There are those who disparage believers who preach of fire and brimstone, eternal torment, the blackness of darkness forever, everlasting punishment and absence from the presence of God and the glory of His power to all those who do not believe in the only name under heaven by which anyone can be saved. The way, the truth and the life Jesus the Christ.
They are those Who cringe if The FEAR of the LORD is mentioned...... To those I strongly disagree. To not speak of these things is to deny the importance and absolute necessity of Jesus sacrifice on the cross. Fear of the Lord invigorates the senses...fear starts the thinking processes to percolate. Jesus Himself said, "Do not fear those who can kill the body but fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell."
We have this oggy googy if it feels good , raise your hands, roll on the floor and bark kind of Christianity today. There are false prophets and teachers writing worthless nonsense about God's best for your life. Never approaching the doctrine of sin and the effects and consequences of transgressing what God calls inquity.
God's best for every Christians life is that you we be Holy as He is Holy. God said this and means it. Jesus, God's One and Only Son said " You must be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect." No one filled that bill except the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God. The Word who became flesh and dwelt (literally tabernacled) among us. Jesus humbled Himself in a physical body and came into time and space to save "his people: from their sins. And it is God himself who must put that desire to know Him in a persons heart. For each and every person is dead in their trespasses and sins, following the course of this sinful world, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedince and are by nature Children of Gods wrath. (Eph 2:1-5)
And it is God who must instigate that new birth in a persons life. To have faith to believe, repent and obey. Saying a prayer without the changed heart, for the ability to do so, doesn't save anyone. If there's no regeneration, no changing of a cold dead heart, then there is no real confession and no real repentence.
I have heard Christians so called say, "they have fire insurance." Meaning by saying the prayer, they're kept from hell. If there is one. (for many just don't believe there is) Yet there are people who say a prayer and everything continues as it was in their life. No real conviction of sin. A shallow repentence. That is very dangerous. For it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For our God is a consuming fire.
They argue "But God is a God of love who wouldn't send anyone to hell (if there is one). God is love. Yes, that is why He sent His Son, Jesus into the world. But remember first and foremost God is Holy. Sin, any sin will have no place in his kingdom. And sin is what the human race is full of. It is called the works of the flesh.
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, (sex with another mans wife or another woman or someone other than one's wife) fornication, (sexual contact with anyone if not married. Heterosexual or homosexual) uncleanness,(impurity) lewdness, (unlawful indulgence of lust; in Scripture mainly applies to...) idolatry, (craving, wanting, enjoying, being satisfied by anything that you treasure more than God... you revere a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc..) sorcery, ( the word in the New testament is pharmakeia.....from which we get our english word "pharmacy." and denotes drugs used in casting spells....Those abusing drugs then are practicing sorcery) hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-22)
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10)
Do not love the world [of sin that opposes God and His precepts], or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life [pretentious confidence in one’s resources or in the stability of earthly things] —comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires [its lusts and the shameful pursuits and ungodly longings]; pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17AMP)
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, 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. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles (pagans unbelievers)—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 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. They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (1 Peter 4:1-5)
Yes God is love, I experience that every single day. His provision, His care, the knowledge of His Holy Word. But there are those who say they believe and act as though it really doesn't matter how they live. It's "Sin- sure" rather than "Sin No More." We don't contemplate the enormity of our fallenness. How wretched we are in the sight of a Holy, Righteous, Pure and Perfect God. And the eternal penalty that awaits those who are not born of God....Who are not His people....born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God. (John 1:13)
His love demanded that death of a pure and perfect human being and only One, the very Son of God was capable of paying for the sin of the world. Jesus Christ made Himself of no reputation, took on the form of a bondservant, and came in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Phil 2:7-8) No woman born Son of Adam, tainted, corrupt, impure, in their fallen state could qualify. For sins inheritance is our lot. And we are that bad. That lost.
Jesus Himself said, without me, you can do nothing. No good works can be credited to our account as worthy of allowing us entrance into the kingdom of God. We must be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect. Only One was and is. Jesus the Christ in whom God said, "this is my beloved Son. In who I am well pleased. Listen to Him." One way, One Truth, One life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6)
As For a Christians life. It is as Jesus Himself said to His disciples: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
God is serious about sin. God knows us, our nature. Nothing is hidden from His sight....As Jesus said "What comes out of a person, that defiles a person. For from within, out of the heart of each person, 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 person.”(Mark 7:20-23)
All of us need a heart change. It is God who reaches down from out of heaven and ignites a persons desire for Him in their heart. God's word takes on a new and significant meaning. A person then longs to trust and obey. "For if anyone is in Christ Jesus they are a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold all things have become new." (2 Cor 5:17)
Not that we won't continue to struggle with certain sins and temptations. Everyone has them. Paul the blessed apostle said what I want to do I do not do but what I hate to do in Romans 7. Our most treasured desire should be to please the One who gave us new life here and now and with Him in His Kingdom to come. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen. But on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:18)
Our lives on planet earth are but a mist, a vapor that appears for a time then vanishes away." (James 4:14) But eternity is forever. You will spend it in one of two places. Through faith, belief, trust and obedience through Jesus the Christ. One's citizenship is in heaven, and the Kingdom of God awaits all His people.
For the unbelievers, those who refuse to believe, the disobedient and enemies of God. What awaits them is a a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. (Heb. 10:27) And as Jesus said of the Son of perdition, the betrayer of the savior in the flesh, "it would have been better if he had not been born." (Matthew 26:24) For it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
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