Disciples of Christ have nothing to fear on the Day of the Lord. This devotional reading looks at the consequences of the unregenerated world’s refusal to submit to God as Sovereign Lord.
Nuggets
- God is not going to bend over backwards to warn the unregenerated world when it will end.
- Since the unregenerated world refuses God’s gift of salvation, grace, and faith, it will see God’s wrath.
- Jesus will return to judge the world.
We’ve been winding around Boston’s sermon entitled The Unregenerate World Described. We’ve been looking at the current state of the unregenerated world.
Boston ended the sermon by looking at what will happen to the unregenerated world on the Day of the Lord. Yep, fits right into our theme this year!
Let’s take a look.
Let's Put It into Context
To read devotions in the On the Day of the Lord theme, click the button below.
Devotions in the A World without God series
The foundation of this series is Boston’s sermon The Unregenerate World Described.
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The headings, for the most part, are Boston’s words.
The Frightful End of This Visible World
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (II Pet. 3: 10 ESV)
God is not going to bend over backwards to warn the unregenerated world when it will end.
We’ve mentioned this verse before in The Noise of the Second Coming devotion. Revelation 1: 7 talked about the call, the shout, and the trumpet occurring on what we believe is the Rapture of the church.
Peter says in Second Peter 3: 10 that there will be no warning on the Day of the Lord.
Come Like a Thief
God is not going to bend over backwards to warn the unregenerated world when it will end.
Why wouldn’t worldview people be given warning regarding their approaching doom? Well, He has warned them.
God’s Word makes no bones about what will happen to those who do not ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior.
- “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt. 25: 42 ESV).
- “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Mt. 25: 46 ESV).
Mankind — all mankind — has to watch for Jesus’ return. Yes, that is going to be an exciting and distressing time.
Would we be better off knowing when the event is scheduled to occur? Probably not.
Those who aren’t going to make a profession of faith still probably wouldn’t if they knew the deadline. Those who have may be tempted to stop living in anticipation.
Thomas made an interesting observation. There are some aspects that deny that the Day of the Lord can come as a thief. He wrote,
- While we don’t know the exact time the event will happen, we know it is coming. We have been warned.
- Where a thief does not have the right to enter, God does. He is Creator and Owner of this universe. He is welcome any time.
- While we can fortify against a thief, we cannot keep God out. When He wants in, He’s coming.
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God is Ruler of all. He is in control of the Day of the Lord.
The Heavens Pass Away
We are going to talk about the heavens and earth passing away in depth in Revelation 20. What do we need to know for this discussion?
I think we want to talk now about the power of that event. The heavens and earth aren’t going to go out as a thief, like the Day of the Lord came upon people.
It is coming with a roar and a bang. God’s power is going to be on display for all to see.
The roar is going to bring terror to everyone who hears it. The noise combined with the unexpectedness of it is going to really petrify people.
What? God shouldn’t be so forceful in destroying this heavens and earth?
First off, it is God’s to do with as He wants. He is its Creator.
Earth and the Works Exposed
What God is going to be doing is exposing all the sin in this corrupt earth. We’ve said time and time again that God hates sin. We’ve said He is biding His time to judge us for our sins.
Make no mistake. Judgment of sins are coming.
We may hope that this life is immortal. It isn’t.
Yes, our souls are immortal, but nothing sinful from this world will remain. Those who haven’t ABCDed will spend eternity in the torment of hell.
If you don’t want the heavens and earth to pass away, then you don’t want sin exposed. Then, you aren’t looking forward to the Day of the Lord.
Then, are you really a Christian?
We have to get our relationship right with God now. That is the only way we are going to miss the fire.
What we know for sure is that Christ’s kingdom will be evident. He will be seen in all His glory, and all the saints will be right there with Him.
The Unregenerated World Now Lies under Wrath
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2: 8 ESV)
Since the unregenerated world refuses God’s gifts of salvation, grace, and faith, it will see God’s wrath.
Oh, wow! I didn’t expect to see this verse here.
When we read, Ephesians 2: 8, it is because it is salvation in a nutshell. Grace (the source) and faith (the means) – therefore salvation (the product) – are gifts from God.
This devotion is about an unregenerated world. The people we are talking about here rejected grace, faith, and salvation.
The whole hat trick is God’s gift to us — if we accept it.
God designed the Plan of Salvation so that our relationships with Him could be restored. If we choose not to ABCD, we will feel God’s wrath on the Day of the Lord.
Salvation isn’t just about what we are being save for. It is about what we are being saved from.
We are being saved from the Day of the Lord. Bridge explained from what we will be saved. He wrote, “You shall be delivered from all sorrow, both inward and outward …”
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We gain from salvation. We are no longer dead in sin and in love with sin.
We become children of God. This makes us His heirs.
- “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (Jas. 2: 5 ESV).
- “And if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8: 17 ESV).
- “And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Ac. 20: 32 ESV).
- “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world’” (Mt. 25: 34 ESV).
- “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Mt. 5: 5 ESV). “To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (I Pet. 1: 4 ESV).
- “So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Ti. 3: 7 ESV).
We escape God’s wrath when we accept His gifts of grace, faith, and salvation.
Those under Wrath Will Perish
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne” (Mt. 25: 31 ESV)
Jesus will return to judge the world.
There are several reasons why Jesus is the perfect Person to judge mankind for our sins.
- Jesus was tempted to sin but did not give into the temptation.
- No one is righteous unless we are given His righteousness.
- Jesus possesses the wisdom to accomplish the job.
- He has the power and authority needed to carry out the sentencing.
Dixon reminds us that the judging will occur while Jesus is sitting on the throne as King of Zion. He has authority over us as our King.
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We can’t think that we, as disciples, are going to miss being judged. We think this because Revelation 20 talks about the dead being judged.
“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” (Rev. 20: 12 ESV).
We think we aren’t dead so we won’t be judged. Wrong.
- “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (II Cor. 5: 10 ESV).
- “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Mt 12: 35 ESV).
- “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” (Rom. 14: 12 ESV).
- Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done” (Rev. 22: 12 ESV).
All mankind from all ages are going to be judged. All nations — meaning all ethnicities — will be there. Rich, poor, young, and old — those labels won’t matter.
Our judgment will be based on our character. Do we have the character of God?
Yes, we are sheep. No, we are goats.
Making the Connections
Boston wrapped up his sermon by giving us some overarching bullet points on the unregenerated world. He saw us applying his sermon (our series) this way.
- Determine if we are worldview people or Godview people.
- Separate ourselves from the world.
- Understand it will get bad in the end, so don’t be surprised.
- Watch so we are not sucked into the worldview.
- Set our eyes in our lives in Heaven and long for that day to come.
- Repent and submit our lives to our Savior if we haven’t.
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As we go through the rest of Revelation, we will see why it is imperative that we do these things.
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t be lazy and indifferent regarding Jesus’ return.
- Look forward to His return.
- Repent of our sins.
- Walk in the Spirit, imitating Jesus.
- Meditate on what His return will bring.
- Rejoice that Jesus will be our Judge.
- Show our love for Jesus by being merciful to others.
Resources
Father God. You have given this world ample warning that You will not tolerate sin forever. Soon, this world will end. Lord, we want to spend eternity with You. We don’t want to spend eternity with those from the unregenerated world in hell. Make us bold so that we can tell others of their need to repent. Amen.
What do you think?
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