Pastor Jeff on the Radio

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor Jeff Ministries, the teaching ministry of Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub. On today's program, Pastor Jeff concludes his message, "The Day That Divides" from the series "Faithful Followers" and shows you why you can rest secure and live with confidence in Christ's return.

Our mission is to challenge people like you to respond to the Word of God and stand boldly for Jesus Christ in a world drifting further from the truth. We invite you to visit PastorJeff.com where you'll find biblical resources designed to strengthen your faith and encourage your walk with Christ. While you're there, sign up for Pastor Jeff's weekly devotional emails delivered straight to your inbox. Now let's hear today's message from God's Word with Pastor Jeff.

Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub: Do not marry somebody who is not in Christ. If you're going to heaven and they're going to hell, and God's blessing is on you, and God's wrath is on them, marriage is hard enough as it is. So don't be dumb enough to say, "Yeah, but she's hot and we'll work it out." It just doesn't work that way. "Yeah, but he's so handsome and he's so fun." It doesn't work that way. Marriage is hard enough when you have two Christians submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ allowing the Holy Spirit to transform you.

Do not do that. Now, I know there are examples, and by the grace of God, some of you are here that married a non-believer and God converted them, and praise God for that, but that is not the norm. For every one of you, I have sat down with a thousand people that have said, "If I would have only known. If I would have only done what I knew to do, I would have never gotten married."

When you're in business, don't partner with people that aren't going the same way. Eventually, it's going to fissure. If you're going to follow the blessing and the favor of the Lord, if you're going to honor Jesus in all you do and you're with somebody that doesn't care about that, eventually your business is going to run into challenge. It doesn't mean you don't hang out with non-believers, but there's really only one purpose to hang out with non-believers: to share the hope of Christ, to let them know, to let your light so shine before men that they would see your good works and give praise to your Father who is in heaven.

Evangelism is not a task. Evangelism is the flowing of the joy of the Lord and you giving reason for the answer you have for all the joy you have in your life. Whatever you talk about is whatever you worship. You ever get with somebody and all they talk about is food, sports, vacation, travel, friendships, marriage, kids, houses, or property? That is their God.

If you can't let Jesus come to the surface, why? What greater event has taken place in your life than when you were dead and God made you alive? How does that not surface ever? It's not a task to go tell people. It is a lifestyle that comes out of the believer as they continue to grow in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

As you're hearing this, do not refuse spiritual compromise. Refuse spiritual complacency. Don't say, "It's okay, I know I'm saved, I'm going to heaven anyway, so what difference does it make? I'll just hang out with them." Friends, the more you grow with Jesus, the more uncomfortable non-believers should feel around you. They should always feel your love. No question. Not your judgment, but they should always feel your love. As they get to know you, they should realize you're going a different way than they are.

Too often, when it comes to believers, non-believers look at them and think, "Okay, we go to the same golf courses. We drink the same amount of beer. We cuss the same. We tell the same jokes. We have the same problems in our marriage. We're pretty much the same." No, you're not the same at all because internally you've been born again and saved, and God is trying to sanctify you so you don't look anything like that anymore. When you are with those people, you love them and you show love to them, but you let them see that you are not what you were.

I used to be like that, but because God is in me, I am not participating in that. I am not talking that way. I don't want to be around that joke. I don't want to hear that thing. I don't want to talk about that. It's just not important to me. The more you grow in Christ, the more that will be true. I love being around non-believers when I can share the love of Christ, but I do not want to participate in the things that non-believers do. Their conversations bore me. Their hope is false. The things that they talk about don't bring any joy. It is why they are always bragging about themselves and what they are accomplishing.

Sometimes I wish I had a sign on my head that said, "So what?" I am not interested in what you are saying because it doesn't mean anything that you're bragging about how much money you have or where you're going or who you know. When you're around Christians, it doesn't matter what they have or the influence they have. They are talking about Jesus and where they are going. There is something inside your heart when you meet with guys in Africa pastoring churches that make about five dollars a month and they are so on fire. They are my forever brothers. I get moved. These are my guys. This is my family.

Ephesians 5:8 says you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. 1 Peter 2:9 says you are a chosen race called out of darkness into his marvelous light. You were that, and the wrath of God was on you, but now you are something new. Luke 21:36 says but keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that are about to take place and to stand before the Son of Man.

You know what it is like for those of you who wear glasses or contact lenses. Do you remember what it was like the first time you went to the eye doctor and recognized that you needed them? The eye doctor will say, "Do you need glasses?" "I don't need glasses. I see just fine." "Hey, read this." "I can't read that." Then they start putting those things on your eyes and you ask, "Is that what it's supposed to look like?" Then you get glasses for the first time and you walk out of the doctor's office seeing things so clearly. You can read the scoreboard. You can see the basket. You can do things you couldn't.

I didn't realize I needed it. That is what it's like to be born again. I didn't realize I needed it, but now that I am in Christ, I have a totally different lens. I see things completely differently. God has changed the way I look at him, and he's changed the way that I look at the world. Resolve to not spiritually compromise. Refuse spiritual complacency.

There were seven churches in the Book of Revelation that Jesus Christ addressed. In chapter three, one of the churches he addressed was the church at Laodicea. He was judging them and condemning them because of their complacency and their apathy. He says in Revelation 3:15, "I know your deeds that you're neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot."

They lived in a place where the water traveled to them from a far distance. By the time it got there, it was not cold or hot anymore. Cold water is good on a hot day. When you feel like it, a hot shower feels great. Lukewarm water and lukewarm showers are good for nothing. Jesus was saying, "You're good for nothing. You're so complacent. You don't even care about what I've done. Because you've become lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth." Jesus is saying he is ready to vomit them because they are so complacent and do not care.

He says, "Because you say I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing, and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked." They see themselves as okay, but he sees them as totally in need, yet they refuse to come to him to have life. Do not be that way. People you work with, people you go to school with, and the people in your neighborhood should notice a difference about you in the way you walk, talk, think, and focus.

Don't be bound together with unbelievers. You have no partnership with unrighteousness. You may see each other the same way if you've known each other for 50 years, but God doesn't because God looks at the heart. If you are on your way to heaven and they are on their way to hell, you should be pleading with them to come to know Jesus.

We live as salt and light. Do not get caught up in the world. Don't say like a lot of people, "Well, I'm just in college, these are just my four years to go wild." Don't say in your 20s, "It's my time to be young and have fun." In your 30s, don't say, "I'm just trying to build my life and get my family started." Don't say in your 40s, "I have to start thinking about college and retirement." In your 50s, don't say, "I'm kind of in a groove now," which is really a rut. In your 60s, don't say, "It is too late for me now." Wherever you are, live with a spiritual vitality for the Lord Jesus Christ. Refuse spiritual complacency.

Number three: rest in God's rescue plan. Notice what he says in verse eight, "But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love." There should be in your heart, because you have trusted in Jesus and you are taking steps with him, more of his love emanating from you. The Bible says if you are rightly related to him, streams of living water will flow from you. You don't have to know how to evangelize. You have to know how to get to know Jesus. If Jesus starts pouring himself through you, you won't be able to help but tell people about who he is.

He also says, "and as a helmet, the hope of salvation." Friends, if you are in Christ, there should be such a hope in your life for where we are going. We can trust that God is the one who is going to take care of the injustices. You don't need to. Your job is to forgive and move on. God's job is to take care of all that. Our hope is in him. Our helmet of salvation is our focus. God is the one who has given us that gift. Notice what he says, "For God has not destined us for wrath."

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor Jeff Ministries, and today's message, "The Day That Divides" from the series "Faithful Followers" is showing you why you can rest securely and live with confidence in Christ's return. We'll continue with Pastor Jeff in just a moment.

First, this month, we're excited to offer you an important resource called "Letter to the American Church" by Eric Metaxas. This powerful book challenges believers to not remain silent while culture drifts further from biblical truth. Instead, it calls the church to stand courageously for righteousness, proclaim the gospel boldly, and engage the spiritual battle with truth, prayer, and sacrificial love.

When you give to support Pastor Jeff Ministries, your generosity helps more people hear clear, uncompromising biblical truth through radio, digital outreach, podcasts, and teaching resources around the world. As our thanks for your gift today, we'd love to send you a copy of "Letter to the American Church." Visit PastorJeff.com to give and request your copy today.

Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub: For God has not destined us for wrath. Isn't that great news? There are some Christians who worry, "What if I get it wrong?" God does not pour wrath upon his children. God disciplines those he loves. God can punish us for the sake of maturing us, but wrath is different. Wrath is unrelenting fury. God doesn't put his kids through that. As we said earlier, it is because God poured all of that on his Son.

We hear the crucifixion story and ask how Jesus endured all that. Being whipped, beaten, mocked, and spit upon, being smashed with the crown of thorns, nails in your hands and feet, bleeding out on a cross. Physically, how in the world did he endure such excruciating pain? But that was nothing compared to the spiritual pain where God poured all the wrath deserving of us onto Jesus. He took it. That is why he is the way, the truth, and the life. That is why no other religion compares. There is no other way because Jesus took the wrath of God for you.

You can rest in his rescue plan. It has nothing to do with you; it has everything to do with God. There is such a tension in the Scriptures. Every time I listen to a theologian try to ease the tension, I think they are off a little bit. The Bible teaches that God is sovereign. As a believer, here is what you can know: God was the one who drew you to himself. God is the one who gave you the faith to believe. God is the one who gave you grace to save you. God is the one who elected you before the foundation of the world. God is the one who brought you into his kingdom. It was all God's work because you were dead and the wrath of God was on you, and dead people don't reach for anything that God does. It is all God.

At the same time, the Bible makes clear you are 100 percent responsible for what you do. From John the Baptist to Jesus to Peter to Paul, they were commanding all men everywhere to repent. You have to respond to what's been given to you. So who's responsible in salvation? It's 100 percent God, and it's 100 percent you. If you go to the lake of fire someday, 100 percent of the people in hell are there because they did not respond to the gospel.

They are not in hell because God created them for hell. God does not create people for hell. God created hell for the devil and his angels in Matthew 25:46. He doesn't create some for heaven and some for hell just to show how glorious he is. The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible teaches that all may come, that anyone who repents he will take. At the same time, when we get to heaven, we will find out that none of us are there on our own accord. God did all the work.

How do those things match? I don't know. I am not the infinite God. I am just telling you the truth of the Scriptures. Every time I see somebody try to make it all about sovereignty and say there is no way for certain people to get saved, I think they are off because the Bible says that anybody, anywhere, at any time can repent and believe. When I get people over here who say it's all up to us and if we don't save the world God won't help, they are off too because you can't save a soul. So where do these things match? I don't know. God's 100 percent sovereign and you're 100 percent responsible.

Romans 1:20 says that men will be without excuse. There is nobody in hell who will be able to say, "Well, you didn't elect me, it's not my fault, I never asked to be born." That is not going to happen. There is nobody in heaven you're going to ever meet who says, "I wasn't going to come, but I was so awesome, I found God and I decided to repent." Nobody is there because of what they did. They're there because of what God did, and everybody's in hell because of what they did. Both of those things meld perfectly. I can't explain it.

I don't have to explain the Scriptures; I have to proclaim them. I am telling you you are 100 percent responsible for where you end up, but if you end up in heaven, you'll learn very fast that God is the one who did all the work for you. That is why I'm pleading with you today. The hope is the world hasn't ended yet. The rapture hasn't happened yet. You can turn your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and give him all the glory. You can repent and believe and be secure now and forevermore, presented faultless before your heavenly Father with exceedingly great joy. God invites all that would repent to come. If you hear the Lord's voice today, do not harden your heart.

Here is the beauty of God's rescue plan. He has not destined us for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. That can be whether we're alive or dead. It can also mean whether or not we are walking with the Lord at the time or a little off base. When you place your faith and trust in Jesus, he has you. I used to worry about whether I would have an off day when he returned.

I used to pray, "Lord, when you come, let me be doing devotions. Don't let me be on I-25 thinking a bad thought in my head." I was afraid I would miss the rapture. But you're not going to miss the rapture if you are in Christ. Even if you're having a bad day, you are in Christ. It has all been paid for by Christ. Have confidence in Christ. He is your blessed hope. Whether you are having a good day or a bad day, you are still a son or a daughter of the Most High.

Philippians 3:20 says that our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a savior from there. Your license might read Colorado, and your passport might read the United States of America, but those are all secondary to your origin and citizenship. Our citizenship is in heaven. May your kingdom come and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is good if you're proud to be an American, but that is secondary to being part of the Kingdom of God. That is who we are.

Jesus promised in John 14, "I'll come and receive you to myself that where I am you may be also." Hold on to this truth in Romans 5:6, "For while we were helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man, though for perhaps a good man someone might even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." While you were still a sinner and rebelling against God, that is when Christ died for you. Before you even knew him or were born, he died for you because of his great love.

Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, much more having been reconciled shall we be saved by his life. If God saved you when you were a sinner, how much more now being saved is God going to keep you from wrath? It's amazing. He's saying you can't blow it. Even if you forget your devotions or lose your temper, you're still in the family because Jesus paid for it all: past, present, and future. Some people don't like that because they think they're better than others, but they're not. The only way God would ever be fair is if he sent every single one of us to hell for eternity.

That would be fair. The fact that he would even save one is unfair. God's willing to save anyone. If you're here today thinking God would never take somebody like you, that is a lie from the pit of hell. What God would say is, "I died for you so that you would awaken and recognize that I can be your God and you can be my child and I can set your future secure forever." That is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Rally one another with hope. He says, "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you also are doing." At the end of chapter four when we were talking about the rapture, it says, "Therefore comfort one another with these words." Now as we're talking about God pouring out justice, it says, "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up." Our job as Christians is not to sit around with charts and dates and times, panicking about what is happening in the world. It is for us to focus our lives more on Jesus Christ, to live more fully for him, and to share the hope that's coming because he is coming soon.

In Hebrews 10:24-25, it says, "And let us consider how to stimulate one another towards love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near." As you see things in our world spiral out of control, get with more Christians. Come to church more frequently. Gather together regularly and encourage each other. Jesus is coming soon. He loves you and he will protect you until he gets here. You have nothing to lose. Encourage one another and build one another up. Jesus is coming to rescue his church and to pour out his wrath upon the wicked.

If you're asleep to these things, please wake up. I'm telling you the truth. Jesus is coming. If you're in Christ, the most glorious moment will start when you meet him and will continue for all eternity. If you're not, it's too late. I don't see anything in the Scriptures where there is a great revival after the church is raptured. I see God having to protect 144,000 Jews so they don't get blown away. If you're sitting around saying you'll wait until the seven years start and then come to Christ, you're being silly.

I watched the church fold like a lawn chair in 2020 when the government said you could only have 10 people. Please be ready now. If you're compromising and looking like the world, just repent. I'm not asking you to change; I'm asking if you will allow God to change you. You can't change yourself. If you're afraid, just rest in Christ. You have nothing to be afraid of. Stop your worrying. God takes care of the flowers and the birds, and he has you. If you don't have a relationship with Jesus, make today your day. I want to share eternity with you as my forever sister or brother because of our gracious and glorious God.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening today. That was Pastor Jeff with his message "The Day That Divides" from the series "Faithful Followers" showing you why you can rest securely in God's rescue plan and live with confidence in Christ's return.

Thank you for joining us for today's program. Before we go, just a quick reminder: when you give a gift of support to Pastor Jeff Ministries this month, we'll send you "Letter to the American Church" by Eric Metaxas as our thanks. This compelling resource is a powerful call for believers to stand courageously for truth, reject compromise, and faithfully engage the culture for Jesus Christ. Your support today helps more people hear bold biblical truth through the teaching ministry of Pastor Jeff Schwarzentraub so they can stand firm in their faith. Request your copy today when you give at PastorJeff.com. That's PastorJeff.com. We'll see you next time.