SICK LIST: Charles (Buck) Adams; Mike Hicks; Luneal Russell; Monie Epperson; Cathy Gott; Bertha Johnson; Neva Johnson; Doris Yeoman; Lola King; Mary Elmore; Alberta Roney; Adam Knox; Angela Killingsworth; and several others. Please refer to announcements for more information.
GOSPEL MEETING: Remember our meeting – the Second Sunday in July!
Often we spend entirely too much time worrying about pleasing others – others, I might add, who wouldn’t be pleased regardless of our efforts! Let us seek to please the Lord first, and those whom we love and who truly love us, and then ourselves. God is always pleased with our best effort; those we love will be pleased with our best effort; and what more could we ask of ourselves than that we do all that we can? “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
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What Must I Do To Be Saved? Hear the Gospel (Romans 10:17), Believe the Gospel (Hebrews 11:6), Repent of Sins (Acts 2:38), Confess Faith In Christ (Acts 8:37), Be Baptized (Acts 22:16), and remain faithful, even to the point of death (Revelation 2:10). May we help you?
Whatever happened to hell???
Article 2
As we left off last time, we were considering II. Hell is filled with Horrible Souls; having covered points A. and B., we begin with:
C. NOTICE THAT THE THIRD CATEGORY OF HELL’S RESIDENTS HEREIN LISTED ARE THE ABOMINABLE.
The word “abominable” means “disgusting”. Perhaps more correctly, “to render foul (from bedo, to stink), to cause to be abhorred…is used in the Middle Voice, signifying to turn oneself away from (as if from a stench); hence, to detest…In Rev. 21:8 it denotes “to be abominable”” (Vines, see Abhor). This would include all who are not living in harmony with His Will in general, for what excuse have we for neglecting the Law of Him Who died for us? What redeeming value or what lovely characteristic is there which would remove one’s rejection of the Christ?
D. NOTICE THAT THE
FOURTH CATEGORY OF HELL’S RESIDENTS HEREIN LISTED IS MURDERERS.
Murderers are
listed as future residents of hell. Murder is defined as the unlawful
taking of a human life. Literal murder is condemned in both Testaments,
of this most are aware; however, there is another kind of murder dealt
with in the New Testament as well: 1 John 3:15 “Whosoever hateth
his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life
abiding in him.” The duty to “love one another” has, then, as its
opposite ‘spiritual’ murder. Those who take (unlawfully) the life
of another, and those who fail to demonstrate proper love one for another,
find condemnation in this word.
E. THE FIFTH CATEGORY OF THE CONDEMNED IN THIS LIST ARE THE WHOREMONGERS.
People need to learn that when they stand before God and men and say, “I do” – they had better mean it! God does not view sexual promiscuity with the same lax attitude of our generation. It is long past time for God’s people to rise up and speak out for sexual purity. In one survey, taken many years ago, college girls were approached and asked if they had engaged in promiscuous sexual intercourse. In 1958 one in ten indicated that she had. In 1978 a representative sample was chosen and asked the same question. This time one in two indicated that she had. I do not have any more recent statistics on this, but do you think it has gotten better? If so, to what would you attribute the improvement? The efforts directed at this problem today usually involve not the preaching of abstinence, but the supplying of condoms etc. so that people practicing promiscuity might do so more safely. It is estimated that 2,739 teenage girls become pregnant out of wedlock every Saturday night. We have digressed from preaching God’s word on this matter to defending deviants and supplying the means to sin more safely! Despite the efforts of men to the contrary, and despite their arguments and rationalizations, this is sin, and the practitioners thereof have a home in hell awaiting them absent repentance on their part.
F. THE NEXT CATEGORY OF HELL’S RESIDENTS LISTED BY THIS DISCIPLE WHOM JESUS LOVED IS SORCERERS.
Would-be sorcerers disguise themselves today as psychics, selling their false-hope on “info-mercials” and commercials in general. People turn to the ‘horoscope’ section of the daily newspaper, thinking that they will find some insight into their future. Others turn to the “palm-readers” whose signs dot the landscape of many areas of the nation. If one is worse than the other, I would suggest that it is those who patronize such foolish services – imagine thinking that someone has “mysterious powers” which enable them to see into the future by looking at the palm of your hand! Further still, what could someone on a 900-number possibly know about your future? To what power do they pretend to appeal to gain this knowledge? God? Certainly not. Save your money, and your soul, by avoiding such foolish wastes of time.
G. LIARS WILL BE IN HELL.
This would include those who intentionally state that the case is one way when it is really not that way. Lies may be partial truths also. Whenever we state the facts in such a way as to deceive we are guilty of this sin. One can tell the truth in such a way as to deceive and by so doing lie. James wrote: “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation” (James 5:12). Clearly, the word of the Christian is to be good enough, and that can only happen when the word is true.
III. BROADENING THE SCOPE, HELL’S RESIDENTS ALSO INCLUDE:
A. THOSE WHO FAIL TO SHOW PROPER CARE FOR THEIR FELLOW-MEN.
We have all read of the rich man who failed to give Lazarus the necessities of life when he himself had an abundance, and we are thus familiar with the pronouncement of condemnation given him by Father Abraham (cf., Luke 16). James wrote, “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” (James 2:15-16). What we have in life is not really ours, it is just ours for the using; and we must use it to help those less fortunate than ourselves if we are to find favor with God in the end. We need to learn from the Christians of the First Century: “And all that believed were in the same place; and they had all things in common: and they sold their possessions, and effects, and divided them to all, as every one had necessity. And they continued unanimously in the temple every day; and breaking bread from house to house, they partook of their refreshment with joy and simplicity of heart; praising God, and having favour among all the people. And the Lord added daily to the congregation those who were saved” (Acts 2:44-47, Living Oracles). We understand that many have better jobs than others, many work harder than others, and so on; and we are not advocating that no one should prosper. Rather, we contend, with the authority of the Scriptures, that those with enough should never allow those without to suffer. All who show such little mercy and love here should expect none in the world that is coming.
B. DEVOUTLY RELIGIOUS PEOPLE WILL BE IN HELL.
Strange though it may seem to men in today’s world, some of the most devout, self-sacrificing, and pious people in the world will not make it to heaven. It may seem incredible, but – believe it! Jesus affirmed such: “Not every one who saith unto me, Master, master, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of my Father who is in heave. Many will say to me on that day, 'Master, master, have we not taught in thy name, and in thy name expelled demons; and in thy name performed many miracles?' To whom I will declare, 'I never knew you. Depart from me ye who practise iniquity'” (Matthew 7:21-23, Living Oracles). He spoke on this wise to some religious people of the First Century: “Well hath Isaiah prophesied concerning you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with [their] lips, but their heart is far from me. But, in vain do they worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, [as] the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do” (Mark 7:6-8, Websters). We must be not only religious, but right religiously! When we put ourselves up as being somewhat in the eyes of God, we had better be careful to be what we are supposed to be: “…and these, as irrational natural beasts, made to be caught and destroyed -- in what things they are ignorant of, speaking evil -- in their destruction shall be destroyed,” (II Peter 2:12, Youngs).
(Space is gone for now, but we plan to continue these thoughts next week. TS).
Tim Smith 1272
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Gospel Meeting
Let us remember our Gospel Meeting with Charles Box of Greenville! The dates are July 9-14, 2000.