“Sound the Alarm”
Noah’s message from the steps going up to the ark was not, “something good is going to happen to you!”
Amos did not confront the high priest of Israel proclaiming, “Confession is possession!”
Jeremiah was no put into the pit for preaching, “I’m okay, your okay.”
Daniel was not thrown into the lions den for telling people, “possibility or positive thinking will move mountains!”
John the Baptist was not forced to preach in the wilderness and eventually beheaded because he preached, “Smile God loves you!” The two prophets of the tribulation will not be killed for preaching, “God is in heaven and all is right with the world!!”
Instead what was the message of all these men of God? Their message can be simply put in one word, Repent!
Throughout the Bible we are told to repent for the sins we have committed and turn to the Lord. The Bible tells us that we are to believe, confess, repent and be baptized and then live a life holy and pleasing unto Him (Eph. 4:1, Romans 12:1-2). There is a message that we are to preach to the people, which is not only of salvation, but also of repentance.
Matthew 3:1-2 says… “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
John the Baptist was the forerunner who prepared the way for the Lord. He was letting the people know that the Messiah would come, not just that a Savior would come to bring peace and justice to this earth, conquering its opposition, but also to REPENT. John the Baptist was simply letting the people know what they should have already known because that is exactly what the OT says would happen. But they didn’t realize the message. For us, we know that the savior came and went to the cross and died but on the third day rose from the grave, walked out of the tomb and is in heaven with the father and will one day come back to take his children home. Not just because the Bible says so, but for the way those who proclaimed this message lived. We know that one day we are going to go before Him who sits on that Judgment seat. But we do not live or act as though that is going to take place anytime soon. You see along with Jesus came the dawning of the kingdom. He is so close to coming back to take us home that even Jesus said what John the Baptist said.
Matthew 4:17 says… “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
The events of 9-11 should be a warning to us. The events of that tragic day should tell us we are in the end times. Jesus said we were in the end times since the days of John the Baptist. The events of that day were an awakening. There rose from the smoke and ashes a “God-consciousness” that was needed. In this country we have had two such awakenings. How many more will we need before the Day of the Lord comes?
It is time to sound the alarm.
(Ezekiel 33:1-9). EZE 33:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: `When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, 3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, 4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. 5 Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. 6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’
EZE 33:7 "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, `O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself.
Today we must do what John did; today we, who are in Christ, are the watchmen, today we are to prepare the people for the SECOND COMING. We are to prepare people and let the people know that he is coming back and they need to repent and turn their lives around. But before we can ask them to do that. Before we can go and ask them to repent and turn their lives around we must make sure or lives are right with God first. We must make sure that we are living a life holy and pleasing unto God before we can ask them to do that. We need to make sure that we are doing His will and not our own. But to often that is not the case; to often we do what we want to do and not what the Lord wants us to do. Need I remind you what the Lord said about being lukewarm warm Christians? We must not play church or the role of a Christian. We cannot just come to church on Sundays and Wednesdays and expect to get into heaven or say that we are Christians. We must get on the ball for him and stop sitting around and waiting for someone else to do something about the religious and moral problems in the world and the community.
(Revelation 3:15-16) 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Jesus says that If we are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold he is about to spit us out of his mouth, we are about to go to hell. If we do not change our ways, if we do not repent and have him in our lives we are going to go to HELL. I would like to say that just because we have accepted Christ does not mean we have a free ticket because we can fall from grace. The watchman, us, is warned if we do not sound the alarm, we will end up with a free pass to HELL.
Many people may then say but look at what I have done, look at what I have acquired in my life. Let me tell you something right know. You can acquired all the money in the world, or all the fame in the world but if you do not have Christ then you have nothing, except a free pass to hell. It doesn’t matter if you or I have the biggest house or latest car or where the most popular person in town or in church on Sunday morning, if you don’t have Christ in our life, if we do not have a personal relationship with him and do not do his will then we are going to HELL, and it is time we sounded the alarm. With Jesus it is all or nothing. With him it is either we are for him or against him, there is no sitting on the fence. It does not mean we are going to be perfect, but we have to give more than just minimal effort.
Luke 11:23 says… “He who is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me, scatters.”
If we are with Him, then we will go and make disciples of all nations just as it says in Matt 28:19-20, Mark 16:16ff, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey everything that he has commanded us to do and surely he will be with you always to the very end of the age. You see those who are with Him will help Him bring people into the fold and those who are not with him will scatter them away. How do we scatter them? By being judgmental, looking like we have been baptized in pickle juice, not being committed. These are just a few of the ways we can unintentionally scatter. We must go and not sit on the fence and wait for someone else do to what we all are commanded to do. We must not wait to do any of this because when he comes back it is going to be like a thief in the night. Just as sudden as the attacks on 9-11, so shall His return be. We do not know when or what time or what year but only that He is coming and therefore we must sound the alarm and call people to repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.
To often we wait until the very end, until the last minute to change or to turn or life around. But the bad part about that is that we may wait too long where it is to late to do anything about it.
George Whitefield mentioned in his journal that during the first voyage to Georgia, the ships cook had a bad drinking problem. When the cook was reproved for it and other sins, he boasted that he would be wicked until the last two years of his life, and then he would reform. Whitefield added that within six hours of the time the cook made his boastful statement, he died of an illness related to his drinking problem.
What happen to the cook can happen to each one of us if we put off turning or life around or repenting for the sins we have committed if we wait to long to do something about it. God sent his one and only son into this world so that we may have forgiveness of sins and a chance at eternal life, the cook was not able to receive those things but you can by accepting Christ into your life right know or rededicating your life to him. You are going to have the chance to repent because the kingdom of heaven is near and God wants us all to be up there with him in paradise. You are going to have that chance as we stand and sing “Just as I am.”
