Get Saved
Telling the Truth
(The following are not my words, but the author says it exactly the way I feel. The article is condensed.)
What people often refer to as “love” is sinful compromise. God's love is unconditional, i.e., God doesn't love us for who we are, but because of Who He is. Amen! Likewise, I don't love people for who they are, but because of who God has made me in Christ Jesus. We like people for their good qualities, we love them for their faults.
The sin-loving world wants Christians to remain silent concerning sin. However, God has commanded each believer to expose all works of darkness. Ephesians 5:11, “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” If you love someone, you tell them the truth, especially if not telling them the truth will harm them. The unsaved often get upset when a “Bible-thumper” witnesses the Gospel to them, but it is only out of a heart of concern and love, that we WARN others of God's wrath's against unrepentant sinners and of coming judgment in the Lake of Fire. With all the suffering in this present world, it should not be difficult to grasp the reality of eternal punishment in the fires of Hell. The question is, do you believe that the Bible is God's Word? If you do, then you cannot deny the existence of eternal punishment for the wicked, i.e., the unsaved.
To proclaim the Word of God in today's apostate, sin-loving, Christ-rejecting, Bible-denying, American society requires “tough love.” Most people don't want to hear the truth, which is why so many so-called “Christian” ministers and authors rarely touch upon the topics of sin, God's wrath, judgment, hellfire or eternal punishment. There can be no salvation without the Law of God which shows men their guilt of sin. Yes, love induces kindness and compassion, but it also induces taking an uncompromising Biblical stand against sin and evil.
Jesus didn't use sweet words to show Peter the error in his thinking. Instead Jesus sharply rebuked Peter by saying, “Get thee behind me Satan” (Matthew 16:23). Jesus scathed the unsaved Pharisees with the harshest words of all, calling them “whited sepulchres ... full with dead men's bones” (Matthew 23:27). The Apostle Paul was not very gentle with Simon the sorcerer, when he told him, “Thy money perish with thee” (Acts 8:20). Simon had mistakenly thought he could buy God's power, as many lying televangelists would still have us believe today.
In 1st Corinthians 16:22 the Apostle Paul sternly warned, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” Anathema meaning “cursed,” and Maranatha meaning “the Lord is coming.” Paul said, “LET HIM BE CURSED, THE LORD JESUS IS COMING!” Does this sound like the words of the greatest missionary who ever lived? Yes, it certainly is! Somehow people today have accepted the false idea that love never offends anyone. Nothing could be further from the truth! When you love someone, you tell them the truth for their own good. A loving friend will tell you the truth if it's something that you need to know.
We are taught in the Scriptures that light and darkness cannot co-exist. That is, the righteous and the wicked will never live in harmony . . .
"An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked." —Proverbs 29:27
Mankind is inherently evil and destined to destruction. When Adam sinned, he opened the floodgate for sin to enter into the world. All the education, reformation and rehabilitation available cannot rid the world of lust, greed and hate. The truth is that we are sinners in need of salvation. Thankfully, Jesus Christ paid our sin debt, so that we could be redeemed back to God.
It is only because I love God and people that I proclaim the truth. I do not enjoy offending anyone, but I realize that the truth offends people.
I do in fact genuinely love people, no matter who they may be. If God can love a big sinner like me, then I can love anyone, even my enemies. Jesus died for all mankind. People often mistake a Christian's love for hate, and some professed believers do hate, sinfully so; but proclaiming the truth is the most noble and loving thing a person can do. A strict parent is often viewed as being “unfair” or a “tyrant” for making and enforcing rules with their teenager. The truth is that the parent loves that child and is trying to prepare them for life ahead. The child may feel that the parent hates them at the time, but it certainly is not any form of hatred. It is in fact genuine love.
Sometimes we might not tell someone the truth, if it will unnecessarily hurt them, because we love them and don't believe they need to know. At other times we may tell someone the truth, because we love them and they need to know. The latter is true concerning this website, i.e., my ministry.
I want to share with you the truth about many things, as I continue to learn and wake-up myself. This is love. My heart longs for you to know the truth and for your life to be changed for God. Have you been born-again?
What you do with the truth is your decision, I can only point you in the direction that I believe is correct. Liberty is the right to choose. Freedom is the result of making the right decisions. So many people are woefully ignorant concerning the truth (some sincerely, others by choice).
My desire is for others to receive Jesus as the Christ (i.e., Savior) and in so doing obtain the gift of eternal life. We are all GUILTY sinners, deserving of Hell for breaking God's holy Law. Thankfully, Jesus paid our sin debt. We are saved by HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, i.e., the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and not by our own hypocritical self-righteousness. God will forgive anyone who acknowledges their guilt of sin and comes to God the Father by way of faith in the redeeming blood sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.
From: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/please_give_me_your_heart.htm
See “What is Your Excuse for not Getting Saved?”.
See “The Love Gospel” at “The Common Thread
(addendum)”.
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