How Do You Escape Hell?
24065 - Hell
Matthew 23:33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
Read the context: Matthew 23
Ponder:
? Describe the character of those Jesus called "serpents and vipers."
? How did they believe they were going to "escape being sentenced to hell?"
? With what tone of voice do you imagine Jesus speaking to these men?
jne: I wonder why there is no record of Jesus speaking like this to the corrupt and evil political leaders in Jerusalem. Why did Jesus not talk to the cruel Roman soldiers, or the greedy tax-collectors with the same sort of blunt warnings? I don't know the answers to these specific questions, but I do know that whatever Jesus said and did applied far beyond the immediate participants and circumstances. I also know that it is very easy, and probably the norm, for human beings to think that Bible truths apply to other people rather then ourselves.
It is blind and foolish to not personally answer Jesus' question: "how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?" Unfortunately, many people will answer like a self-righteous Pharisee: "I keep the commandments, better than most people, God is mistaken if He thinks I am a serpent."
The way to escape Hell is to depend on Jesus, not myself; to say "God, be merciful to me the sinner." -230
Matthew 23:33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
Read the context: Matthew 23
Ponder:
? Describe the character of those Jesus called "serpents and vipers."
? How did they believe they were going to "escape being sentenced to hell?"
? With what tone of voice do you imagine Jesus speaking to these men?
jne: I wonder why there is no record of Jesus speaking like this to the corrupt and evil political leaders in Jerusalem. Why did Jesus not talk to the cruel Roman soldiers, or the greedy tax-collectors with the same sort of blunt warnings? I don't know the answers to these specific questions, but I do know that whatever Jesus said and did applied far beyond the immediate participants and circumstances. I also know that it is very easy, and probably the norm, for human beings to think that Bible truths apply to other people rather then ourselves.
It is blind and foolish to not personally answer Jesus' question: "how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?" Unfortunately, many people will answer like a self-righteous Pharisee: "I keep the commandments, better than most people, God is mistaken if He thinks I am a serpent."
The way to escape Hell is to depend on Jesus, not myself; to say "God, be merciful to me the sinner." -230