We should make every effort to settle with God before we stand before Him. In Luke 12:58 Jesus said, "As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison." If we are involved in legal disputes and we are accused and guilty, the best thing to do is try to settle outside of court, because if it goes to trial, we will be found guilty and it will be worse for us. In modern day vernacular, it is as though Jesus said, "Do everything you can to settle outside of court, because if you stand before the judge it is not going to go well for you.” The spiritual application: If we wait to get right with God until we stand before him, then it is too late.

https://youtu.be/2IJlFCOLukY

In Luke 12:58 Jesus said we should make every effort to settle with God before we stand before Him on Judgment Day. Otherwise, it is too late.

Table of contentsFamily Worship Guide for Make Every Effort to Settle with GodSermon Notes for Family Worship Guide for Make Every Effort to Settle with God Lesson One: We should be more interested in spiritual matters than earthly matters.Lesson Two: Make every effort to settle with God before standing before him.Lesson Three: People can’t settle their debt in hell.Lesson Four: Only Christ can pay our debt.

Family Worship Guide for Make Every Effort to Settle with God

Directions: Read the verses and then answer the questions:

Day 1: Luke 12:54-56—What rebuke did Jesus have for the Jews in his day? Why do you think the Jews were unable to interpret the present time? What are you most interested in? What are you most knowledgeable about? After answering these questions do you think you’re more interested in earthly or spiritual matters?Day 2: Luke 12:57-58, Revelation 12:10, Job 1:8-11, 2:3-5, John 8:44, Luke 13:34-35—What does the devil’s name mean? How does he live up to this name? What does it mean to settle with God? Why should we make every effort to do so? Explain Jesus’s second illustration in your own words.Day 3: Luke 12:59, Matthew 25:46, 2 Thessalonians 1:9, Revelation 14:11, Mark 9:48, John 5:29, Acts 24:15, Matthew 6:12, 18:23-27, 1 John 2:1—What did you learn about hell from those verses? Describe our debt. What makes it different than a financial debt? What can’t we do about this debt? What can we do about this debt? What does it mean that Jesus is our advocate?

Sermon Notes for Family Worship Guide for Make Every Effort to Settle with God

The title of this morning’s sermon is, “Make Every Effort to Settle with God.”

I like preaching verse by verse, but one thing we need to be cautious of is taking sections in chunks and looking at them independently of the passages around them. So, it’s a good idea as we go verse-by-verse to consider the context:

Look back at verses 35 through 40. You probably have a heading in your Bible for this section. Something about Christ’s return. Jesus is telling the crowds that we must be ready.Then in verses 41 through 48 he talks about faithful servants who are ready when he returns and how they will be blessed, and unfaithful servants who are not ready when he returns and how they will be punished.In verses 49 through 53, which we covered last week, he talks about the purpose of his coming, but it’s not exactly like we tend to think. He says in verse 51, “Don’t think that I have come to give peace. Instead, I came to bring division.” How do we explain this when we know other verses teach that Jesus brought peace? He came to bring peace between God and man, but this can create division between man and man.

Then he follows up with this morning’s verses about discerning the time. He uses two illustrations that stress the importance of discernment and diligence in spiritual matters. The two illustrations are:

First, discerning the weatherSecond, diligence in settling lawsuits.