Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Good morning, Reader! I am excited about writing this series because there are certain categories of people who won’t be able to enter Heaven. I have met people who fall under each of these categories listed above. The verse lists eight types of people who will go straight to Hell unless that person repents. I beg you to take each category and examine yourself to see if you fall in any of these! It is best to examine yourself now before it’s too late. You may have heard your need to get saved multiple times, but there will come a time where God says, “That’s it”! Your heart will be hardened because of your stubbornness and you will no longer have the opportunity. Don’t get to that point. Submit to the Holy Spirit and get saved. (John 3:3, John 3:7)
Today’s post will start with that first category, which is “the fearful.” According to Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, the word fearful is described as:
- Affected by fear; afraid. I am fearful of the consequences of rash conduct. Hence,
- Timid; timorous; wanting courage.
What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Deut. 20.
What makes one afraid to get saved, you may wonder? What is there to fear? When a person is born again, the old person starts to disappear and the new person starts to shine with the light of God. (Col. 3:9-10) This list describes what happened to me when I was born again:
- My thoughts and my heart were focused around Jesus. My mind was renewed! It was a true miracle that my thoughts were no longer dwelling on ungodly things but my thoughts were excited to learn more about Jesus Christ!
- My life absolutely changed. (2 Cor. 5:17) My heart was new and the weight of my sin on my shoulders was removed – it was as though someone had taken 100 pounds off my shoulders!
- My family and friends saw a change; some were OK with it and some definitely were not. There is a “cost” to being a Christian. Jesus told us about this in Luke 14:25-33. Jesus wasn’t telling us to hate our families; He was saying that our love for Him should appear to be so great that it makes our love for our families seem as hate. You cannot serve two masters. Matt. 6:24 talks about loving God and money – man will love one or the other. It’s impossible to do both. However, our treasure should be the kind of heavenly treasure, winning souls for Christ; we should not be wrapped up with the cares of this world and leave souls to die and go to Hell.
- I lost some friends because I was no longer interested in participating in things that would hurt the Lord; i.e. cursing, drinking, etc.
- I had conflict with my family members. My husband hated what I had become and he purposely tried to cause me to sin to make himself feel better. My sister didn’t want to hear about salvation; as a result, our relationship was different. My mother was terribly upset that I would no longer partake in the religion I grew up in because it went against God’s Word. My husband’s entire family resented what I had become.
- I took a stand against things I knew to be wrong according to the Bible. I could not stand silent when it came to anyone speaking against the Lord.
- Most of these things were automatically changed when I was first saved; other things came later as the Holy Spirit taught me through the Bible.
As you read through the results of my salvation listed above, ask yourself: Is spending an eternity in the Lake of Fire worth any one of those? (If you haven’t read my last post on Hell, take a moment to read it now.) Each bullet above when read by itself is not too bad but when you read all six, you may think that it’s too burdensome for you. But all six did not happen all at once. Think about it for a moment… any of those will be over once you die. However, because of your fear, you will suffer horribly for all eternity. Is it worth it? Let’s say you live to be 75, what a price you will pay for all eternity (which is endless and a lot more than 75 years) just because you were afraid of what your friends and family would think! It’s not a small price at all.
You are not alone in your decision to ignore God’s prompting for salvation. Your family will never see the love of God working through you to lead them to be saved as well. You will not have the opportunity to share with others what God has done for you because of His salvation! It will be because of your fear that they will go to Hell as well! Your lack of courage will result in condemning them to Hell as well! Doesn’t that bother you?
Do you really want to see your family members and friends go to Hell? It IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to win them to Christ, whether you realize that or not. (Heb. 2:3) By saying no to so great salvation, you are literally telling God that your friends and family mean more to you than Him. Your family and friends have become an idol of sorts in your life. You are placing them before God. You are literally telling God that you don’t care that Christ came to earth to die especially for your sins – He nailed your sins on that cross! Your fear, however, is telling Him that you don’t care. (Col. 2:14) You are thumbing your nose at God and saying you would rather go to Hell than spend all eternity with Him. You may be saying to yourself that you aren’t saying those exact words to God. But this is exactly what you are telling Him with your actions. Actions speak louder than words! (Matt. 15:8)
Fearing what others say is cowardly. Noah Webster’s definition above says in #2 that you are lacking courage; so Friend, you are indeed a coward. I wouldn’t want to be considered this. Someone I know told me: “God will understand – He knows my heart.” Do you think this? God will not understand. God has given you every opportunity to hear the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ and how He paid the price for your sins (including that fear of yours). Anyone who rejects Jesus will not make it into Heaven. You may think to yourself that you are not rejecting Jesus because you believe in Him. (James 2:19) The devils believe and they tremble! But your current belief is superficial. That belief is not deeply rooted in your heart. When a person is truly born-again, the heart changes and a love for your Saviour develops! He is no longer a statue or image on a wall. He becomes personal to you!
Think about it! The Father sent His Son to die for you! Why would God allow you into Heaven when you are a sinner who did not want His Son’s precious gift of salvation? God is holy and cannot allow even one sin in His presence in Heaven. He said in 1 Peter 1:16 that we must be holy as He is holy. We cannot be holy unless we accept Christ’s work on the cross; His blood covers our sin! (1 John 1:7, 1 John 1:9, Titus 3:5)
Notice the latter part of Revelation 21:8:
“But the fearful … shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
If you die without Christ as your Saviour, you will go to Hell. At the end of the Millennium, all those who went to Hell will come before Jesus Christ Himself. At this point, they are exiting the burning location of Hell only to enter into another one, the Lake of Fire. This will be for all eternity, burning, screaming, forever remembering that you let fear stand in your way; forever remembering that you could have witnessed to your children and grandchildren and turned them to the Lord. Now they will also be in this Lake of Fire because of your fear! What a price to pay for your neglect to respond to God’s Word! Is it worth it? Why would you do that to your family just because you’re afraid?
Your fear is one breath away from eternity with Christ or an eternity with Satan and his minions. You may think you’re a good person but there are a lot of good people in the world who do not love God. You will be categorized with them when everything is said and done at your judgment before Jesus. He will open the books of your life and lay out before you everything you have done and not done. (Luke 12:2-3) What will you say to Him when He asks you why you didn’t accept salvation each time someone told you about Him? He will reveal to you every single time you were witnessed to by a faithful believer! I dare say you will be regretting your fear at that moment. There will be no more excuses when that meeting with Jesus occurs. He will reveal every sin you committed that could have been forgiven had you been born again!
Don’t let another day slip away, Reader! God will work out every issue that prevents you from salvation! He did for me! Friends and family may stop coming around because of your love for Jesus. The light that Jesus gives us is hated by those who belong to the devil. Yes, you read that right. Fear is of the devil. He does not want you coming to a saving knowledge. You are either the devil’s child or a child of God. The Bible says:
Mat 13:37-38 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; (38) The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Joh 8:42-44 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (43) Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. (44) Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
1 Jn 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
You may consider yourself a good person, but if you choose the world (which includes friends and family) over the Lord Jesus, no amount of good deeds or “right” living will get you into Heaven. (Eph. 2:8-9) Mother Teresa was a “good person” but she knew that her Catholic beliefs were insufficient. She had no peace even though her works were great.
She wrote of a strong feeling of God’s “absence” in her life. In a letter to Reverend Michael Van Der Peet in September 1979, Mother Teresa wrote, “Jesus has a very special love for you. [But] as for me – the silence and the emptiness is so great – that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear.”
It’s not good deeds or a humble life that will get you to Heaven. Jesus speaks to His children through the Bible. He guides the way and helps us with all our fears. Won’t you accept Christ as your Saviour today? If friends and family members control your life so much that you would allow them to send you to Hell, then these relationships need to be set aside. No one should have that much control over you. Nothing and no one is worth going to Hell, my Friend.
There will come a time when it will be too late. You will spend eternity burning in Hell and the Lake of Fire. You will remember each opportunity you were given by God to be saved and you laughed it off and ignored it. I want to be sure that anyone who reads the posts on this blog can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are going to Heaven. Have you received Christ as your Saviour? If no, your sins are not covered by His sacrificial offering of Himself. You have not been redeemed by His blood. It is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved if you are not already. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!
