Sin
I never thought I would live to hear people say: "Pastor, it is refreshing to hear a preacher say there is a heaven and a hell."
Have we come so far in our "maturity" of faith that we no longer use biblical words of destiny? Have we "progressed" in our "progressive" movements of religiosity until we are sophisticated beyond truth? Is it rude, crude, and churlish to speak of those things that define life's boundaries and define us as mortals fixed between two eternities? Have we slid on the greasy slopes of liberalism until we have joined the Tolerance Crowd to tolerate sin?
How did it happen that we came up with nice words for sin? How did it happen that what was once adultery and fornication became "significant other" and "my fiancée"? How did it happen that we forgave divorce without addressing the evil rendered by broken homes?
If we have made so much progress, why are we in so much trouble? Why are so many Christians in professional counseling? Does the altar no longer represent that Jesus can bear our burdens? Why are there so many churches that are more liberal in the pulpit than in the pew?
Under the influence of the Holy Spirit Isaiah noted that men go to the forest, cut a tree, select a piece of wood, carry it on their back to town, hire a woodcarver to etch an image, pay the woodcarver, carry the image back home, and then bow and worship the wood they carried and paid to have carved. It seems so foolish to read this silly story.
Yet, the silly story is lived out in our day. "I only have one sin, and it is not a bad sin." "What I am doing is not as bad as what I know some Christians do." "I go to church at home on Sunday." "You don't have to go to church to be a Christian."
I am not going to say anything about abortion, because I think wars are immoral." "I am not going to make my children go to church. It might turn them against church."
Do they make their children go to the dentist? Or school? Or the dining table?
One church takes "blood" out of the hymnbook. Another church decides that preaching about Jesus' dying on the cross is divisive to bringing all religions together. Another church advocates from the pulpit that whatever we do with our sexual lifestyle is but a consequence of the way God made us.
I wonder if folks have read Judges 23:25? "In those days there was no king in Israel, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes."
I am not going to church, because when I was a child a church leader did something terribly wrong" a person said.
I wonder if folks have thought of judging Jesus by who He said He was and IS? Why do we judge God by a fallen creation, instead of by the evidence God has given of Himself? How can fallen man be presumed to be the door to Truth? Jesus is Truth. Judged in the integrity of his own life Jesus stands supreme.
I am not happy there is a hell. I am not happy that God says it is eternal. I am not happy that the Bible says men and women who reject Jesus will earn their place in hell. Hell is not a gift. It is earned.
Darkness, eternal darkness, never light, separation from all goodness, with the most awful people of all of history...who would want to go to hell?
Sin? Disobedience. Revolt. Selfishness. Lust. Greed. Jealousy. Ugly. Dark. Painful. Fearsome.
I have known people that I would find it hard to imagine them going to heaven. I have known and read of people that even on earth were beasts of violence and destruction.
I do not want anyone to go to hell. Yet, I pray that the heaven I aspire to will be free from sin and free from rebels against God.
How about you? Have you thought about the future of eternity? Where will you spend eternity? I hope you choose Jesus to be your Savior. If you have not repented of sin, today is the day. Now. Right now: Repent and believe. Jesus is waiting for you with open arms.
Heaven. I like the word. It has a sweet ring. It beckons me like a beam of light shafting into darkness. Heaven, I want to go there.
Pastor Bare
Acts 2:21 ... that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (NKJV）