From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part eight of a series. Read part seven.

"Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near."

Then He also said to the multitudes, "Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the West, immediately you say, 'a shower is coming'; and so it is. And when you see the South wind blow, you say, 'there will be hot weather'; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it that you do not discern this time?

"Yes, and why, even of yourselves, do you not judge what is right? When you go with your adversary to the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there till you have paid the very last mite." (Luke 12:54-59)

As we saw in the last segment of this series, heeding Jesus' exhortation to agree with your adversary on the way to judgment is a source of the greatest comfort to the believer in Christ. Having agreed with your adversary on the way to the Last Judgment, having believed on His perfect person and finished atoning work for your salvation, the believer in Christ can, as the Apostle John writes, "have boldness (more literally, cheerful confidence) in the Day of Judgment" (1 John 4:17).

But at the same time, Jesus' words in this parable form the severest warning to the unbeliever.

The Only Remedy

If you are reading these words and you have not received salvation through Christ, you are an unbeliever on your way to the Last Judgment with a guilty verdict already recorded against you. All that waits is for you to come before the Magistrate of the Universe and to hear the sentence pronounced: "depart from me, I never knew you." Matthew chapter 25, verse 41:

Then He will say to those on the left hand, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.... These will go away into everlasting punishment..." (Matthew 25:41 & 46)

Dear unbeliever, Christ is the only One by whom your case may be settled out of court. Christ is the only One by whom and through whom you may escape the condemning judgment of God. Isaiah chapter 55 beginning at verse 6 speaks to you:

Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

Likewise, Romans 8:1:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

And here, dear friends, in the next verse of that chapter, is the Gospel message in one sentence:

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin.

How did He do that? The next verse tells us:

He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

The Gospel Offer

Dear unbeliever, do you understand the desperation of your situation? Do you understand that your life may end at any moment, no matter your age or circumstances, and that without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ it will be impossible for you to stand at His right hand, uncondemned, fully pardoned, at the Last Judgment?

Luke records that shortly after teaching the parable that has been the focus of this series, Jesus spoke another bearing a similar dire warning to unrepentant sinners:

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?' So he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry." ' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?' " (Luke 12:16-20)

As Jesus said elsewhere,

For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:25-26)

Dear unbeliever, join in the heart-cry of the Philippian jailer, and hear the answer of the Apostle Paul and Silas. God's promise is this simple, yet this profound. It is the difference between eternal life and eternal death:

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:30-31)

Next: "Just As I Am": A Hymn of Assurance

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