Psalm 24:3-6 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“3Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?
Who may stand in His holy place?
4He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to an idol
or swear deceitfully.
5He will receive blessing from the LORD
and vindication from the God of his salvation.
6Such is the generation of those who seek Him,
who seek Your face, O God of Jacob.”

Four Types

I find that there are four types of people in this world – (1) those who do not believe in Jesus Christ and who have never made a profession of Christ as Lord of their lives; (2) those who make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ who only go half way with God; (3) those who make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ but who continue living in sin and for the flesh and who do not obey God and His commands; and (4) Those who believe in Jesus Christ wholeheartedly whose lives are surrendered to the Lord to obeying His commands and to living holy lives, pleasing to God, in the power of God.

Only Half Way

Those who only go half-way with God can be decent and honorable people who do good things, who follow the Scriptures, up to a point, who gather together weekly with others who profess faith in Jesus (and with those who do not), who give to the poor, who care about other people’s needs, who have their daily devotions, who pray consistently, but who believe an altered and diluted gospel message, and so God is not really Lord of their lives, and so they don’t live their lives according to God’s will and purpose for them.

They are usually (but not always) loving and kind people who like to make other people feel good. But the “gospel” message they share definitely cuts the gospel short and requires only a verbal confession of Christ as Lord while they promise those who “believe in Jesus” that they now have forgiveness of all sins and heaven guaranteed them for eternity based off a verbal only confession of faith in Jesus. They don’t want to offend anyone, so they do not stress the importance of repentance and obedience to God’s commands.

The Fakers

The fakers are those who profess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips but who never had a heart change. And they can be preachers and teachers of the Scriptures, and pastors, elders, missionaries, and evangelists, and just ordinary every day people who hold no positions of influence at all. But even though they give lip service to God, God is not Lord of their lives. They are their own god, and they serve themselves, and they do what their flesh desires, no matter who they hurt in the process, for they are selfish.

They are the “vain and worthless,” in the eyes of God, for they are the self-centered and self-indulgent who are intoxicated to sin, i.e. they are addicted to sin, more often than not to primarily sexual sin as this appears to be the predominant sin ruining people’s lives and relationships and marriages today. Lewdness, immorality, impurity, dishonesty, and unfaithfulness are some of their character traits. But they lie about what they are doing to give a false impression to those whom they want to deceive and/or to impress.

The Truthers

The truthers are those who tell the truth about what God’s Word teaches and about their own lives and what they believe and practice. But being a true follower of Christ does not make us absolutely perfect and sinless. It is possible for us to still sin, at times (see 1 John 2:1-2). But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for continued, deliberate, and habitual sin. For deliberate and habitual sin leads to hell, not to heaven. For Jesus said if we follow Him we must deny self, die to sin, and obey His commandments.

So, to be a true follower of Christ requires that we put sin to death and that we now follow our Lord in doing all that He commands we must do. We should be people for whom sincerity, honesty, uprightness, godliness, moral purity, faithfulness, and love for God and for our fellow humans is our practice, how we live in truth. Jesus is now to be Lord of our lives, and our lives are to be surrendered to Him to going wherever He sends us in doing and saying whatever He has for us to do and to say for His honor and praise.

The Saved

The saved, sanctified, forgiven, and heaven-bound are therefore the truthers (number 4, Four Types). We are all who have surrendered our lives to the Lord to be His, to follow Him wherever He leads us in doing and in obeying whatever our Lord commands. We believe what the Scriptures teach about what God requires of those who profess faith in the Lord Jesus, and so we follow Jesus wherever He leads us in doing what He commands. Again, that does not make us perfect yet, but it makes us right with God.

The fakers (number 3, Four Types), on the other hand, are no different from the unbelievers (number 1, Four Types) who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Neither one has any intention of submitting to God and to following Jesus Christ with their lives in obedience to God’s commands. However the fakers are those who are knowledgeable about Christ and the Scriptures who willfully put on a show of righteousness (like the Pharisees) while secretly they are engaged in deliberate and habitual sin against God.

And with regard to those who only go half way with God (number 2, Four Types), half-way is still half the other way. It is giving God some of you while you hold on to the rest of you and while you still have dominion over your own life. It is in the same category as a half-truth which is still a lie. And it is a lot like an adulterous spouse who only gives his or her mate half faithfulness but half unfaithfulness, which is still being unfaithful. But Jesus Christ wants our all given over to Him to follow Him wherever He leads us.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

No Way, Part Way, or All The Way?
An Original Work / November 15, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Is Your All on the Altar?

By Elisha A. Hoffman

You have longed for sweet peace,
and for faith to increase,
and have earnestly, fervently prayed;
but you cannot have rest,
or be perfectly blest,
until all on the altar is laid.

Would you walk with the Lord,
in the light of His Word,
and have peace and contentment alway?
You must do His sweet will,
to be free from all ill,
on the altar your all you must lay.

O we never can know
what the Lord will bestow,
of the blessings for which we have prayed,
’till our body and soul,
He doth fully control,
and our all on the altar is laid.

Who can tell all the love
He will send from above,
and how happy our hearts will be made,
of the fellowship sweet
we shall share at His feet,
when our all on the altar is laid.

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest,
and have peace and sweet rest,
as you yield Him your body and soul.

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