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What will your answer be?
We often sing the song “What Will Your Answer Be?” as an invitation to those that need to decide what they will do with Jesus in their lives. In Matthew 27:22, Jesus was standing before Pilate, "Pilate said to them, 'What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?'" We will all have to answer that question at some time in our lives. The answer to this question will determine the eternal destiny of every living soul when this life is over.
Jesus says, "He who rejects Me and does not receive My words, has that which judges him, the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day" (John 12:48). The vast majority of the world will reject Jesus because they do not believe in Him (John 8:24). Included in this majority is the denominational world who choose to do things according to their own way; that is, man’s way. They have come up with their own plans of salvation, their own forms of worship, and even different names by which they call themselves. Not only do these names reject Jesus, they deny all glory due Him. It is Jesus who died for the church (mankind). There is no other name that we can call on, by which we can be saved from the death that is due to us.
They do their own will and not the will of God. Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). They call Him their Lord and claim to know Him, but they do not keep His commandments. They follow man’s way and man’s creeds. God's word says, "He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).
There are those people who reject Jesus because they are ashamed of Him. But Jesus says, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38). One who is ashamed of Jesus who gave His life for us will be eternally lost. But instead, we should not be ashamed to suffer as Christians, but glorify God (I Pet. 4:16).
There are also people who say they believe in Jesus, but will not obey Him. Even the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19). "Nevertheless even among the chief rulers many believed on Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:42-43). There are many people like this today.
Some brethren will follow Jesus for a while, but will become unfaithful and reject Him. "From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you also want to go away?’ But Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’" (John 6:66-68). A child of God who falls away and becomes unfaithful to the Lord is likened to "A dog returns to his own vomit, and a sow, having been washed, to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Peter 2:22). The Hebrew writer asks, "Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:29). If one continues to be unfaithful and does not repent, "there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment" (Hebrews 10:26-27).
So, my question to all of us is: What will we do with Jesus? To be pleasing to the Lord so we can go to Heaven, we must "be obedient, steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58). Jesus has promised us, "Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).
Let’s "be even more diligent to make your call and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10).
Tony Patek
