The Winning Side

Proud people will be made humble, and they will bow low in shame. At that time only the Lord will still be praised. . . You should stop trusting in people to save you, because people are only human; they aren't able to help you. . . The look on their faces shows they are guilty; like the people of Sodom, they are proud of their sin. They don't care who sees it. How terrible it will be for them, because they have brought much trouble on themselves. Tell those who do what is right that things will go well for them, because they will receive a reward for what they do. but how terrible it will be for the wicked! They will be punished for all the wrong they have done. . . . How terrible it will be for people who call good things bad and bad things good, who think darkness is light and light is darkness, who think sour is sweet and sweet is sour. . . They have refused to obey the teachings of the Lord All-Powerful and have hated the message from the Holy God of Israel. -Isaiah 2:11, 17, 22; 3:9-11; 4:20, 24

In the moral conflict now raging around us, whoever is on God's side is on the winning side and cannot lose; whoever is on the other side is on the losing side and cannot win. Here there is no chance, no gamble. There is freedom to choose which side we shall be on but no freedom to negotiate the results of the choice once it is made. By the mercy of God we may repent a wrong choice and alter the consequences by making a new and right choice. Beyond that we cannot go.

The whole matter of moral choice centers around Jesus Christ. Christ stated plainly: "He that is not with me is against me," and "No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." The gospel message embodies three distinct elements: an announcement, a command, and a call. It announces the good news of redemption accomplished in mercy; it commands all men everywhere to repent, and it calls all men to surrender to the terms of grace by believing on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

We must all choose whether we will obey the gospel or turn away in unbelief and reject its authority. Our choice is our own, but the consequences of the choice have already been determined by the sovereign will of God, and from this there is no appeal.

-From The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado

Are you inside God's kingdom or do you find yourself peeking in, to see if it is for you? You cannot have one foot in and one foot out. Choose to be in God's kingdom. It will mean eternal rewards and fellowship with God.

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