are taught to: “Pursue...
holiness, without which no one will see the
Lord” (Heb 12:14). II Corinthians 7:1 admonish-
es us to be: “...perfecting holiness in the fear of
God.” These are just a few of the many verses in
the Bible exhorting us to righteousness and holi-
ness.
This holiness to which our Master is calling
us is not something which only exists in the
mind of God. It is not something merely theoret-
ical, mental or doctrinal. It is not merely “posi-
tional.” This is a kind of holiness which is real,
tangible and lived out through us. It is a purity
which others notice. It is a righteousness which
is visible to those who live with us and in rela-
tionship with us.
Such superhuman living, such genuine
righteousness, is not something which we can
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produce. It is not a result of human effort. It is
not gained by will power, determination or ded-
ication.
The standard of righteousness which is
required is far too high for any human being to
attain. Instead, it is the result of another Life. It
is accomplished by Someone truly righteous liv-
ing in us and manifesting Himself through us.
As we have been seeing, God’s plan is to
give us His own life. Next, His life will grow up
inside of us. As it grows, it will express itself
more and more clearly. His own nature, which is
supremely holy, will begin to be seen in us.
Thus, we will begin to exhibit a genuine, visible
righteousness. We will actually think, say and
do holy things.
Yet this righteousness is not something
which “we” do. The source of it is not ourselves
(Php 3:9). It is something which comes from
God. It is the result of His own life living, mov-
ing, thinking and feeling inside of us. This is His
plan.
To insist that we cannot be perfect is to insist
that Jesus’ work of salvation was also imperfect.
It is to say that it was incomplete. Thinking in
this way, we affirm that although we can per-
haps be changed a little, God’s work on the
cross lacks the force and potency to complete
the job in our lives. This of course cannot be
true. He clearly said: “It is finished” (Jn 19:30).
Further, to imagine that we cannot be per-
fected is to declare that Jesus’ life is not perfect.
This is because it is actually His life which
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should be lived out through us. If the demand
were for us to work up some kind of personal
righteousness, then of course, we could never be
perfect. But since it is His perfect life which will
live in us, then certainly we can reflect His
nature in every way. Our old life has been com-
pletely crucified with Him and His new life has
been made one hundred percent available to us.
The way to obtain such an exalted life is
repentance. All of us need to experience an ever
deepening repentance unto life. The more God
enables us to repent, the more we will experi-
ence His death and resurrection. The more His
life grows within us and begins to predominate
in our interior, the more we will have the privi-
lege of enjoying genuine holiness.
We must never look at the behavior of those
around us and justify our sins by their failure to
be holy. We must look only and intently into the
face of Jesus Christ, allowing Him to transform
us into all that He is.
INSTANTANEOUS
TRANSFORMATION
Another common error found in today’s
church is the thought that our present condition
is not important because we will be suddenly
changed later on. Many believe that when Jesus
returns, we will all be instantly transformed to
be like He is. Perhaps He will touch us on the
head with a magic wand, and poof, we will be
immediately changed to be holy and righteous.
64
So, many reason, why should we need to be
holy today? It seems “so hard.” What difference
does it make if we are still somewhat sinful; if
we indulge ourselves in a little sensual pleasure;
if we slip up once in a while; if we let ourselves
go and do things which we know are wrong? If
we are all going to be transformed instantly
later, what possible difference could it make
today if we are holy or not?
This error seems to be largely based on the
following verse. We read: “Behold, I tell you a
mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all
be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed”(1 Cor 15:51-52). Cer-
tainly, this is a true verse. This will happen.
But, we must realize the context. This pas-
sage is speaking about the glorification of our
body. It is not addressing the question of our
soul. Our bodies will be immediately and
instantly changed. But concerning our interior,
our soul, everywhere the Bible speaks of this
being a process, not an event. It is an operation
which we need to “work out” with fear and
trembling in cooperation with God (Php 2:12). It
is something which takes time.
There is nowhere in the Word of God the
notion that the transformation of the soul is a
future, instantaneous event. Throughout the
New Testament, we are urged to press on, to
obtain, to carry the cross, to deny ourselves, to
become holy here and now.
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The life of God must grow up and mature in
us. This process takes time and our willingness.
No life matures instantly. Only a mushroom, an
inconsequential, mushy fungus, sprouts over-
night. It is only through our ever-deepening
repentance that we can be full of God’s life and
not be ashamed to meet Him when He comes.
Since true holiness is a result of the divine
life of God growing in us, how could it be pos-
sible that this life would grow instantly? How
could we imagine that, after resisting transfor-
mation for many years; after being unwilling for
our own life to be put to death; after stubbornly
refusing to yield to Jesus’ words; suddenly, at
the coming of Christ, He would overpower us
and change us instantly? Surely this is only fool-
ishness and wishful thinking. It is a misunder-
standing of the how the transformation process
works.
MISUNDERSTANDING FORGIVENESS
Forgiveness is a wonderful thing. We all
need it. We are blessed that our God is a God of
compassion and forgiveness. Without the for-
giveness which Jesus provides for us, we would
be completely lost. The forgiving power of the
blood of Jesus is beyond estimation. It is of truly
unimaginable value.
Even though this is true, many believers
misunderstand forgiveness. They suppose that
Jesus’ mission in coming to earth and dying for
our sins was merely to forgive us. Perhaps they
66
imagine that the coming new creation will be
filled with a bunch of sinners who still sin and
will still be needing to be forgiven every day.
Maybe they think that they will just go on sin-
ning forever and God will just keep forgiving
them forever and ever.
But the truth is that anyone who sins cannot
enter into the future new world. They are total-
ly and completely excluded. If they did enter,
they might sin. In fact it is inevitable. Sooner or
later they would sin. And this sin would destroy
God’s new creation. Therefore, they won’t be
allowed in.
Let us look at the example of Adam and Eve.
How many sins were necessary to destroy
God’s present creation? Just one. But this one sin
perhaps doesn’t seem too bad in our eyes. Eve
did not murder anyone. She did not commit sex-
ual sin, as many try to believe she did. She stole
nothing. Instead, her sin was a simple disobedi-
ence.
Even though this sin seems relatively
“small” it was enough to devastate God’s newly
created earth. Everything went bad. Death
began. An infinite variety of sins began to grow
in men’s hearts and eventually express them-
selves. Murder came shortly behind. War, rape,
stealing, hatred, strife and all the evil which fills
our wold today came from this one “small”
event.
Even the course of nature was changed. The
earth grew weeds. Animals began to kill and eat
one another. Insect pests began to torment man
67
and beast. Diseases sprung up. Famines and
plagues occurred. Wickedness of every kind
appeared.
So it is easy to conclude that no sinner will
enter the new creation. They simply cannot be
allowed in. If they were, they would soon sin
and demolish it as our forefathers ruined this
one.
Therefore, before the new creation begins,
the problem of sin in our lives must be resolved.
Something needs to happen. We must be
changed so that we no longer sin. We need to be
transformed into the image of a holy Christ.
Blessedly, our loving God has a plan. He has
made complete provision for us so that we can
be transformed absolutely. His plan is called:
“repentance unto life.”
We read: “If we confess our sin He is right-
eous and just to forgive our sin and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.” This verse shows us
that God will do two things. When we repent,
i.e. “confess,” He will certainly forgive us. Yet
He will also do something more. He will
“cleanse” us.
This word “cleanse” is not just a synonym
for “forgive.” This means that He will work in
our lives to clean us up so that we no longer sin.
The sin, which contaminated us, will be
cleansed from our lives. God will co-labor with
us to crucify our sinful life and nature and
replace it with His own holy life and divine
nature. This is exactly what His plan is for every
believer.
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You see, forgiveness is not God’s ultimate
purpose. It is not the end. It is not His final
intention. Instead, it is the means to an end. This
“end” is the complete transformation of our
soul. He forgives us so that He can enter into a
relationship with us. His pardon, based upon
the blood of Jesus, permits His holiness to inter-
act with us.
But this interaction is not simply to tolerate
or overlook our sin. There is a much higher pur-
pose here. It is to change us, to cleanse our lives
completely so that we no longer sin. It is to
make us like Himself. It is to prepare us for His
appearing. Praise God, He promises to cleanse
us from all sin!
Forgiveness, which is abundantly available
to everyone, is what opens the way for us to
enter into God. It can be perhaps be compared
to a kind of ticket which gets us into a show or
sports event.
It is through the forgiveness of God that we
have access to His salvation. Forgiveness is the
avenue through which we enter into all that
Jesus has for us. May we not abuse this forgive-
ness, but rather use it to obtain all that He has
made available to us.
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70 4.
THE COMING JUDGMENT
All believers will someday stand before the
undiluted presence of God. “For we shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Rm
14:10). There, what we are and what we have
done will be tested by the intense, fiery presence
of Who He is. All of us will pass through this
divine fire.
It is clear that not only our actions, our
words and our “deeds,” will be analyzed by the
holy fire, but we too will be tested by it. The
scriptures teach us: “...each one’s work will
become manifest; for the Day will declare it,
because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire
will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If
anyone’s work which he has built on it endures,
he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is
burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will
be saved, yet so as through fire” (I Cor 3:13-15).
71
Most believers already know that their
works will be tested by this fire. But many per-
haps think, “I may lose out on a few rewards,
but so what?” “What difference will it make to
me if some of my works are burned?” Yet what
they fail to see is that they too will be tested by the
same fire. He or she may still be “saved” but they
will appear, without protection or excuse, in the
intense, fiery presence of God almighty.
For some this will be an awful experience.
They will suffer shame, and loss. Their uncon-
fessed sins will be exposed and their sinful
nature will be consumed. It will be burned up.
For others it will be an awesome experience.
There they will see face to face the One who has
transformed and cleansed their lives. There they
will be rejoicing with joy which is beyond
human words.
When we stand before God, all the unholy,
sinful “parts” of our soul will be destroyed. The
untransformed portions of our being will be
consumed. These sinful areas of our soul will
not enter into the new creation because they will
be destroyed or “lost” at His coming. This is an
important, biblical fact of which far too many
believers are unaware. Yet it is crucial to under-
stand. How can we be sure of such a fact?
To begin, we must remember the beginning
of our discussion about the unimaginably con-
centrated essence of who God is. In His direct
presence, His holiness, purity, honesty, love – in
short all of His divine nature will be manifested
without dilution. Nothing which is not like Him
72
will be able to pass this test. Anything different
will be consumed by this “fire.” No sin, no self,
no unrighteousness of any kind can exist there.
Only something which is of the same nature
could pass the test.
If I were to tell you that I could put a piece
of newspaper into an intense fire and it would
not burn, you would not believe me. In the same
way, no “natural” man will be able to stand in
the presence of God. He would be consumed.
At that time, it will be too late to simply ask
for forgiveness. On that day, even repentance
will not work. There will simply be no more
time or opportunity for the transformation
process to work. There will be no more time for
God’s life to grow. No amount of forgiveness at
that time could protect our untransformed soul
from the intensity of who God is.
THE EXAMPLE OF MOSES
Moses loved God. So he was curious to see
Him. Consequently, one day he made a request.
He said: “Please, show me your glory” (Ex
33:18). But God had to explain something to
him. What he was asking just was not possible.
Moses could not see His face. He was unable to
stand in His direct presence. Why was this? God
explained saying: “...for no man shall see Me
and live” (Ex 33:20).
Now why would this be? Is it that if some-
one accidentally sees God, then God must kill
him? Could it be a punishment for peeking
73
somewhere where we shouldn’t be looking? No,
it is just the natural consequence of the holy
presence of God. No mere human could with-
stand it. It is simply not possible to survive this
experience. So in the end God revealed to Moses
His “back,” but not His face.
The natural man with the sinful nature will
not be able to endure in the presence of a holy
God. Anything in us which does not correspond
to the divine nature will be burned up. “For our
God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). This is the
only possible result of any man or women’s
encounter with Him. Whatever remains of the
natural life will be consumed.
This will be the fulfillment of the sure prom-
ise of Jesus. He teaches us: “For whoever desires
to save his life [soul] shall lose it” (Mt 16:25; Mk
8:35; Lk 9:24; Lk 17:33; Jn 12:25). Any of the old
life which we do not yield to crucifixion today
will be “lost” tomorrow when Jesus comes. This
is not an obscure teaching.
The writers of the Gospels thought this truth
so important that it is repeated five times.
Anyone who refuses to yield his old life and
nature to death through the cross of Christ, will
most certainly lose it, without recourse, on the
day when Jesus comes.
This is the only possibility. We have absolute
certainty that nothing sinful will enter into the
new creation. We also know that sin will not
endure the presence of God. We understand too
that instant spiritual growth or transformation
is not possible. So, the only option is that our old
74
“life,” “soul,” or “self” will be lost at the judg-
ment seat, just as Jesus has promised us.
Today is the time of preparation for this
event. Our Creator does not want us to perish,
so He has provided salvation for us – His own
eternal life. This eternal, indestructible life can
substitute for our own. We can die, and He can
live in our place. We can be crucified with Him
and also resurrected.
In this way, we become fireproof. We are
transformed into a variety of creature which can
survive in the presence of God. We become
what He is by the saving power of His life
which He gave to us. In this way we become
prepared to meet Him face to face.
It seems that many believers, like Moses, are
satisfied seeing only the “back” of God. When
Moses looked, he saw God’s mercy, His gra-
ciousness, long-suffering, abundant goodness
and truth (Ex 34:6). Truly, these aspects of God
are wonderful. They are precious virtues which
we all need to see and understand.
Yet there is more to God than this. Although
we may delight in what we see in His “back,”
one day we will see His face. There we will gaze
upon His extreme holiness; His burning, con-
suming righteousness; His undiluted, blazing
justice; and much more.
All Christians need to get to know God inti-
mately – not only the “easier to take” aspects of
His “back,” such as mercy and forgiveness – but
also begin to know Him face to face. Through
repentance and forgiveness, we must enter into
75
an intimacy with Him. We must gaze into His
glorious face to that we can be changed into His
image (II Cor 3:18). It is only by drawing near to
Him that all of our sin can be exposed and elim-
inated. It is only through intimacy with Him
that His life can saturate and permeate us with
all that He is. Only such intimate believers will
be comfortable in the presence of the eternal fire
and suffer no loss at His coming.
TESTED BY FIRE
Will believers really be tested by fire?
Certainly they will. We have already read about
those whose works will be burned yet they
themselves will be saved “yet so as through
fire” (I Cor 3:15) Also we have studied the case
of those who harden their hearts against God
and can no longer repent. These are they
“...whose end is to be burned” (Heb 6:8).
Further, Jesus Himself taught us that we
should pay careful attention to maintain our
intimate relationship with Him. If not, then
there will be some serious consequences. We
read: “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast
out as a branch and is withered; and they gath-
er them and throw them into the fire, and they
are burned” (Jn 15:6).
John the Baptist also warns us about the
importance of bearing fruit. This fruit is simply
a result of our continued, intimate relationship
with Jesus. But if and when we ignore this priv-
ilege, the results are catastrophic. He proclaims:
76
“And even now the ax is laid to the root of the
trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”
(Mt 3:10).
Although many have tried to use these vers-
es to show that believers can lose their salvation
and “go to hell,” here we understand a different
truth. It is the fire of the very presence of God
about which these passages speak. There His
intense, burning presence will consume any-
thing which is not like Himself.
PARTIAL TRANSFORMATION
But let us suppose that we are only partially
transformed. Let us imagine that someone has
not yielded completely to Jesus during his life-
time and so is only changed a little. While God’s
life is filling some parts of his being, other areas
are still full of the natural, sinful life. What then
will be the results when this person appears
before the judgment seat? What will happen in
this case?
The answer is quite simple. That “part” of
any believer which has been transformed into
the image of Christ will certainly survive in the
presence of God. The “fire” will have no effect
on it. It has become eternal by the operation of
the eternal life.
But that portion of any believer which still
remains natural and sinful will be consumed by
the fire of God. There is no other possibility. It
will not be instantly changed. It will not be over-
77
looked. It will not at that moment simply be
“forgiven” and ignored. Instead it will be
burned up by the intensity of who God is. It will
be “lost,” fulfilling the promise of Jesus.
The years of rebellion against the transform-
ing work of the Holy Spirit will bear fruit. Any
time which we spent resisting the conviction of
sin in our conscience will be revealed. Our lack
of repentance and our unwillingness to be put
to death will be seen clearly when we “lose”
that portion of our soul which was untrans-
formed by the Holy Spirit.
HOW WOULD THIS LOOK?
What then would such a person look like
who was only partially transformed and there-
fore lost “part” of their soul? Would we see “half
a person” or someone without arms or legs?
How could someone be “fractionally” saved?
How would this manifest itself?
To begin, we must remember that we are not
speaking about the body of a person, but their
soul. This then is a question of growth, a ques-
tion of spiritual maturity. Since we are trans-
formed by the maturing of the supernatural life
within us, then our “degree” of transformation
must be intimately linked to how much this life
has grown up within us.
In the natural world every kind of life grows
and matures. This is a process which takes time.
Humans, for example, are born as infants, grow
to be children, next they become adolescents,
78
then young adults and finally fully mature indi-
viduals. In the Bible we have evidence that the
spiritual life also has these stages. This process
takes many years.
In I John 2:12-14 John writes about three
degrees of maturity: “little children,” “young
men,” and “fathers.” There are also many other
places in the New Testament where various
writers refer to “babes in Christ,” problems of
immaturity, spiritual growth, the need for matu-
rity, etc. So there is no doubt that the spiritual
maturation process parallels that of the natural
world.
It seems therefore very logical to imagine
that if this growth process were interrupted or
incomplete, the individual involved would not
be fully mature. They would remain at the stage
of maturity where this process was halted. They
would possess only that degree of maturity to
which they had attained.
Consequently, when the natural man is con-
sumed what would be left would be the trans-
formed “part” or aspect of their soul. For exam-
ple, a baby believer would be a baby, a young
believer would still be young, and a mature
believer would appear as mature.
The stage or degree of spiritual growth to
which they had attained would be their eternal
condition. Whatever “level” of maturity they
had obtained would be theirs forever. The rest
will be burned up and lost.
I hope that this is perfectly clear. In “eterni-
ty” believers will appear in many different
79
stages of spiritual development. It will not mat-
ter what their age was on earth. Their physical,
earthly maturity will not be a factor. What will
govern in this case will be how much they coop-
erated with God so that His life could mature
within them. It will be the development of our
spiritual life which will translate into our eter-
nal condition.
It would seem likely then that in eternity we
will encounter baby believers, young believers
and mature believers. Their appearance will be
linked to how much progress in the spiritual life
they attained. Everyone will not be the same.
Each one will receive his or her “reward” based
upon their growth in the life of God.
The spiritual maturity of each one will actu-
ally be all of, or at least a large part of, our
reward. This is because just as in this earthly
life, our maturity will enable us to enjoy things
more fully. Children might be happy, but there
are many things they cannot do. Young people
are also limited in their ability to appreciate or
savor many experiences. So too in the future,
our maturity will govern the depth to which we
will enjoy God and all that He will create.
My guess is that for each one, their new glo-
rified body which they will receive will reflect
their degree of maturity. It is possible that as we
grow spiritually, these new bodies are “grow-
ing” also, demonstrating a greater degree of
maturity. Jesus is now preparing this “place” for
us (Jn 14:2).These new bodies are now being
prepared for us to dwell in (Jn 14:2).
80
Joining two verses together in I Corinthians
15: 41,42 we read: “...for [as] one star differs
from another star in glory. So also is [will be] the
resurrection of the dead.” (Please remember the
original Greek was not divided into verses or
sentences by punctuation.)
There certainly will be a difference between
believers in eternity future. Just as the brilliance
of each star is different from the others, so
believers will exhibit a different degree of glory
depending upon their maturity.
Of course this is a mystery. We only see these
things imperfectly while we are on this earth.
But we have ample scriptural evidence demon-
strating that the untransformed portions of the
soul will be lost. It is simple logic to understand
that what will remain is what has been saturat-
ed and permeated with the life and nature of the
eternal God.
BUT GOD IS LOVE
Some may argue against the fact that the
untransformed part of a believer’s soul will be
destroyed by the presence of God, or “lost.”
They might insist that since God is full of love,
mercy, compassion, forgiveness and long-suffer-
ing, He could not judge one of His children in
this severe way.
It is certainly true that our God is full of all
these wonderful attributes. So, when He ap-
pears, these virtues will also be manifested in all
their intensity and fullness. For example, the
81
atmosphere around Him will be permeated
with an unbelievable love.
But in the light of this love, all our lack of
love will be exposed. Our self-love will be seen
with utmost clarity. The many times when we
did not act in His love toward one another will
be painfully evident. This will not be a result of
a lack of love on God’s part but rather of the
greatness of the love which defines His nature.
This will have an unavoidable impact on what
we are at that moment.
In the same way, the times when we did not
have mercy towards others, the moments when
we lacked compassion, the situations in which
we refused to forgive others and our shortage of
long-suffering will be exposed by what He is.
What He is will reveal with startling clarity all
that we are. If we have not been changed by His
life to be like Him, then we will experience loss.
Further, the fact that He offered us freely, at
so great a cost, the opportunity to change and be
full of His nature instead of our own, will stand
out with the utmost clarity. If we suffer loss
when Jesus comes, it will not be because He
lacked love or that He failed to show love for us,
but because of our own negligence and disobe-
dience. It will be because we did not take advan-
tage of His love. We will have no excuses or
arguments. The universe will see and agree that
His judgment upon us is just.
It is true that God is good. He is not judging
us today. He is interacting with us based upon
His goodness, love and grace. In this church age
82
He is reserving His judgment while giving us
every chance to use our time and be changed
into His image.
Yet we must not misunderstand His good-
ness and grace. We must not imagine that this
means judgment will never come. This inter-
lude, this time of blessing, should be an oppor-
tunity to prepare ourselves for what is coming.
Instead of relaxing and using this present
lack of judgment to indulge our flesh, we
should use this short period of time to gain the
maximum amount of transformation through
an ever-deepening repentance.
Paul admonishes us saying: “Or do you
despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance,
and long-suffering, not knowing that the good-
ness of God leads you to repentance”(Rom 2:4)?
Instead of imagining that God’s goodness will
excuse us from future judgment, we must real-
ize that it is this very goodness which is draw-
ing us to repentance to save us from this judg-
ment.
When the time of judgment comes, forgive-
ness will no longer be an option. The age of
grace will have ended. The opportunity to
repent and be transformed will be passed . May
God have mercy upon us so that we will be pre-
pared to receive Him with joy and open arms.
THE SECOND COMING
Jesus Christ is coming again. He will return
someday soon in His glory to destroy the king-
83
dom of the coming man of sin and to establish
His kingdom here on the earth. In the same way
He ascended, He will descend again to receive
us to Himself (Acts 1:11). It is at this time that
He will judge His people. We will all appear
before His judgment seat (Rm 14:10). That will
be the hour in which our true spiritual condition
will be exposed – whether it is good or bad.
The early Christians thought that the return
of Christ would be within a few short years.
They were expecting Him to come again at any
minute.
Therefore, many lived as if He might come
right then. The majority did not involve them-
selves in sin. They were always seeking to be
pleasing to Him. They kept themselves pure
from the world and other distractions. They
cooperated with the work of the Holy Spirit to
transform them. In short, they lived with the
expectation of Jesus’ return and judgment at any
moment.
But as time went on, things changed. Soon it
became clear that His return was not as immi-
nent as they at first believed. So, following the
natural tendency of the human race, this imme-
diacy and expectancy waned in the hearts of
some. They began to go about their lives as
usual. Sin became more evident in the early
churches. The human tendencies towards self
and sin began to express themselves more and
more. These same natural inclinations are very
much in evidence in the churches of today.
There are many believers today for example,
84
who might sing “Come Lord Jesus” during a
time of worship. But how many of us really
want Him to come right now? I mean right this
minute? Or are there other priorities which we
have in our lives? Perhaps we’d like to get mar-
ried. Maybe we are anxiously saving to buy
something we want, like a house or car. Possibly
there are some events in the future which we
would like to enjoy first. These other things
which attract our hearts are evidence that we are
not where we should be in relationship to Him.
Another thing which would hinder us from
longing for His appearing is our involvement in
some sin. It could be that we know something
which we are doing is wrong. We realize that it
grieves the Lord, but somehow our fleshly
enjoyment of it hinders us from repenting and
making a clear break from it. Our conscience
bothers us, but we just shrug it off and harden
our heart a little more. Of course anyone in such
a condition will not be anxious for the Lord to
come today.
This reminds me of an experience we had
many years ago during some meetings which
we had in our home. Every once in a while the
presence of God would be manifested in a pow-
erful, glorious way.
So I thought, “Next week, this place will be
full of people.” “This meeting was so fantastic,
everybody will want to come next time.” But
instead, the next week almost nobody was
there. It took two or three weeks for everyone to
come back again. This experience happened
85
more than once. I found this very perplexing.
While meditating on this phenomenon, I came
to the following realization. Many Christians
are not really comfortable in the presence of
God. They enjoy being there for a little while,
but they are not really at peace with Him
enough to live there all the time. They like to get
a little “dose” of God every once in a while – to
touch the hem of His garment so to speak – but
their troubled conscience, their lack of repen-
tance from sin, will not allow them to stay in His
presence for a long period of time. They do not
live in the Spirit.
Still another situation comes to mind. Many
years ago when I was a single young believer, I
lived in a house with several other Christian
young men. One day another brother who had a
reputation for tending toward really “spiritual”
experiences asked me to pray with him. So,
there in the living room, we began to seek the
face of God.
And we found Him! His presence began to
be felt more and more strongly. We began to
enter into the heavenly places together in Christ
(Eph 2:6). The sense of Jesus’ presence grew ever
more real. The glory of the Lord was shining
around us. It almost seemed as if He would
appear physically in front of us.
Suddenly, to my complete surprise, I heard
this other brother screaming “stop, stop!” He
had reached his limit. He wanted no more of
this presence. He was not comfortable with so
much of the Lord at one time. And Jesus did
86
stop. The experience rapidly faded away. God
respected his limitations at that time. In the
same way today, Jesus will never push past our
barriers which we have between us and Him.
WE WILL ALL APPEAR BEFORE HIM
Yet, one day we will all appear before Him.
There will be no “stopping” on that day. Then
will be the day when we will stand in His undi-
luted, intense, burning presence. Then there will
be no place to hide. No one who has not made
themselves ready will have any way to escape.
There whatever is in our hearts will be exposed.
Now how about you? How are you living
today? Are you living in the fear of God? Would
you be ashamed if He appeared right now?
Would He be pleased to find you doing what
you are doing and living in the way you are liv-
ing? Are you using your time wisely getting
yourself and others ready for His coming? Are
you repenting ever more thoroughly so that you
can be changed into His likeness? Are you
someone who truly “loves His appearing” (II
Tim 4:8).
If so, then you will hear Him say: “Well
done, good and faithful servant... Enter into the
joy of your lord” (Mt 25:23). If not, then you will
be ashamed and suffer irrecoverable loss in His
presence and in front of the watching universe.
“But we are not of those who shrink back
and are destroyed, but of those who have faith
and keep their souls” (Heb 10:39 RSV).
87
Other books by this same author:
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
THY KINGDOM COME
THE ONE TRUE CHURCH
GENUINE SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
BABYLON
ANTICHRIST
Available from the publisher:
“A GRAIN OF WHEAT” MINISTRIES
P.O. BOX 644
LEOMINSTER, MA 01453
or
Contact the author directly:
David W. Dyer
davidwdyer@yahoo.com
“A Grain of Wheat” Ministries is looking for book
distributors in all parts of the world. If you are
interested, please contact us for more information.
88
4.
THE COMING JUDGMENT
All believers will someday stand before the
undiluted presence of God. “For we shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Rm
14:10). There, what we are and what we have
done will be tested by the intense, fiery presence
of Who He is. All of us will pass through this
divine fire.
It is clear that not only our actions, our
words and our “deeds,” will be analyzed by the
holy fire, but we too will be tested by it. The
scriptures teach us: “...each one’s work will
become manifest; for the Day will declare it,
because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire
will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If
anyone’s work which he has built on it endures,
he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is
burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will
be saved, yet so as through fire” (I Cor 3:13-15).
71
Most believers already know that their
works will be tested by this fire. But many per-
haps think, “I may lose out on a few rewards,
but so what?” “What difference will it make to
me if some of my works are burned?” Yet what
they fail to see is that they too will be tested by the
same fire. He or she may still be “saved” but they
will appear, without protection or excuse, in the
intense, fiery presence of God almighty.
For some this will be an awful experience.
They will suffer shame, and loss. Their uncon-
fessed sins will be exposed and their sinful
nature will be consumed. It will be burned up.
For others it will be an awesome experience.
There they will see face to face the One who has
transformed and cleansed their lives. There they
will be rejoicing with joy which is beyond
human words.
When we stand before God, all the unholy,
sinful “parts” of our soul will be destroyed. The
untransformed portions of our being will be
consumed. These sinful areas of our soul will
not enter into the new creation because they will
be destroyed or “lost” at His coming. This is an
important, biblical fact of which far too many
believers are unaware. Yet it is crucial to under-
stand. How can we be sure of such a fact?
To begin, we must remember the beginning
of our discussion about the unimaginably con-
centrated essence of who God is. In His direct
presence, His holiness, purity, honesty, love – in
short all of His divine nature will be manifested
without dilution. Nothing which is not like Him
72
will be able to pass this test. Anything different
will be consumed by this “fire.” No sin, no self,
no unrighteousness of any kind can exist there.
Only something which is of the same nature
could pass the test.
If I were to tell you that I could put a piece
of newspaper into an intense fire and it would
not burn, you would not believe me. In the same
way, no “natural” man will be able to stand in
the presence of God. He would be consumed.
At that time, it will be too late to simply ask
for forgiveness. On that day, even repentance
will not work. There will simply be no more
time or opportunity for the transformation
process to work. There will be no more time for
God’s life to grow. No amount of forgiveness at
that time could protect our untransformed soul
from the intensity of who God is.
THE EXAMPLE OF MOSES
Moses loved God. So he was curious to see
Him. Consequently, one day he made a request.
He said: “Please, show me your glory” (Ex
33:18). But God had to explain something to
him. What he was asking just was not possible.
Moses could not see His face. He was unable to
stand in His direct presence. Why was this? God
explained saying: “...for no man shall see Me
and live” (Ex 33:20).
Now why would this be? Is it that if some-
one accidentally sees God, then God must kill
him? Could it be a punishment for peeking
73
somewhere where we shouldn’t be looking? No,
it is just the natural consequence of the holy
presence of God. No mere human could with-
stand it. It is simply not possible to survive this
experience. So in the end God revealed to Moses
His “back,” but not His face.
The natural man with the sinful nature will
not be able to endure in the presence of a holy
God. Anything in us which does not correspond
to the divine nature will be burned up. “For our
God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). This is the
only possible result of any man or women’s
encounter with Him. Whatever remains of the
natural life will be consumed.
This will be the fulfillment of the sure prom-
ise of Jesus. He teaches us: “For whoever desires
to save his life [soul] shall lose it” (Mt 16:25; Mk
8:35; Lk 9:24; Lk 17:33; Jn 12:25). Any of the old
life which we do not yield to crucifixion today
will be “lost” tomorrow when Jesus comes. This
is not an obscure teaching.
The writers of the Gospels thought this truth
so important that it is repeated five times.
Anyone who refuses to yield his old life and
nature to death through the cross of Christ, will
most certainly lose it, without recourse, on the
day when Jesus comes.
This is the only possibility. We have absolute
certainty that nothing sinful will enter into the
new creation. We also know that sin will not
endure the presence of God. We understand too
that instant spiritual growth or transformation
is not possible. So, the only option is that our old
74
“life,” “soul,” or “self” will be lost at the judg-
ment seat, just as Jesus has promised us.
Today is the time of preparation for this
event. Our Creator does not want us to perish,
so He has provided salvation for us – His own
eternal life. This eternal, indestructible life can
substitute for our own. We can die, and He can
live in our place. We can be crucified with Him
and also resurrected.
In this way, we become fireproof. We are
transformed into a variety of creature which can
survive in the presence of God. We become
what He is by the saving power of His life
which He gave to us. In this way we become
prepared to meet Him face to face.
It seems that many believers, like Moses, are
satisfied seeing only the “back” of God. When
Moses looked, he saw God’s mercy, His gra-
ciousness, long-suffering, abundant goodness
and truth (Ex 34:6). Truly, these aspects of God
are wonderful. They are precious virtues which
we all need to see and understand.
Yet there is more to God than this. Although
we may delight in what we see in His “back,”
one day we will see His face. There we will gaze
upon His extreme holiness; His burning, con-
suming righteousness; His undiluted, blazing
justice; and much more.
All Christians need to get to know God inti-
mately – not only the “easier to take” aspects of
His “back,” such as mercy and forgiveness – but
also begin to know Him face to face. Through
repentance and forgiveness, we must enter into
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an intimacy with Him. We must gaze into His
glorious face to that we can be changed into His
image (II Cor 3:18). It is only by drawing near to
Him that all of our sin can be exposed and elim-
inated. It is only through intimacy with Him
that His life can saturate and permeate us with
all that He is. Only such intimate believers will
be comfortable in the presence of the eternal fire
and suffer no loss at His coming.
TESTED BY FIRE
Will believers really be tested by fire?
Certainly they will. We have already read about
those whose works will be burned yet they
themselves will be saved “yet so as through
fire” (I Cor 3:15) Also we have studied the case
of those who harden their hearts against God
and can no longer repent. These are they
“...whose end is to be burned” (Heb 6:8).
Further, Jesus Himself taught us that we
should pay careful attention to maintain our
intimate relationship with Him. If not, then
there will be some serious consequences. We
read: “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast
out as a branch and is withered; and they gath-
er them and throw them into the fire, and they
are burned” (Jn 15:6).
John the Baptist also warns us about the
importance of bearing fruit. This fruit is simply
a result of our continued, intimate relationship
with Jesus. But if and when we ignore this priv-
ilege, the results are catastrophic. He proclaims:
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“And even now the ax is laid to the root of the
trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”
(Mt 3:10).
Although many have tried to use these vers-
es to show that believers can lose their salvation
and “go to hell,” here we understand a different
truth. It is the fire of the very presence of God
about which these passages speak. There His
intense, burning presence will consume any-
thing which is not like Himself.
PARTIAL TRANSFORMATION
But let us suppose that we are only partially
transformed. Let us imagine that someone has
not yielded completely to Jesus during his life-
time and so is only changed a little. While God’s
life is filling some parts of his being, other areas
are still full of the natural, sinful life. What then
will be the results when this person appears
before the judgment seat? What will happen in
this case?
The answer is quite simple. That “part” of
any believer which has been transformed into
the image of Christ will certainly survive in the
presence of God. The “fire” will have no effect
on it. It has become eternal by the operation of
the eternal life.
But that portion of any believer which still
remains natural and sinful will be consumed by
the fire of God. There is no other possibility. It
will not be instantly changed. It will not be over-
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looked. It will not at that moment simply be
“forgiven” and ignored. Instead it will be
burned up by the intensity of who God is. It will
be “lost,” fulfilling the promise of Jesus.
The years of rebellion against the transform-
ing work of the Holy Spirit will bear fruit. Any
time which we spent resisting the conviction of
sin in our conscience will be revealed. Our lack
of repentance and our unwillingness to be put
to death will be seen clearly when we “lose”
that portion of our soul which was untrans-
formed by the Holy Spirit.
HOW WOULD THIS LOOK?
What then would such a person look like
who was only partially transformed and there-
fore lost “part” of their soul? Would we see “half
a person” or someone without arms or legs?
How could someone be “fractionally” saved?
How would this manifest itself?
To begin, we must remember that we are not
speaking about the body of a person, but their
soul. This then is a question of growth, a ques-
tion of spiritual maturity. Since we are trans-
formed by the maturing of the supernatural life
within us, then our “degree” of transformation
must be intimately linked to how much this life
has grown up within us.
In the natural world every kind of life grows
and matures. This is a process which takes time.
Humans, for example, are born as infants, grow
to be children, next they become adolescents,
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then young adults and finally fully mature indi-
viduals. In the Bible we have evidence that the
spiritual life also has these stages. This process
takes many years.
In I John 2:12-14 John writes about three
degrees of maturity: “little children,” “young
men,” and “fathers.” There are also many other
places in the New Testament where various
writers refer to “babes in Christ,” problems of
immaturity, spiritual growth, the need for matu-
rity, etc. So there is no doubt that the spiritual
maturation process parallels that of the natural
world.
It seems therefore very logical to imagine
that if this growth process were interrupted or
incomplete, the individual involved would not
be fully mature. They would remain at the stage
of maturity where this process was halted. They
would possess only that degree of maturity to
which they had attained.
Consequently, when the natural man is con-
sumed what would be left would be the trans-
formed “part” or aspect of their soul. For exam-
ple, a baby believer would be a baby, a young
believer would still be young, and a mature
believer would appear as mature.
The stage or degree of spiritual growth to
which they had attained would be their eternal
condition. Whatever “level” of maturity they
had obtained would be theirs forever. The rest
will be burned up and lost.
I hope that this is perfectly clear. In “eterni-
ty” believers will appear in many different
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stages of spiritual development. It will not mat-
ter what their age was on earth. Their physical,
earthly maturity will not be a factor. What will
govern in this case will be how much they coop-
erated with God so that His life could mature
within them. It will be the development of our
spiritual life which will translate into our eter-
nal condition.
It would seem likely then that in eternity we
will encounter baby believers, young believers
and mature believers. Their appearance will be
linked to how much progress in the spiritual life
they attained. Everyone will not be the same.
Each one will receive his or her “reward” based
upon their growth in the life of God.
The spiritual maturity of each one will actu-
ally be all of, or at least a large part of, our
reward. This is because just as in this earthly
life, our maturity will enable us to enjoy things
more fully. Children might be happy, but there
are many things they cannot do. Young people
are also limited in their ability to appreciate or
savor many experiences. So too in the future,
our maturity will govern the depth to which we
will enjoy God and all that He will create.
My guess is that for each one, their new glo-
rified body which they will receive will reflect
their degree of maturity. It is possible that as we
grow spiritually, these new bodies are “grow-
ing” also, demonstrating a greater degree of
maturity. Jesus is now preparing this “place” for
us (Jn 14:2).These new bodies are now being
prepared for us to dwell in (Jn 14:2).
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Joining two verses together in I Corinthians
15: 41,42 we read: “...for [as] one star differs
from another star in glory. So also is [will be] the
resurrection of the dead.” (Please remember the
original Greek was not divided into verses or
sentences by punctuation.)
There certainly will be a difference between
believers in eternity future. Just as the brilliance
of each star is different from the others, so
believers will exhibit a different degree of glory
depending upon their maturity.
Of course this is a mystery. We only see these
things imperfectly while we are on this earth.
But we have ample scriptural evidence demon-
strating that the untransformed portions of the
soul will be lost. It is simple logic to understand
that what will remain is what has been saturat-
ed and permeated with the life and nature of the
eternal God.
BUT GOD IS LOVE
Some may argue against the fact that the
untransformed part of a believer’s soul will be
destroyed by the presence of God, or “lost.”
They might insist that since God is full of love,
mercy, compassion, forgiveness and long-suffer-
ing, He could not judge one of His children in
this severe way.
It is certainly true that our God is full of all
these wonderful attributes. So, when He ap-
pears, these virtues will also be manifested in all
their intensity and fullness. For example, the
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atmosphere around Him will be permeated
with an unbelievable love.
But in the light of this love, all our lack of
love will be exposed. Our self-love will be seen
with utmost clarity. The many times when we
did not act in His love toward one another will
be painfully evident. This will not be a result of
a lack of love on God’s part but rather of the
greatness of the love which defines His nature.
This will have an unavoidable impact on what
we are at that moment.
In the same way, the times when we did not
have mercy towards others, the moments when
we lacked compassion, the situations in which
we refused to forgive others and our shortage of
long-suffering will be exposed by what He is.
What He is will reveal with startling clarity all
that we are. If we have not been changed by His
life to be like Him, then we will experience loss.
Further, the fact that He offered us freely, at
so great a cost, the opportunity to change and be
full of His nature instead of our own, will stand
out with the utmost clarity. If we suffer loss
when Jesus comes, it will not be because He
lacked love or that He failed to show love for us,
but because of our own negligence and disobe-
dience. It will be because we did not take advan-
tage of His love. We will have no excuses or
arguments. The universe will see and agree that
His judgment upon us is just.
It is true that God is good. He is not judging
us today. He is interacting with us based upon
His goodness, love and grace. In this church age
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He is reserving His judgment while giving us
every chance to use our time and be changed
into His image.
Yet we must not misunderstand His good-
ness and grace. We must not imagine that this
means judgment will never come. This inter-
lude, this time of blessing, should be an oppor-
tunity to prepare ourselves for what is coming.
Instead of relaxing and using this present
lack of judgment to indulge our flesh, we
should use this short period of time to gain the
maximum amount of transformation through
an ever-deepening repentance.
Paul admonishes us saying: “Or do you
despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance,
and long-suffering, not knowing that the good-
ness of God leads you to repentance”(Rom 2:4)?
Instead of imagining that God’s goodness will
excuse us from future judgment, we must real-
ize that it is this very goodness which is draw-
ing us to repentance to save us from this judg-
ment.
When the time of judgment comes, forgive-
ness will no longer be an option. The age of
grace will have ended. The opportunity to
repent and be transformed will be passed . May
God have mercy upon us so that we will be pre-
pared to receive Him with joy and open arms.
THE SECOND COMING
Jesus Christ is coming again. He will return
someday soon in His glory to destroy the king-
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dom of the coming man of sin and to establish
His kingdom here on the earth. In the same way
He ascended, He will descend again to receive
us to Himself (Acts 1:11). It is at this time that
He will judge His people. We will all appear
before His judgment seat (Rm 14:10). That will
be the hour in which our true spiritual condition
will be exposed – whether it is good or bad.
The early Christians thought that the return
of Christ would be within a few short years.
They were expecting Him to come again at any
minute.
Therefore, many lived as if He might come
right then. The majority did not involve them-
selves in sin. They were always seeking to be
pleasing to Him. They kept themselves pure
from the world and other distractions. They
cooperated with the work of the Holy Spirit to
transform them. In short, they lived with the
expectation of Jesus’ return and judgment at any
moment.
But as time went on, things changed. Soon it
became clear that His return was not as immi-
nent as they at first believed. So, following the
natural tendency of the human race, this imme-
diacy and expectancy waned in the hearts of
some. They began to go about their lives as
usual. Sin became more evident in the early
churches. The human tendencies towards self
and sin began to express themselves more and
more. These same natural inclinations are very
much in evidence in the churches of today.
There are many believers today for example,
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who might sing “Come Lord Jesus” during a
time of worship. But how many of us really
want Him to come right now? I mean right this
minute? Or are there other priorities which we
have in our lives? Perhaps we’d like to get mar-
ried. Maybe we are anxiously saving to buy
something we want, like a house or car. Possibly
there are some events in the future which we
would like to enjoy first. These other things
which attract our hearts are evidence that we are
not where we should be in relationship to Him.
Another thing which would hinder us from
longing for His appearing is our involvement in
some sin. It could be that we know something
which we are doing is wrong. We realize that it
grieves the Lord, but somehow our fleshly
enjoyment of it hinders us from repenting and
making a clear break from it. Our conscience
bothers us, but we just shrug it off and harden
our heart a little more. Of course anyone in such
a condition will not be anxious for the Lord to
come today.
This reminds me of an experience we had
many years ago during some meetings which
we had in our home. Every once in a while the
presence of God would be manifested in a pow-
erful, glorious way.
So I thought, “Next week, this place will be
full of people.” “This meeting was so fantastic,
everybody will want to come next time.” But
instead, the next week almost nobody was
there. It took two or three weeks for everyone to
come back again. This experience happened
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more than once. I found this very perplexing.
While meditating on this phenomenon, I came
to the following realization. Many Christians
are not really comfortable in the presence of
God. They enjoy being there for a little while,
but they are not really at peace with Him
enough to live there all the time. They like to get
a little “dose” of God every once in a while – to
touch the hem of His garment so to speak – but
their troubled conscience, their lack of repen-
tance from sin, will not allow them to stay in His
presence for a long period of time. They do not
live in the Spirit.
Still another situation comes to mind. Many
years ago when I was a single young believer, I
lived in a house with several other Christian
young men. One day another brother who had a
reputation for tending toward really “spiritual”
experiences asked me to pray with him. So,
there in the living room, we began to seek the
face of God.
And we found Him! His presence began to
be felt more and more strongly. We began to
enter into the heavenly places together in Christ
(Eph 2:6). The sense of Jesus’ presence grew ever
more real. The glory of the Lord was shining
around us. It almost seemed as if He would
appear physically in front of us.
Suddenly, to my complete surprise, I heard
this other brother screaming “stop, stop!” He
had reached his limit. He wanted no more of
this presence. He was not comfortable with so
much of the Lord at one time. And Jesus did
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stop. The experience rapidly faded away. God
respected his limitations at that time. In the
same way today, Jesus will never push past our
barriers which we have between us and Him.
WE WILL ALL APPEAR BEFORE HIM
Yet, one day we will all appear before Him.
There will be no “stopping” on that day. Then
will be the day when we will stand in His undi-
luted, intense, burning presence. Then there will
be no place to hide. No one who has not made
themselves ready will have any way to escape.
There whatever is in our hearts will be exposed.
Now how about you? How are you living
today? Are you living in the fear of God? Would
you be ashamed if He appeared right now?
Would He be pleased to find you doing what
you are doing and living in the way you are liv-
ing? Are you using your time wisely getting
yourself and others ready for His coming? Are
you repenting ever more thoroughly so that you
can be changed into His likeness? Are you
someone who truly “loves His appearing” (II
Tim 4:8).
If so, then you will hear Him say: “Well
done, good and faithful servant... Enter into the
joy of your lord” (Mt 25:23). If not, then you will
be ashamed and suffer irrecoverable loss in His
presence and in front of the watching universe.
“But we are not of those who shrink back
and are destroyed, but of those who have faith
and keep their souls” (Heb 10:39 RSV).
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Other books by this same author:
FROM GLORY TO GLORY
THY KINGDOM COME
THE ONE TRUE CHURCH
GENUINE SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
BABYLON
ANTICHRIST
Available from the publisher:
“A GRAIN OF WHEAT” MINISTRIES
P.O. BOX 644
LEOMINSTER, MA 01453
or
Contact the author directly:
David W. Dyer
davidwdyer@yahoo.com
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