BACKSLIDING TO HELL - Mike Peralta (fb2 epub reader .TXT) 📗

And notice that this is being promised for those who “do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” - for those who persist in their sinful ways. And notice Jude 1:4-5 is referring to those who at one time believed, remember they applied the Blood to their doorposts - having once escaped the corruption of the world. This Scripture is much too clear for us to avoid this truth. 

And notice here that the key means through which God’s people went back into sin was because of unbelief. They didn’t believe that God would destroy them for their sin.

I urge you with all my heart and soul that you please believe God’s warning about sin. When God says “you will surely die and suffer everlasting destruction if you continue in sin.” Believe Him! The Lord never, ever gives idle warnings. He always means precisely what He says, and He will most certainly do precisely what He says.

Don’t count on the “Once Saved Always Saved” doctrine - which is a man made doctrine - to save you. The teachers who promote “Once Saved Always Saved” are not going to be there with you on the day you stand before God face-to-face on the day of judgment. Don’t risk your eternal life on a doctrine that gives license to what God detests. God has never given anyone license to sin and to do evil. God hates sin with a passion. There is no way that He will allow any unclean thing or person into His Kingdom. “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.” Revelations 21:27.

And as Paul said TO BELIEVERS in Romans 11:20b-21, “Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.” Meaning that if you persist in your unbelief against God’s Word and warning, by deliberately continuing in your sins, your name will be stricken out of the Lamb’s book of life, as Revelations 3:5 and Exodus 32:33-34 shows. Chapter 7 of this book discusses who will be erased from the Lamb’s book of life more at length., I realize this all sounds very severe but God’s Word cannot be broken. The Lord truly means what He states in His Word. And He gives you these warnings so that you can come to your senses and come back to Him with all your heart.

Jesus will graciously and lovingly forgive if you truly repent. But if you don’t repent He cannot forgive you. God is perfectly and eternally Holy and He will never, ever accept evil into His Kingdom.

For if God were to accept evil that would mean that He Himself would be evil. And you know with all your heart and being that God is perfect and good without even a hint of darkness. “For God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5.

As mentioned briefly in the beginning of this book in John 15:14-15 Jesus explained that His “friends”, His disciples, were those who did what He commanded, knew his master’s business, and those to whom He made known everything that He Himself had learned from His Father. “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:14-15.

Now notice very carefully, the solemn warning that Jesus gave to His friends - His disciples.

Luke 12:4-5. “To you My friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will tell you Whom to fear; fear Him who, after He has killed, has the power to cast into Hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him.”

Now if Jesus gave this warning to His original disciples face-to-face, of how much greater is the warning toward us? This is one area in our walk with the Lord where we have all but ignored or disregarded the dangers and consequences involved in not fearing God and taking His commandments and warnings so lightly.

For example in Acts 5:1-11, Ananias and Sapphira, did not have the fear of the Lord in their heart and because of this they figured they could lie before the Lord and get away with it. But they were stricken down. And notice this, Ananias and Sapphira were giving offerings at a much higher rate than almost all modern day Christians. They only held back part of the land they sold. In today’s standard it was probably some thing like a $200,000 plot of land and where they held back about 25% for example, making the gift to be about $150,000 - which would have been a generous gift, if it had been done with integrity. In addition, they were most likely, relative to the world, law abiding and seemingly decent people. However, Ananias and Sapphira were stricken down for their hypocrisy - for pretending to give all the price of the land they sold. And notice this, their death at God’s hand had a chilling effect on the rest of the church for it says in Acts 5:11, “Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.” No doubt, many in the church at the time learned a very valuable lesson about God’s severe judgment against sin. Make no mistake about it, GOD WILL JUDGE SIN!

In the absolute sense, Ananias and Sapphira’s sin was mild compared to today’s professing Christian who indulges in sinful ways. If Ananias and Sapphira’s sin deserved such stern judgment how much more do those who deliberately indulge in a sinful lifestyle. If you are living a life of sin I would very much be afraid of God’s judgment. You may not sense the danger now but when you die and you are present before the Lord your sinful ways will be revealed even to your own mind in full clarity of its wickedness.

I know these seem like hard words but sin is so deceptive and clouds and deadens your sensitivity to sin, that very direct words have to be used. And I would be exceedingly grateful to the Lord for His life preserving rebuke and warning. For a warning ahead of judgment is an exceedingly merciful offer on God’s part. But you must take it to heart and truly repent, otherwise the only thing left is “a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire, Hell, that will consume the enemies of God.” Hebrews 10:27.

Professing Christians, who are living in sin, are not that much different from Ananias and Sapphira. They truly do not fear God. They truly do not believe in their heart that God will send them to Hell for living in a sinful lifestyle. Ever since Adam and Eve, God has told us many times, over and over again, through His Word and through examples of judgment, “If you eat of it, evil, you will surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17.

I hope you realize that the Lord truly keeps His Word - whether it is a promised blessing or a promised judgment. If God says: “If you confess and repent from your sins and turn to Me, I will be merciful and forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.”, He does say this in 1 John 1:9. And if you truly repent, Father God will most definitely keep His Word. In fact it is the greatest desire in His heart to show mercy to one who repents. He will forgive you, and cleanse you, and shower you with His blessings - for He loves you greatly, to an extent much greater than anyone else can ever love you.

But the Lord has also given us a very serious and eternal warning. For Almighty God also says: “If you don’t repent but rather you persist in your sins then I will come at a time you do not expect and assign you a place with the unbelievers - in Hell.”, He does say this in Luke 12:42-46. And if you don’t repent, then this is precisely what is going to happen to you. Remember God cannot lie. The Lord truly means what He says. Of course, if it does come to that, He will take absolutely no pleasure in bringing judgment upon you - but out of justice and righteousness He has to do so. Your sin will force His hand against you. If you refuse to repent, it will pain and grieve Him greatly to have to destroy you, but He will have to render justice. For He is a just and Holy God.

“But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.’ ” Luke 12:45-46.

Note: Parts of the following teaching about Leviticus 10, have edited portions based on an article by John W. Ritenbaugh. (Used by permission.)

http://www.cgg.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Audio.details/ID/479/FearGod-Part-1.htm

Let us look at another example, in Leviticus 10, of the dangers of not fearing God. Before reading this let me explain that Nadab and Abihu were Aaron’s sons and so Moses’ nephews. You can be sure that both Moses and Aaron gave them careful instructions on how the sacrifices were to be offered to the Lord. They were carefully trained and given much attention and good examples both on how to live right and how to properly present the offerings to the Lord. Since Moses and Aaron saw the fearful judgments that the Lord brought on the Egyptians and the rebellious people of Israel, they most definitely made sure, as much as they were able, to warn Aaron’s sons about fearing God and about seriously respecting every detail and command of the Lord.

From all this we can reasonably assume that Aaron’s sons avoided the obvious detestable practices of the worldly Egyptians or the rebellious in Israel. Otherwise neither Moses or Aaron would have let them make the offering to the Lord. In spite of all their precautions, neither Moses nor Aaron knew everything that was in the heart of Aaron’s sons. Relative to common human standards they were probably good boys, but they lacked a very necessary attribute for anyone who would be in the presence of the Lord - the Fear of God. Let us now read Leviticus 10, beginning in verse 1:

"And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their censers and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord which He had commanded them not, to do. There went out fire from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.

Then Moses said unto Aaron, 'This is it which the Lord spake' - ‘I will be sanctified in them that