August 11 - Escaping Sentence

Matthew 23:29-36

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? (Matthew 23:33 ESV)

When a criminal is found guilty they are sentenced for their crime. The sentence comes as a punitive price to pay for the wrong done. It follows judgement.

One day each of us will face judgement. And while that may seem terrifying, it doesn't have to. Judgement comes when we stand before Jesus and he declares our eternal destination. Those who follow Jesus have nothing to fear from judgement—they need only anticipate the joy of eternity with Christ. However, anyone not found to be a faithful follower of Jesus will have much to regret at the judgement. For those people judgment will be immediately followed by sentencing. There is only one sentence for those not in Christ, hell.

Hell is a literal place. A lot of people assume they know all about it. I won't be quick to declare any detailed knowledge of it other than what I am sure the Bible s consistent about. Hell is miserable. Hell is final. Hell is real.

The religious scribes and Pharisees were in a lot of trouble from Jesus. He forewarned them concerning their impending unfavorable judgment. He told them what would happen. He called them serpents and vipers, directly tying them to Satan by using Old Testament language. How would they escape the sentence to come as a result of their evil acts?

Our answer is the same one that faced the scribes and Pharisees. How will we escape the reality of hell that we deserve? It is only by Jesus. His life. His blood. His sacrifice. He is the way to escape our eternal death sentence. What's more is that life with him is so much more than merely escaping punishment, it is life, it is full abundant life.

August 5 - Wrong

Matthew 22:23-33

But Jesus answered them, "You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God." (Matthew 22:29 ESV)

"You are wrong," is not a phrase that I have heard many times in my life. I was that kid in school that usually seemed to know the answers. Today, I still get looked to for answers. And a lot of the time I either know the answer, or know how to go about finding it. But the reason why that is important is because all of the answers that matter are the ones that come from my knowledge of God.

Jesus hit that nail on the head repeatedly. To the point that the religious leaders did not know how to deal with him. He was always right. He always had the answer. And when they concocted their crazy tests to trip him up he turned it around on them as a way to point out their shortcomings.

Intellectually I am right a lot of the time. Spiritually I am definitely a work-in-progress. I am hoping that one day my family and friends will be able to look back over the course of my life and say that I was right. Not about intellectual facts or acquired knowledge, but about the things in life that truly matter.

I don't always succeed, but my hope as my feet hit the floor every morning is that I will grow in my knowledge of the Scriptures, I would serve God diligently, and love people genuinely. Because a person can life their whole life and seldom be wrong only to stand before Christ one day and find out that without him they were always wrong.

August 4 - God of Life

Luke 20:27-40

Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. (Luke 20:38 ESV)

The Sadducees were a group of religious leaders that did not believe in the after life. One day in a bid to discount and humiliate Christ they put him to question. Like their contemporaries, the Pharisees, they concocted a strange rhetorical situation as an attempt to determine Jesus' traditional affiliation and political leaning. Par for the course he proved that the people did not have their mind or hearts set on the things of God.

Those who belief on Jesus for their salvation are brought into a new life. They have rejected death. They have left behind sin. Not because they are perfect but because Jesus has taken sin from them based on their faith in his sacrificial power and blameless life.

God created men for life, love, and relationship with Him. To be in union with Him is to enjoy eternal life. God is the God of life. That all sounds perfectly strange and seemingly beyond comprehension, but in a way that is what makes the majesty of it that much more wonderful.