The unsaved are lost, not because of their sin, as we are all sinners, lost or saved, but because of their arrogance, in that they refuse to recognize that they are not good enough to merit God’s Kingdom. Heaven is not a place for good people, but only for the humble people, because only the humble can be saved.

Many people confess Christianity but are not committed to it because they are not really convinced that they need salvation. They may know that Romans 3:23 says that all are sinners, but they hold the preconceived misconception that God would not send everyone to hell and since they are as good as anyone else, God won’t send them to hell either.

The simple reason that we should devote ourselves to living by Christian principles is that the end time is coming, and we don’t want to be caught off guard. Sin of every form distracts us from being watchful, and dealing with the negative consequences of sin will have us looking the other way as the Day of the Lord comes upon us. Jesus is telling us that it is wise of us to be obedient to the Bible, which is the doctrine of Jesus Christ, in an informed, insightful and intelligent manner, so that we do not miss the signs that the end of time is coming.

Let us reject the pride and the sin of the world and espouse humility before Christ, let us reject the arrogance of the world to espouse faith in Christ, and then, let us endure the persecution of the world, because of our testimony of the deity of the Christ. The kings will come against us, and the world will persecute us, but it is only by giving our lives in defense of the Christ that we can become victorious heroes in the army of the Lord.

The praise of God, although delayed until His plan is completed, is better than the immediate gratification of the praise of men. The reward of God, although delayed until His plan is completed, is better than the immediate gratification in the reward of men. Belief in God’s plan, although His plan may be delayed, is better than the immediate gratification of belief in the plans of man. The authority of God, although delayed while He is completing His plan, is better than the puny authority of man.

Once we have become righteous to God through our acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we then have the responsibility to mature; to grow, to understand, and to teach others the pitfalls of license and the benefits of maturity.

Jesus is the seed; He is the first cell of the body, and He must die and be buried before He can reproduce. Jesus has committed no sin, and so is not eligible for the penalty of death. However, Jesus lives among plenty of sinners, all of whom are eligible for the penalty of death. So Jesus voluntarily takes on our sin; He pays the penalty of death that we owe for the sins that we have committed.

The first requirement for any good servant of God is that they must humbly recognize that they are serving God because of God’s grace. The second requirement for a good servant of God is that they faithfully preach the actual Word of God to the people, and do their best to model the life about which they preach.