It is a noteworthy statement to comprehend that there is no man on earth or gods in heaven that are able to keep their promise under any situation for the sake of another. In fact, it is to be understood by all that mortal men cannot uphold promises and lifeless gods cannot make promises. For this reason, we know that men in the flesh and gods in the form of wood or stone are imperfect. They are imperfect because they cannot give grace, love or forgiveness. Men have feelings only to help their cause; gods do not have feelings because they are insensible. But what God is there like the God of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who gives life, love, grace and pardon to the many for the sake of a few righteous? Can we compare any man or god to such an almighty God? He is the God who is able to save a nation because of one man or save a family because of one person. He does it because of the covenant He makes to the righteous for His namesake.
“Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant which He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever” (2 Chro.21:7).
Most of us do not even realize why God is still allowing us to live on this earth even when we are acting against Him. For this reason, many of us are shamelessly continuing in sin. It is a pity we do not understand that God is exercising His covenant in His son Jesus that we should all repent and become His children. Just as God kept His promise with Abraham and David, He keeps His promise that He made to the righteous through His Son. Does any child of God think that God is allowing him to live because his sin is unseen? Do not be ignorant; the reason some of us are still living is because of the presence of Jesus among a few God’s righteous. However, if you become righteous through Jesus, God will also save your family and friends because of you. This is the credit that God gives us when we accept Him into our hearts.
Therefore, God relented in destroying the house of David. David became righteous not on his own strength but by the presence of God in him. His righteousness not only saved him, but all his people. Can we, in our desolate lives, grasp the kind of favor David found in the eyes of God? Do you think you as an individual can obtain God’s righteousness so that He would remember your house even after you die? Many of us are not even concerned about our families! Most of us feel that we are far from sin because we are prospering. When our heart condemns us in any matter, we know we are sinning against God! However, when we do not rectify ourselves we are struck by the mighty hand of God. Yes, God will truly punish us for our wicked deeds so that we should find Him diligently. Because of this we will sometimes lose the most precious things that we possess in our lives. “When He killed them, then they sought Him, and returned and searched diligently for God” (Ps.78:34).
Children of God are much worthier than the children of the world! Those who practice godliness in their daily lives would surely acknowledge this. This is because they know the value of godliness in this life and the life to come. Who are the children of the world except those who do the works of the devil? One who is of the devil is devoid of the Spirit left for destruction; many who profess to be Christians fall in this class. Why should people who have ‘tasted the heavenly gift’ partake of the things of the world? Because they are filled with all kinds of lusts of this world that appears so attractive; therefore, the Lord says regarding such, “And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isa.13:19).
People that have no God in their lives speak fallacies about the promise of God. They will in all pride say that it is God who has set them up to proclaim His word. Furthermore, they will say that it is because of them that God is being praised. In fact, if one cannot speak about God in godliness he is a liar. Those who desire to seek God should be alert about such people. These are the people that are like the waterless clouds that lead people into futility. Will God save a nation or a family because of such unrighteous people? Is not God watching each man’s heart to know who is true? Do not be deceived by the people who do not rectify sin, but say that we are well because God is with us. If anyone believes in such people he is despising God and anyone who walks after such are people with stubborn hearts. “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, ‘You will have peace;’ And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, They say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you’” (Jeremiah 23:17).
How long do we propose to work against God? How long do we intend to deceive people? Will not God have a day of reckoning for us? We who are living in sin should realize that God is keeping us alive because of His righteous people! As long as God is prospering His righteous those who are in sin will also live. However, God fixes a day for all the ungodly and the unrighteous. When that day comes God will take away all that we have and leave us empty handed. He will take away what we have and give it to one who already has. Moreover, He will throw us in the dark place because we did not judge the patience of God as salvation for our souls. “Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents” (Matt.25:28).
Those who claim to know Jesus for many years and claim Christianity as prosperity, how much did you know about Jesus? What great things did Jesus do in your life that a godless gentile did not receive? Can you count what good works you did for Jesus since you have known Him? Boasting is necessary, but only in the Lord! We boast only in the Lord when we have known Him flawlessly! Those who boast about Jesus, where is your boasting? Is it in the money you gathered, your eloquent speech or the fame you collected? Or is it in the righteousness and the perfect light you received from God? “Jesus said to him, ‘have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me…?’” (John 14:9). Yes, my dear people, Jesus has been with us for a long time, yet we are unable to know Him. We are unable to know the purpose of His dying and the power in His resurrection. For this reason, we are still continuing to live as those who have never known God.
We do have an opportunity to know Jesus Christ our Lord. For this we have to surrender to Him. We have to come to the realization with all the experience we have in this life that we are nothing and He is everything. Who protects us every day, sustains our lives, provide an escape from our enemies? Is it not our Lord Jesus? We know that God should be first in our lives, but we lack the strength to give Him that priority. Therefore, it is necessary to pour down our hearts before Him that we might be remembered by Him; and that our people might be remembered because of us. “…but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God” (2 Cor.8:5).
Dear brethren, we all have an inner conscience that allows us to examine ourselves. Our conscience tells us whether we are departing from Jesus or getting closer to Him. Whether it is at work or play if our conscience is right before God, we do not have to fear. Therefore, test yourself in the presence of God; ask yourself if you have been doing the right thing. When your conscience does not support you, you know you have to change. It is truly a wonder of God that He has given each man his own conscience in order that no man is required to judge another. Use the wisdom that God has given you and seek to stand upright in His presence. “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God” (1 John 3:21).
