The Inevitable Penalty

July 1st, 2013 by JDVaughn Leave a reply »

You will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny —Matthew 5:26


There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and] . . . you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (5:25-26). Yet you ask, “Is this a God of mercy and love?” When seen from God’s perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting— the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter,” or, “I will be reconciled to that person now.”

These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart.If you find yourself asking, “I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually with God?”— then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an “ought” behind it— the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.
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July 2, 2013

Lord, thank you for the song you provided this morning. The devotional by Oswald Chambers left me a bit concerned. Because inside I have been holding on to little grudges, and my rights to myself about certain issues.  Like Paul said, even though I want to do the right things….often and regularly, I do not.

And God says…”Jesus paid it all, all of your debt. There is no debt for you to pay, unless you insist on trying to handle all your debts and responsibilities for your thoughts and actions yourself. And as you have discovered, you cannot.  And I will do whatever it takes to bring you to that awareness, but with the awareness I also bring you mercy, grace and a love shaped by Jesus on the cross. Seek first the Kingdom of God which is Jesus and I will provide all that you need.”

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