HAVE YOU MADE YOUR PEACE WITH GOD?
HAVE YOU MADE YOUR PEACE WITH GOD?
This topic is based on the question, 'If you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity?' Have you been cleansed of your sins before you stand before the Almighty and Holy Creator of the Universe?
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement." Hebrews 9:27
"And He (Jesus) spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.' And he thought within himself, 'What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?' And he said, 'This will I do. I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.' But God said to Him, 'You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be which you have provided?' "So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Luke 12:16-21
I want to share about the utter importance of being ready to meet our MAKER ("behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of our salvation." 2 Corinthians 6:2) and not to presumptuously leave it to a time of your choosing. As we all know, no guarantees have been made as to the actual time allotted to us. He will call us when He is ready, and it is up to us to be ready. He has provided all the grace for our salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and in so doing, made reconciliation with God possible. That being said, the ball is now in our court to respond.
Someone might say, "What do you mean, 'Make your peace with God?' I don't believe in God." What we believe or do not believe is irrelevant unless it is the truth and corresponds to reality. Reality embraces all that we see and what we cannot. If the testimony of Jesus Christ is not the truth, you have nothing to worry about, but if He did rise from the dead in payment for your sins, you understand the ramifications. If you are having trouble grasping the concept of an Almighty God Who created all things, Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8. It is imperative to do a deep soul search. If you have been caught up in the Merry-Go-Round of testimonies and counterarguments, they will never end. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but God has chosen the route of faith for us to come to Him. That tries our hearts and puts everyone on an even plain, young or old, rich or poor, wise or foolish, hard life or easy life, time and place all being leveled and inconsequential when approached by faith. God reveals Himself to those whose hearts are open. This letter is a beautiful example:
Then someone might say, "I am a good person; if there is a God, why should I be concerned?" The Bible testifies that "there is none righteous, no not one... for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Romans 6:10,23. This is a stern statement of our condition before a Holy and Almighty God. In God's eyes, according to the Bible, we are blasphemers if we take His name in vain. We are murderers if we hate our brother. We are adulterers if we even lust for someone to whom we are not married. We are thieves if we stole something, and liars if we lied. We are idolaters if we are greedy. We are practicing sorcery if we are doing drugs. God's standards are so much higher than ours. If we are not connected to or walking with the Lord now, when He has made a provision for us through Jesus Christ, and we have ignored it, why would you think that He will accept us on that day? If our intention is to try to be good without Him, by default, we are really saying we don't need or want Him. Jesus is knocking on the door of our hearts.
Or someone might say, "I am religious (or spiritual)", or "I have my own beliefs." Religion and spirituality, as well-meaning as they can be, do not justify us before God, though He does consider our earnest intentions. "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear." Isaiah 59: 1-2. Our good works and religious practices can not remove or negate our sins, nor purify our souls before our Righteous and Holy God. But there is fantastic news! God has opened up a channel by which we can reach Him! We have a wonderful example of this in Acts 10, where there was a devout Roman centurion, called Cornelius, who earnestly feared God, did much charity, prayed, and fasted, and his prayers and alms came up as a memorial before God (vs2-4); however, he knew something was still missing. He needed something from God to be right with Him. Those sins must be paid for. To be cleansed from our sins and delivered from our sinful nature is not in the ability of any of us. But God, our Loving Heavenly Father, took up the cause for us by sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who became a man, lived among us, and in love, laid down His life for us, then rose again three days later. By doing this, He paid for our sins and thereby purchased our salvation. No religion or good works program can do that. Even Cornelius, though earnest in His acts of charity and beliefs, still needed to come to faith in Christ to be saved. And he and those with him welcomed Jesus with fully open hearts. God testified to their faith by filling them with His Holy Spirit. If we have earnest intentions, God provided the means for our salvation - Jesus Christ, our SAVIOUR. How awesome is that!
The game is over at the Cross of Christ. We tend to live our lives with busy distractions, duties, chasing dreams, fears, confusion, and carelessness, but today is the day. It is the time to make the most important decision and act of your life, which is to make your peace with God! Jesus was crucified with two thieves, one on His right and the other on His left. According to the different accounts of the Gospel, it is recorded that both ridiculed Jesus, but in the Gospel according to Luke, there was a point where one of the thieves quit the game, came to his senses, and rebuked the other thief for saying, "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, 'Do you not fear God, seeing you are in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man has done nothing amiss.' And he said to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, 'Verily I say to you, today shall you be with Me in paradise.'" Luke 23:39-43.
At the cross of Christ, whether we ourselves are dying or not, the game is over, along with all the folly, all the lies, all the excuses. It gets down to this very narrow gate: do we believe in Jesus and accept Him or not? At this point, for this man, he realized even with all his ignorant behavior (because it does say that even he mocked the Lord ("And they that were crucified with Him reviled Him." Mark 15:32) that his game was over. He came to his senses and turned to the Lord and asked for His mercy. Do you notice that at that point, he had nothing to bargain with? All he could do was ask for His mercy and grace. That is all Jesus needed from Him, and that is all He needs from any of us. What do we actually have to bargain with for our eternal souls? What does God need from any of us? Jesus paid all our debts in full. For those of us who are still on this earth after we come to the cross of Christ, all we do is follow Him in faith and obedience until He returns or calls us home.
A friend called me up because a friend of his was in the hospital, dying of cancer. My friend said that apparently, he might not even make it through the night. He asked if I would go and talk to him about the Lord because he was a non-believer, and so I went. I introduced myself and told him who it was that sent me. I immediately asked him if he believed in God. He said no. At that point, I began to try to reason with him. This went on for perhaps an hour or two until I had had enough of his excuses and he was running out of time. I flat out and said, "You are about to meet Him face to face. Do you want to go to Heaven or not?" At that point, he turned and said he did. So I asked him if he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He died for his sins, then rose from the dead? He said he did. Then I asked him to pray and give his life to Jesus, and he did. I went to see him the next day, mostly to see if he actually connected with the Lord (not everyone who prays this prayer does). The first thing that he said to me, and with a heart of joy, "You know, whatever time I have left, I am going to enjoy the Lord." He passed away into the arms of the Lord very shortly after.
Dear friends, if you haven't made your peace with God, today is the day, and now is the time. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved! Acts 16:31 He loves you so much!!!
"That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved." Romans 10:10
So be it!
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