The Seriousness of Sin

MPS: Faithfully following Jesus means killing the sins that He was killed for.

The path of discipleship is killing the sins that he was killed for so that we avoid the path that leads to hell.

text setup: Jesus is talking to his disciples about what it means to follow him. Tied back to “take up your cross, and follow after me.”

“The doctrine of hell is a test of faith because God word teaches it and that means that you must learn to be on guard. Anytime you bump inot some passage or some doctrine of Scripture that makes you flinch whether its the bibles teaching on hell or anything else, becaue when your winse as you read God’s word your soul is engaged in a battle that very moment whether you know it or not. You engaged in the fight of faith. the fight to believe what God says even and maybe especiialy when you do not like it. THink about it like this, I tell me sons that the wuality of their loyaltly, their honor to their father and mother, their obedience, is not determined by doing what I ask whenever it complies with what thye already wnat. If I say son, go watch tv theres practiclly no obedience required bc thats what he wants to do already. Nut if I say turn off the tb and go do your homework, then the quality of their loyalty is demonstrated. In a simliiar way, our faith is proved, not just when we believe the doctrines we like, but when we submit to the ones we don’t. The ones that make us flinch. the ones the old man hates and wishes were not in the bible. This very struggle calls forth the new man, which is Christ formed in us, as Paul says, to rise up and kill the old man dead. But you know this is not some simple act of the will. You cannot will yourselve to believe anything. You must hold on to the reasons God has already given us to believe what he says. Reasons like the fact that God never lies, he never errs, hes always good, hes infinitely wise and so on and so on. In other words, whenver you think about the fact that Jesus repeatedly taught on the doctrine of hell

The Warning of the Millstone. (42)

The Threat of Sin. (43-38)

The Distinctiveness of Discipleship. (49-50)