Top of the morning to you! We are up to the fourth strophe of the great Psalm 119, so grab your Bibles and we’ll get started.
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Posts Tagged 'choice'
Panic Podcast: Psalm 119, Part 4
Published April 28, 2020 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: choice, Psalm 119
What Must I Do…
Published July 29, 2014 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: choice, lost, salvation, saved, what must I do
In Acts 16, a man who thought he was in big trouble came to Paul and Silas with this question:
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30 TLB)
That’s a good question to ask, especially when you think you are trouble. In this case, the man asking the question was a jailer – the very jailer who was in charge of keeping Paul and Silas incarcerated. When they were miraculously freed and the prison “shaken to its foundations” by supernatural forces, this poor fellow was sure his life would be forfeit. His superiors, he was sure, would hold him personally accountable for both the damage to the prison as well as the escape of the prisoners under his watch. Yes, it didn’t look good for this man. Little wonder he wanted to know how to be saved!
We’re all in the same boat as the Philippian jailer was in, and that boat is gradually sinking. Hebrews 9:27 presents us with an inescapable truth:
… it is destined that men die only once, and after that comes judgment… (TLB)
There’s nothing you or anybody else can do to outrun the Grim Reaper! He will catch up with you. Death is absolutely certain. Life, however, is anything but certain. Who can predict what the future holds? We make our plans with care and precision, but in a moment, everything can change.
Most people, even if they won’t admit it, are aware that there is something beyond death. They may not be sure what it is, but they know death isn’t the end of their existence. The story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, which Jesus told in Luke 16, teaches us that the soul of a man goes on forever, and will either be lost in Hell or escorted by the angels into Heaven.
In Matthew 7, Jesus also taught about a wide gate and broad way that leads straight to destruction, and that there are many traveling on that road. Then He talked about a narrow road that few find that leads to life. Startling contrasts, indeed. Straight and narrow, broad and wide, life and destruction. Your future; your destiny depends on the decision you make here and now. Though Jesus told stories and parables, the truth behind them is real and awaits all men. Are you saved? Or are you lost?
I imagine most of you reading this have heard sermons based on that question, “What must I do to be saved?” Those are good sermons, but I have a better question. My question is, “What must I do to be lost?”
To begin with, let’s deal with Christians.
What must a Christian do to be lost?
It’s a theological pickle to be sure, but here’s what the Bible says:
…what makes us think that we can escape if we are indifferent to this great salvation announced by the Lord Jesus himself and passed on to us by those who heard him speak? (Hebrews 2:3 TLB)
The writer of this letter to the Hebrews was writing to Christians; Jewish Christians, not to the sinner, when he asked that question. Further along in the same letter, we read this:
Do not let this happy trust in the Lord die away, no matter what happens. Remember your reward! (Hebrews 10:35 TLB)
That’s a telling verse. It suggests that a Christian can indeed stop trusting in the Lord. The same chapter concludes like this:
But we have never turned our backs on God and sealed our fate. No, our faith in him assures our souls’ salvation. (Hebrews 10:39 TLB)
It’s clear that it is possible for a believer to turn his back on God and put his soul’s salvation in peril. Peter writes about the danger of forgetting that your sins have been forgiven. Regardless of how you feel about it, the Christian can be lost by his own neglect.
How does this happen? Well, it certainly doesn’t happen quickly or overnight; it’s a gradual process, this turning away from God. When a Christian neglects time spent in prayer, he has begun to turn away from God. When he neglects the Word of God, he wanders even farther from the Lord. And when a Christian neglects God’s House, the Church, he’s showing how far from God he truly is. Hebrews 10:35 —
Let us not neglect our church meetings, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near. (TLB)
When a Christian fails to listen to the “still, small voice” of the Holy Spirit, preferring to do his own thing, he is showing his contempt for God by ignoring one His most precious gifts, His Spirit. Finally, when a Christian reaches the point of blatant, outright rebellion, his falling away is complete.
And when a person has escaped from the wicked ways of the world by learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then gets tangled up with sin and becomes its slave again, he is worse off than he was before. It would be better if he had never known about Christ at all than to learn of him and then afterwards turn his back on the holy commandments that were given to him. (2 Peter 2:20, 21 TLB)
What must the ungodly do to be lost?
The answer here is “nothing,” because they are already lost. But to flesh it out a bit, for the ungodly to remain in his lost state, he must:
- Reject the love of God manifested in His Son;
- Resist the drawing of the Holy Spirit; fighting the conviction of sin he may be experiencing. Every time a sinner does this, his heart grows a little colder, and a little harder;
- Reject the Word of the Lord he may have heard in Sunday School or at an evangelistic meeting or that a friend may have shared with him;
- Procrastinate. By putting off the decision to follow Christ, a sinner is saying “no” again.
In 2 Corinthians 6:2, the apostle Paul wrote:
Right now God is ready to welcome you. Today he is ready to save you. (TLB)
There may not be a tomorrow; there may not be a second chance to make things right. Remember what God told Noah:
My spirit shall not always strive with man… (Genesis 6:3 AV)
There will come a time when God will stop calling. The thing about it is this: If a person is lost, it’s because they really wish to be that way. Nobody needs to stay lost. Being saved is as easy as making the right decision, as the Lord enables you. But it’s all up to you.
In answer to the Philippian jailer’s question of what must be done to be saved, Paul gave him the simple instruction:
“Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, and your entire household.” (Acts 16:31 TLB)
Only you can do that. Nobody can believe for you. You must do the choosing, while you can, before it’s too late.
CHRISTMAS: BAD NEWS TO SOME, GOOD NEWS TO OTHERS
Published January 1, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a CommentTags: choice, Free will, Grace, Luke, prophetic word, salvation, Simeon
Luke 2:34, 35
Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Simeon, as you recall, was the “silent server,” a faithful follower of Yahweh, waiting patiently and praying for the coming of the Messiah. When Joseph and Mary came to the Temple in Jerusalem to present their offerings, along with their 8-day old Son, Jesus, Simeon recognized immediately that this Baby was the long awaited Messiah. As soon as he took the Baby in his arms. Simeon the “secret server” became a prophet, empowered by the Holy Spirit, as verse 25 suggests,
Simeon’s word of prophecy was brief, but powerful; each phrase full of meaning and deserving of our attention.
1. The Mission of Christ
These words must have been startling for Mary and Joseph to hear:
This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel… (verse 34a)
This prophecy was given directly to Mary and Joseph, but it concerned all of Israel, and in fact has implications that reach around the world, down through time to this present day. The coming of this Baby into our world would result in a moral, ethical, and spiritual crisis in the Israel of His day, and even in our world today. The people of Israel, and eventually people around the world world, would be faced with a decision: respond positively to the call of grace or reject it. Later on in the New Testament, we read the same thing like this:
For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” (1 Peter 2:6-8)
Many in Israel would fall because of their response to Jesus. Others would “rise,” that is, they would receive eternal life. While this prophecy, both here in Luke, and in Peter, where he quotes from Isaiah and the Psalms, applies directly to the nation of Israel, its principle is universal because it directly applies to the eternal destiny of all people, of all time. The absolute most important decision any human being can make is what to do with Jesus Christ.
We can look at how it happened to Jesus. He had a huge following for much of His earthly ministry, but later on, when His preaching became stern, when He started talking about the cost of following Him, many of His disciples fell:
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (John 6:60)
After this, the crowds got smaller and smaller. Many fell away.
Of course, there were some followers of Jesus who had to fall first. For example, Saul fell off His donkey before he rose again, a new creation, becoming Paul, the great evangelist. Zaccaeus had to “come down” when Christ called him to a life of discipleship. Maybe some of you have to be “brought down” before Christ could do anything with you.
Yes, Jesus is very bad news for those who reject Him.
For Israel, though, He was “bad news” because by in large His people would have nothing to do with Him. They foolishly, though prophetically, rejected the Messiah. However, He will in time be the best news ever, for though Israel as a nation has fallen, she will rise when her Messiah comes:
“In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” (Romans 9:26, also Hosea 1:10)
2. The character of Christ
[The child will] be a sign that will be spoken against…(verse 34b)
It was Isaiah who spoke these thrilling words hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus:
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
A sign could point to something good or something bad. A sign can be very comforting, like when you have been driving all day and you see a sign that your destination is just around the corner. Or a sign can serve as a warning. In Christ, as a sign, He is—
The red light of danger.
Jesus Christ, the sign, is a sign of danger to those who refuse to accept His gracious gift of grace and salvation. The foreknowledge of God is absolutely infallible; He knows who will accept His freely offered grace and those who will not. He forces neither choice on anyone, but allows people to chose for themselves. Those who turn Him down, will fall, and it is God’s will that they should perish. But, when God’s grace offered in Christ is accepted by sinful man, God raises them up from sin and death.
The yellow light of caution.
Sometimes Jesus is a sign of “caution,” warning you to be careful. To those of us who have accepted Him as Savior, sometimes we think we can simply live for ourselves; that we can treat Jesus like a salt shaker, taking Him out every once in a while when we think we need Him. Thank God He doesn’t treat us like that! Thank God our Savior is far more loyal to us than we are to Him. When we get a little too independent in our thinking, Jesus can be a sign of warning, of caution, to get back to Him. But we have to heed the sign, for again, He won’t force us to live right. It must be our own choice.
The green light of safety.
To the believing, trusting, and obedient, Jesus is like a green light. When you are walking with Him, there is no need for fear or apprehension. When you are living your best for Him, you need never be ashamed to pray or to wait in His presence. Jesus Christ will always show you the way to go, with green lights all the way. But you have to trust Him first and you have to put forth an effort to live in a real relationship with Jesus. We have a good example of a man who was embarrassed to pray, not because of the state of his life, but that of his people:
I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has reached to the heavens. (Ezra 9:6)
But you never need to feel like that! When you are living for Christ, He’s the green light.
3. The influence of Christ
…so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed… (verse 35a)
To come into contact with Jesus is to have your thoughts revealed, too. Did you know there is nothing about you hidden from Him? You can hide your thoughts and even your motives from most people, but never from God.
Jesus Christ is the living Word; He is the discerner of thoughts and knows the intents of the heart. He knows all about us, and what we think of Jesus is revealed not only by our thoughts, but by our actions as well. Words are pretty cheap these days; we may say we love Jesus and we may claim that He is our Savior, but do our actions support our words or betray them?
Jesus Christ is the touchstone of truth by which all people are judged. There are a couple of interesting verses about Jesus that should never be taken alone, without the other in its shadow:
If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. (John 12:47)
For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind. (John 9:39)
The mission of Jesus, revealed by His character, was not to try, but to redeem, but in doing so the character of man would have to be severely tested. When anybody is confronted with the living Truth, that person will, of necessity, be forced to make a choice: follow or not follow. Jesus came to redeem that person, but that person must make the choice; the decision is his. As Jesus lived and walked among His people, their hearts were revealed—those whose hearts were right heard His voice and followed, but those who preferred darkness turned away.
Today, the Gospel remains the touchstone of human character. There are those who want nothing to do with the light of God. They may be moral and ethical people, but their hearts prefer the darkness over the Light. They will reject Christ. But there are others whose hearts, consciously or unconsciously, are searching for more; they know this life is not all there is. These people find ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction in a relationship with Jesus Christ. What a person does with Jesus reveals what is truly in their heart.
This was a personal word to Mary, the mother of Jesus. But she wasn’t just His mother, she would become His disciple, as well. And so her “piercing of the soul” carried with it a double-whammy. As His mother, her soul must have been shattered when she saw her Son’s suffering and on the Cross. As one of Jesus’ disciples, her soul was pierced when she faced the jeers and persecution all of His disciples faced and face to this very day.
Jesus Christ; was there ever a Man born whose influence was so diverse and so pervasive? Jesus Christ: a stumbling stone to some, a stepping stone to others, and a touchstone to all.
