Hearing about all the ISIS persecution, it has hit me now more than ever that soon in America to profess to be a Christian will come with some severe consequences. I wonder how many of the self-proclaimed, church-going "Christians" today will boldly proclaim that as their identity tomorrow if doing so meant they would be beheaded or crucified? There is coming a day in this nation when the title, Christian, will no longer be able to be tossed about flippantly and it will certainly come with a cost. Will you be ready on that day, grounded on your faith? Or will you crumble in the sand of self-gratification, universalism, and justifying your sin; ultimately trampling the Son of God underfoot, treating the blood of his covenant unholy, and insulting the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29)?
Oh, how my heart cries out this morning for my friends who have forgotten their first Love. I have seen them hunger and thirst for Righteousness, I have seen their heart's broken over their need for a Savior but the pleasures of this world, the sin that Satan makes seem so enjoyable has taken their heart. They have clouded the Truth of what it means to be a follower of Christ with garbage that the world tells them is "Christian." Compromise after compromise, their hearts have become hardened.
Oh, God. Rectify them! Save them! Wake them up! Show them that they have closed their eyes to your Light.
I was talking with Brittany Nettles last night about a lot of this. We got on the subject of hell and how it is hard to wrap our minds around the reality of it. We talked about how we do not weep for the lost as we should and part of that is due to the fact that we don't truly understand how torturous hell will be.
I listened to this sermon on hell by David Wilkerson this morning: Where Will You Go?
Here are some excerpts and gatherings from this sermon:
If hell doesn't exist (as many claim today that it does not), why is it a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God? - Hebrews 10:31
For those that are in hell, they are not in the devil's hands, but in God's hands. Hell is Satan's punishment also.
We sometimes will see God as a bad guy in this. We picture these souls being thrown into hell crying out in repentance and asking God to forgive them. However, the Word of God shows this is not the case:
We see in Revelation 16 that God has angels that he appoints to pour out his wrath on the earth. There are seven angels, each with seven different bowls of wrath.
The first is a plague of ugly, festering sores that breaks out on all the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
The second is the sea turning into blood and everything living in it dies.
The third is the rivers and springs of water all turning to blood.
The fourth is God allowing the sun to scorch people with fire. They were seared by intense heat.
The fifth is the kingdom and throne of the beast being plunged into darkness where the people gnawed on their tongues in agony.
The sixth is the river of Euphrates drying up to prepare the way of the kings of the East.
The seventh is flashes of lightning, thunder, a severe earthquake, and huge hailstones weighing a hundred pounds.
That's intense. You would think these people with the mark of the beast would cry out for God to save them.....
After the fourth plague, Scripture states "but they refused to repent and glorify him."
After the fifth plague, Scripture states "and (they) cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done."
After the seventh and final plague, Scripture states "And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible."
Not only are these people not repenting or glorifying God, but they are CURSING Him!
Wake up, friends! Do not be deceived by the beast by being captivated by the world. There will come a day when God's wrath (exactly as mentioned above) will come upon you if you deliberately keep on sinning (Hebrews 10:26-27).
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