MY FRIENDS, CAN WE TAKE A CHANCE AND DELAY?

March 9, 2016

MY FRIENDS, CAN WE TAKE A CHANCE AND DELAY?

“Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”  My friends only forty days to repent and be saved, or everyone will be destroyed. In addition, God did not categorize their offensives, or determine their destruction by social class, or race, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Jonah 3:5 (KJV) tells us “The Ninevites believed God and a fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.” Key word, all of the Ninevites believed. The murderers, the fornicators, the thief’s, the liars. The adulterers, those who coveted, those who worshiped other Gods, those who used the lords name in vain, those who did not keep the Sabbath day holy, even the gossipers.

Yes my friends, all believed and repented. Because once you allow God’s Spirit to take full control then you begin to develop that personal relationship with Christ. But sometimes this world looks far more appealing and we choose to linger far to long in sin instead of making a full transformation. In the spring at Niagara Falls, there is large blocks of ice flowing toward the falls.

Embedded in the ice you can see carcasses of dead fish. Gulls by the score will ride down the river feeding on the fish. As they come to the brink of the falls, their wings go out, and they escape annihilation at the powerful falls. But every once in a while a gull will delay, seemingly engrossed in the dead carcasses of all the fish, and when it finally comes to the brink of the falls, and it extends its powerful wings, the bird will flap but to no avail.

Even by chance it does lift the ice out of the water, it has delayed too long and its claws are now frozen into the ice and the weight becomes too great, causing the gull to plunge into the abyss. Oh, the danger of delay! I’m sure those who linger have seen others fall into the abyss, but, somehow they figured, they can succeed where others have failed. The Ninevites gave it all to the Master in forty days.

The thief on the cross, in an instant. My friends, Christ is knocking, any delay can be detrimental to one’s salvation because tomorrow is not promised. So today my friends, where do you start the process of transformation. Maybe you start with gossiping. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:29 (KJV) Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Maybe you start at wasting God’s time. Paul also says, “Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Eph. 5:16-17 (KJV) I could continue, pointing out ones transgressions that can be found in God’s word. But the question is not about the sin itself, but when does it become personal between you and God?

Or do we linger as the seagull because somewhere in our finite mind we figure we can succeed in sin where other’s before us have failed and escape before we are completely annihilated by Satan? My friends, if you reach that final sunset and you look into Christ eyes, will the tears you shed be tears of joy or would they be your last goodbye.”

It will be a tragedy to get to that day, and realize, all the delays, and all you had accumulated and accomplished on this earth “could not compare to eternal life that you now have lost.

Every excuse we may give as the reason we cannot serve Christ, was challenged and answered at Calvary.