2Corinthians 6:2
Urgency
I draw your attention to the phrase "now is the accepted time" and
more directly to the word "now."
The call of Christ is a call to change people. Whether we realize it
or not, things are not well with any of us.
1. We are born sinners.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered
into the world, and death by sin; and so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
2. We are born condemned.
John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not
condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name
of the only begotten Son of God.
3. Unless we are changed by trusting in the death of Jesus as
payment for our sins, we hopelessly lost.
Jesus came to pay for our sins.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us,
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us.
God wrote that message in a Book so that it could not be altered.
God gave the message to preachers so that it could not be
silenced.
God gave the message to the church sot that it would trickle down to
every crevice of society.
.
Yet there is great resistance to that work.
1. The devil wants to corrupt the message.
2. Reason and logic want to alter it.
3. Doubt wants to stiffle it.
4. Rebellion wants to stop the message.
However, the greatest resistance against the change that Jesus
can bring is complacency. Complacency means that we are content with
the way things are. Some are complacent to the place where they
simply despise change.
1. People grow complacent in their jobs, with their work, in their
marriage.
2. Children grow complacent in their school.
3. Mankind has grown complacent with the condition of their souls.
The opposite of complacent is urgency—the desire and need for
immediate change. There is an urgency to being saved, that is, there
are reasons to be saved right now, not waiting another day. The title
of the message this morning is URGENCY. Let me share with you three
reasons why you should not be complacent with your spiritual
condition this morning.
I. There is urgency because of death.
A. The Bible makes it clear that life is short.
James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on
the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a
VAPOUR, that appeareth for a little time, and
then vanisheth away.
1Peter 1:24 For all flesh is as GRASS, and all
the glory of man as the flower of grass. The
grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth
away:
Psalms 39:5 Behold, thou hast made my days as
an HANDBREADTH; and mine age is as nothing
before thee: verily every man at his best state
is altogether vanity. Selah.
Job 9:25 Now my days are swifter than a POST:
(a messenger) they flee away, they see no good.
1. What does all of that mean? It means that you are going
to die.
2. 10 out of 10 people in every generation but one will die.
3. That is 100%. Every ancestor ever born in your family
tree either has died or will die soon.
B. What is the danger is dying without Christ? Death seals you
spiritual condition for all eternity.
Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment:
C. Now, maybe you have heard some rumors that death is not
the end… that there is purgatory or someplace like
that from which you can have a second chance.
1. That is a devil’s lie. Listen to that verse again.
2. Then consider also:
Luke 16:22 …the rich man also died, and was
buried;
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes,
D. Maybe you think that you have time to trust Jesus. Maybe you
do.
1. The Bible lists a good long life as between 70 to 80 years.
Psalms 90:10 The days of our years are threescore
years and ten; and if by reason of strength they
be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour
and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly
away.
2. Have you ever known anyone who did not live to be 70 or 80
years old? car accident, heart attack, stroke, cancer,
murder? Sure you have. To risk an old age salvation is
a demonstration of your complacency.
3. Might I also point out, that for many here, the greater
portion of that time has already passed? At what point
do think you will cast off that complacency?
a. There are six great illusions of life: youth,
strength, beauty, goodness, time, and intelligence.
b. You do not have as much of any of them as you think.
4. Listen to what the Scripture says:
2 Corinthians 6:2 …behold, now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
1. God says that today is the day of salvation.
2. There is an urgency to being saved before death.
E. You say, "I am not sure that I believe in hell. After all, a
loving God would not cast us into hell."
1. I will tell you what God Himself said.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God; and the books were opened: and
another book was opened, which is the book of
life: and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books….
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
2. That is God’s warning to you!
F. Perhaps you say, "I understand and I will be saved… just
later."
1. Such thinking is flawed and fatal.
2. It assumes you will have a later, but even more, it
assumes God will call you later.
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him…
3. There is such a thing as sinning away your opportunity to
be saved.
Ps 81:11 But my people would not hearken to my
voice; and Israel would none of me.
12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’
lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
4. Friend, salvation is not for tomorrow. Death cometh.
This is urgent. Trust Christ today.
II. The Urgency before Jesus returns.
A. As surely as Jesus came the first time, Jesus has promised to
come a second time.
John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go
to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you unto myself; that
where I am, there ye may be also.
Acts 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus,
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so
come in like manner as ye have seen him go into
heaven.
B. The Bible warns us against being complacent in this truth.
1. It tells us that the unsaved will mock this truth.
2Peter 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall
come in the last days scoffers, walking after
their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?
for since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2. It tells us that even the saved will be tempted to be
complacent concerning it.
1Thess 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do
others; but let us watch and be sober.
3. Consider the resume of the one who promised He would
return.
a. He is the One who created time, matter, and space.
b. He then arranged all of those things into the created
world and with nothing but His word, He hold them
together.
c. With a resume like that, do you think you should
believe what He says concerning His return?
D. What is the danger in Jesus returning while we are unsaved?
1. The Bible teaches that after Jesus returns, God will begin
a seven year period of judgment upon this world called the
tribulation.
a. It is called THE DAY OF THE LORD.
2Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come
like a thief, and then the heavens will pass
away with a loud noise, and the elements will
be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the
works that are upon it will be burned up.
b. This is where the Book of the Revelation fits.
c. It describes some of the events of those seven years.
(1) Supernatural plagues from God.
(2) Wars and famines that kill billions.
(3) The demonic rule of the anti-Christ.
d. To be saved before death is an urgent necessity for we
know not when we will draw our last breathe, but I
personally believe that the greater necessity is to
be saved before the 2nd coming of Jesus.
e. I truly believe it could happen at any time!
f. "NOW is the accepted time."
2. Yet, it is not even the dangers and demonism of the
tribulation that scares me the most any longer. It is
the deception that God has promised would come.
2Thess 2:11 And for this cause God shall send
them strong delusion, that they should believe a
lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
a. That delusion is not coming. It is here.
b. It will intensify, but it is here.
c. Nothing bears record of what the world believes like a
political cycle. The last six cycles (since 1993)
have been eye opening.
d. What do men believe?
(1) People now think man is good and getting better.
(2) They believe God, the devil, sin, hell, and the
Bible are all myths.
(3) They believe in evolution.
III. The Urgency before sin destroys you.
A. I am preaching to you about the need to be saved today. I am
urging you to cast away your complacency and see the urgency
of salvation.
1. I have given you two reasons.
a. Because death could come at any moment.
b. Because Jesus could come at any moment.
2. The third reason I give you for this urgency is the
opposite of the other two.
3. The third reasons is because you may live, and if you live
without Jesus, sin will destroy you.
B. What do I mean?
1. All sin is destructive.
a. For every sin, there is a judgment, either now or in
the life to come or both.
b. That is true for every lie, every lust, every bad deed
or thought.
2. God’s mercy has been holding back the destroying power of
sin, but God’s mercy is vanishing away.
3. I do not have the time this morning to explain more, but
the longer your live with Jesus, the more sin will
pervert your mind and soul.
a. There are many demoniacs of Gadara today!
Mark 5:1 And they came over unto the other side
of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 And when he was come out of the ship,
immediately there met him out of the tombs a man
with an unclean spirit,
3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no
man could bind him, no, not with chains:
4 Because that he had been often bound with
fetters and chains, and the chains had been
plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken
in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
5 And always, night and day, he was in the
mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and
cutting himself with stones.
b. They just aren’t living in caves.
1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about, seeking whom he may devour:
c. Evil spirits are uniting and inhabiting the souls of
godless people.
Matt 12:43 When the unclean spirit is gone out
of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking
rest, and findeth none.
44 Then he saith, I will return into my house
from whence I came out; and when he is come, he
findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven
other spirits more wicked than himself, and they
enter in and dwell there: and the last state of
that man is worse than the first. Even so shall
it be also unto this wicked generation.
d. If Jesus does not return, if death does not come, how
wicked is this world going to get?
e. Your only hope is to trust Jesus NOW.
Matt 7:26 And every one that heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be
likened unto a foolish man, which built his house
upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house;
and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
I close with the verse with which I began.
2Cor 6:2 … behold, now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
You must trust Jesus as your Savior and you must do it NOW.
It is URGENT.
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