And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. — Matt. 10:28
But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. — Luke 19:27
Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. — Matt. 25:41, 46
2 comments:
Having heard Dr. Piper yesterday, it is easier to hear him say the words of this chapter.
I'm going to post again later, but I want to say for now that our God certainly wants us to see reality for what it is - to be able to see the meaning and destination of life through His eyes. Then we see our place and His place and a Holy fear grows in us. The fear would be overwhelming except that He - the one to be feared - has served us in many ways, the greatest of which is when He paid the penalty that we owned.
He is not safe, but He is good.
Notes from "The Joy of Fearing God" by Jerry Bridges.
Chapter 10 - The Fruit of the Tree
page 161 - To fear God by obeying Him means that we seek to follow all of His commands for us. We must not pick and choose or seek to reinterpret some of them....Too often we define sin in terms of those actions that may be least troublesome to us: drunkenness, dishonesty, sexual immorality, abortion....We see the sinfulness of society around us but not the sin in our own hearts: critical and judgemental attitudes, selfishness, gossip, back-biting, insisting on our own way, and seeking to manipulate or intimidate others.
page 161 - The one place where Paul warns us not to grieve the Holy Spirit.....is in a section dealing with our speech and other interpersonal relationships (Ephesians 4:29)...."Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."
page 162 - Immediately after that he says..."Do not grieve the Holy Spirit." We grieve the Holy Spirit not only with dishonesty or immorality, but also by our gossip, complaining, and sharp words.
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