Prepare To Meet Thy God (Part 2)
- INTRODUCTION:
- SCRIPTURE READING: (Philippians
2:9-13).
- THE NEED OF PREPARATION IS VERY CLEAR:
- DISCUSSION:
- MANS DISOBEDIENCE IS REPUGNANT
TO GOD:
- The sin of Adam and Eve led to their
being put out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis
3:23-24).
- Sin is disobedience or transgression
of Gods will:
- The Greek word in the New Testament
(HARMARTIA) means "A missing of the Mark".
(VINES EXPOSITORY DICTIONARY OF NEW TESTAMENT
WORDS, W. E, Vine, page 1055).
- The mark is that which God has
set for us to live up to and when we fail to live
up to that standard we have sinned, gone contrary
to His will.
- The sinfulness of man was so great
that just before the flood we are told, God was ready
to destroy man in, Genesis
6:5-7 = "And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I
will destroy man whom I have created from the face
of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air: for it repenteth me that I have
made them."
- Jesus in speaking to the Pharisees
in the temple, after they had brought before him a woman
taken in adultery, said, John
8:21 = "Then said Jesus again unto them,
I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your
sins: whither I go, ye cannot come." (John
7:34) Christ said, "Ye shall seek me, and
shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come."
- NOTE: The reason they
could not come where He was is due to their rejection
of Him as Gods Son, the Savior of man, they would
die in their sins and therefore could not go to be with
Him in heaven.
- Sin separate man from God. Isaiah
59:1-2 = "Behold, the Lords hand is
not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy,
that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face
from you, that he will not hear."
- GOD MAKES RECONCILIATION POSSIBLE
THROUGH CHRIST.
- Jesus has been given all authority
in heaven and in earth (Matthew
28:18).
- The text tells us "that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow. Of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth"
( Philippians
2:10).
- Jesus was sent into the world
for the salvation of man. John
3:16 = "For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
- "In the beginning was the
Word (Jesus Christ, JHB), and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God" = John
1:1.
- "And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth" = John
1:14.
- The message of this Word
(presented by both teaching and example) was delivered
to special selected men to deliver to the world by
Christ. Christ said in His prayer to the Father, John
chapter 17:
- "I have glorified thee
on the earth: I have finished the work which thou
gavest me to do" (John
17:4).
- He said these have "Kept
thy word" (John
17:6).
- "For I have given unto
them the words which thou gavest me, and they
have received them,
" (John
17:8).
- "I have given them thy
word; and the world hath hated them, because they
are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world" (John
17:14).
- Gods final message
was delivered by His Son and that alone contains Gods
message of salvation.
- No longer will God speak through
prophets: Hebrews
1:1-2 = "God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets. Hath in these last days spoken unto
us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds."
- The responsibility of obedience
to this word is ours: Hebrews
2:1-4 = "Therefore we ought to give
the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For
if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every
transgression and disobedience received a just recompence
of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great
salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by
the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard
him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs
and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of
the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?"
- This final message of God which
was proclaimed by Christ, Paul said "
is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek"
(Romans
1:16).
- Jesus is our only approach to
His Heavenly Father:
- Jesus is the only way. John
14:6 = "Jesus saith unto him
(Peter, JHB), I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but
by me."
- God seals his love for man
with the death of His Son. Romans
5:8-11 = "But God commendeth
his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but
we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom we have now received the atonement."
NOTE:
The Greek word translated (commendeth) means:
God has approved that which was done and made it to
stand firm.
- If Jesus and the message he brought
from God are not heeded and followed by any man, that
man will be rejected (John
12:48-50), and the words of Jesus in John
7:34 will be as spoken.
- Christ said (John
12:48-50) = "He that rejecteth me, and
receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him:
the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge
him in the last day. For I have not spoken of
myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a
commandment, what I should say, and what I should
speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting:
whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said
unto me, so I speak."
- These words of John
7:34, will be so very true to those that have
rejected the Lord and the message from God. "
And whither I am, thither ye cannot come."
- CONCLUSION:
- THE JUDGMENT IS APPROACHING:
- God has fulfilled His part: He has
shown us the way out of sin by the Word spoken by Christ
and paid the redemptive price for our sins with the death
of his Son.
- The responsibility of heeding
the message is up to us, (See Hebrews
2:1-4).
- This responsibility is something
we must work at:
- In the words of verses Philippians
2:12-13 = Paul said: "Wherefore,
my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in
my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure."
- It is before the Lord the text
said in verse Philippians
2:10 =, "
every knee should
bow,
"
- And it is the Lord who said
Matthew
7:21 = "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."
- Each one of us will be judged based
on what we have done. II
Corinthians 5:10 = "For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ: that every
one may receive the things done in his body, according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."
I
Peter 1:17 = "And if ye call on the Father,
who without respect of persons judgeth according to every
mans work, pass the time of your sojourning here in
fear."
- PREPARATION SHOULD NOT BE PUT OFF.
- The day of the masters coming
is known only by Him and we should be watching for the
return:
Mark
13:35-37
= "Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the
master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or
at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly
he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto
all, watch." Matthew
24:36 = "But of that day and hour knoweth
no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."
- Furthermore our life is brief . James
4:14 = "Whereas ye know not what shall be
on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour,
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."
- ARE YOU PREPARED? (Invitation)
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