There are very many Christians in our world today who do not understand the basics of having a very meaningful relationship with The God whom we serve. A very superficial brand of Christianity has taken deep root in modern Christendom, and as a result, Jesus Christ is now accepted nominally by many, yet He is held at bay from our personal lives. This translates into accepting the blessings and benefits of salvation without adhering to the terms and conditions laid down.
Jesus Christ is praised and worshipped my millions once He does not interfere with our carnal desires, lusts, ideologies, and sinful habits, and it is because of these man-made terms and conditions why very many are in grave danger of deep disappointment at Christ’s second coming. When Jesus Christ is truly accepted as Lord and Savior of our lives, He will be invited into our innermost thoughts and desires, into the secret closets we often hide from public view, with the many skeletons that are to be found in our past and present history.
The Lord then embarks upon a deep cleaning process that continues until all skeletons, habits, desires, and ambitions that are foreign to His kingdom and character are completely uprooted by the Holy Ghost. Any other terms which fall short of this thorough work is called cheap grace, which does not touch nor change the fabric of man’s carnal nature, and those who subscribe and cling to this counterfeit gospel are in grave danger of being awakened too late for any real, substantial changes to be accomplished.
Any relationship with God begins with a command, continues with a promise and it ends with a blessing or a curse, depending on the choices we make individually. Once these fundamentals are clearly understood, then we are prepared to make those informed choices that can affect our eternal destiny for the better or the worse as we so choose.
There are those who claim to love God with all the heart and soul, but they do not like to be told what to do by God, and so the first leg of the relationship with our Creator often gets off to a rocky start, for God’s commands always come first in any real relationship with Him. The very essence of our relationship with God is predicated on the “Sovereign Lord to created being” model, and that’s why the initial phase of the relationship must of necessity start with a command from Him. Let’s read:
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Revelation 22:14 Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
This sacred truth is of critical importance to our fundamental relationship with God, and yet it’s ironic that it is the most controverted in all of Christendom. As Christ was blessing the children on one occasion, a rich young ruler came to him and asked one of the most important questions any mortal can ask: “What must I do to be saved” to which Jesus replied “Keep the commandments”.
This answer as given by Christ must be clearly understood by everyone desiring a meaningful relationship with God, for it sets the foundation for all other interactions with The Almighty. And so it is because Jesus never changes, He offers the young man a covenant relationship with Himself by the initial issuing of a command. Let’s read:
Matthew 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go [and] sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come [and] follow me.
19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
True Christians do not keep the commandments to be saved, but rather because they are saved, and therefore any claim of a true connection with God that does not include this first phase of obedience to His commands, is inconsistent with the genius of salvation, and therefore must of necessity be addressed, in order that the relationship with God can be normalized. Let’s read:
John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
15:14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Christ could have said to the young ruler, just believe in me and you will be saved or just love one another and you will be saved. But Jesus does not
answer this important question in this way, for it leaves too much wiggle room for multitudinous and vague interpretations of what constitutes true love.
For instance, the pop singer Tina turner sang a song that catapulted to the top of the billboards which asks the question “What’s love got to do with it?” She then goes on to describe what many people truly believe love is, “What’s love but a second hand emotion”. If it were not for the Holy Scriptures we would then be wandering in a maze of falsehoods and vagaries on what love really is, but the Bible does not leave us in doubt. Let’s read:
1st John 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1st John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
And we have several examples of this model being used over and over again in the scriptures. Let’s take a few examples.
(1) Moses is keeping his father-in-law’s flocks, and God is about to reveal Himself in a burning bush, which will undoubtedly awaken Moses’ curiosity,
because the bush is not consumed. God sees that in Moses’ first response to His call, that he is ready for a serious relationship, and so the very next thing that comes from the mouth of God is a command, in order that the distinction between who is the Sovereign and who is the servant may be clearly established and understood. Let’s read:
Exodus 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush [was] not consumed.
3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here [am] I.
3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest [is] holy ground.
(2) Adam and Eve are newly created and as their relationship with the Creator gets off to a start, a series of commands are issued. Let’s read:
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
We observe in verse 29 that as our Sovereign, God can tell us what and what not to eat. It is so very important for us to grasp the deep meaning and implications of this first phase of our relationship with God, for many teachings and false doctrines to the contrary abound today, and as a direct result there exists in modern Christendom, a great misunderstanding of who God is.
Many people view the statutes and commands of God as merely being “Good advice” or worse yet as being a basic model of morality, which we can then espouse, modify, change, or dispose of at our convenience. As a result, great spiritual darkness has now covered the land as the Prophet Isaiah stated, when he was being given a panoramic view of our times. Let’s read:
Isaiah 60:2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
God is our Sovereign, whether we believe it or not, and in this capacity He can tell us what to eat, how to live, and what and what not to do, as is clearly exemplified in the next verses. Let’s read:
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
(3) The children of Israel are brought forth from Egyptian bondage to serve the Lord in sincerity and truth, and again at the onset, the first phase of the relationship which establishes God as their sole Sovereign, is firmly established.
Let’s read:
Exodus 19:4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and [how] I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth [is] mine:
19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These [are] the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
19:8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD.
(4) The same pattern also continues in the New Testament, for God is the same yesterday, today and forever. Christ is setting up the new kingdom and He is selecting His disciples. He does not begin with an interview, nor does He interact with them as buddies by asking for their opinions and ideas so that they can negotiate on one common level, but He instead starts the relationship with a direct command. Let’s read:
Matthew 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
4:20 And they straightway left [their] nets, and followed him.
Matthew 9:9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
(4) Again the very same pattern is observed as Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, seeking a better understanding of Him. And just as at other times, the relationship starts with a command, for it is a pattern and rule that is firmly established in the scriptures. If we desire a relationship with God, He must be able to tell us what to do, and we obey, for this sets the tone for the entire relationship going forward. Let’s read:
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
3:2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
(5) The same thing is repeated with Saul before he becomes the apostle Paul. The Lord meets him on the road to Damascus and stops him dead in his tracks, to arrest his persecution of the newly formed Christian church. If Paul desires any relationship with the Lord we can now rest assured that a command is going to be issued at the onset, for as stated before, any relationship with God begins with a command, continues with a promise and ends in a blessing, if we so choose. Let’s read:
Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:
9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the
Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: [it is] hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord [said] unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
God must be able to tell us what to do or else we can never have a meaningful relationship. Which leads us to the next phase: The relationship continues with a promise or promises. Let’s read:
Deuteronomy 28:1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe [and] to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
28:2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
28:3 Blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the city, and blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the field.
28:4 Blessed [shall be] the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
28:5 Blessed [shall be] thy basket and thy store.
It is worthy of note that the promises contain the word “If”. Now why would that word be inserted into such mega promises. The word “If” suggests that there are two possible outcomes to the promises made, and it also implies that the conditions stipulated for the fulfillment of God’s word, must also be met if the promises are to be materialized.
“If” the conditions are met, the promises would mature into real blessings, and “If” the conditions are not met then the promise turns into a curse. Many Christians may consider this to be “An inconvenient truth, but it is worthy of our careful consideration, for there are positive promises as well as negative ones. Let’s read:
Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
28:16 Cursed [shalt] thou [be] in the city, and cursed [shalt] thou [be] in the field.
28:17 Cursed [shall be] thy basket and thy store.
28:18 Cursed [shall be] the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
28:19 Cursed [shalt] thou [be] when thou comest in, and cursed [shalt] thou [be] when thou goest out.
Jacob understood this truth as he contemplated the deception of his father Isaac and his brother Esau. As the younger son who was chosen by God to be the progenitor of Christ from Isaac’s line, Jacob had been promised the birthright, which was to be bestowed by God Himself in His own time and way. Let’s read:
Genesis 25:21 And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she [was] barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
25:22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If [it be] so, why [am] I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD.
25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations [are] in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and [the one] people shall be stronger than [the other] people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
However, with the passage of time, Isaac insisted that the birthright should go to his first-born son Esau, a situation which then caused Rebekah and Jacob by their own choice, to resort to fraud. But if we try to accomplish good by doing evil, a curse instead of a blessing will be the result. Jacob clearly understood this truth, and so his conscience initially recoiled at the idea of stealing a blessing. Let’s read:
Genesis 27:6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
27:7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death.
27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
27:9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
27:10 And thou shalt bring [it] to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.
27:11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother [is] a hairy man, and I [am] a smooth man:
27:12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
27:13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me [be] thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me [them].
This occasion was the last time that Rebekah saw her beloved son in life, and Jacob himself became a fugitive for many years, living with the threat of death at the hands of Esau over his head. This was the result of not fulfilling the conditions of the promise, which leads us to the third Phase of the relationship with God: The promises end in a blessing or a curse, depending on our choices, and so the promise of eternal life will find fulfillment in us individually, if we do not choose the other many options and methods offered by the devil. Let’s read:
Deuteronomy 11:26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
11:27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:
11:28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
Joshua also reiterated this sacred truth as he tried to encourage the hosts of Israel to choose wisely. Let’s read:
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
24:16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods;
24:20 If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.
24:23 Now therefore put away, [said he], the strange gods which [are] among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel.
We must be very careful of what we believe as it pertains to our relationship with God, and we should avoid the dangerous heresy that God is too good to destroy. This deadly teaching when adopted and implemented, inevitably causes the subscribers to take God’s grace and mercy for granted, which then puts them on a fast track to commit the unpardonable sin.
This is one of the grave errors of our day, and the Lord would have every member of the human family understand that this is absolutely not the case, and thus He is calling us to repent of our ideas and philosophies that are diabolically opposed to His word. Let’s read:
Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
34:7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation].
34:8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
That’s why we are cautioned not to think that the negative promises will not be fulfilled in their due season, for both sacred history and prophecy declare with one voice, that they will certainly be realized at the appointed time. Let’s read:
Genesis 6:7 And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Peter continues with the same vein of thought in the New Testament as he expounds on the widely irrational thinking which would prevail in the last
days of earth’s history. As with Noah and with Lot, the inhabitants of this earth, and also many friends and family members may ridicule the Christian who harbors a balanced view of God, as stated in His word, and as explained before, the loving-kindness of God will be made manifest toward them right up until the day of their destruction, if repentance and change isn’t made. Let’s read:
2nd Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation.
3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Burt Thompson was a father of five beautiful children, who, together with his wife Cindy raised their kids in a well-to-do household from birth. As the children got older however, the eldest son Ted became involved with drugs to the point of addiction, and he began stealing money from his parents and neighbors to support his habit.
And so Burt and Cindy did what most caring parents would normally do in such a situation, they sought help from various agencies, with some measure of success. During the times of his rehabilitation, they stood firmly behind Ted, giving him all the support and assistance that he needed with the hope that one day he would fully recover and come to himself.
But every time Ted came out of rehabilitation he deliberately went looking for his druggie friends, even though his parents were being brought to the brink of poverty because of his addiction. They coaxed, encouraged, they prayed, they cried, they
waited, and they spent their entire life savings trying to get Ted to turn from his ways, but he never made any effort to change, and all of the attempts made to save him were met with cursing and gross ingratitude.
Finally one day, the father came home to find Ted and his friends forcing his baby brother to do crack-cocaine, at which point Burt stated that he had had enough of the situation. Then the same father who for all the previous years had supported his son and made every effort for his recovery, was now left with no alternative but to call the police, who then arrested Ted and his friends, taking them to the county jail while Ted’s parents and siblings watched on in tears and utter disbelief.
For many centuries and millenniums, the God of heaven has supported and lovingly cared for sinners, by sending His own Son to die in our place, while surrounding us with every good and perfect gift. With loving-kindness and earnest entreaties He has tried to save us from the ruin of sin, and for very many centuries His gracious overtures have been met with stubborn resistance and gross ingratitude on the part of millions, and even though Christ suffered the most brutal and humiliating death to rescue us, yet many people couldn’t care less what God has done and continues to do to save them.
And so, like Ted, the day is coming soon when He will have no choice but to bring judgments to eradicate the problem of sin, and then the same loving God whom we knew as our Savior, will now be our Judge who will either vindicate or destroy based on the choices we have made.
It is therefore imperative that every living person heed the urgent calls now being made to save as many as want to be saved, by entering into a covenant relationship with the God who died to save us, and if we do, we are assured of an abundant entrance into His kingdom when He returns to take His faithful children home.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture that represents an earnest plea by The God of heaven, for every member of the human family to respond in the affirmative, before it is eternally too late. Let’s read:
Revelation 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, [and] the bright and morning star.
22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.
22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen.