Afghan Atrocities
On Halloween, some people and kids dressed up in really scary costumes. During the last month or so, a lot of people paid good money to go to a haunted house and have people scare them. What scares you? What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of dying? Are you afraid of spiders or snakes? Does public speaking scare you? Are you afraid of heights? Do you have a fear of failure? What about gangs? What scares you the most? Have you ever thought about where the scariest place on earth is to live?
According to the Institute of Peace and Economics 2013 Global Peace Index, Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Sudan are the five “least peaceful” places in the world. In other words, these are very scary places. They may very well be the scariest places on earth to live. Personally, I wouldn’t want to live in any of these countries. How about you? You may be a thrill seeker and maybe you love being scared, but do you really want to live in one of these countries?
But as scary as these places are, an even scarier place to be is outside of the will of God. Look at Romans 1:18-32. A scary place to be is when God turns you over to your own lustful desires. But it gets even worse. In Exodus, it tells us that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Exodus 7:22). Then in Exodus 10:20 it states But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go. So even scarier than being turned over to your own lustful desires is for God to harden your heart!
Then even worse than that is when God doesn’t try to reach you at all. When Pilate sent Jesus to Herod and Herod questioned Jesus, the Bible says that Jesus didn’t say a word to Herod. Luke 23:8-9 says And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing. When God isn’t drawing you to Himself, you have no hope. There is nothing you can do at that point.
Being outside the will of God, Him turning you over to your own lustful desires, God hardening your heart and then God not reaching out to you at all are all horrible places to be. But it actually gets even worse than that! If you die in your sins, if you die as an unrepentant sinner, then you will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. How bad is this place? Even Hell, Satan and death will be cast into there, along with all other unrepentant sinners. Revelation 21:8 says that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone. This is the scariest of the scariest. It is the ultimate scary place.
So where is the best place to be? In God’s hand (John 10:29). You can only be in God’s hand when He has granted you repentance toward Himself and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). You can receive repentance and faith when God grants you godly sorrow that works repentance to salvation, when you have godly sorrow over your sins (2 Corinthians 7:10). Prior to this, God opens your heart, like He did for Lydia in Acts 16:14. Your heart is opened when you recognize your sins and your sinfulness. You recognize your sinful nature when you look at the 10 Commandments. The 10 Commandments are our school master that brings us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24).
Do you recognize that you are a liar? Maybe you are a thief? Have you ever stolen anything, even if it was something small or invaluable? Have you ever used God’s name as a curse word? That’s called blaspheme and the Bible says the God will not hold those guiltless who take His name in vain. Have you ever lusted after someone? Jesus said that lust is the same thing as adultery. Have you ever coveted something that belonged to someone else?
You see, we are all sinners. For all have sinned come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23). Each and every one of us has broken God’s Law – the 10 Commandments. There is nothing we can do on our own to change that. You can’t undo your sins. You can’t hide them from our all powerful and all knowing God. Our Heavenly Father even knows your thought life! (Ecclesiastes 12:14). You are guilty and you can’t change that. You cannot save yourself.
But God loves you so much that He sent His Son, who lived a perfect , sinless life, to suffer and die a cruel death on the cross for your sins and for my sins (John 3:16). Jesus died on that cross, was buried and rose from the grave on the third day. He defeated sin, death, Hell and Satan. God offers eternal life to each and every person who repents by turning away from their sins. This starts with a change of mind. You recognize that you are sinner; that you need to be saved, and you recognize that you can’t save yourself. You recognize that Jesus Christ is the only One who can save you. Only His shed blood can wash you clean.
You cry out to God to have mercy on you, to save you. You truly turn your back on your sins and turn your face toward God. You put your faith in Jesus and in Him alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). Then your sin debt will be wiped clean. You could never pay your sin debt on your own; that’s why unrepentant sinners who die in their sins, suffer eternal damnation for their sins. But Jesus, the One who knew no sin, took your sins upon Himself on your behalf as He hung on that torturous cross. He paid your sin debt for you – If you’ve truly repented and put your trust in Him. But you must receive the gift of salvation.
So please, recognize that you are a sinner. Recognize that you have broken God’s Law, the 10 Commandments and that there is nothing you can do to change that. Then God can open up your heart. Then He can grant you godly sorrow that leads to repentance that leads to salvation. He then grants you repentance toward Himself and faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. When you have truly repented and surrendered your life to Jesus, then God saves you. You are born again. He grants you everlasting life. Then He holds you in his hand and no one can take you from Him.
Maybe you have heard the Gospel many times before. Maybe you even grew up in a Christian home; but you have never received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You have never truly surrendered your life to Him. If that’s you, please don’t miss this. Every time you’ve rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, there has been a nail driven your spiritual coffin. Has your spiritual coffin been nailed completely shut? Has God hardened your heart like He did Pharaoh’s? Is your conscience seared completely over? Has God quit calling out to you?
If you reject Jesus Christ today, you are one step closer to being separated from God for all of eternity. But listen to this: if your conscience is bothering you right now, if you recognize that you are sinner and you recognize that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation, then there is still hope for you. It isn’t too late. Please don’t reject Jesus Christ one more time.
Get right with God right here, right now. Repent and believe the Gospel. Turn away from your sins and put your faith in Jesus Christ. Wont’ you come to Jesus tonight? (Romans 10:8-13). For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Don’t ignore the Masters voice any longer. Today is the day of salvation. Receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Surrender your life to Jesus, before it’s too late. Right now, are you spiritually in the scariest place on earth? Or are you safe and secure from all alarms – in God’s mighty hand?