Satan's Attempts to Destroy Christ's Lineage and Then Christ Himself

What say we look at certain world events from another dimension, namely a spiritual dimension?  I’m not Frank Peretti, but I guarantee, it will add meaning to what’s happening in the world, and will go far to explaining what we’re on earth for.  So here we go:  In Genesis 3:15, God, in effect, threw down the gauntlet at Satan when He said to him:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”

To explain, Satan and Eve’s descendants would be enemies,   God did not desire to make enemies, but Satan had already declared such in his desire to be equal with God (Isaiah 14:12-17). Further, “your (Satan’s) seed” refers to those who refuse to obey God and refuse to believe in His Son, Jesus the Christ.  In “her Seed,” the capital letter means Jesus, a descendant of Eve.  And, I might add, you could include all those who are followers of Jesus and have made Him Lord of their lives.  So, in short, Satan is the enemy of the Jews, who carried the Messianic lineage (as you will see below) and the enemy of true Christians, and he wants nothing more than to destroy us, our lives and reputation, and everything spiritual in us. 

God tells Satan that His Son will “bruise (Satan’s) head,” a mortal wound.  Satan will only “bruise (Jesus’) heel, a non-vital wound.   

So God has thrown down the gauntlet.  Who will win, God or Satan?

Satan, before killing Christ by the hand of his own followers (who were, by the way, both Jew and Gentile), tried numerous times in history to destroy His ascendants. If he could do that, Christ would never have been born.  That seems “smart.”  So let’s tell the story about his various efforts to kill.

Attempt #1:  Eve hoped that her first child would be God’s Seed and the Deliverer from her sin.  That child was Cain.  But Cain ignored God’s instructions on how to do the atonement offering, and became a murderer of Abel, Eve’s second son.  Now she hoped her third child would accomplish her desire for a Deliverer—Seth.  Well, Seth stayed righteous and Christ was indeed descended from him. So Satan failed on Attempt #1, since the lineage continued despite the small family that he brought evil into. 

Attempt #2:  Many of Satan’s followers, also known as fallen angels, came to earth and married earth women, bearing babies that grew up to be “mighty men” and “men of renown.”  Grown up, they were called Nephilim (Gen.6:1-4).  They were also wicked; and from other appearances in Scripture, they were super-tall and, obviously, very strong.  Why not?  They were half mortal, and half immortal (fallen angels, their fathers, retained their immortality).  (I have a couple blogs on this; refer to those with DNA in the title). The Nephilim dominated, and completely corrupted the people of Noah’s day, both morally and physically (by deviant DNA mixing).  Anyway, Satan figured, if he could corrupt the earth like this, then no one would be righteous or physically pure to bear a pure Seed. 

But he was defeated because Noah and his immediate family kept clean, and he made an ark as God had directed, and everyone else was destroyed, leaving Noah, his wife, and immediate family to start all over.  Satan failed on Attempt #2. 

Attempt #3:  God picked the Hebrew people to be His people, beginning with Abraham.  Their job was to carry His Scripture, and to worship Him as the only God---in the midst of a totally corrupt world that didn’t know Him.  (The Jews didn’t do a bang-up job on God’s instructions, in the long run).  To avert death by a record 7-year famine, the Hebrews moved to Egypt to farm the best land there.  They were allowed to do this because Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph was in good with the Pharaoh (by revealing to him a vision about the upcoming famine so he could prepare for it).  So God made sure that His Jewish family was accepted in Egypt, which had saved grain, so they didn’t starve in the great famine.  So Satan’s attempt at starving them out failed in Attempt #3. 

Attempt #4: Later Pharaohs made the Jews slaves for 400 years.  One evil Pharaoh got up one morning and said, “These Jewish slaves are becoming more populous than we Egyptians, and that’s a danger; let’s kill every baby boy at birth and stop their population growth.”  He gave the order—unfortunately, he stupidly did it to the midwives, but they were mostly Hebrews!  (I presume he assumed that their fear of him would even make them commit infanticide).  However, even at risk of their own lives, they refused to kill the newborn Hebrew boys.  That not only saved the Hebrew population, but it saved little Moses, who later became a great deliverer himself.  Attempt #4 failed.  You would think that Satan would have gotten the message by now.  When God decides to do something, it gets done—even through sinful men.  You gotta give credit to the Hebrew midwives.  We need some of them today, in our abortion clinics.

Attempt #5: Moses, through God, performed miracles of destruction on the country of Egypt.  But Pharaoh was so stubborn that he held on through each disaster; it finally took the death of his firstborn to release the Jews.  Early in their exodus, the Pharaoh and his army went after them again, only to be wiped out by the closing Red Sea—another miracle by God.  So the Jews were not only saved from destruction by Pharaoh’s army, but they were Free.  Attempt #5 failed.    

Attempt #6: Let’s back up in time a bit. Please note two verses God had told Abraham. First, Genesis 12:1-3:

Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. ² I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

Secondly, God told Abraham, in Genesis 15:13-14:

Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴ And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 

Satan, we can assume, listened in to these conversations—and thus knew, upon watching Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’s travels, that God had chosen the land of Canaan as His land for His people.  (Important side note:  Satan does not have God’s powers.  He can only be in one place at a time, and cannot read minds.  But he has lots of demon-followers in lots of places who help him that way, and he can guess thoughts by our facial emotions, and what we say.  And, I would imagine, he has various ways of putting sinful thoughts in our head—like he did with Pharaoh on infanticide).  Putting these two verses together, Satan figured that the Hebrews won’t be in Canaan, God’s choice for their living space, for at least 400 years; they would be elsewhere (in Egypt) instead.  He also hoped that Israel (since they were a nation now) would have to conquer the various tribes of Canaan to secure the land.  Thus, Satan comes up with Attempt #6:  stop the Israelis from entering God’s chosen land, Canaan.  If he could do that, they would wander to different places and their nation would be assimilated and fizzle out.  So he concocted up another sexual use for his fallen angels.  You, the reader, may roll your eyes and say, “come on, how do I keep coming up with these wild stories?”  Well, again, read my blogs.  And, again, I have Biblical proof. Let’s read Genesis 6:4, this time in the NIV version:

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

 

As we saw before, the Nephilim were the deviant DNA children of the fallen angel fathers, who was immortal, and the mortal earth mother.  But note the underlined phrase “and also afterward.”  Every phrase in Scripture has a reason to exist in God’s Word, and this one says that we would get more Nephilim even after they were drowned in the Flood in Noah’s day.  In other words, the fallen angels came down again, proved sexually attractive to the females again, and we got more Nephilim.  But this time, men did not live 800 or 900 years like in Noah’s day.  Their lives were short, like ours. So the deviant DNA can’t be spread as fast.  So Satan concentrated his efforts on spawning to a limited area—namely, of course, Canaan. These giants hopefully would scare the Israelis away, and they couldn’t stay in “God’s chosen land.” So he picked several tribes in Canaan, sent his fallen angels there, and they became populated by the evil Nephilim.  Scripture backs this idea up; it indicates giants existed in:  the Philistines, the Anakim, the  Rephaim, the Zamzumim, the Emim, and the Amorites. All in Canaan, of course.  (Check them out in Numbers 13:32; Deut 2:10,11,20,21; Deut 3:11,13).  Deuteronomy provides more detail on Og, king of Bashon, whose bed was 15 feet long and 6-1/2 feet wide.   And of course we have Goliath, killed by David, several hundred years later, who probably was 9 feet tall.

Satan almost got what he wanted; the nation of Israel, freed from Pharaoh after 400 years, went north, and approached the land of Canaan.  Moses sent out spies to see the lay of the land.  They brought back wonderful food, but their knees were shaking.  As they reported in Numbers 13:32-33:

The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.

A bit of hyperbole, there, about the size comparison—but you get the picture; these were giants—again. So the Israelis voted to NOT go in.  God was so disappointed in how they wouldn’t depend on Him for deliverance that He made them wander through the desert area for another 38 years, until everyone who voted dropped dead.  Now all that were left were the kids in the earlier days, now grown up.  But these “kids” were not dummies; they realized  that they had miracles (their shoes never wore out, they always found water, they had free food dropped on them 6 days a week), and they realized that their non-believing parents paid the ultimate price for disobedience; and finally, walking the desert every day made them hardened, so they could be soldiers with endurance. Plus, I would imagine, they would do anything to stop wandering drudgingly through the desert.  So, with Joshua in command (Moses died), this time they voted to go in and fight.  God built up Joshua’s courage by appearing to him as well.  This time they cleared out most of these corrupt and sometimes giant people (details on the Canaanite idolatries are too disgusting to explain here).  The key is the phrase “most of.”  Goliath is an example of how there were some still around that Joshua couldn’t get to.  In any event, Satan’s effort to stop Israel from moving to the land of God’s calling failed.  Attempt #6:  FAIL. Satan is now 0-6.

Attempt #7:  This attempt was Satan’s efforts to kill David and his descendants.  This was because Satan figured out that the Messiah would be in David’s line.  How did he deduce that?  Satan saw how King Saul disappointed God by not following His instructions; and after David’s bravery and boasting about God’s power preceding his defeat of Goliath, Satan figured that David was next on the throne, and thus he wanted to kill David. (Scripture did not express the honor of David’s lineage until later, but Satan figured it out before then).  So Satan fills Saul’s mind with envy and hatred of David to an obsessive decree.  Saul personally went hunting to kill David day and night.  And there are many verses that proves that Saul was moved by demonic forces.  Earlier, while David tried to play music to soothe Saul’s violent temper tantrums, Saul with no reason threw a spear at David.  Another example was Saul sought out a medium, expressly forbidden by God. 

But David continued to prove his faith in God.  He was egged on by his military to kill Saul when he had many lucky opportunities, but he remained righteous.  If he had murdered Saul, he would have possibly been an unfit candidate for the Messiah’s line, which would have served Satan well.  (Of course, after he became king, he was a conspirator to murder, but sincerely repented—which is tenderly recorded in Psalm 51. God’s wonderful grace then forgave him.) 

When David died, Satan also did everything he could to tempt David’s descendants into evil, hoping to break the lineage to the Messiah that way.  Solomon was David’s son.  Solomon’s many wives seduced him into idolatry.  Solomon spent government money lavishly to build palaces and a glorious temple, burnished with alarming amounts of gold and precious stones.  Thus he taxed his people heavily.  When Solomon died, his own son was callous about the need of the common people to reduce the tax, and the kingdom was split into the north, still called Israel, and south, called Judah. This was a real threat to their continued existence, since a divided nation is weaker and will be attacked by enemies. The following generations proved to be a continuing downdraft of morals and corruptions, of idolatry and religious sexual fornication.  They abandoned God and followed the pagan religions around them. 

Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat (and son-in-law of Ahab and Jezebel), 130 years after David, killed all of his six brothers.  This left a tenuous line in the lineage of David to the Christ, the Messiah, since it now all resided on Jehoram.   In fact, the Philistines and Arabians attacked him and killed all of his family except one son, Jehoahaz, also named Ahaziah.  Again, almost a snuffing out of the Messianic lineage.  Yet another wild story of carnage awaits.  Athaliah, wife of Jehoram and daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, was the queen mother for Jehoahaz/Ahaziah. But when Jehoahaz visited Israel, he was killed by Jehu.  Jehu killed all of Ahab and Jezebel’s family in Israel (the northern kingdom), and Athaliah ascended the throne in Judah (the southern kingdom). Then she kills any who had even the slightest chance of claiming the throne (including what remained of her own family), but she missed one person—Jehoash, her grandson, who was one year old.  Thus the Messianic line was held by one thin solitary thread. When she heard of her surviving grandson, she attempted to move on him, but she was executed.  Jehoash began his reign at age 8, and reigned righteously for 40 years.  Whew.  Unfortunately, the bloodshed still went on, but none of it later was as great a threat to the Messianic line.  God let Satan get close, but close is not enough.  It wasn’t long after this that the country of Judah fell to the Babylonians, and were carried away to captivity. The northern tribes had already fallen at the hands of the Assyrians.  But the Jewish people didn’t become assimilated.  Jewish scribes kept the faith, and continued to record genealogical records.  Thus Luke and Matthew show the Messianic line for Mary and Joseph, right through the “silent years,” the 400 years between the end of the kingdom of Judah until the birth of Jesus.  This should have proven to everyone that Jesus had the proper line in claiming to be the Messiah, but that didn’t stop some of them from calling Him a bastard and wanting to kill Him.

Attempt #8 Perhaps the most entertaining event in the Bible is the book of Esther.  It is short, and it is wonderful reading. It’s around 500 BC.  Romance (well, as far as they knew, romance) wins, pride loses.  I only have enough space to give you an incomplete Cliff notes.  After Persia defeated Babylonia, King Ahasuerus had a beauty contest and picked a new wife, Esther.  Unbeknownst to him, she was Jewish.  But one of the king’s servants, Haman, hated her cousin Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow to acknowledge his greatness in possessing his high office.  Haman was infuriated at this slight; he resolved to not only kill Mordecai, but all Jews in Persia, which was most of the known world at the time. This would again be another attempt to snuff out the Messianic lineage.  Satan may have given him the idea that it wasn’t enough just to kill Mordecai, but all Jews. (It would not be unusual, since he was from the Amalekite race, enemies of Jews). Through false witness to his king, he got the king’s signet ring to carry out his genocide.  He picked a day—soon.  He was willing to pay a lot of money to those who would do the killing—of every Jewish man, woman, and every child.  A grisly business.  An additional motivation toward getting the help of the Persians in the killing was the fact that whoever killed a Jew would get his land.  Haman was efficient in giving notice to every province in the vast kingdom.  But Esther heard of the plot through her maids, and Mordecai notified her that she would have to act fast to somehow persuade the king to change his mind.  They all knew that Haman was behind it.  There was one unfortunate detail of Persian law—once the king makes a law, it cannot be revoked.   Satan had made a cunning move, and it looked like the Jewish people would all be dead soon. 

But God knew this ahead of time, and made His own chess moves.  God is always one step ahead.  Why not?  He is the master of the dimension of time.  He knows the entire history of everyone on earth ahead of time.  I can imagine all the future videoclips He could see at the same time.    

Esther, I suspect with God’s help, made a brilliant plan.  And in the end, she, with great tears explained it all to Ahasuerus and appealed to the king’s mercy (we all know how women are). Haman made some wrong moves and was hung, Mordecai got the king’s signet ring, and while the king couldn’t change the law, he provided another law that allowed Jews to kill their enemies first!  The Jews were not only honored, but many people changed their religion to worshiping Jehovah.  This happened in the Persian kingdom, which is Iran today.  Can you imagine today’s Iranians giving Jews the right to kill their enemies in Iran and its allies?  For sure, this whole thing was a rarity for the Jews.  God wins, Satan loses. 

Attempt #9 and following show Satan’s all-out attempt to kill Jesus, whom he knew was the Messiah from prophecies about His birthplace (Micah 5:2), and by a visit by wise men underneath a supernatural star. 

We won’t count as an Attempt how Joseph, when he heard of Mary’s pregnancy, was on the verge of divorcing her as betrothed.  Without such an important element of a man standing up to be a father, the scandal of irresponsible fornication and baby-production would have been much greater.  That would have meant that Jesus would probably have been banned from speaking at any synagogue in the land. His message would never have gone out. In any event, an angel told Joseph in a dream that Mary was still a virgin, and bore a child through the Holy Spirit.  Joseph evidently believed it—so he was definitely the right man for the job of stepfather. 

Neither are we going to start with Caesar, who had the brilliant idea that everyone had to be registered in their original home province.  So Joseph and a very pregnant Mary had to travel over bumpy roads on horseback.  This endangered her; a too-early, or even, stillbirth could have resulted.  No, let’s start Attempt #9 with Herod, who was in a lather about the wise men appearing out of the East and asking for the location of the newborn King of the Jews.  Two more dreams were necessary from God, but the wise men never told Herod they had found the Messiah, and Joseph was warned to escape.  So Herod’s cruel effort to kill every child age 2 and under in the Bethlehem area did not produce the desired effect. Satan’s Attempt #9:  FAIL.

Attempt #10 was at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  John the Baptist had given Jesus approval, there was a miracle of wine at Cana, and Jesus was brilliant in initial appearances speaking at synagogues.  But that was it to that point, so He had barely got going.  But Jesus made the “mistake” of informing the synagogue public that ancient prophets spent some time being kinder to Gentiles rather than Jews (Luke 4).  The xenophobic Jews got a demonic gang urge, and almost threw Him off a cliff.  God suddenly engineered a miracle, because it simply says, without explanation, that “passing through the midst of them, He went His way.”  It was also a fact  that Scripture records other instances of men’s desire to kill Him before the mock trial that finally did it.  But Jesus was smart enough to have lots of loving followers around Him during the day, and slip away into remote locations at night. The only way they got to Him was the betrayal of Judas.

Attempt #11 This was Satan’s attempt to drown the Messiah in a huge sea storm on the sea of Galilee, which was notorious for that kind of activity.  But this storm was unusually dangerous and could have been lethal.  Why do I think that Satan was behind this?  Because in Luke 8:24, and Mark 4:39, Jesus “rebuked” the wind and raging water.  The word “rebuke” is used in Scripture for deliverance from demons (Matthew 17:18, for instance).  Yes, Satan can figure out how to have his demons make a storm.  But, Jesus can figure out the source, and deliver us from the weather. 

Attempt #12 Satan figured he had Jesus’ number at the Crucifixion.  Even though the witnesses against Him were false, even though Pilate and his wife did everything they could to release Jesus, the Jewish crowd were in a demonic paroxysm to see Jesus dead.  They even preferred to see a murderer released instead of Jesus.  They even cursed themselves, saying (Matthew 27:25) “his blood be on us, and on our children.”  God, in total disgust, rejected these people, formerly the “apple of His eye.” Jesus warned them several times about this. God’s judgment came down 40 years later.  Under a vicious general Titus, over a million of the Jews were slaughtered in a raid on Jerusalem.  The temple was completely torn down, as Jesus had prophesied.  But Satan was looking only at Jesus; he actually figured that the Crucifixion would do the job; Jesus would stay dead.  But in the greatest triumph of history, Jesus was resurrected.  Now His Gospel of freedom from sin and resurrection for His followers still abides in a minority everywhere in the world. 

Attempt #13 is probably future.  God prophesied, through an allegory in Revelation 12, Satan’s attempt to devour Christ (the Child in Revelation 12;  Satan is the dragon).  In Revelation 12:13, Satan is attacking “the woman,” probably Israel.  In other Scripture we find that he is attempting a giant war against Christ and His followers at Har Megiddo, also called Armageddon (Revelation 16:13-16), which failed.  But no one can be certain about the future, so I am deliberately sketchy about details.  All I know is that Satan is given one last chance, in some probable future date, as implied in Revelation 12:12, to do his destructive work.  It may come during our lifetimes, it may not.  But it will be a rousing success of deception, since the earth comes under one world ruler and one religion, and most people will actually worship an antichrist under Satan’s control!  Many nominal Christians will be fooled, as Matthew 24:24 says about that future day:

 ….false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.          

Jesus even began His Olivet Discourse on future events by warning His followers about deception (Matthew 24:4).  He also warned His followers to stay alert and looking for Him, not to be caught up in the ways of the world, which could destroy us. Yes, it is true that Satan looks like a Cleveland Brown, going 0-13, as we showed above, but he is wily and is successful on getting the majority of people to be captured and hell-bound.  Jesus confirms that in Matthew 7:13-14:

 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it

My final word of warning is from II Corinthians 11:13-15:

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. ¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

Christians, beware!  Do not fall for great deception.

Acknowledgement:  Chuck Missler, a great man of God, who is sorely missed by his passing.

The Fear of God

The fear of God is an important, yet little studied topic. Let’s start by examining Acts 2:41-47, using the New King James (NKJ):

Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. 44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

In these verses, we ask, in light of the tremendous power the church had, being close to God, sharing their assets compassionately with one another, and “having favor with all the people”—were any of these wonderful things caused by their fear of God? It wouldn’t seem possible—such a negative emotion leading to a good result. Let’s explore this mystery together.

We start by defining the Greek they used for the word “fear:” phobos. (From which we get “phobia”). According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, phobos means (1) “dread, terror, always with this significance in the four Gospels.” Let’s keep that in mind; whenever Jesus is quoted saying “fear,” that’s the meaning. The other meaning of phobos is only a little less intimidating: (2) “reverential fear of God as a controlling motive of the life; in matters spiritual and moral, not a mere fear of His power and righteous retribution, but a dread of displeasing Him.” Examine your hearts: when you're thinking of sinning, do you have a real dread of displeasing Him? Is your fear of what He might do, enough to make you stop? Is the fear of God a controlling motive in your life? I suspect the only thing keeping us back from many sins is the fear of being discovered by our friends or family and losing our reputations, or more. The serious dread of displeasing God should be more of a motivation keeping us from sin; but it is often just not there; we just don’t think about Him.

Many sermons are expounded on God’s love, few on His hate--of sin. Many sermons on our loving God, few on fearing Him. This paper will attempt to show how many verses there are on how fear of God is good for you. It’s a desirable attribute. Hopefully after reading it you can introspect on His holiness and get to know His “holy side” more. Like medicine, it will seem unpleasant—but it’s good for you. Let’s begin with Genesis 20:11, where Abraham sees the good side of men fearing God: They would be less likely to murder him and take his beautiful wife:

And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.

Just two chapters later, in Genesis 22, God is testing Abraham’s willingness to obey Him implicitly, regardless of how illogical His instructions seem. He is asked to sacrifice his son. Note that Abraham doesn’t delay, doesn’t ask himself: “God wants me to kill my son? The son He promised? Let me argue that, or get a second opinion.” He knew that God loves him, that following Him regardless of logic, even doing things we never imagined we could do, will all turn out well. Have we developed that trait? Look at verse 12 for the result of fear that brings obedience  regardless :

And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

Note that God commends him on his fear of Him. His fear led him to obey God without question. God respects his obedience, and no harm is done.

In Genesis 31:42a, Jacob has a name for God: The Fear of Isaac. Nowhere does God disapprove of this name. Note how Jacob appreciates this-named God as his God, connecting it with His protection for him. Finally note how we have proven that the three patriarchs of Israel, giants in the faith, are all given to fearing God:

Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you (Laban) would have sent me away empty-handed.

In Exodus 1:17, the children of Israel are slaves in Egypt. The pharaoh, fearing for their numerical advantage, has instructed the Hebrew midwives to kill the boy babies as soon as they arrive out of the womb. But the midwives refuse to do it—even though disobeying pharaoh endangers their own lives—because of their fear of God (fear of His judgement for murder). Note His blessing on them because their fear of God was greater than their fear of the pharaoh.

But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive... because the midwives feared God…He provided households for them.

Maybe we’d have fewer abortions if the mothers or attending nurses had a real fear of God today. In the 60 million abortions in the U.S. since Roe v Wade, these women did not have enough fear of God to dread His ultimate punishment for murder. How many have read Galatians 5:21, which says that (unrepentant) murderers “will not inherit the kingdom of God,” and would spend an eternity in hell?  Society may have persuaded these women that abortion--murder--was a good choice. I have no idea what percentage of repentance we're talking about, but if it's miniscule, that means possibly 60 million women are going to hell.  Unless they truly repented before God, and developed a fear of Him after the abortion, and He forgave them.

In Exodus 14:31, after God’s great plagues, after the exodus, and His killing the pursuing Egyptians, then the children of Israel finally feared God. After that, they really believed Moses and God. So, a real belief in God, with obedience following (for awhile), results from a fear of God.

Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.

In Exodus 18:21, Moses is to select men as judges, an extremely important function. The first requirement for such men? You guessed it; they need to have a fear of God.

Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds…

In Exodus 20:20b, the Ten Commandments are given. The very first words that Moses says to the Israelis at this momentous occasion include the following:

God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”

The Ten Commandments is supposed to awaken the soul to a proper fear of God. The Commandments are His rules--but it still takes a consistent fear of God to obey the rules consistently. Once again, God’s Word is saying that fear of God reduces sin.

There are plenty more in the Old Testament, but to make this paper short enough to be readable, let’s skip ahead to the New Testament; what did Jesus say about fear? Matthew 10:28:

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

People experience “peer pressure;” they shrink back from declaring for Christ, particularly in public. And so it was for the Jews, who did not want to go against the Pharisees, who could be a genuine threat to your life if you followed Jesus. But Jesus was unsympathetic for those feelings; He has a stark word (one of many—He talked a lot about hell): basically, "it’s them or me, you can't have both. Follow me, and the worst they can do is take your life. But you get an eternity in heaven. Follow them, you’ll have friends in the world, but then your worry should be about hell—which is forever."

We definitely need an injection of fear for God in this attractive world, to keep us out of hell. (Don’t forget, we said in the two definitions of “fear” that the meaning in the Gospels here is “dread, terror.” Jesus was blunt. Your terror of what God can do to you should be greater than your terror of what people can do to you. People can take your lives, but God can take your eternity).

You want mercy from God? We all should, because the depth and frequency of our sin means we need lots of mercy. Luke 1:50 tells us how to get mercy:

And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.

Luke 5:26 gives the peoples’ reaction when they see Jesus healing: Fear. Why? Of His supernaturalism, of things about God which they do not know.  Also note how this causes them to glorify God:.

And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”.

Today we would be more cynical and sophisticated about healings. Which is the better reaction? Note how their fear didn’t stop their glorifying God. Another good result from a supposedly negative emotion (The same thing happens in Luke 7:16).

In Luke 23:40-41, one criminal on a cross next to Jesus rebukes the other. The one who feared God admitted his execution was proper punishment for his deeds.  That's a noble thought--and something few criminals do. He also judged Jesus as innocent, something the people and the Pharisees couldn’t do. Fear of God allows you to judge people properly, and to be humble. Also, wonderfully, the one who feared God got saved. The other one was going to hell.

But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”

Now we go to the book of Acts. God’s stamp of approval was definitely on the man who was the first Gentile to receive the Gospel preached by Jewish men. Cornelius was that man. How did he get to be first in line for such a wonderful event? Because he feared God, among other positive features. A description of him is in Acts 10:2:

…a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.

Note that fear of God is listed ahead of his giving to the poor, and ahead of his passion for prayer. I’ve heard lots of sermons on giving and the power of prayer, but none on the power of fearing God.

Once again, for brevity, we have to skip lots of verses, and move on to the Epistles. In Romans 3, Paul is enumerating the horrible sins of those bound for hell…”Their throat is an open tomb,” etc. He then describes sin that gets worse and worse as men get farther away from Him. And how does he end it; what phrase did he use as the worst, the source of all this defiant sin and rebellion? It’s in Romans 3:18 (just before the gospel is explained):

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In Romans 11:20-22, Paul is justifying why he is bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles—it was because the Jews (the natural branches of Jesus, the Vine) rejected it and got “broken off” the Vine. So God turned to the Gentiles. But the Gentiles might get haughty (“we’re smarter than the Jews”). His solution for that? They needed to fear God, or else He could cut them off too (God hates pride). Further, note that God is called “severe.” Haven’t heard any sermons on God’s “negative” qualities revealed here:

Because of unbelief they (Jews) were broken off, and you (Gentiles) stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but FEAR. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

Does God sound antagonistic there? Well, deal with it; change your definition of God’s love. He is in charge of the universe, and makes the rules. We should be grateful that He reveals Himself to us so we know what to do to get on His good side, and what gets on His holy side.

In II Corinthians 7:1, Paul has the method to be holy (necessary for salvation, as my other blogs discuss): Fear God.

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

So the fear of God helps us to perfect holiness.  And holiness is necessary to be saved (Hebrews 12:14).  Sounds like the fear of God is necessary to get us on the road to salvation.

In Ephesians 5:21-22, women are going to dislike me for this, but Paul has a solution for women who can’t submit to their husbands because they don’t trust them. Now I realize that there are other qualifiers for wives and husbands, but it clearly says that fear of Him is the key in submitting to one another. I’m reminded of our verses above, where Abraham was ready to do something illogical because he trusted God. And it worked out, because God honored his fear of Him--He made sure all was well. Women, take a hint—trusting your husband despite his obtuseness, is really trusting God, because you’re obeying His commandment to submit. He will honor your trust in Him and make it all work out. The verses are broadened to include all of us acting unselfishly and trusting all the brothers and sisters. One more time--What makes us take a chance and submit to others? Fear of God. I have never heard a sermon on this angle of husbands and wives. Putting these two verses together is called “context.”

…submitting to one another in the fear of God. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

Once again, brevity demands a stop. I couldn't cover some other great verses. All you need to do is go to biblegate.com and search the word “fear.” But I think you’ve gotten the message. Fear of God is absolutely necessary to reduce sin and to be more holy, to obey God, and submit to people when you should. A lot more people would be saved if they had this attribute. The only question is, how do we develop this fine characteristic? Here’s a few suggestions: (1) Read more of the Old Testament. Lots of judgment and hellfire for disobedience. Not pleasant, but you need to see how much God hated sin. Don’t fall for the argument, “God was different then.” If you believe that, you haven’t gotten the right message about Jesus, either, so that leads to suggestion (2) Read the Gospels just to study exactly what Jesus said. Do you notice how much He talked about judgment? Well, there you go. God doesn’t change, after all, in how much He hates sin, between Old and New Testaments. Write down everything that suggests what it really takes to be saved (or read my blog on initial and final salvation for a quickie summary). When you’re reading, be careful to “update” Biblical words like “idols.” Maybe you think that’s just for primitive folk, wood and stone. So it doesn't apply to me, you say. But read a Biblical definition of idolatry, then spend some time asking yourself if you’ve been into idolatry, in its modern applications. In other words, spend some time asking yourself about the sins you’ve done, and the effects on the family, placing yourself above God (that’s idolatry too). And then think about God, who loves you more than you can imagine, watching you sin. You (and everyone) could do much more with your life if you dedicate yourself 100% to Him. He would make you so happy. So why don’t you? Examine that—is it simple selfishness? Greed? Fear of being laughed at? Then imagine yourself at the judgment seat—we will all be there—when you give your reasons, your lame reasons. What are your Scriptural gifts? You don’t know? Have they been given to God? Do you know what the fruits are, a requirement for you to have them for heaven (John 15:2)? How about your time with God? A person you’re in love with, you talk to daily—how much time do you spend during the week talking with God? Maybe you conclude that you don’t really love Him? That’s not good, read I John when it separates saved vs unsaved, measured by the love you show. It’s never too late to change.

As you can see, lots of Scripture reading and introspection are needed. Please, take time for this. Most people’s mind goes ten different ways when trying to be quiet and meditate on Scripture. Or they sink into this, “I’m just a worm and can’t do anything.” (Maybe appealing for sympathy to get out of being judged always worked when you were a kid; it doesn’t work with God). Developing a fear of God would be frowned at by most ministers today, but who cares what they think? Their “moral leadership” is why we’re in a mess in the U.S. Better to read Scripture like the above to get the real truth about qualities God loves to see. Like fearing Him.

Some Truths About Teen Pornography

According to Google Analytics, pornography searches increase by 4,700% when kids are using the internet in the hours after school ends.

Like it or not, teens are using their devices to access pornography on a regular basis in today's technology driven society. Where previous generations were cautious of a stolen Playboy magazine, current parents are looking for guidance on how to shield their teens from the ever available, internet pornography.

The average child is now accessing pornography at the age of 11.

ONLY 3% OF TEENAGE BOYS AND 17% OF GIRLS HAVE NEVER SEEN ONLINE PORNOGRAPHY

If this sounds like a shockingly low number, consider the amount of hours teenagers spend on screens for entertainment, 9 hours a day according to a report from Common Sense Media. 

The rate of addiction to pornography has grown significantly since the introduction of the internet and the vast amounts of available material. The population at the highest risk for addiction? Teenage boys ages 12-17.

A study conducted by JAMA Psychiatry looked at the connection between compulsive viewing of online pornography and brain changes. Their results indicated alarming similarities between individuals who view online pornography for hours each week and individuals addicted to drugs or alcohol.

This same study suggests these individuals will develop stronger tolerance to the material and may also have difficulty controlling impulses

Mothers and fathers of teens: I have one question--Is there a way that your child is one of these problems?  Most parents don't really know; their teens are fiercely guarding their "privacy."  In many cases, it's privacy to sin.

I have a harder question:  If both you and your spouse are working in the same daytime period, is it worth sacrificing what this might be doing to your child to obtain extra money, to buy "toys" (bigger house, nicer car) you love and covet?   What I'm saying is, one of you  needs to quit the job to guide the teen away from sin, to let the child know you care, you want your child to live a Scriptural life, and are willing to enforce boundaries despite sacrifices for the "good life."  The teen will pick up on this moral courage and sacrifice.   

Let's face it:  Teens lie.  In America today, they live for their impulses.  I'm saying, after you quit, when you're around at home, let your movements be unpredictable--and don't be afraid to snoop.  If your teenager wants you to cite a specific time of your return, he or she may have something in mind. Don't provide them with that information.  

Then there's the possibility of teens having sex while both parents are at work.  I suspect this is happening a lot, looking at the spiraling statistics of people living together before marriage.  Teens (and parents, sometimes) don't care a whit about what the Bible says about sex with anyone outside marriage.  It's speaking of hell for those who violate this commandment  GalatIans 5:19-21 is blunt: 
 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
  
So fornication, which is so widespread in TV and movies, ranks up there with murder and idolatry.  Think about that. 

Now if your teen has a conscience (or if they haven't enjoyed losing their virginity),  they may repent, momentarily, but for most it is repentance light, since most don't take serious-enough steps to stop their growing addiction to sex or pornography. (By the way, assuming that "relief" by watching porn will decrease the desire for sex has been proven wrong by lots of studies.)  So they are still in hell-trouble unless they can discipline their lives to Biblical rules.  Jesus said thinking about a woman for adultery is adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:28).  And if you think that evil thought but not action gets you scot-free, what about Jesus' comments that to hate someone--and you haven't done anything to them--can send you to hell, too?  Try I John 2:9:

He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 

"In darkness" can only be interpreted as bound for hell, unless there is sincere repentance.

Parents, beware!  You are responsible for your children.  If one of you is afraid of quitting that job, for worldly pleasures and things, don't be surprised if the teen can catch the drift and take on the ways of the world as well. Scripture says, those who love the world cannot go to heaven I John 2:15:

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

IF you believe Scripture is really God's Word to mankind regardless of cultural shifts and rationales, then you will make necessary sacrifices to keep your kids off these paths that lead to hell.  
Remember, you're not there to be their friends. Be afraid of God, who will judge you for making decisions (or not making decisions) that harm your child's spirit.

Evangelsm Should Emphasize Repentance Again

A well-known evangelist, Ray Comfort, estimates that 80-90%, conservatively, of decisions for Christ in modern evangelism will thereafter lose their witness and not even attend church consistently.  He cites a detailed study of the 294,000 who “got saved” in a one-year crusade effort by a major denomination, Harvest, in 1991. They had 11,500 churches keeping close records.  (PS: Evangelism sweeps don't usually do this).  Only 14,000 of the 294,000 still attended church, only a couple years later. That’s a 95% loss rate.

He also studied the works of famous evangelists of the past—such as Wesley, Whitfield, Moody, Spurgeon, and Finney. Along with New Testament evangelists, Paul, Peter, Steven, and Timothy.  Their writings and sermon notes suggested a much higher number of people hanging on to their conversion.  Why has this loss rate gone stratospheric, he wondered?  One of the things he noticed was that in those days, the preaching by these great men would begin with how people have broken God’s Laws.  Then, after that was covered in the sermon, the Good News was taught. This principle of sermon order has faded away, particularly starting in the early 1900s.  Nowadays, preachers consider that the “You Have Broken the Law" sermon starter is just too negative, and have shied away from it.  Modern evangelistic theory (taught in Christian colleges) assumes that most people feel they are not worthy to be with God, so we have to emphasize God’s grace and love right from the start, to make them feel wanted, then explaining what Christ did on our behalf. The Prodigal Son (Luke 15) was the classic example of a good sermon, as they teach how the father accepted his son, though he wasted the inheritance, and still smelled of pigs.   

Mr.Comfort came to the conclusion that the surveys mentioned above suggested the old ways were better.  What's more important, Scriptures seem to provide proof of his idea.  Psalm 19:7 says, in part:

The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul

Well, converting the soul is what we want in evangelism, right?  The Word lays it out plainly.  You present the Law.

Mr. Comfort gives us a parable.  Suppose you’re walking around, and someone pops up and says, “I’ve got good news for you!  Someone paid a $2500 fine on your behalf!”  Your reaction might be “What are you talking about?  That doesn’t make sense; I can’t think of what I did wrong, nor has anybody told me thus.”  They are not exactly in a receptive mood, or grateful, right?  The person would be offended, actually--before they got around to accepting the money.  BUT what if the following metaphor happened:  This person was clocked doing 55 mph in an area set aside for a blind children’s school nearby.  There were 10 clear warning signs stating that the speed limit was 15 mph.  What he did was extremely dangerous, negligent, and reckless, whether he knew about it or not, and a $2500 fine was appropriate and it was the law.  So this person was caught, and in court his ignorance of the law was brushed aside (that would never bring back the life of a child killed).  He was told all the details of his illegality, and then told to pay the fine, and with agony he wondered whether he would have the money, how stupid he was to do that, how much his family would sacrifice their lifestyle—or even how he would tell them—when suddenly someone he didn’t even know stepped forward and paid it for him.  Now his reaction would be a definition of gratitude, right?  He might even want to make friends with this stranger, to see what motivated him to give so much so graciously. 

As you can clearly see by the two parables, the second example--explaining what he did wrong, the Law he broke, with proper acceptance of that news, THEN giving him the Good News of One who has paid his debt, generates a much more positive response.  Well, that’s the principle they formerly used in preaching.  On the other hand, the other approach is what we have a great deal more of now.  Most people, hearing this more-recent approach, are offended—they don’t think they are bad sinners. (Which means they haven’t been taught about God, how He is perfect, and hates sin.) If I talk "grace-only" with a prospect, I pretty much can’t get away from insinuating that they have seriously broken the law, when they have usually deceived themselves into thinking they don’t think they have—and they resent our suggestion—and our indirectness. Or, they consider the idea that they need salvation foolish.  As Scripture says in I Corinthians 1:18:

…the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing

Anyone “saved” by this method is more by emotionalism, since there is confusion about why they need to be saved and what the Good News really is—but in the cold light of the days following, this emotionalism cools off to rejection more often than not.  Which is where the 80-90% falling away comes in.

Thus I need, in my preaching evangelism, to take the time to speak insightfully of the Ten Commandments and its violation in thought as well as deed, and then to also cover Jesus’ commandments in the Gospels—i.e., to show the prospect that he has truly offended a just God—then he hopefully becomes, as James says in 2:9: Convicted of the law, as a transgressor; then the Good News of Christ’s paying our debt will not be offensive or foolish…it will be the power of God unto salvation. 

Let’s look at each function of presenting God’s Law. We’ll start with Romans 3:19:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 

Thus, one function of it is (1) to stop the mouth.  We don’t need to hear much of the prospect’s wisdom, justifying himself and saying, “there are plenty of people worse than me.” (He’s either deceived or just putting you off, really). We are the ones bearing the wonderful gift of good news, and need an opportunity to speak.  

Secondly, Romans 3:20 says this:

by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The prospect needs to know the knowledge of sin, since self-defense and self-deception are rampant today.  We cannot assume that his sin is in the forefront (or even in the back) of his memory.  I John 3:4 says:   sin is the transgression of the law.  It would seem obvious that a person needs to know the law intimately in order to know if he has transgressed it, or has sinned.  Romans 7:7 declares this more forcefully:  I would not have known sin except through the law. 

Thirdly, in Galatians 3:24, the Law is not only to build our knowledge of sin, but, very importantly….

the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. 

What this means, is, the Law doesn’t really help us in reconciliation with God…it shows us that we are helpless.  It doesn’t justify us, it just leaves us guilty at the judgment seat. But with the Law, when we see our sin, as God sees it, we see how we have offended God, and if hell is even brought up (which it almost never is nowadays), we are, deservedly, destined for hell.  Then we seek Him for some method of righteousness and deliverance.  Christ is that key, as a good evangelist will point the way.

When modern evangelism abandoned the "old" principle of discussing the Law and how Christ saves us from wrath, it needed to seek another reason to attract us to Christ. So they invented the term “life enhancement.”  Following Christ will benefit us.  We will have peace, love, joy, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. At this point, Mr. Comfort provides another useful allegory: 

Two men are sitting in a plane.  The first is given a parachute, (the only one receiving the offer), and told that it will “improve his flight.”  He is skeptical and even thinking the flight attendant is wacko, as he knows that airlines only talk about "good times are ahead," but he puts it on—just as a trial.  But it weighs his shoulders, and gives him difficulty in sitting upright.  But he perseveres.  After a while, though, he notices that other passengers are laughing at him due to his unusual clothing accessory.  Feeling humiliated, he can’t stand it anymore, and he throws the parachute to the floor.  Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie. 

The second man was given a parachute, BUT he was told a different reason, in alarming detail:  at any moment, without warning, a faulty flight could mean he would be jumping 25,000 feet off the plane. He takes it to heart: He doesn’t notice the discomfort of the parachute, because his mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he had to jump without it.  He develops a deep-rooted peace in his heart knowing that he shall escape a sure death no matter what happens.  He can deal with other passengers’ mockery—he knows that they need to do what he did.  He might even engage them in intense conversation about their need for this safety device. 

You can see what we’re saying.  Under modern evangelism, this man-centered “improvement” approach is a guaranteed failure.  People will take on Christ as an experiment to see whether their life does improve.  But they get what the Scripture promises to the saved, at some points in their lives--temptation, tribulation, and persecution.  They are humiliated by others, disillusioned about not seeing a rosy path develop for them. They take off the Lord Jesus, and are rightly embittered. They are now inoculated against evangelism in the future, and their latter end is worse than the first. Modern evangelism has promised them what God has not promised.  The opposite of their expectation occurs.  After all, God has every right to test us to see if we can really endure.  Modern evangelism does not ask a crucial question:  Are we able to drink of the cup that Jesus drank of?   

We should take the second parachute approach, boldly telling every man, as Hebrews 9:27 says:

it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment

He must understand the horrific consequences of breaking the Law. He must be told to escape the wrath which is to come, when God judges the earth in righteousness. The issue is not one of happiness, but of righteousness.  Then he will flee to Christ, and experience true peace and joy—the fruits of salvation.  But don’t speak of peace and joy as a “draw card” for salvation, or sinners will respond with impure motives, lacking repentance.  The man correctly taught will have much more motivation to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.  When bad times come, he doesn’t throw off Christ—because his reason for taking on Christ is not for rosy paths, but to save him from future wrath.  He has been re-taught to ignore man’s reasoning.  If anything, trials will drive the true believer closer to the Savior—life will be that much better in heaven, and he will be looking more for heaven when life on earth gets miserable.

Mr. Comfort then told of an evangelistic crusade he preached in Australia.  He preached of the Law, Hell, and wrath.  He told of how few people came forward, and how the atmosphere felt tense. He felt the usual disappointment in people’s deafness.  Perhaps he thought of Noah, “a just man, perfect in his generations..walked with God” (Gen. 6:9), who despite being “a preacher of righteousness” (II Peter 2:5), never was able to save a single soul outside his family.  The Spirit lifted Mr. Comfort up, told him to simply carry on. Mr. Comfort confessed that this lack of results wore him down, and had pulled him, at one time period, unwittingly to preaching a man-centered Gospel—to get happier results. For that time he got lots of results—that was nice.  The original numbers of people “saved” are higher that way, and there is less tension.  People are happy to have Jesus take a turn at getting them out of the mess they’ve made of their lives. But--they are not clean from the wrath to come because we don’t tell them of the wrath to come.  That was a glaring omission in his message. In the end, people should be asking what David, what the Prodigal Son, and Joseph asked:  How could they sin against God? After all, He is also a God of wrath, and we can’t just ignore that—it’s one of His personality traits.  Real repentance is understanding that the great offense here is against God, not just “horizontal” repentance against your fellow man. Mr. Comfort calls this “horizontal only” approach “superficial and experimental.”  The prospect should be seeking something called “godly sorrow” to obtain true repentance, an important element in salvation.  As II Corinthians 7:10 says: …godly sorrow produces repentance.  In evangelism nowadays, we are missing discussing sin against God.  

We have preached the cure without telling them of the disease.    

AB Earle, who had 150,000 converts to his ministry in the mid-1800s, made the following quote:

I have found by long experience that the severest threatenings of the Law of God has a prominent place in leading men to Christ.  They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy; they will not escape danger until they see it. 

Mr. Comfort has noticed that there are many people who have been “saved” several times, yet their lives don’t show change. They’re still fornicating, still blaspheming, and so on. What they’re likely doing is:  Using the grace of God for an occasion of the flesh. They sin, they might ask God to forgive them, they move on same as before. They don’t esteem the sacrifice and don’t understand how great the sin.  It means nothing to them to trample the blood of Christ underfoot. The problem is: They’ve never been convinced of the disease that they might appropriate the cure. 

When you study the Word, you find that Biblical evangelism is always Law to the proud and grace to the humble.  Never do you see Jesus giving the gospel to proud, arrogant, self-righteous people.  With the Law, He breaks the hard heart and with the Gospel, He heals the broken heart.  God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The proud and highly esteemed are an abomination to God (Luke 16:15).  Note who gets the good tidings in Isaiah 61:1.  The poor, the brokenhearted and the captives are those who are there spiritually:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound

Only the sick can appropriate a cure. In Luke 10:25-37, after being plainly asked "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?", Jesus gave the lawyer Law.  Why?  Because he was proud.  Note v. 29 for that in part of the story below:

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” ²⁷ So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” ²⁸ And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” ²⁹ But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  ³⁰ Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves…(the rest of the story is of the Good Samaritan).

Jesus knew this Jewish lawyer didn’t like Samaritans.  Then the Master Debater came to the climaxing point:

³⁶ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” ³⁷ And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

The lawyer had no response—he could see his own lack of love, compared to this generous Samaritan.  He could see that he was a Commandment-breaker.  The Law has done its job again—stopped his mouth, maybe convinced him of sin. 

Note that a similar event happens when the rich young ruler visits Jesus.  We read of it in Luke 18:18-23, where Jesus shies away from an easy response:

Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” ²¹ And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” ²² So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”²³ But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.

Again, Jesus did not begin with the Gospel to this person. (Today, as soon as he asks, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” we would engage him in a salvation prayer).  But Jesus sees a proud person underneath (v. 21), who was not ready for the Gospel.  So in verse 20 the young ruler gets the Law—the “horizontal” part-- and is still convinced that he has never sinned (an advantage that only Jesus can claim, really).  Then Jesus slyly points out his lack of the first commandment (Thou shall have no other gods before me) by showing him that his real god is his money.  Once again, no argument. His mouth was stopped.

In contrast, we see Nicodemus, in John 3.  While a leader of the Jews, he was humble of heart, acknowledging the deity of Jesus (verse 2).  He receives the Gospel, and perhaps the greatest verse in His Word, John 3:16. 

Consider also Nathanael, in John 1:47-51.  In him was no deceit.  Since that trait is a tool of the proud, he does not have that negative quality.  Plus, he acknowledged the deity of Christ (v. 49).  Jesus gives him the honor of prophesying about Himself and His future coming.  Part of His glorious good news. This kinder approach goes for the Jews who gathered on the day of Pentecost, in Acts 2.  These were devout (a word which denotes humility) men, v. 5.  What did Peter preach to them?  Not the Law, but the Gospel.  (But he doesn’t hesitate to lay blame on them for His crucifixion, v. 36). 

Think of two verses to the great hymn, “At Calvary:”   Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died  On Calvary.
By God’s Word at last my sin I learned; then I trembled at the law I’d spurned Till my guilty soul imploring turned  To Calvary. May God bless you as you search for His ways of presenting His precious Words to the lost in your environment.  In the light of our first few paragraphs, remember the saying:  “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”  There is a lot of insanity in evangelism these days. Acknowledgement:  Ray Comfort, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret,"   audio and book from Livingwaters.com.