Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Mathew 7:21-23
Those words of Jesus should terrify everyone who professes to be a Christian. You should be asking yourself if you are doing the will of God. You should be examining yourself to make sure that Jesus know you. Make sure that there are changes in your life, in your habits, in your thinking.
Have you truly been changed, from the inside?
You want to know what burdens my heart more than anything else. It’s not lost people that simply don’t care about the things of God. It’s people who profess to be Christians and are deceiving themselves or they have been deceived by some preacher or evangelist.
The Bible says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and you have no idea what that means, that we were born radically depraved and God hating, that we would have never sought God, never come to God. We have rebelled against God, broken every law. It’s not just an issue that you have sinned. The issue is you’ve never done anything but sinned. The Bible says in the prophets that even our greatest works are like filthy rags before God. And because of that, you know what we deserve? The wrath of God. The holy hatred of God.
You say, “Now, wait a minute. God doesn’t hate anybody. God is love.” No, my friend. You need to understand something. Jesus Christ taught, the prophets taught, the apostles taught this that apart from the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord, the only thing left for you or me is the wrath, the fierce anger of God because of our rebellion and our sin.
People are always quick to point out, “No, God cannot hate because God is love.” And I tell you God must hate because God is love. You see, I love children; therefore, I hate abortion. If I love that which is holy, I must hate that which is unholy. God is a holy God. That’s something that the Americans have forgotten. Many of the things that you love to do, God hates. Did you know that?
Pray for revival. You’re going to have a youth meeting; you want God to move, but before you go there you watch programs on television that God absolutely despises. And then you wonder why the Holy Spirit hasn’t fallen on a place and why you have to create false fire and false excitement. Because God’s not in it. God is a holy God and the only way you and I could ever be reconciled to a holy God is through the death of God’s own Son when He hung on that tree.
Now listen to me, if you’re saved, you’re not saved because the Romans and Jews rejected Jesus. You’re not saved because they put a crown of thorns on His head. You’re not saved because they ran a spear through His side, and you’re not saved even because they nailed Him to a cross. Do you know why you’re saved if you are saved? Because when Jesus Christ was hanging on that cross, He bore your sin. The sin of God’s people and all the fierce wrath of God that should fall upon you fell upon His only begotten Son.
Someone had to pay that price. Someone had to die. It was God the Father who crushed His only begotten Son. According to Isaiah 53, it says, It pleased God to crush Him.
That’s the Gospel in a nutshell. The just wrath of God demands a sacrifice to pay for sins. It demands that we pay for our sins with our life. But, instead of God giving us what we deserve, He came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ and sacrificed Himself to pay the debt that we owe. There is no better way to explain the Gospel. God sacrificed Himself for us.
The battle for your soul begins in your mind. When you read a book by Ann Rice, J.K. Rowling, or any other writer that focuses on the occult; when you watch movies or TV shows that glorify witchcraft, adultery, fornication, and anything else that God calls evil, you are opening a door for the enemy to invade and influence your life.
When you allow your children to read these types of books and watch these types of movies and TV shows, you are opening a door for the enemy to invade and influence their lives.
You may say: what’s wrong with Harry Potter?
When you look at pornography on the internet or look at pornagraphic images in magazines. When you read so-called romance novels that feature adulterous affairs, steamy love stories, and pornagraphic references, you are opening a door for the enemy to invade and influence your life.
The reason so many of us live in a constant state of misery and spiritual apathy, the reason we don’t experience the power of God in our lives, the reason we never see the miracles we read about in the Bible, the reason the church has no power and influence in the world is because we have allowed the enemy free access to our lives and the lives of our families. We have allowed the enemy unlimited free reign to invade and influence our minds, our hearts and our lives.
How have we opened these doors and allowed these demonic influences?
By indulging our darkest desires. By playing games with sin. By watching movies that glorify sin. By reading books that glorify all things that God calls sin. By compromising our faith and convictions trying to live at peace with a lost and evil culture. By calling good evil and evil good.
The battle for the soul begins in the mind. Evil, wickedness, and depravity originates in the heart, but, the mind is the door. We can choose to keep it closed and locked tight or we can choose to fling it open wide and lay out the red carpet for the enemy. Unfortunately, this is what most of us do every single hour of every day. It only takes a small crack for the devil to get his toe in the door.
We need to slam that door in his face, lock it up, and cover it with the blood of Christ. We need to stop allowing the enemy free reign to invade and influence our lives and the lives of our children.
God is saying to His people, “Consider your ways!”
Turn to Christ today in faith and true repentance. Confess and ask forgiveness of your sins and ask Him to make you one of His own.
God bless...
Comments
Post a Comment