The day of the Lord. ( 1 Thessalonians 5 v 1-3)

 The prophet Zephaniah was called to proclaim God's word not to the Gentiles,but to the people in Judah,it was a very powerful message of judgement.Those who were consider to be God's people  had fallen away spiritually .Zephaniah was a contempory of Jeremiah and they  both tell us how the people did unspeakable evil,the most serious was forsaking God , and turning to god's that were not gods. .( Jeremiah 2 v10 -13) The opening verses of Zephaniah  declares that God's judgement was going to come upon them.The situation to say the least was grim,but they thought that the Lord will do nothing, either good or bad'. (1 v 12)How wrong they were as they would find out to their cost that judgement was coming in the form of the army of Babylon.This army would  conquer Judah slaying most of the population,a remnant would survive,but would spend the next 70 yrs in exile.Many people think that God does not exsist,or if  He does exsist,'' He does not matter''. But the fact is God is not an inactive God ,the day of the Lord is coming,it will be a day of judgement when the unsaved will call to the mountains and the rocks,fall on us, and hide us, from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb (Revelation 6 v16)

                                                         'Nothing in all creation is hidden 

                                                          from God's sight.Everything is

                                                          uncovered and laid bare before

                                                           the eyes of Him to whom we 

                                                           must give account.'

                                                                        Hebrews 4 v 13

The law of God.(Galatians 3 v10 -14 )

 In Romans 2  Paul deals with God's righteous judgement in relation to the Jews and the Gentiles, he points out that the Jews who have the written law will be judged by the law.The Jew would take pleasure that they have the law,so in their pride they would say we are all right,This is what the daily prayer says,  'All Israel have a portion in the world to come,as it said ,your people are all righteous,they base this on Isaiah 60 v21.Paul challenges that by saying,'For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight,but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous Romans 2 v 13.He is not here, saying that the law saves,it doesn't ,he is stressing purely judgement day,when the unsaved Jew  and the unsaved Gentiles will be judged. Paul now goes unto to deal with the Gentiles how they will be judged by the law when they haven't got the written law.?well says Paul they do have the law in their hearts,It is shown by the fact that they know that murder is wrong,that stealing is wrong,that lying is wrong,that adultery is wrong and so on.So that is how God will judge both Jew and Gentile on Judgement day.

                                                    'Know that a person is not justified

                                                    by the works of the law,but by faith

                                                     in Jesus Christ'

                                                                   ( Galatians 2 v 16)

We all have a conscience (Romans 2 v 12 -16)2

 Let us continue looking at that hard conscience,there are many examples of it,the Nazi party was full of people who had a hard conscience,from those who served in the death camps.Hitler and his cronies and a vast number of other people.Stalin would have been one,there are so many.In the Times newspaper I read an artical on a young woman,she is involved in pornography,it is to debased to tell you of the things she does,it is truly dreadful,she truly has lost all sense of morality and decency .She and those  others I have mentioned could also be described has having a seared conscience, the idea of flesh burned by hot irons. In Exodus 7 v13 we read,'Pharaoh's heart became hard and he would not listen', he did it four times,in spite of witnessing what God was doing. So God dealt with him by hardening his heart.Leon Morris says,  'Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and refused to humble himself is made plain in the story.  God's hardening of him was a judical act,abandoning  him to his own stubbornness'

                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

The power of God's word.( John 11 v 40)2

Let us  look at Jeremiah 23 v 24  which  reads,'Is not my word like fire,declares the Lord,'and like a hammer that breaks a rock n pieces?'. We recently considered the first  part,now let us consider the latter part,'and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?, one commentator writes,'It can shatter harden hearts  break down resistance to God,and exposes the truth even when it is difficult to hear'.Consider Hebrews 11 v 3,' By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command.so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible'.God spoke and it came into being,the whole universe,now that is trully powerful,we cannot take it in,but God did it by speaking it into being, by His Son Jesus.In Hebrews 1 v 3 we read that, all thing are sustained by Jesus everything by the mighty power of His command' One person puts it like this,'He holds everything together  by what He says-powerful words'.No one can withstand against the power of God's word, what He says will come to pass.Luke 1 v 37 reads,'For no word from God will ever fail'.The bible is full of miracles,and so is the world if only we would stop and look.A miracle is something only God can perform.By Christ word the sick were healed,water was turned into wine,and the dead were raised,and the stormy sea was calmed,and by His word peoples sins were forgiven.( Matthew 9 v2)

A conscience (2 Corinthians 4 v 1-2 ) 1

 One of my sons is trying to loose weight,he told me what he was eating, and what he was not eating,being overweight is a big concern in our country. It can lead in extreme cases to diabetes,heart problems, strokes,even certain types of cancer. We live in a country where he have so much food available,so easy to over eat.There was a saying going about years ago it went,'naughty but nice',but it is not nice being overweight. Let's consider another aspect as regards weight, having a guilty conscience, the fact is we all have a conscience,we can have a good conscience,a bad conscience,and a hardened conscience. Joseph was charged with attempted rape,found guilty and imprisoned but he was innocent,he had a good concsience free from shame and guilt.A bad conscience does leaves one feeling guilty,but we try to ignor it but it can effect us,and we will always carry it with us,there is a way out,seek God for forgiveness  through Jesus. Then we come to a harden conscience.one writer describes it like this,'It means becoming less sensitive to moral considerations and less  inclined to feel remorse for wrong doings.it can happen gradually  through  repeated acts of sin or delibertly ignoring a moral compass,It is esseentially a process of becoming desensitized as to what is right and wrong,leading to a diminished capacity for guilt or regret'. I will continue with this next time .

Be in time.( Acts 17 v24-31)

 I asked myself this question,what keeps my heart going?.In Acts 17 v 28 we read,'For in Him we live and have our being',in v 25 we read,'He himself gives breath and everyting else'Of course the answer is God,one person comments,'From the beat of our hearts to the breath in our lungs,everything we have is because of God. All we can see,taste,touch and hear,all things about life that we enjoy are made possible, through Him' People who live a long life are often asked,what do you put down for your long life,and I have never heard one person say,the obivious,'God'. It was Job who said,'The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away' Job 1 v 21.Why have I lived so long? God,why did my baby brother die,and yet I lived,why was I  saved from drowning as a child?God.The answer is not what keeps my heart going, but rather who keeps my heart going.People take it for granted,they live oblivious of the higher power,while they rely on doctors ,and medicine , and of course they are God's instruments,but ultimately  we are in God's  hands. One day our hearts will stop beating,what then?  the apostle Paul writes the following that'God  commands all people  everywhere to repent.For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man ( Jesus)He has appointed Acts 17 v 30-31. C.H.Mason wrote the following words.

                                                 'Be in time! ...Be in time!

                                          While the voice of Jesus calls you,

                                                           Be in time!

                                                 If in sin you longer wait,

                                                You may find no open gate,

                                                And your cry be just to late:

                                                           Be in time!

                                                   

His Kingdom (Isaiah 9 v7 )

When Israel were slaves in Egypt we read they were oppressed,but it goes  on to say,'The more they were oppressed,the more they multiplied and spread' (Exodus 1 v 11-12)Strange,  for one would think it would go the opposite way,yet it is still happening,the church in Iran is experiencing being persecuted,in spite of that the church is growing. Someone said,'The early Church's growth in the face of persecution was a remarkable phenomenon,despite facing hardship,imprisonment,and even death'.Suffering could not and cannnot extinguish the Church.many have tried and are still trying to extinguish the church ,they will not be able to do that.Jesus said in Matthew 16 v18,' I will build my church,and the gates  of  Hell will not overcome it.'For many years the church experienced persecution under Rome, but in 300 AD  the Emperor Theodosis 1, declared Christianty as the official state religion.Looking over all of human history, kongdoms have risen and kingdoms have fallen,one Kingdom stands triumphant  ,the Kingdom of God.

                                                    'Of His kingdom there will be no end'

                                                                      'Luke 1 v 33'