THE QUESTION THAT SETTLES DESTINY (2)
May I point out that God will have to judge you on the basis of your last decision. Suppose, for instance, you decide tonight to reject Jesus Christ, but at the same time you make up your mind that next Sunday night you will reverse your decision and accept Him. Now suppose you die before next Sunday night. Think you God will judge you on the basis of what you might have done had you lived? Most certainly not. He will have to judge you on the basis of what you did do. The question on the Judgment Day will not be a sin question; it will be a Son question. It will be a question concerning your relationship to Jesus Christ. “What did you do with my Son?” God will ask “Well, Lord.” You will answer; I was always a religious man. I went to church ...” “Wait a moment.” God will interrupt. “I never asked you anything about your religions life; I asked you one simple question. What did you do with my Son?”
“Well, Lord” you will continue, “I always lived a good life. I never did anything wrong. I …” “Wait a moment,” God will say again, “I never asked you anything about the life you lived. I asked you one simple question. What did you do with my Son?” “Well, Lord” you will respond, I always thought your Son was a good man. As a matter of fact, I thought He was the best …” “I never asked you what you thought about my Son,” God will interrupt again. “I asked you what you did with my Son. Now tell me, did you accept Him or did you reject Him? What did you do with Him?” And you will be silent. You will have no answer, for you did nothing. You just neglected Him. Hence, you will be lost, not because of what you did, but because of what you failed to do.
Why, then, will men perish? If men are not going to perish because of their sins, then why will they perish? There was once a young lady who was very ill. She was member of the Church. One day she passed into a trance and in her standing before the angel Gabriel at the gate of Heaven, while the angel was turning over the pages of the Book of Life. After a while, with sad expression on his face, he looked up. “Young lady,” she said, “your name isn’t here.” “What!” she exclaimed. “My name isn’t there? It must be. Look again.” Once more he scanned the pages, but finally looking up he said again, “Young lady, your name isn’t here.” “Why,” she cried, “what have I done, what have I done, that my name isn’t there?” “Young lady,” replied the angel Gabriel, “it is not because of what you have done that your name isn’t here. It is because of what you have not done. You have neglected the great salvation.”
With that she awoke and, ill though she was, she crawled out of bed, knelt at her bedside and there and then for the first time in her life, opened her heart to Jesus Christ and received Him as her own personal Saviour. Why will men perish? Let God answer. Look at John 3:18 “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed …” That, my friend, is the only reason mean are condemned. You will never be lost because you are a murderer. God can forgive a murderer. You will never perish because you are a drunkard or a thief. God can forgive drunkards and thieves. But there is one sin God cannot forgive, and that the final rejection of His Son. If you refuse to receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour there is no hope for you, for God has no other plan.
You say it is not fair. You think of your good life and you cannot understand why you should be condemned just because you have not accepted Jesus Christ. Listen, you have a kind-hearted man here in your city. He is kind to his parents, kind to his children, and kind to his friends and neighbours. But he takes his wife whom he has promised to love and cherish, and he abuses her shamefully and then leaves her lying half-dead on the floor. He is arrested. Witnesses are called; one hundred of them. They all give the same testimony. “This man,” they say, “was kind. He was kind to his father and mother, his sons and daughters. He was kind to his neighbours and friends.” Finally, the judge addresses the court. “I am not dealing with this man on the basis of his treatment of others,” he says, “I am judging him on one point and one point alone: his treatment of his wife. Now tell me, was he kind to his wife?” There is not a witness. Finally he is condemned and sentenced. Yes, and rightly so, even though his crime was committed against only one person.
My friend, do you think you can be kind to the people of this world, and then be unkind to God’s Son and not be guilty? Never. It doesn’t matter what kind of life you live or how you treat your fellows men. If you ignore and neglect Jesus Christ, God will hold you accountable. You cannot ill-treat His Son and escape. Two hundred years ago God gave His Son for you. Jesus Christ bore your sins in His own body on the tree. He died that you might live. Now God offers you salvation without money and without price, and tells you do receive His Son as your Saviour. If you refuse, what can He do but condemn you? Everything, therefore, depends upon your relationship to Jesus Christ.
Your life may be most exemplary. Possible no one could bring a charge against your character. To your friends and neighbours you have been most kind. But you have ill-treated the Son of God. Again and again you have rejected His offers of mercy. Outside the door of your heart He has stood for years, but never yet have you been kind enough to let Him in. Now what do you suppose God will say when you stand in His presence? Will your kindness to your fellow-men make up for your unkindness to Jesus Christ? Not if the Bible is the Word. Hence, it is fair, after all. Your other sin fade into insignificance in the face of this, your greatest of all crimes, the rejection of the Son of God. Have question, you may call: 08033399821 or write: [email protected]. Stay blessed.
Written By Dr. Lewis Akpogena