Hebrews
3:
7So, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you
hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the
desert,
9where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, 'Their hearts are always
going astray,
and they have not known my ways.'
11So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.'
"[1]
12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But
encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today,
so that none of you may be hardened by
sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till
the end the confidence we had at first.
The Holy Spirit just told
you above in Hebrews 3:7 “Today, if
you hear his voice”. You have heard His
voice. What are you going to do about it
today? The Holy Spirit gives you 2 options listed below, you could either (1) harden your heart, or (2) come
to share in Christ.
1) Harden your heart (Heb 3:8).
2
Corinthians 6
1As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain.
2For he says,
"In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped
you."[1]
I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the
day of salvation.
Acts
5
31God
exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness
of sins to
If you feel like you should
repent, then now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation for
you. Do not harden your heart against
God’s granting you the gift of repentance. You are not promised another chance after you
turn from His voice.
John
6
44"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. 45It is
written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.'[1]
Everyone who listens to the Father and
learns from him comes to me.
He is not going to bother
you if you do not want to be bothered.
He will not violate your will.
However, the feeling of godly sorrow
that leads to repentance is not guaranteed to
return to you if you spurn His grace. Do
not receive his grace in vain.
2) Come to Share in Christ (verse 14). To do this, read this gospel with a will to obey it.
(Note: If you read this far, God is showing you His
grace, because few would read this much scripture.)
Luke
8
14The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they
go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and
they do not mature. 15But the seed on good soil stands for those
with a noble and good heart, who
hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
If
you are considering it, you should count the
cost and be born again. Here is why:
John
12:35-36
35 Then Jesus told them, "You are
going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the
light, before darkness overtakes you. The man who walks in the dark does not
know where he is going.
36 Put your trust in the light while
you have it, so that you may become sons of light." (NIV)
Luke
9:59-62
59 He said to another man, "Follow
me." But the man replied, "Lord, first
let me go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead
bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the
61 Still another said, "I will follow
you, Lord; but first let me go back
and say good-by to my family."
62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts
his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the
Luke
14:16-24
16 Jesus replied: "A certain man was
preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.
17 At the time of the banquet he sent his
servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now
ready.'
18 "But they all alike began to make
excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it.
Please excuse me.'
19 "Another said, 'I have just bought
five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.'
20 "Still another said, 'I just got
married, so I can't come.'
21 "The servant came back and reported
this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his
servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in
the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.'
22 "'Sir,' the servant said, 'what
you ordered has been done, but there is still room.'
23 "Then the master told his servant,
'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house
will be full.
24 I tell you, not one of those men who were invited
will get a taste of my banquet.'"
(NIV)
John
12:35-41 GNB Jesus
answered, "The light will be among you a little longer. Continue on your
way while you have the light, so that the darkness will not come upon you; for
the one who walks in the dark does not know where he is going. (36) Believe in the light, then, while you have it,
so that you will be the people of the light." After Jesus said this, he
went off and hid himself from them. (37) Even though he had performed all these
miracles in their presence, they did not believe in him, (38)
so that what the prophet Isaiah had said might come true: "Lord,
who believed the message we told? To whom did the Lord reveal his power?" (39)
And so they were not able to
believe, because Isaiah also said,
(40) "God has blinded their eyes and closed their minds, so that their
eyes would not see, and their minds would not understand, and they would not
turn to me, says God, for me to heal them." (41)
Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus' glory and spoke about him.
So these passages indicate
that your response to the Lord’s call to be born-again is a time-sensitive
offer. Why would God blind those who
initially rejected his offer?
Perhaps it is because he
won’t push himself into anyone’s life.
Genesis
6:3
Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with [ 6:3
Or [ My spirit will not remain in ] ] man forever, for he is mortal [ 6:3
Or [ corrupt ] ] ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." (NIV)
Genesis 6:3 (KJV)
3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is
flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
If they reject Him, He’ll
just step back. They must invite Him in:
Revelation 3
19Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and
repent. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and
eat with him, and he with me. 21To him who overcomes, I will give
the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my
Father on his throne.
Verse
20 intimates that any time is good to come to the Lord. That is true. There is no wrong time to be born again in
the sense that God will turn you away if you approach Him at the wrong
time.
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
(Whole Chapter: In
context: )
The
problem is that you may not seek Him later, after you are given over to the
spiritual blindness of a hard heart. The
scriptures above warn against the hardening of your heart that can occur if you
delay the right response to God’s invitation through Christ (John
Hebrews 4:7
Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today,
when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today,
if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."[ 4:7 Psalm 95:7,8] (NIV)
Hebrews 3:12
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful,
unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But
encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you
may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the
confidence we had at first. (NIV)
2 Cor 6:1-2
1 As God's fellow workers we urge you
not to receive God's grace in vain.
2 For he says, "In the time of my
favor I heard you, and in the day of
salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. (NIV)
So, if you want to come to
the Lord on His terms,
you can be guaranteed that He will accept you.
However, you cannot decide to procrastinate that decision and still be
guaranteed another opportunity. This is
not only for the reasons cited above, but also because Jesus could return at
any time—and then it will be too late for anyone in the world to repent.
2
Pet
10 But the day of the Lord will come like
a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed
by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. (NIV)
If you are not born again,
or ‘sons of light’, you will not see it
coming either:
1 Thessalonians 5
3While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction
will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will
not escape.
4But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should
surprise you like a thief. 5You are all sons
of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to
the darkness.
Revelation 3
2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have
not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember,
therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do
not wake up, I will come like a thief,
and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4Yet you have
a few people in
I hope you are worthy of
Gospel. Thanks for reading this either
way.
Luke
12
The
Parable of the Rich Fool
13Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother
to divide the inheritance with
14Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter
between you?" 15Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on
your guard against all kinds of greed; a
man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."
16And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich
man produced a good crop. 17He thought to himself, 'What shall I do?
I have no place to store my crops.'
18"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my
barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And
I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things
laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '
20"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will
get what you have prepared for yourself?'
21"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for
himself but is not rich toward God."
For more on this issue,
read a brief document called “When to repent”. You can press the back button in your browser
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