7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
Hell...Damnation...eternal suffering of the wicked....Judgement Day.... Just bring these topics up in a mixed discussion and see the crowd part like the red sea before the command of Moses. People simply don't believe that a loving, caring God would condemn people to an eternal Hell of suffering. But they forget he is a God of Justice as well as grace.
People still have that thought that they are basically good. That God should be honored to have them in His presense.(even if they entertain such thoughts as there being a God). It is that something is good enough in us that God would welcome us with open arms because we're so wonderful.
One well known so called preacher who lured millions each week to his Crystal Cathedral claimed in 1997 "I'm very proud of who I am. I am innocent. I have not broken a single one of the Ten Commandments. I have not broken any of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and so I'm proud of my faith and message," And that is exactly what he taught. That men need to look within to see their potential for good in that positive kind of way.Scripture, The God-breathed Word says something different. “All have sinned....No one righteous, no not one. All have turned aways and are worthless. No one does good. No not one. Jesus told those who came to hear Him “You being evil.....” For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7:22-23)
In the sight of A Holy, all knowing, Sovereign God, we are seen as filthy, dirty, polluted, defiled. And all our righteous acts are as filthy rags. (Is. 64:5) Thus Paul's words “I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God , nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable._ 1 Cor 15)
The picture painted by Jesus and the Apostles is not a pretty one of the nature of man. It's not that Everyday should be a Friday kind of human centered teaching we hear so much about today. That we should strive to put on our best happy face with our positive hits rumbling in the background. That everything is beautiful in it's own way, La dee da theology, of a congregation of immature miscreants who crave the things of this world, the lusts of their hearts, and boasting of what they have and do.
For Jesus said of such, “They have their reward.” For such bow at the altar of mammon wallowing in their own corrupted pursuits and heap up for themselves teachers who tickle their ears with the lure of material gain, health guaranteed, a life free from pain and suffering and a promise that happiness is God's will for your life. When Scripture says God's will is your sanctification. Your being made Holy. That's unnatural to man. It can't happen without the new birth. Without God reaching down from heaven through His word and transforming the heart of rebellious, sinful creatures such as ourselves.
There is a popular notion today that more is better. Ratings. Numbers. The more the merrier kind of mentality in a Christian motif. More what? More poor, corrupted souls hopping aboard the vehicle of coveteous exploitation through deceptive words for the sake of the monetary enhancement of those whose god is their stomach, whose glory is in their shame ,who set their minds on earthly things and whose end is destruction?
Jesus said that road to destruction is wide. It is littered with the souls of those who convinced themselves that they had good intentions in their decisions. But they did not seek God's guidance. They said our knowledge is superior. Our marketshare can be larger if we just do this or that to attract our clientele.
The Gospel has gotten so watered down, so impotence through self help programs, consultants, and fleshly pursuits that the true meaning has been put away. Locked up. So not to offend.
The church has become like the world. Our separation from God through our inherent evil, sinful corruption-- because we are born in sin and will die in our sins if we don't repent and believe the Gospel--tossed aside at the ash heap of Hell's desolution. Men aren't dead in their trepasses and sins, following the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience and by nature children of God's wrath. (Eph 2) Men just need a better positive outlook of themselves. Their self-esteem needs to be energized. And Jesus is there to cheer them on as they realize their own inherent self-worth and goodness. Step up to the plate. You can do it. Smack a home run for Jesus. He's in the stands cheering you on.
Instead truth is there is nothing good in us to commend ourselves to God. NOTHING! His righteousness must be applied to your account. You must be born from above not of perishable seed, but imperishible through the living and enduring word of God.
There's a story in the Old Testament I love that demonstrates that God deserves all the glory for our salvation and all our works. Gideon was called out by God to defeat the Midianites and the Amalekites to save Israel. But God told Gideon his army was too many, less Israel claim glory for itself. Saying, “my own hand saved me.”
So from an army of 22,000 strong, then lowered to 10,000 and finally to a mere 300 men, God would show that it wasn't the Israelites who secured the victory but God. Then Gideon and His small army went to the outpost of the camp, blew their trumpets in their right hands, carried flaming torches in their left hands, crying out “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!. And the whole Midianite army ran, cried out and fled. And the LORD set every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp. On that day the LORD showed all Israel that indeed he fights for His people and gives them the victory.
It's not in large numbers and the wisdom of this world that people come to the truth to enter into the Kingdom of God. It's through fear of the Lord which is the beginning of knowledge. James said “You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4)
How sad to see courtless numbers of those in churches believing that they can continue in their worldly lusts. Many have heaped up teachers that tell something pleasing and gratifing to satisfy their own liking to tell them exactly what they want to hear and to foster the errors they hold. (2 Tim 4:3)
The Apostles of Christ and Jesus himself didn't mince words when it came to the truth.
Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6)
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (1 Peter 4)
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. (Romans 1)
7 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. (Eph 4)
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2)
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1)
17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? (1 Peter 4)
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, (the depraved and defiled ) abominable, murderers, (lewd and adulterous) sexually immoral, (practicers of magic arts) sorcerers, idolaters(those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God), and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Rev 21)
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
The Apostles of Christ and Jesus himself
didn't mince words when it came to the truth.
And God's people can not either.
For eternity waits for us all.
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