". . . Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"
See I Peter 4: 17, 18 about the judgement of God. It's coming! And most will be
unprepared for it! This lesson is not conceived to scare people; it is create to prepare
people.
And God would want no less. Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. See
Matthew 25 for three parables from Jesus about the importance of being prepared for the
judgement day to come. From Matthew 25, several facts emerge:
- Man is accountable to God, and God will be doing the judging
- Judgement will come with warning to no one. We just have to be ready
- Man will be judged according to what he has been doing. We can talk all day about
what man may have believed or what he may have had in his heart. But what he did
about it while he was on the earth will be the evidence used for or against man.
Who are these ungodly, sinful people that Simon Peter was talking about in I Peter 4?
See II Thessalonians 1: 6-10 to find out. They will not be the very worst of criminals
that have ever lived; most of those that are ungodly and who have not obeyed the
truth will be morally good people who simply have not made Jesus the Lord of their
lives.
We can't plead ignorance. "The times of ignorance God once winked at; but now He
commandeth all men everywhere to repent," Acts 17: 30.
Man needs to hear God's word (Romans 10: 17), believe it (Acts 16: 31; Acts 2: 37-47),
repent of his sins (Acts 2: 38, Acts 3: 19), confess Jesus as Lord (Matthew 10: 32, 33),
and be baptized in order to receive remission of his sins (Acts 2: 38) in order to even
be a player in the salvation game. Short of that, man is one of those who "know[s]
not God" and who will be punished. Man needs to obey the Gospel (see I
Corinthians 15: 1-4). And, after becoming a Christian, he needs to continue to grow
and to serve the Lord. He needs to put away the old man of sin and become a new
man who is righteous. Can he do it all alone? No-this is where God's grace comes
into play. God helps him to become this new man.
Where would you appear, if Christ came again today?
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