Living On The Edge

There is one fact in life that I am absolutely convinced of, the name of Jesus has the power to break the chains that bind men and women in the bondage of sin.  Although we suffer from many different struggles with our flesh, every one of us come to Christ in the same fashion. At the foot of the cross of Jesus every one of us is on the same level.  The Bible says in Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Not even one of us can stand before God and declare our own worthiness. The fact is that none of us are worthy of Heaven and all of us must fall on our face before God in repentance and surrender our lives to Christ if we want to make Heaven our eternal home.

Thank God for all of you who are saved and have the Lord Jesus living in your heart. Thank God that one day you answered the call of the Holy Ghost as He gently tugged at your heart and begged you to come to Christ. Salvation is such a wonderful experience.  But, the question I have for you this day is this; where are you living right now?  Are you as close to the Lord now as you were the day you were saved? Has your relationship with Jesus grown stronger or has it grown weaker? I find that there are far too many people, who claim to love Jesus, and yet they are living on the edge of Hell itself.

What makes us think that a half-hearted commitment to Christ is going to get us into Heaven? There are far too many people who think that they are going to Heaven and yet they live lives of little or no real commitment to Christ. These folks are living on the Edge of Hell!

I urge you today to examine your own life. How much real commitment to Jesus is in your life? How much time have you spent in getting to know the Lord in a deeper fashion? How often do you stop to pray and then take time to listen for the voice of the Lord? How many days do you go without trying to get to be more like Jesus?

 

Many claim to love the Lord and yet they show their love for Him by attending church when it’s convenient, when they are feeling good, or when it doesn’t interfere with what they want to do.  They claim to love Jesus, they say they want to be like Him, and spend eternity with Him, and yet they live so close to the world that it’s hard for them to see Jesus, much less hear from Him.

I’ve seen so many people, who once loved the Lord, slowly slip away as they began to live on the Edge of Hell.  As the song goes, “It’s a slow fade,” missing church a little more than usual, neglecting Bible study and prayer, hanging around old friends, they begin smoking again, cursing again, and finally they turn their backs on God and go back to their old life completely.  How quickly we forget the warnings from the lips of Jesus that are recorded in His Word…

Luke 11:23-26 -  "He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him 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."

Many of us were caught up in lives that were hell on earth! Some of us were into alcohol, or drugs, or sexual immorality. God lifted us out of that slimy pit of sin that we were powerless to leave. He set our feet on the solid rock and saved our souls from certain death, and yet we neglect Him and think that we can still make it on our own.

Old desires begin to come back as temptation enters into your heart to convince you that just one puff, just one fix, just one drink and I will feel better. Little do we realize just how far that one little thing can take us. Listen to what I am trying to tell you, listen to me because I am an expert on the life of a backslider!  Sin will always take you further than you want to go and then leave you in a pit you thought you’d never see again, only this time deeper than before, and harder to get out of than before.

How many lives have been destroyed because of one “little” sin? How many homes are broken and divided? How many little children don’t have mom and dad around the way that God intended? How many moms and dads cry themselves to sleep wondering what happened and why did this have to happen to me?  I tell you that Satan is out to kill, steal and destroy every good thing in your life – your family, your home, your job, your church and especially your relationship with Jesus.

Jesus will not interfere with your power to choose. He will never force you to do what is right. He will not knock the glass of alcohol out of your hand. He won’t grab the pill or the needle from your arm. He won’t stop the profanity from leaving your lips. He will let you do what you want to do. But, thank God, He makes a way for us to come back to Him.

It’s decision time! What will you do with Jesus Christ?  Will you continue to ignore the warnings and walk away from God?  Will you turn your back on Jesus and go back into your old life?  Will you let the unclean spirit back into your life and then let that spirit bring seven more of his unclean spirits with him?  Are you going to put everything dear to you in jeopardy?  Are you going to yield to temptation and let Satan destroy every blessing that God has given you?

It’s time, right now, to quit living on the Edge of Hell and step over into the full commitment of living for the Lord! It’s all or nothing. God will not settle for second place and He will accept nothing less than your whole heart!  Jesus has promised that if we will come to Him, confessing our sin and asking for forgiveness, that He would be faithful and just. He will forgive you of your failures, faults and sin and He will place your feet back on the rock.

It is not God’s will for your life to come to ruin. He has promised you life, and life much more abundant. He has promised you so many blessings that you can’t even contain all of them. He has a plan for your life that is wonderful and happy and fulfilling. Will you give all that away?

If you just stand there and refuse to answer the call of God, then God will have little choice but to let you go but that decision will carry some terrible consequences and they won’t be long in coming!  God’s rod of chastisement will begin to come against you and troubles will increase, temptation will increase and they will only grow worse until we either hear the voice of God and obey Him or we slip away completely into a life of sin.

Turn to God right now! Repent of the sin that has already happened!  Don’t let Satan keep you from coming clean before the Lord right now!  Today, right now, is the time to make it right! There is no promise of tomorrow and even if tomorrow does come, are you willing to take the risk of losing it all?  It’s time to quit living on the edge of Hell!