“Thus says the LORD concerning this people [Israel]:
‘They have loved to wander thus;
they have not restrained their feet;
therefore, the LORD does not accept them;
now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.’
“The LORD said to me: ‘Do not pray for the welfare of this people. Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.’” [1]
Have you ever experienced a time when the Lord discouraged you from praying for someone? I’m not referring to those times when you just didn’t want to pray for some individual. Perhaps you were disgusted with the choices an individual made and you just refused to pray for them. Or perhaps someone was so obnoxious that you just couldn’t bring yourself to pray for her, even though you knew she desperately needed someone to care. It is even possible that someone was so hateful that you wanted them to be punished, so you would not pray for that person. In the message before us, however, we are confronting instances when you want to pray for someone, and God seems to debar you from praying for them. It’s as though God said, “Fuggedaboutit!” Jeremiah had just such an experience. He had prayed for the nation, and God at last told him, “Enough! Don’t bother praying for them!”
The title of the message forces us to acknowledge a startling, even a terrifying, aspect of prayer. We are told that there is a point beyond which God will no longer accept prayer on behalf of some people. While it is true that God’s love extends to the farthest reaches of the earth, being extended to the most vile person we could ever imagine, there is a point when God says, “Don’t pray for them! I am determined to do them harm, and not good. Nothing can change my mind; so don’t bother praying for them.” People can reach a point when God says, “Let them go.” The possibility is frightening, pointing as it does to a point when individuals, even nations and cultures, can never again know divine mercy.
Preachers used to warn against “crossing the deadline.” They were speaking of moving beyond a point that is unknowable to us, but a point when God says, “I’m washing my hands of you. You’ve gone too far, and now you will pay the price eternally.” Perhaps such a sin was in view when the Lord Jesus warned, “I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” [MATTHEW 12:31-32]. We see this theme even in the latter books of the Word. John writes, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that” [1 JOHN 5:16].
At the very least, it is obvious that there are sins that God warns will trigger judgement. That judgement which God reveals is not judgement restricted to some future date—this judgement is presently exercised! The implication is that such judgement may be more prevalent than we could imagine. God tells us that praying for sinning people who are determined to ignore Him and His revealed will shall not alter what He must do. Pleading for these people will not move the hand of God. When an individual exalts her will above the will of God, the Lord God is quite clear that He will not accept the pleas of His people to alter judgement.
I purpose to explore what could possibly cause God to say, “Enough! Don’t pray for that person any longer.” It is not apparent that the follower of the Christ will recognise that point of no return occurring in another’s life, but when God speaks it will become apparent that He will no longer receive our pleas on behalf of another.
We Christians are designated as “a holy priesthood,” even called “a royal priesthood.” Peter says of us who follow the Risen Saviour, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” [1 PETER 2:4-5].
Then, the Apostle testifies, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” [1 PETER 2:9].
As God’s beloved people, we who believe stand between God and man. We plead with God on behalf of mankind, and we plead with people on behalf of the Lord. In a very real sense, we who know the Lord are all that stand between lost people and God’s wrath. Nevertheless, God says there comes a time when He says to His people, “Don’t pray again for this person.” How awful to think that divine mercy is withdrawn, and judgement is about to be poured out. How dreadful must it be for that person, for that culture, for that nation, when God tells His people who have served as priests, “Do not pray any longer for that person, for that culture, for that nation.” How frightful to know that mercy is withdrawn.
GOD’S PEOPLE DISHONOURED HIM — “Thus says the LORD concerning this people:
‘They have loved to wander thus;
they have not restrained their feet;
therefore, the LORD does not accept them;
now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.’”
[JEREMIAH 14:10]
I am struck by the fact that the Lord repeatedly debars Jeremiah from praying for the people, though they are His own people. Earlier, the Lord GOD commanded, “Do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? The LORD once called you ‘a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit.’ But with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has decreed disaster against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal” [JEREMIAH 11:14-17].
Still earlier in the prophecy that has been recorded, the LORD commanded the prophet, “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. Is it I whom they provoke? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched” [JEREMIAH 7:16-20].
Clearly, there are actions, just as there are attitudes, that will bring the LORD to the point of telling His people not to pray for those engaging in some egregious action or not to pray for those holding to an attitude that offends Him. Some actions so offend the Living God that He will no longer receive prayer on behalf of those who engage in the offensive action. There exists a deadline beyond which God’s mercy appears stifled. It could be that His mercy is withdrawn from an individual, or it is just as likely that His mercy can be withdrawn from a congregation. In the text, the compassion of the LORD was no longer available for Israel. The thought conveyed would lead to the conclusion that God can withdraw His mercy from a nation. And this knowledge does not require any particular mental Terpsichore to realise that God can withdraw His compassion from a denomination or from a church. What is this action that leads God to withdraw His compassion? What sort of attitude would bring such disapproval that God would instruct His people not to plead for those who have offended Him?
In the passage we read from the SEVENTH CHAPTER OF JEREMIAH, God states that the people were worshipping other gods—they were unfaithful to the LORD! In the ELEVENTH CHAPTER, the LORD charged the people with making offerings to Baal. Idolatry meant that God would no longer receive prayer on behalf of His ancient people. In our text, God charged Israel with wandering from the path He had marked out—they were seeking new religions! A divided allegiance will place one outside of the mercy of the Living God.
Confronted with this knowledge, we are given insight into the Master’s stern warning to His disciples, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” [MATTHEW 6:24].
Then, as if adding emphasis to the finer point of what is debarred, the Lord said, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” [MATTHEW 6:25-34].
Living for the moment, living a life consumed by anxiety, living a life that is perpetually focused on how to care for what may lie ahead, living in such a manner reveals a life that is not focused on the goodness of the Lord. Such a pitiful life exposes us as concerned primarily, if not exclusively, for this moment rather than living in such a way that we are seeking God’s glory.
I confess that I have a grave concern that I am easily co-opted by the cares of this world. Worldwide pandemics allow governmental functionaries to seize power over the life of the people. And, like many others, I chafe at the loss of freedom—a loss that is largely unnecessary, a loss driven primarily by fear rather than reason. I am tired of hearing the recitation of the selective trope, “If it saves even one life…” That tired rationale that is so frequently trotted out when there is no reason for an action has been so distended that it fails to raise even a modicum of concern for thinking people. If it saves even one life? Really? We could save thousands of lives if we only lowered the speed limit to ten kilometers per hour; but few of us would find the argument to accept this action as compelling. We could rule out the death of many people if we would only pass a law prohibiting swimming, though few of us would see that as reasonable. We could eliminate much of the incidence of STDs and we could eliminate almost every case of AIDS if we would only ban unprotected sex except in a clinical setting after physical examination by licensed physicians, including serological testing. Again, I seriously doubt that many people would consider the “cure” necessary. However, if it even saves one life…
Those who use that tired trope tend to be quite selective in its use. They willingly ignore the fact that some women who undergo abortions will die, and every infant in the womb will assuredly die as result of the invasion of the womb that abortion apologists advocate. Have we actually forgotten that abortion is designed to kill the occupant of the womb? Seldom do those advocating for aborting the innocent children in the womb think of the emotional trauma women will experience as result of having aborted their unborn child. What does one of the counsellors hired to address such trauma have to say to that woman who quietly grieves the life that was never born? What counsel can be given to the woman who each year orders a birthday cake for her aborted child on the date when that child should have been born?
Some time back, I was struck by a scene in a movie depicting the horror of slavery. The scene depicted a mother forcibly separated from her children, loudly lamenting her separation from her infant children. Her new mistress sought to “comfort” her, saying, “There, there, you can get another.” I suppose that might be what callused counsellors could say to the woman who grieves the child she once carried and protected, the child she sacrificed to convenience or to societal expectations. I’m easily drawn into the struggle for righteousness as society rushes toward irrelevance by adopting unrighteousness as law.
However, I will not permit this world, a world which is quickly sinking into irrelevance, to define my concerns. Nor should you succumb to the solicitations to surrender reason and rational thought to a mob mentality emanating from Ottawa, or from Victoria, or from Edmonton, or even from Washington, DC! I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t be concerned about government and the excesses that appear to characterize both federal and provincial governmental decisions. I’m not suggesting that we should not invest ourselves in the democratic process by which our nation is governed. I am cautioning that we must not permit ourselves to become so caught up in the moment that we forget the One we serve. We must always remember, “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” [PHILIPPIANS 3:20-21].
I have witnessed multiple examples of how easy it is for godly people to be caught up in the affairs of this world. One instance, in particular, stands out in my memory. I had just moved to Canada a few months earlier and needed to return to Dallas to pick up an automobile that had been left behind together with some household items. While there, I was asked to address the students of the institution where I had previously taught.
While waiting to cross over to the auditorium where I would address the students, I was waiting in the offices of the school, in the presence of several professors. It was early October of 1980, and the presidential elections were looming. I had been asked by numerous faculty members if I was registered to vote. Being somewhat casual, I had tweaked my erstwhile colleagues by saying, “You know, we are taught in the Word that ‘the liberal soul shall be made fat’ [see PROVERBS 11:25 KJV]. Quite obviously I qualify as ‘fat,’ so it follows that I must be a Libertarian.” Of course, this elicited howls of protest from some who didn’t know me so well.
After some time, a group of former colleagues and staff were around me when I commented, “I have a grave concern. I’ve watched almost all of you on the streets of this city stopping total strangers to ask if they are registered to vote. I’ve searched my memory to see if I can ever recall any of you stopping people to ask if they were saved. I worked with you for some time, and I never saw you as concerned for the souls of people as you are concerned to see people vote the right way.
“Undoubtedly, Mr. Reagan will secure the Presidency. Undoubtedly, he will win the election. However, I must caution you that he is not the Messiah; and he will not usher in the Millennium. This election will soon be history, but the charge we received from the One we call Master will continue: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” [MATTHEW 28:19-20a].
Suddenly, what had been a somewhat raucous assemblage of good people—men and women who undoubtedly loved the Risen Saviour, men and women about whom I had no doubts concerning their faith—became strangely silent. I was never invited back to speak at the school after that day. I suspect that my rebuke was not well-received. One staff person did speak to me after that to confess that she was stricken in her heart because she realised that what I said was true. She knew that she had been caught up in the excitement of the moment, and her emotions were running at fever pitch to ensure that the right person was elected.
Of course, this was precisely what I meant by cautioning that we are readily caught up in matters that have scant, or even no, eternal value, while we neglect the very things we are charged to do. Do you suppose the Master’s words apply to us when He said, “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others” [LUKE 11:42b].
THE HIGH COST OF THE SAINTS’ SIN — “Thus says the LORD concerning this people:
‘They have loved to wander thus;
they have not restrained their feet;
therefore, the LORD does not accept them;
now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.’
“The LORD said to me: ‘Do not pray for the welfare of this people. Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence’” [JEREMIAH 14:10-12].
Sin exacts a high cost. We who are redeemed know very well that our sin required that the Son of God must sacrifice His life to provide deliverance from our condition. However, far beyond that price paid by the Son of God, sin in the life of those who are called by the Name of God’s own Son must pay an awful price for continuing in sin despite His salvation.
In our text, we note that God specifically commanded His prophet not to pray for the welfare of the people. Remember, God proscribed Jeremiah from praying for the people God had chosen for Himself. Jeremiah was specifically told not to pray for God’s Chosen People, the people whom He had delivered from captivity! When we pause to think about our prayers for others, we realize that we pray for their welfare (at least, I hope we are praying for the welfare of others). We ask God to heal their bodies, or we plead with God to give them wisdom, or we ask that the Lord heal their marriage, and with each request we are seeking the LORD’s intervention for their welfare. It is difficult for us to imagine that there could come a time that God says, “Don’t bother praying for them; I’m not going to do anything good for them.”
Surely, if the Lord commands His prophet to no longer pray for the people, the situation has become dire for that society. Whether a society recognizes the gravity of their situation or not, when God says, “Don’t pray for them,” the situation is drastic; in fact, it has become critical. Such a society stands on the brink of destruction, and there shall be no holding back the judgement that is threatened to be unleashed momentarily. In the text, we witness God bluntly saying that He would no longer accept the attempts at worship as the people came to the Temple. They would go through the rituals, but their efforts would all be for naught. The people were rejected, and because they were rejected, Jeremiah was told that he must no longer pray for them. One can only wonder at the efforts of some of the religious institutions of this day. Though outwardly they appear to stand in the lineage of godly men and women of the past, the message they present has no relationship to biblical reality. The bread is broken and passed so that each can chew thoughtfully. The cup is lifted, and the people drink. Though there may be a pleasant feeling, a sensation of happiness, there is no worship, no meeting with the Saviour.
Throughout the years of my service before the Lord, I have frequently heard godly preachers suggest that should the Holy Spirit be withdrawn from modern church life, few people would notice. Most would still begin services at eleven o’clock sharp and conclude at twelve o’clock dull. If the Spirit were withdrawn, preachers would stand in the pulpit and deliver carefully-crafted sermons designed to make people feel good about themselves, and religious celebrations would continue to be observed without fail. Of course, there would be a few churches where the old preacher was absent and a few of the people were no longer present, but for the most part, I fear things would continue as they had since before anyone could remember.
Here is my concern in bringing this message. God’s holy people, the people whom He has redeemed, are prone to substitute their own opinion for divine guidance. Each of us is tempted to do this, and it doesn’t even require much encouragement for us to do so. None of us are qualified to determine when someone, or when a given population, or when a particular culture or society has drifted into the position that God debars us from praying for them. We are not qualified to make that decision on our own. Perhaps there will come a time when we can no longer pray for others, but we must be certain that it is because the Lord has spoken and not because our feelings are bruised, and we are sore at others.
Let me ask some hard questions. Do you pray for the salvation of Muslims? I want to believe the best, so I believe that you do pray for the salvation of Muslims. I choose to believe that you do pray for God to raise up men and women to deliver the Gospel to Muslim people. I choose to believe that you pray for those individuals living in Pakistan, living in the United Arab Emirates, living in Saudi Arabia, living in Turkey and other Muslim lands who read the sermons produced here at New Beginnings Baptist Church. I choose to believe that you pray they will read and understand and perhaps come to faith in the Risen Saviour.
However, do you pray for those violent men who brutalize women and slaughter men, all in the name of their demon god, Allah? Do you pray for those vicious men who behead schoolgirls in Indonesia or who blow up churches in Egypt? Is God somehow incapable of saving violent men who are seemingly given over to such wickedness? Don’t I recall the testimony of a violent man who was responsible for the torture of many followers of the Way, even participating in the murder of the first one to seal his witness with his life. That man wrote, “To this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe” [1 TIMOTHY 4:10].
That man then testified, “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” [1 TIMOTHY 1:12-17].
I’m convinced of my need to pray for Muslims, if only because I’ve received mercy. You will no doubt remember that our Saviour has taught us who follow Him as Master of life, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” [MATTHEW 5:44b-48 ]. Apparently, this was a major issue for those who follow the Master, because He iterated this command when He taught elsewhere, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” [LUKE 6:27b-28].
It is difficult, it not impossible, to love those who abuse us, especially when such people attack us because of our faith in the Risen Saviour. We struggle to obey Christ by praying for those who persecute us. This becomes especially problematic when we are inclined to love those whom Christ opposes. What happens when the sin of those who share our worship becomes so blatant, becomes so presumptuous, becomes so obviously uncaring that what they are doing reflects negatively on the Name of the Saviour, and the Master says to the few who still follow Him, “Don’t pray for them?” At that moment, when the Lord prohibits His people from praying for those whom they believe are fellow followers of the Master, we may be certain that God has arrived at a decision that is unalterable. When this happens, we may be certain that the Lord intends to do harm to them. From that point, nothing remains for those whom God opposes but to pronounce the dreadful warning, “Prepare to meet your God” [AMOS 4:12b].
I must raise the question whether it possible that the churches of North America are drawing near to this point. Is it possible that the “worship” of our churches has become nothing more than worship of our own worship? Do we venerate the act more than we delight in the knowledge of the One whom we say we worship? Have the services of the House of God become a sort of pious entertainment for a culture focused on pleasing itself rather than pleasing God? These are hard questions that must be answered if we will avoid censure. When we exalt our culture above the Saviour, we are presuming against he Lord our Saviour. When we excuse our society, and yield to the strictures erected by the courts, though we know those strictures violate the tenets of God’s Word, we have begun a rush toward oblivion. When we are more concerned for how our neighbours see us than we are concerned for how our God sees us, we are inviting His retribution. And the situation is growing desperate.
I am well aware that some will believe that I’m overly critical of the churches of this day. We’ve been trained for so long to accept that worship is associated with how we feel that we have begun to seek the feeling rather than seeking the face of God. We imagine that if we can “feel” the worship, we will have worshipped. However, feelings are ephemeral at best, and feelings are untrustworthy! We cannot trust our feelings; they will deceive us in a trice. What is important is whether we have met the Risen Saviour when we gather as an assembly of the righteous. Leaving the assembly of the righteous, can I say that I have heard the voice of the Master speaking through the Word? Can I say that I have been in the presence of the Son of God? Worship is an impossibility if I have not actually encountered the Risen Saviour. And if I have met the Risen Saviour, there will linger an incredible sense of excitement and joy!
The impact of having been in the presence of the Risen Saviour becomes evident in the experience of two disciples who met Him on the road to Emmaus. The Saviour walked with them, opening the Scriptures to these two men, explaining that the Christ must suffer. How exciting it must have been when, “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” [LUKE 24:27]. Imagine Jesus walking with you, telling you of the multiplied instances when He is presented in the Old Testament. You would hear how He is the Angel of the LORD, the One who wrestled with Jacob, the Rock that travelled with Israel through the wilderness, the One who spoke with Abraham as the patriarch pleaded for Sodom. Nothing would have been omitted.
Stirred by what the “stranger” told them, the men invited Him to stay with them for a while, sharing the evening meal. Something unexplainable happened, something so phenomenal that it had to be experienced because it could not be explained. As He took the bread and broke it and gave it to them, “Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures’” [LUKE 24:31-32]? The entire time He instructed them, their hearts were burning! They had been in the presence of the Risen Saviour!
The danger lies in this—if you go seeking the sensation of the burning heart, you will never find it. If you go seeking the Saviour, He will excite you as you could not believe possible. This is the great tragedy of our day! People are more excited to watch a sad movie than being in the presence of the Living Son of God. People are more excited to go to a concert presented by some second-rate band than to be in the presence of the Risen Saviour. The surest evidence that we have not worshipped is that we have no genuine life-altering excitement to mark our lives! The surest evidence that we have not met the Saviour is that we actually believe we can produce a feeling that will somehow substitute for the presence of the Son of God.
AVOIDING DIVINE WRATH — That God holds His people accountable for sin is not particularly surprising. What is surprising is that most of us are able to push this knowledge to the back of our minds. Even the unbeliever suspects that divine judgement must be a reality, though he perhaps imagines that he can avoid the consequences of his own sin. Perhaps God will ignore what he has done and he will thus be spared judgement. At least that appears to be his hope.
However, it is required for each of us to give an accounting before the Living God. We who follow the Saviour are forewarned, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” [2 CORINTHIANS 5:10]. This will not be a time to reveal all the failure in our lives; rather, this is the time when rewards are given out.
We have received a preview of what will occur when the Apostle writes, “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” [1 CORINTHIANS 3:10-15].
We avoid loss by focusing on that which is permanent rather than that which is transient. Permanent acts include those which are built on Christ as the foundation for all that we may do. On this foundation we may build with gold (that which exalts God and honours His Name), with silver (that which seeks to redeem lost souls), or with precious stones (souls led to faith in the Son of God). Or we are building with wood (those acts which exalt our own being), hay (that which avoids taking a stand for the cause of Christ), or straw (that which seeks to avoid trouble). The point of what Paul has written is to encourage Christians to assess what they are doing in this life to honour God, to tell others of Christ as Master of life, or to turn lost souls to life in the Risen Saviour.
And what of sinners? What of those who are not born from above? What of those who are not forgiven? I fear that in raising this question I am speaking to some who hear me now. We read a dark warning as the Revelator draws the Apocalypse to a conclusion. He presents a scene that must be terrifying for those who are lost. In this dreadful scene, the Revelator reveals what lies ahead for those who are lost. The Revelator wrote, “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” [REVELATION 20:11-15].
It is obvious that if one’s name is not written in the Book of Life, they shall be separated forever from the grace of God. Not having their name written down, they are judged according to what they have done. If their life is not perfect, if their life is not sinless, they are judged for their own sin. Perfection is required for acceptance into God’s Heaven. And the only perfection available, the only perfection possible, is to be secure in the Risen Son of God.
Paul writes to encourage those who have been redeemed by the grace of God. “You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven” [COLOSSIANS 1:21-23a]. Once alienated, hostile toward the very thought of God, doing evil deeds, and now reconciled so that we can be presented holy, blameless, and above reproach. There is the answer to how we can avoid divine wrath. No one need stand in the judgement before the Great White Throne if she but receives the forgiveness offered in Christ, the Risen Son of God.
The forgiveness of sin and acceptance by the True and Living God is assured for each one who receives Christ as Master over life. This is the Word of the Lord to you: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” [ROMANS 10:9-10 NASB]. Believe and be saved even today. Amen.
[1] Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
