“Do Not Pass Go… Do Not Collect $200!”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Everywhere you go in life there are warning signs. There are signs along the roadway that point to danger that lies ahead. There are warning signs that our bodies give us from time to time. There are warning signs that our minds send out when there is a problem. Then, there are spiritual warning signs. Times when we slack up in our commitment to the Lord… When we forsake the assembly of the saints… When we don’t pray and when we don’t give as we should. Times when we harbor bitterness and un-forgiveness… We hold onto hurts and have hard feelings toward others. Right now, lights are flashing “Approaching Danger” because there is some stuff that you are walking in that ain’t the way that God has told you to walk. There are some things that you are doing that God hasn’t told you to do. Flirting with sin; messing around in areas where you have no business being…  “Do Not Pass Go… Do Not Collect $200”….This is serious… It could be the difference between life and death!  Take heed to God’s warning or you will suffer the consequences.

Listen, warnings are meant to help, not to harm us.  They are meant to protect us from doing something foolish and harmful in our life. Warnings are an act of God’s grace. Unfortunately though, there are many today who are not good listeners, and they only hear what they want to hear, because just like the opposing Jews of the first century, their hearing is dull and their vision is blurry. I tell you we are remarkably oblivious to the obvious. We can see absolute concrete signs that something is so, and yet, we don’t listen, we don’t believe; we don’t pay attention.  How many people have been killed because they went around a railroad barricade? Lights flashing; bells ring; barricade in the way, nah, those don’t mean anything right. Next thing you know, death has swallowed another one up… Do not ignore the warning signs. Read the writing on the wall and heed God’s warning because “Warning Comes before Destruction!” Do not be like Samson who manifested all the signs of a man who was headed for trouble in his life {Judges 14:1-9} yet, he ignored every one of those signs and traveled ever farther down a road that brought him dishonor, defeat and death.  As Samson took his first steps down the road to ruin, he had no idea where his path would ultimately lead him. He had no idea how bad things would be at the end of the way. Had he heeded God’s warning signs, Samson could have avoided many of the problems he faced later in life. Even Israel, God longed for them to repent. But instead of growing closer to God, they were getting farther away. God had sent His Word, but she had refused to obey. He sent correction, but she only hardened. He invited her to trust Him, but she chose to place her trust in man. He desired for her to return, but she drifted farther and farther away. Don’t do it… Don’t ignore God’s warnings. You know Zephaniah chapter 3 verses 1-7, was written to the backslidden nation of Judah, but they offer some valuable information for us today. When we find ourselves headed in the wrong direction, there is only one intelligent thing to do: Turn- around! The Bible calls that repentance; or changing our direction.  Imagine for a moment how Samson’s life would have been different if he had recognized the warning signs and turned his life toward God. Imagine now what God could do with us if we would simply recognize the warning signs that present themselves in our lives.  If you can see evil desires, disobedience to God’s will and deception in your life, the time to change is now. It may not be too late to avoid catastrophe in your life. You know the starting place is what the rich man in Hell acknowledged, that you must repent of your sins, and change the direction of your life.

True- Story. “Many years ago a young man violated some traffic laws, and was involved in a hit and run traffic accident. He was chased by the police, but made a desperate effort to get away. He attempted to get on the Turnpike at the interchange. And when he saw that the entrance was lined with cars, he went off the entrance drive, around the pay stations, and sped onto the Highway. The police followed the speeding car, and telephoned ahead. Roadblocks were quickly set up in an effort to stop the person from his mad rush to a likely accident. But he was able to dodge the roadblocks, one after another. Sometimes he simply ran them down; other times he crossed the median strip and went into the other lane of traffic, and then turned back again. Finally, in a desperate effort to stop the young man, two huge trucks were placed across all four lanes of traffic. Red flares were set up at intervals several miles ahead, to warn the driver of approaching danger. Everyone was sure this blockade would stop the mad driver, but as he approached the roadblock, he looked in his rearview mirror; he saw the police behind; he looked straight ahead and saw the two trucks, but instead of stopping, he kept moving at one hundred miles per hour, and crashed headlong into the trucks, hurling his soul into an endless eternity. His car went under the trucks, and came out on the other side, a smashed, mangled, twisted bundle of steel…” Listen, just as the policemen did everything within their power to stop the speeding boy and even gave him warning signals ahead, so God is doing everything possible to keep us from continuing on the path that leads to Hell. It is God’s desire that every human being should repent, believe the Gospel, and live a new life of obedience to Jesus Christ, walking daily under the control of the Holy Spirit.

I hope that each of us will keep our eyes and ears open to the warning signs that are given to us in the Bible so that we can live a life that will be acceptable before God and so that our souls will be saved in the end. Let us believe God. Let us see His grace in His warnings concerning His wrath against sin. Let us not deny the truth, but warn people to flee from the wrath to come. Let us make sure that we ourselves have repented and hidden ourselves in Christ alone, so availing ourselves of the one and only escape from God’s wrath, faith in Jesus Christ our sin bearer. Let us make sure we respond to God’s trumpet call of warnings and obey His commandments that we might live. Surely, if anyone who reads this message ends up in the place of outer darkness, you will go there over the love of God, the warnings of God, the cross of Calvary, the prayers of God’s people, and the teaching of the Gospel.  Do Not Pass Go… Do Not Collect $200!

Author: Lou Coleman