Choose You This Day!

Revelation 3:20
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

Every person has been given enough knowledge and prompting from God to turn to Him. No one will have an excuse for rejecting Christ.

I heard recently a story about the artist of a painting most of us are familiar with, the picture of a man depicting Christ knocking at a door waiting for someone to open the door. Anyone that knows me understands that I hate depictions of Christ because of it's implications of idolatry, however the story is interesting.

A man viewing the painting while in the presence of the artist who did it, told the artist that he made a mistake in the painting, he forgot the door knob on the outside. The artists told the inquirer that it was not a mistake, the scripture says that Christ is knocking he has no need of a knob, the knob is on the inside for the person to open to Christ.

God will not force anyone to love Him, nor will He force anyone to obey Him. We have a choice to trust and obey, as the song says, or to reject and refuse to open the door.

Revelation 3:19
"Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent."

Christ died for the entire world, He loves His creation and desires that all would come to a saving knowledge, but not all will come. Those who refuse His love will be rejected and cast into a lake of fire at the end of the earth.

Revelation 20:15
"And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Psalm 26:5
"I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked."

Those who believe that everyone is saved no matter their belief system, do not know the Scriptures. When we go to funerals and people are saying "he/she is in a better place, even though they never trusted Christ are speaking things they do not know.

1 John 2:2
"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

Christ became sin for us that we might be saved, but we have to choose Him. When we choose Him, He changes us into a new creation.

Christ extends the forgiveness, but we must receive it by responding in repentance and brokenness over our sinfulness. When we do this, then Christ comes to dwell in us and begins His process of cleansing that continues until the end of our lives. We are born again and on our way to heaven, spiritually, but we are still trapped in this body of sinful flesh.

Romans 8:3
"For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,"

He cleanses us throughout our life after He changes our spirit. Our flesh is still a problem, He gives us challenges to help us see the dross that is within us, when we confess as He opens our eyes, we become more holy and useful for the kingdom.

2 Corinthians 5:17
"17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

1 John 3:6-10
"6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother"

Galatians 5:19-21
"6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.
8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God."
10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother"

Hebrews 12:6
"FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES."

1 John 2:1 Written to born again believers.
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:"

James 5:16
"Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."

When God discipline, prunes and shapes us, He does it as we would a rose bush, in order for the bush to come back stronger than ever with more beautiful flowers, it must be cut way back to stubs to begin again afresh.

Joshua 24:15
"15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."