Tag: harsh

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”. 

 

 

 1 John 5:11-13    And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

 John 3:36     Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

 John 5:24    Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

 John 6:40     For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

 John 6:47    Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

 John 8:51    Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

 John 11:26    and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

 Mark 16:16    Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

 1 Peter 1:21   who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

 John 10:27-30   My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.”

 1 Thessalonians 5:9     For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

 1 John 3:14    We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

 Ephesians 2:5     even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

The second we were born we were given a “death sentence”. Seems harsh, doesn’t it? Some may be born and live 70 to 100 years. Others are much shorter. However, the fact remains that every last one of us will die. We will experience death. Our time on this side of eternity will stop. All of the pleasures, trials, blessings, troubles, love, anger, joy, hate, worry, fear, peace, hope, etc…… on earth will cease for us. We do not know the day or time of our death but it is as sure as the sun rising and setting.  We don’t give much thought to our death, but we sure give much thought to our living. 

We try to prolong life and delay death without giving much thought to death. It seems as though it is something that happens to others and not so much to us, when in fact, it will. We don’t know when our time will be over. And yet it will happen. 

When we don’t give thought to death and what is on the other side of it, our lives become full of only what this world has to offer us. temporal things, things that will decay, things that give us short-lived satisfaction, and they are all left behind when we die. 

There is a spiritual side to every single person born just as there is a fleshly side. We tend to the flesh but give little thought to the spiritual. Think about it, how much of your time any given day is given toward God and eternity compared to things of this world. 

Scripture tells us that though our flesh dies our spirit lives forever. It also reveals that there are two destinations to which our spirit will arrive. Eternal life in heaven with God or eternal total separation from God in hell. How important then is it to give time to thinking about the eternal over what is temporal?  How important is it to give thought to eternal life in heaven and eternal separation in hell? 

Scripture says – Death

 Romans 5:12     Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Hebrews 9:27.  “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”. 

 Job 14:5    Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

 Job 30:23     For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

 Psalms 89:48     What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?

 Ecclesiastes 3:20    All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

 Ecclesiastes 9:5     For the living know that they will die

 Ecclesiastes 12:7   and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Scripture says – Judgment

 Ecclesiastes 11:9    Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.

 Ecclesiastes 12:14     For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

 Matthew 25:31-34     “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

41  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

 2 Timothy 4:1     I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead

 Romans 2:5   But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

 Romans 14:12   So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

 2 Corinthians 5:10    For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

 Jude 1:15    to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

Scripture says – Life

Jhn 3:16    “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

1 Timothy 1:15-16    The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

 John 3:36    Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

 John 5:24     Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

 John 6:40     For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

 John 20:31    but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

 Romans 5:21     so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 Romans 6:23     For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 1 John 5:11-12    And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

112. Worthless and good for nothing

1 Samuel 25:1  Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and badly behaved; he was a Calebite. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men. And David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. And thus you shall greet him: Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited. And Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?” So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all this. And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he railed at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything when we were in the fields, as long as we went with them. They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his house, and he is such a worthless man that one cannot speak to him.”

Deuteronomy 13:13    that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city,

  Judges 19:22    As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house

2 Samuel 23:6-7     But worthless men are all like thorns that are thrown away, for they cannot be taken with the hand;  but the man who touches them arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they are utterly consumed with fire.”

1 Kings 21:13    And the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him. And the worthless men brought a charge against Naboth in the presence of the people,

1 Samuel 2:12     Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD.

Steven R Cook – In several places in the Bible there are references to worthless persons.  The term worthless translates the Hebrew בְּלִיָּעַלbelial, which occurs 27 times in Scripture. The word means “Uselessness, wickedness…good for nothing.” These are people whom God designates as worthless because they continually resist His will and disrupt the activities of His people.  Worthless people revels in the natural inclinations of his own depravity and in his activities spread strife among men.   Scripture describes the worthless person as one who “digs up evil”, “makes a mockery of justice”, and “plots evil against the LORD”. He leads others away from the God, is given to lewd behavior, hides from justice, is unreasonable, defies authority, is willing to lie against the innocent and promote injustice, and seeks to overpower the timid.  They can attach themselves to a godly leader and cause trouble.   It is a mistake to see the worthless person within the narrow context of criminals or public mischief-makers, although it certainly includes them. Rather, we must see them as permeating all aspects of society. Broadly speaking, worthless persons are males and females, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, educators and students, politicians and citizens, bosses and employees, religious and irreligious, wealthy and poor, and they live to provoke rebellion and discord.

Josh Christophersen – Men use all kinds of standards to determine their worth, but the word of God determines a man’s worth by whether or not he “knows the Lord”. It doesn’t matter how smart or educated you are, how strong or athletic you are, how wealthy or business savvy you are.

It would seem this is a path in life that is easy to follow or be influenced toofollow.  It is the path of self, self importance, self righteous, self centered, self worth, self made…. There are people on this path because they chose to deny God and there are people on this path because they are neglecting God’s word and are being influenced by the world, culture, society of complacent mediocrity.