Friday, July 21, 2017

A Convenient Time


Acts 24:24-25 And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

I once heard someone say that they were going to live life as they wanted, free from the rules, regulations and restrictions of God, then run full-blast into Heaven, accepting Jesus Christ as Savior, receiving forgiveness and sliding in sideways to paradise ... like Creator God was obligated to accept such a demented scheme. His implication was that living a godly, holy and righteous life aligned with God’s sovereign Word, Will and Way (which was designed to allow us to become conscious of our sin) was keeping him from the “good life” and everyone was a fool who didn’t live his “wine, women and song” plan of self-indulgent, lawless pleasures of the flesh. These types of radicals will probably never attend a church in which the true gospel of Jesus Christ was preached. Would this type of person like to hear the Apostle Paul’s reality of Ephesians 2:1-3: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. Not a chance, because it defines their life’s desire ... which excludes God … until a convenient time. When is that? It’s an amazing wonder that the grace of God gives second chances. It is by His love and mercy alone that His grace is offered. 

Romans 6:20-23 “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

This is why Preachers preach, why Christians Speakers speak a conference, why Christians teachers teach, why Christian film-makers make movies, and why Christian writers write. We are in “the age of grace” and the hour for salvation is here. The door of the kingdom of Heaven was opened and God has provided our opportunity to enter, if we would accept the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:4-8 “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

Why would anyone want to wait for a more convenient time? Because the “fallen”, God-rejecting world system lives by the sinful desires of the flesh and deceived by the lies of the devil, which would accept the forgiveness and redemption of the Savior, but rejects the Lord that would rule their life, even if it is right and even if it is life. Pastor J. Vernon McGee states that the sinner will never have a convenient time to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mankind does not set the time; God does.

John 3:14-20 “ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”

It has been proven in the history of the human family that people can keep postponing making a decision for Christ until they come to the place where they cannot make a decision for Him at all. That convenient time never comes for a great many of people. The age of grace shall not last forever; Judgment Day is coming and everyone not washed in the blood of the Lamb of God already stands condemned. Receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is not something to be postponed to a more convenient time. Now is the time!

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

In Christ, Brian

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