The Closed Door

In Rev 3:20 Jesus Christ is seen knocking at the door of men's hearts, but Mt 7:14 declares that few open the door, i.e., trust Him as Savior.  In Lk 13:24-29 however the position is reversed: men seek admission at a door which Christ refuses to open, "Many will seek to enter, and not be able, when the Master hath shut the door," resulting in eternal "weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Relative to that fateful day we read, "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" Mt 24:37, and in regard to those days we read, "The earth was corrupt and filled with violence" Gen 6:11.  Only fools will deny that conditions are the same today.  This is only one of many signs that Christ's return is near, and as that corrupt age ended in a sudden catastrophic foretold judgment, so will this one.

For 120 years Noah warned men who mocked him, but suddenly his preaching stopped.  The day of grace had ended.  He was taken into the ark, and God shut the door.  Seven days followed, and then came the foretold flood, but during those seven days the mockers were as surely doomed as if it had come on the first day.  Who can begin to imagine their frantic beating on that closed door as the waters of judgment engulfed them?  There were no mockers, no unbelievers that day.

So will it be relative to this present age.  Believers will be suddenly caught up to heaven, and 2 Thess 2:1-12 warns that in the following seven year Tribulation period, those who had rejected the Gospel will have no opportunity to be saved, but will be banished into hell when Christ returns to end the Tribulation, and inaugurate His Millennial kingdom.

How many times have you ignored His knock?  What if this should be His last?  Remember, to open to Him, is to have Him open heaven's door to you - and vice versa!

by Jim Melough

A Second Opinion

A young man I know developed a cough for which his doctor  prescribed medicine.  The cough persisted in spite of a second stronger medicine, and eventually an x-ray was done, revealing a shadowy spot on one lung.  And the doctor's diagnosis?  Scar tissue!

The cough, accompanied by night sweats and weakness, persisted, leading him to seek a second opinion. It was cancer.  Now, after a bone marrow transplant, he appears to be cured, after having almost died as a result of the wrong diagnosis of a doctor he trusted implicitly.

Millions have equally firm, but misplaced trust in their spiritual advisors, and tragically, only a very few discover their mistake in time.

A sophisticated society which scrutinizes carefully the qualifications of its doctors, insisting often on a second opinion, relative to a body which one day must die anyway, displays almost total indifference relative to the qualifications of those who minister to the needs of the soul that will exist for ever.

That indifference is the more inexplicable because society possesses the text book upon which the spiritual advisor claims to base his opinion - AND IN MANY CASES IT CONTRADICTS HIM.

For example, does your minister or priest guarantee heaven to all who are church members, moral, kind, generous, his explanation being that God is too loving to send anyone to hell; or that, in fact, there is a heaven, but not a hell?

Then let me quote from the text book, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," John 3:3.  "By grace are ye saved through faith ... not of works, lest any man should boast," Ephesians 2:8-9.  "Fear him (God) who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," Matthew 10:28.

The only way to be saved from hell and fitted for heaven is to

(1) admit that you have no righteousness, and

(2) believe that when Jesus Christ died on the cross it was in your stead, as your Representative, for your sins.

You may be religious, moral, kind, etc., but apart from confession of total unrighteousness, and faith in Christ as your personal Savior, you are on the road to hell, no matter what assurances your spiritual mentor gives to the contrary.

What if like my young friend's doctor, your mentor should be wrong?  It is your soul that will be first in hell, and then eternally in torment in the lake of fire.

by Jim Melough

A Christmas Gift

It is almost two thousand years since that night when the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem received from the angel the announcement of Christ's birth, "Unto you is born this day a SAVIOR, which is Christ the Lord," Luke 2:11.  That One Whose birth was heralded by angels is the same One Who, thirty-three years later, hung on a cross at Calvary, taunted by men, dying in your guilty place, bearing the penalty for your sins.  It was His death, not His birth, that made atonement for sin; and He willingly gave His life in exchange for yours.  It is because of His death that God can offer the gift of eternal life.

Will this be another Christmas when, under the form of observing Christ's birthday, you will accept all gifts except that one which cost Him His life, and which, if still refused, will cost YOU the eternal loss of your soul?  Would you refuse from an earthly friend a gift which he had purchased for you with his son's life?  How, then, can you dare to contemplate the day when you must meet God, when you will have to explain why you refused His gift?  "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" Hebrews 2:3. 

You will make this the happiest Christmas you've ever known if you will accept God's priceless gift by simply believing that when the Lord Jesus Christ died at Calvary it was in your place, for your sins.  THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH.  THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE.  You MUST choose one; and by refusing the gift of life you are choosing the wages of sin - DEATH

by Jim Melough

An Overturned Truck

One morning some years ago as I traveled on the Connecticut Turnpike I passed an overturned truck blocking all three lanes on the opposite side of the highway.  In a little while I passed the long lines of stationery vehicles stopped by the accident, and began to meet speeding traffic, the drivers unaware that in a few minutes they too would be brought to a standstill.

That highway scene reminded me of the roadway of life, and God's warning, "Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth," Pro.27:1.  I've often wondered how many of the thousands affected by that accident saw it as a reminder that, "God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man percieveth it not," Job 33:14.

This may be read by someone who has had the experience of having his normal way of life suddenly interrupted by accident or illness, the death of a loved one, loss of a job, etc.  Have you viewed it with irritable impatience as thousands of drivers viewed that accident?  Have you seen it simply as an unwelcome interruption of your normal lifestyle?  Has it occurred to you that it might be God's way of trying to get your attention, so that you might consider His question, "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mk.8:36; His way of trying to get you to listen to the warning, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," Jn.3:3?

Listen to what is written in Job 33:14-24, "For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not....That He may withdraw man from his purpose....He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing....Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers."  But to the man who does hear God's voice in the adverse circumstances,  and who trusts Christ as the Savior Who died in his guilty place,  comes God's assurance, "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom."

As I passed that accident I was reminded of others I'd seen,  some of which had brought an abrupt unexpected end to the life of one or more drivers - a wrecked car marking the end, not only of a journey on the turnpike, but of the journey of life itself.

Suppose one of those events that so unexpectedly spoiled your plans, had instead ended your life, where would your soul be now?  God warns, "Ye MUST be born again."  Have you?  If not, When?  "Behold NOW is the accepted time; NOW is the day of salvation," 2 Cor.6:2.  Trust in Christ NOW, "For thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."  It could bring death, ending for ever your opportunity to save your soul.

by Jim Melough