Tuesday, August 10, 2021

It's Not a Joke

It's Not a Joke 

Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. PROVERBS 1:28 One of Aesop’s fables is about a shepherd boy who was watching a flock of sheep. Wanting to play a trick on the villagers, several times he cried out, “Wolf! Wolf!” and then laughed at the villagers who rushed to his aid. When a wolf actually came to attack his flock, the boy cried out in earnest but was ignored. His game-playing proved his undoing when death was at his door. Picture the shepherd boy as the nominal religious person of our day and the villagers as the God of Scripture. Some people are going through life treating it as a game, playing at religion, believing that when the day of judgment comes, God will save them from destruction. They think about the Gospel in their idle moments or when small crises occur, but they never really commit themselves to a saving relationship with Christ. If you have been living life on the periphery of faith, don’t wait until the last day. Call out for Christ by faith before it is too late. Better to call out for Jesus while you have your breath than in the day you lose it.  Dr. David Jeremiah Morning and Evening 

We likely have seen either in real life or in movies or television that group of people who for but a moment don't take the pending danger seriously. 

They ignore it up to a certain point then all the sudden the reality hits then they scramble, looking for a way out. 

They didn't think to take it for the seriousness the situation deserved. 

My Dear Reader, are you one of those people in regards to what the Bible says will happen? 

We have multiple witnesses throughout the Bible telling us all what to be looking for. Most are going through the motions of this life with no regard to what's happening right here and right now. 

They, or maybe even you, live lives that are all about your own wants and desires. 

We are not those simply crying "Wolf! Wolf!".  To be clear, that particular wolf has been among the world for centuries. Rather than fear him people welcomed him into their homes and lives. 

The god of this world mimics the God of Heaven. Tries to seduce people into a false sense of security. With just enough distraction to keep them from realizing the truth.  

When their end of life comes and they've left this world. Countless billions do not enter into Heaven, they wake up in Hell. 

You and I cannot afford to listen to the warnings of the Scriptures with a deaf ear. 

The reality it out of the hundreds and hundreds of prophecies of the Bible, only around 500 are left. If that. No promise given in regards to the judgment of God concerning mankind has ever failed.  None.

This is serious business. The judgment of God is no joke. 

Life isn't about successes you celebrate. Should you make it to Heaven you will indeed have a place prepared for you by Jesus. You won't have all kinds of things hanging on your walls to remind you of your achievements or certifications. 

We don't have one ounce of goodness within ourselves that can grant us entry into Heaven. 

We can't afford to put off living for Jesus until later. 

We can't afford to be silent while those around us slide into Hell. 

We who are in Christ had a life preserver tossed to us to save us. 
Don't those around you and I deserve the same?

If you are reading this and aren't saved yet, why do you keep pushing it away?

I have been given very vivid visuals of what some people likely found out upon entry into Hell. 
You can read for yourself just what Jesus said of it in the story of the Rich man and Lazarus. 
Nowhere does Jesus mention a party. Nowhere does He mention second chances ever being an option. In fact the idea is presented and summarily rejected. You enter Hell there is no return. No option for salvation. None. I have pictured people whom I personally knew and celebrities who publicly scorned the God of the Bible who died. Within the same blink of an eye that would have deposited them into Heaven, they entered Hell. Screaming in torment. Just as you read in Jesus’s description of it. Those whom I heard flippantly utter the words "Oh God!" in a derisive, and disrespectful way, now cry out to Him for real in their pain and misery.  People who spent their lives not taking the call to be saved seriously who end up there do the same.  

Salvation is no joke. 

The judgment of God to come is no joke. 

If you're a Christian and are not living it in all seriousness, then why aren't you?
If you aren't a Christian what's holding you back?

This world indeed has a lot in common with the Titanic.  We spend lives trying to re-arrange chairs on a sinking ship, unaware of how quickly it can be. We spend lives looking for musicians to calm us while the decks below in our lives take on water. 

We have a very limited time on this world. Jesus said "Behold I am coming quickly."
His grace and mercy are giving you and I and all who are still breathing a chance to come to Christ to be saved and to live a life that's no joke. To become His workmanship. To be who He intended for us to be. 

It isn't about how popular we are now, nor is it about houses, money or cars.

When you stand before Christ, it's about how you lived or didn't for Him. You either stand before Christ as one born again or you stand before Christ condemned because you rejected Him. There's no fence to sit on to use for an excuse to have said no.  As Scripture also is clear in another statement. Many will barely get into Heaven because their works in their lives will be burned up when tested.  Their lives will be saved, but they will have done nothing worth keeping. 

This is your question...are you taking Salvation seriously or are you among the foolish who see it as a joke?  Scripture says that the fool says in his heart that there is no God. 

Point of fact: there are none in Hell who no longer believe that God is real and that His judgment was real. 

No comments:

Post a Comment