Seen On a Church Sign
Jesus is coming, perhaps today. Are you ready?
John 14:4
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Acts 1:11
Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
Jesus is coming back; that is a fact. He told us; God’s angels told us. Scripture is replete with the concept and theme that Jesus will be returning.
There are many, many views about the wheres and whens of Jesus’ return. We aren’t covering those here. It’s really not relevant to this post. We will talk about judgment also; there are many opinions about the wheres and whens of those also. Guess what? We aren’t covering that debate either! It’s not relevant to this post. No matter what we believe about the timing of certain things, there are issues that we all need to think about in preparation for the return of Jesus.
Everybody needs to think about these things. Believers and non believers alike have issues to consider.
Romans 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
We all will bow, we all will confess. All of us, no exceptions.
To the non believers
We are all sinners. I am, you are; we all are. God is perfect and we are not. We all have fallen short and missed the mark of God’s perfection.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
God not only set the bar for what sin is; He set the penalty for it as well.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death……….
Yes, the penalty for our sin, any sin, is death. The penalty is eternal separation from God in a place called hell. Why separation, you may ask? God cannot abide or look upon our sin; it is outside His nature as perfect and Holy.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
God, however, loves us with a love we cannot even grasp or understand. He loves us enough to literally give Himself to us as a sacrifice to pay our penalty. He loves us despite the fact that we have rejected Him; He knew we would be sinners and loved us enough to provide us a way.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Friends, you can never make yourself good enough to earn your way to God. Our salvation is only by the Grace of God, through faith in His Son Jesus Christ. It is a gift from God, to us.
Ephesians 2:8,9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What must we do then, to be saved? The answer is repentance toward God and faith in The Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t DO anything, but we do believe some things. We sometimes teach kids the ABCs of Salvation, and they are pretty good for grown ups to.
A Admit you are a sinner before God. Agree with God about the wrongness of your sin.
B Believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross and was resurrected in three days, paying the penalty you should have paid.
C Confess Him. We have to ask God for Salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. We have to ask Him to become Lord and Savior of our lives.
What does Paul say about this in Romans?
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved
It is just that easy. You don’t need to be a theologian; you may not even have a Bible. You don’t have to do anything, so quit trying.
To Believers
Guess what friends? As believers, we face a judgment as well. We do not face a judgement for our sins; we do not face a judgment to determine whether or not we are heaven or hell bound. We make that decision only here on Earth, while we are still living. That is true for us all, by the way. Saved or unsaved, we only have the chance to decide while we are still breathing; the instant we stop that, our eternal destiny is sealed forever.
What then, are believers judged for and what happens? We are judged for the work we have done for Jesus while we were alive and are rewarded accordingly. We are not punished for sins at our judgment but are rewarded for our works. Or, not rewarded for our lack of works. We may very well arrive at the Judgment Seat of Christ and find we don’t get any rewards.
Let’s look at a couple of places where this concept is taught:
Romans 14:10-12 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
2 John 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
1 Corinthians 3:13-15 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
I wrote a lengthier post on the Judgment Seat of Christ in this article, “Crowns in Heaven-How’s That Work?
As I stated earlier, we may disagree on certain aspects concerning the Return of Jesus; this post was not for the purpose of debating all of that. What really matters?
Romans 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Philippians 2:10,11 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
That is what matters. Someday all of us, lost and saved will bow the knee and confess Jesus.
Are you Ready?
December 9, 2014 at 16:52
Another great post, Wally!! I think this is probably the most important question a human being can ask him or herself – Am I ready? Our eternity hangs on our answer. And like you said, it’s not just about where you’re going to spend it. It’s also about how faithful you’ve been with what God has entrusted you here on this earth. So many Christians believe you’re saved and that’s the end of the story. Far from it. That’s only the beginning. If we come to Christ and that’s the end of our journey in this life, we will be ill prepared for the next life, glorious though heaven will certainly be. If we don’t take time come to know God, to know Jesus and to grow ever deeper each day in our relationship with Him while we’re here, while we may be granted entrance into heaven, it will be very unfamiliar to us. But the more we allow Him to transform us into the likeness of Christ while we are here, the more heaven, when we arrive, will feel like home to us, and the more we will be able to appreciate it – and the One who has blessed us with it – as well.
I have a bumper sticker on my car that reads, “Many who plan to seek God at the eleventh hour die at 10:30.” Many say they’ll be ready later, they’ll worry about that whole God thing some time down the road, just not now; they don’t have the time for it. I’m thinking because of your post I also need one that says, “Many who plan to serve God at the eleventh hour die at 10:30.” As Christians we so often say, “I’ll serve Him later. I have so many other things I have to do now.” You don’t need to wait until you can afford to take two weeks off work and travel halfway around the world to serve God. The people you come across every single day are there for a reason – God means for you to serve Him by serving them. Not a few years from now or a few months or even a few days. Now. We only have one life to honor and serve the God who created us and loves us more than we’ll ever know. So we must be ready now for the privilege of serving Him because Jesus is coming, perhaps today.
Thank you again, Wally, for another very convicting and very thought-provoking post in this series!!
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December 9, 2014 at 16:57
Cindy
Thanks for the comments. I’ll be looking for that post you mentioned.
It’s discouraging sometimes to see people make a profession of faith, even get baptized, then they are never seen again. It’s as if they think salvation was only so they could get their ticket to heaven punched.
More sadly, it raises legitimate questions as to the reality of their salvation…or are they deceiving themselves?
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December 9, 2014 at 17:13
Oh, no, what did I do? 😉 I couldn’t figure out where I’d committed myself to a post but I see it now – “because of your post I also need one that says…” Oops!! I just meant I need a bumper sticker, but there definitely is enough material for us to post more about the need for Christians to not just profess to believe in Christ and think that’s enough but to live out their faith. Dr. Charles Stanley speaks of three kinds of faith – intellectual faith, faith in God, and saving faith. http://www.intouch.org/resources/sermon-outlines/Content.aspx?topic=A_Saving_Faith_Sermon_Outline Many people don’t believe it, but you actually can have faith and profess the name of Jesus without being saved. Matthew 7:21 speaks right to this: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (NIV) Definitely something we need to think about when we ask ourselves are we ready for Him to come…
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December 9, 2014 at 17:20
Ha..then you need to get busy!
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December 10, 2014 at 16:00
We must make that most-important choice before our last heartbeat on earth, for, the next heartbeat will pound in only one of two places . . .
Tick-tock, thump-thump . . .
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December 10, 2014 at 16:05
Very nice…I like the tick tock..thump thump..thanks for commenting and thanks for the follow!
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