One Chance

“And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away. And there was found no place for them.  And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, out of the things which were written in the books.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one, according to their works.  And Death and Hades were cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire.”  Revelation 20:11-15

 

Here another Easter Sunday goes by, today I’m going to skip going over the pagan origins of the name Easter.  Today I am going to skip incorporating the Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunts into your church service.  Today I am going to skip the rock concert going on in the bigger, more modern churches.  For once I am going to remain silent about all of the programs that you use to get people into your church.  Today I’m going about how your service was in the eyes of the Most High.

 

You finally did it, you know, they come on Easter Sunday.  In droves, families will pack churches all around in the United States.  Faces that you only see once per year or faces that you have never seen will fill the pulpits or chairs of your church.  These people in general will have spent more time shopping for this one event, going to your church, more time getting their hair done, putting on new clothes, their Sunday best, to appear in your church.  Though they might forget about Christ the remainder of the year, at this moment, just the fact that they believe that He exists, they will flood your church. 

 

Sure they may be antsy to get out of there, certainly they have their plans afterwards.  Right now whether or not they want to be there, they feel obligated to be there.  So here you are, what are you going to preach?

 

You have your reasons for your programs to get people into church.  You have your reasons for making your messages to preach the way you do.  You have your reasons for allowing a melting pot of ideas with the world and other churches.  You have your reasons for softening the churches stances on many issues.  Yet here you are, up on the pulpit or perhaps on a stage in some casual clothes, are you ready?  Do you realize that you also stand before your Creator?

 

So what are you going to preach?  You have compromised on nearly everything in the Bible regarding biblical separation.  You have made excuses for having worldly programs in your church.  You constantly change the churches stances on issues as the world changes.  Now are you going to water this down?  Are you going to ignore the truth?  Are you going to tell them what they want to hear or are you going to tell them a message that will not offend anyone? 

 

Are you going to allow those who may die before they have an opportunity to come again next year to go to their graves in sin, awaiting the Great White Throne judgment where if their name is not written in the Book of Life they will be cast into the Lake of Fire!  Are you going to allow those who might never step foot into a church again to not hear the full Gospel message that they need to repent and by faith believe into Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior?!  Are you even called to preach?!

 

“Only, acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Jehovah your God and have scattered your ways to strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says Jehovah.”  Jeremiah 3:13

 

So there you are, Easter Sunday, your pulpits are full, those who may only have one chance are sitting there in front of you.  You have ignored biblical warnings about separation, you have mixed with false doctrine, you have watered down God’s Word.  Yet there you are, doing exactly what you hoped, having used man’s ways to fill your church, now are you going to tell them the truth?  Do you even know the truth yourself?

 

While written to Israel, the same could just as well be said to the New Testament Church.

 

“Return, O backsliding children, says Jehovah; for I am married to you. And I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family; and I will bring you to Zion.  And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”  Jeremiah 3:14-15

 

Compromising on God’s Word will get little or no results.  What good is it to have the pews full of those who will stand before their Creator and hear these words?! 

 

“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many works of power in Your name?  And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who work out lawlessness!”  Matthew 7:21-23

 

Understand there is a very clear warning to the church nowadays.

 

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:  I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot.  So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.  Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing; and do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked;  I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.  Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Revelation 3:14-22

 

Take heed, the Bible is not silent on these things.

 

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unyielding, slanderers, without self-control, savage, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away.  For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning, but never able to come to the full true knowledge of the truth.”  2nd Timothy 3:1-7

 

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own lusts, desiring to hear pleasant things, they will heap up for themselves teachers;  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to myths.”  2nd Timothy 4:3-4

 

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, being devoted to corrupting spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be partaken with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.”  1st Timothy 4:1-3

 

Listen and pay attention!

 

“Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will deliver both yourself and those who hear you.”  1st Timothy 4:16

 

Hear the words of the prophet Jeremiah and consider them diligently.

 

“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her open places, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks the truth; and I will pardon her.  And though they say, As Jehovah lives; surely they swear falsely.  O Jehovah, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have destroyed them, but they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.  So I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they do not know the way of Jehovah, nor the judgment of their God.  I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of Jehovah and the judgment of their God. But these have broken the yoke together and have torn off the bonds!  Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them, and a wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; a leopard shall watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many and their backslidings are increased.  How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and have sworn by those that are not gods. When I adjured them, then they committed adultery, and gathered themselves by troops in a harlot’s house.  They were like lusty, well-fed stallions in the morning; every one neighing after his neighbor’s wife.  Shall I not punish for these things? says Jehovah. And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?  Go up on her vine rows and destroy; but do not make a full end; take away her branches, for they are not Jehovah’s.  For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me, says Jehovah.  They have denied Jehovah and said, It is not He; neither shall evil come upon us; nor shall we see sword nor famine.  And the prophets shall become wind, for the Word is not in them; thus it shall be done to them.”  Jeremiah 5:1-13

 

Amen!