Don’t Let the Lord Pass You By

Genesis 18:1-15
Richard Spencer | Sunday, June 12, 2022
Copyright © 2022, Richard Spencer

We have spent the past few days at our church retreat hearing about the fact that God is building his church. We are just tools in his hand. But that does not mean that we are to be passive and just wait for God to pick us up and use us. We have a responsibility. We are to be actively engaged in the Christian life. And our passage this morning paints a beautiful portrait of a Christian household, governed by a faithful Christian man, who is living in expectation of God fulfilling the promises he has made. And that makes Abraham a useful tool for God to use.

We read in Micah 6:8, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” And we see this lived out in the life of Abraham. Not perfectly of course, as we have seen Abraham was a sinner like all of us. But the general tenor of his life was one of faithful obedience. And we can learn a great deal from this passage about how we ourselves should be living. But before we dive into the passage, it would be helpful to set the stage and remind ourselves of the situation in which these events took place.

Abraham was 99 years old at this time and Sarah was 89. God had recently given Abraham the sign of circumcision and made clear to him, as we heard last week, that his promise of a son was not fulfilled by Ishmael, who was now 13 years old. No, the son God had promised would be born to Sarah, not Hagar. The Hagar solution had not worked. As Rev. Broderick told us, when we try to help God out using our own methods, we mess things up and create problems. We create Ishmaels. But life went on as Abraham and Sarah waited and probably wondered how and when God was going to bring about this amazing promise of a son.

And so our passage begins, in Genesis 18:1 by telling us that “The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.” Now we have to remember that Moses is providing information to us as readers that was not available to Abraham. We are told right at the outset that it was the Lord who appeared to Abraham, but as far as Abraham knew at this point, it was just three men who appeared to him.

And at this time Abraham was still living where he had been for quite a while. Back in Genesis 14:13 we were told that when Lot had been taken captive “Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite”.

Then, in Verse 2 we read that “Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby.” We can readily conclude that these men were on a journey and had stopped near Abraham’s tent. Verse 2 goes on to say that when Abraham saw them, “he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.”

Now, to some extent, this was undoubtedly just Abraham showing hospitality as he might to almost any stranger who journeyed past his home. But he goes on to show them extraordinary hospitality and deference, so one has to wonder about it. Surely, he didn’t treat every single visitor in this way, so there must have been something about these visitors that indicated greater than normal dignity. Something that caused Abraham to hurry forward and to treat them with such generous hospitality. We can certainly assume that Abraham used proper discernment in responding to strangers who showed up. Some people intend to do us harm and we must always be as innocent as doves but as shrewd as snakes in dealing with the world. Discernment is a good thing.

In any event, our account goes on, beginning in Verse 3, to tell us that Abraham said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

Abraham was humble and took the role of a servant. Even though he had been promised by God that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him, he didn’t think himself so great as to be above serving others. This provides a lesson to each of us. We should always be humble in our dealings with others and be ready to serve. We are told in Hebrews 13:2, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”

And so, Abraham says to them, “do not pass your servant by.” And that leads to both the title of my sermon and my first point this morning, “Don’t Let the Lord Pass You By.”

I.       Don’t Let the Lord Pass You By

We must also notice that Abraham closed his request by saying, “now that you have come to your servant.” There is an intimation here that it is God’s providence that brought these three visitors to him, it wasn’t just some accident. Even if the three men themselves hadn’t know why, Abraham understood that it was God who directed their steps to bring them to him. And combined with whatever it was about their countenance that impressed Abraham, these are the reasons that Abraham did not want them to pass him by.

We must always bear in mind that there is no such thing as chance. We should always be on the lookout for God-ordained opportunities to witness to others, to serve others and to let God speak to us through others. As Job said, “God does speak—now one way, now another— though man may not perceive it.” (Job 33:14) We must always be on the lookout for God speaking to us. He can speak to us through a pastor, a teacher, a policeman, a parent, a sibling, a son or daughter, a friend or even a stranger. We must always be listening and we must test everything to see whether or not it is in agreement with the Word of God and then we must hold on to that which is good (1 Thess 5:21).

We don’t ever want to have God pass us by. And God did not pass Abraham by. Verse 5 concludes by telling us that the men said to Abraham, “Very well, do as you say.” And then we see Abraham spring into action, if I can use that expression in reference to a 99-year-old man. And Abraham’s actions, and the actions of Sarah and his servants, show us that he lived a well-ordered Christian life and he had a well-ordered Christian home as a result. And so my second point is; the well-ordered Christian life.

II.      The Well-Ordered Christian Life

We have already seen that Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. It is obvious though that he wasn’t just being lazy. He was paying attention to what was going on. Perhaps he had just finished a noon meal, or was taking a short break in the heat, we aren’t told. But it is obvious that he wasn’t sleeping, and as a good ruler he was aware of what was going on. And, therefore, he noticed these three men who appeared.

And although we are again not told, it is perfectly reasonable to assume, as I noted earlier, that he looked at these men and made a valid judgment as to their character. Unlike our modern society, he did not base his judgment on the color of their skin, or their height, or any other characteristic over which they had no control. He must have judged based on how they carried themselves. And we must make similar judgments every single day. We must constantly pray for God to provide us with Holy Spirit discernment about the people and situations with which we come in contact.

We need to be careful and wise. Some people should be avoided. Sometimes you should cross the street. And some people should be shown greater kindness and gentleness. With most people we should seek an opportunity to share the gospel. And all people should be treated with respect as far as possible. We want to be sure that we don’t show preferential treatment to the wealthy or powerful expecting to receive something in return, or to treat the poor or needy with contempt. We must treat all people equally in that regard. In Romans 12:16-18 the apostle Paul tells us to, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” But Jesus also told us, as we read in Matthew 7:6, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” And both of these admonitions are true and come from God. Therefore, we, like Abraham, must be discerning.

We next see that Abraham “hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.” This shows clearly that once he made a judgment about the proper course of action, the one that was in accordance with the Word of God, he was decisive and diligent to do what is right. And he was humble in his approach to these distinguished visitors. He offered to serve them generously as we have seen, he noted that their coming to him was not a matter of chance, and asked them to not pass him by. This all demonstrates that he cared for other people and was ready to hear whatever God might give them to say. He demonstrated by his actions that he acted justly, loved mercy and walked humbly with his God.

And if we don’t want God to pass us by, the first thing we need to do is to be sure that we are living a well-ordered life like Abraham. God is not a God of disorder, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:33. Paul is speaking about worship in that verse, but all of life is worship. As Christians our lives must show forth the fruit of regeneration. We must put off the old and put on the new. And this isn’t just a matter of our personal lives, we must be sure that our household runs properly as well, which is not just important for husbands and fathers. This applies to mothers and even single people and children. And it applies to our workplace as well as our home. Therefore, let’s move on to my third point, which is the well-ordered Christian household.

III.    A Well-Ordered Christian Household

To be well-ordered requires authority. In fact, authority is necessary for life. It is necessary in the individual life of every person – we all have some ultimate authority to which we submit, independent of whether or not we recognize that fact – and authority is also necessary in every household, every workplace, and every society. Chaos and anarchy don’t work, they bring misery.

The modern western world despises authority and discipline, but look at what we see in Abraham’s household. In Verse 6 we are told that “Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. ‘Quick,’ he said, ‘get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread’”. Abraham didn’t make a suggestion to Sarah and he didn’t give her a lengthy explanation of his reasons in order to get her to agree with his decision, he simply gave her a command and expected her to obey.

Then, in Verse 7, we read that Abraham, “ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it”. We see urgency in every line of this account. The text is not explicit, but it seems obvious that this servant was told what to do. It was, again, not something Abraham suggested to him or persuaded him to do. He commanded. And not only did Abraham hurry to do these things – note that the verse says he ran to the herd – but we are also told that his servant hurried to accomplish what Abraham had told him to do as well.

And then, in Verse 8, we are told that Abraham “brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.” Abraham stood by, like a servant, to see whether there was anything else he could do to make his guests comfortable.

We notice in these verses that Abraham’s household was one in which obedience was the norm. It was habitual. First time, immediate obedience. And this should be the case in our households, work lives and civic lives as well. When the world looks at us, it should see people who are different from the world. It should see people who are honest, hardworking, disciplined, respectful and so on. People who live under authority. And our families should be that way as well. And our employers and employees and coworkers should see this too.

Ephesians 5:22-24 are familiar verses from weddings, but they are important verses at all times and wives should be careful to heed them. They say, “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” That is radically different than the world. But a Christian home has order. The husband is to rule. Not as a tyrant, and not for his own benefit, but for the benefit of all those under his authority.

Ruling is hard work. You can’t sit on the couch with a beer in your hand and bark commands at the people around you and expect them to be obeyed. Your own life must be disciplined and you must model in your life the behavior you expect from those under you. You must teach, rebuke, correct and train from the Word of God. You must lead by command and example. You must make decisions based on God’s glory and what is best for those under you, not based on what is most convenient or comfortable for you. You must sacrifice for those under you. Sacrifice your time, money, your personal freedom and desires. As Paul commands in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” That is an extremely high standard. One that I’m quite confident no husband lives up to.

And Ephesians 6:1-3 say, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise— ‘that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’” This is also radically different than the world. We must teach our children to obey. Fortunately, there is a great promise given to us if we do train our children properly. In Proverbs 22:6 we are told, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” There is also great incentive to do this when you realize that your children will be blessed in life if they learn to function well under authority. It is one of the greatest gifts you can possibly give to them.

And we must train our children with the Word of God. Providing for their physical needs is necessary, but not sufficient. Christ told us in Matthew 4:4 that “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” If we want our children to walk in obedience, they must know the Word of God. You can’t obey what you don’t know.

And Ephesians 6:5-8 tell us, “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.” Nothing could be more different from the world we live in, and not just because Paul was speaking to a society that allowed slavery. These verses apply to employees and others under authority in every situation.

In other words, our lives should be characterized by obedience to all proper authorities; to parents, teachers, pastors, police, bosses and so on. We should be characterized as people who are humble and ready to serve others. Hospitable and generous. Not self-seeking.

And so, to do all that we can to avoid having God pass us by, we must live well-ordered Christian lives and have well-ordered Christian households and workplaces. In addition, we must fight against the doubts that come to all Christians. And that is my fourth point, fight doubt.

IV.    Fight Doubt

In Verse 9 of our passage we read that the three men asked Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he responded, “There, in the tent”. And we are next told, in Verse 10, that “the LORD said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.’ Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.” Two things are important about this verse. First, the writer, who was Moses, no longer says that “they” said something to Abraham, he now tells us that “the LORD” said something. In other words, he is clearly indicating that one of these three men had an obvious position of preeminence and that he was now speaking. Second, the Lord was speaking not just to Abraham, but to Sarah as well; she was listening and the Lord certainly knew that.

Back in Chapter 17, the events of which had been very recent, the Lord had promised that Abraham would have a child specifically with Sarah. But this promise had been given to Abraham. There is no indication that Sarah heard it. And while I’m certain that Abraham had told her about the promise, she now gets to hear the promise for herself. And how did she respond? Verse 12 tells us that “Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?’”

Now we must admit that laughter is not necessarily a sign of doubt. Abraham had laughed too when he was given the promise in Chapter 17 and there is no indication there that he doubted the Word of God. But here we do have an unambiguous indication that Sarah’s laughter indicated doubt, because in Verses 13-14 we discover that the Lord rebuked Sarah for her unbelief, “Then the LORD said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, “Will I really have a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.’”

Unbelief is sin. It is a common sin. It is an understandable sin. But it is still a sin. We must use our regenerate reasoning ability and the Word of God to put doubt away.

Abraham himself learned how to do this. It took a long time for him to get to the pinnacle of faith he finally reached, but when he was given the hardest test of faith anyone could possibly be given, he passed. I’m referring, of course, to the time when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac. We will treat that episode in a later sermon, but for now we just need to note that Abraham obeyed that command immediately. And, while we know that God did not allow him to go through with it, Abraham didn’t know that. He was truly prepared to sacrifice his own son.

And we must ask, “How on earth could a father do such a thing?” And the Bible gives us a clear answer. In Hebrews 11:19 we are told that “Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.” That is an amazing statement about a strong faith!

Our society often wants to pit faith against reason, as if these two things are opposites. But that is not biblical faith. Biblical faith is, at its core, trust in God and his promises. And that trust is a perfectly reasonable trust. It is consistent with evidence and reason, but it then transcends human reason because we trust God to be able to do all that he has promised. Of course, a person must be born again before he is capable of this sound use of reason, but my point is simply that biblical faith is not antithetical to reason, it makes full use of reason and then goes beyond it in trust.

Throughout the Bible God refers back to the creation and points out that he made all things. Why does he do that? Because he wants us to stop and think! If God is capable of creating this universe, and if we are creatures made by him, then certain conclusions necessarily follow. First, we owe him absolute obedience and worship. And second, he is immensely powerful! He can do anything that it is possible to do! As Paul says in Ephesians 3:20, God, “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”.

God wants us to think and use the minds he gave us. True faith is not blind, stupid faith, it makes maximal use of the reasoning abilities that God gave us. In Isaiah 1:18 we read, “‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’” God wants us to think carefully! Now, as I said, true faith goes further than human reason. Having determined that God is trustworthy, we trust even when, or I should say especially when we do not understand how God’s way can work. We exercise humility and recognize that God’s ways are higher than our ways and that we can’t hope to always understand how things will work out. We must simply trust that God is true, his Word is true, and the path of wisdom is the path of obedience.

This is precisely what the unbelieving world cannot do. Unbelievers use their reason in opposition to God. We are told in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” We need the Holy Spirit to help us use our reason properly. In Ephesians 4:17 Paul wrote, “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.” Their thinking is futile because they do not take into account the almighty, infinite, eternal God and his commands. But as Christians, we must always take God into account in our thinking. In fact, God must take first place in our thinking.

And, most importantly, if we think about who God is and who we are we will see that we have a terrible problem. A problem no mere human being can solve. We are wretched sinners. Cosmic rebels. Our sins are like scarlet. And God is a perfectly just and holy Judge who must punish sin. But that is not the end of the story. God is also a loving and merciful Creator who made a way for filthy sinners to be justified. Though our sins are as red as crimson, they can made as white as the purest wool.

All we have to do is acknowledge our sin and guilt and believe in God’s promises. If we are united to Christ by faith, then Jesus took our sins upon himself and paid the penalty we owed. And we receive the perfect righteousness of Christ in return. He is our Lord and Savior. And he was raised from the dead on the third day as prophesied as proof of the fact that he was sinless and his sacrifice was accepted. Romans 10:9 tells us, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” That is a completely reasonable and logical thing to do.

But Satan still comes and attacks us. As we heard yesterday, and as Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Satan says to us, as he did to Eve in the Garden, “Did God really say?” We must learn to be like Abraham and use our sanctified reason. We must learn to respond, “Yes, God did really say. Now get away from me Satan!” And we have God’s promise that if we are living a well-ordered Christian life in submission to God, Satan will flee when we oppose him. In James 4:7 we read, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

And let’s look at our Lord as the preeminent example for our behavior. How did Jesus respond to the temptations of Satan? He said, “It is written” over and over. If we are going to stand under temptation, we need to know the Word of God and use our minds. To live by faith is not to turn your mind off, it is to use your mind to its maximum capacity! It is to study, understand, memorize, believe and apply the Word of God to direct our lives.

Note what the apostle Paul said to King Agrippa when defending himself before the King. In Acts 26:8, Paul asked the rhetorical question, “Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?” Now, answering that question calls for using your mind! You have to stop and think to yourself. “Oh yes, God created all things out of nothing. Of course, he can raise the dead. That is a trivial thing for him to do!” And it is also trivial for God to give Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age. It is trivial for God to deal with any of our problems. He made the whole universe by speaking! How dare we doubt his power and promises?

So, I admonish all of us to think! Don’t sit around and try to feel what is true. Think! The Bible is true. God is true. He made all things. He will judge all things. He is perfect. He alone exists necessarily, independently, eternally. He alone has life in himself. He alone knows all things. It would be the height of stupidity, not to mention wickedness, to doubt him in any way. His promises are true. His threats are true. And therefore, we must fight doubt when it arises. Satan will speak. Our sinful nature will speak. The world will speak. But we must think and give an intelligent, Word-centered response. Ask, “Why should any of you consider it incredible that God …?”, and you fill in the blank for yourself. We read this morning in Proverbs 9:3 and 15 that wisdom and folly both call to us. We must discern by the Word of God and his Spirit which is right.

But now, getting back to our passage. We see that Sarah compounded her sin. In Verse 15 we read, “Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, ‘I did not laugh.’ But he said, ‘Yes, you did laugh.’” Friends, sin is stupid. And trying to hide our sin is stupid. God knows. He knows every thought, word and deed of every human being who has ever lived or ever will live. Therefore, we must come before him in complete humility and honesty, repent of our sins and trust in his glorious promise of salvation.

We must act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. We must have a well-ordered Christian life, a well-ordered Christian home and workplace, and we must cast doubts away. If we work hard each and every day to do these things, asking God to have mercy on us, forgive our sins, change our hearts, and fill us with his Holy Spirit to guide and empower us, then he will not pass us by. He has given us his promise. And now, let me close by summarizing the two main applications we should make from this passage.

V.      Application

First, we must ask God to have mercy on us. The difficult truth is that God will pass by the vast majority of people. In John 1:11-13 we read that Jesus Christ “came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” Those who receive Jesus as Lord and Savior are those who have been born again, born of God. He will pass by everyone else.

Now, it is true that you can’t cause yourself to be born again. But don’t worry about that. Cry out to God and ask him to have mercy and change your heart. In John 6:37, Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” What a glorious promise! Jesus will never drive away anyone who comes to him in faith! Therefore, ask God to grant you a believing heart and then turn to Jesus and be saved.

Second, if you have trusted in Jesus Christ, make your calling and election sure by walking in the obedience of faith. You cannot have legitimate assurance of your salvation if you don’t have a well-ordered Christian life. In Romans 8:29 we are told that “those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” And in Ephesians 1:4 Paul writes that God chose us in Jesus Christ, “before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” We don’t obey in order to earn our salvation, that would be impossible. But if we have been saved, we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ, and he always did what pleased the Father. We are being made holy and blameless. We must put off the old and put on the new. In Romans 12:2 Paul commanded us, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

As I said before, true biblical faith requires us to use our minds. But our minds must be renewed through the Spirit-led study of the Word of God and through the discipline of putting God’s Word into practice day after day. And be warned! Living the Christian life will bring you trouble, not health and wealth. You may get those in God’s will, but he doesn’t guarantee it. What he does guarantee is trouble. In 2 Timothy 3:12 Paul wrote that “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”. You will have troubles and trials. But in Romans 5:3-5 Paul wrote that “we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

We make our calling and election sure by living well-ordered Christian lives. And we do that by being led by the Spirit. You can’t keep the law in your own strength. You must surrender to God and be born again. In Romans 8:3-4 Paul wrote, “For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” Did you catch that? Paul says that the righteous requirements of the law will be fully met in us when we live according to the Spirit. In other words, when we are being guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And we receive the Holy Spirit by asking. In Luke 11:13 Jesus said to his disciples, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

And the most important point of all is that we must walk in the obedience of faith. That means one step at a time. True Christianity affects every moment of our lives. As Paul said in Ephesians 2:10, we are God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” I’ve quoted the ESV here because it literally translates the Greek – we are to walk in good works. We must be ready at every moment of every day, even when we are resting at the entrance to our tent in the heat of the day. Be alert! Do not let the Lord pass you by.

Jesus gave a great warning to all who refuse to carefully keep watch. In Revelation 3:3, in writing to the church in Sardis, Jesus said, “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”

I have delivered the Word of God to you. Will you wake up and receive it? Or will Christ come like a thief in the night and pass you by on that day? The choice is yours.