Sins of Omission

In my previous post, I wrote about sins of ignorance.  In this post I would like to explain sins of omission, which can either be committed knowingly or unknowingly.

James wrote: "If anyone, then, knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for him." (Jas 4:17)

If you read Matthew 25, you will see that beginning in verse 31 Jesus spoke of the coming judgment when He will separate the sheep from the goats. You may already be familiar with that passage, but let me point out that the goats were guilty of committing sins of omission. He told them:

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'" (Mat 25:41-43)

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' (Mat 25:44).

They may not remember ever seeing Jesus hungry, thirsty, a stranger, needing clothes, sick, or in prison. But here is what the Lord will tell them:

"He will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." (Mat 25:45-46)

So if you don't believe it's possible to commit sins of omission, then this passage proves you wrong. The goats will most certainly be guilty of sins of omission. 

On the other hand, the sheep are the ones who do meet people at their point of need and show mercy, feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the one who is thirsty. visiting the sick and those in prison, etc. And whenever they do it for the least of these His brethren, they have done it unto Him. 

Let's repent, brothers and sisters, for our sins of omission, as well as our sins of commission.Let's repent for the both kinds of sin, whether we did it knowingly or unknowingly in ignorance. Let's ask the Lord to put it all under the blood of Jesus and cleanse us white as snow. Let's have a total change of mind about those sins. Then he will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and we will hear the Master say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Sins of Ignorance, 

Attribution notice: Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission.The image may be subject to copyright, used per the Fair Use Act for educational and commentary purposes.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, please also see the following: Sins of Ignorance, Ask for the Ancient Paths, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, The False Gospel of Eternal Security, and Repentance That Leads to Life. You may find the Main Directory for this blog at Home, and you may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Sins of Ignorance

I want to talk to you about sins of ignorance. By sins of ignorance, I mean sins that you commit unknowingly and unintentionally. Everyone commits sins unknowingly, and we could divide everyone into two categories like this.

First, there are those who don’t know they commit sins of ignorance. Very few people actually know that they can commit sins unknowingly. Then on the other hand are the people who do know that they sin unknowingly.

Just like in the field of Calculus mathematics, there are things you don’t know; but you don’t know the things that you don’t know. There are those who say that “ignorance is bliss.” The people who don’t know that it is even possible to commit sin unknowingly don’t care, since they don’t know. This is especially true of those in the "Once Saved Always Saved" (OSAS) camp.

On the other hand, people who know that it is possible to commit sins of ignorance can ask the Lord to reveal to them anything hidden in them that must go (e.g. sins of omission, as well as sins of commission). If you don’t know about the sin, you can’t do anything about it. So the first step is to ask the Lord to reveal those particular sins to you that you are not aware of.

But what you need to do before and after the Lord reveals to you those sins is to repent of them, and ask God to forgive you. The difference is that before you know what they are, you need to repent generally of them, but once the Lord reveals to you specifically something in your life that is displeasing to Him, then you can repent for it specifically.

Ask for deliverance from those sins. God is holy, holy, holy. You probably thought God’s standard was high when you read the Old Testament, but you find it’s even higher when you read the New Testament. The theme of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7) is “Be perfect even as My Father in heaven is perfect,” as found in Matthew 5:48. Jesus taught that we can commit sins in our hearts and thoughts, such as adultery by lusting in your heart, or murder by hating someone.

You should repent of your sins of ignorance daily. Specify “sins of ignorance” when you repent. Ask God to show you your hidden faults. A pastor I know of once prayed for his daughter for the Lord to reveal her mistakes to her so that she could repent. That's a good way to pray for yourself and for others as well.

Why would God allow people to commit sins of ignorance? He’s bound all men over to disobedience, so that He can have mercy on them. There are those who think they are sin-free, but are committing sin unknowingly. Those who don’t care about sins of ignorance don’t do anything about them. God allows them to go to hell even though He is not willing (i.e., it is not His desire) that any should perish but that all would come to repentance.

It is important to ask God to take sin away from you -- out of your life, because you cannot overcome it in your own strength. Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing." One who really knows and loves God will ask Him to reveal sins to him and will repent even before they know specific ones. As Christians, we should seek the Holy Spirit, and then we will have the mind of Christ so that He can reveal unknown sins to us.

If you’re praying through the Bible, God can show you your sins through the Word. God has expectations of us. He expects us to pray, seek Him, read the Bible, and repent. We should stay in repentance. Everyone needs to repent and believe. We must repent daily. As the Scripture says:

"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2Ch 7:14)

If you acknowledge that there is sin in your life, confess it to God, repent of it, ask Him to forgive you, and trust Him through Christ's finished work on the cross to do so, then you will make it to heaven. Even if you are trying to be the best Christian, you’re still committing sin. We must be doers and not just listeners of the Word. Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Mat 7:21).

When people commit sins of ignorance, God will judge them with regard to why they didn’t know. People who commit sins of ignorance may not read the Bible, or if they do, they may not read the Old Testament, and thus they don’t see the verses that God put there to warn them about sin (such as tattoos in Lev 19:28). Or if they do read the Old Testament, perhaps they don’t believe that what they’re reading is relevant for today, and they don't think it applies to our lives today, which is the sin of unbelief. The sin of unbelief is a very serious sin (Heb 3:12, 18-19; 4:1-2).

People who sin unintentionally will still go to hell even if they didn’t know. The Old Testament made provision for sins of ignorance (Lev 4:1-2, 13, 20, 22, 26, 27, 31, 35b; 5:17-19; Ezek 45:18-20). Jesus has also made provision for sins of ignorance. He wants us to claim that atonement.

"If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible." (Lev 5:17)

It’s actually easier (in my opinion) to commit sins unknowingly than to commit sins knowingly. That’s because you don’t know what you don’t know. We may be committing sins unknowingly, because we learned them from our parents. That's why parents are supposed to be a good example and not cause the little ones to stumble. But even if your parents set a bad example for you, the fact is that you are still responsible for your soul. You ultimately must give an account before God.

It is written: "'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.'" So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God." (Rom 14:11-12)

And elsewhere it says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." (2Co 5:10)

Likewise the Bible tells us, "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead." (Ac 17:30-31)

I hope this has helped you see the seriousness of sins of ignorance, because it is possible to commit them. You will be held accountable for them, unless you repent.

Attribution notice: Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission.

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, please also see the following: Sins of Omission, Ignorance is Not Bliss, Ask for the Ancient Paths, Sins That Will Keep You From Heaven, The False Gospel of Eternal Security, and Repentance That Leads to Life.. You may find the Main Directory for this blog at Home, and you may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Stay at Home and Seek the Lord

At this unprecedented time, the whole world is staying at home due to the coronavirus pandemic, which I have written about in my article Coronavirus Origin, Reason, and Remedy. This has caused a major economic crash globally, which I have also written about in Economic Turmoil Worldwide. This is a time of great shaking in the world. We all need some encouragement and direction regarding what to do at this time, so let me share with you some Scriptures that will provide that for you.

When God Shakes the Land
First of all, the Psalms are full of encouragement about hard times, and one of them says:

"You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us; you have been angry—now restore us! You have shaken the land and torn it open; mend its fractures, for it is quaking. You have shown your people desperate times; you have given us wine that makes us stagger. But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow. Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered." (Psa 60:1-5)

When God shakes the land, so that it is quaking, and shows the people desperate times, giving them wine that makes them stagger, there is hope for the saints of God who fear Him. He has raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow. We should cry out to Him to save us and help us, so that those He loves may be delivered.

Enter Your Rooms, Shut the Doors and Hide Yourselves 
Then there is a passage in Isaiah that seems to fit perfectly this moment that we're all in together. It says:

"Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until His wrath has passed by. See, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer." (Isa 26:20-21).

That's great biblical advice for what to do during this quarantine period. We who are the people of God should enter our rooms and shut the doors behind us; we should hide ourselves for a little while until His wrath has passed by. The ungodly scoff at the notion of God's wrath or a plague like this being God's wrath, but this is what the Bible teaches us. For more on this see End Time Plagues.

What is the Lord doing at this time? See, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The shaking is necessary to dislodge sin and idolatry. There has been much innocent bloodshed, and the earth will now reveal the blood shed on it; the earth will no longer conceal her slain.

The coronavirus pandemic (with it's accompanying economic collapse) is just one of many things that are going to happen to shake the earth. As of the time of this writing, the pandemic has infected more than 3.6 million and killed 251,838 people worldwide (latest count here). And there are going to be many more slain. The Case Fatality Rate in the UK is currently 98.1%! Worldwide it is 25.7%. Italy has experienced over 17,000 deaths already, and the US has experienced almost 14,000, but there could be multiplied millions more deaths before this is over. After the first spike that we're in now, there will likely be subsequent spikes later, such as in the fall and in 2021. Therefore, we should take this seriously.

The good news is that this period of staying in our homes won't last forever. We will eventually be allowed back out. The passage in Isaiah above says that it is "for a little while".

Come, You Who Have No Money
As I said, the economic impact from this crisis has been severe. People are out of work, going hungry, they have no money, the supply chain is experiencing major disruptions, there are food and supply shortages (which is essentially a famine), and people are becoming desperate. What should we do? The Lord says:

"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David." (Isa 55:1-3)

What a perfect verse for us at this time for those who have no money. If you have no money right now, you should be very encouraged by this, because the Lord is calling those who have no money to come to Him and buy from Him without money and without cost.  He promises that we will delight in the richest of fare. It reminds me of what Jesus said to His disciples when He told them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." (Joh 4:32). He went on to say, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." (Joh 4:34)

The Lord wants to make an everlasting covenant with those who take Him up on this invitation and come to Him.

Seek the Lord While He May Be Found
This crisis is a perfect time to seek the Lord. You no longer have the excuse that you have to work and you are too busy. You are at home now and there is plenty of time to seek the Lord. The non-essential places are closed where people normally go for entertainment and fun, so there are fewer distractions. Seek Him now at this time while He may still be found. There may come a time soon when it becomes so chaotic that you cannot seem to find Him in the midst of it (see here), but this is your opportunity to get alone with Him in your prayer closet. It's not time to be playing games and filling up your time with useless distractions.

"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon." (Isa 55:6-7)

It's time for everyone -- those who know the Lord and those who don't know Him -- to stop doing the things of the world, repent, pray, and seek the Lord. Believe in Jesus Christ and you will be saved. God loves you and is calling you to Himself right now. Don't miss this opportunity! He will have mercy on you and freely pardon your sin.

Protection During Passover

In one sense, this plague resembles the deadly plague that God brought upon Egypt, in which He sent the death angel to kill the firstborn male child of each household. But the Israelites were instructed to sacrifice a lamb and put its blood upon their homes, specifically upon the doors and doorposts. They were to stay inside their homes that were covered by the blood of the lamb, and when the death angel would come, it would see the blood there upon it, and it would pass over that home, sparing the life of the firstborn male child in it.

Likewise, as we stay in our homes during this time of the Passover feast (April 8-16th), we should cry out to the Lord for the blood of Jesus to be upon our homes, upon the doors and doorposts, and upon each person within our homes. Name each one inside your home. If they have repented of their sins and invited Jesus to come and live inside their hearts, then His blood is upon them. You can ask the Lord for the covering and protection of His blood, and He will protect you. 

The Passover Lamb was a type of Jesus Christ, who is the true Lamb of God, and His blood saves us from death and hell. For more on this, please see my article, The Passover Lamb as a Type of Christ.

Claim the Promises of Psalm 91
You should also pray a personalized version of Psalm 91 each day over yourself. Make it personal. For example, pray, "I dwell in the secret place of the Most High. I abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Surely He will save me from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover me with His feathers, and under His wings I will find refuge; his faithfulness will be my shield and rampart. I will not fear the terror of night,  nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at my side, ten thousand at my right hand, but it will not come near me. I will only observe with my eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. I make the Most High my dwelling --- even the Lord, who is my refuge -- so no harm will befall me, no disaster will come near my tent. The Lord will command His angels concerning me to guard me in all my ways. He will protect me, for I acknowledge His name. With long life He will satisfy me and show me His salvation."

It's important to note that these promises are only for those who dwell in the secret place of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty (Ps 91:1). There is an amazing aspect of God's Kingdom called "abiding in Christ", which we see illustrated in various ways in Scripture, including the way that Noah and his family went into the ark and stayed there until the wrath of God had passed. For more on this, including other examples from Scripture, see my article, Abiding in Christ Illustrated.

Closing Words
I hope this has been an encouragement to you, during this time of unprecedented shaking, to go into your rooms, shut the door, hide yourself for a little while, and seek the Lord while He may be found. Buy from Him without money and without cost. Call on Him while He is near. Ask for the precious blood of Jesus to be upon you, your loved ones, and the house you dwell in.

Get yourself ready for the rapture. Be like the five wise virgins that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 25, who go and buy oil to fill up their extra flasks with it in preparation for the bridegroom's coming. Get filled with the Holy Spirit. Make your preparations now, before the next major cataclysm happens and before the Lord comes with the clouds of glory. He is coming very, very soon!

Attribution notice: Scripture quotation taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Photo courtesy Pixabay.

Author's note: You may also want to read my other related posts:

Economic Turmoil Worldwide	Coronavirus: Origin, Reason, and Remedy	Are You Rapture Ready?
If My People Who Are Called by My Name	This Crisis Pales Compared to What's Coming	The Seven Seals Being Opened in Real Time
Seeking the Lord	The End Has Come	Abiding in Christ Illustrated
The 311 Moment	Sequence of Signs Preceding the Coming of Christ	Synching Up the Seven Seals with the Gospels

You may also visit our Home page for this blog, or access my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org

Remember Lot’s Wife

Dear God seekers,

I want to compare and contrast the wives of Lot and Noah. There were both similarities and differences between them.

Lot’s Wife

Let’s begin with the words of our Lord Jesus, who said, "Remember Lot's wife.” (Luk 17:32). This is one of the shortest verses in the Bible, and yet has very profound meaning.

In the context, Jesus was giving instructions for those of us who are living in these last days when He returns. He told us that if we are in the field at that time, we must not turn back to get anything in the house. And if we are on the rooftop, we should not go back down to retrieve any goods inside. He reminded us of Lot’s wife as a warning to us if we do turn back. And He explicitly said, "Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” (Luk 17:33). Therefore, His admonition to remember Lot’s wife is a very important one, since she lost her life when she sought to keep it. These things happened to her as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come, as a warning to keep us from doing what she did and coming under the same judgment (1 Co 10:11).

It would be useful for us at this point to review the account of what happened to Lot’s wife in its proper context, in order to fully apprehend the lesson we are supposed to learn from it.

When Abraham (then called Abram) moved to Canaan from Haran with his wife Sarah (then called Sarai) and his nephew Lot, God promised to give him the land of Canaan (Gen 12:5). Both Abraham and Lot had flocks and herds and the land could not sustain them, so strife erupted between their herdsmen. Then Abraham proposed a way to resolve the strife by separating from each other. He offered Lot to go any place he wished in the land, and Lot chose to settle in the beautiful, well-watered valley of the Jordan, which was like the garden of the Lord. So he journeyed eastward and eventually settled in Sodom, while Abraham settled in Canaan, so this is how they separated.

“Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the LORD. The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.’” (Gen 13:13-15)

A few years later, the Lord appeared to Abraham at his tent by the oaks of Mamre. And the LORD said, "The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know." (Gen 18:20-21). So Abraham proceeded to negotiate with the Lord to spare the righteous, rather than destroy them with the wicked who lived in that place. Because of Abraham’s intercession, the Lord sent two angels to Lot in Sodom, in order to rescue him and his family before they destroyed the city.

“Then the two men said to Lot, ‘Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it.’" (Gen 19:12-13)

For Lot’s sake, the Lord would have spared anyone who belonged to his household. But as it was, neither of his sons-in-law believed Lot when he tried to warn them. So the only family members that escaped with Lot were his wife and two daughters.

“When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.’ But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of the LORD was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city. When they had brought them outside, one said, ‘Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.’" (Gen 19:15-17)

Lot's Wife pillar, Mount Sodom, Israel

Lot was the only righteous person in his family, but his wife and daughters were spared for his sake. They were strictly warned not to look behind them, and not to stay in the valley, but to run for their lives and escape to the mountains. Lot negotiated with the angel to escape to the nearby town of Zoar, rather than the mountains, which they did with the angel’s permission. However, on the way, Lot’s wife looked back.

“By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land. Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Gen 19:23-26, NIV)

It is very likely that the angel of the Lord was leading them as they escaped to Zoar, followed by Lot’s wife and daughters, with Lot in the rear to make sure everybody made it safely. When Lot’s wife looked back, she may have been in front of Lot in the group, so that he saw her at the moment she turned around and became a pillar of salt. If she had been behind him, as the NASB version states, he would not have seen this happen, since he was forbidden to look behind him. However, the NIV version agrees with the Hebrew text of Scripture, which does not indicate that Lot’s wife was behind him, but that she looked behind her.

Based on this account, we may conclude that Lot’s wife was a worldly woman, who loved the city of Sodom and its unprincipled men, and who was not oppressed by their sensual conduct as righteous Lot was, nor was she tormented as he was in his soul day after day by their lawless deeds (2Pe 2:7-8). All she had to do was obey the angel’s orders to escape and not look back. But she ignored the Lord's command and looked back, because she loved this world and the life she had in Sodom. That is why she came under judgment with that city and lost her life. She had been shown grace by being given the chance to escape destruction, but she resisted the grace of God, because of her worldliness.

It did not matter that she was related to a righteous man by marriage. You can be the wife of a godly preacher, but still perish. You can be the son or daughter of righteous parents and still perish.

The fact that Lot's wife perished when she looked back is a warning not only against loving our lives in this world, but also against worldliness. James warned, “You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” (Jas 4:4). And John said, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1Jn 2:15).

Noah’s Wife
Now let’s look at the wife of Noah to see the similarities and differences she had with Lot’s wife.

God decided to destroy the earth because of the wickedness of men.

“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.” (Gen 6:5-8)

The reason why Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord and why the Lord decided to spare Noah was that He was a righteous and blameless man who walked with God. It says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.”(Gen 6:9b)

The reason the Lord spared his family was not that they were righteous, but for Noah’s sake and to repopulate the earth. The apostle Peter said God, “preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.” (2Pe 2:5). Peter emphasized that Noah was a preacher of righteousness, and the seven others were spared with him.

He preached righteousness to a wicked generation, while he built the ark, but nobody took heed to what he said. Noah himself did not come up with the pattern for the ark or its dimensions and specifications. God gave him the instructions with all the specifications, and Noah obediently followed them by building the ark accordingly. “Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.” (Gen 6:22)

Before the flood came, God commanded Noah to enter the ark with his family. “Then the LORD said to Noah, ‘Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.’” (Gen 7:1). Again, the Lord emphasized that he saw Noah alone as righteous before Him in that time.

Entering the ark was the condition the Lord gave Noah for salvation. If Noah, along with his wife and household, were to be rescued from destruction, all they needed to do was enter the ark and remain in it. Once they entered, there was no going outside for fresh air while they waited for the rain to begin. Noah’s wife obeyed and stayed in the ark. That’s a key difference between her and Lot’s wife, who disobeyed. Noah’s wife did not love the world as Lot’s wife did.

The ark is a type of Christ, according to Peter (1 Pe 3:20-21). If you don’t stay in Christ, who is the ark, you cannot be saved. It’s not a guaranteed salvation, which is certain to happen, no matter what you choose to do. You have to remain in Christ. You must obey Him.

Jesus taught us to abide in Him when He said, "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (Joh 15:6-7)

Jesus also taught us to obey Him when He said, "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. (Joh 15:10)

The apostle John taught us to abide in Him. “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.”  (1Jn 3:24)

Putting it All Together
In summary, Lot’s wife was a bad example of what not to do, and Noah’s wife was a godly example for us to follow. Both women were married to righteous men at a time when God was sending destruction upon the wicked people of the earth. While neither woman was named in Scripture, God extended grace to both of them, and gave them some simple commands to follow.

Noah’s wife received the grace of God unto salvation, but Lot’s wife received God’s grace in vain. Noah’s wife believed and obeyed the Lord’s command, but Lot’s wife did not believe and disobeyed. Noah’s wife cared not for this world, and had no problem separating from it, but Lot’s wife loved this world. Noah’s wife lost her life and in doing so preserved it, but Lot’s wife sought to keep her life and in doing so lost it. Noah’s wife escaped destruction, but Lot’s wife did not.

Remember Lot’s wife. Don’t look back. Jesus said, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luk 9:62). Rather than love this world or the things of this world, separate from it. Escape for your life! If you don’t, you will be swept away. Flee from the coming wrath. Save yourselves from this corrupt generation (Ac 2:40)! If you don’t know the Lord, then repent and be baptized in Jesus’ name for the forgiveness of sins. If you do know Him, then remain in Christ and obey His commands.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Other Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, where noted. The photo of the Lot's Wife salt pillar is a geological formation on Mount Sodom, overlooking the Dead Sea (from Wikimedia Commons). Wikipedia states: "The site of the present Dead Sea Works, a large operation for the extraction of Dead Sea minerals, is called 'Sdom' (סדום) according to its traditional Arab name, Khirbet as-sudūm. Nearby is unique Mount Sodom (הר סדום in Hebrew) consisting mainly of salt. In the Plain of Sdom (מישור סדום) to the south there are a few springs and two small agricultural villages."

Author's note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like No Turning Back, The Forgotten Sin of Worldliness, Holy Living in a Perverted World, Separation from the World, Don't Look Back (poem), Come Out of Her, Garments of Godliness, Keeping Your Body Pure and Holy, Keeping Sundays Holy, Faith Works!, Godly Attire and Adornment -- Seven Divine Revelations, Rock, Rap, and Reggae Music -- Two Divine Revelations, The Straight and Narrow Path, and Ask for the Ancient Paths. I highly recommend reading, Only the Holy -- Three Shocking Testimonies, Conditions of the New Covenant, and Holy Fire Baptism. You may find the Main Directory for this blog at Home, and also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Ultimate Accountability

There are many people who are sincere Christians and even pastors who have no accountability in their lives.  Being accountable means you must give an account for yourself.

Accountability Questions
Here are some accountability questions in God’s Word:

Peter’s Questions to Ananias and Saphira
But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."  (Act 5:3-4)

Peter asked Ananias four accountability questions:

1. Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?
2. While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?
3. And after it was sold, was it not under your control?
4. Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart?

Peter also questioned Sapphira:
And Peter responded to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?" And she said, "Yes, that was the price." Then Peter said to her, "Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well."  (Act 5:8-9)

He asked Sapphira two accountability questions:
1. Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?
2. Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?

The rich man asked an accountability question to the manager
Now He was also saying to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. "And he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'”  (Luk 16:1-2)

The rich man (employer) asked the manager (employee) one accountability question:
What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management!

God’s accountability questions to Adam and Eve
Accountability is something that is found all throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation.  In the Garden of Eden, after they sinned God asked:

And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." (Gen 3:11-13)

God did not question the serpent, through which satan was operating, since satan was already condemned for rebellion and was notorious for that. He had already fallen beyond any hope of repentance, so there was no point in questioning him.  Yet God did ask questions of Adam and Eve.  Not only did God ask them questions, but He sentenced them for their sin after He cursed the serpent.

The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." To the woman He said, "I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you." Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."  (Gen 3:14-19)

Man is Accountable for His Fellow Man
Man has always been and always will be accountable to God for his fellow man.  God said to Noah:

“And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” (Gen 9:5-6)

God will demand an accounting from each man for the life of his fellow man, for God has made mankind in the image of God.  This is why God instituted the death penalty.  The Law required the death penalty for various acts, including murder (Exodus 21:12), kidnapping (Exodus 21:16), bestiality (Exodus 22:19), adultery (Leviticus 20:10), homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13), being a false prophet (Deuteronomy 13:5), prostitution and rape (Deuteronomy 22:24), and several other crimes. God takes these things very seriously.

God not only holds man accountable for the physical death of his fellow man, but also his spiritual destruction as well. He said to Ezekiel:

"Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. "When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. "Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself.” (Eze 3:17-19)

God warned Ezekiel that He would hold him accountable for the blood of the wicked if he failed to warn them and they die in their iniquity.  He repeated this again:

“But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand. Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.” (Eze 33:6-9)

The apostle Paul alluded to this when He said, “Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” (Act 20:26-27)

The reason Paul was innocent of any man’s blood is that he did not neglect to preach the whole counsel of God to warn them.  Are you preaching the whole counsel of God?  Are you warning your fellow man, so that he will not perish?  Elsewhere we read:

“But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. But when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, ‘Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’"  (Act 18:5-6)

Paul declared to the Jews who resisted him and blasphemed that their blood would be upon their own heads, since he made a good faith effort to warn them.

All Men Accountable to God
Not only are all men and women accountable to God for the life of their fellow man, but for everything we do while in the body.

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2Co 5:10)

"But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken." (Mt 12:36)

“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds.” (Rom 2:5-6)

“But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God…So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Rom 14:10-12)

Peter warned of the coming judgment, as well, when we will all give an account to God:

“For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,” (2Pe 3:5-14)

And in the Revelation given to the apostle John, we see that there is an eternal judgment coming:

“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.” (Rev 20:13)

Putting it All Together
So all men are accountable to God. Many people today feel that since we are in the age of grace, accountability is minimized or completely removed for believers, but it's not true.  If anything, it is greater now than under the Old Covenant (see Heb 2:2-3). Accountability is not just an Old Testament practice, but also one that is found in the New Testament.  And God not only holds us accountable for taking the life of our fellow man, He also holds us accountable for the blood of people who perish in sin, because we failed to warn them. In fact, He holds us accountable for every deed we do, whether good or bad, and every empty word we speak.

This is a sobering warning that gives you an opportunity to repent now for any failures on your part, and to cry out for God’s mercy.  Jesus Christ died on the cross to save sinners, and if you will confess your sin to Him, asking for mercy, you can be forgiven.  But more importantly you need to know Him and commit to living for Him for the rest of eternity, since that is what you were created for.  It is the only way you will experience the love, joy, and peace that you were created to enjoy throughout eternity with God.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Image of judgment seat of Christ courtesy of River of Life MD.

Author's note:  Also see Accountable, correctable, and teachable, Is Obedience Optional?, Holy Living in a Perverted World, Salvation with Fear and Trembling, Life is Short. Eternity is Not., Only the Holy -- Three Shocking Testimonies, and The Cost of Discipleship. You can access the Main Directory for Seeking the Lord, or my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."  Now I'd like to ask a very important question.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

Life is Short. Eternity is Not.

Life is short.  Eternity is not.  Yet so many people live for this life only and fail to consider where they will spend eternity.  In fact, even among Christians today, the big mistake is that they live a routine life, planned by human beings. Therefore, today I'd like to share the following verses of Scripture, which speak of the brevity of life.

King David said, "My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned; Then I spoke with my tongue: 'LORD, make me to know my end And what is the extent of my days; Let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; Surely every man at his best is a mere breath.' Selah. Surely every man walks about as a phantom; Surely they make an uproar for nothing; He amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.  (Psa 39:3-6, NASB)

Whereas the NASB uses the word "phantom" in verse 6, the GW version says, “Each person who walks around is like a shadow. They are busy for no reason. They accumulate riches without knowing who will get them."  (Psa 39:6, GW)

"Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man back into dust And say, "Return, O children of men." For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades and withers away. For we have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been dismayed. You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our days have declined in Your fury; We have finished our years like a sigh. As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.  (Psa 90:2-12 NASB)

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." (2 Peter 3:8, NIV)

Figuratively speaking if we were to live a life time according to our Lord's thousand years being like a day, the column on the left below would be in God’s time and the column on the right would be in our life time, according and equal to God’s time.

God’s Time = Our Time
1000 years = 24 hours
500 years = 12 hours
250 years = 6 hours
125 years = 3 hours
62 years 6 months = 90 minutes
31 years 3 months = 45 minutes
15 years 7months 2 weeks = 22 minutes 30 seconds
8 years 2 months = 11 minutes 15 seconds

Job said, "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And come to an end without hope.” (Job 7:6 NASB)

"For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are as a shadow."  (Job 8:9 NASB)

"Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good." (Job 9:25 NASB)

"Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.” (Job 14:1-2 NASB)

"For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope."  (1Ch 29:15 NASB)

"Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes and does not return."  (Psa 78:39 NASB)

“Remember how short my life is! Have you created Adam's descendants for no reason? Can a mortal go on living and never see death? Who can set himself free from the power of the grave? Selah”  (Psa 89:47-48 GW)

“My days are like a shadow that is getting longer, and I wither away like grass. “ (Psa 102:11 GW)

“Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.”  (Pro 27:1 NASB)

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.'"  (Jas 4:13-15 NASB)

"A voice says, 'Call out.' Then he answered, 'What shall I call out?' 'All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.'" (Isa 40:6-8 NASB). Cf.,  1Pe 1:24-25.

“As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer. But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children,” (Psa 103:15-17 NASB)

“And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”  (Heb 9:27 NASB)

“Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2Co 4:16-18 NASB)

The things we can see in this world seem so real.  They seem solid and much more tangible than the unseen realm. But in fact this world and the things of it are actually quite temporary, and the things we cannot see are the ones that are more important and eternal.  

Even the mighty mountains and the heavens are temporary, but God who created them is eternal.  He remains, and His years will not come to an end.

“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; and they all will become old like a garment, and like a mantle you will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But you are the same, and your years will not come to an end.”  (Heb 1:10-12 NASB)

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb 13:8 NASB)

“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight-- we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  (2Co 5:1-10 NASB)

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"  (Joh 11:25-26 NASB)

“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’"  (Mar 8:34-38 NASB)

Putting it All Together
Can a mortal go on living and never see death? Who can set himself free from the power of the grave? Life is short! Man at his best is a mere breath, just a wind that passes and does not return. He is like a flower that withers -- like grass!

Each person is like a shadow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Our days are as handbreadths. Our lifetime is as nothing in God’s sight – like a two-hour story.

Our days flee away swifter than a runner and swifter than a weaver's shuttle. The days of our life contain seventy years or eighty years. For soon life is passed and we fly away.
How transient we are!

It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake and the gospel's will save it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Only one life, twil soon be past.  Only what's done for Christ will last.

While we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, and we prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. We also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.  We walk by faith, not by sight.  We look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.

The word of our God stands forever.   Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. His years will not come to an end. He is the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Him will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Him will never die.  Do you believe this? If you live for Jesus Christ and for righteousness, then when you pass away, what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.

We need to pray, "Lord, teach us to number our days, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom."

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Most other Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, unless otherwise noted.
 
Author's note:  Also see Where will you go when you die?, Few will be saved, Angelica Zambrano Hell and Heaven, When Earth Recedes and Heaven Opens, Michael Thomas Sambo's Revelation of Heaven and Hell, and The Book of Life.  You can access the Main Directory for Seeking the Lord, or my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."  Now I'd like to ask a very important question.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

_________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.

The Top Ten Things Jesus Taught

Someone has said that Jesus spoke more about eternal damnation than any other topic.  Although it seemed correct to me, I wanted to confirm it to be certain.

So I decided to search out the matter for myself in Scripture, in order to see what topics Jesus mostly spoke about.  First I manually searched the Gospels, Acts, and Revelation, and developed a list of words and phrases representing 130 major and minor topics Jesus spoke about.

Then using e-Sword, an electronic Bible software program, I counted the verses in those six books of the Bible in the New American Standard Bible (NASB), where Jesus used those words or phrases (all counts are estimates).  The results of my analysis are in the table below (with the total verse-counts for the top ten topics bolded in the right-hand column), followed by my comments and conclusions at the end of the article.

Topic	Total Number of Verses Where Jesus Mentioned Topic
God (166) verses spoken by Jesus containing the word "God."  [Please note: These were not necessarily teachings about God.  However, if you add to these verses all the instances where Jesus spoke about the Father (61), Himself (117), and the Holy Spirit (32), that adds an additional 210 verses, which would bring the total to 376 verses altogether.]	376
Heaven (66), the temple of My God, the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, Kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God, kingdom (101), Paradise (2), My Father’s house (1), throne or thrones (6), Life (70), that age (1), the age to come, eternal life (23), find it (3).	273
Hell (12), destruction (1), pit (3), Judgment (21), weeping and gnashing of teeth (7), on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust (2), cut it down (2), perish (10), slay them in my presence (1), thrown out, thrown away, thrown into the fire, thrown into the furnace, or thrown into prison (10), outside (1), outer darkness (3), burned (3), fire, eternal fire, unquenchable fire (13), fiery (2), furnace (4), worm (3), I will also deny him (1), denies (2), lose (10), woe (27), torturers (1), taken away (11), depart (3), I do not know you (1), depart from me (3), eternal punishment (1), condemned (3), condemn (4), condemnation (3), ashamed (2), your soul is required of you (1), erase his name from the book of life (1).	172
Make disciples (1), be My witnesses (1), until you leave that town (1), whatever city or village you enter (1), sent (76), send out (2), lost (13), sheep (29), preach, preaching, preached (14), going through the cities of Israel (1), sowing seed (1).	140
Son of Man (80), Son of David (1), King of the Jews (3), Christ (11), Lord said to my Lord (3), Shepherd (9), God’s Son (4), the Way (1), I am the Alpha and the Omega (1), the first and the last (3), the beginning and the end (1), the root and the descendant of David (1), the bright Morning Star (1).	117
Prayer, pray, and praying (33), ask and asking (30), seek and seeking (36), knock, knocks, and knocking (6), watch (11).	116
Faith (30), believe (74).	104
Love (57), compassion (8).	65
My Father (48), Your Father (3), heavenly Father (7), O Father (1), righteous Father (1), the Father (1).	61
Deeds (25); work, works (21), workers (2), does the will of God (3), and acts on them (2), obey, observe, keep My word (2), kept the word (1), kept My Word (1), keep the commandments (1), keep My commandments (2), that slave whom his Master finds doing so when He comes (1)	61
Hear (53), hearing (6).	59
Coming of the Son of man (3), the Son of Man coming (4), which day your Lord is coming (1), that day and hour no one knows (2), the master of that slave will come on a day (2), the master of the house is coming (1), He comes (9), He should come (1), kingdom come (2), coming on the clouds (1), the day that the Son of Man is revealed (1), the days of the Son of Man (2), when the Son of Man comes (2), will the Son of Man be in His day (1), I will come (2), I am coming (7), until I come (4), come on you suddenly (1), one will be taken (5).	51
My Name (28), Your Name (9), the Name of the Lord (2), the Name of the only begotten Son of God (1), My Father’s Name (2), the Name of My God (1), His Name (1), My New Name (1), the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (1).	45
Devil (5), Beelzebul (4), satan (16), evil spirit (2), unclean spirit (4), driving out demons, drive out demons, casting out (10).	41
Heart (40), hearts (1).	41
Money (11), wealth and wealthy (8), riches, rich man, rich (18).	37
Command, commanded, commandment (35)	35
Light (34)	34
Prophets (33)	33
Seed (33)	33
Holy Spirit (12), Spirit of the Lord (1), Spirit of truth (3), Spirit of God (1), Spirit of your Father (1), the Spirit (13), the promise of My Father (1).	32
Sin (14), sinned (3), sinner(s) (14), sinful (1)	32
Glory (22), glorify (7), glorious (2)	31
Clean, unclean, uncleanness (24), defile (7).	31
Fruit (30)	30
Forgiveness, forgiven, and forgiving (30)	30
His own crucifixion, crucify (2), death (2), rejected (5), killed (8), suffer (7), condemn (1), lifted heel (1), betray me (4).	30
Abraham (17), Isaac (5), Jacob (5).	27
Children and child (27)	27
Persecution, persecutions, and persecute (3), persecuting Me (6), brought before governors (1), flog (1), synagogue (with reference to persecution - 6), arrest (3), hate you (3), kills you (1), kill you (1).	25
Hypocrites and hypocrisy (20), leaven of the Pharisees (4).	24
Judging (24)	24
Words (24)	24
Authority (21)	21
Follow Me (21)	21
Reward (15), treasure in heaven (4), treasures in heaven (1), I will give (5), you will be repaid (1).	21
Repent, repents, repented, and repentance (21)	21
Word of God (7), Scripture (13).	20
Church (20)	20
Blind (18), hidden from your eyes (1), you did not recognize (1)	20
Overcome, overcame, overcomes (8), perseverance (5), endure, endures, endured, endurance (6)	19
Moses (19)	19
Truth (19)	19
Vine (19)	19
Law (18)	18
Saved (11), save (6)	17
Peace (17)	17
Worrying, worries, and those who worry (17)	17
Sabbath (17)	17
Sign, signs (16)	16
Adultery (11), fornications (2), immorality (3)	16
Door (15)	15
Temple (15)	15
John the Baptist (3), of John (3), messenger (2), Elijah (7)	15
David	14
Rejoice (13) and rejoicing (1)	14
End of the age (4), tribulation (7), distress (1), that hour which is about to come upon the whole world (1)	13
Disciple (13)	13
Heal, healed (11), cures (1), sickness (1)	13
Servant (7), serving (1), greatest (3), slave of all (1), service (1)	13
Gospel (12)	12
Giving (1), gave, give to charity (1), put in more than all the contributors to the treasury (1), out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on (1), offering (8)	12
Chose, chosen, elect (12)	12
Baptized, baptizing (5), baptism (6)	11
Harvest (10)	10
Angel (8), angels (2)	10
Fasting (10)	10
Murder (10)	10
Righteousness (9)	9
Deny Me, denies Me, denied My name, or deny My faith (9)	9
Mercy (6) and being merciful (3)	9
Worship (8)	8
Taxes, “drachma” (2), Caesar (5)	7
His own blood (7)	7
Jonah (7)	7
Few who find it (1), laborers are few (1), workers are few (1), few are chosen (4)	7
Divorce, divorces (7)	7
False prophets, prophetess (6)	6
Cross (6)	6
Poor (3), poverty (3)	6
Wisdom (6)	6
Last shall be first (1), first will be last (5)	6
Thefts (2), steal (4)	6
Lame (5)	5
Resurrection of the righteous (5)	5
Humble, humbles (5)	5
Reconciled (1), your brother sins (4)	5
Passover	5
Crippled (4)	4
Praise (4)	4
Salt (4)	4
Guilt (4)	4
Key, keys (4)	4
Worth more than sparrows (4)	4
Life (4)	4
Water + life (1), drink + water (1), living water (2)	4
Solomon (4)	4
False witness (3)	3
Deaf (3)	3
Fall away (2), fallen (1)	3
Unity (1), one flesh (1), that they may all be one (1)	3
Vows (1) and swear (2)	3
Tithe, tithes (3)	3
Fear God (2), fear the One (1)	3
Confess (3)	3
Covenant (3)	3
Evil thoughts (2), thinking evil (1)	3
Sons of God (2), sons of your Father who is in heaven (1)	3
Born again (2)	2
Narrow gate (1), narrow door (1)	2
(Holy) fire(2)	2
Resist or resisting evil people (2)	2
No home, nowhere to lay His head (2)	2
His own resurrection, Raised up (2)	2
Two or three (2)	2
Wash his feet (1), wash one another’s feet (1)	2
Idols (2)	2
One thing necessary (1)	1
Pure (1)	1
Going the extra mile (1)	1
Being perfect (1)	1
Giving dogs what is sacred and pearls to pigs (1)	1
Multiplication, increased (1)	1
Greed (1)	1
Lust (1)	1
Slanders (1)	1
Dissipation (1)	1
Drunkenness (1)	1
Saul of Tarsus (1)	1
Grace (0)	0*

Counting Method
I understand that some verses recorded in more than one of the Gospels refer to the same incident, and someone may say this is double counting. But the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of Scripture, and even these redundancies were inspired.  Repetition is a proven method of teaching, and not all topics are repeated in the synoptic Gospels, which proves that there was a reason why some were repeated.  Moreover, since I applied the same standard or method of counting to all topics, it is an equitable method of estimating.  This method may not give us the precise number of times our Lord spoke or taught on each topic, but it does give us an estimate – an order of magnitude, which allows us to rank each topic in relation to one another.

Furthermore, I did not merely accept the total number of results for a word or phrase in each computerized Bible search.  I visually scanned the search results to try and get an accurate estimate of the number of verses spoken only by Jesus.  Then I did not even count all the verses in which Jesus spoke that particular word or phrase, but often filtered out results that were not relevant to the topic.  For example, when I searched for the word "condemn," I did not count every verse where Jesus used this word.  I did not count the instances where He said that the scribes and Pharisees would condemn Him to death.  This same method of counting was used for all topics, in order to avoid any artificial inflation of the totals for each one.

Also in Revelation, only the words that Jesus spoke were counted.  These are primarily in the first three chapters and the last chapter.  However, technically the entire book of Revelation is “the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon take place.” (Rev 1:1a).  You see, the opening verse of that book says, "He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John" (Rev 1:1b).  So although the Lord sent His angel to communicate these words, they were His words, and it was all His revelation that God gave to Him. That means all topics covered in Revelation were from Jesus, although they were not all spoken directly by Him.  There are many verses about God, heaven, hell, the lake of fire, the pit, worship, end times, the Great Tribulation, plagues, judgments, wrath, woes, the Lord Jesus Christ and His soon return, witnesses, the kingdom of God, the harvest, the devil, false prophets, righteousness, deeds, and eternal judgment.  These would increase the total number of verses we would need to count for those topics in this analysis, and would help to further prove my point about their frequency.  However, none of these verses that are part of the revelation of Jesus Christ were counted, unless they were spoken by Jesus.

Major Topics That Jesus Spoke About
I mentioned in my opening of this article that I wanted to confirm whether Jesus spoke more about eternal damnation than any other topic.  Through this exhaustive study, I confirmed that my thesis was a fairly close approximation.  However, it is more accurate to say that there are more verses in the Bible that record Jesus speaking about eternal damnation than on any other single topic, except God and heaven.

God and Heaven
Without any question, He mentioned and taught about God more than any other topic.  It should be no surprise that God’s Son came to earth and mostly instructed us about God. After this, He spoke about the glorious place where God lives with His holy angels, and all His saints, those holy ones, who love Him and have been made perfect.  He used expressions to describe this place like “heaven,” “the temple of My God,” “the city of My God,” “the new Jerusalem,” “kingdom of heaven,” “kingdom of God,” or simply “kingdom,” as well as “Paradise,” “My Father’s house,” “throne,” “thrones,” “life,” “eternal life,” “find it,” “that age,” and “the age to come.”  This is the beautiful place He invited us to go and spend eternity with Him, where all the saints will worship Him and God, His Father, forevermore.

Eternal Damnation
However, He spoke almost as much about eternal damnation.  Besides using the word “hell” itself (Greek, gehenna), He used many other expressions like “destruction,” “pit,” “judgment,” the place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” “on whomever it falls,” “it will scatter him like dust,” “cut it down,” “perish,” “slay them in my presence,” “thrown out,” “thrown away,” “thrown into the fire,” “thrown into the furnace,” “thrown into prison,” “outside,” “outer darkness,” “burned,” “fire,” “eternal fire,” “unquenchable fire,” “fiery,” “furnace,” “worm,” “I will also deny him,” “lose,” “woe,” “torturers,” “taken away,” “depart,” “I do not know you,” “depart from me,” “condemned,” “condemn,” “condemnation,” “ashamed,” “your soul is required of you,” “erase his name from the book of life,” and “eternal punishment.”  These expressions all represent the eternal wrath of the Holy One against wickedness and lawlessness (sin).  They all express the perfect holiness of God, Who in His great love for mankind is warning us not to go to that terrible place.

Evangelism, His Divine Identity, Prayer, Faith, Love, the Father, and Good Deeds
After these top three topics (God, heaven, and eternal damnation), then he spoke about preaching the gospel (i.e., evangelism) and making disciples. The next major topic He spoke about was His own divine identity, which He disclosed using various titles.  After that the next major topic was prayer.  After that one, faith was a major topic.  Love was one of His top ten themes, along with mercy, forgiveness, and compassion. The heavenly Father was often upon His lips, in part because of His great love for the Father, and His total dependence upon Him.

He spoke a lot about doing deeds and works, using expressions like "does the will of God," "acts on them," "obey," "observe all that I commanded you," "keep My word," "kept the word," "kept My Word," "keep the commandments," "keep My commandments," and "that slave whom his Master finds doing so when He comes." He taught that “…those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.”

Hearing
After these top ten topics, then came His constant emphasis on hearing His Word, which ranked eleventh without combining it with other expressions.

The Return of Jesus Christ
His Second Coming was the next major topic, ranking twelfth on the list! He spoke about it quite often, using various expressions like "the coming of the Son of man," "the Son of Man coming," "which day your Lord is coming," "that day and hour no one knows," "the Master of that slave will come on a day," "the Master of the house is coming," "He comes," "kingdom come," "coming on the clouds," "the day that the Son of Man is revealed," "the days of the Son of Man," "when the Son of Man comes," "will the Son of Man be in His day," "I will come," "I am coming," "until I come," "come on you suddenly," and specifically referred to the rapture saying, "one will be taken."  And when He spoke about it, He often said it would happen suddenly, unexpectedly, quickly, soon, and without delay.  He emphasized the need to be ready for it.  Yet so few today ever preach or teach about His soon return.

The Name of the Lord, Power, Authority, the Heart, Children, Sin, and Repentance
And He spoke a lot about the Name of the Lord, which ranked as His thirteenth most frequent topic, including the Father’s Name, Jesus’ Name, and the Name of the Holy Spirit.  Power and authority were not major themes, but they did come up often, as did the matters of the heart, and children.  He preached a lot against sin, naming many sins specifically, and preached that men should repent, telling them not to sin any more.

Since He Himself said, “the mouth speaks what the heart is full of,” we know what His heart was full of, based on the things He said. And those things He spoke about most of all were the things that His heart was overflowing with the most.

Grace
He never once mentioned the word grace publicly, *but only once privately in answer to the apostle Paul's prayer about his thorn (2 Co 12:9), and that was not about grace for salvation.  Yet He was full of grace (Jn 1:14), and both grace and truth were realized through Him (Jn 1:17).  So while He may not have spoken publicly about it at all, He certainly demonstrated it. He welcomed sinners and ate with them.  He also forgave them freely when they repented, and told parables that depicted grace, such as The Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32) and The Lost Sheep (Lk 15:1-7).

Peace and Unity
He did not speak very much about peace, in fact He said He did not come to bring peace to the earth (Mt 10:34), yet this is a major topic among those in the world, and many Christians wear the peace symbol (an upside down, broken cross), which is satanic.  Those of us who know Him have a peace within our hearts that He gives us (Jn 14:27), and peace with God, but world peace will not come to the earth until after He returns to reign on the earth.

And one of the topics He taught about the very least was unity, which he merely mentioned in three verses, yet that is what the ecumenical church talks about the most.

Prosperity
Money was certainly not a major topic of His, coming up about as often as the heart, but almost everything he said about riches, prosperity, and wealth was negative.  Yet today the prosperity preachers seem to mostly preach about wealth and prosperity, as if this is the central message of the Bible.

Putting it All Together
In summary, the top ten things Jesus Christ spoke about were God, heaven, hell, making disciples, His own divine identity, prayer, faith, love, His heavenly Father, and the importance of keeping His Word by acting upon it.

I hope that this study has helped to show you what is important to Jesus, and helped to disprove some errors that we find in the Church today.  There is so much deception now in the Church that we must be careful.  Do not be deceived into hell!  You should be careful when a preacher always preaches about grace, but never talks about hell or never preaches against specific sins that will take you there.  When you hear preachers that are talking mostly about prosperity, peace, unity, or any of the other topics that Jesus seldom spoke about, or that He never spoke about, then beware!  If they make any of these minor topics their main theme, to the exclusion of the major ones our Lord emphasized, then you know they are not teaching according to the pattern of Jesus.  They are “majoring in the minors,” and that should be a big warning signal to you. 

Let me be clear that if Jesus mentioned something one time, it is important.  But we must preach the whole counsel of God, not just our favorite topics.  The true messengers of God are preaching mostly on the same things that Jesus emphasized, because those are still the most important things on His ever-aching heart.  His messengers are still preaching about God, heaven, and eternal damnation, emphasizing the need for faith, prayer, and making disciples.  They are preaching against sin, calling people to repentance, so that they will not perish. They are still preaching righteousness and truth, teaching us to hear the Word of God, keep it, be doers of it, and bear good fruit for God’s glory, living a life of love, compassion, and mercy. They are preaching about the Name of the Lord, as well as our Lord's soon return, and the need to be ready for it.

Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. "Top Ten" image courtesy of William Marler's Top Food Safety Challenges for 2009.

Author's note: I recommend my article called The Law of Christ, which explains why the teachings of Jesus Christ must be our foundation, and that the teachings of the apostles and prophets must be understood on that basis alone.  You may find the Main Directory for the Seeking the Lord blog here.  You may also access my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master."

Godly Attire and Adornment -- Seven Divine Revelations	Revelation of Hell to Seven Colombian Youths	Angelica Zambrano Hell and Heaven
Baptized by Blazing Fire	Only the Holy -- Three Shocking Testimonies	Angelica Zambrano Second Visit to Hell
Walking in the Perfect Will of God	Ibrahim's Experience in Hell	Holy Living in a Perverted World

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe.

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.