According to the historic record, our Templar forefathers of antiquity were not perfect on the battlefield. Indeed, they were not even close to being invincible before their enemies. The historical accounts, although truthfully very incomplete, suggest that they won about 30-40% of their engagements struggling with the screaming infidels on the field of honor.
That win-loss number reminds me of my Oklahoma State Alma Mater’s win-loss rate on the gridiron over the past 60 years. So, unfortunately, I have become very used to that statistic…
Stepping back, that win-loss rate begs a very obvious question. If the Templar Knights were the very Army of God on Earth, as alluded to by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, then how could God, their Commander in Chief, allow such an insignificant rate of return on the battlefield over 189 years?
I immediately realize that this question alone demands a 600-page treatise. So, allow me to get to the point quickly – if I haven’t already lost you by the mere threat of a 600-page manuscript.
The closest modern example of this with God’s chosen people – and, by extension, the Army of God on Earth – is staring back at you from the nearest mirror.
Look at the Word of God, then step back and soberly take account of your own Kingdom of God win-loss rate. To start, none of us has kept even a single one of the Ten Commandments. I can immediately hear the loud clamor of disagreements on the 5th and 6th commandments regarding murder and adultery. And, if you can pass Jesus’ test for these as defined in Matthew 5:28 (if you think of someone lustfully, you have committed adultery in your heart) and Matthew 5:21-22 (that being angry with someone is equivilent with murder), then mea culpa.
You lie to your friends and I’ll lie to mine – but let us agree not to lie to one another!
So, for life, our win rate for successfully maintaining just the Ten Commandments is 0%. Your day-to-day average may equal the Templar win-loss rate, but if so, then you definitely have better days than I!
The point to remember here is that we cannot judge God and His daily engagement in our lives by our own very flawed actions from one day to the next. Why? Because He cannot participate in our errors, nor will He ever act to cover them up. The very best we can hope for is that He will discipline us, which is indelible proof of His extravagant love in our lives as He corrects us – not correcting our errors and our foibles just to better our “score.”
Thus, as we survey our Templar lives and our Christian lives, we see at best a broken record of victory and loss. And as we survey that battlefield littered by our own weaknesses, spiritual disasters, and failures to accomplish our assigned duties, let me summarize the last 597 pages of this treatise by listing some of the things God cannot do concerning us as He prepares to judge each of us after the last battle of our final day.
#1: He cannot and will not remember any of our losses, mistakes, errors, or sins, because Jesus already set our record straight. When we each stand before God as redeemed believers, Jesus stands as our Advocate before our Righteous Father, having taken them all upon Himself and erasing them forever from the universal eternal record. They will simply never exist on Judgment Day.
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)
“For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)
#2: He cannot ever leave or forsake us, even and especially when we are at our worst. Indeed, He has sealed Himself within us as the sign of His faithfulness.
“…for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,’” (Hebrews 13:5)
“(God) also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” (2 Corinthians 1:22 )
“having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise…” (Ephesians 1:13)
#3: God is perfect by definition. God, therefore, cannot act against His own character or be unfaithful to Who He is, which gives believers assurance of His absolute reliability.
“If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13)
#4: God cannot fail to energize and guarantee every single one of His promises concerning us in His inerrant and Holy Word.
“Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel [born again believers included] failed; all came to pass.” (Joshua 21:45)
“So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”(Isaiah 55:11)
#5: God and His Word for you cannot change – He is immutable. He is also omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), omnipresent (immediately available everywhere), eternal, holy, and has many other powerful and perfect characteristics.
So, when you are tempted by the enemy to look backward at the wreckage of life strewn behind you, just remember that your win-loss rate, and any carnage left behind on your trail, will not exist when the day of reckoning comes. When satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future. You can do just that because of all those things mentioned above that our God cannot do!
Meanwhile, Templar, here is your future, as described in the Book of Esther (insert your name in place of “you”):
“Now you will go out from the King’s presence in blue and white royal attire, with a large golden crown and a purple linen mantle. …for you there will be radiant happiness and joyous honor.” (Esther 8:15-16)
That’s how it will all end for those of us “who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Isaiah 25:6 adds that, “The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, and refined, aged wine.” We will sit back and enjoy this extravagant banquet with praise and thanksgiving when the miraculous scores of our lives have been tallied, posted on the scoreboards, and sealed in the eternal books due to the Theme of our lives. And that Theme has a Name: the Name above all names – Jesus.
He did well, very well – and because of His awful sacrifice on our behalf, so did we!