Before The Judgement Throne

1/23/11

What is the most terrifying thing that you could imagine?

• Job loss? 
• Death of family members?
• Failed test at school?

I would like to propose the worst thing imaginable.  Imagine standing before the throne of Almighty God and hearing Him say, "Away from me you worker of iniquity.  I never knew you."  After declaring your doom, God casts you into the pit of hell for eternity.  The Lord brought this sobering reality to mind today as I listened to a sermon at my church.

Pastor John finished his sermon by asking the congregation to imagine they had a job review at work.  He asked them to imagine the boss coming to them and giving the following review: "You have been alienated from your co-workers and clients.  You have been hostile in mind towards me and those around you.  You have done evil deeds."  What do you think the next words out of your boss' mouth would be?  "You're fired!"

Now job loss is not that big of deal.  It would be hard to deal with, but a job is replaceable.

John then continued to propose another situation.  Suppose that on your way home from church you turn a corner and, WHAM, another car hits you and you are dead.  You find yourself standing before God Almighty and you have to give an account for your life.  Now suppose that God gives you the same review that you heard from your boss.  He says to you, "You have been alienated from me.  You are hostile in mind against me and you have done evil deeds again and again and again."  God then continues on to say, "Get away from me you worker of iniquity.  I never knew you."

It was at this point that the Lord hit me with great conviction.  This is the greatest conviction I have ever felt from the Holy Spirit.  As Pastor John shared this scenario, I imagined myself standing before the throne of God and being cast into the pit of hell for eternity, without hope of ever escaping.  The fear of the Lord came on me as I sat at my desk listening to the sermon.

Take a minute and think about this.  Your life has just been reviewed by God Almighty and He has cast you into hell for eternity.  In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus gave a solemn warning to those who came to Him and said "Lord, Lord."  He said, "Away from me you workers of lawlessness.  I never knew you."  These words finally hit home as I listened to this sermon.  I sat and thought about the sobering reality of hell.


Pastor John continued on with his sermon by going into the next verse in Colossians.  It says, "[Jesus] has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him" (Col. 1:22).  PRAISE GOD!!  What hope we have in the cross!  At this point in the sermon at sat at my desk weeping.  I was filled with such inexpressible and glorious joy.

I thank God for the way my heart responded to this message.  Jesus Christ is a glorious Savior.  He is my redeemer.  I have been brought near to God by the blood of His Son Jesus.  If it were not for the righteousness of Christ being counted to me by faith I would have perished.  I would be doomed to hell for eternity.  But, because of God's great love and mercy I have been born again.  Jesus Christ has given me life and He has given me confidence to come before the Father.  The Father no longer says to me, "Away from me you evil doer."  Instead, the Father beckons me to draw near.

Do you know God as your Father?   The Bible says that only those who trust in Jesus Christ and receive His salvation have God as a Father.  If you do not receive Christ then God is not your Father.  Apart from Jesus, you will be judged for all your wicked, evil deeds.  But, if you will trust in Christ and His saving work on the cross you will have eternal life.



If you would like to listen to the sermon you can find it here.  The part of the sermon that really impacted me starts around 34:30.

The Depravity of Man

"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.  So the LORD said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them."  Genesis 6:5-7

"Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.  And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth."  Genesis 6:11-12

I have been reading a book called Light Force: A Stirring Account of the Church Caught in the Middle East Crossfire by Brother Andrew and Al Janseen.  This is an account of Brother Andrew’s time serving in the Middle East.  The Lord has called him to strengthen the Church in the Middle East so that the light of Jesus Christ may shine brightly in the midst of great darkness.  In 1986, Brother Andrew met with various Christian leaders in the Middle East.  They convened in the basement of a Beirut office building to discuss a plan for peace in the Middle East and specifically the area of Lebanon.

The following is an excerpt from the book where Brother Andrew got up to speak to this small group of church leaders.  Be encouraged as you read this and let the Lord challenge you to catch His vision.

            “I would like to begin by making some observations about this unending conflict here in Lebanon.  Many people expect solutions to come from the outside.  They will not come.  Many people wait for others to take the initiative.  But we must take the initiative.  Many others to whom I have already spoken express the desire for peace at any price.  This is very dangerous and irresponsible and indicates that no one has yet seriously pursued a plan for peace.”

            I spoke with passion, but inside I wasn’t at all sure this was going to work.  The men in the room listened, but their faces revealed no emotion.  Were they simply being polite?  Did they believe they could do something practical about the conflict around them?

            “I would like to address three questions,” I continued. “The first question is, What is our objective?  The answer is simple: We want peace.  We already know that.  So we go on to the second question: What method do we choose?  We must begin where we are.  And as it happens, God has placed us here in Lebanon.  The reason is because we see this conflict as a spiritual battle.  All other definitions fail, and that’ why solutions are so elusive.  So we who are here must proclaim peace.  1 Corinthians 1:21 says God ‘was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”  This becomes a very personal thing, because God’s plan for a changing world is always to change people.  No one can be part of the solution if he is still part of the problem.”

            I then referred to three verses in Ephesians 2.  First, Jesus is our peace; He has broken down the dividing wall of hostility.  Second, He made peace by reconciling us to God through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end.  Third, Jesus came and preached peace.  “There is something creative in the very act of proclaiming, because it expressed faith, and God honors faith.  To those who say that this sounds too spiritual for such a practical problem, I ask, Have we ever given Jesus a chance?  Is He or is He not God?”

            As the men shifted in their chairs, I took a deep breath and continued.  “This problem of peace breaks down into three parts.  First, peace in our heart.  God can never bring peace to the world through people who do not have peace in their own hearts.  Second, peace in our own home.  Through the sheer determination pledged by every individual member, we say, ‘We shall not fight!’  That means not fighting one another in the home, not fighting our neighbor, not fighting our friends, not fighting our colleagues, fellow students, or anyone.  The very basis of our life and actions is the peace that God has given, and from that peace, we act.  Our homes, therefore, become homes of peace.  And the number of ‘homes of peace’ will determine how close Lebanon is to peace.

            “Let me emphasize this point.  We need to create a movement.  Every ‘home of peace’ should be recognizable.   That implies that this is a haven where everyone is welcome to find refuge.  It could be done with a sticker or a symbol on the front door or whatever we have courage for.  Every ‘home of peace’ could have some literature, which the Bible Society will produce, on the theme of peace, and Open Doors will finance that.  The third part is peace in our community, in our churches, in our spheres of influence.  It is said that they will know we are Christians by our love. This peace movement will demonstrate love everywhere we go.

            “Finally, the third question, What are our resources?  Our resources are people. That is, all those who say, ‘Enough is enough,’ all those who are discouraged, all those who expect God to do a miracle, all those who say there’s no human solution, no political solution, no military solution.  All of these people, and that includes us in this room, are our resources.

            “I conclusion, I say that this is simply one method to bring about peace in Lebanon. It has not been tried yet.  We must give God a chance, and it’s open for all those who love Jesus Christ and who through that very fact alone have enough motivation to make sacrifices and to risk something in order to get peace.  May God bless you as you prayerfully ponder this peace plan, and let me know what God is telling you.”

            I sat down and waited.  There was silence for a few moments.  Then one pastor commented haltingly, “Brother Andrew, I would like to think that we can do something.  The conditions, as you know, are horrible.  But we are so few.  Look at this room.  There are twenty-five, maybe thirty of us.”

            “That’s why I put resources last,” I said.  “If we start with resources, we will make our goals too small.  But if our vision is God’s heart, He can multiply our resources.”

The gospel is the only answer that can bring true peace.  Peace is more than a political agenda.  Eternity is at hand as we consider the issue of true peace.  Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.”  True peace before God can only come through Jesus Christ.

NE Minneapolis is in need of this spiritual peace.  It is a community in need of the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).  Will you be among those who say, “Our resources are small.  We only have 25 people?”  Or will you be among those who gaze upon the greatness of our God and say,  “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”

As Brother Andrew says, “If our vision is God’s heart, He can multiply our resources.”  Let us seek after the Lord and let us pursue His heart for NE Minneapolis, trusting that He will multiply our resources.

Christ is All!

Frank

The City Needs The Gospel

We need more than economic reconciliation; we need spiritual reconciliation with God. We need a Savior that will restore our dulled sense of what is good, true, and beautiful. We need a God who can renew us in every way, a God who can make all things new. We need the gospel of Jesus, which is the good and true story that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new, even us.

The gospel changes everything, starting with us. Will we be so changed by the gospel that we can’t help but renew the city? Or will we be so changed by the city, that we won’t advance the gospel?


taken from http://theresurgence.com/2010/11/19/how-cities-are-spiritually-formative?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheResurgence+%28The+Resurgence%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Before the Throne

I title this blog "Before the Throne" because through Jesus we have "boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him" (Eph. 3:12).  This will be a blog where I post prayer requests and whatever God may be teaching me.