Judgment and SalvationMy Understanding: Jesus said (John 6:44): “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day…” We do not initiate the relationship with God/Jesus Christ. God the Father must first draw us to a relationship with him. Jesus Christ died on the cross for sinners while we were yet sinners, not after we had cleaned up our lives. There is nothing we can do in our human flesh and works to work our way to heaven or to gain favor with God through our own efforts. Not that we loved God, but he first loved us. And, he sent his Son to die on the cross for our sins. He initiated the covenant relationship with us by providing the perfect Lamb sacrifice for our sins and by making the way possible for us to be saved. We come to faith in Jesus Christ by God’s grace, via the prompting of the Holy Spirit in conviction in our hearts and by the grace of God in even giving us the ability to believe in him and to follow him in obedience via the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts in regeneration and in making us a holy people unto God. So, for those of us who have believed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we have come to faith in Christ because God drew us to him and he gave us the faith to believe.
1 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
2 All day long I have held out my hands
to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
pursuing their own imaginations—
3 a people who continually provoke me
to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
and burning incense on altars of brick;
4 who sit among the graves
and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat;
5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me,
for I am too sacred for you!’
Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
a fire that keeps burning all day.
6 “See, it stands written before me:
I will not keep silent but will pay back in full;
I will pay it back into their laps—
7 both your sins and the sins of your fathers,”
says the LORD.
“Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains
and defied me on the hills,
I will measure into their laps
the full payment for their former deeds.”
8 This is what the LORD says:
“As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes
and men say, ‘Don’t destroy it,
there is yet some good in it,’
so will I do in behalf of my servants;
I will not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob,
and from Judah those who will possess my mountains;
my chosen people will inherit them,
and there will my servants live.
10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks,
and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds,
for my people who seek me.
11 “But as for you who forsake the LORD
and forget my holy mountain,
who spread a table for Fortune
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
12 I will destine you for the sword,
and you will all bend down for the slaughter;
for I called but you did not answer,
I spoke but you did not listen.
You did evil in my sight
and chose what displeases me.”
Yet, God’s people throughout history have had periods of rebellion in which God has had to speak to them concerning their rebellion and to call them to repentance or else he was going to send judgment upon them. Judgment of God did not end with the Old Testament. The New Testament speaks of judgment all throughout the books contained within. The Bible tells us that judgment begins with the family of God and that we should judge ourselves via examination of our own hearts so that we don’t fall under God’s judgment. The New Testament also teaches us that God disciplines those he loves and that we should consider his judgments against us as his divine and loving discipline in order to bring us back into a right relationship with him, which is the goal of his judgments. And, the letters to the churches in Revelation offer many warnings against rebellion, idolatry and spiritual adultery, complacency, forsaking our first love, and lukewarmness. They call the church to repentance and they warn of judgment if the church does not repent of her sins. So, God will judge the church if she persists in rebellion and she refuses to repent of her sins.
I believe God is saying to his church today here in the USA that they, for the most part, are an obstinate people who walk in ways not good and who pursue their own dreams, goals, life objectives, schedules, etc. with little or no regard for God whatsoever. They provoke God to his face (defiantly) by worshiping “other gods” of money, entertainment, self-gratification, careers, hobbies, “toys,” etc., i.e. they are passionate about their “idols” and they give much heart devotion, emotion, time and energy to them while forgetting about God or shoving him into a corner. “They spend their nights keeping secret vigil,” i.e. they stay up late in order to give time and attention to their idols while ignoring their Lord and fellowship with him. Yet some are religiously arrogant like the Pharisees and feel they are superior to others because of their religious rituals. Yet, they are like smoke in God’s nose, i.e. smoke is an irritant and it usually provokes sneezing as a way to relieve the irritation.
I believe that God has been promising judgment upon the church in America for some time now, and that one day we will see that come to fulfillment when God has decided that all his reaching out to his people via messages calling for repentance, and promising hope, healing and restoration with no or little response on the part of his people, has come to the point when he must act in judgment as the only means for bringing his people back into a right relationship with him for the sake of his name, as well as for their own sake. Because God is a loving parent, he knows that he must discipline and correct his children when they go astray and they refuse to do what is right. Yet, he is also a very patient and gracious God who is slow to judge (to anger) and is abounding in love and compassion because he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. His hope would be that we would turn and return without having the rod applied to our bottoms, but sometimes we go our own stubborn ways and God must use that rod and staff of a shepherd to pull us back and to direct us in the right path, if we won’t return through more gentle prodding and calling out for us to change and turn.
I believe God gave me this song, because the church is asleep (mostly) while the time on the clock keeps ticking away, and truly time is running out, and the time of judgment is not that far off. Satan knows his time is short, and he is on a rampage and he is pulling out all the stops to try to get the church to be ineffective for God and for the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the methods Satan uses against the church is distraction. If he can get God’s people distracted with “toys,” entertainment, games, TV, movies, sports, hobbies, etc. to where their minds and hands and being continually consumed by things that bring self-gratification, then he has us right where he wants us, i.e. asleep, complacent and lukewarm.
He also uses disinformation, distortions of truth, watering down the gospel message, etc. to make us feel not guilty or less guilty about living for ourselves and our own self-pleasure, teaching that God is pleased with us no matter what we do and that nothing is required of us, but that God does it all. Yet, all through the New Testament we read just the opposite. God does require obedience and repentance and submission to him and to his will. Jesus did not die on the cross taking upon himself the sins of the entire world, paying the penalty for our sin so that we could be free from sin and free to walk in obedience to our Lord for us to continue to live in bondage to sin while claiming our free ticket into heaven. He died so that we could be free! Don’t wait to get your heart right with God if you know that you are living your life for your idols and yourself instead of for your God. Time is running out, the clock is ticking, Satan is on the rampage, and God is calling out for us to come to him in repentance, humility, submission, surrender and obedience to his will for our lives.
Tick Tock / An Original Work / May 1, 2011
Tick tock, tick tock, time is a passing.
The time on the clock keeps ticking
While the church is fast a-sleeping.
Satan’s on a rampage
‘Cause his time is running out.
Will you worship God the Father,
God the Son and Holy Spirit?
Will you obey all of His
Commands for you today?
Jesus died to pay your ransom,
So that you could be forgiven.
Won’t you come to Him in truth
And penitently pray to Him?
Tick tock, tick tock, time is a wasting.
The cross of our Lord awaits you.
Won’t you come and share His table,
Drink the cup and eat the bread
In memory of Him?
Take a heart examination,
And accept our God’s salvation.
Humbly bow in adoration
And proclaim His name.
He wants for you to believe in
Him who interceded for you
When He died for your sins
And He rose from death in victory.
Tick tock, tick tock, time’s end is nearing.
How He longs to take and keep you,
In His arms He wants to hold you,
If you will but come to Him
And call on Him today.
His desire is that you please Him
In all of your life’s ambitions;
Be a living sacrifice
And be transformed today.
Let Christ’s love and grace sustain you,
And His promises prepare you
For His soon return to earth
To gather all His saints to Him.
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
Song
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