An Unshakeable Kingdom

“I remember my fear. In fact, it was the most fear I remember in my life. I wrote as tiny as I could on that piece of paper the word abortion. I was so scared someone would open the paper and read it and find out it was me. I wanted to get up and walk out of the auditorium during the service, the guilt and fear were that strong.

“When my turn came,” she said, “I walked toward the cross, and I pinned the paper there. I was directed to a pastor to be baptized. He looked me straight in the eyes, and I thought for sure that he was going to read this terrible secret I kept from everybody for so long. But instead, I felt like God was telling me, I love you. It's okay. You've been forgiven. I felt so much love for me, a terrible sinner. It's the first time I ever really felt forgiveness and unconditional love. It was unbelievable, indescribable. (Lee Strobel, “Meet the Jesus I Know,” Preaching Today tape no. 211; www.PreachingToday.com)

Perhaps, you have a sin (or many sins) that weigh you down with guilt and shame. Please, believe that when you come to Jesus, you do not come to a judge who will condemn you for your sin; you come to a Savior who died for every one of your sins and wants to lift that weight of guilt off your shoulders.

So don’t tremble with fear any longer, because you are no longer under the terrifying precepts of God’s Law. Instead, triumph with faith, because you are now under the tremendous promise of God’s grace. You haven’t come to the Judge at Mount Sinai. You have come to Jesus in Heaven! Please…

DON’T REJECT HIS INVITATION TO GRACE.

Don’t refuse Christ’s offer to you. Don’t excuse yourself from answering His gracious call.

Hebrews 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse him who is speaking. (ESV)

That is, don’t refuse JESUS. Literally, don’t beg-off His offer. Don’t ask to be excused from His invitation.

The Greek word for “refuse” is the same word used in Luke 14 where several people asked to be excused from a dinner party. One said, “I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused” (Luke 14:18). Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused” (Luke 14:19).

Don’t ask to be excused from the party Jesus has planned for you!

The February 19, 1930 issue of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette ran a story from Vienna, Austria about a woman named Corin Ward. Corin was a struggling actress, who received a phone call from an attorney one day, telling her that she had been mentioned in the will of a deceased client.

She met the attorney at his office, who told her that the will belonged to a man who wished to be known only as "Dr. Meszaros." Corin told the attorney, “I don’t know any doctor by that name”, and she wondered if there had been some sort of mistake. The lawyer was not surprised that Corin didn't recognize the name, but there was no doubt that Dr. Meszaros knew Corin.

According to the attorney, Meszaros lived in the same city as Corin and had fallen head over heels in love with her, but Meszaros struggled with debilitating fears, so he never worked up the courage to speak to the woman he admired from afar. Even so, he was unable to get over the woman who had captured his heart. Sadly, he died alone, but Meszaros left Corin every penny he had saved over the course of his life – all $50,000. (Adrienne Crezo, “7 People Who Died and Left Their Fortunes to Strangers,” Mental Floss, October 16, 2012; www.PreachingToday.com)