Matthew 13 verse 41 says,
41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
The redeemed will be saved and will spend eternity rejoicing in their salvation and deliverance.
So, whatever we are, whatever our situation, we have a glorious future if we believe in the Lord Jesus whom nothing can separate us from if we put our trust in Him.
7 The works of His hands are verity and justice;
All His precepts are sure.
8 They stand fast forever and ever,
And are done in truth and uprightness.
9 He has sent redemption to His people;
He has commanded His covenant forever:
Holy and awesome is His name.10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
Psalm 111.7-10
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.
His praise endures forever.
Those non-redeemed will spend eternity regretting their failure to make the choice to follow God and Jesus Christ when they had the chance to do so.
That is why it’s important to respond now to the message of the Gospel. Now is the day of Salvation. Don’t put it off. You don’t know the day or he hour of your death, you don’t know the day of the Second Coming of Christ, so be ready at all times to meet with the Lord.
For He says:
“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2
God is most interested in hearing our prayers. We can continue to bring our petitions to the Lord knowing that He HAS the answer and IS the answer. He wants us to continue in prayer.
I was thinking also that God is most interested to hear our prayers for our spiritual growth. The verse in Psalm 51 says,
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
Psalm 51:10
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Sometimes, during the prayer meetings we’re always praying for our needs, for our jobs, for our money, for our health, etc. But, how often do we pray ‘Create in me a clean hearted God. Renew a right Spirit within me’?
We can be sure that if we pray that prayer, God will always answer it because God is interested in us, He wants to sanctify us, He wants to change us from the person we were to the person He wants us to be.
We can pray to resist the devil and to draw near to God, to forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and pray to help us live an honest life in the midst of a corrupt generation, and to lead us not into temptation. To have a closer walk with God, to sanctify us by the Holy Spirit.
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1.26-31
God wants to hear those prayers from us because He knows that those are the prayers which we actually need to change us from the person we were before we became a believer in Jesus into the person He wants us to be.
So, pray ‘Create in me a clean heart oh God! Renew a right Spirit within me!‘ That is the prayer God is always interested to hear.
And, if we do go through trials and go through difficulties (God doesn’t guarantee that we will not have trials and difficulties in this life) – you can see that the Apostles of Jesus faced tremendous trials and difficulties, that the early church faced tremendous trials and difficulties, and that churches around the world today also face tremendous trials and difficulties – if we do go through trials and difficulties, we are going to be kept by the power of God.
Reading 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 5,
5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
1 Peter 1.5-7
The trial of your faith is precious and, through the trial of your faith, you can often come to a much deeper understanding of who God is and of His love for you and His power.
This passage also refers to the last time of Jesus Christ’s appearing which is relevant to the verse we started off with:
6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18.6-8
What do you find? True faith? Redeeming faith? Do you find it in you? Do you find it in me?
The point of the parable of the persistent widow is to encourage us to continue no matter what our circumstances, and to know that there will be a persistent attack on our faith which needs persistent prayer and fellowship with the Lord, so that we can answer the question: ‘Will He find faith on the earth?‘ in the affirmative and say ‘Yes, He will, He’ll find it in me!; He’ll find it in my brothers and sisters who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ‘.
Those who have saving faith can answer Jesus’ question, ‘Yes, I have faith, I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ‘.
I am minded of the last words in Joshua, when he appears before the people and he gives them a challenge. He says to them,
15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15
Is that your affirmation?
As for me in my house we will serve the Lord. Praise God!
Continue in the faith, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and know that He is with us always, even to the end of the age. Even if we suffer in this life, we have a glorious future to look forward to in which we will be fully vindicated by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, will the Lord find true faith at His Second Coming? Yes, He will!
And He will find it in you and in me, and in countless believers around the world no matter what their situation will be, trusting in Jesus, and looking for His return, amen.
Lord, we thank you for your Word. We pray Lord that you help us to be faithful to you, that you help us to overcome. And we pray Lord that you would indeed create in us a clean heart and renew your right Spirit within us and that, as we look to you and we look to your return, we may be ready, and we may be watching and waiting for Jesus to come.
But also Lord, that we may be redeeming the time that remains to share the Good News and to bring others to faith in Jesus Christ. We ask this in Jesus’ name, amen.