God Owns This Planet
Psalm 24a
1 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
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God has, in the Bible, established His pattern of ownership over this earth. That pattern goes something like this: Confusion, Destruction and Death.
Sometimes God does these one at at time, or in unison, or in any combination He deems fit.
Examples:
The Flood Genesis 7
21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
22 All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.
23 And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.
Tower of Babel Genesis 11
6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 19
24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
Egypt Exodus 9
23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.
24 So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
25 And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.
The Return Of Jesus II Peter 3
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Revelation 7:14 - 14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
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Since God owns this speck we live on called Earth, He can do with it as He pleases. And when those that are privileged to live on this planet choose to turn their backs on God … well, He then chooses to act in accordance to His nature and Word.
As Hebrews 10:31 warns us: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
We believers, as well as the world, have fallen far away from the fear of God — corporately and personally.
We need to get it back.
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Preaching hard preaching is hard. I don’t know any preacher, past or present, that enjoys “shucking the corn”. That’s an old, and forgotten, expression that was used down South when describing “hard” preaching. It was known as “hell-fire and brimstone” preaching.
“Hell-fire and brimstone” … don’t hear that much any more from our pulpits. Jesus talked A LOT about Hell. Our pulpits are MUTE on the topic.
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After reading Pilgrim’s Progress again recently, I was struck with the intensity and urgency with which Bunyan very clearly, perfectly, and powerfully describes man’s deplorable condition before God.
The whole central message of Pilgrim’s Progress would surely be considered as being too “hard” today. Admittedly I, at times, was taken aback (and refreshed) at how he unequivocally portrays man’s sinful and hopeless condition apart from salvation in Christ. If a preacher today preached as Bunyan wrote back then in the 1600’e … he’d soon see a diminishing in attendance.
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The world and Christianity are in a state of degeneracy due to the lack of “hard” preaching. We’ve arrived at the time in our culture and in our pews when we no longer can “endure” hard preaching.
II Timothy 4 —
1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
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That gets us to the second half of Psalm 24 —
7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts (i.e., The Lord of Heaven’s Armies) he is the King of glory. Selah.
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Folks, the LORD that owns this earth and everything that’s in it is coming back soon. And when He does, He will take back full possession of it.
That’s good news for those of us who are already sealed and secure in Christ through His shed blood. But, it’s not going to be good news for the world that then will be.
And so with that …
We, like Bunyan back in the 1600’s, need to let the lost world know that they are living in The City of Destruction. And also, we need to let them know that if they don’t shed the Burden of Sin on their backs through forgiveness in Christ … they are headed to the ultimate City of Destruction - Hell.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
Is that “hard” preaching? You tell me.
I trow not.