YOU ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO A GOD WHO TRULY WANTS TO SAVE YOU (Ezekiel18:30.32)

 

The Jews in exile were saying that God was going to condemn them so He could watch them suffer, that God would take pleasure in destroying them (vv. 30.32).

Ezekiel's reply to this idea was that God does not want you to die! (See v. 23.) These statements from God cannot be any more plain, forceful, or beautiful than this: I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies. (v. 32). God wanted His people to live. He did not want Judah to be destroyed; He wanted His people to live, not to die!

If they died, it would not be because God wanted it to happen; it would be instead because they refused to listen to God’s prophet and turn from their sins that they might be saved, so they might live! Even so today: If you die, if you are lost now and are lost eternally, it is not  because that is what God wants. God does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9); rather, He wants everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). Jesus died for all (Hebrews 2:9); the grace of God that brings salvation
is available to all (Titus 2:11). If you ultimately are lost, then, why will it
happen? The answer is sin. Sin condemns (Romans 6:23), regardless of the type of sin that it may be.

Even that answer is incomplete. We are lost because of our sins, certainly; but if that were the complete answer, everyone would be lost eternally, for all have sinned (Romans 3:23). Why will you be lost? The answer is unrepented-of sins! That was Judah's problem: It was not merely that Judah had sinned, but that Judah had, in spite of the warnings of the prophets, refused to repent. Ezekiel came with a final appeal: Repent and live.! (18:32b). In the end, Judah was destroyed as a result of the people's failure to heed Ezekiel's appeal.

Likewise, if anyone should perish, the reason will not be that God wanted it to happen. Rather, destruction will come because you have failed to heed the warnings found repeatedly in His Word.  Repent and live!

Our life in Him, His Life in us!

Some people think that Christianity is just like other religions. That there is no difference other than the person that we believe in. We still have to try hard to be good enough to “get saved” before Jesus will accept us as His. This view of doctrine is not from God’s Word.

Jesus’ words were “I will abide in you and you abide in Me”. The word translated as “abide” can mean many things like “walk, live with, or trust”. Our responsibility as Christians is to daily live as Christ would have us live. Follow Him daily or as scripture puts it “pick up your cross daily and follow Me”.

God expects us to be holy as He is holy but He knows that we cannot do this without Him. We are not able to be holy on our own, our righteousness is as “filthy rags” before a holy God. Without Jesus in your heart, nothing that you do or say can ever be “worthy” enough.

Other religions of the world try to get us to work our way toward heaven so that it is our accomplishment and our way which brings us to heaven. These religions have been and are being deceived by the ruler of this world, Satan, the adversary of God. He can and has done this for many thousands of years and is still doing it. The world doesn’t like Christians or our message because our message is against their way of life. It makes everything that they do or say look foolish because it is when judged by God’s Word.

Before the troubled times come at the end of this age, please read the Bible! Ask someone to explain it to you, pray about it and ask God to show you what you should know and what you need to know. He will if you ask.

Do you ever feel like your voice is never heard?

Do you ever feel like your voice is never heard, even when you are talking with someone close to you? A friend, your wife or husband or even your dad or mom? Does it feel like your voice is just going into the air and no one actually hears what you are saying? In a crowded place do you feel alone, as I do? These feelings are what is considered normal in today’s society but they are not normal in any sense at all!

Do you feel empty, like there is always something missing? Something that you know that you should have or something that you feel deep down that you really need and yet you know that you don’t have it yet? We were actually created with this “need”, but we were not given the identity of that need. We are supposed to find it ourselves. The problem with that is that we usually look in all the wrong places for this “something” that we know or feel will make us “happy”. Why is that?

Our society and its expectations are such that we look to “trophies” of one kind or another to make us “happy” or fulfilled, and in reality these trophies can do no such thing. No matter how much money, fame, honor, glory, praise, or prestige you may have, it will never fill the ache inside which you have felt for most of your life.

The only way to fill that emptiness is with a relationship with God and His Son, Jesus. When you truly accept Him into your life, the void will begin to fill up! It will continue to fill as you seek Him to guide your life daily through prayer and by reading His Word, the Bible. God is not dead as some say and He is not asleep. He has not forgotten us because He can’t. We are His creation, all of us! Prophecy from His word tells us this and that He is not finished. There are many things yet to come.

Your life can be a witness to His glory and for Him. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Jew, or a Muslim, or Hindu or Buddhist, if you give your life to Him and ask Him into your heart the void in your life will be filled! It will begin to fill up and it will continue until He comes back or you are taken home to be with Him. The life we live here is but a temporary, fleeting existence. Our real life begins at our meeting Jesus and continues on from there. Death has no control over our life after that, this world and its troubles has no control over our life and its meaning after we accept the Christ. Our witness to every person that we come in contact with daily matters more than anything we can accomplish on earth because everything here is temporary.

Your life and what you choose to do with it is what matters and what matters the most is what you choose to do with Jesus in relation to the life you live and what you pass on to others. Whether they are your friends, your children or your family in general, the message that you portray to others as a Christian is your legacy that you will leave when you die. Nothing else truly matters until that part of your life is filled with Him. When that happens, then your life has a purpose and a true meaning. Before you accept Jesus nothing has an eternal meaning but after you do, everything can have an eternal meaning when you are living your life for Him and through Him daily.  Have a blessed day in His Service.