Monday, November
19, 2018
Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only the terrible expectation of God’s judgment and the raging fire that will consume his enemies. For anyone who refused to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. For we know the one who said, “I will take revenge. I will pay them back.” He also said, “The Lord will judge his own people.” It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31(NLT)
Most pastors I know have favorite
passages of Scripture they love to preach.
We love to preach about how God loves the entire world, how everyone is
welcome at the table. We love to preach
about Heaven and reunion with loved ones.
And then there’s this passage … sinning
past forgiveness … raging fire of judgment … trampling on the Son of God …
falling into the vengeful hands of Almighty God. It’s a message no pastor wants to preach, and
which no congregation wants to hear. But
there it is, nonetheless! And if a
preacher would hide this message, stuff it away in some bin of stuff to be
dealt with later, that so-called minister is as bad as a parent who wouldn’t
snatch his child off the railroad tracks, or out of traffic.
This past Thursday’s local news[2] told
of a Greensboro man who was supposed to be watching his three-year-old son
while his wife was at work. He fell
asleep and the boy wandered out in the cold.
The father was arrested and charged with child abuse.
If a man who treats the physical life
and emotional well-being of a child, his own child, as recklessly as that is
despicable, what is a pastor who doesn’t tell people the truth about eternity …
about the danger of wandering with their souls in darkness?
The writer of Hebrews was never in
danger of being contacted by Hallmark to use his story for one of their feel-good
movies, but this is a message the world can hardly afford to miss; it takes the
feel-good passage of John 3:16 where God so-loves all of us, that he gave his
only son to die in our place … and follows up with this message that, since you’ve
accepted that truth, been forgiven, and welcomed into God’s family, you’d
better follow-up and live like it – or there will be dire consequences.
Now, that may sound like a
wide-eyed, furious threat, but it is simply a well-reasoned, loving caution, a
warning from common sense that says when you bear the family name it is
expected that you will behave like you are really a member of the family!
Friends, there is no other way to
put this; God’s forgiveness is durable, and when He forgives you, it is
forever! But that does not mean you
cannot willingly turn your back on that forgiveness, trample on God’s gift of
salvation, and offend God. Frankly, no
human being owns that kind of Get-Out-of-Jail-Free Card!
The reason why I get up early
every day to write this devotion is to remind any of us who want to be helped,
that, while we can never repay God for the free gift
of salvation, we do have a responsibility to live in gratitude
for such a magnificent gift.
Nobody really wanted our dogs, Wellie
and Gracie. We adopted them into our
home, and they get free room and board.
They are bathed, fed, protected, played-with, and cost millions of
dollars at the vet each year. Neither of
them writes us thank-you notes or worships the ground we walk on. But every day we see expressions of
happiness, love and joy as we live together.
They engage with the Brownworth household, and act like they’re family.
Sometimes I think my dogs know how
to respond to love much better than I do.
For You Today
So … the reminder every pastor dreads having to give: if you’re a believer, don’t grieve the Spirit,
or trample on the blood of Christ; He is a living God whose anger is fierce and
final!
Rather, go close, stay in love with the Lord and His people. That is the way to fall into
the hands of a loving God!
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