THE WHOLE TRUTH
By Greg Laurie
And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.
—Jude 1:22-23
One of the complaints against the church has often been about the hellfire-and-brimstone preachers. People say they don’t like that kind of preaching.
My question is where are they? When is the last time you heard a hellfire-and-brimstone preacher? When I watch preachers on television, I can’t remember the last time I saw that type of guy, much less a mention of Hell.
We have to tell the whole truth. I know there is a discomfort concerning the topic of Hell, but the Bible deals with this subject. Therefore, we need to take a hard and careful look at it. A lot more people are going to Hell than are going to Heaven, because Jesus said, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way” (Matthew 7:13 NLT).
Yes, the gospel is good news. But we can’t fully appreciate the good news until we first understand the bad news. The bad news is that we are separated from God by our sin. We are headed to Hell, and there is no way we can resolve our own problem. The good news is that God loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, on a rescue operation to die on the cross in our place and atone for our sin. And if we will turn from our sin and believe in Him, we can be forgiven and know with certainty that we will go to Heaven when we die.
We hold in our hands the key to the prison door that nonbelievers are in. We have the solution, and it’s the gospel. There needs to be an urgency on our part to reach people who are headed to Hell.
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2 Kings 22; 2 Chronicles 34; John 6; 2 Kings 23; 2 Chronicles 35; John 7
Used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie.
