July 2, 2016
MY FRIENDS, ITS TIME WE MAKE OUR CALL AND ELECTION SURE!!
“Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him for heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God; the purity, peace, and harmony of heaven would be to him supreme torture. His accusations against the mercy and justice of God are now silenced. The reproach which he has endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests wholly upon himself. And now Satan bows down and confesses the justice of his sentence.” (E. G.White The Story Of Redemption, pp 427)
My friends, one day “every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12 (KJV) Even Satan. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” 2 Cor. 5:10 (NIV) And as a Christian with this knowledge, we must now look beyond today, and focus on our Salvation and our Saviors soon return.
It’s now personal as we realize we are accountable for our own actions and how we live our life during this short probationary period from
birth to death God has given us to have that personal relationship with His Son. Remember the thief on the cross did in in a matter of seconds. “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” [and his request was granted because he believed.] “And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly,….you will be with Me in Paradise.” Like 23:42-43 (NKJV)
Our cry daily must be, “ I’ve been captured by a love I can’t explain and now you have me and I’m forever changed. I’ve abandoned everything I’ve ever known [including my time, talents and money.] Now I surrender, my life is not my own.” (W. McDowell, I Belong to You) My friends how can our life be our own after we understand the price that was paid for our Salvation.
Peter tells us 2 Peter 1:2 (KJV) “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” In other words my friends these gifts are multiplied through the knowledge Gods plan which also extends to His second coming and then he goes on to say in (v,2,3,4) that nothing has been held back, all the promises in His word are available to us if we believe. And it was done so “that we may have life, and that we may have it more abundantly,” and without yielding to “the corruption of this world that will only lead to spiritual ruin.
Remember my friends, this is what Calvary was all about. And because of this, Peter goes on to tell us what “we must do to be saved” which is a “fruitful growth in faithfulness. Because everyone that says Lord, Lord will not enter God’s kingdom, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven ” (v, 9) Peter starts with the foundation which is “faith then virtue, then knowledge, then self-control, then endurance then godliness, which then leads to brotherly kindness, and then love.
“For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.,” and (v, 9) says if we lack these things we are blinded by the things in this world and have not “forsaken all others” for the glory and honor of God. And 2 Peter 1:10 (NKJV) ends this message by telling us if you are blinded by the things of this world, time is running out so now we must hasten and be fruitful and “make our call and election sure, [And] if we do these things we will never stumble.”
Amen