Photo by By Mike Chaffin
Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? Matthew 23:33
Jesus came into the world so that the world could be saved. In His earthly ministry He says in John 3:17 that He did not come to condemn the world but to save it.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
However, he followed that up with the fact that not everyone will believe, and not everyone will go to Heaven.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. John 3:18-20
Jesus condemns sin, but in His earthly ministry as well as today he forgives those who ask for it. However, He was not so easy on a certain type of person. Hypocrites and false teachers are on the top of Jesus’ do not be list. Jesus told the Pharisees, scribes, and Sadducees they were both. He told them then asked our question about where they were going if they did not change.
Jesus was especially hard on them because they were supposed to be shepherds and guides for the people. However, they were blind guides who were not helping but harming people’s worship. They were sinners in need of salvation.
But we are all naturally born sinners. How will any of us escape the condemnation of hell? We do so when we accept the sacrifice Jesus made to cover our sins. He died on the cross and on the third day in the grave He rose from the dead defeating sin. If one believes in Jesus, accepts His sacrifice, and asks Jesus into their heart to be Lord of their life they will be saved.
Many people hope they can be good enough to get into heaven. Jesus calls this the wide road that leads to destruction. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one come to the Father in Heaven, accept through Him. Want to escape the condemnation of Hell? Seek Jesus.
Contemplation: Am I a follower of Jesus Christ or am I on the road to hell?
