Principles of the Dragnet, Part 2 - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

Gracetoyou.org ^ | 2008 | John MacArthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

“‘So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous’” (Matthew 13:49).

One way that God’s angels serve Him in the judgment is as instruments of separation and execution of final sentence (cf. Matt. 24:31; 25:31–32; Rev. 14:19; 15:5–16:21). This separation will be from among all the living and the dead of humanity from all time—“those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment” (John 5:29).

During His earthly ministry, Jesus repeatedly warned about the horrors of hell (Matt. 10:28; 25:41; Luke 16:23) and pled with people to avoid such a terrible fate by fleeing to Him for salvation. Even though life will seem normal, our Lord predicts that one day the righteous and unrighteous will part ways:

For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. (Matt. 24:37–41)

God does not want any sinner to perish (Ezek. 18:23; 2 Peter 3:9). Jesus wept over Jerusalem because its people would not turn to Him (Luke 19:41)—He does not desire anyone to experience hell.

Ask Yourself

One way you see the distinction between the world and the church is how quickly the serene atmosphere of Christmas devolves into the bawdy recklessness of New Year’s Eve plans. Why are so many people content to treat Christianity like a part-time occupation?

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TOPICS: Evangelical Christian; Theology; Worship
KEYWORDS: gty

[metmom]

Studying God’s Word ping

[mitch5501]

"Why are so many people content to treat Christianity like a part-time occupation?"

Because they do what they consider to be the "work of God "

[Cowman]

Somebody had to say it. “Just stick to the facts ma’am”

[SPDSHDW]

Because These sorts(of which there are way to many) are not truly saved.

A large portion of them work with “easy Believism” where pretty much as long as they say they’ve sinned and ask Jesus for forgiveness(only once at that) They are saved from hell. These sorts continue to go along in their wicked ways, with this assumption of being saved despite carrying out obviously wicked practices. These sorts show, by their fruits, that they have not changed and are still living in the flesh as they were prior, possibly not as severely, but still very obviously so. The current Church’s mainstream message is a large part of this issue, because more and more churches operate like a business, trying to keep butts in the pews by pandering and distorting the Word of God. Other divisions are preaching straight heresey while claiming it’s based in the scripture, and others at least admit, however slight, that they worship the ideas of man over God.

While there is nothing we can do to earn salvation, You obviously have to commit to obeying God and his Word. God does not tolerate sin, and you must repent of all sin you knowingly have done and desire a change from that. Whether or not God initiates this desire for in all persons is above my paygrade.