The past week has been heavy on my heart. Next Monday is my last day on the job, and so a sense of urgency and intentionality has come across me to share the gospel with my coworkers. This has been challenging as well as sad because it has not resulted in obvious good results. I know the word of God never returns void, however, the lies have been pouring down on me since about me going on the world race. This is difficult for me to write about because of the gravity of what it means to reject Christ. I, up until recently have blamed all rejection of God and the gospel as failures on my part to communicate the gospel effectively or failure on my part to demonstrate the gospel in my life effectively. I now realize it is much deeper than that. Without the grace of God in our lives, Man is evil. You are evil. I am evil. Everyone you know is evil. “There is no one good. Not even one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. Romans 3:10-11 “The bible testifies that we are all born in sin and it does not take a deep survey of scripture to find that. Romans 1 says “we suppress the truth of God in our wickedness”, Jeremiah 17:9 says that the heart is deceitfully wicked and desperately sick, Who can understand it?” Jesus says in Mark 7:21 “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within, and they defile a person.” The problem is that God is good and we are not. God cannot simply forgive these sins. Proverbs 17:15 says “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.” God in his goodness cannot let the guilty go unpunished, but in his love wants to see the “guilty” which is us be freed from our bondage to guilt and decay and obtain freedom in him as children of God. So how does he reconcile his justice with his grace. By sending his Son to be tortured and crucified and pouring out his wrath on him, so that we could receive his righteousness and no longer live under condemnation. God created a way for us to live in communion with him when it was impossible. However, in the darkness of mind and wickedness many suppress this truth and thus suppress the only remedy to their malady. In saying that there is no God or in creating their own God, they exchange a real savior for a false one and thus cut themselves off from knowing God. This has been the source of great sadness on my part for the past few days. The knowledge and understanding of Hell as a reality and the knowledge that many people I know could be headed there have been a huge burden on my heart. I searched the scripture for hope in this scenario and I found Jeremiah. This man was known as the “weeping prophet” because he preached to his own people for 40 years and did not see anyone repent and turn to God. This was God’s chosen people to bring in the savior of the world. They had seen his providence for them time and time again, yet they forsook him for their own idols and practiced wickedness in their hearts. Jeremiah wrote a book called lamentations in which the full weight of emotions are felt for his people who do not repent. I am hoping in my heart and soul that God reveals the fruits of my ministry sooner than he did with Jeremiah, but if he doesn’t, Jeremiah leaves these beautiful words of hope found in Lamentations 3: 21-33
21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;[a] his mercies never come to an end;23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him;29 let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope;30 let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults.
31 For the Lord will not cast off forever,32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;33 for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men.
Jeremiah finds hope in the character of God. He does not draw his hope from what he sees God doing which could honestly be described as nothing. He could not see God’s movement around him, but he knew God was a merciful God, steadfast in his love, who will never punish someone who does not deserve to be punished. When ministry does not go as you expect or hope for it to go, there is always hope found in the nature of God. The very fact that we woke up today and are breathing is a result of nothing less than God’s full grace poured out into our lives. His mercies are new every morning. Every morning is an opportunity for those you love who do not know God to repent and believe. In the midst of all this doubt and fear of what I don’t know, I can rest on the promises and character of God because when I am faithless, he is faithful.
I really hope no one takes offense to this. The truth is this is a controversial topic and many do not want to accept the truth of sin and Hell and punishment for sin. However, the bible is full of this truth and to ignore this would be a great error. If you are offended or would like to talk about this further with me, I would love to talk about it with you. Contact me at my phone number 786-389-7487.
