LifeLink Devotions

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

This will not be popular. This could make me more infamous than famous – not that it matters to me. People doing an internet search who come across this blog today may be moved to anger and take offense. Some will feel that I have stepped on their toes. Well, in the words of my grandfather, I’m sorry about your toes. It must be a bad shot, because I was aiming at your heart.

2 Peter 3:7  “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.”

Whether we deny it or not, the truth does not change. I cannot avoid the effects of gravity simply by saying or believing there is no gravity. I cannot avoid the consequences of sin simply by saying or believing that there is no God. I cannot deny the coming judgment of sinners simply by believing that God is perfect in love but not in justice.

Let the revelation of God to mankind speak to you today, first from the mouth of Jesus himself:

• “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.   Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him. I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.   I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.   For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.    And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.   Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice   and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.   By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” (John 5:21-30 )

This same One named Jesus who has the power and authority to judge all men for their sin, became the very judgment for sin for those who believe on Him. He who would one day sentence many to death because of their sin would himself be sentenced to death to give life to those who believe. Right before His arrest and crucifixion Jesus said, “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.  But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” And lifted up on a cross He was so that you and I could be saved from our sin and its judgment. The judge has become our High Priest and has offered himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for our sins.

As a result, the Holy Spirit inspired writer of Hebrews to say:

• “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.   Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.   And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.   Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.   If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.   Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.   How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?   For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”   It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

There is a judgment for sin coming. Those who believe in Jesus and have been saved by His blood shed on the cross will be excluded from the judgment. Those who do not believe in Jesus and receive His forgiveness, but reject the truth about their sin and the coming judgment, will have eternity to think about their choice, if they can think clearly at all through the horror of their suffering. Jesus is the only answer to eternal judgment for sin. Respond to His call to repent and receive Him today.

Pastor John