GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 8
GOD’S WORD FOR MAY 8 ~ ~ Acts 17:30-31 ~ ~ “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Every person who has ever lived will be held accountable by God for what they have done. Unbelievers will be held accountable for breaking God’s law and face the condemnation in hell. There will be no time for argument. It will happen instantly. Just one sin will send a person to hell for eternity.
God will hold believers accountable for their works and will reward them in heaven, or their works that were done in the flesh will burn up and they will get no rewards. Our obedience to the Lord now, will determine how much we will enjoy heaven forever, if we’re believers.
Believers will not get punished.
But unbelievers will be punished forever.
The sign God gave to confirm this fact was the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
If you do not believe in Jesus Christ, this judgment should cause tremendous fear. You will face the wrath of God and suffer an eternity in hell because of your sins. But this judgment does not have to be a thing to dread. At this time, there is still time to turn to Jesus and secure forgiveness.
In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and tares (weeds). He said the field is the world, and there are two kinds of people. …the crop (wheat) and the weeds that satan has deceived into staying as weeds. He says they will grow together until the end. Then this happens:
Mt 13:30 ~ ~ “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. ’ ”
Those who have had their sins forgiven because of accepting the gift of Jesus, will go into His barn (heaven and the new earth with Jesus) but those who chose not to, will burn in hell forever.
These facts from the Word of God are not taught in churches as before. Some churches have taken on the deceptions of the world, and the love of money. They don’t want to “offend” anyone who would otherwise fill the collection plate.
But Jesus didn’t mince words about eternal punishment. He died for sinners, and He and the Father would want every person to repent and have eternal life. He tells us here:
1 Timothy 2:3-4 “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
But it has to be the choice of the person. We have to turn our will over to God and accept His will for our lives instead. Without that, we are ALL headed for the eternal fire.
Here is a description of hell as told by Jesus Himself. (Mark 9:43-49)
“If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where
‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.”
He repeated this same admonition two more times, with the foot and eye.
He is NOT kidding when He talks about hell!!! In fact, Jesus talked more about hell than heaven. He is warning us in plain language, for all those who will listen.
Some people think that God abandoned His plan to judge the evil that has dominated the world since the sin of Adam.
If you’d go on the street and ask (and many have), you’d find pretty much as many theories as there are people walking that street. I should say, many excuses to remain living in sin.
“He’s a loving God, He wouldn’t send anyone to hell” Jesus answered that this way:
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
“I’ve got a thing going with the ‘big man upstairs’ and I’m OK
God would say, to such arrogance, “Exodus 15:16
“Fear and dread will fall on them; By the greatness of Your arm They will be as still as a stone,”
Revelation 6:15-16 “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!”
There will be no time then to turn from their arrogance and sarcasm, when the wrath of Almighty God falls upon them.
Then there is the theme of the latest trend: “God gets us”
They think, we can all relax. After all, we have enough on our minds with the world going crazy like it is, right? He understands. He “gets us”
The truth is, He does understand. He understands every person more than we could ever know. He knows our deepest yearnings and thoughts, and even ones we aren’t aware of ourselves. This they should fear. But He also cares, and wants everyone to come to repentence.
2 Peter 3:9 ~ ~ “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
In fact, He did everything He could to prevent us from continuing to live in sin and fall into judgment.
He came to earth to pay the price for our sin. All we have to do is receive that gift of freedom. He even went one step farther. He put a sense of Himself within each of us, even before we know of His existence, and He put an awareness of Himself in His creation all around us, and over our heads, which we see every day.
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”
What more could He do to save us from our deluded selves? The choice is ours now.
He finished our salvation already, and He warned us very plainly that we must make the decision. Now, the choice is ours.
More about His Judgment tomorrow.
Live in the Light of Our Lord 