by David Brenneman
"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13
"The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good." Psalms 14:1.
"The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God,” They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice; There is no one who does good." Psalms 53:1.
"For a fool speaks nonsense, And his heart inclines toward wickedness: To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord, To keep the hungry person unsatisfied And to withhold drink from the thirsty." Isaiah 32:6.
Just as it will be on the day of judgment...so in reality it is this day.
There are only two kinds of people. There are those who believe and trust in what Christ did on the cross to make a way to save them. Then there are those who reject Jesus Christ either in full denial or through various levels of unbelief.
Various levels exist because of both the mind of man and the schemes of the devil, also known as Satan.
Which are you?
There is no fooling Jesus on the day of judgment. Consider it well that He asks nobody where they are with regards to guilt or innocence.
His work on the cross bridged the gap between God and man. God the Father said such a connection would have to be a perfect sacrifice. One who would have to fulfill every single prophecy concerning the Messiah. The man Jesus is that One.
There was the Disciples after His resurrection who saw Jesus alive. There were the women who saw Him as well. There were the 500 plus people who also testified to His resurrection. Historically there are other people groups in this world who tell stories of meeting one who can only be described as the one and only Son of God that time-line wise completely fits the post crucifixion time-frame.
Countless examples exist of the work of God in Christ Jesus in our world today.
Indeed millions and millions of people have lived and will live the truths of that first passage in Jeremiah.
What probably scares all who enter into Hell every single second of every single day is the clarity of thought that they now have regarding the truth they fought so hard to deny concerning Jesus Christ.
The parable of the Rich man and Lazarus. The Rich man completely understood why he was there. He denied God while he yet lived. He rejected righteousness in God. He rejected the plan of God for him.
"For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith." Romans 12:3.
My Dear Reader...within you right now is enough faith for you to receive the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
You can and will either embrace it or you will cast it aside due to your human pride.
Your potential fears of what God might want for you aren't excuse enough to not embrace your path set before you.
Just as eternal torment is the future of that rich man, so shall yours be should you continue in your unbelief.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14.
Quite literally, very frankly, it IS God’s way to Heaven or the highway that leads to Hell. It's His way or the highway.
Nobody can ever be good enough, no amount of denial is acceptable.
Jesus said that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Zero exceptions. Hitler will confess. Stalin will confess. Herod will confess. Pilate will confess. Jezebel will confess. All politicians will confess. All who are mass murders throughout history will confess. All who breathe the breath of life in all human history will confess. Either willingly or unwillingly its going to happen.
Even you.
Jesus isn't going to share the plans that He has for you until you come to Christ for salvation. Until He is the forgiver of your sins and the leader of your life you aren't going to know.
A life in Christ cannot be experienced or explained to someone who is dead in their trespasses and sins. Literally a dead man or woman is totally unresponsive to life. That measure of faith that is granted is there to give you the breathe of life in Christ.
"For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.”" Ephesians 5:14.
Right now your sin nature, be it in the life of a Believer or not a believer, is scared, tainted, and lied to by our sin nature.
Our judgment is clouded by sins and sinful desires. Pride is saturating our lives. Fears are driving people to continually stressful lives.
So...where do you stand? You're either before Jesus with arms wide open crying out for Him to embrace you or you've put up a hand telling Him you want something more and He's not enough.
On that coming judgment day...all who have rejected Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will forever be living in torment constantly reliving their regrets in their minds. With absolute clarity they will know of every lost opportunity they had to say yes to the salvation they dismissed. Spending eternity forever separated from Jesus Christ.
All who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior will not be without tears. Jesus said that He Himself will wipe away every tear. We will probably cry because of the opportunities we missed, the lessons we regret having had to repeat several times in our lives we lived. We will cry because of those we will never see again who rejected Jesus Christ. We will cry because we will really see Jesus as He truly is and not how we thought He was.
Moses strongly desired to see the glory of the Lord. Any sinful man or woman would die if they saw the full glory of God in Christ Jesus.
You, my Dear Reader, must choose yourself to accomplish much in a life in Christ, your next heartbeat after dying to step into Heaven or struggle through this world on your own only to end up in Hell.
The choices are but two.
All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.
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