Articles
1.5 Billion Dollars Unclaimed
The IRS has announced that an estimated $1.5 billion dollars may be waiting for nearly 1.5 million taxpayers! Why? They have not filed their federal income tax return for 2018.
What prompted the IRS announcement? The three-year window for collecting refunds from 2018 is about to expire. The window closes on April 18th.
If no return is filed to claim a refund within three years from the date the return is due, the money that would have been refunded to a taxpayer becomes the property of the U.S. treasury. This year, to claim refunds from 2018, a return must be properly addressed, mailed and postmarked by April 18th or it is forever forfeited.
God has a salvation worth much more than $1.5 billion that billions of people living on the earth right now have not claimed. Why this announcement? The window of opportunity is closing for men and women every day. If God’s salvation is not claimed, an individual forfeits the chance to claim it forever. How can sinners claim their salvation? Only by meeting the conditions of God.
This month we explore the treasure that God offers to all mankind, the deadline for claiming it, and the conditions of receiving it. If you are among the billions who have not yet claimed this salvation, we pray that you will not let the deadline pass, but will meet God’s conditions today and enjoy the blessings that He is waiting to shower upon you…
God’s Offer of Blessings
John summed up the good news, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4:10). Because of His great love for the sinner, God sent Jesus to the earth to bear the penalty that was due the sinner (Isa 53:4-6) so that He could be merciful without compromising His justice. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, God offers to:
1) No longer remember our sins: “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb 10:17).
2) Cleanse our conscience (make it guilt-free): “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Heb 9:14)
3) Reconcile us to Him: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them…” (2 Cor 5:19).
4) Make peace with us: “Through Him (Jesus) to reconcile all things to Himself (God) having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col 1:20).
5) Consider us to be pure and righteous: “Yet He (Christ) has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach” (Col 1:22).
6) Give us a new spiritual start: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold new things have come” (2 Cor 5:17).
7) Turn away His wrath from us and suspend the punishment of hell: “Much more then having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him”… We no longer have to hear these words from Christ, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt 25:41).
8) Reward us with eternal life (an eternal relationship with Him) in heaven: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:23)… “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city” (Rev 22:14).
9) Fill our life with joy: “We also exult (rejoice) in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Rom 5:11).
God’s offer of blessings far outweighs the $1.5 billion of refunds offered by the IRS! ...
Deadlines and Conditions
Just as the IRS has set an April 18, 2022 deadline for claiming a refund from 2018, so God has set deadlines for claiming His salvation. One deadline is death. “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Heb 9:27). At the judgment seat of Christ, each one will “be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor 5:10). If we have not claimed God’s mercy while we were living, then we will face His justice. Since we have refused to let Christ pay for our sins, they we must pay for our sins ourselves. Because our name is not in the book of life, we will be thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:15).
God has set another deadline that may come before our death, the coming of Jesus. The first time Jesus came to earth He came not to judge the world, but to save it (Jn 12:47). But next time, He will come for judgment. When He comes it will be too late to claim God’s salvation. His offer will be forever forfeited. “The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thess 1:7-9).
The IRS has clearly stated conditions that must be met in order to claim the 2018 refund. The law requires that the return be properly addressed, mailed and postmarked by the due date. If no return is prepared, then no refund will be given. If the return is prepared, properly addressed, but left on the kitchen table, then no refund will be given. If the return is prepared, improperly addressed and mailed to the wrong place, then no refund will be given. If the return is prepared, properly addressed, mailed, and postmarked on April 19, 2022, then no refund will be given.
In order to claim God’s salvation through the blood of Christ, His clearly stated conditions must be met. We must believe that Jesus is Lord and confess the same (Rom 10:9-10). We must also repent and be baptized (Acts 2:38). At the point of baptism, our sins will be washed away (Acts 22:16). In order to be forgiven of sins committed after baptism, we must repent of our sins and confess them to God (Acts 8:22). If we believe, but do not confess, we cannot claim God’s salvation. If we believe and confess, but do not repent of our sins, then we cannot claim God’s salvation. If we believe, confess, and repent, but are not baptized, then we cannot claim God’s salvation. If after baptism, we do not repent of our sins and confess them to God, then we can no longer hold claim to the riches of God’s salvation…
Don’t Let it Pass!
In Indiana alone, an estimated 34,770 taxpayers have not filed their 2018 re-turns on which they could claim an average of $839. Will they file or will they forfeit their money forever? I don’t know, but it seems that the more men put things off, the less likely it is that they will ever do them.
But whether April 18th passes and the IRS keeps $1.5 billion that taxpayers could have claimed is nothing compared to the question of what you do about your soul’s salvation. Your death is coming, maybe sooner than later (Js 4:13-15). Jesus is coming “like a thief in the night” (1 Thess 5:2), so none of us know when that might be. Either way, today could be your deadline for claiming God’s salvation.
God is holding out to you forgiveness, reconciliation and peace with Him, and peace within yourself through a clean conscience. He promises you will no longer see His wrath and hell in your future, but close fellowship with Him both now and forever in heaven. Meanwhile, you can lead a joy-filled life in view of these great blessings.
Do not let this opportunity pass! Do not take a chance on forfeiting God’s blessings forever! Remember that the more you put this off, the less likely it will be that you ever act to claim God’s salvation. Meet God’s conditions of salvation today!
Ways to Connect and Learn
www.woodlandhillschurchofchrist.org
www.thevirtualpulpit.org
tinyurl/whillsyoutube (Livestream, recordings, short videos)
Teleconference of Sunday worship & Wednesday AM and PM Bible study
Dial-in number is 1-917-900-1022; Conference ID is 748- 7068#
Special Series April 10-13
Jesus: Mighty Warrior and King
Speaker: Max Dawson
See Facebook page for details; View on YouTube
Woodland Hills church of Christ
2718 N. Wabash Avenue
Marion, IN 46952
Schedule of Services:
Sunday
Bible Study 9:30 AM
Worship Livestream/phone available 10:30 AM
Wednesday
Bible Study phone available 10:00 AM
Bible Study Livestream/phone available 7:00 PM
Phone: (765) 662-3304
