I heard the Lord calling out to us, “His divine warning” to all His creation through Luke 3:8, as He spoke to me in my prayer saying: “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”

It is our Sovereign and Covenant God’s desire and His glorious plan which embraces the whole world and all His creation at all times, to bless us through our Lord Jesus Christ. As born-again Christians, we are destined to have a share in His love as a blessed people in His glorious purposes and Kingdom. The question is: have we received the blessings which God had meant for us to receive? If not, we need to ask ourselves honestly, why not? We then need to search our hearts truthfully.

If we look at the wickedness and ungodliness which abound all around us; in our local communities, in our nations and in the world in which we live, then I believe it is fair to say that we are truly living by God’s grace, and only God’s grace alone! Are we a contributor to this worldly ungodliness and wickedness? Are we part of the problem, or part of the solution? Can we honestly see how much our Father in-heaven loves us, although we do not deserve it?

Unrepentant idol-worshippers, obstinate unbelievers and disobedient believers are not only dishonouring our righteous and Holy God, but are also destroying themselves. Second Peter 3:9-10 says:

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 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.”

Our citizenship in His heavenly kingdom is not seasonal, but eternal. As His children, we are called to bear witness to the glory of our eternal God. Our walk with the Lord should not be seasonal or only when trials come upon us, but we should be obediently and continuously faithful throughout our lifetime, unto eternity! If we have sincerely and truly repented; if we have turned to the Lord in all our ways in faith and obedience, then we should manifest transformed lives. True repentance produces fruits which are evident even to those non-believers who observe us, as we become our own living testimonies to the works of the Father within us. Are we bearing fruit as the witnesses of His grace, mercy and glory in our lives?

In Matthew 10:32-34, our Lord Jesus Christ says:

“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Paul says in Romans 2:5 that unrepentant sinners are treasuring up, are storing up, judgement for themselves, as if they are building up a fortune of gold and silver. What will happen to the unrepentant sinners when God’s wrath is finally revealed? One thing is for sure, we can count on our righteous God; we can be sure that He will act and when he acts, He will be without prejudice or injustice of any kind. As Romans 2:5-13 says:

“But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgement will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honour and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.”

We should not think that as spiritual descendents of Abraham, our relationship to godly people makes us godly, for we are judged by the fruits we bear; godliness and salvation do not rub off onto us by contact! God is not limited only to the physical descendants of Abraham to carry out His purpose, for He could take stones from the River Jordan to raise up more children to Abraham (Matthew 3:9). ‘Stones’ here, could refer to the Gentiles, whom God could transform by a miracle of divine grace, into believers, with faith like that of Abraham.

We too, can receive the blessings of Abraham, as promised in the Word of God. We too can share the inheritance of Isaac, when we declare our unfailing love and faithfulness to our blessed Lord God the Father; and to our precious Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, the Son. Jesus, who shed His blood for all creation to redeem us from our sin, will help us and guide us, through the Holy Spirit, bringing Him glory in us, and through us, and around us! Unwavering faith, obedience, true worship and presenting our bodies as living sacrifice offerings, will help us overcome all things and sustain us under all circumstances, until the Lord comes again!

Let us declare the Word of God with the holy angels of heaven as Peter prayed in First Peter 1:3-7 saying:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

May we remember the promise of God in John 3:36 that:

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

Amen, Amen and Amen!