To suggest that sinful creatures can survive when fully and ultimately
separated from God or that God has to do something else to destroy the
sinner other than complete separation is to suggest that creatures can survive
without God and that sin is harmless. This is a heresy as old as the Devil!
On the contrary God says:
"But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that
hate me love death." Proverbs 8:36"O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed,
and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because
they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters." Jeremiah
17:13
"O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help."
Hosea 13:9
Since God is without beginning or end, then His way must be the only
absolute way of life; the only absolutely right way. When creatures reject
God's way they are rejecting God's righteousness and therefore rejecting life.
God has made us free to choose and He will respect our choice. Ultimately
those who reject God will be left alone to the gods of their choosing –
"ownwayness" is death!
"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but
they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be
carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace." Rom. 8:5,6
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth
on him." John 3:36
To reject God's righteousness in any area or detail of our lives is to tell God
that we can handle that area of our lives without Him. It is to tell Him to
leave us alone in that area. It is to tell Him that we are gods in that area of
our lives. (James 2:8-12). Full surrender to God's will is eternal life. (John
5:30). To sow the wind will be to reap the whirlwind. Hosea 8:7.
In mercy God pleads with us to change our minds, to accept all of His
righteousness in Christ. Since God's righteousness is a whole unit, to reject
any small part is to eventually reject all. James 2:10. If we persist in having
our own way God will eventually have to say "Ephraim is joined to His idols
leave him alone ." Hosea 4:17.
Any sin which we do not overcome will eventually overcome us and work
our own ruin by separating us from God.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the
flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the
Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for
in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Galatians 6:7-9.
When men choose their own way, they place themselves in controversy with
God. They will have no place in the kingdom of heaven, for they are at war
with the very principles of heaven. In disregarding the will of God, they are
placing themselves on the side of Satan, the enemy of God and man. Not by
one word, not by many words, but by every word that God has spoken, shall
man live. We cannot disregard one word, however trifling it may seem to us, and be safe.
There is not a commandment of the law that is not for the good
and happiness of man, both in this life and in the life to come. In obedience
to God's law, man is surrounded as with a hedge and kept from the evil. He
who breaks down this divinely erected barrier at any point has destroyed its
power to protect him; for he has opened a way by which the enemy can enter
to waste and ruin.
And remember, only in Christ is the righteousness of the law fulfilled in the
believer's character through faith which works by love.
"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor
uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Galatians 5:6
"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:4
"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and
his commandments are not grievous." 1John 5:3
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