This is a thought-provoking question. Among other interpretations, the following is instructive: “If the innocent substitutes for sinners and suffers for them, what will happen when sinners themselves—like a dry tree—fall into the hands of an angry God?” When God saw Jesus in the sinner’s place, He did not spare His Son . . . and when He finds the unsaved, people without Christ, He will not spare them. Oh, sinner, Jesus was led away by His enemies, and without Him you will be dragged away by demons to the place appointed for you. Jesus was deserted by God, and if He was deserted—though He was only a sinner by imputation—how much more should you be? “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (Mark 15:34)—what an awful cry! But what will your cry be when you say, “Oh, God! Why have you forsaken me?” and the answer comes back, “Because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you” (Proverbs 1:25–26 ESV). If God would not spare His own Son, how much less will He spare you? What whips of burning wire will be yours when conscience hits you with all its terrors. You richest, you happiest, you most self-righteous sinners—who will stand in your place when God says, “Awake, oh sword, against those who reject me; strike them and let them feel the sting forever”? Jesus was spit on; sinner, what shame will be yours! We can’t sum up in a single word all the sorrow that fell on the head of Jesus, who died for us—so it is impossible to describe the rivers, even oceans, of grief that will roll over your spirit if you die as you now are. You could die in your sin; you could die today. By the agonies of Christ, by His wounds and by His blood, do not bring the coming wrath upon yourself! Trust in the Son of God, and you will be saved.- C.H. Spurgeon Morning and Evening
My dear readers let this sink in. There is but two responses to being face to face with the Living God. Standing in defiance or on your knees. Those who cry out to Him want something or need something.
Either your crying out comes from a deep relationship with Jesus or its purely circumstantial. The need of the moment.
There will be many many billions of people standing before Jesus on a day soon coming who will cry out to Him, yet He will say "Depart from Me for I never knew you."
People who never once thought they were a bad person. People who thought they lived a good life before their fellow men and women. People who lived and died for their country or family. People of all kinds will be there that day. Life's circumstance only play a small part in your life. Every single person will have been given the opportunity to choose Jesus while they were living and had understanding of right and wrong.
You must choose. You must also understand the profound truth that it matters not what you DO or DON'T do, Scripture says Jesus searches the heart. He know the division of soul and spirit. He knows the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Every atom that goes into what you think, how you think and why you think.
The choice is yet still in your hands my dear reader. If you are alive and breathing. I don't care if you are on death row. If God is still granting you the ability to breathe He is granting you the right to become a son or daughter of God. But...YOU have to choose Jesus. You have to His plan of Salvation. You must. He will not do it for you. No amount of good deeds equals Salvation. No amount of holy living amounts to Salvation. No amount of sacrifice amounts to Salvation. Nothing amounts to Salvation but what Jesus says.
You must confess your sin.
You must repent, or turn from your sin.
You must acknowledge your need for the free gift of Salvation through Jesus Christ alone. Not on any merits of your own.
You must ask Jesus to save you, to be the Lord of your life. That you give up your rights to live your life your way. By faith this can be yours in this very moment. Believe that He saved you in your heart, confess Him as Lord of your life witb your mouth.
My friends, that will bring about a transformation in your life. You will indeed face Jesus, not as the condemned, but as a brother, sister and friend of God.
Do not delay. Time is oh so short. The world never saw the life changes that are happening today. Some feared the pandemic thing but the kinds of changes to culture, to the daily life, nobody saw coming. Yet God did. This is only happening because it's part of His plan before the return of Christ. The kind of society we are turning into now is how it will be at the beginning of the Great Tribulation mentioned in the last book of the Bible, Revelation. It's coming.
This message is a plea for those who are still undecided. Those who might be living in fear about facing today. Fear of this virus. My dear reader facing the wrath of God is infinitely more profound to your life than a virus. Facing the judgment of an eternity in Hell is more of a problem than a virus.
Death is not the real end of your life. Every single person will spend eternity in one of two places. In Heaven or Hell, and those in Hell will go next to the Lake of fire. Your choice in the here and now will determine where your final destination will be.
No, you aren't living a good enough life apart from God. Your standard of measures for righteousness is no where near where Jesus set the bar. Perfection is the standard. Sin once you missed it. Since you were born in sin, you missed it.
The wages of sin is death. To take a quote from a movie, you who have not chosen Jesus, are condemned already. Literally dead men and women walking. God's judgment is already against you. Unless you turn to Jesus, that's the only way to be saved. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man or woman comes to the Father but through Him. Nobody.
Decide right now my dear reader. Don't put it off. Countless thousands dying from natural causes to this virus all thought they had more time. You aren't guaranteed your next breath. It's a gift from God to give you the opportunity to come to Christ to be saved.
So what will you do?
In Jeremiah, the prophet was told to but land and have the elders of the city witness it. All the while the city was under siege by King Nebuchadnezzar. It was about to be captured. Why? Because the Lord said that they will yet again return to that city. They will become a people again. They will live there again. Because He said so. And so it had happened. Israel is in Jerusalem again. If God certainly kept that promise, you can be sure His promises and statements about sin, death, the cross, all of the judgements to come are just as real, just as important to take seriously.
Consider your next breath.
Is it in relief, knowing you are saved, or is in anxiety knowing you are not?
While you have the time...choose. It's in your hands.
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