30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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LUKE 19 11-27 TO EVERYONE WHO HAS, WILL BE GIVEN 28 Be zealous and repent
📖 Luke 19:11-27
06Jan2021 - *Be zealous and repent* - _Luke 19:11-27_ - TO EVERYONE WHO HAS, WILL BE GIVEN 28 – Bible reading: _Revelation 3:15-19_
_Luke 19:26 'For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him._
Let us now watch the judgment, handed down to the unprofitable servant. _Matthew 25:30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'_
This is the punishment that the Lord does not want anyone to receive. It is a place prepared for the devil and his angels but that is where the unprofitable servant will be sent. _Matthew 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire._
John the Baptist spoke these words to the religious leaders, who came to him for baptism. He saw through their hypocrisy and told them to bear fruits of repentance.
The church must repent that we have not are not seeing the big picture of what God is doing in terms of eternity but we have a narrow outlook to life, living for our own wellbeing. We see God who has done all that was necessary for us to be restored to Him but we refuse to see Him as one who is preparing us for His eternal kingdom.
_Matthew 3:8-10 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, (9) and do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. (10) And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire._
These words in _Hebrews_ are startling and we must give heed to this warning for us, the church.
_Hebrews 6:4-8 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, (5) and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, (6) if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame._
_(7) For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; (8) but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned._
Friends, these are passages of scripture that we prefer to blank out from before us but we cannot do so. These words from scripture are jumping out at us and screaming at us to grasp and respond.
The earth drinks in the rain and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated. If only thorns and briers grow then it is rejected. We understand this analogy very well but when it comes to our relationship with God, we somehow think that our unfruitfulness and unusefulness for the purposes of the Master will be overlooked.
God gives us grace to bear results, bear fruit. We bear results for the King by His enabling grace.
_Revelation 3:15-19 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. (16) So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. (17) Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—_
_(18) I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. (19) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent._
The church must be zealous and repent.
Why is the Lord delaying His return? _II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance._
This is the opportunity that the Lord is giving for the unprofitable servants to repent and be profitable for His kingdom in this small window of opportunity that is left for us.
What will be our response?
*Thought to ponder*
```The Lord longs for us to be with Him as His co-rulers in His eternal kingdom.```