Monday's Message: The Terror of the Lord

 

II Corinthians 5:11

 

Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

 

If you have never read Jonathan Edwards sermon “Sinner’s In the Hands of an Angry God” then you have never read one of the most famous sermons ever preached about the wrath of God.In its use of the various Scriptures about God and His wrath it paints a very vivid picture of what awaits the sinner on Judgement Day. We see in these verses that the apostle Paul was writing to the church of Corinth about what awaits all of us at the end of our lives and at the end of time, the Judgement of Almighty God. 

For the Christian as we’ve already discussed, it is the judgment of our good works after we became Christians for our reward in Heaven. But for the unbeliever, for the poor soul that rejected Christ, rejected God, and lived a life of sin, there is only the judgement of their sin. Many lost people have this false hope that they will go to Heaven because they are a good person. But we know the Bible says in Romans 3:10, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: The Bible says in Isaiah 64:6 that all our righteousnesses, “our good deeds,” are as filthy rags. When God looks upon a saved person, He see the righteousness of Christ, which was imputed onto them. But when God sees a lost person, he sees a sinner, which has yet to pay for their sins. 

That is why Paul called it the Terror of the Lord. Imagine the exceeding fierceness of the wrath of the God of the Universe. The Almighty God that had the power to speak all things into existence, that took the very dirt on the ground and fashioned a full grown, fully functional, perfect human man, that took the rib out of that man’s side and fashioned a full grown, perfect human woman. Imagine the infinite awesomeness of His Justice. I’m sure Paul quivered as He wrote these words. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…

Paul was saying that because he knows how awesome God is, how powerful, and mighty, how just, how vengeful, and how wrathful God is, that because he knew this, this drove him to persuade men, to preach the gospel to as many as would listen. Because he knew that a day would come when all men would stand before God that he made it his life’s ambition to make sure that every man had a chance to prepare for that day.

What about you believer, do you quiver at the thought of your loved ones, standing before God, answering for their sins? Do you have compassion on the stranger at the counter of the check-out line? Do you pray diligently for the lost people in your neighborhood that live down the street from a gospel preaching church yet have never been invited there? Do you care that there are billons of souls around the world that don’t even know that one day they will experience the Terror of the Lord? We have an awesome responsibility, those of us that are saved, to share the gospel with a sinful, unbelieving world; who, unless we do everything we can to reach them, will go straight to that day where they will experience the Terror of the Lord. God is a God of justice. Sin has a price, it must be paid. It was already paid by Christ on Calvary, but as we know, it must be received. What will you do today that will help someone receive that gift? Will you go, will you tell, and will you pray? 

 

Family Friday: 3 Ways to be a Good Mama

There are no perfect mothers, but we can all strive daily to be the best mother we can be for our children. The following are some things that made my mama great.

1. She was the real deal.

What she was in public was what she was at home.  If there is any faster way to turn a child off to the things of the Lord it is to live a hypocritical lifestyle.  My mom did not do that, and although she wasn’t perfect (no one is) she taught us how to love the Lord by backing up what she said with what she did both at home and in public.

2. She admitted when she had failed.

Every mother fails at motherhood, many times on a daily basis.  My mom had her moments of failure too.  But a moment of failure does not mean you should give up entirely.  “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again…” (Prov. 24:16).  Instead of giving up when she fell short, or worse yet, pretending it didn’t happen, she admitted her failure both to the Lord and to her children.  We knew that she desperately wanted us to love and obey God, and God was able to use her because of her humility.

As a preacher I know says,

“God doesn’t bless perfect parenting; he blesses humble parenting.”

 3. She prayed – a LOT.

We children all knew mom spent time with the Lord daily.  We saw her spiritual journals and notes lying around and made mental note of the fact that her Bible was always her first choice of reading material.  And we knew she prayed.  Along with her journals and notes were her prayer lists.  One of those prayer lists was a bookmark she had received at church entitled “How to Pray for Your Children”.  We knew that she prayed for us, and we knew what she was praying.  I never cared for the part of that list that said “Pray they will be caught when they sin,” but I am sure that having that in the back of my mind was one of the very things that often helped me choose right when I was tempted.

My mother knew that the best place to wage the battle for her children’s hearts was on her knees.

So you see, mamas, you don’t have to be perfect to be a good mother.

If you desire to see your children grow to love and obey the Lord; if you are the real deal, humble, and above all 100% dependent on the Lord to work in your children’s hearts rather than trying to do the work yourself, you will see God’s blessing.

Be encouraged.  When it seems your children aren’t learning anything, just you wait.  They are watching.  And God is working.

Teen Tuesday: My Relationship with God

Genesis 5:24

As a teenager there are many things that fight for your attention or focus: sports, dating, school, having a good time, driving a car, college, and many other things.  Your parents start to give you some freedom to choose what you would like do with your time and energy.  School takes up part of your time with homework, projects, and tests or quizzes.  You may decide to get involved in a sports program, or you may begin working a job as a young person.  You will realize as teenager, that you cannot do everything and that you must prioritize the things that are available for you to do. 

As a teenager in church, having a relationship with God will be emphasized.  Most teenagers will agree that this is important, but does that always move you to action?  I know that I did not always read my Bible and pray as a teenager.  Just because you are in church or your parents have a relationship with God does not guarantee that you will have a relationship with God.

Judges 2:10  “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.”

As a teenager you have to decide whether you are going to know God, or be satisfied with hearing other people tell you about Him!  I decided as a teenager that I wanted to know God for myself.  But how do you accomplish this, how do you get to know God? 

When I was a teenager, my youth pastor, Eddie Lapina, gave our youth group a challenge to read the entire Bible through before we turned 18.  I began thinking about what he had challenged us to do.  Yes that was a lot of reading, but I had several years to accomplish this task.  I decided that I would take the challenge and read the Bible all the way through.  As a teenager, I have to admit there were quite a few times that I stopped reading the Bible for a while, but before I turned 18 I had read through the entire Bible.  Many teenagers stop reading their Bible and just give up.  God knows that you will stop or forget to read the Bible, but He wants us to restart each time that we stop!   Proverbs 24:16 

It is also important that we learn to get things from God as a teenager.  There are two specific things that stick out to me from my teen years in the area of prayer.  During my junior year, one of our teens in our youth group started a prayer meeting during lunch.  Several times a week we would get together and pray for our class during our lunch period.  This meeting kept me accountable to pray consistently. That same year one of my friends decided to have an all night prayer meeting at his house.  We were going to meet together and pray for camp which was the following week.  I remember wondering how we would pray all night long!  I remember gathering around the campfire that night at my friend’s house and starting to pray.  We prayed by the fire together, we walked around his property and prayed by ourselves, and came back together and finished praying by the fire.  I remember feeling very close to God that night, and the following week of camp was incredible!  Jeremiah 33:3

I learned as a teenager how it feels to get close to God.  I was not perfect, I still did dumb things and got into trouble like everyone else.  But as I got close to God, there were several times that I got to see God use me!  Do you want to feel that closeness with God, and see Him use you as a teenager?  Do you want to see truth out of His Word as you read?  Don’t wait until you become an adult to get close to Him, walk with Him now.  James 4:8 

Monday's Message: The Judgment Seat of Christ

II Corinthians 5:9-10 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 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.

Believer, did you know that one day you too will stand before God and give an account for your life? It is not just the unsaved that will stand before God and give an account for their lives. Everyone will stand before God. In the book of Revelation, chapter 20, the Bible speaks of two different judgments, one for the saved and one for the unsaved. In verses 4-6, it speaks of the first resurrection; this is where the first judgment, of the saved, will take place. Then in verses 11-15 it speaks of the Great White Throne Judgment where the Lamb’s Book of Life is opened and any whose names are not written in it are cast into the Lake of Fire, this is the second death. The first death was instantaneous, experienced by all at their physical death, as Paul wrote, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, this is for the Christian. But for the lost person the second death is eternal, eternal separation from God and torment in the Lake of Fire. I pray that you have trusted Christ as your Savior and if you haven’t I pray that you do that today, if you are not 100% sure that you would go to heaven please follow this link and we can show you how to be saved. http://www.gracebaptistofmarrero.com/salvation/

Let us now turn our focus onto that first judgment. This is the first resurrection spoken of in Rev. 20:4-6, described here in our text verse of II Corinthians 5:9-10, and further described in I Corinthians 3:10-15. Some biblical scholars differ on when this judgment will take place some place it at the end of the Tribulation as taken from Rev. 20:4-6. Some place it at the moment of death as taken from II Cor. 5:9-10. The question of when it takes place is not the important question. The important question is: are you prepared for it?

It is clear from the context of the passage that this judgment is for believers and not for unbelievers. It is not a judgment to determine salvation but a judgement of our good works to determine our reward. Jesus said many times that in Heaven the last shall be first and the first shall be last. This lets us know that God will determine our place in Heaven based on our actions on Earth. Then Paul further clarified in the letters to the church at Corinth exactly what will be judged and how they will be judged. In II Cor. 5:10 he states who will be judged: we “must all appear”, that is, every believer. Then he states what will be judged: “that he may receive the things done in his body,according to that he hath done”. These are our actions, or deeds.

However, at the judgment seat of Christ is it not enough to have done good deeds but to have a pure motive for doing them. Lots of Christians do good things so that they may receive glory, or out of obligation, or worse, they do no good deeds and continue in sin. Paul tells us in I Cor. 3:11-15 what will happen to those deeds.  “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;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.”

So we see here that at this judgment our deeds as Christians will be tried by fire. We may be saved, but if our lives were nothing but sin and selfishness, it will burn away and we will have no reward.  However, if we live for God, win souls, serve Him with our lives in whatever He has called us to do, selflessly serving others, then the Bible says that will come out of the fire as gold, silver, and precious stones. This is also where the many crowns mentioned in the Bible will be given out. Not crowns for us to wear but to cast at the feet of Jesus, because truly it is only because of Him that we receive any reward at all. Many Christians will see the entirety of their lives go up in smoke, the only thing that will remain will be what we did for Christ out of a pure heart.

So what does this mean to us today? Well, I go back to my first question. Are you prepared for the Judgement Seat of Christ? Is your life filled with good works or sin? What will you have left of your life? Will you have gold and silver, souls to your account? Or will you have wood, hay, and stubble, a life of sin and selfishness? Live for Christ, serve Him here on Earth and your reward will be in Heaven.

Family Friday: Jacob's Surrender

Jacob was worried about coming home after 20+ years away from his brother, Esau. Now, at long last he was coming home, a rich man with a big family. But the closer Jacob got to home, the more his heart was filled with dread. What were things like at home? Was Esau still angry for the terrible, deceitful way his brother had treated him? Was his father Isaac still alive? What about his mother Rebekah?

Jacob received the news that his brother had an army of 400 men! Frantic with fear, Jacob thought his entire family would surely be killed. Acting in haste, without trusting God and His promises to take care of his family, he quickly came up with an idea. He would divide his household, along with the flocks, herds, and camels, into two groups. If Esau attacked and destroyed one group, the other group would have a chance to escape.

Where was Jacob’s faith and trust in Jehovah God? After Jacob had made his plans and decided what he would do, as sort of an afterthought, he prayed. I wonder why he didn’t pray and call on the Lord the very first thing? It would have saved him a lot of worry and anxiety! But many times we do exactly as Jacob did. We make our own plans and work out our own ideas and then ask God to bless them, instead of asking Him to show us His will and what He wants and has planned for us.

That night Jacob had his family cross the river Jabbok, while he stayed behind, alone. Suddenly, in the dark, a hand seized Jacob. Jacob started struggling with an opponent who had the muscles and power of a wrestler This One was the Lord God Himself! He wanted Jacob to let Him be Lord and King of Jacob’s life – his Ruler, not just his Saviour. God wanted Jacob to quit having his own way, making his own plans, scheming, cheating, swindling, and trying to get what he wanted by being clever and crafty. 

Jacob fought and stubbornly refused to give in all through the night. They battled until dawn, when the Lord struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. Jacob was helpless. He clung to the Angle of the Lord crying out that He could have His way. The Lord changed his name to Israel, which means “God rules or God commands.”

All through his life, Jacob had tried to rule and command his own life and the lives of others. Now he must be willing to be ruled, and to receive commands, and to obey orders. Jacob called the wrestling place Peniel or “Face of God”, for he said, “I have seen God face to face.”

In the dawn of a new day, a new Jacob limped away from the wrestling place. At last he had yielded himself to the God of his fathers. Jacob was a new man; he had a new name, Israel. No one can meet God face to face and be the same – He will be changed and transformed; he will live differently after seeing the Lord.

Early that morning Jacob crossed the river and joined his family. Far in the distance he saw Esau coming with his four hundred men. Jacob went out alone to meet Esau; he bowed low in a very humble manner. Then Esau ran toward Jacob, his arms in the air welcoming his brother home. He was no longer angry! The brothers were sweetly reunited!

As years passed, Jacob never forgot that wrestling match with the Lord at the river Jabbok, for it caused him to give up his own ways and let God rule his life. None of us today have had and actual wrestling match with the Lord like Jacob did, but deep down in our souls, we have fought with the Lord, too. God says to us, “Will you give up? Will you turn your whole life over to Me an let Me be your Lord and King? I love you and bought you on Calvary’s cross by shedding My blood for you. Will you surrender your own will for Mine?”

I hope we will not wait till we are old and have lived out most of our lives like Jacob, but that right now while we are young(ish) and have our lives before us, we will say, “Yes, Lord. I give myself to You. I give up my way and ‘doing my own thing,’ I want YOU to have YOUR way in my life. I gladly make you Lord and ruler of my life. I want to be changed; I want to be different; I want to live a surrendered life. I want to be made like Jesus.” This is the only way to true happiness and joy. Let’s ask God to help us yield to His way in our lives.