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

come near Me; and before all the people, I will be glorified.’ And Aaron held his peace.", Leviticus 10:1-3.

This was a very shocking thing! Aaron had to watch, apparently, as his two sons were killed instantly. Probably by two flashes of intense fire! It came flaring out of nowhere and with an intensity and heat that it consumed all their flesh and maybe turned them into cinders, I don't know.

But this happened because they disrespected God - they did not fear Him. They profaned His holy name by failing to carry out their responsibilities in the attitude and the manner He had prescribed. And I want to point out, that it didn't matter that they were Aaron's sons, or Moses' nephews. There is no respecter of persons with God. There is no partiality in His judgment. That quick, they lost their lives. What mattered was that they didn't fear God enough to give Him the honor that He deserves. God's justice struck out to leave a witness for all time. Indeed as Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Let's drop down here in Leviticus 10, and go to verses 6 and 7:

"And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and unto Ithamar, his sons, 'Uncover not your heads, neither rend your clothes, lest you die, and lest wrath come upon all the people; but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled. And you shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.' And they did according to the word of Moses.", Leviticus 10:6-7.

Do you know what Moses did here? He cautioned Aaron and his two remaining sons to not even mourn. Do you know why? Lest they give the impression of further disrespect by showing a questioning of God's judgment in seeking pity from God's people.

I'll tell you, Moses understood a thing or two!

"Don't you dare even weep because if you weep that will be taken by God as a sign that you don't agree with what He did.”

That's pretty stern isn't it? How would you feel if it were your two sons who were burned alive? That's the side of our God that we don't like to deal with! He's showing us a side of Him so that we will understand that this fear of the Lord runs the gamut all the way from shear terror, to a loving, wonderful, reverential awe of Him! It includes the whole gamut because we need the whole gamut because otherwise we fall into sin! We don't even understand ourselves very well. And this is precisely the reason we need to have a real genuine fear of God in our hearts - so that we will not sin. As Proverb 16:6 states “the fear of the Lord makes men turn from evil.”

When we see God’s judgment in its full sternness our human minds are taken aback. We just don’t like to believe that His judgments are real. But they truly are real - and they are eternal. The only reason we don’t see many of them in this life is because God is so tremendously patient, not wanting anyone to perish. But make no mistake about it, when the time for judgment comes, the Lord will judge with righteousness and justice, and without partiality to anyone. For “righteousness and justice is the foundation of His throne”, Psalm 97:2, also Psalm 89:14.

People have the mistaken notion that God’s judgments are controlled by His emotions. Although the Lord is greatly pained and grieved when He has to judge, you must come to understand that the Lord judges according to righteousness and justice - in accordance to His unbreakable Word. This is exactly the reason why you must believe God’s warnings about sin - not as men want it to be, but strictly in accordance to what God actually states in His Word. For God cannot break His Word. He simply cannot violate His Word.

Let us now look at the greatest earthly judgment in recorded history - the flood in Noah’s time. Let us read.

Genesis 6:1-8. “When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. 

The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.

The LORD was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth - men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air - for I am grieved that I have made them."

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

In contrast to the rest of humanity, Noah followed after God. In Genesis 6:9 we are told, “Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him.”, New Living Version.

As you know the Lord instructed Noah to build the ark. It took Noah many years to construct the ark. No doubt many around thought he was crazy but, “Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.”, Genesis 6:22, Then the flood came.

Genesis 7:17-24. “For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than twenty feet. EVERY LIVING THING THAT MOVED ON THE EARTH PERISHED - BIRDS, LIVESTOCK, WILD ANIMALS, ALL THE CREATURES THAT SWARM OVER THE EARTH, AND ALL MANKIND. Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. EVERY LIVING THING ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH WAS WIPED OUT - MEN AND ANIMALS AND THE CREATURES THAT MOVE ALONG THE GROUND AND THE BIRDS OF THE AIR WERE WIPED FROM THE EARTH. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark. The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.”

When I think about the total destruction that God had to bring upon man in the flood I become terribly afraid of God’s awesome judgment. Every time I contemplate the total destruction that God brought on all mankind in the flood I feel queasy and nauseous and my heart feels weak. I realize how sinful and evil we, mankind, are before God and how justified God truly would be if He so chose to destroy all of us for our rebellious sinful ways. But God keeps on giving us chances to repent and turn back to Him. But there does come a time where He stops contending with rebellious man and then His judgment comes - swiftly and surely. Almighty God did not give us an empty warning when He told us, “If you eat of it, evil, you will surely die.”

God’s judgments are very real and He truly should be greatly feared. Those who don’t fear God are the ones who are the most in danger. They are the ones who fall into sin so casually.

I now desire to ask a very important question. But you must understand that I intend no vindictiveness or contempt against you. To the professing Christian who deliberately keeps on sinning:

IF GOD WAS WILLING TO COMPLETELY DESTROY ALL OF MANKIND BECAUSE OF THEIR SIN - AND NOTICE THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS AND PERHAPS BILLIONS OF PEOPLE - WHY WOULD YOU THINK HE WILL NOT DESTROY YOU FOR YOUR SIN?

Remember, God does not show favoritism, Acts 10:34. Also recall what we are told in Romans 11:17-22, “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. DO NOT BE ARROGANT, BUT BE AFRAID. FOR IF GOD DID NOT SPARE THE NATURAL BRANCHES, HE WILL NOT SPARE YOU EITHER. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided you continue in His kindness. OTHERWISE, YOU ALSO WILL BE CUT OFF.”

In Ezekiel 18:20a the Lord tells us “The soul who sins is the one who will DIE.” This is the same thing that the Lord told Adam and Eve in Genesis 2:17, “you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely DIE.” Here the word DIE refers to spiritual death - which is separation from God.

As mentioned before, that sin separates from God is explained in Isaiah 59:2, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” Sin indeed separates you from God. And the separation will persist forever until you repent. However, you can only repent while you are still alive physically. After you die God will not accept your repentance. For, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27.

Ephesians 2:1-2 explains that one can be spiritually DEAD even when one is physically still alive. “As for you, you were DEAD in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”, Ephesians 2:1-2.

If a person is in such a state of spiritual DEATH when he physically dies then he will forever be separated from God thereafter - that is he will be condemned to Hell. Needless to say, someone who is physically alive but DEAD in transgressions and sins is in an extremely dangerous situation. He can be one day or even one hour away from the eternal torments of Hell. 

All of these points are very foundational elements of the nature of sin and its consequences. In fact, you may be wondering why I am taking so many pains to explain something so basic. The reason I am carefully explaining these things from the Word of God is because some people of the “Once Saved Always Saved” doctrine say that the word DIE in Ezekiel 18:20 and other similar verses is referring to physical death and not the spiritual type of death.

But it was the same person - the Lord God Almighty - that gave us Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul who sins is the one who will DIE,” as Genesis 2:17, “for when you eat of it you will surely DIE.” And both the word DIE, and the context, since it regards the consequences of SIN, is the same in both verses.

That sin leads to the spiritual type of death is also explained in Romans 6:20-23.

“When