What I Really Meant to Say

Hebrews 9:27

English Standard Version (ESV)

²⁷ And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes love,

Now it doesn't take an expert in theology or hermeneutics to recognize what is wrong in the above scripture. But for the sake of those who are young in the faith, I'll give you a few more seconds....

Got it yet? Of course you do! Judgment has been replaced by the word love. That little four letter word makes all the difference in the world in that verse. Wouldn't it be great to die and then just be loved? Unfortunately, God's Word does, in fact say judgment in Hebrews 9:27. The Greek word used here is krisis. It means: decision(subjectively or objectively, for or against);by extension, a tribunal; by implication, justice(especially divine law):-accusation, condemnation, damnation, judgment.

No love to be found in this verse no matter how much we want it to be there. R.C. Sproul has a great quote. “You are required to believe, to preach, and to teach what the Bible says is true, not what you want the Bible to say is true.” Why all the fuss you might ask? Well more and more the gospel message is being watered down with a "love only" message and a "Love Wins" mindset. This dangerous line of thinking erases words like judgment and hell from peoples thoughts, cares, and fears. Granted, many get carried away with wrath and judgment, all the while ignoring love and grace. Of course there has to be a balance. But listen, if your child is running towards a speeding bus, you will not calmly say "Stop. We love you. Come back to us." I hope that you would run, frantically screaming, warning the child about the bus and their imminent death. I would. Charles Spurgeon said, "If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."

And that's what we have to do with lost sinners. Implore them, warn them, pray for them. There is no reason to run from love to love. There is plenty of reason to run from judgment under the Law of God into the loving arms of Jesus Christ however. Let's look at another commonly overlooked verse in the gospel of John. See how fast you can spot the error.

John 3:36

English Standard Version (ESV)

³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the love of God remains on him.

The love of God does not remain on an unregenerate sinner no matter how much we want to believe that. The verse actually says that it is God's wrath that remains. How the church body has gotten so far away from the actual message is beyond me. We broke God's Law, Jesus paid our fine. False gospels abound in spite of the actual biblical message. Yet none of these false gospels do anyone any good for they are no gospel at all(Galatians 1:5-7). If we go around not giving people the whole story, we are no better than the cults, who by the way, are way more obedient to spreading their news than the church is of sharing the good news of Jesus.

People love themselves enough to last them a lifetime. It's part of our fallen state. To reinforce that they are loved by God in their current condition could only serve to uphold their own self-righteousness. Sinners need to be brought to conviction under God's Law so that they will be humbled and broken by their sin. They need to see their need for a Savior. They need a reason to run. Telling them that God loves them the way they are encourages them to nestle comfortably in their sin. It allows them to continue enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. If they die in that sin, whether we want God's Word to say it or not, these sinners will end up in Hell. For an eternity they get to think about the person who told them that God loved them as they burn continually. Wow. What a thought huh? We don't have a lot of time on this Earth. For the glory of God, let's at least get the gospel right while we are here. The bus is coming. It's out of control. The child is running. Your choice. Tell him he's loved or tell him he's about to die an awful death. Think about it.

Hebrews 9:27

English Standard Version (ESV)

²⁷ And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,

Short but Sweet

Judging someone and warning someone about future Judgment, not the same thing.

Hebrews 9:27 (New International Version)

²⁷Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,

Letter to an Unsaved Friend or Family Member

Dear_________,


I am writing to ask your forgiveness for something you didn't know that I did. More specifically, something that I did not do. A while back I learned a truth that I should have immediately shared with you. Instead, I held on to this truth like it was mine and mine alone. In doing so, it must have seemed like I was just weird now and maybe that I didn't love you as much as I did before I believed. The exact opposite of that is true. I love you more now that I actually know how to love but I just didn't know how to share it or even that I was supposed to. Now it seems too much time has passed for me to open up to you without being an emotional wreck so I'm writing to you now. The truth I am talking about is Jesus. Now you may be thinking, "I'm a good person, why would I need Jesus?" And the truth is, you are a good person-compared to the world. But if any of us were good enough to make it to Heaven, then Jesus would not have had to die for the sins of the world. Think of a sheep on green grass. He looks pretty clean and white. That would be like comparing yourself to the world. Now you take the same sheep and put him on a blanket of snow, the snow being God's Law or the 10 Commandments. Now that same sheep looks dirty and not white at all. So I write to you to ask you to think about the 10 Commandments and how you would stack up against them on Judgment Day. If you've lied, or stolen anything, or used God's name as a cuss word you will be guilty on that day and that's only three of the 10 Commandments. The Bible says that all liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire, no thief will inherit the Kingdom of God, and that God will not hold anyone blameless who misuses His name. We still haven't looked at hatred which is like murder and lust which is like adultery according to Jesus. Maybe you're only guilty of lying. The Bible says in the book of James that "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." The punishment for breaking God's Law isn't a Christ-less eternity or eternal separation from God, it's Hell. You may be thinking to yourself by now, well who hasn't done all of these things and that there's probably hypocrites within the church that still break these laws. True. But the standard is God's Law, not other people. I want you to know what God did for you. Imagine for a minute that there were no excuses-no hypocrites, no church, and no religions. It was just you and God's inerrant Word. Here's what it says. That Jesus, who lived a perfect life, died on the cross for your sins-every lie, theft and lustful look. He rose from the dead three days later, defeating death. If you repent and put your faith and trust in Him you will have everlasting life. Maybe you believe in God. The Bible tells us that even the demons believe in God. Belief isn't enough. Will belief in a parachute save you? No, only putting it on and using it is what will save you. The Bible says "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ." I've shared every other dumb thing I've done in my life but this treasure I kept to myself. This is the message I should have shared with you the minute I found out just like in the Gospel of John. Chapter 1:41 says "The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ)." So please forgive me and please consider the message I've just shared with you. It is so important. Judgment Day may not be some far off day. We may not have time to live like we want now and repent when we get older because we don't know when it will be our turn to go. If you have any questions please call me. I hope to talk with you real soon.


Love,

______________

Are you preparing people for the reality of judgment day and Hell or just being nice to them until you go to Heaven???

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about witnessing. Specifically one type of witnessing that the more I go in my walk seems really ineffective in a number of ways. This is lifestyle witnessing. This is the hope that someone will see what you do and because of your friendship and the way you live they will accept Christ. Of course it is great to lead a life worthy of the calling but to think that your life will be the light that leads others to Christ seems somewhat arrogant to me. I mean, Jesus wasn’t Christian enough for these people to follow him. What makes you think that the way you live will make the difference? Besides this, what if they leave your house, your nice clean house filled with people who were just really nice to them, and get in a horrific accident? What if this happened and they never knew that their sins separated them from God and that they would go to hell apart from Jesus. All they knew was that hey this Christian guy is pretty nice. Make sure we talk to people about sin, forgiveness, Heaven and Hell. Make sure they know how they’ve broken the God’s law and then that Jesus paid the fine for them. Take them through the 10 commandments. Remember Paul said in Romans 7 that he did not know sin but by the law. And again this is not to say don’t be a nice person and let your light shine. I'm saying on top of that, let your friend know the urgency of the Gospel message first and foremost because we don’t know when its our turn to go.
Taken from DiGvotional 14