Throughout the Gospels, Jesus’s disciples were jockeying for position and trying to set themselves up in positions of power in the earthly kingdom they were eagerly waiting for Jesus to establish. This was despite the fact that time and again Jesus tried to explain that his kingdom was first and foremost a spiritual one. Jesus wanted them to understand that the principles upon which his kingdom was built were not the same as those of the temporal world. 

“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 

Jesus is God and the Word made flesh, so when we do anything to undermine him, his power, or his Word to make people feel comfortable, we blaspheme him. What right do we have, as servants of the King, to edit the message that He has sent us to deliver? 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:24-26 (ESV) 

Matthew 7:15 says, “Beware of false prophets.” In the King James Version and in the New International Version it says, “Watch out for false prophets.” The fact that Jesus uses language like “beware” or “watch out” should grab our attention so that we meditate on the importance of these words. 

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17, ESV).  

“Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

“Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8 (ESV) 

For the true follower of Jesus, the day of the Lord is what we are longing for and what we are living for. Here is a very important question: do you long for his appearing or are you at home in this world? 

Many people put the scriptural teaching on hell in opposition to the love of God, but Jesus combines them. Here is an important truth: no one loves you more than Jesus Christ; and yet no one spoke of or taught on hell and judgment more than Jesus Christ. 

There is warning after warning, parable after parable, that warn and even shout judgment and the reality of hell. Although some say that a God of love wouldn’t allow eternal punishment, God’s justice demands it. 

Joy and gratefulness are two things that are eternally connected and inseparable. Gratefulness is the byproduct and the evidence of someone who is truly filled with the joy of the Lord. True thanksgiving comes from the understanding that we were rebel sinners scheduled for damnation, but because of what Christ has done for us in the gospel we as Christians have been pardoned from hell and have been adopted into the family of God.