How Serious is God?
I. God detests sin.
Genesis 2:17; 6:11; 19:24; Exodus 7-11; 14:27; Numbers 16:32, 49; 21:6
“I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:5).
“Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. [15] Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city” (Matthew 10:14-15).
“It will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:22). “It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you” (Matthew 11:24). “Repent or perish” (Luke 13:3, 5).
II. God is serious about sin.
“every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36)
“He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8)?
Acts 5:1-10; “great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things” (Acts 5:11)
“the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18) … “because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:5).
“THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES” (Romans 3:18).
“If we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, [27] but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES” (Hebrews 10:26-27). “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).
“Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment” (James 3:1).
“If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth” (1 Peter 1:17). “IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?” (1 Peter 4:18).
2 Peter 2 ... “false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. [2] Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; [3] and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. [4] For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; [5] and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; [6] and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; [7] and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men [8] (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), [9] then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, [10] and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, [11] whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. [12] But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, [13] suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, [14] having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; [15] forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; [16] but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. [17] These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. [18] For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, [19] promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. [20] For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. [21] For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them. [22] It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.””
III. God wants His people to be serious about sin.
“an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; [25] the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25).
Genesis 17:3; “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:6); “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12)
“the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7) and “the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10).
"He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (Matthew 12:30).
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. [16] So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16).
Conclusion:
“By His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3:7).
“Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, [15] to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him”” (Jude 14-15).
“if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15).
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