Tag: gloomy darkness

18.a. “In the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.” 

Jude 1:3  Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

Jude 17   But you, dear friends, remember what was predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.  They told you, “in the end time there will be scoffers living according to their own ungodly desires.”  These people create divisions and are worldly, not having the Spirit.

 Psalms 14:1-2   The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.  The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.

 1 Corinthians 2:14   The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

 James 3:15    This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

 Romans 8:9    You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

 John 3:5-6    Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

The lure of sin was able to drag angels away from God. Certainly, it is possible for a man to be drawn away too.  What is in this “lure” that is so appealing?  Is it self-worth, self-control, self-reliance, power, greed, anger, lust…..?  Some of these attributes we can see in the actions people take but many times they are hidden from observation and only known by God.  They very well may be known by the person but more than likely they are denied or embraced.  Jude speaks of these people who seem to disguise themselves as fellow believers.  He calls them dangerous reefs, wild waves, fruitless trees, waterless clouds, wandering stars, and twice dead.  There is a place called hell reserved for them, where utter darkness, torment, and anguish is eternal.  

An individual Christian may not know it, understand it, or benefit by it, but to be a Christian is to be a part of a community. To be a Christian means you stand shoulder to shoulder with millions of Christians who have gone before. We stand with strong Christians and weak Christians, brave Christians and cowardly Christians, old Christians and young Christians. We are part of an invisible, mighty army that spans back through the generations.

“Upon other matters, there are distinctions among believers, but yet there is a common salvation enjoyed by the Arminian as well as by the Calvinist, possessed by the Presbyterian as well as by the Episcopalian, prized by the Quaker as well as by the Baptist. Those who are in Christ are more near of kin than they know of, and their intense unity in deep essential truth is a greater force than most of them imagine: only give it scope and it will work wonders.” (Spurgeon)

More people believe in “the faith that is in my heart” than the faith once for all delivered to the saints. In the book Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah and his colleagues wrote about an interview with a young nurse named Sheila Larson, whom they described as representing many American’s experience and views on religion. Speaking about her own faith and how it operated in her life, she said: “I believe in God. I’m not a religious fanatic. I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It is ‘Sheilaism.’ Just my own little voice.” We might say that this highly individualistic faith is the most popular religion in the world, but the idea that we can or should put together our own faith is wrong. Christianity is based on one faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints.  

We may occasionally meet or sit next to a person who believes like this and they go unnoticed by us, but not unnoticed by God.  When we are aware we must contend for the faith that is found only in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It should never be watered down or added too.  The first step in this direction is fruitless and robs Jesus Christ of His glory and honor. Contending for the faith is to proclaim the gospel and live to honor and glorify Jesus Christ through surrender, repentance, obedience, reliance, and trust.

What can the Almighty do to us?

Genesis 7:23  He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

Job 22:15-17     Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod?  They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away.  They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’

Matthew 24:37-39     For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,  and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

2Peter 2:3  And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;  if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;  if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;

Isaiah 1:9    If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.

Ezekiel 16:49-50     Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.  They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.

Proverbs 16:18     Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Isaiah 2:11-12    The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.  For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;

Obadiah 1:3-4     The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, “Who will bring me down to the ground?”  Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.

Living like there is no God, no coming judgment, no accountability, no hell, no purpose other than self, as in the past, will undoubtedly seem normal and good enough reason to live for personal satisfaction and self indulgence.

Many examples have been written about that should give mankind pause in self pursuit, pleasure, pride, lust, greed, anger, and coveting.  Every culture of the world seems to find more and more ways to distant themselves from and anger and stir the wrath of God.

Do you ever wonder if, as the man moves further and further away from God, those who are called of God see the ungodliness more clearly or do they just become immune to see it or think about it?  Do our eyes become blind and our ears deaf to the sin knocking down the very foundation pillars of morality?  How can one remain sensitive to things of God when at every corner of life there is another cultural adoption of things contrary to God’s expectation?   It is not easy unless time is spent with Him and in His word.

Where have the days, when fire and brimstone, coming judgement, sin, consequences, need for a savior, repentance, been spoken about with urgency?  Has all of God’s truth been morally diluted to the point of non-existence in the lives of many?  What does God have to do to in a life, family, city, and nation to prove this all true when He has already given us many examples of what has happened in past cultures.

I fear that the truth of the warnings and examples don’t seem to be enough  to call people to make an eternal consequence life change.  Believing and seeking to honor God each day and speaking of His grace, love, and mercy and warning of His wrath, anger and judgment is more and more urgent. The need for redemption, salvation, and the need of saving us from our hell bound sinful nature is a truth that comes with many examples and warnings.

“making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly“

“For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;  if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;  if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly“

“For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,  and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man“

“I will bring you down, declares the LORD.”

“Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment“

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.  Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire“

The steadfast love of God reached out to us at a great cost through Christ.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

To live rejecting this love and giving no regard to His warnings of judgment convicts the soul with eternal separation and torment for eternity.   Do not become so calloused by moral decline of the culture that you seem it a waste to speak of His love, warnings, and examples of both to the lost.  We have opportunity everyday.

Stand up and bless the LORD

Psalmsd 96:4  For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.

Psalms 18:3    I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

Nehemiah 9:5     Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

Psalms 145:3    Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

Psalms 66:3     Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.

Jeremiah 10:6-7   There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.  Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.

Revelation 15:4     Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

Psalms 76:7     But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?

Luke 12:5     But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

Psalms 9:17     The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.

Revelation 14:7    And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

2 Peter 2:4    For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

Daily we are either living in God fearing reverence giving God praise or complacent neglect or absolute denial.  When thinking about an average day in your life in line with this, is a mirror to our heart, mind, and soul.  Living in a state of mind that does not have humble reverence and praise for God leaves us open for days upon end without purpose other than self.  Self walks down a path of “here and now”, giving no thought to God or His love, judgement, or eternity.  This is a fight within our very being.  Our sinful nature, left on its own, will walk paths separated from God.  Living for God, staying in His word and learning from it yields a continual transformation in our lives.  This transformation starts with a new birth, a new beginning, a life with purpose found in forgiveness of sin, by faith, through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

” Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”