Key Verse: "Woe to the world because of the things that
cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through who they
come!"
Matthew 18:7
Jesus is issuing stern warnings here as He takes this
opportunity to talk about hell. Interestingly, Jesus talks about hell a lot!
His words seem so extreme to our modern, politically correct ears. If you lead
a child astray, it would be better to have a mill stone hung around your neck
so that you drown? If your eye or hand or foot causes you to sin, cut them off?
How could a loving Jesus be so drastic? And, if you aren't that radical you'll
end up in hell? Can that be right?
Leave it to sinners to not grasp how serious our sin is.
We've come to minimize our sins with phrases like, "little white
lie," or, "mistake," but God can't be so nonchalant. When we excuse
ourselves this way we show that we don't understand what holy means and we
demonstrate that we don't really appreciate just how Holy God is. When we do
this, we also minimize just how much Christ did for us when He died on the
cross to pay for those sins.
Very early on in Israel's history God told His people,
"You are to be holy to Me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you
apart from the nations to be my own." (Leviticus
20:26) A definition of holy is, "set apart." If we become holy by
resisting the temptation of impurity through sin, we become more like Him.
We only have two choices: become like Him through accepting
Him as Lord of our lives, or hell. It's as simple as that. God can't have our
impurity in His heaven no matter how cute and cuddly we think we are. Cute and
cuddly doesn't cut it, only being covered with the blood of Jesus does.
The one who corrupts a child is guilty and deserves the
torment of hell. The one who steals, lusts, lies, hates, deceives, murders, or
walks the opposite of how God says we are to walk, deserves to die and suffer
the consequences of torment in hell. Jesus knows this! That's why He came, to
make a way so that, if you follow Him and place your trust in Him, you can
escape hell and be with Him.
Remember, the physical doesn't matter as much as the
spiritual. We've talked about this before. If you can't help but give in to the
temptations brought on by your physical self, make the physical suffer to spare
the spiritual. It's better to enter heaven physically damaged and spiritually
whole than go to hell with your physical self intact.
Paul encourages us this way: "I beat my body and make
it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be
disqualified for the prize." (1
Cor. 9:27) We all could stand to allow ourselves to suffer a bit more for
the sake of Christ and for the sake of our becoming more like Him.
Hymn: "Am I A Soldier Of The Cross?"
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