For such a time as this!

BIG PICTURE WARNING! (beyond Covid, riots, election, and America’s future!) 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. “ ( 2 Peter 3:11-14)

“Without the divine standards of God, a good thing can be reinterpreted as something evil, while an immoral act (killing someone with cancer) can be twisted into something that actually appears to be good (a merciful termination of their pain). Without an absolute standard of divine justice, false human reasoning and uncontrolled passion can rationalize and justify almost any act, particularly if the primary criteria is “Will it benefit me?” When sweet and bitter, light and darkness, and good and evil are relative values based on wishes, whims, and selfish ends, righteousness and justice do not exist. Much of the crime and immorality that afflicts modern society goes right back to similar personal and societal redefinitions of right and wrong.” (Commentary on Isaiah 5:20)

“The man who turns from the truth will be allowed to have his way, will fall deeper and deeper into error, and will reap all the evil consequences of loving darkness rather than light. Those who hate the truth are "given over" to a reprobate mind. Their reprobate minds were tested and found wanting and thus rejected by God.”

“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:28-32

“There are many people who feel safe "straddling the fence" regarding what to do with Jesus. One of the reasons for their indecisiveness is they see their options as painted a neutral gray rather than black and white. However, there is no middle ground with Jesus. The Lord said, "He who is not with Me is against Me" (Luke 11:23). In the same way, the Gospel has no middle ground. Knowing this, It may be better understood by considering the "law of antithesis" that is evident throughout Scripture. The word "antithesis" means a sharp contrast of ideas that are set opposite one another, such as: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). This verse gives a sharp contrast between the saving grace of God and the worthless works of man.

An antithesis also can be two people who are directly opposite of one another, such as a believer, who is under God's grace, and an unbeliever, who is under God's wrath. Regenerate people are alive in Christ and unregenerate people are dead in sin (Rom. 6:11, Eph. 2:1). The apostle Paul described people as either slaves to sin, or slaves to righteousness (Rom. 6:17-18). Everyone is either in Adam, or in Christ (1 Cor. 15:22). There are only two groups of people, those who have been called out of the world into the church and those who are still in the world (John 15:19, 1 John 4:5). Everyone is either a child of God, who is the creator of life, or a child of the devil, who is a destroyer of life (John 1:12, 1 John 3:10, 1 Pet. 5:8). There is no middle ground in God's message of redemption. According to God's court of justice, everyone on this earth is either justified or condemned, and either declared righteous or guilty (Rom. 5:18-19, James 2:10). Everyone is either trusting what the Lord Jesus has DONE to satisfy divine justice, or trusting what they must DO. 

The most powerful use of the "law of antithesis" to explain God's Gospel may be found in Romans 6:23. Paul writes: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." The antithesis of "wages," which is the payment for work rendered, is "the free gift", which is freely given by God's grace, exclusive of works (Rom. 11:6). The antithesis of "death", which is everlasting punishment in hell, is "eternal life" in Christ Jesus. In this one verse, we see the "law of antithesis" contrasting man, the sinner who has earned spiritual death, and God, the Holy One, who offers the means of escape, as a gift of His grace. From a human perspective, the presentation of two opposing contrasts should make it easier for people to choose the more desirable one. 

The Gospel gives us many more opposing contrasts. Everyone is either walking in the light or in darkness (1 Thes. 5:5, 1 Peter 2:9). People are either free in Christ or in bondage to sin and Satan (Gal.5:1, John 8:34, 2 Tim. 2:26). They either demonstrate deeds of the flesh or the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-25). People are either lovers of God or lovers of the world (1 John 2:15-17). One day our Lord will return in glory and separate all the people of the world into two groups. He will welcome His sheep (believers) into His eternal kingdom and send the goats (unbelievers) to be punished in the eternal fire (Mat. 25:31-46).”

(Mike Gendron)