LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

Jesus is coming back. There are many references to His coming, these are just two.

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness." 2 Peter 9-11

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:35-39

Two passages dealing with the Lord's Day, the return of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Read them closely, search them out. Jesus is coming back. The day and hour we know not. The day and hour is drawing closer by the minute. A day of such destruction the world has never known. The day that will catch so many unawares. The day the Lord suffers long toward us because he does not want to see us perish. As with so many days in Bible history where God warned of destruction, (search them out) He has also warned us of His coming back in His word. Believers, we have no excuses. What will you be doing on this day. This life is an eye-blink, a vapour and if we live it for anything or anyone but our God, we are lost forever. God must be first.

As we march on toward this day of the Lord, how do we prepare? If we say we are saved by His blood, sorrowful repentant Christians following our Lord Jesus Christ, how are we following Him? The day we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, the day we were made a new creation in him, our past with all the sins there of, the old has passed away, is gone. All our sins nailed to the cross instantaneously. We are separated form the sin nature. We no longer habitually walk in sin. We may stumble but God's forgiveness is instant and sure (1 John 1:9). Believe it, have faith in it. We are new and our life in Him is new and the way we live it must also be new. It must be. Are we "in all holy conversation and godliness?" Are we becoming more Christ-like? Are we growing more patient, or more quick-tempered? More kind and gentle, or more mean and argumentative? More tender and forgiving, or more resentful, holding onto grudges? Do we "bear with" others? Do we put up with the weaknesses and faults of others , or do we have to be always right? (Colossians 3:12-13) We must measure our walk with the Lord by his word. We must know his word. This walk cannot be had by human efforts or achievements, it is only had by the work of the Holy Ghost through faith in his word. We will do good works but it is because of who we are in Christ. Works do not change anything, they are the result of change inside. The outward manifestation of the change the Holy Ghost makes in us. Do we see that? Jesus alone saves and gives us victory. We cannot do it and when we try to it is due to our unbelief.

"That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." Colossians 1:10

Do we think this is impossible? Then we are of little faith. The Lord wonders that on the day of his coming if he will find faith (the moral conviction of the truthfulness of God).

" i tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:8

Where there is no faith, there is no of fear of the Lord (the moral dread of being displeasing to God). This combination is death to a believer. Without faith we cannot please God. This adds up to the sin of unbelief. Unbelief leads to the fall, to the sin, to eternal damnation. When we think God cannot help us, that we must do it on our own, we condemn ourselves.

"But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Hebrews 11:6

We must have complete and absolute faith in the Lord. We must commit every part of ourselves and our lives to trusting the Lord. We need to know His word for our lives. We need to give him all. How can the Lord bless Christians who try to serve Him while holding onto a secret lust? To harbor something in secret in our life and not bring it into God's light for deliverance is the true crime of unbelief. What ever it is, drugs, love of money, sex, music, cigarettes, the list is endless...give it to Jesus. Look at the Israelites who wandered in the desert for 40 years exasperating God. He blessed them at every turn yet they held on to their false idols, their unbelief. Unsure, questioning God's leading, worried about their future. God did nothing but bless them and yet they had no fear of him, no faith. They did not enter the promised land. Do we want to enter the promised land?

How many Christians do we know that are unsure, questioning God's leading and worried about their future? Why? We have instant access to God as believers. Believers do hold on to many sinful habits, many things that hold them back from growing in the Lord. We need to give them all over to Him. i address this to believers because we need harvesters. We need believers to go and make true disciples, to teach, preach, witness. But we can't go if we are holding onto this world and all the sin it offers. We cannot be friends of Jesus and the world.

i cold go on forever, but i will save it for my next blog... God bless you all.