The day before Mother's Day is a charged atmosphere On 2nd & Market St. in downtown Louisville because life & death are at hand. This Saturday morning I joined the guys of Jude 23 to pray & preach the gospel in front of the Abortion Clinic. There were pro-choice(death) supporters with nearly 40-50 Clinic escorts for the women coming there to have abortions. But there were many Pro-Life supporters gathered to pray, some had the red tape over their mouths (LIFE), but we open air preached. The crowd was hostile especially some of the clinic escorts (you can see it in the video posted from WHAS 11). It breaks my heart think that right here in my own city hundreds of babies are being murdered by their own mothers every month. God help us, God help me to fervently pray against this & for the mothers to turn to you.
Later that afternoon I headed to the Art in the Arbor festival held at Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church. I must mention that the Unitarian Church is associated with Liberal Christianity but it is NOT Christian. There are a variety of non-biblical beliefs between different Unitarian branches but they all deny the Trinity (One God revealed in 3 persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit). I'm not really concerned with that I came to 'seek & save the lost' at this festival. So with a pocket full of gospel tracts I prayerfully went in & began passing them out & talking with people about the gospel. Lets just say that I wasn't received with open arms.
"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." -2 Tim. 3:12-13
These verses were real at this festival. I encountered a lot of rejection toward the gospel and a blatant false teacher. Paul says to Timothy that you can bank on this: living boldly & godly for Christ will make you a target for persecution in a sinful world that is hostile toward God. Making matters worse there are 'impostors'-- evil & false teachers who further deceive the masses & themselves toward destruction.
Hostile toward God
I don't know what it is with the 'older crowd' but they often don't want to engage in any conversation about God. Many took my gospel tracts then wanted to give them back & some people flat out told me they didn't care & didn't want to hear anyone's opinion about what it takes to get to heaven. Another man said, "Heaven is a place were you can drink all the beer you want & realize you don't have any money." It never surprises me that most of these people look outwardly gentle & compassionate but they are all the same inwardly as the Bible proclaims (sinful, hostile to God, rebels, & blind). I'm sure I could have talked with them about anything but God & they would have smiled & liked me but the moment I discussed spiritual matters that concern their sinful state before a holy God 'the monster sticks its head out.' And let me be clear, I'm always respectful, gentle, never judging or condemning but when you began exposing that men are not nearly as good as they think they are & that Christ is the only way to have their sins removed & forgiven- the offense of the gospel becomes evident.
Wrong way to Heaven Mr. Preacher
I gave a tract to a couple of men & asked them, "what do you think happens to you after you take your last breathe?" One of the men responded, "Well I'm going to see the Father's face in heaven & be with him." I said, "Amen, that's what I will be doing, but how do you get to heaven." He responded again, "Well brother you have to live a good life." I asked him, "so you have lived a good enough life to get to heaven? Do you mind going through some of the 10 commandments to see?" Then this man began walking away & said, "I don't need this, I'm a preacher myself!" Wow, this man is exactly what Paul described when he spoke of "evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."
This man claimed to be a minister of God but had deceived himself into believing that he has lived a good enough life to earn heaven's reward. The Bible is clear that there are none that are righteous, holy, or good enough in themselves to earn heaven because 'all have sinned.' Jesus is clear that we must 'be perfect as the Father is perfect' to enter into heaven (Jesus said perfect not simply good). So what have we earned by living 'good lives' as sinners? The wages of our sin, which is death (eternal death in hell). This is why Jesus Christ came to live a perfect & sinless life (because we haven't & can't stand before God innocent). Then he expressed the highest degree of love & grace by laying down his life on rugged cross as a sacrifice for sins he had not committed. The one innocent lamb of God took the place of us guilty sinners! The punishment we deserve fell upon him as he bore the wrath of God for our sins so that God remains just when forgiving sinners. That is why salvation comes by faith alone apart from works. At best our 'good deeds & life' are stained & filthy with our sins. We need the blood of Jesus to wash us white as snow. We can never live a good enough life to save ourselves, God is clear that sin is what will send us to hell because it must be punished & good deeds don't remove our sins... only trusting in the person & work of Christ will remove our sins. So don't listen to any false teacher or preacher who says just live a good life. So "no Mr. Preacher that's the wrong way to heaven... it leads to hell."
No comments:
Post a Comment