By Jon Burnett
One of Satan�s greatest lies is one concerning a place he understands quite well: hell. By convincing us to focus on the here and now, he draws us from the knowledge of heaven and hell and offers �a little bit of heaven� to us on earth. That alone should alert our senses, but unfortunately reason is far from us in the heat of the moment. He convinces us that we won�t die from our sins. No! Rather, we�ll be free from that narrow and difficult Way.
God has a different view though �for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God� (Rom 3:23, ESV) and all are now in need of a His gracious hand. Do we think we can hide our sin? Do we expect to fool God? Paul has some words for us, �Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap� (Gal 6:7, ESV). In just the chapter before he says much the same thing, �Now the works of the flesh are evident� (Gal 5:19). We can�t hide sin from man, much less God! And if we as believers think baptism alone will save us, Paul tells us to think again, because �sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality�drunkenness, orgies, and things like these� aren�t tickets into the pearly gates (Gal 5:19-21, ESV).
The Romans learned this lesson the hard way. Their sin became their king when it led them to not only defile their bodies, but eventually to completely reject of God. �Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen� (Rom 1:24,25, ESV). They felt that baptism saves us from sins we�re still committing. It�s a pity they based their eternity on that.
The world doesn�t want to hear about it and the church would rather leave smiling, but hell is real and Satan just loves our amazing sense of denial! God has always punished sins. Not because He enjoys it, or that He wants to see man lost (2 Pet 3:9), but because He loves us and expects so much more out of us than wickedness (Heb 12:5,6). But He also grants us salvation to bring us into the �eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ� (2 Pet 1:11, ESV). Just as He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their ungodliness and �rescued righteous Lot�the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment� (2 Pet 2:4-9). Judge yourself now, and enjoy the law of liberty both now and forever (1 Cor 11:31,32).