What
Are Your Plans for the Future?
What
are your plans for the future? When I was young I dreamed of power,
prestige, cars and wealth. As I grew older I got more realistic. Clothes
for the kids, food for us, and a warm house with the monthly payments made on
time. A year ago a lot of people were asking when I was going to
retire. So I cut back for a while… that wasn’t much fun, so I am back
at full speed again.
But
there is another future we need to make plans for… the future that comes when
this life is over! I trust that you have made concrete plans for
your eternal future! It begins by receiving Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Many people believe that they will go to heaven because "I haven’t done
anything that bad, so I guess I will make it in."
Sorry.
Jesus said, "I
am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me."
(John 14:6) If you have
not asked Him into your heart and life, I encourage you to do that today!
.
But when the
kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He
saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His
mercy.
He saved us through the
washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He
poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that,
having been justified by His
grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Titus
3:4-7
For all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans
3:23
For the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Romans
6:32
Salvation begins by what
you believe and what you say….
But what
does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in
your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That
if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it
is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him
will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between
Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all
who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved."
Romans
10:8-13 |
As you know, some dramatic things take
place between now and eternity. Our Revelation scriptures for today tell about
some of it!
Revelation
14:14-20
I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud
was one "like a Son of Man" with a crown of gold on His head
and a sharp sickle in His hand.
Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to
Him who was sitting on the cloud, "Take your sickle and reap,
because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is
ripe."
So He who was seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and
the earth was harvested.
Another
angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp
sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from
the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle,
"Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the
earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." The angel swung
his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the
great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the
winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as
high as the horses' bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. (About 180
miles.)
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God’s warnings and judgments did
not produce the changes God desired, so the sins of the nations are now ripe for
judgment. It is time for harvest… and there are two harvests. The
righteous ones are gathered into heaven, and sinners receive their final
judgment.
The "Son of Man" is
Christ. Our Redeemer becomes the Judge. Here He is pictured as being
ready to wield the sickle of judgment on a world rotten with wickedness.
God destroyed the world with a flood when Noah was living. The rebellious
died while Noah and his family rode safely in the ark. God said that He
would never destroy the world by a flood again. However, He will destroy
the wicked in the end time.
"The patience
of God towards sinners is the greatest miracle in
the world; but, though lasting, it will not be everlasting; and ripeness in sin
is a sure proof of judgment at hand."
(Matthew Henry)
In Biblical days grapes were put
in a trough and trampled by foot to remove the wine (i.e., the juice of the
grape.) Treading grapes was an Old Testament figure for the execution of
divine wrath on the ungodly. God does not want to destroy His enemies
until He feels that they will never repent. At some point action must be
taken. The winepress is God’s wrath.
Revelation 14:20 appears to be a
reference to the Battle of Armageddon. We are told that the blood from the
slaughter will flow in a river of blood 180 miles long and be about 4.5 ft deep!
One writer states that "The blood of horses added to that of the large
armies of human soldiers could easily cause such an enormous river of blood."
I would like to think that it is a figurative picture, but I don’t know.
Whatever the case, it signifies a great slaughter during the last days of the
tribulation.
What possible application
can we receive from all of this? Matthew 24 talks about the end of
time.
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"No
one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the
Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so
it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days
before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing
about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.
That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men
will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.
Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the
other left. Matthew 24:36-41
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2 Peter 3:3-18
First of
all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come,
scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say,
"Where is this 'coming' He promised? Ever since our fathers
died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of
creation." But they deliberately forget that long ago by
God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and
by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged
and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are
reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of
ungodly men.
But do not forget this one thing, dear
friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a
thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His
promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not
wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a
thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will
be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid
bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this
way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy
and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its
coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens
by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping
with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth,
the home of righteousness.
So then,
dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort
to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him. Bear in mind that
our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also
wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same
way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters.
His
letters contain some things that are hard to
understand,
which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other
Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Therefore, dear
friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may
not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your
secure position.
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
To Him be glory both now and
forever!
Amen. |
Obviously know one knows
when God will come back to redeem us. Some days I am in a big hurry for Him
to return, and sometimes when I think about all of the unsaved people I know, I
hope that He will tarry a while longer. Scoffers tell us He never will
return, but He will! God tells us in 2 Peter 3:9b that God
is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance.
We are to "Bear
in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul
also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
He writes the same way in all his
letters, speaking in them of these matters.
His letters
contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and
unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own
destruction."
I love the verse where Peter
states that some of Paul’s teachings are hard to understand! Believe me,
I can identify with that!
One of the secrets of
contentment is for us to be busy about our Heavenly Father’s business and
simply leave the date of the Second Coming to God. God has it all figured
out, and it isn’t our responsibility to handle that chore. In fact Jesus
stated that the whole date thing was in the Father’s hands and that He (Jesus)
was not in the loop of information!
Let me close this morning by
quoting William Culbertson from an article in Christianity Today.
| I find that discipleship means, first, truly living.
It does not mean a joy ride to heaven; it does not mean that there are
no trials and no burdens.
But it does mean peace in your soul and joy in your heart, and a sense,
a supreme sense, of the smile of the Lord upon you.
It is living.
And discipleship means that you are using your time on earth to the best
possible advantage.
The Lord Jesus says so.
-- William Culbertson in Listening to the Giants. Christianity
Today, Vol. 40, no. 8 |
"Peace in your soul and joy in your heart, and a sense
... of the smile of the Lord upon you."
That's what I want in my future. How about you?
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