Heb. 10.31 – “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

I must admit that this piece is unusual for me. Although I believe in the seriousness of every topic I present, rarely do I deal with such a powerfully negative aspect of Scripture. The issue, long ignored or dismissed by many religious thinkers (including many who claim to be Christians), concerns the eternal fate of those who rebel against God’s will in this life and die in their sins. Jesus preached a message of mercy and love, it is true, but He also preached an extremely frightening message of punishment for those who reject Him.

Luke 12.5 – “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”

The Greek word rendered “hell” in newer translations (i.e., not the KJV) comes from γεέννα (often anglicized to Gehenna), which was the name of a valley just outside Jerusalem. In the days of the Judean kingdom idolatrous kings had sacrificed there; near the end, however, Josiah defiled the valley and prevented the people from using it in idolatry. By Jesus’ time, the valley was used as a trash heap, full of foul smoke and continual flame. As such it provided a vivid picture to His audience when He spoke of the punishment God could bring on the unrighteous. In fact, of the multiple occurrences of γεέννα in the New Testament, Jesus’ direct words are quoted in every instance save one (Jas. 3.6). This is not to say that other writers have avoided similar sentiments, but I wish to emphasize that Jesus Himself was the foremost teacher on the subject. The very same Jesus that extended God’s mercy to humanity also warned them of the terrible consequences of failure.

Mark 9.43-44 – “If your hand causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched—where ‘Their worm does not die, / And the fire is not quenched.’ ”

The punishment of hell is not something to be taken lightly. Whatever sacrifice we must make on earth to avoid it—let us make it gladly, for we surely do not wish to arrive in such a terrible place. Jesus speaks of hell as a place of continual fire, full of maggots (the “worm [that] does not die”) and destruction for the wicked (Matt. 10.28). Other passages mention God’s punishment as a place of darkness with “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8.12). John’s book of Revelation prophesies that the ungodly will be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone because God will not permit them to defile His holy city.

Though many people would claim to believe in hell (almost 70% of Americans, according to a recent Gallup poll), no one sees this place of eternal torment as their final destination. After all, how could a loving and merciful God willingly punish people for not believing and/or doing the right things? One of the qualities that we fail to consider, however, is God’s extreme righteousness and justice. He cannot prepare a Paradise in which sin exists. Rev. 21.27 – “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” It is perhaps difficult for us to understand, but God cannot tolerate sin. 1 John 3.5 – “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin.”

Those who face the torments of hell have rejected God’s terms and live in rebellion to His will. Any attempt we make to soften the impact goes against Jesus’ teaching on the subject and robs us of much of our motivation to serve God. If it doesn’t matter how we act in this life, why should we not follow our own impulses? Nevertheless, that expectation that God will one day judge everyone and settle accounts should motivate us strongly in following Him and preaching His message to others. 2 Cor. 5.11 – “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…” Hell is a real place, and godly fear should move us to serve our Lord.

Heb. 12.25-29 – “See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.’ Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”



We are blessed, however, that the message of Jesus is not entirely a terrifying one, for He promises a reward to those who follow His will. Just as those who have been disobedient to God will receive their punishment, so those who have been redeemed by His grace will receive their reward. God “will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath” (Rom. 2.6-8). The promise of judgment is inescapable, but let us live by faith and so find favor with God.
Heb. 10.37-39 – “’For yet a little while, / And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. / Now the just shall live by faith; / But if anyone draws back, / My soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”

Grace and peace to you all. Have a good day.

I find it interesting that so much emphasis is placed on this memorial to the point that our reasoning differs about it from any other activity we do as a church. Again, I would not dismiss its significance—in fact, the reason we meet on Sunday is because that is the prescribed day to observe the Lord’s Supper, so it determines something fairly important. But we see enough good in coming together as a church that we hold other gatherings in which we do not even take the Lord’s Supper, and I would submit that these meetings should not be any less holy. Let me then suggest that there is nothing uniquely sacred about the Lord’s Communion that should put it in a place above the other acts of worship.

My best guess is that this attitude holds over from most other “Christian” groups, which teach about special sacraments that provide God’s grace to recipients. The Lord’s Supper (or Eucharist or Communion) is in fact the universally accepted sacrament among “Christian” denominations. As I understand it, the idea of sacraments teaches that certain rites or acts administered by the priesthood specifically enable their recipients to receive God’s grace in the process; without the sacraments, the believers have impaired their spiritual destination and cannot receive God’s grace to enter heaven. This idea explains the extreme importance on the Last Rites and other practices included as sacraments. Those who do not take the Lord’s Supper correctly do jeopardize their spiritual state (1 Cor. 11.27-30), but this is not unique to the Communion. Abandoning the assembly, teaching false doctrines, and causing divisions all hinder practitioners from approaching God’s throne. Besides, Peter and John clearly established the idea of a universal priesthood (1 Pet. 2.9; Rev. 1.6), which destroys the perceived need for ordained clergy to administer the sacraments. The Bible nowhere teaches a denominational idea of sacraments, so related concepts should be discarded.

As we earlier suggested, however, Christian attitudes toward the Lord’s Supper are particularly influenced by the denominational emphasis on its status as a sacrament. Somehow many professed Christians have accepted the belief that taking the Lord’s Supper is the distinct indicator of one’s spiritual status. Several practices grow out of this belief, some motivated by the peculiar idea that missing the Lord’s Supper specially damages an individual’s relationship with God:
· The “second serving” to provide a Lord’s Supper opportunity for those who missed Sunday morning
· Taking the Lord’s Supper to individuals in nursing homes, hospitals, etc.
· Dismissal of and disregard for “other” assemblies (i.e., Sunday and Wednesday night gatherings; gospel meetings)
· Disapproval of “outsider” participation in Communion

Brothers and sisters, I do not believe that our Lord’s Communion holds some peculiar grace without which we are unable to receive salvation. Rather, by meeting God’s people every week to participate, we affirm the redeeming sacrifice Jesus provided without which none would be saved. This Communion is a mark of distinction among God’s people, but it is not the only one. The same Bible that commands us to observe the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week also commands us to assemble with the church, sing and pray to God, teach and encourage others, and keep every commandment. The Lord’s Supper earns no special status that we should revere it above these other things. Our participation proclaims Jesus’ death and our resulting freedom from sin, but we must keep His other instructions as well.

Do we really need an entirely separate set of reasoning when it comes to the Lord's Supper? It's certainly something to consider. Grace and peace to all of you. Have a good day.

We live in a troubled world. Just ask any moral person you know, and they’ll concede readily enough that immoral and amoral humanists have relentlessly attacked standards of right and wrong, the powerful institution of marriage, and even our ideas about common decency. They claim to respect and tolerate other points of view, but the simple truth is that Christianity is “except-able,” rather than acceptable. For some reason Muslims can have calls to prayer over public speakers while Christian values are doggedly excised from public forums in the interest of “separation of church and state” (and despite what they want you to believe, you can’t find that phrase in the Constitution). I’ve heard that divorce rates are down, which I believe—but the reason is that more people are choosing just to live together rather than get married.

It’s easy to get discouraged, wouldn’t you say? I doubt our environment has ever been much worse, though there might have been occasions. But we wouldn’t be among the first to get discouraged. In fact, a priest whose story begins with an excellent commendation has some despair of his own.

After the Babylonian Captivity, Zerubabbel and Joshua had led the first group of Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Some decades pass, and a priest and scribe named Ezra wants to lead another group back. Ezra 7.6, 10 – “[T]his Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given…For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” We get a brief portrait of a man who has dedicated himself to God’s law and wants to teach others, but trouble begins almost as soon as he reaches Judah. There he learns that many of the people had married foreign wives, a severe breach of the Law that God warned would lead them into idolatry. Ezra, astonished at this problem, fasts until the evening sacrifice, at which time he pours out his sorrow to God and confesses Israel’s sin. Ezra 9.15 – “O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!”

His bitter prayer attracted a crowd. Ezra 10.1 – “Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very bitterly.” Their hearts moved by this display, many of the people gather around Ezra hoping to somehow atone for their transgressions. Ezra is still mourning over sin, but an otherwise obscure man speaks to the priest. Ezra 10.2 – “And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, spoke up and said to Ezra, ‘We have trespassed against our God, and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope in Israel in spite of this…’” While he acknowledges the problems in Israel, he reminds Ezra that, because the priest has come to help them, there is hope for them still. He encourages Ezra to make a covenant with all the people and instruct them to remove their foreign wives, and the priest is moved to action by his words.

How does this relate to us? Though our world is dark, Christians can be lights in it. As long as we have set our hearts on God’s law, we are prepared to teach and instruct others in His ways. Sometimes our task seems hopeless or thankless; nevertheless, if we are ready to teach the lost transgressors, there is still hope for them. We can still pass along God’s word and will to an antagonistic world. As long as God’s word remains among us, “yet now there is hope in Israel.”
Grace and peace to all of you. Have a good day.

“Through Your precepts I get understanding; / Therefore I hate every false way” – Ps. 119.104.

Lies are like weeds. It really doesn’t matter how many you uproot; more will always find room to grow. And in the vast scope of religion, with many different religious groups claiming absolute truth, not everyone can be correct. Everyone could be wrong, but not everyone can be right. Nevertheless, we lay a claim on absolute truth and believe that we find that absolute truth through the Bible. But even many people who call themselves Christians teach different ideas. How can we possibly sort through them all and know what to believe?

The psalmist of Psalm 119 (generally famous as the longest chapter in the Bible) knew the right answer, though, and he expresses it in the verse immediately preceding our weekly title. With his understanding, he knew how to determine which paths led away from truth. We actually find an excellent lesson in this example. No one could ever learn everything about all false doctrines, and I doubt it would be a very profitable task. However, if we have the proper understanding, we’ll know them when we see them anyway.

Now how do we receive that understanding? The psalmist tells us. He found understanding through God’s lessons. This may take some effort, but just as Paul encouraged Timothy to put in his time, so should we feel the need to put in our own efforts. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness” – 2 Tim. 2.15. Even the apostle Paul, who had to resist Judaizers and others who brought in false teaching, realized the futility of excessively studying their “idle babblings.” He simply advises Timothy to stick with the truth in his efforts as a preacher.

Be persistent in your efforts to learn the truth. If you do, you’ll be able to recognize false teaching however it appears. We should become great students of the Bible. “I rise before the dawning of the morning, / And cry for help; / I hope in Your word. / My eyes are awake through the night watches, / That I may meditate on Your word” – Ps. 119.147-148. If we are familiar with God’s word, we’ll know lies when we hear them. Eventually, we’ll internalize His teaching like David did. He says in the 16th Psalm, “I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; / My heart also instructs me in the night seasons” (v. 7).

We could also refer to God’s internalized word as a developed conscience, which is very important in pointing us away from wrong. 1 John 3.20-21 – “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.” I pray that we’ll all develop a strong sense of Scripture that will help us detect false doctrine and keep us walking in the truth. Eph. 5.15-17 – “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”


Grace and peace to all of you. Have a good day.

“Your word is a lamp to my feet / And a light to my path” (Ps. 119.105).

Every week that I’ve sent that e-mail, I’ve referenced this verse as my purpose and title. When I first began this endeavor a few years ago, I pondered this choice. What verse (for I did think it should be a Bible verse) would accurately portray the relationship God’s word should have in our lives and our attitude toward it? As far as I can remember, I’ve never sent an article examining my choice in this title—though I will confess that I don’t have access to all of them anymore due to a hard drive malfunction a couple of years ago. This article won’t be particularly original, but it’s the idea that I’ve always hoped was inherent in both the articles and their audience.

If you’ve ever walked through your room at night or sat around a campfire after dark or (but be smarter than this!) turned off your headlights traveling the roads at midnight, you know the difference between seeing the path and being blind. In fact, it’s frightening to drive a car with no headlights at nighttime—you’re moving too fast to travel safely. Without being able to see the road before us, we simply shouldn’t move any further. In a spiritual sense, we also confront a number of roads, but only one leads to a destination in which we’ll find happiness (cf. Matt. 7.13-14; Luke 13.24). Without some kind of light, how will we be able to find that one road? What are we supposed to do?

But praise the Lord for what He has done, “For the commandment is a lamp, / And the law a light; / Reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Prov. 6.23). “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Ps. 19.8). And so that you will not think that God was simply concerned with considering the Jewish Law of Moses light-bringing truth, we also find similar references in the New Testament. “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness,” Jesus proclaims (John 12.46). “And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shine in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Pet. 1.18-19).

The people of biblical times didn’t have electric lights, so they relied on light sources such as oil lamps and torches to guide their way at night. The psalmist realizes that without God’s revealed word, he is in spiritual darkness and will not walk the correct path. That’s what it means for God’s word to be a lamp to our feet. That idea means understanding truth and spending time with it, and even more than simply agreeing that it has good lessons we must live by it. There is no other way than what Jesus has told us: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14.6).

As Christians we believe that God has given us instructions on how to travel safely, but sadly many people are without knowledge of this revelation. And I don’t mean simply knowing what the Bible is and the general message that Jesus brings salvation (though too few know that as well). Many in our general society and world claim that they know and understand those things, but I mean also the kind of knowledge that comes from experiencing the Bible, from reading it and having a close familiarity with it. Those who don’t have that often look for other solutions or make up their own thoughts that explain or illuminate the Bible, but they are not creating the true light. “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?” Jesus asks proverbially (Luke 6.39). Our Christ, however, proclaimed Himself the remedy for this problem. “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 9.39). The records about Him are still with us, and so we have a responsibility to illuminate the path (cf. Matt. 5.14-16).

Send the light. Grace and peace to all of you. Have a good day.