Right In Their Own Eyes/There Is Nothing New Under The Sun

                                                                 

 The phrase "everyone did what was right in their own eyes" appears in the book of Judges in the Bible. It refers to a time when the Israelites were falling away from God into the worship of idols. The phrase is repeated twice in the book, in Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:2512.The Israelites were doing what they thought was right, but this led to God delivering Israel into the hands of foreign oppressors.

Today there are groups in this country  that believe that how they feel is what they are. And they do everything in their warped minds to  foist this rancid ideology and personal pronouns upon a wary populace. God is not the author of confusion. Biological fact, rational physicality and DNA  are thrown into the waste bin of scienctific evidence not comforming to politically correct dogma. How you feel is what you are. It's all about feelings. The Bible has something to say about that.

                                                

                                                                                                                                                               "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." Who can know it. (Jeremiah 17:9)The heart in scripture represents the core of our being. It includes our thoughts, emotions, desires and intentions. It is a person's center for both physical and emotional-intellectrual-moral activities. Proverbs 23:7 says "As a person thinks so they are." And being the fallen, corrupt, haters of God that we are, our very nature is inclined to evil.  The old adage being "we are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. We are born that way." We are  actually skewed to our feelings and without the guidence of God, through His word, our fallen nature takes precedence over what God has said and we become in essence our own god. An idol to self with our satisfaction and pleasure having supremacy over what we determine is good and right in our own eyes. The mantra of the 60's hippie lives today, "if it feels good do it." A mantra the leads one down that broad road to destruction. (Matt 7:13-14)                                                    

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) Sounds rather bleak if we stop there. But the apostle continues with hope and encouragement to the congregation in Corinth with: But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.                                                

                                                   

There is hope...there is freedom from the flames of a Christless eternity that await the wicked. Those dead in their tresspasses and sin. Those following the course of this world. The prince of the power of the air that works in the sons of disobedience. And are by nature children of God's wrath. BUT  if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. You will be saved. Saved from what you might ask. Saved  from an eternity spent absent from the presence of God and the glory of His power. An eternity spent along with the devil and his angels (messengers)  (Eph.2:1-5; Rom. 10:9)   

                                                      

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Cor. 4:4) It may be a shock to you that the Apostle calls that serpent of old, the devil, satan the god of this age. But when you look at what John said in his first epistle 5 verse 19 "The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" Its truth springs to life. He is the one who prowls around like a roaring  lion seeking whom he may devour. The devil hates God's creation. Hates mankind-men, women and children. And wants everyone to suffer the same fate as he himself has and will suffer for an eternity. His goal is to keep everyone from hearing and believing the Gospel. The Good News. To keep them enthalled with the things of this world and forget that they too will one day die and be judged without the only name under heaven by which anyone is saved. (Acts 4:12)  For it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:31)  

                                                             

Proverbs 14:12 tells us There is a way which seems right to a person, But its end is the way of death." Not only a physical death, which will come to us all, but most importantly a spiritual death. A separation from the presence of God and the glory of His power. For an eternity. As 2 Thess chapter 1 says "these shall be punished with an everlasting  punishment."  An eternity spent in what Jesus Christ describes in  Matthew 25:41 - Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (NOTE: reformer Martin Luther made comment  that the word used for angels also has the meaning of "messengers." As to the word "angels" Barnes comments "His angels - His messengers, his servants, or those angels that he drew off from heaven by his rebellion, and whom he has employed as his "messengers" to do evil. The word may extend also to all his followers - fallen angels or people."

Those preaching a message without the importance of Jesus Christ, as the Way, Truth and Life....as the divine eternal savior and second person of the triune Godhead (Father, Son and Holy spirit)  

****Barnes Notes on the Bible makes this observation: Those who will be punished called "The cursed" - That is, you who are devoted to destruction, whose characters deserve everlasting punishment, and who are about to enter into it. "To curse" is the opposite of "to bless." It implies a negation of all the blessings of heaven, and a positive infliction of eternal sufferings.

Everlasting fire - "Fire," here, is used to denote punishment. The image is employed to express extreme suffering, as a death by burning is one of the most horrible that can be conceived. The image was taken, probably, from the fires burning in the Valley of Hinnom. It has been asked whether the wicked will be burned in literal fire, and the common impression has been that they will be. Respecting that, however, it is to be observed:

1. that the main truth intended to be taught refers not to the manner of suffering, but to the certainty and intensity of it.

2. that the design, therefore, was to present an image of terrific and appalling suffering - an image well represented by fire

3. that this image was well known to the Jews Isaiah 66:24, and therefore expressed the idea in a very strong manner.

4. that all the truth that Christ intended to convey appears to be expressed in the certainty, intensity, and eternity of future torment.

5. that there is no distinct affirmation respecting the mode of that punishment, where the mode was the subject of discourse.

6. that to us it is a subject of comparatively little consequence what will be the mode of punishment.****

All Scripture is God Breathed, ( holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.)  and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equiped for every good work.....(2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21)

Jesus stressed that he was the apex and focus of all of Scripture....  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matt. 5:17) He always did what His father commanded. And scripture tells us "we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet He did not sin."(Heb. 4:15)

The fact that the wicked will be eternally punished, cursed of God, should awe us, and lead every single person to strive most earnestly to secure their  salvation.

                                                             

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.  For He says:“In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. ((Rom. 10:9; John 1:12; Rom. 10:10; 2 Cor 6:1-2)

****(Barnes Notes On The Bible ....Albert Barnes (December 1, 1798 – December 24, 1870) was an American theologian, clergyman, abolitionist, temperance advocate, and author. Barnes is best known for his extensive Bible commentary and notes on the Old and New Testaments, published in a total of 14 volumes in the 1830s.