The effort
to put out a fire starts only after the fire has started, but by then,
containing it could be unsuccessful, leading to possible lives lost If there
were a way to stop a fire from starting in the first place, lives could be
saved.
There’s an
old saying, “Prevention is better than cure.” And by the way, it is a true
saying, and makes a lot of sense. If you take your medicine the way your doctor
prescribed it, you most likely won’t experience what could happen without it.
For example, if you take your blood pressure medicine as prescribed, your blood
pressure will stay under control, and you might not experience a stroke; it’s
that simple!
Having said
all that, it is good to understand that this idea works in the spiritual world
as well. There’s fire waiting to consume all those who are not God’s children.
But JESUS is rendering the fire powerless by His blood; He is washing away the
sins of men, so they won’t have to face the fires of hell. It’s almost like dousing
the fire with His blood for all those who will put their trust in Him.
What do you
think? Would you like to escape the fires of hell? Would you like to have a
personal relationship with God now, and later in heaven? I can’t imagine that
you’d answer ‘No,’ to these questions. And if you would, then you probably have
no idea what the fires of hell are like, or you don’t believe God would send
anyone to hell.
Let me disprove the second reason first: God will send
non-penitent sinners to hell because He is holy and cannot have fellowship with
them. Although God is loving and kind, He is also holy, just, and faithful, and
because of those attributes, He has to punish sin; He will send people to hell.
Once when Jesus was talking to His disciples about heaven, He said: “… Away
with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his
demons” (Matthew 25:41 NLT). Note where sinners will be sent—into eternal fire. On another occasion,
Jesus counseled His listeners to fear God, and not men: “Don’t be afraid of
those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that.
But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and
then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear” (Luke 12:4-5 NLT). Again,
did you notice the mention of hell?
So that’s your answer—God will send people to hell if they choose to not
repent.
And now,
your other probable reason for answering ‘No’ could be that you have no idea
what hell is like. The Bible makes it very clear that hell is a place of
unending torment (see Revelation 20:10)and weeping and gnashing of teeth (see Matthew
8:12). I’m sure it is a place you’d not want to be.
What steps
do you need to take to not find yourself in hell? You need to be adopted into
the family of God, and this is how—repent of your sins, and ask God for
forgiveness through his Son Jesus, because: “God made Christ who never sinned,
to be the offering for our sins, so that we could be made right with God
through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT). And when you take that step, God
gives you the assurance that you’ve escaped hell: “So now there is no
condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NLT). The
solution to our sin problem is the blood of Christ. Please, don’t postpone
doing this, because nobody is promised tomorrow.
If you made
that decision, this is what the Bible says about you: “Everyone who believes
that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. Everyone who loves the
Father loves his children, too. We know we love God’s children if we love God
and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his
commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:1-3 NLT).
These verses
explain who you are in Christ—you’re one of God’s many children (the Church);
you have to love them, and be loved by them. Our proof of our love for God is
obedience to his Word. The only way we can obey the Word is to know it—by
reading, studying, and meditating on it, and even memorizing it. We will also
need to hear it from faithful ministers of God. All this will help us grow in
our relationship with God and with each other. You could confidently say your
fire’s been put out—hell is no longer waiting for you!
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