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MEMO
A REMINDER!
YOUR APPOINTMENT IS STILL PENDING!
Revised September 2007 By Bill Roberts
This is just to remind you that your appointment is still pending and unchanged. Sometimes people become so busy they almost forget about this, so this is just a reminder. Perhaps you did not even realize that you had this appointment, but friend, it is still set and the One whom you are to meet absolutely will not change His plans. You may have an appointment with your dentist, doctor, lawyer, or congressman and circumstances could arise whereby the meeting must be changed or cancelled. This appointment is different from any of these because you can not change this one. You must and will be there! You may be thinking at this point, “this is a free country, and no one can force me to such an agreement or meeting without my full consent!” But again I say, your appointment is still pending, and you will be there, right on time! You see my friend, I am speaking of the last appointment you will ever have. Hebrews 9:27 reads, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” You will notice it is God who has made this appointment and He will enforce the attendance on that day. The last part of Romans 14:10, reads “…for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.” Verse 12 goes on to say, “… every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Yes friend, this appointment is fixed and settled; you and I will both be there! The outcome of this appointment for us will be a never ending eternity in either blissful heaven or tormenting hell! Realizing what lies ahead for us, should not we be making some serious preparation for this time of accounting? God wants every one to repent, be saved, quit sinning and live pure, so that on accounting day, they will be spiritually alive and ready for Heaven. It says in II Peter 3:9, “The Lord… is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Repenting with godly sorrow and forsaking all sinful conduct is the only way to be forgiven, saved and born again, (made spiritually alive). The reason we all need to be born again or made spiritually alive is because God’s Word says that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23) and the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). This death is not a physical death, or folks would fall dead when they sin, and there would be no one left alive, for as we just read, “all have sinned.” This death is a spiritual condition caused by sin, and sin separates us (our soul) from God (Isaiah 59:2). If we were to die physically in that condition means we would be eternally separated from God and heaven! Seemingly, there are many who are uninformed, misinformed, or unconcerned and spiritually asleep to the fact they are spiritually dead! For one thing, being genuinely born again is not just bowing your head and saying “I accept Christ into my heart”. True repentance is a turning away from, or a ceasing of, committing sin. “Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities” (Acts 3:26). The very reason for Christ’s death, the purpose of the atonement, was to make salvation from sin possible, (Matt. 1:21). Sin will keep us out of heaven, and salvation (deliverance from sin) and righteous living is what it takes to get to heaven. For in Hebrews 12:14, it declares, “...holiness, [righteousness] without which no man shall see the Lord.” In Luke 1:69, “Zacharias [father of John the Baptist] was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied,” that the people of God would serve Him, “In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life,” (Verse 75). The Apostle Paul says in Titus 2:12, “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” These scriptures are among those that teach that we are to live righteously in this present world all the days of our lives. Righteousness is not just a goal a Christian aims for but a necessity and a reality. The Apostle John teaches in I John 3:6-9, “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not…” and “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin…” Jesus told the woman, in John 8:11, “…go and sin no more.” Sin is not temptation or mistakes but willful disobedience. That would be doing what we know to be morally wrong or refusing to do what we know we should do. Some of His laws are written on our heart, so even the unlearned would be responsible to obey these laws, (Romans 2:12-15). To have the power to live righteously consistently one must have the second work of grace termed “sanctification” or the “Baptism with the Holy Ghost”. See article “Entire Sanctification and the Baptism with the Holy Ghost” on this site. Friend, obeying all the gospel not only prepares us for the next life, but for this life we are told, “Happy is that people whose God is the Lord…” (Psalms 144:15). Those of us that were awakened one day and responded to repentance and truly got saved can testify from personal experience that living for God is definitely a happy life.
Just one thought in closing. YOUR APPOINTMENT IS STILL PENDING!
Gospel Truth & Publications P.O. Box 142, Jackson Center, OH 45334
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