Growing up in the Episcopal Church I was surrounded by regular church goers, sincere in their belief that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. We were all baptized into church membership; we all shared the liturgy; we all fellowshipped together; we all kissed the bishop’s ring upon our confir­ma­tion, did good works, and worshipped together. But with us, I now know, “God was not well pleased­”.

Unfortunately, none of us had a clue about real salvation or what it takes to live a life pleasing to God. The result of our ignorance was gross blindness about God’s ways and, as a result, we were perpetual sinners. The fruit of our lives, which is the undeniable proof of faith, was not the fruits of the Spirit, as they must be for those who claim to follow Christ, but instead they were the fruits of the flesh, and they were in evident abundance.

Lyings, stealings, backbitings, hatred, and all sorts of lusts of the flesh, such as adultery and greed were com­mon works. Instead of being Christians in word and deed, our faith was dead. We were Chris­tians in word only. As our Lord’s brother, James 2:26, said in his epistle, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” And brother, me and my fellow worshippers were dead – dead as doornails. The hypocrisy I saw within those beautiful but dead walls of stone drove me to a cynicism about Christ and eventually to a loss of faith in God altogether. But God, in spite of the confusion and darkness of the religion of my youth, brought me to the light and gave me a saving knowledge of His Son, and to God’s glory I have been reaping the benefits of salvation ever since.

It did not take long after I was born again to realize that many Christians (truly born-again Christians) are like the Episcop­alians of my youth. They say they are Christians, but they live like the Devil. They think that just because they are Christians by some commitment or experience and because they continue to rub elbows with true Christians, they will be saved by their association with the “Church”. We born-again Christians should know better, but do we? It is not enough to be a Christian by label or word only. Simply answering an altar call is not the end-all ei­ther. We must put away sin in our life and live in obedience.

Paul, speaking to the body of believers at Corinth, a church which allowed sins to intermingle among their fellowship and worship, warns us all in 1 Cor. 10:12 saying, “let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall”. There is no such thing as eternal security. God will never take away our free will. As Peter says in his second epistle to the faithful believers in Christ, we must do the will of God to make our election sure. A man must repent, accept Jesus and be born again, but he must learn obedi­ence and how to walk humbly in the love of God.

One of the seven pillars of knowledge (all seven are antidotes administered by the Holy Ghost to inoculate us against ignorance) is this:

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
   And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
   And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritu­al Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
   But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were over­thrown in the wilderness.” 1 Cor. 10:1-5

God is pointing out to His people that it is not enough to be with Christians, to just be around when His Spirit moves or heals, or even to eat and drink of the same spiritual food and drink. Paul openly says that the things which hap­pened to Israel in the wilderness were written as warnings for us. “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” verse 6 

Warning Not to Murmur Against God
Righteousness and faith do not rub off on us just because we associate with Christ’s people. Let me say it again, righteousness and faith do not rub off on us just because we associate with God’s people. This scriptural pillar of church knowledge from 1 Corinthians continues on by noting that the faithless Israelites had fallen into four sins, all of which are common seductions to those called to a life of faith.

 1.) They had committed idolatry.

 2.) They had committed fornication.

 3.) Some had tempted God.

 4.) They had murmured (complained) against Him.

In other words, they had gone a whoring after other Gods, they had fallen into lusts of the flesh, had accused God of evil intentions against them, and had complained that He didn’t know how to take care of them properly. All these and more are the sins which easily beset any Christian or member of the Church. Think about it. How often have we heard these sins, seen these sins, even flirted or committed these sins our­selves?

Paul repeats the earlier warning: “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinke­th he standeth take heed lest he fall” 1 Cor.­10:11-12. This passage, this exhortation to knowledge, this plea to “not be ignorant” is not a threat, and Christians should not take it as a threat from God. Those with a dogmatic view of the Scriptures may argue about God’s intent here, but Paul states that this passage is simply a word to the wise when, a few verses later in verse 15, he says, “I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say”.

Joshua’s Mountain Pass of Choice
As the things in 1 Corinthians 10 were written for exam­ples to us, so God had Israel act out the simple choice He gives us concern­ing hearing His voice and obeying it, or opting to do our own thing instead.

Just after entering the promised land, Joshua (who had been instructed by Moses, who had been instructed by God), had all of Israel walk through the small mountain pass between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. As they funneled down through the narrow way, God told Joshua to take the leaders of the 12 tribes and split them into two halves. The leaders of six tribes were to stand on the slopes of Mt. Ebal and the leaders of the other six tribes took up their places on the side of Mt. Gerizim. As the people of Israel marched through the narrow mountain pass Joshua read all of the laws and statutes that Moses had written down (Deuteronomy) so that everyone could hear them. The leaders on the side of Mt. Gerizim then read a list of bless­ings which God promised to give Israel if they would be obedient to His voice and follow everything that was commanded of them that day. The leaders on the other side of the narrow strait, on the side of Mt. Ebal, then pro­nounced the curses that would befall Israel if they were rebel­lious and refused to listen to God’s voice. (Deut. 27)

What a majestic sight! What a wonderful moment it must have been in the history of Israel to be moving into the Promised Land and have the simplicity of Christ laid so perfectly before them. The way before them was straight and narrow, the blessings for obedience to His voice simple and clear. The penalty for ignoring His voice and loving commands made obvious. What electricity must have been in that ravine! What Holy Ghost goosebumps must have come upon all the people. (Joshua 8) Like those who passed between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim we come to Christ and we are called to walk the straight and narrow path. Jesus told this parable about people who hang around and partake of God’s things and never really repent of their rebellion or of doing their own thing.

“Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
   When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall an­swer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
   Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
   But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity” Lk 13:24-27 

If we do the works of the flesh we are none of His. We should not kid ourselves about that. People do not prove their love for the Lord by words only, they prove it in word and deed. Just because we come to Christ, it is not a given that we will do His will or flee the world and its sin. In another parable Jesus said, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of the Father which is in heaven.”  Matt. 7:21 He concludes the parable by telling people that those who hear His sayings are like those who build their house on solid ground and those who hear and ignore are like those who have no foundation for their house and will someday come to ruin with a great crash.

Paul says of himself, what a shame it would be if he brought so many to salvation but he himself became a castaway. Why would he say this unless it were a possibility, no matter how remote? If he, the model in New Testament scripture for us, can say this, then we should also monitor our own hearts as he did his own. The truth of salvation is that those who do the will of the Father are saved and not those who simply say “Lord, Lord”.

The apostle John put it this way in his first epistle: 1 John 2:6

“But whoso keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” Brothers and sisters in Christ, all equal before God, let us take heed how we walk and thereby make our election sure.