Right Concept, Wrong Idea #2

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We’re taking a look at some well-known thoughts that we tend to
misinterpret biblically.

“God is good, and God is love, therefore He
wouldn’t send anyone to hell.”

God doesn’t desire to send anyone to hell. That’s why He sent
Himself—in the human form of His Son, Christ, to die for our sins so
we wouldn’t have to spend eternity in hell.

Someone has to pay for your sins—either you or Christ.
God loves you so much, He offered to pay the death penalty for you
through Christ. But He won’t force you to accept His gift.

True love has boundaries.
A married couple can expect each to be faithful to sacred vows and
not commit adultery. True love is angry enough about evil actions and
reacts. Loving moms and dads protect their children from sexual
exploitation.

God’s love is true love. Therefore, His love also has boundaries.
He’s angry about evil that hurts His disciples.
And He does something about it.

He gives everyone a choice.
He has promised that all who seek Him will find Him:

“You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in
earnest”
(Jeremiah 29:13 LB).

He DESIRES that we all choose Him! In fact, He begs us to choose
Him. Check this out:

“Oh, that you would choose life; that you and your children
might live! Choose to love the Lord your God and to obey him
and to cling to him. . . .” (Deuteronomy 30:20 LB).

He wants every person in the entire world to choose Him.
And, yes, He does make Himself known to everyone.
Need proof of this? Check out Romans 1:20 and Romans 2:12-16.

To NOT choose Christ is to choose hell.
And God will send those who reject Him to hell.

Is this fair?
We can be sure that God is absolutely fair and just. See Isaiah
30:18.

Thoughts?

Please pray for our services this weekend as I speak in Georgetown, TX.

Right Concept, Wrong Idea #1

/3 Comments/in , /by

Let’s take a look at some well-known thoughts that we tend to
misinterpret biblically.

“God loves me like I am.”

God accepts us as we are, and He saves us as we are.
But He loves us far too much to leave us where we are.

We’re born with sin. And while many Christians have a soft view on
sin, God definitely HATES it. Therefore, it’s spiritually dangerous
when we become tolerant of what God hates.

It seems we have forgotten 1 John 2:3-6:

“And how can we be sure that we belong to him? By
looking within ourselves: are we really trying to do what he
wants us to?

“Someone may say, ‘I am a Christian; I am on my way to
heaven; I belong to Christ.’ But if he doesn’t do what Christ tells
him to, he is a liar.

“But those who do what Christ tells them to will learn to
love God more and more. That is the way to know whether or not
you are a Christian.

“Anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ
did” (The Living Bible).

We often hear, “God loves me just like I am.”

God loves to SAVE us. But because we’re born with sin, He doesn’t
love us exactly as we are. And neither should we!
His desire is to change us, completely transform us and to bring us
into righteous alignment with Himself—a holy God.

Try memorizing this:
“. . . throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life,
which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit
renew your thoughts and attitudes.   Put on your new nature,
created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians
4:22-24 NLT).

Thoughts?

Please pray for God’s fresh anointing this weekend as I speak in
Sumter, SC.