Quick Note – Mark 10:35-39 – Not Santa Clause

Mark 10:35-39 – 35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

I know that we haven’t reached Halloween yet, and we certainly haven’t passed Thanksgiving, but the Christmas season is upon us.  It is almost here and that is quite exciting.  During Christmas, many people buy presents for friends and spend time with family they haven’t seen in a while.  They create lists of things that they want and hope and pray that it will be found under the Christmas tree that year. 

When I was a child, I loved this season.  It was a time when there was no school, no homework, and no worries.  It was a time when I had an opportunity to ask for whatever I wanted and to hope that it might be one of the presents I got that year.  It was a time when I thought that whatever I asked for, Santa would bring me if I was good.  Obviously, that didn’t always happen.  But those memories are still some of the best. 

We as Christians seem to treat God like Santa Clause.  We think of Him as this magical genie that will grant every wish we desire.  We pray as if He is obligated to fulfill our request, and if it doesn’t happen, then God is unfaithful and unloving.  But this is the wrong way to view things, for God cannot be forced to do anything.  He is not obligated to do whatever we ask.  He is God, and we are His servants.  We are simply requesting it from Him.  It should not be a demand. 

In our passage today, James and John, the disciples of Jesus, wanted Him to “do for us whatever we ask of you.”  Basically, they were asking for a blank check from Him.  They wanted Him to give them whatever they wanted.  When Christ asked them what they desired, they responded by saying, “Let us have the most honorable positions on your left and right hand when you rule in the future.”  To this request, Jesus said, “…To sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but its is for those for whom it has been prepared.”  It was not that Jesus couldn’t do it, but He would only do what was God’s will, what God had prepared in His plan.  James and John could not force Him to do whatever they asked. 

We should never think that God must do whatever we ask of Him.  Again, He has no obligation to fulfill our requests and no requirement to do it.  If He does, He is showing His love and grace.  But if He doesn’t, He is doing what is best for us and fulfilling His will.  Let us never think that God must do whatever we ask of Him.  He is not Santa Clause.  He is not the Genie in the lamp.  He is our God.  Let us love and respect Him as so. 

Quick Note – Isaiah 9:6 – Our God in the Messiah

Isaiah 9:6 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Being that December is just a week and a half a way, Christmas music is beginning to play everywhere.  You can hear it on the radio, in the grocery store, and for some of you, even at your workplace.  Some people may get annoyed with listening to this much Christmas music, but at least for the first three weeks or so, I usually enjoy the songs (outside of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You and Toto’s Africa and Bruce Springsteen’s Santa Clause Is Coming to Town).  One piece of music that you don’t hear often on the radio but is associated with Christmas time though is Handel’s Messiah.  This famous oratorio is often performed by choirs and orchestras during this season.  You may say that you have never heard of this composition, but once I name a few of the songs and you listen to them, I am certain that you will have heard some of them before.  Famous pieces that came from the Messiah include the Hallelujah chorus, For unto Us a Child Is Born, and All We like Sheep Have Gone Astray.  Interestingly, many of the lyrics to the songs from the Messiah were pulled directly from the Bible, specifically the book of Isaiah.  For example, the song For unto Us a Child Is Born comes directly from our passage today in Isaiah 9:6, which prophesied the coming of the Messiah, which would rule the nations as a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.  Today, we will take a short look at each one of these descriptions/names of our Lord Jesus Christ and how they so aptly describe our God.  (Because Jesus Christ the Son, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit are all three persons in one God.  All attributes of one apply to the other, because they are all one God.  This is the concept of the Trinity.  Although I cannot explain how this works, this is fact and is how we will talk about them in our passage today.  God is in reference to all three Persons, because they are all one God.)

Wonderful Counselor – Our God is the Wonderful Counselor.  In the King James Version (KJV) version of the Bible, this word is separated from the word Counselor with a comma, indicating that these are two different names.  But based on the structure of the other names in this passage as well as other translations of the Bible, it seems like the word wonderful here is more like an adjective for Christ’s position as the Counselor.  Our God is the Wonderful Counselor to all who seek Him.  He promises to guide and lead us like a Shepherd (John 10:14), to light our way with His Word (Psalm 119:105), and to provide us wisdom if we seek it (James 1:5).  What more the counsel He gives us is not of this world, but is extraordinary, which is what the word wonderful means.  Our God provides us guidance and counsel beyond anything this world has to offer.  Although His ways are not our ways and His thoughts not our thoughts, because He is a wise Counselor, we can trust Him to constantly lead us in the way that is best for us.  Let us trust the counsel, guidance, teaching, and commandments of the Lord. 

Mighty God – Our God is the Mighty God.  Unlike the idols of the ancient world, which cannot hear, see, or respond to our prayers, our God is all-powerful – omnipotent.  He is mighty, and no person or thing can compare to Him.  He created the world with just a few words.  He parted the Red Sea and made the Israelites walk on dry land as if it only took a breath from His mouth.  He controlled the weather, making the sun to stand still and hail to rain down from the sky as Joshua fought the Canaanites.  He commanded a giant fish to rescue Jonah from the depths of the sea and also ravens to feed His prophet Elijah during a famine.  He calmed the storm in the Sea of Galilee with a simple command, caused the blind to see, made the lame to walk again, and even raised the dead.  Our Lord and God Jesus Christ is an almighty God that has no comparison.  He is the only God, for there is no other God but Him.  When we might feel afraid due to the troubles and difficulties that may come into our lives, we can trust that our God is powerful enough to handle those situations. 

Everlasting Father – Our God is the Everlasting Father.  Everlasting means that there is no end; it continues and goes on and on and on, longer and farther than the Energizer bunny.  From the beginning of time to the end of the universe, our God has always been there.  He is everlasting.  This is a hard concept for a human mind to grasp, because we think in terms of years and centuries, but God is outside of time, for He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.  And in all of that time, He has been a Father to His children – to us.  A good father is one that loves and takes care of his children.  He watches over their well-being, makes sure the best is always provided for them, and protects them from things that can bring harm.  A good father will also discipline his child when he or she does wrong but at the same time show mercy and grace, looking to restore rather than to condemn.  Our God is that type of Father to us.  He has been a kind and loving Father since He created man in the beginning and will continue to be that gracious and merciful Father when this world has been destroyed.  We know that He is that loving Father, because He gave us His Son.  When we feel lost and alone, fearful and worried, we can trust that our God is a good Father that is waiting to pick us up and hold us in His mighty arms. 

The Prince of Peace – Our God is the Prince of Peace.  When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they introduced sin into the world.  From that point forward, every man and woman born would be separated from God, due to our sinful nature.  This sin created a division and brokenness in our relationship with God.  Because of this separation, we were left without peace, for we always had to fear death, to fear the upcoming judgment, and to fear God, whose righteous wrath would one day come upon us.  There was no peace in our hearts only fear.  But when Jesus Christ came to this earth and died on the cross for our sins, He wiped that slate clean.  Our sins were taken away and covered by His blood, so that those who receive Him as Lord and Savior would be considered righteous before God.  From that point forward, we could have peace with God.  This is why Jesus Christ is called the Prince of Peace, for He is the one and only person who can ultimately bring peace into our lives.  All the brokenness, the enmity, the discord brought by our sin was eliminated by His sacrifice.  He brought peace between God and man.  Additionally, He brought about peace between all mankind, for those who received Him no matter whether Jew or Greek, male or female, rich or poor would be joined into one family in the body of Christ.  Jesus Christ is our Prince of Peace.  When we feel guilt or fear, we can rest on the peace of Christ’s promise that we are now right with Him. 

This beautiful verse is a reminder of how we have such a great God.  He is the Wonderful Counselor, guiding our lives.  He is the Mighty God, working miracles in our lives each day.  He is the Everlasting Father, showing His love to us when He gave us His Son.  He is the Prince of Peace, restoring our relationship with Him.  No matter what trials or difficulties you face today, remember who our God is and find comfort in Him. 

Quick Note – 2 Timothy 4:1-2

2 Timothy 4:1-2 – “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and his kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

One of the most opportune times for Christians to share the Gospel is the Christmas season, for people’s minds are receptive to the Gospel as they hear songs about the birth of Christ, love, and gift-giving.  The problem for many of us Christians though is that we are not ready to share that Gospel.  We have not been prepared to preach and share the Word, for we assume that the job belongs to pastors and ministry leaders alone.  That is completely wrong, for the job of sharing the Gospel was not only given to the leaders of the church but to every follower of Christ.  Our passage today had Paul reminding Timothy to preach the Word of God and be ready in season (the times you think you need to be ready) and out of season (the times you least expect) to share the Word of God through reproof (correction), rebuke (correction with punishment), or exhortation (encouragement towards doing what is right).  This has a double meaning, for many pastors have used these verses to remind Christians to be ready to share the Gospel, but it actually is also a direction for Christians to be ready to share the Word of God with even fellows brothers and sisters in Christ, for it focuses on preaching the Word with patience (longsuffering) and teaching and rebuke and exhortation, all things you do with fellow believers who may be straying from the Word of God.  Although Paul was addressing Timothy, a church leader, this letter is left for us as all Christians to hear and apply to our lives, not just the leaders.  Let us be ready in season and out of season to share the Gospel and the rest of the Word of God with all around us doing so with patience (“not easily provoked”) and teaching.  This charge was given to Timothy but has been passed down to us.  Be ready to share God’s Word with anyone no matter where you are or what time it is, for you know not when God will choose to use you.  Take some time this Christmas season to be alert of the potential people God may want you to share the Word with.

Bethlehem – A Little Town but an Important One

Micah 5:2 – “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”
Matthew 1:23 – “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”

Christmas is definitely one of my favorite times of the year. When I was a child, I looked forward to getting things that I had wanted months in advance as presents under the tree. When I was a teenager, I looked forward to the days I would have off from school, not worrying about homework or finals or any of those things. When I got into college, I looked forward to just being able to take a load off of the burden of the college quarter system (10 week classes, whose scheduled looked like this: 3rd week – 1st midterm, 7th week – 2nd midterm, 10th week – Papers due, 11th week – finals). But now that I am working, I just look forward to have a few days off from work to spend some quality time with family. But in addition, to just these things, I have always looked forward to the Christmas music that is playing on the radio and the Christmas movies on TV. These last two months, I have been loading up on more Christmas movies than I can count. I watched part of It’s a Wonderful Life, the Frank Capra classic where a down on his luck fella learns about the value of his life and family during Christmas time. I watched maybe 5-10 Hallmark movies which have ranged from Christmas romances to Christmas family movies. I have also seen a few Lifetime Christmas movies about Christmas dances or Christmas parties. In many of these movies, a busy high-profile professional gets stuck in some little town, where he/she relearns the “meaning of Christmas” or brings Christmas spirit back to the town. It is the typical story that uplifts the heart, where the town and the professional both thank each other for helping the other relearn the meaning of Christmas. Interestingly enough, that plot line is very similar to what actually happened on that first Christmas eve (although not necessarily in December), when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Holy of Holies, the Prince of Peace, was born in the little town of Bethlehem. But instead of the town transforming the individual, the individual transformed the town, as well as, the whole earth.

Bethlehem was a small town located just five miles south of Jerusalem.1 It was a town in which very few people originally resided, to the point, where it was not even counted among the possessions of Judah, when Joshua was dividing out the land.2 This town definitely deserved the description given to it in Micah 5:2 – “who are too little to be among the clans of Judah.” The town was insignificant though its name would have argued otherwise – “house of bread.” Fortunately, it had at least a few things associated with its name, like the birthplace of King David, the home of Ruth and Naomi, and the burial place of Rachel, the wife whom Jacob loved.1 But even in towns with big names associated with it, eventually the town becomes of no consequence unless something in it causes history to change dramatically. For example, who can name the town where Abraham Lincoln was born? I can’t. Do you know the island of Guernsey and which famous author lived there? Bet you didn’t know that Victor Hugo, the author of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame lived there. What about Key West, Florida? Did you know that Ernest Hemmingway lived there? No matter who was born or lived in a town, the town is still of no consequence lest something dramatic happens in it, which is what happened on that Christmas eve. Bethlehem went from a town so lowly to a town that will never be forgotten.

What happened in Bethlehem that night that caused it to be immortalized in song, movies, and books can be found in the end of Micah 5:2, “from you shall come, forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days,” as well as, in our second passage, Matthew 1:23 – “‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).” Bethlehem became the city in which Jesus Christ the Savior of the world would be born. Bethlehem became the location where the Ruler of all nature, the Lord of all Creation, would first take His breath on this earth. Bethlehem became the location where the name Immanuel became a reality – where God would physically dwell with us. But Bethlehem is not renowned for the miraculous Virgin birth or the angelic choirs that announced it, but for the person who was born – Jesus Christ. It was the presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in that town that evening that has caused all of us to remember this town as one of the most important locations on earth throughout history. Jesus Christ transformed something lowly into something incredible. This is the story of Christmas; this is the purpose of His coming; this is what we all celebrated.

Christ’s presence will radically transform anything into something new just as He did that night in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ’s being carried by Mary turned a young virgin who would never have been noticed by anyone into a girl who ranks as one of the most influential women in history. Jesus Christ’s death on Calvary turned a dark horrid place of bloodshed into a place where eternal life would be bought and the penalty of death would be paid in full. Jesus Christ’s resurrection at the garden tomb would transform tears of sorrow accompanied with the death of a loved one to shouts of joy and anticipation of the resurrection. Christ’s transforming presence has also changed my half-hearted religious business contract with God into a personal, loving friendship with Him. God took a heart full of doubt and fear and made it a heart that will firmly place its faith on the Rock of Ages. God with us, Immanuel, is the great gift that was given to each of us that night in Bethlehem that not only transformed Bethlehem but continues to transform lives of people today.

We can learn three things from what happened in Bethlehem that night. First, we can learn of God’s steadfast, unbounding, uncomprehendable love for us. Jesus Christ gave up His glory in heaven to be born not as a king in a palace in Jerusalem but in a humble stable cave in a town whose name was not even put in the record of possessions. He loved us so much that He willingly went to the cross to die for our sins, while we were still His enemies, sinners rejecting His love for us. Second, we can learn that Christ is willing to come into and transform any life no matter how lowly. No matter how sinful you are, no matter how little or inconsequential or unimportant you feel – Christ came and died for you. John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world…” not just a few people in it, but the whole world including you. If you were the only person that needed saving, He still would have came for you. He loves you that much. Christ came to save the most righteous as well as the chiefest of sinners and He certainly came for you. Lastly, we can learn that Christ’s in one’s life should transform it completely. Though you may be lowly, Christ’s presence in your life once you accept Him as Lord and Savior should transform you into a person of significance in His eyes. But even more, Christ’s presence should turn your life of sin and degradation into a life of joy and obedience. I can attest that this does not happen quickly or easily and takes a deliberate choice of will, but it is worth it. Just four to five days ago, I made the decision to take the business contract of “I’m saved so I need to do this for God” into a willing obedience to Him, and I will tell you that that has turned everything around. It has given me a renewed joy, a renewed faith, and a renewed peace. The Bible says that if we are in Christ, we are a new creation, old things have passed behold all things are new – in other words, we are transformed. So we need to live that way.

As Bethlehem was transformed that night by the greatest gift the world has ever seen – God’s presence in it. Let Christ change your life today and let the name Immanuel – God with us – be true with you by allowing Him to live and reign in your heart daily, living your life for Him. May those outside see Christ living through us so much that they testify that God is with us.

Merry Christmas!
1. Youngblood, Ronald F. Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995.
2. Barnes’ Notes on the Bible. http://bible.cc/micah/5-2.htm.

What Will You be Resurrected To?

Daniel 12:1-3 – “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people.  And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time.  But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.  And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” 

In 2009, a movie called 2012 starring John Cusak was released depicting a world that was falling apart due to environmental disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis caused by shifting magnetic fields in the earth’s core.  This movie made quite a bit at the box office feeding off of our desire to watch disaster films with their realistic effects without having to worry about it ever touching us.  The inspiration of this movie likely came from the theory that the world is supposed to end on December 21, 2012, because the Mayan calendar all of a sudden stops on that date.  Some people believe that the Mayans were trying to prophesy the end of the world.  Do I personally believe in this conspiracy theory?  Nope, because I know that nobody knows the day of Christ’s return, so how could they possibly ever make a prediction like that?  But could they be right?  Maybe.  We’ll just have to wait till the 21^st to see won’t we?  Even if the world doesn’t end on that date, many people have been making these types of predictions for centuries.  For example, in the 1800s, a Baptist preacher by the name of William Miller predicted that Christ would return before 1843, creating a national movement that resulted in what is known as the Great Disappointment.  Even just a year ago, a pastor at a church here in California made that prediction causing many of the members in his congregation to go into financial difficulty; in the end, he had to come out and apologize, remembering that Christ said that no one knows the date of His return.  The truth is that when Christ returns and the world will end is irrelevant.  What really matters is whether you are ready for Christ’s return.

In Matthew 24, Jesus describes what the world will look like before He returns – “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.  See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.”  Many Christians today say that this describes the day and age we live in today meaning that we are nearing His return every day.  I definitely would agree, but I would be careful to remind them that this has been what the world has looked like from Jesus’ time until now.  Christ gave His disciples this description to remind them that they needed to be ready at any time for His return, because He could come at any time.

Our passage today comes from Daniel 12:1-3, which follows up Daniel’s prophecies about the end times in the preceding chapters.  In these verses, we are reminded that in the end, there will be a time of judgment in which all people will appear before the throne of God to be judged, both the living and the dead – “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”  Nobody escapes.  Revelation 20:11-15 describes it in more detail – “¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Everyone will eventually die until the time of Christ’s return, so the question that is presented to you today is “Which group from Daniel 12 will you appear in before the judgment seat of God – the group that is awoken to everlasting life or the group that is awoken to shame and everlasting contempt?”  Is your name found in the book of life or are you going to be thrown into the lake of fire?”

The first group that Daniel presents is the one that is woken up to everlasting life.  This group represents all the people that have placed their trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior.  These are the people who are experiencing the joys of Christ on this earth already and will be experiencing endless joys when Christ returns with His new heaven and earth, where there will be no more tears, pain, or sorrow.  They will be able to walk the streets of gold, pass through the pearly gates, taste the fruits from the tree of life, and refresh themselves with the river of the water of life (Rev 21-22).  These are the people, whose names are found in the book of life, who will spend eternity worshipping the Lord their God.  For those who have experienced this new life, I need not go into detail any further about the joys already being found here and awaiting them in the future, so instead our focus should be placed on the subgroups in this category:  those who are wise, those who turn many to righteousness, and those who are rescued but do nothing.

Although all people who have placed their faith in Christ will be part of this group that receives everlasting life, Daniel goes further in vs. 3 to describe the glory and honor given to those in this group who go further to become wiser and turn others to righteousness – “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”  The first subgroup is those who are wise.  Wisdom is not only knowing what is good and right but also applying that knowledge practically.  Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so those who desire to be wise must begin at that point.  Are you as Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ living in a way and manner that fears the Lord, that respects Him?  Are you living in a manner where you are keeping His commandments and following His way?  Just skim through the book of Proverbs, a book filled with wisdom written by the man who is the wisest person that ever lived, and you will find countless of things to put on your New Year’s checklist to apply to your life to become wise.  I truly recommend that if you want to be a part of this group that will “shine like the brightness of the sky above” you should invest some time in God’s Word, seeking His will, and doing it, for it is through obedience that knowledge that you gained from reading becomes wisdom.  The second subgroup that is spoken of is those who turn others to righteousness.  This is a grand and huge calling that we are once again reminded of in Matthew 28:19-20 – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…”  This group that turns others to righteousness does not just represent those people who are passively trying to enforce good and evil on the world through knowledge of the Bible, but it represents a group of people that are persistently going out and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for no one can be found as righteous before God.  Psalm 143:2 states that “no one living is righteous before you [God].”  That means that nobody on this earth no matter how good they are can be considered righteous before God, for all have sinned.  The only way that anybody can be found righteous before Him is to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ, which only comes when one receives Christ as his Lord and Savior.  We as Christians who desire to become part of this subgroup that will be like “the stars forever and ever,” like the stories forever remembered in the constellations that we see above, must go out and share the Gospel.  We must drive people to not only live righteously but become righteous by bringing them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  We need to bring them to the cross where Christ died for our sins.  We need to bring them to the empty tomb, where Christ rose again, proving that we all will have this new resurrection and that we all already have this new life in Christ, one where we are found righteous before God.  Then, we must disciple them to become part of this subgroup as well.  The third and last subgroup is one that is not spoken of by Daniel, which I call the silent majority, which is where I feel a lot of Christians are today.  We are a passive group that have been saved by Christ but are not living it out in our lives.  We preach and teach that Jesus Christ transforms lives, yet we continue to live in our sin.  We are saved from the depths of hell and the lake of fire, but we continue to live enslaved to sin.  This subgroup I feel fails to realize what Christ has truly saved them from.  They recognize that when Christ died on the cross, He died for our sins and saved us, but they forget what from.  Christ did not come to save us from hell.  He did not come to save us from our problems.  He came to save us from sin – from sin’s dominion over our lives, which means that foremost He saved us from sin’s enslavement as well as its penalty.  This subgroup needs to wake up and realize that if it continues to live this way, it is doing nothing but discouraging others from turning to Christ driving others into the next group mentioned by Daniel.

The second group mentioned by Daniel, whom I hope nobody will be in by the end of today, is those who will be raised up to shame and everlasting contempt.  This group is represented by those whose names are not found in the Lamb’s book of life; instead, when Christ returns, and they are brought before the judgment seat, they will only experience shame for they will realize that they had missed their chance, they had missed their opportunity to be saved by His blood, they had missed their chance to experience everlasting life and will be bound to everlasting contempt and mourning in the lake of fire.  I cannot describe the horrors of hell, for I know not what it is like, but I will try to give you a picture.  This lake of fire is a place in which you will hear the screams and agony of countless people worse than the sound of nails on a chalkboard.  It is a place where you will feel like you have burned your pinky on the hot oven over and over throughout your whole body.  It is a place where you will feel eternal separation and loneliness like the time when you fought with your very best friend or lost a loved one.  Here you will continue to live with the regret and guilt knowing that you gave up the free gift that was given to you to escape all of this trouble in the first place, the gift given to you this Christmas.  I wish that I will not see any of you in this group, when Christ returns.

But for those that are still in this group today, you need not be in it for long, for this is the reason we celebrate this Christmas season.  All of us were in this group before, we all deserved to be brought back on the day of judgment to shame and everlasting contempt, but due to God’s wonderful love, grace, and mercy, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins.  During this season, two thousand years ago, Christ willingly came down from His glory in heaven to be born of a virgin who could not even afford a room in the inn.  The King of kings who deserves all glory and power and honor was instead given swaddling clothes (clothes used to clean animals) as his birth clothes and a manger as His crib.  In that manger, He humbly sacrificed His glory for us.  But we must not stop there and only look at the miracle and graciousness in His birth, but we must remember that from that point forward, He worked His way to what He ultimately came to do, to die on the cross for our sins – to experience the shame and contempt we deserve to feel at the end of time.  On that cross, He willingly sacrificed His life for us.  But the story did not end on that sad note, but He went further and resurrected showing us that for those who will put their trust in Him, death no longer had power over them.  In that garden, He triumphantly brought victory and life to us.  Christ did all of that for us so that when all mankind is brought before His throne on the day of judgment, He would find us in the group that is woken up to everlasting life.  God does not want any of us to perish but for all of us to come to repentance.  2 Peter 3:9 states it best, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”  He has been waiting for you.  He holds up His return for you.  Will you not give your life to Him?

Consider which group you are in today and before this day ends, for those in the latter group, give your life to Him.  For those who were in the former group that will already be waking up to everlasting life, be determined to be found in the subgroups of the wise and those who turn others to righteousness, for how can you live any other type of life if you just consider how much Christ gave to you this Christmas season?  And how can you do anything else but give yourself fully to Christ and to others just as He did this Christmas?