In Matthew 25 the friends of a committed Christian were not sure. Half hoped that what they remembered was enough but they could not explain it to the rest.
The DNA of the whole human race is descended from one family about 10,000 years ago. This is a scientific fact that the godless hide from at their peril. The time fuse is much shorter than you think:
Time’s ticking by in the world today
It’s been ticking away for so long
That man has forgot
And called it a clock
But if isn’t a clock it’s a bomb
Find out seconds
Before it blows
No time left
To use your head
Cut the blue wire!
Well here goes
Or maybe
Its the red.
The ticking stops …..
Eternity starts.
Are you alive or dead?
Too late now to realise it was the ……..
Our Father God wants to fill His home with children (Jn. 3 v 13-21). Salvation is based solely on your acceptance of His loving purpose and your attitude to Jesus as your Lord and Saviour (Ps. 86 v 5-13, Eph. 2 v 4-10, 3 v 20, 1 Pt. 1 v 2 v 1-8).
There is nothing babies do that they can be ashamed of in the eyes of their parents. The law that governs their relationship is love so there is correction but not rejection (1 Jn. 3 v 9, 4 v 16-21). The parent’s duty is not to just clean up their messes but to love, comfort and teach them how to behave properly.
There is nothing that we do that is acceptable to our Almighty Father (Is. 64 v 6, Rom. 7) so we hide from Him (Gen. 3 v 8-12). This is due to Satan’s lies (Gen. 3 v 13). Our lives are only frustrating and in a hopeless mess because we do not walk openly with our Father-God (1 Jn. 1 v 4-7). Our hidden, unconfessed mistakes are not corrected so we tread in our own mess (Gen. 4 v 6, 1 Jn. 3 v 12-15, Acts 5 v 3-5).
Jesus has cleaned up our ‘mess’ (Ps. 86 v 5-13, Eph. 2 v 4-10, 3 v 20, 6 v 15, 1 Pt. 1 v 3-25, 2 v 1-8). Salvation is based solely on your acceptance of His love and motives (Ps. 40 v 1-11, Jn. 13 v 8, Rom. 10 v 8-15). Finding God is humbling but very exciting.
If we confess our sin (1 Jn. 1 v 8-10) he will not just forgive us but, if we let him (Heb. 4 v 9-16), his love will cut them out. The only sin that will bind you to Satan’s fate forever is pride based on: “What God has said is a lie. If you do what you feel is good you will not die but become a free godlike spirit” (Gen. 3 v 4-5, Mt. 7 v 21-23, 12 v 31, Acts 12 v 21-23). The pride of the God-defying (Ex. 10 v 21-29) stops them accepting God’s words and Saviour so they condemn themselves to a hopeless eternity.
Most people are saved when their life seems to stop: when it becomes meaningless, desperate, a hopeless failure or as they are dying. God loves mending broken sinners (Lk. 23 v 40-43, Jn. 8 v 6-11) and saving disillusioned achievers who have gained all this life has to offer.
One of the richest men in Israel climbed a tree just to get a passing glimpse of Jesus so Jesus stopped and spent the weekend with him. A very ambitious lawyer named Saul was knocked off his horse by God and immediately changed (Acts 9 v 6).
Repent is to turn around because you know you are going in the wrong direction. Those who are getting weighed down with dirt and guilt wash them off and start a new life (Mt. 3 v 11-12). The fire is coming (Mt. 3 v 7-10) but many who are baptised turn back to the old (1 Cor. 10 v 1-12, Heb. 3 v 15-19).
There is therefore a series of tests (Mt. 4). The genuine are sealed (Eph. 1 v 11-21, Heb. 6 v 13-20). The self-centred (Lk. 10 v 25-29) who do not respond to His love by faith in His words (Gen. 2 v 16-17, Mt. 4 v 4) turn back to living and eating as pigs (Lk. 15 v 16-24).
The genuine are assayed and purified as silver. The dross is removed through decisions made in the desert (Deut. 1). It is a work of the Holy Spirit not the unholy, self-preserving soul (Heb. 4 v 9-16). Those who do not progress due to unbelief just repeat the basics again and again (Heb. 5 v 8-14).
