Matthew 24: 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Some places not too far away are seeing robins. I opened the basement door the other day and saw dandelions. It’s warm one day and single digits the next. Have you noticed that no matter how tight your house is, it still gets cold inside? You can feel air coming through the outlets. When it’s really cold we’ll do anything to keep warm. I’ll put on extra layers. When the ice and snow comes we get afraid of the power going out. If it does we scramble for any way to keep warm from candles to propane to kerosene.
When it stays cold we get used to it even if we don’t necessarily enjoy it. As Christians, we have to be out in the world. We don’t stay at the church all the time. We can’t stay on our knees. We can’t read the Bible all the time. That’s why we’re told to study it to show ourselves approved unto God. When we need it, it will come to our minds. We hear his still small voice from the scripture we have hidden in our heart. Some have imaged God telling them to do something but when it doesn’t meet what the Bible says, you can’t trust what you think. You must trust the Word.
When we think of our spiritual temperature we know it can be affected by the world. Paul said that God would deliver him from this evil world. He’ll do the same for us. This is a caution sign to tell us how soon the Lord is coming back. Look back at verse 12. Iniquity abounds. The love of many will wax cold. People get offended; they betray each other. Then comes a falling away from the faith. We see it at our doorstep and beyond.
There are many avenues for wickedness: television, cell phones, and computers—how are we using them. For every TV station that is halfway decent, there are a dozen that aren’t. Everything out there is after the souls of men. The pressure is high. In times past there was warmth in towns and communities and a respect for God, his house and his people. We can’t blame the world. Evil will always be evil. Jesus didn’t come to save society but to save souls of the lost. No matter how nice and neighborly a person is, he still must be saved to go to heaven. The world wants to take people to hell. Jesus wants to take them to heaven. We must take our spiritual temperature, not monthly or weekly. Do it daily to make sure we’re not getting crusty. Make sure the flame isn’t flickering or about to go out. We get acclimated so we need to insulate ourselves or we can become a victim. Iniquity works to reduce the spiritual temperature.
If you say you don’t get anything how of church, how is your temperature? If you just don’t want to read the Bible or see the need to, you need to check your temperature. If we’re willing to take our temperature and find it has gone down a degree or two we need to do something. If I tape up my outlets so the cool air won’t seep in but I open the windows what is going to happen? The Bible says the times will be cold for a child of God. If you see that you’ve cooled off where do you put the blame? You can’t blame anyone but yourself. I have my own battles with my temperature. Take a look at yourself. Think about it while looking at verse 12.
We’ll go out these doors to home or to work. We can’t lament about the cold outside. Whether a person is wicked or good, by our standards, without Jesus they are dead cold. When a person calls on Jesus it lights a fire that is like coming in from the cold to a warm stove. We need to stay close to the fire. That’s the only way to stay warm. The fire is Jesus. If your temperature is low, gather around the Savior. He is light and with light comes heat. Get closer to him and stay close. The closer we are the more “on fire” we’ll be for the Lord. That doesn’t mean a person will jump up and down. It simply means we’re remaining close to the heat source thereby keeping our spiritual temperature where it should be.
Even if iniquity abounds there is still heat. Though many have fallen away, not everyone has. Be one of those who stay warm. We’ve come too far to move away from the fire. Move up if you need to. Today is the day to take your temperature.
Adwolfe Freewill Baptist Church 