God has given us dominion over our minds. He won’t stop us from going away from him. He can’t force us to come back to him. Paraphrasing one of the better lines from the movie “Bruce Almighty”–How do you make people love you without affecting free will?
Make is the operative word. You can’t make someone love you and still have love.
Before you go, I would be remiss as a gospel preacher not to point out that God has commanded that all men everywhere repent.
30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31)
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:8-13)
God has given the whole world warning that judgment is coming. He’s also very patient and he doesn’t want any to perish but all to come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come. Are you ready?
“So why did you put the flame of fire on this page? Isn’t that coercion? Why isn’t hell a violation of love?” Those are great questions.
The teaching about hell in the Bible is one of the most difficult ones I have to teach. I’d rather not, but as a gospel preacher, am I doing you a favor if I pass over those verses (Acts 20:20-21; 27-32)?
In fact, in today’s " I’m OK, you’re OK" Mega $ McChurch environment you’d get fired for being “negative.”
Let me ask you when the last time you heard a fire and brimstone sermon on hell, who’s going, and how horrible it will be? I’m going to say your answer is either “Never” or “I don’t remember the last time.”
Just because you never or rarely hear it doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Do you know what surprised me the most when I started studying what the Bible taught about hell? Jesus Christ talked about it the most (Matthew 5:22, 29-30; 10:28; 18:9 23:33). Jesus, the friend of sinners (Matt. 11:19). Jesus, who willingly died on the cross. Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). He loved us enough to warn us. He told us to do anything rather than to go there.
I have a friend at work that does OSHA training. One day he showed me a video that shocked me to my core. It was a video from China of six workers moving a metal scaffolding. They touched a power bar with it, and instantly five of them dropped to the ground arcing and sparking from the voltage. Unfortunately, the electricity made them grab on to the scaffolding bar. One got blown back away from the scaffolding unconscious. To my horror, after coming too, he tries to get out from underneath the frame. Without thinking, he grabbed ahold of the bar to steady himself and instantly started sparking again. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen.
Should people be warned about the incredible power of electricity? I only saw the video once, but I will never forget it. I have lifetime respect for the power of electricity.
Is God more awesome than electricity? Should we warn people that maybe they don’t have enough fear, awe, and respect for him as they might have for electricity?
There are a couple of verses in the Bible that scare me. To me, these are the “respect electricity” kind of verses.
Hebrews 12:18-29
18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.")
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
The first paragraph is a commentary on what happened in Exodus 19 under the old covenant. God manifested himself on the mount and it was terrifying. Today, our problem is that we haven’t been to the smoking, shaking, trumpet blaring mountain of God. Most people have no fear of God. If you were there and saw, felt, and heard what they did, what would your attitude toward God be? Would you run up and touch the mountain?
The second paragraph highlights the spiritual nature of the new covenant. Mount Zion, the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, inumerable angels, the church of the first born registered in heaven, God the judge of all, the spirits of just men made perfect, and Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant and his blood–these are all pictures of God’s redemptive work with man. Instead of physical displays of power they are spiritual displays of God’s salvation.
If you don’t respect the God of the old covenant why would you respect his work in the new covenant? Do you believe that God has changed from the old to the new testament? He’s the same awesome God. God has not changed, it is only humans who have changed their attitude toward him. The one who shook Sinai will shake it all up the next time.
I started this article by pointing out that God can’t make you love him. The flip side of that coin is that you can’t make God’s nature change. He will respect your decision.
The question has always been, will you respect his nature?
The only reasonable answer is to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
There is still time to change if you choose to.
Remember I asked, and I want to talk about it. Contact me here if you’d like to talk.
Kevin Huddleston
