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They Sow The Wind And Reap The Whirlwind
Ezekiel 12:21-28 -- The word of the LORD came to me:
"Son of man, what is this proverb you have heard in the land of Israel:
'The days go by and every vision comes to nothing'? Say to them,
'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to put an end to
this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.' Say to
them, 'The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled. For
there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations among the
people of Israel. But I the LORD will speak what I will, and it shall
be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious house,
I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign LORD.'"
The word of the LORD came to me:
"Son of man, the house of Israel is saying, 'The vision he sees is for
many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.'" "Therefore say to them, 'This is what
the Sovereign LORD says: None of My words will be delayed any longer;
whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign LORD.'" (NIV)
One of the most damning lies of liberalism, accepted even in many
quarters of professing Christendom, is the belief in universal salvation.
A doctrine found nowhere in all of Scripture, it affords many a false sense
of security, while preventing them from accepting the true gospel of Christ.
Matthew 7:13-14 -- (Jesus speaking) "Enter by the narrow gate; for
wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there
are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult
is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."
Luke 13:23-25 -- Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there
few who are saved?" And He said to them, "Strive to enter
through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and
will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up
and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door,
saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I
do not know you, where you are from.'"
From these passages it is clear the Lord Jesus never condoned
the heretical teaching of universal salvation. To the contrary, He
is here quoted as saying "many" will
enter through the gate that leads to "destruction",
while only a "few" will find salvation.
The words of John the Baptist, as recorded in the third chapter
of Luke, relate that the Messiah is coming -- "His
winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing
floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with
unquenchable fire." (Luke 3:17) Likewise, the thirteenth
chapter of Matthew records the words of the Lord, in speaking of the endtime
harvest where the wheat is gathered into His barn, but the weeds tied into
bundles and burned (chiefly Matthew 13:30).
Matthew 13:41-42 -- (Jesus speaking) "The Son of Man will send out His angels,
and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those
who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire.
There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 13:49-50 -- (Jesus speaking)
"So it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and
cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing
of teeth."
That "wailing
and gnashing of teeth" business
isn't exactly conducive to the theory of a universal salvation of mankind.
And, this isn't the only time Christ employed such language (see Matthew
8:12, 22:13, 25:30, Luke 13:28).
Matthew 24:50-51 -- (Jesus speaking) "...the master of that servant will
come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is
not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with
the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
So much for the wimpy, turn-a-deaf-ear-and-blind-eye-to-sin Jesus
of liberal lore. And, for those who falsely believe the language
utilized here is in some way exaggerated, I refer to such phrases as "the
fire of hell", "eternal fire"
and "hell, where the fire never goes out",
spoken by the Lord, as recorded in Matthew 5:22, 18:8-9, Mark 9:43-48.
Revelation 20:15 -- And anyone not found written in the
Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
And, to all who insist such punishment is merely temporary in
nature, I urge them to take particular note of the word "eternal" as
used by Jesus in both Matthew 18:8 and 25:46. It is the Greek word
aionios,
meaning perpetual,
everlasting
or eternal.
Hebrews 10:28-31 -- Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies
without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how
much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has
trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by
which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord.
And again, "The LORD will judge His people." It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God.
"But how can God do that to us? I thought God was loving,
compassionate and merciful?" God is loving, compassionate
and merciful, but as evidenced throughout the entire Scriptures, He is
also holy and just, and will not acquit
the guilty. If any doubt this, they need only look at Deuteronomy
28:15-68 to see what God would do to His own cherished Israel if they forsook
and disobeyed Him. It is only through repentance of sin, by grace
through faith in the shed blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, that we can
find mercy at the judgment seat of a holy and righteous God. All
who refuse to acknowledge their sin, repent and receive the forgiveness
of sins purchased not through anything we've done, but through the sacrificial
work of the Messiah, will be cast into eternal fire with no one to blame
but themselves.
Isaiah 66:3-4 -- (the LORD speaking) "Just as they have chosen their own
ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So will I choose their
delusions, And bring their fears on them; Because, when I called,
no one answered, When I spoke they did not hear; But they did evil before
My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight."
Jeremiah 2:19 -- (the LORD speaking) "Your own wickedness will correct you,
And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that
it is an evil and bitter thing That you have forsaken the LORD your God,
And the fear of Me is not in you," Says the Lord GOD of hosts.
Isaiah 3:9 -- The look on their countenance witnesses
against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide
it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves.
Proverbs 29:1 -- He who is often rebuked, and hardens
his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
It is clear from these passages that all judgment and punishment
is our own fault. We've chosen our own ways and must give account
for them. Final responsibility and accountability will lie with the
offender, despite liberal protestations to the contrary.
"But, there's always tomorrow." It is the
favorite excuse given by those not choosing to repent today. "There's
no hurry for salvation." "It isn't convenient today." To declare
such is to tread the thinnest ice above the abyss of eternal destruction,
for the time we have is uncertain. While, for some, there may yet
be decades, for others it may only be minutes before they find themselves
facing the God they've forsaken and denied. For the grace and mercy
of our just and holy God will not be extended forever. He will tolerate
our sinful disobedience for only so long and then all opportunity for salvation
will be erased.
Jeremiah 14:11-12 -- Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray
for this people, for their good. When they fast, I will not
hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering,
I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by
the famine, and by the pestilence."
Jeremiah 15:1-2 -- Then the LORD said to me, "Even if Moses
and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this
people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. And
it shall be, if they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you shall
tell them, 'Thus says the LORD:'" "'Such as are for death, to death;
And such as are for the sword, to the sword; And such as are for
the famine, to the famine; And such as are for the captivity, to
the captivity.'"
Jeremiah 15:6-7 -- "You have forsaken Me," says the LORD,
"You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against
you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting! And I will bereave
them of children; I will destroy My people, Since they do not return
from their ways."
These words of the LORD God, as spoken to the prophet Jeremiah
concerning the sins of Israel, portray an aspect of God's character most
would prefer to ignore -- for they indicate a limit to His patience.
Judgment will not be deferred indefinitely. Wrath will be poured
out, without mercy on all who are disobedient and refuse the LORD'S salvation.
Deuteronomy 7:9-10 -- Therefore know that the LORD your God,
He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand
generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and
He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will
not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.
Deuteronomy 32:39-41 -- (the LORD speaking) "See now that I Myself am He!
There is no god besides Me. I put to death and I bring to life, I
have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of My hand.
I lift My hand to heaven and declare: As surely as
I live forever, when I sharpen My flashing sword and My hand grasps it
in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who
hate Me."
(NIV)
Micah 5:15 -- (the LORD speaking) "And I will execute vengeance in anger
and fury On the nations that have not heard."
Nahum 1:2-3 -- The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes
vengeance on His foes and maintains His wrath against His enemies.
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave
the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds
are the dust of His feet. (NIV) II Thessalonians 1:6-10 --
...since it is a righteous thing with
God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who
are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with
His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not
know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in the Day,
to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe,
because our testimony among you was believed.
The LORD will not leave the guilty
unpunished. God is just. They are sentiments
echoed throughout the whole of Scripture. The LORD God will take
vengeance on His adversaries and repay those who hate Him.
Isaiah 66:24 -- (the LORD speaking) "And they will go out and look upon
the dead bodies of those who rebelled against Me; their worm will
not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to
all mankind."
The words of the LORD God, which here close the book of Isaiah
on this note of somber warning, nowhere endorse the folly of universal
salvation. Contrarily, the Scripture speaks throughout of the destruction
of the earth and the eternal punishment of the wicked who refuse to repent
and accept the salvation of the LORD.
Isaiah 24:1-3 -- Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty
and makes it waste, Distorts its surface And scatters abroad its inhabitants.
And it shall be: As with the people, so with the priest; As
with the servant, so with his master; As with the maid, so
with her mistress; As with the buyer, so with the seller; As
with the lender, so with the borrower; As with the creditor, so with
the debtor. The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, For
the LORD has spoken this word.
Zephaniah 1:2-3 -- (the LORD speaking)
"I will utterly consume everything From
the face of the land," Says the LORD; "I will consume man and beast;
I will consume the birds of the heavens, The fish of the sea, And the stumbling
blocks along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land,"
Says the LORD.
It is difficult to imagine how liberals deal with passages such
as these, reconciling them with their belief that God will somehow graciously
"overlook" all sin and rebellion against Him, treating everyone as if nothing
at all was ever amiss. For if they choose to simply dismiss these
passages, they must then dismiss all of Scripture, and indeed all of Christianity,
for the whole of Scripture unifiably proclaims the coming of God's wrath
on the unrepentant, and the final destruction of the earth as judgment
for sin.
Isaiah 24:5-6 -- The earth is also defiled under its
inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured
the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants
of the earth are burned, And few men are left.
Zephaniah 1:17-18 -- (the LORD speaking) "I will bring distress upon men, And
they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD;
Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse."
Neither their silver nor their gold Shall
be able to deliver them In the day of the LORD'S wrath; But the whole
land shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy
riddance Of all those who dwell in the land.
Isaiah 24:19-20 -- The earth is violently broken, The earth
is split open, The earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel
to and fro like a drunkard, And shall totter like a hut; Its transgression
shall be heavy upon it, And it will fall, and not rise again.
Of the new, heavenly Jerusalem, the Apostle John wrote: Nothing
impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or
deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of
life.(Revelation 21:27)(NIV) Hardly a confirmation
of universal salvation, the above passage underscores that only those cleansed
by the blood of the Lamb will be allowed to enter the New Jerusalem. "But
the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral,
those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars -- their place
will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." (Revelation
21:8)(NIV)
Revelation 20:15 -- And anyone not found written in the
Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
How can one escape such terrible and everlasting torment at the
hand of our just and holy God? As the prophet Zephaniah adjures:
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what He commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the LORD'S anger.(Zephaniah 2:3) (NIV) Likewise,
the prophet Joel admonishes a return to the LORD:
And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.
(Joel 2:32)
Joel 2:12-13 -- "Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn
to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning."
So rend your heart, and your garments; Return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
The word of God declares that all who resist the LORD God will
endure eternal punishment. For those who die in their sins, uncleansed
by the blood of the Lamb, there is no second chance, no acquittal, no suspension
of sentence, leniency or parole. They "will
be thrown outside into darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth" (Matthew 8:12)(NIV) -- "where
the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched". (Mark 9:48)(NIV)
But for those who turn to God in repentance, and by grace through faith,
receive forgiveness of sins through the shed blood of the Messiah, Jesus
our Lord, there will be life eternal.
Isaiah 51:7-8 -- (the LORD speaking) "Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people in whose heart is My law: Do not fear the reproach of
men, Nor be afraid of their insults. For the moth will eat them up
like a garment, And the worm will eat them like wool; But My righteousness
will be forever, And My salvation from generation to generation."
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