Holy Boldness

(Ephesians 1:13, 14) We have been born again to a living hope (1 Peter 1:3) and that hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been shed abroad in our heart. (Romans 5:5) Why does hope not disappoint? Because God is giving us the assurance of what we hope for by pouring love into our heart. Do you get it? Have you ever felt the love of God bursting forth in your heart? Do you know what that feels like? Have you ever felt the pleasure of God? Have you ever known deep in your own heart that something you did pleased Him and He let you know that it pleased Him? This is a reality that the Church must get a hold of because once it does the church will stop living for anything else. Once a person begins living for His pleasure, it becomes the greatest thing in their life. (Psalm 16:11) Does teaching about rewards imply that salvation is through works? I can hear people asking the question, “What about grace? Is this teaching about rewards actually a form of legalism?” This is an important question. Let me say definitively that salvation is a free gift for all who believe but rewards have to do with God’s evaluation of one’s motives. In this passage, Jesus was not just talking about salvation. He was exposing the truth that wrong motives for doing certain deeds nullify the benefits of those accomplished deeds. Not everyone will be rewarded equally for the same deeds because a person’s motives affect the outcome. Salvation is free but authority and privilege are given to the pure in heart, to the over-comers and the obedient. There is no way to get around this issue from the scriptures. “If I speak with the tongue of men and angels and have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” (I Cor. 13:1) . Motives affect everything. They turn a good deed into a selfish one. They drain a deed of its effectiveness and impact. This is a spiritual principle. People reap what they sow. God is no respecter of persons. God loves everyone the same but He does not relate to everyone the same. Some believers in Jesus are God’s friends and some are acquaintances for the simple reason that they are more interested in charming men than in pleasing God. Therefore their relationship with God is distant at best. They do not know what He values because they are more interested in impressing people than God. People who consciously live before the Lord and for His pleasure experience the love of God often. The rebellious know God from afar,

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