Naked and Condemned

09.17.09
J.A. Matteson

"Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which the LORD has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty…." Leviticus 4:27

If, as Scripture testifies, God is moral, then by necessity in accordance to His own character a future time of reckoning will come to pass when the wickedness of men will be judged by Him who is altogether righteous. The sons of Adam walk about on the face of the earth and their existence is feeble before the eyes of Him with whom they must give an account.

Spiritually blind and deaf and unbeknownst to them, their daily wanderings are chronicled perfectly; indeed, every dark thought entertained in the inner recesses of the mind is captured, each careless word spoken in haste recorded, all their deeds motivated by pride, greed, and avarice will be laid bare before the Lord of Glory. Blissfully ignorant of his immanent peril the sinner stands naked and condemned before His judge (Jn. 3:18), vulnerable, and his moment-by-moment existence is by the mercy of the Lord, "Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger? How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?” (Job 21:17-18).

Sinner, you have suppressed the reality of your plight, denying any awareness of the certain doom and destruction which awaits you (Rom. 1:18). You know in your heart—your conscience bearing witness—you are guilty of transgressing the righteousness of God—your defiled mind is still able to convict you of wrong, but you muse to yourself that all appears to be going well, you continue to prosper in every way and even enjoy good health, and your past acts of wickedness have not been exposed by others or met with divine retribution, you have convinced yourself that you have gone unnoticed.

You fool! With every breath you are storing up for yourself divine wrath, for the day of divine retribution is near where the fury of the Lord of Hosts will be unleashed against you; hear the Apostle, “because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed’ (Rom. 2:5). As an ant in the path of a tornado or a gnat at ground zero of a nuclear blast you will be obliterated in an instant, mercy will be withheld, your pleas will be unheard, and your eternal demise sealed, “But since you rejected Me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out My hand, since you ignored all My advice and would not accept My rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you—when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. Then they will call to Me but I will not answer; they will look for Me but will not find Me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord….” (Pr. 1:26-29).

In your ignorance you have repeatedly transgressed the Law of God throughout your life, and on judgment day claiming ignorance of the Law will not be an adequate defense as the righteousness of the Lord demands that justice be metered out in order to preserve His quintessential character of holiness. By grace the Lord sent forth His Son, Jesus Christ, who suffered and died for sinners as their substitute with the wrath of God poured out on Him, as a result all who look to Him in faith as their sin bearer will be passed over when the fury of the wrath of God is revealed, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners….” (1 Tim. 1:15).

On judgment day you can either stand before God and attempt to defend yourself—in which case you will be consigned to hell; or, you can have the Advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ, plead your defense in which case you will be acquitted and spend eternity in heaven. The time is near and the choice is yours, choose wisely.

Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).