The importance of giving God "something to hang his hat on."

In this world we live in, we can guess that Satan, in his capacity as Judgment Day Attorney General will bring a case before God, with Christ in the capacity of Council for the Defense. For his part, Christ himself did not judge eternal outcomes before Judgment day. In Jno 12:
[44] Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
[45] And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.
[46] I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
[47] And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
[48] He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
Any hypocrisy Christ can be accused of was probably taken care of before his crucifixion, and his accuser was none other than our own. Just as the US Government did not become a criminal by issuing the first Law, Christ, in cooperation with God did not become a sinner by giving us his word. His word was a light. I use the rule of thumb to call something light, provided by Eph 5:
[10] Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
[11] And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
[12] For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
[13] But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
Here we get the rule that Christians are engaged in proving. We are to prove "what is acceptable unto the Lord." In pursuit of this, works of darkness may be a temptation, and light is "whatsoever doth make manifest." In 1 Cor 4:
[3] But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
[4] For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
[5] Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
... Paul adds to the discussion by showing the content and environment in which this light operates. It is important not to lose sight of another aspect of Christian responsibility, that of reproving these "unfruitful works of darkness." When they embarked upon this discussion in New Testament times, James observed in a letter (that in modern times would be called an "open letter,") Jas 2:
[4] Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?
that Christians could become subject to the failing of "judges of evil thoughts." (The Jas 2:1-9 context is worth an independent investigation, but I'll try to shoot that rabbit later.) How are we to distinguish between "evil thoughts," which we are not to judge, and those things that we ARE supposed to judge, even if they do not bear on eternal outcomes which (author affirms to believe) we should leave to God. The answer to that question comes from Christ himself in Matthew 12. In context of the lesson that men's words show BOTH where their treasure is AND what is in their hearts in most abundance, he said: Mt 12:
[37] For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
I expect that on Judgment day, Satan, the accuser, will be forced by God himself to show cause for his accusations from words and actions, not just thoughts. This would explain the passage: Pr 18:
[20] A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
[21] Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
AND Pr 10:
[31] The mouth of the just bringeth forth wisdom: but the froward tongue shall be cut out.
[32] The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable: but the mouth of the wicked speaketh frowardness.
Considering, then, that we may be called upon to demonstrate obedience on that day, the example of the woman healed on the way to resurrect Dorcas is instructive. Mt 9:
[20] And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
[21] For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
[22] But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
Here we see that the unnamed woman was healed by touching the hem of Jesus' garment. In looking at his example it is trivial to observe that, before she touched his garment she was still infirm, but after she touched garment she was whole. Despite this obvious situation, Jesus attributed Faith as the reason for her healing. Instead of being a contradiction that Jesus did not know what was going on here, we should instead conclude that this shows the truth of yet another passage: Jas 2:
[19] Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
[20] But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
[21] Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
[22] Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
[23] And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.
[24] Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
[25] Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
[26] For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Here we see a further qualification of what we should call Faith. Consider the devils in verse 19. They are in a position to KNOW that God exists. Not only do they believe, they also fear the Lord and TREMBLE! Despite this, their evil actions in the spirit realm lead them to be in need of a lake of fire prepared to destroy the spiritual body made in power and might such that, (in 2 Pet 2:) Peter argues:
[11] Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.
that this place of eternal destruction will be worse than all things yet understood for the human soul. (See at Mt 25:41.)
To be clear, the Apostles were given power over unclean spirits (Mk 6:7,) and so are potentially in possession of more authority power and spiritual construction material than the devils and evil spirits. Despite this, the place prepared is manufactured to the standards noted above, not any lower bar. Because of this, no matter how "bad" the chastening of the Lord EVER gets for me, I always try to keep sight of the fact that, no matter HOW BAD things get on Earth, Hell is going to be worse, and that is my incentive NOT TO GO THERE! Glory divine is not the only thing we can actually have a foretaste of.
Leaving aside my dangling preposition, what did this lead Paul to observe? 1 Cor 9:
[27] But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
By observing that he himself could still end up a spiritual castaway, Paul documented the humility of a student. What should we conclude then? There is an egalitarian quality to salvation that leads us to observe the following: There could be a janitor at the local High School who has a 90 IQ. He visits three people in prison on a repeating basis (like once a month or so,) he buys a meal for hitchhikers when he picks them up, and he makes sure that he collects his used tennis shoes and clothing for redistribution to those who cannot otherwise provide. We all know that this fulfils qualifications like "...visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." Despite the obvious environmentalist and humanitarian credentials this gives him, what makes him different from the worldly competition at Salvation Army? I think the difference lies in motive and intent: If he is properly obeying Mt 5:
[16] Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
...he has the glory of his heavenly father in his sights. To those with more ability, the parable of the talents is commended to your attention (Mt 25:14-30 - don't neglect the last verse.) In exerting ourselves to devise good this way, a fruitful area of endeavor is the arena (the Latin word is "circus,") of teaching. We all had high school Algebra and had to learn that a fraction divided by a fraction is just the same as a fraction multiplied by the inverse of the other fraction. What I want to draw to your attention in the present discussion is this: If you ever try to tutor someone esle in that algebra discussion (many parents will relate immediately,) you will find that repeated application of the activity of teaching, clarifies your thinking. After your thinking is clear on the subject, teaching itself, is far less frightful. Despite this, we know our efforts are not universally received with thanksgiving; Christ had the same problem. If we teach an honest heart, that person is saved from the lake of fire we spoke of before. If they disagree, we have not left them unchanged. Before God, on that day of eternal judgment they are convicted on the indictment brought by Satan: You HAD your chance. As teachers, let us try to take more of the approach of Christ (to persuade,) and not start off with the accusative perspective of "The people ALL have evil hearts, it's just my luck before God I have to obey the same command as Ezekiel." I'll try to stop with one last "lick," with the two-edged sword: Jonah certainly needed an attitude adjustment. Despite that, I don't expect to see a prophet God cites for purposes of example in the lake of fire. In closing then, let's use this as an encouraging example: On judgment day I don't want God to just have "something to hang his hat on!" I want him to have a whole hat rack.