HEADLINE: “We shall be like Him.” FINE PRINT: God’s requirements one must meet in order to be like Him.  This is the point at which one finds “the rub.”  This is where the “rubber meets the road.”  A believer’s attitude toward the fine print is what separates contenders from pretenders, sheep from goats, wheat from tares.  The Lord makes His rules of engagement that must be adhered to in order to “be like Him.”  Let us examine some of those rules.

In 2 Timothy 3:7 the Apostle Paul lamented that there were those in God’s church who were “ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the Truth.”  These were Biblical “headline hunters” who refused to seek out the Lord’s fine print which details how to make the “headlines” come to fruition.  Having been a headline hunter; having preached those headlines; having lived almost half of my life in the belly of the religious headline-obsessed, fine print-rejecting beast known as Catholicism/Protestantism, I can speak to the issue from first-hand experience.  Having then learned about, studied and embraced that fine print makes me somewhat of an authority on the subject.  Having been a spiritual “nail” for so many years taught me how to avoid the spiritual Hammer.  Trust me, the expression, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the (hammer holding) hands of the living God” is true (Heb. 10:31).

The purpose of this ministry, as dictated by God at its inception, is to proclaim His “fine print” which billions of professing Christens refuse to acknowledge, study, believe and obey.  And when it is shown them in that Bible they take to church on Satan’s Sunday Sabbath, they reject it.  I find myself in very good company relative to that phenomenon.  When the Jews refused to listen to him, the Prophet Jeremiah complained to God that the people refused to listen to him.  I also registered the same complaint to the same God.  His reply to me was the same as to Jeremiah: “Tell them anyway.”

The deciding factor as to how we will be judged by God in the future is how we conduct our present day SELF-JUDGMENT and how we react to the verdict and God’s reaction to our reaction.  For example, in his first letter to the church at Corinth (11:31) the Apostle Paul states that if we will JUDGE OURSELVES NOW (and react appropriately) we will not need to be judged by God later.  In this passage Paul was instructing the people as to how to observe Passover, specifically the Lord’s Supper.  He tells them that they must not partake of the wine and the bread “unworthily” by having sin in their lives.  He points out that some had done so and had been stricken with diseases.  Others, he noted, had died untimely deaths because for the same reason.  In verse 32 he tells us that failure to judge ourselves will result in our being condemned along with the world.  In Lk. 5:20-24 Jesus proclaims that sin causes sickness, and that forgiveness of sin results in the healing of the sickness caused by the sin.  The vast majority within professing Christendom reject this Christ-spoken Truth, along with hundreds of other Biblically-proclaimed Truths.  See the Introduction to this website for a short list.

The ultimate question is: what is the STANDARD that salvation seekers must use to judge their thoughts, words and deeds–the conduct of their lives–their “walk.”  The answer is: THE WORD OF GOD. In John 17:17 Jesus called God’s Word “Truth.”  It is the Holy Bible, and only the Holy Bible, through which God directs the lives of His true saints.  Any deviation from that Word is sin, which causes a one to deviate from God.  Isaiah 59:2 tells us that sin separates the church sinner from God.  Sin causes Him to remove His Holy Spirit from the one who has sinned.  Recall that King David–the man after God’s own heart–having sinned with Bathsheba, pleaded with God not to remove His Spirit from Him (Ps. 51:10:11).  In 1 Thessalonians 5:21 Paul tells the church that they must prove that their beliefs and practices are ordained by God by studying His Word and judging their own thoughts, words and deeds by what He has written.  Paul tells us that ALL SCRIPTURE (both Old and New Testaments) was written under the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit, and that we must study those Scriptures in order to gain God’s approval (by obeying them–2 Tim. 3:14,15; 2:15).  In 2 Peter 1:21 the apostle tells us that “holy men of old (the prophets) spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Spirit.”  Their scribes then recorded what they said, which became the Old Testament, which was “written for our instruction” (1 Cor. 10:11), referring to the New Testament Church.  Recall that the New Testament Church is founded upon the teachings of both the “PROPHETS AND THE APOSTLES” (Eph. 2:20).

The Word “our” in 1 Corinthians 10:11 refers to those whom Jesus calls His “brethren” and His “friends.”  Of the people in God’s church, these are the ones who will join Him in paradise where they will receive the same inheritance from God that He will receive.  He addresses these people–His Very Elect–specifically in two very telling episodes.  In Matthew 12:46-50 He identifies His spiritual brethren as “… whosoever will do the will of My Father Who is in heaven ….”  In John 15:13,14 is telling His disciples that He is soon going to die for His friends.  He then told them that they were His friends only “… if you do whatsoever I command you.”  If that was His requirements for salvation relative to His 12 handpicked disciples, would not His requirements be the same for us?  Judas failed to fulfill His requirements.  Writing to the church in 1 Peter 4:17,18 the apostle stated that only the righteous within the church would be saved, and they just barely.  Righteousness = obedience to God’s Word.  Recall that Jesus called Abel “righteous” because he was obedient while his brother Cain was not (Mat. 23:35).

Question: How do we know what He commands of us?  What is the Standard against which we must continuously judge ourselves as Peter tells us to do?  Peter answered that question in 7 words which he spoke to Jesus: “YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE” (Jn. 6:68).  And from Whom did Jesus received the Words He spoke?  From God (Jn. 12:44-50).  As I have stated many times: EVERYHTHING COMES BACK TO THE WORD OF GOD.  GOD’S HOLY BIBLE IS THE  STANDARD AGAINST WHICH WE MUST JUDGE OUR EVERY THOUGHT, WORD AND DEED.  His “headlines” tell us what is available to us.  His “fine print’ tells us how to appropriate it.

We are told in the Scriptures that judgment begins in the church.  We must judge ourselves relative to God’s Law (Genesis to Revelation–summarized in the 10 Commandments).  We obey the Lord’s command for self-judgment by comparing our “walk” to God’s Word.  Only those whose walk matches His Word/Law/Gospel/Truth–the righteous–will be saved.  So says the Lord through the Apostle Peter (1 Pet. 4:17,18).

So how can we learn about God’s headlines and His fine print?  He tells us in Isaiah 28:9-13 where we are told that learning the Holy Scriptures can accomplished only by studying the Bible “precept upon (following) precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.”  Then He repeats His study instructions.

Indeed, “We will be like Him” (a headline) IF WE “WALK AS HE WALKED” (1 JN. 2:6), “PURIFY OURSELVES AS HE IS PURE” (1 JN 3:3) AND OVERCOME SATAN AS HE OVERCAME HIM (REV. 3:21).  L.J.