Skip to main content

The Saddest Words in the Gospels

Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”

            Perhaps the saddest words in the Gospels are recorded in Matthew 7:23, “depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”  Hell will be a place of departure.  I heard someone say some years ago, “Hell will be a place of continually going away from the presence of God.”  Our cry today should be the same as Moses in Exodus 33:15, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.”

            We cannot live without the presence of the Lord.  His presence brings joy, peace, and comfort.  There is healing in the presence of the Lord.  Without His presence there will be no joy, peace, comfort or healing.  Hell will be place of separation.  Dr. Herschel Ford writes, “Hell means separation from God’s presence and from God’s blessings.  Hell means separation from our loved ones who are at home with God.[i]

This is the individual who rejects God.  This is the one who chooses a life of sin.  This person refuses to yield to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, and has learned to tune out the voice of those who love them and desire to see them saved.  The Lord takes no pleasure in the words, “Depart from Me.” He is a loving God.  II Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Our loving Father has provided a means for our salvation. I Timothy 1:15 says, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”  Jesus spoke more about Hell than He did about Heaven.  He doesn’t want us to go to this horrible place.  What must we do to be saved, so we can spend eternity in Heaven?  Psalms 145:18 gives these instructions, “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.”



[i] Ford, Herschel, Simple Sermons on Great Christian Doctrines, Baker, 1953, Page 114.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rebuilding the Broken Altar of Prayer

In Matthew 21: 12-13 , “ Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” Jesus made this declaration, “My house shall be called a house of prayer!”  I believe that God is calling us back to the altar of prayer.  For several weeks the Lord has dealt with me about rebuilding the broken altar of prayer in our personal and corporate lives.  If we are going to see spiritual breakthrough in our churches and communities then we must rebuild and return to the altar of prayer. Wayman Rogers writes, “The ministry of prayer is the most important of all ministries in the church.  Prayer creates the atmosphere and binds the powers of darkness so the gospel of Jesus can go forward and the church can prosper.  This is the area that
Post a Comment
Read more

The Shout of a King is Among Them

Numbers 23:21 - “He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God  is  with him, And the shout of a King  is  among them.” In this passage of Scripture, the king of Moab had hired the prophet Balaam to speak a curse over the children of Israel.   He saw Israel as a threat to his kingdom.   Numbers 22:2-3 – “Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel.” When the enemy sees the people of God rising up in faith, he becomes very concerned and moves to keep us from fulfilling our assignment.   We learn in Numbers, Balaam could only speak what the Lord gave him to speak.   Instead of a curse he speaks a blessing. The enemy seeks our destruction, but God!   Listen to the conversation between God and Satan in Job 1:8-10, “Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you conside
Post a Comment
Read more

I Hear the Sound of Abundance of Rain

I Hear the Sound of Abundance of Rain 1 Kings 18:41-46 Then Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.”  42  So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees,  43  and said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.” 44  Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’” 45  Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.  46  Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.        One of the most fasci
2 comments
Read more