"In your righteousness, deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me, and save me! Be to me a rock and refuge, to which I may continually come; you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and fortress." ( Psalm 71:2-3 )
We hear often that we are living in the last days, and there does seem to be an air of urgency in the atmosphere that the end is quickly approaching. I'm wondering though, since no one knows when Jesus will return, he said himself included, if the weightiness we are sensing isn't so much the end of time, but the end of us. Because the Scripture tells us over and over that our life here on earth is quickly coming to an end, like a vapor, a mist, and a fading flower.
"So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." ( Psalm 90:12 )
"Be ready," we are warned in Jesus's parable of the five virgins who had no oil in their lamps when the time came to go out and meet the Bridegroom. ( Matthew 25:1-13 )
How can we be ready like the five wise virgins who were prepared with oil in their lamps?
The message of Scripture is short and direct: "Repent and believe." These words are spoken by the Old Testament prophets; they are proclaimed from the wilderness by John the Baptist. Jesus taught them to those who had ears to ear and eyes to see. Paul, Peter, John, Jude, the writers of the New Testament, all proclaim the Good News of the Gospel.
What hinders people then from salvation?
One thing: those with ears to hear and eyes to see know their need.
The Pharisees grumbled often that Jesus ate and associated with tax collectors and sinners.
( Jesus ) told them, "It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17 CSB
In the "Upon Waking" devotional day 32 it asks the question, "Do you know what the difference was between the sinners sitting at the table and the sinners pointing their fingers at the table? It's that God had come to save both but only one side knew they needed him."
Today in our church culture sadly many will not mention "buzz words" like sin, repent, resurrection, and the blood of Jesus so they can be "seeker friendly." How are we being "friendly" when we don't love others enough to tell them the truth?
Repentance shows us our need - we understand that we have not just behaved badly, but we have sinned against a holy God. People are struggling, and rightfully so, with the sin inside of themselves, seeking for help, and the Church must be "seeker friendly" in explaining that Jesus came and lived the perfect life we should have lived, but couldn't, and died the death we should of died for our sins.
Now when we come to him - and we only come when we understand that we need him and can't save ourselves with our own good works and righteousness - we are clothed in his righteousness. His righteous life is imputed to us. Praise God.
But we have to know we need him - that's the catch. If we think we are doing okay on our own, in our own righteousness, like the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus's day, then we will never come to him.
He came to save both groups - the righteous and the unrighteous. The younger and the older brother. The Pharisee and the tax collector. The virgins with oil and the virgins without.
But we must repent and believe.
We have to know we need him.
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