How can I escape the fear of God’s judgment?
There are three possible answers to this question. The correct answer for you depends upon your current standing before God.
1. If you are an unbeliever the answer is simple: You cannot. As long as you refuse to admit you are a sinner in need of deliverance, and submit to Christ Jesus as your Saviour and as your Lord, there is nothing left for you. God desires “all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” He has provided the way to do this, but there is only this one way: “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.” (see 1 Tim. 2:4-6). From the beginning the gospel is this: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).
There is yet hope if you turn to Him this day, but if you refuse “no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire“ (Heb. 10:26-27). Indeed, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (v. 31).
2. If, however, you are a believer and sense this dread, it is time for you to take personal, honest and open inventory of your heart before God. Do not presume to know your heart. Our own tools of assessment are flawed: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). “My conscience is clear,” writes Paul, “but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.” (1 Cor. 4:4).
Allow the search light of the Holy Spirit to scan through every cranny of your heart. If sin is revealed to you, you must admit it, surrender it, make restitution where possible for it, and refuse to return to it. Then you will be clean. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). If there are areas you wish to hide from such a search, the Holy Spirit’s conviction will continue.
3. The third possibility is that you have committed no sin at all. Rather, the sensations you feel are merely the condemning charges of the devil! This is how our enemy operates. First he tempts us and seeks to lure us into sin, then, if we do sin, he condemns us, throwing the sin into our face, telling us we are no Christian at all, doomed to the judgment of God. If we have dealt before God with this sin, received His forgiveness and His cleansing, then the best weapon against the enemy is to claim the promises of God. When Jesus was tempted (Matt. 4:1-11) He did the same, answering every accusation with “It is written…” The Word of God is Truth (John 17:17), the devil is always a liar (John 8:44)!
Press on…
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thebrokenrunner 