Destined

When we all started this journey in life, all of us were destined for God’s wrath.  Each of us were separated from God and had a death sentence on our lives, destined for eternity in a place called hell where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth, where we would spend eternity totally separated from God.  I am not saying it was because of anything we had done outside of being born with a sin nature.  You may say that’s not fair, but fair or not that is the truth.

Read what God’s Word says in Psalms 51:7-9, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.”

David was a man, that God said, was a man after His own heart.  Psalms 51:7 was written after David was confronted by the Prophet Nathan over the sin that David committed because of Bathsheba.  If you would like to read all that King David said, then read the whole chapter you may learn something about repentance and confession which we seem to hear less and less of these days and it is so important because without them we will not go far with the Lord!!  

John taught repentance, Peter and Paul taught repentance along with all the other disciples and many, many others all down through the ages, but we don’t seem to hear about it much anymore, although it still holds true today.

Read 2 Corinthians 7:10-13, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you. Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.”

When we hear about repentance in our communities, or churches, today mainly we hear the word repentance and that’s about it with no explanation, just basically the word.  Nothing about what the word really means. We may hear that the word means to change one’s mind.  But repentance means more than that, it is a conscious decision to turn away from the things you were doing and go the other way towards God.

I don’t think I have ever heard of godly sorrow preached.  Godly sorrow brings a person to humble themselves over the grief that they are experiencing because they are truly guilty and sorry.  Some people are so broken they weep, like Peter did when he denied the Lord three different times.  God’s Word said that He went out and wept bitterly in Luke 22:63.  It is a downright shame how many people think they are truly born-again because they walked down an aisle in their community and said a simple sinner’s prayer.  There is a way we can tell if a person is a Christian and that is by their changed life.

God’s Word says this in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Read what Jesus said about this in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

This is a very serious matter, that is why I keep coming back to it, I am not saying these things to scare anyone but if that is what it takes to get your attention so be it.  Better to be scared now and take action and not have to stand before the Lord on judgement day and not get into the kingdom.  All I want to try to do is wake people up to this stark reality because the stakes are too high to play games with this and it is getting to the point of not hearing these things anymore in the church and this message must get out!!

This is the way I feel about this truth, read 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

I have presented this; it is up to you to act upon it if you need to.  I will leave you with this; examine yourself to see if you are in the faith!!  There is a way to be delivered from this sin that has us bound since the day we were born, and I have laid it out for you.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you all have a super day!!  And don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!