Righteousness and Grace

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:14-29).

This powerful excerpt of scripture from the twelfth chapter of Hebrews is one of the most fear-worthy passages in the entire Bible, and that is exactly what it was meant to be. I'm talking about the fear of God, which is on the top rung of divine principles shown forth throughout the Bible. You may note the comparison of old testament and new testament in this passage; and that comparison, which begins in the first chapter, is in fact what the entire book of Hebrews is about. The reason for that comparison is to make the very sobering point that accountability for new testament believers is much higher than that of old testament believers, and that the eternal consequence for disobedience is far greater as well (ch. 2:1-3; ch. 4:1,11; ch. 6:4-8; ch. 10:28-31). Hebrews is probably the most fearful book in the whole Bible, with the passage that is quoted in the first paragraph here being the resulting crescendo of the entire book. The thirteenth and final chapter of the book of Hebrews serves somewhat as an epilogue, while our text passage from chapter twelve is really the climactic conclusion of the actual point of the book. With these things in mind, I recommend reading the text passage again, slowly and honestly. I truly do not comprehend how anyone could read this book, or any other in the Bible for that matter, and continue to believe any form of "sinners saved by grace" or "eternal security." The modern mainstream 'Christian' doctrines are as far off of the truth as ice is from fire. And the doctrines and traditions of the Christian world of today have as much chance of saving the souls of those who love them as ice has to endure the presence of fire. The apostle Paul told Timothy something very integral, and something very ignored today: "Take heed unto thyself, and unto THE doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee" (I Tim. 4:16). I can tell you for certain my friend, the doctrine he was speaking of was NOT any doctrine upheld by the Christian religion of this day. I believe we can quote Jesus on how to learn the TRUE doctrine of Christ: "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will DO HIS WILL, he shall know of the doctrine" (Jn. 7:16,17). And once more for good measure: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the [congregations]" (Rev. 3:22). Amen to that.