We are living in a sick, sick world. For years, with rare exceptions, my first read of news each day has been the Rapture-Ready headlines. I can honestly say that the topics covered to day have been the most alarming array of developments in a single morning’s selection, ever! I don’t know how Terry and Todd, et al can take it, except they counterbalance it with time spent in the Word. Even then, ughh! Learning that 4 reprobates in India did lewd things to a lizard is something I would have rather not have had to know, and yet what an apt demonstration of how low into depravity humanity is, and how justified the wrath of a Holy God is.
Jesus paid for that sin. When He was up there on that cross, He didn’t just die for the sins we commit without giving it much thought, He paid for heinous things, which is all the more reason we should not take lightly any sin. We tend to look at sin on a continuum, considering some things “minor” and hardly worth concerning ourselves with. But when Jesus hung on that cross, and the Father Himself had to turn His Head away as all sin, past, present and future, was placed on Christ, the weight of every single sin was felt by Jesus. There is no “big sin” and no “inconsequential sin”. There is only sin. All of it is an affront to God’s Holiness.
It is hard to fathom a love that could compel such a selfless sacrifice. We are not holy, we who are redeemed bear an imputed holiness, but even many who don’t know Christ, are sickened by such a depraved act. Why is that? If we are all animals, what’s the big deal? And that’s just it. We are created in the image of that Holy God, and that is the thing in us which knows instinctively that it is not just wrong, but vile.
Satan wants to defile men in such a way, however. He loves when he can so tarnish and obliterate that “image of God” in men. The gods of Inidia are nothing but the same old pagan gods the Lord prohibited worship of in the Old Testament. This world is so saturated with darkness. But God has given His Word so those that have ears to hear, and a sincere desire to know truth, could understand that the evil will only be allowed to progress so far, and then God is going to intervene in such ways that not a single living soul will be able to deny His sovereignty. Every knee will bow. Every mouth will confess that Jesus is Lord over all. Every man knows in his heart of hearts that God created all things and has all authority. By their own love of sin, and of self, and of flesh and pleasure and darkness, their consciences are seared and their understanding is clouded, until they no longer remember what they know. But God is going to obliterate those clouds. Circumstances are about to befall this world that will make things perfectly clear and undeniable, and still they will curse God.
If you look around at the world, if you have enough “light” in you to see that this world is in real trouble, then you are not too far gone, and I recommend that even if you doubt the existance of God, call out to Him, and ask Him to reveal Himself to you. He will do it. If you sincerely desire to know the truth, He will not keep it from you.
These days, even much of the church doesn’t want truth. They want nothing to do with the “judgmental angry, jealous God of scripture and bloody redemption”.
This world is self-destructing. The real pandemic is mankind’s global rebellion against it’s own Creator. God said He is not willing that any should perish. He would that all men be reconciled to Himself. But He lives outside of time, and sees past, present, and future, and knows not all men will choose to be reconciled to Him. They will reject the gift of forgiveness that was paid for by the blood of the sacrificial lamb, Jesus Christ, our passover, the Messiah! Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Yes, you can take it or leave it. You sure can.
You are a sinner, admit it.
Judgment is coming.
Will you be innocent?
Jesus took the penalty for your sin, but there is a transaction that has to take place in order for that provision to be applied to your personal “rap sheet”. It is extremely simple to do, but not easy for most people, because of pride. You have to admit that you have no bargaining chip with which to approach God. What God requires from you, only God can provide for you. Your part in the transaction is to believe. That Jesus paid a debt you could never pay, the penalty for your transgression of His Holy Law. That’s it. Believe and receive it.
1 Cor 15: ¹ Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
“Christ” is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” which literally means “the anointed one.” The King is the primary anointed one in the Old Testament, so when Jesus is called “Christ” in the New Testament, what the writer is proclaiming is the gospel: Jesus is the Lord.–Bob Robinson, Patheos
1 Corinthians 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
That is the plan, that is the gospel, that is the truth that you need to know.
Serve Him in the Waiting 