Some people consider that God is totally a blessings machine. That all will be forgiven, that there will be no consequences for our behaviour. That being saved by the blood of Christ is a licence for sin: a pass for all wrongdoing, and therefore you can sin more, gleefully, with a clean conscience.
They forget two things. The first is that God is a god of Justice, and our offences and injustices in the name of freedom grieve him.
And they forget that God is not Tame. He is not nice. He is not afraid to condemn, and he does so with justice.
“Forge a chain! For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence. I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their holy places shall be profaned. When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there shall be none. Disaster comes upon disaster; rumor follows rumor. They seek a vision from the prophet, while the law perishes from the priest and counsel from the elders. The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, and they shall know that I am the LORD.”
But, the reader says, Chris, you are a Calvinist. Yet you say that there is condemnation and judgment and accountability when I have been taught that once I am saved, I am always saved?
Yes, I do believe that Christ keeps his own from this world. For we cannot do it. We will inevitably fall into error and fall again into that sin that besets us. We are flawed, and the cure for this is beyond us. It is Christ who keeps our salvation, and it is not our doing.
But woe betide the society, the city, the county, that hears the gospel and rejects it. For there will be more mercy for the Israelites of Ezekiel’s day, or the very inhabitants of Sodom, destroyed by fire, than them. And yes, I am paraphrasing.
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
And what should we do? Well, the harvest remains large. We should strip ourselves for action. We should be able to defend our faith. We should do good: we should pray for healing, we should care for the ill, the maimed, the widow (without family) and support each other to live righteously.
And we should cling to the gospel, and not fear the judgment of men. For this post-Christian age will be damned by Sodom.
I am wondering, not idly, how much of a slap in the face it will be to the Almighty when the Supreme Court decides that men can “marry” men.
No, that’s not the central issue, but yes – it certainly is symbolic of allegiance.
I guess we’ll find out.