Proverbs 13:20
Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

 

IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER (and this year, in September) I am seeing homes and yards decorated for Halloween. Be warned and beware: God does not approve!

 

I ONCE HEARD A SERMON BY JESSE DUPLANTIS entitled: “What in Hell do you want?!”  I knew right away where Jesse was going. This is one of the most memorable sermons I have ever heard! Very pointed! Very challenging! Very true: biblically true!!

And like Jesse, I too love to mock Satan and make a determined, uncompromising stance to warn all the people I am able to of the reality and horrors of Hell. Therefore, I’m going to start this truly joyful story with Scriptures about Hell. Why? Because it was not / it is not / nor will ever be God’s will for anyone to enter into eternal damnation: Hell!

And for all of you non-wise (this would include the blaming, the bitter, those seeking revenge, the stupid, the arrogant, the ones who think they are worthy in their own right to stand boldly before the throne of God….) here is the proof He loves mankind!

 

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

 

LOOK! HE HAS WARNED YOU!

 

Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

 

Psalm 11:6
On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.

 

Matthew 7:13-14
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

 

2 Thessalonians 1:8-10
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might ¹⁰ on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

 

Jude 1:3-7
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.  For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

 

Revelation 20:15
Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

 

Revelation 21:6-8
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.  But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

 

ALSO NOTE: anyone who does want someone else to go to Hell is in no way a Christian!

Selah!

 

AND NOW THAT I’VE CHALLENGED THE SINNER AND REMINDED THE SAINT God is to be feared, Hell is to be shunned; I will now address saints of the crucial willingness to be divided, to be separated from the sinner in this present age. Why? It is true, it is right, it is holy: God will eventually divide the two kingdoms into eternal separation. And we saints must chose and remain in His kingdom now and forever or perish, we will.

Selah…

 

Daniel 12:1
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

 

“Keep the Hell away from me!”

Like Jesse’s sermon, this is a good word too. We children of God are to guard our hearts. We are to shun evil and have nothing to do with the sinner except offering them God’s redemptive plan: Jesus Christ and His Gospel. Yes we love them! BUT: Beloved, in no way do we want to admire or emulate the sinner…

And when they try to entice us in their wicked ways; remember their paths are leading them right through that wide gate and that broad road which will bring them exactly to destruction if they don’t change their damning direction! Be warned: we must be willing to say: “Keep the Hell away from me!”

In no way am I telling anyone to hate anyone! In no way would I tell someone to be joyful that you are a new creation and sinners are dead in their sins. However, only you can choose life for yourself! Only you can decide your eternal destination: Heaven or Hell!

Because The Lord God Almighty is supposed to be everyone’s first love every human being should have chosen to keep the Hell away from them. Everyone should hate evil. Everyone should love holiness… But Satan mocks it and he tries to mock the saints. He’s so daft that he even tries to mock God! God cannot be mocked and salvation cannot be earned. When one receives the gift of eternal life, salvation, it is imperative to know that one can walk away from it. Let me give you this truth right now:

 

Hebrews 6:4-6
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

 

When a person departs from his first love, God, his name will be blotted out of the book of life:

 

Revelation 3:4-5
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.  The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.

 

Now, to make you feel better, I could say here, “Don’t worry! That will never happen to a Christian!” But I don’t lie: I strive to follow Christ as Paul tells us to only follow him as he follows Christ. My trust is anchored in God’s Word and not the opinion of man. That is exactly why I need to warn my loved ones: an apostate is one who had been a Christian and whose heart became hardened, so very hardened, indeed: so damnable hardened that he has forever, knowingly and willingly, denounced Christ, never wanting Christ again to the full truth: God would not allow him back.

 

Hebrews 6:4-6
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

 

 

Be warned: if you live like Hell and enjoy it – you may very well reject Jesus. The Holy Spirit Almighty will warn you, will entreat you to stay – but you are a free moral agent and love always takes two…

 

“Keep the Hell away from me!”

 

When you’re not in the mood to say: “Keep the Hell away from me!” to those who don’t give a rip about God, His love, His provisions, you might say it this way: “Keep your seemingly destination, Hell, away from me! I won’t join in with  you!” or “Keep your hellish behavior away from me!”

Have you ever noticed that the sinner has no problem giving you a big, disgusted “No!” when you invite him to church? Haven’t many of them reacted to you as if you’ve just offered them the plague? Others may ‘politely’ lie: “I just don’t have the time…” I’ve heard that before.

So: Beloved saints; if they have no problem, take no shame, admission of guilt to turn down your offer to worship God, when you know how evil it is not to love our Lord of Glory; why are you so embarrassed, cowardly or hesitant in any way to say “Yes.” to God’s plan and “Hell NO!” to His enemy and ours – the evil one, Satan?!

So how do we do this?  Here are some terrific scenarios:

• SOMEONE WANTS YOU TO TAKE THAT FIRST DRAG: (because it is SO cool!)
• YOU SAY: “I’m too smart to smoke!”

• SOMEONE WANTS TO TALK SMACK ABOUT A CO-WORKER

YOU SAY: “This is the situation: I hear a lot of gossip here and you’re part of the problem. I don’t want anything to do with it!”

• SOMEONE WANTS A SINFUL RELATIONSHIP:

YOU SAY (when you are): “I’m married!”

• SOMEONE REFUSES TO LOVE THE MENTALLY HANDICAPPED: (saying: “He’s not my buddy.”)

YOU SAY: “He’s mine!”

• SOMEONE IS BEING DISRESPECTFUL IN CHURCH:

YOU: Tell an usher or chide him yourself.

• SOMEONE AT CHURCH SAYS: “Sure! If you want to take the Bible literally!”

YOU: WALK AWAY!

• WHEN SOMEONE, FAMOUS OR NOT, SAYS: “There are many paths to God.”

YOU SAY: “Hell… no!!”

AND CONTINUE TO SAY THIS…

“KEEP THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! I BELIEVE AND KNOW JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY TO THE FATHER!”

 

John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

 

Stand up! Speak up! Your soul may depend on it…

 

SAINTS: if you put politeness, cowardice, any ungodly compromise, or loving people before your love for God you may very well be on your way to compromising God’s oracles, not holding His Word to its highest level, not loving Him enough to be willing to die for Him!

Selah…

 

 

Revelation 12:11
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.