Category: judgment

Why does Jesus tell us to remember Lot’s wife? (Luke 17:32) Do you think God simply gave a rule of “don’t look back” or did He know that such looking would reflect what was really in a heart?

Perhaps Lot’s wife could not take her mind off the comforts and pleasures she was leaving behind. “My comfortable home! My lovely garden! My beautiful neighborhood! My old friends! Can’t I just look back one time?” God’s answer was ‘no’ and He tells us the same. “Get your heart off your stuff. Get your mind off your pleasures. Focus only on Me and love Me with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.”

We pity those lands where it is difficult to be a Christian. Some of those believers live in constant danger. Some have difficulty feeding their families because their “faith” prevents them from good jobs. In our land, it often seems easy to be a Christian. So who longs most for the Lord? Some may possess so much on this earth that it is difficult to imagine how Heaven could offer more. Others see this world offering nothing, so they watch and pray and long for the Day. No matter where we live, Jesus wants our Hope to be Himself. “Be prepared. When I call, drop everything you’re doing, leave all behind, and don’t look back. Remember Lot’s wife!”

Let this warning convict us! If I’m not consumed with Him, I should find out why. Is there something on this earth that is more precious? If I don’t love Him with all my heart, God forbid I pretend… instead let me confess! “Lord, you know my heart. Expose it now… before the Day of Reckoning. Forgive me for putting other things ahead of You. Turn my eyes to Jesus! Give me passion for Him! I need your mercy and grace. Lord, don’t let me be Lot’s wife!”

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation…” II Corinthians 7:10

Though I wanted to be a good son, if I’m honest, I have to admit I didn’t always do what my father wanted. A father who cares about his children disciplines them, and rebukes are often a part of the discipline. “You didn’t do what I asked.” “You disappointed me.” “I trusted you, and you have broken this trust.” Perhaps we can remember the stern look from a parent. Perhaps we can still feel the sting of correction. Age and wisdom makes us thankful for these rebukes, for such words were signs of love.

Though we want to be pleasing children of God, if we’re honest, we have to admit we don’t always live as we should. The caring Father in Heaven also disciplines His children, and rebukes are a part of that discipline. As God walked the earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, He often rebuked those He loved. “Quit arguing about who is greatest. If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” “Unless you people see miracles you will never believe.” “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” “Peter, put away your sword.” The wise are thankful for rebukes, for such words are signs of love.

I used to tell players, “If a coach gets onto you hard; if he singles you out and yells and carries on… be thankful. He cares! A coach isn’t going to expend such energy on someone he doesn’t think can be better.” Such speeches didn’t make players enjoy being scolded, but I think I told the truth.

If we listen to Jesus today, I imagine we will hear the most common rebuke He gave his disciples. It is the same one He gave the bold disciple who walked on the water. Peter must have had the greatest faith that day, for he got out of the boat and answered the call to do the impossible. But we don’t hear Jesus praise him. Instead, we hear a perfect Coach challenge His player, “You of little faith. Why did you doubt?” Jesus often gave such rebukes. “Believe!” “O unbelieving generation! How long shall I be with you?” “How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?”

So as the bombs fall and the nations rage, what do the children of God do? If we take our eyes off of Jesus, we’ll sink just like Peter did. Some may sink in fear, as uncertainty rules the day. Others may sink in pride, thinking their nation is all-powerful. But Jesus says, “Keep your eyes on Me… and believe!”

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:8-14

What prohibited the rich young ruler from obeying Jesus? He was man with high morals who recognized something special about the Teacher from Nazareth. “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” The young man may have expected the answer he received as Jesus listed several of the Ten Commandments. He replied, “All these things I have kept from my youth up: what do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow me.”

Jesus puts His finger on the one thing in our lives that can prevent us from receiving true life. For some it may be material possessions, for others it may be knowledge, for others it may be family or friends. Jesus sees eternal truth when he looks at us; the world does not. Some might have argued that this rich young man would have been an important member of the early church. “Look what he could have done with his money!” But Jesus knows the things we often see as blessings are really the chains that bind us. Only one thing leads to eternal life, “Come and follow Me.”

Perhaps we all will be offended as we get close to the Lord… especially if we have much wealth, much education, or much status in society. “Do you trust that I see things as they really are? Are you willing to surrender all that has been most precious to you to follow Me? Don’t you realize I am the only Way? I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

“How can a man be born again when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:3-8

“Make straight the way of the Lord! Prepare the way! Repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance! One is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

This was the message God sent through John the Baptist as the Messiah was about to be revealed. So what message is God sending today? If such a bold proclamation came at the first coming, will any word come before the second? Scripture reveals He will overtake those in the dark, but those in the Light should not be caught off guard. Paul explained: “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like the others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self controlled.” I Thessalonians 5:1-6

But what if we are like the “others”? What if the church is “asleep”? Will not God’s kindness call for godly sorrow that leads to repentance? Such pleas are made in the letters to the churches in the first chapters of Revelation.

In 1977, a song was released by John Michael Talbot called “Prepare Ye The Way”. A couple of years ago, the group, Caedmon’s Call, released it again. Here’s the first verse and chorus:

The Word of the Lord came one evening
Concerning His bride’s great sin
He’d send down His Word to renew her
To prepare for the Bridegroom again
The Word said repent from seeking vain glories
While the gifts in the Lord’s name you give
Repent of all the first stones cast to kill
While your own self-righteousness lives

Prepare ye the way for the Lord
Prepare ye the way for the kingdom
Prepare ye the way
Prepare ye the way for the Lord

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Matthew 24:42-44

I went to an interesting meeting Saturday, where John Rosemond, a family psychologist, stood before a large crowd and said, “Psychology is evil.” He was not accusing all members of his profession as being evil, but he boldly declared that humanistic thinking that puts man in the center of things is clearly opposed to God.

A dear missionary friend visited our home this past weekend. She is preparing to go to Athens, Greece to prepare for an outreach during the 2004 Summer Olympics. Anna, a native of Brazil, shared about the spiritual forces and mindsets in this part of the world that oppose Christ. The apostle Paul dealt with such matters when he visited Athens long ago. Though God used the Greek language to bring us a large portion of Scripture, the “Greek wisdom” that influences so much of the western culture is opposed to Him.

If we are brutally honest, we’ll admit we have all been deceived by man-conceived thinking that opposes our Heavenly Father. So what should we do when such conviction comes? Where can we turn but to God? What can we do but humble ourselves and ask for His truth? Yet so often we do not turn to God, and so often we are anything but humble. We have been taught to think for ourselves, and sometimes we are actually convinced we have the answers.

In the second chapter of Jeremiah, God spoke to His people in a very direct way when such thinking reigned. “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” God saw Israel perfectly just as He sees us perfectly. He constantly calls His children to turn to Him. “Return, faithless Israel… Return, faithless people, for I am your husband… Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.”

I hear God calling us to turn from all thinking that is not from Him. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Oh that I heed this call and receive this blessing!

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14