In Luke 23:39-43, we have two criminals one of whom dreads death for he dreads what God will do to him once he has died as he does not accept that God could love him and this reviles Jesus for not acting to save them in this life. In contrast the other offers compassion to the innocent Jesus for having to suffer the same sentence the two criminals have justly earned. By accepting the love of God despite his grave sins, he thereby gains the kingdom of Heaven.
Are you trying to win the idiot of the week award?!
Luke 23:39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.[d]”
The one who did NOT fear God rejected Jesus. The one who did fear God accepted Jesus.
You look at the words and fail to understand.
We are all under the sentence of death. Some people demand that God save them from it and refuse to accept He who does not do as they command is God. The Old Testament is replete with examples of the Hebrews falling away from God when He fails to do as humans command. In their vanity, they turned to what they thought were gods they could command. But God is not ours to command, whether by the ancient Hebrews, a criminal on a cross, or by a modern day preacher making the invocation before a NASCAR race. The point that is being made here is not that the criminal who reviled Jesus did not fear God, tho that may have been the case. Rather it is that he rejected that Jesus was God because Jesus did not do either as the man wanted, or as he expected that God would act. He had no comprehension of God's love either for mankind in general or for himself.
Perhaps fear is the appropriate English word, but if so, it is not fear in the sense of abject terror that is the usual meaning in modern English, but rather fear in the sense of a realization that there is something powerful that has taken notice of us and is beyond our ability to control.
Ernest, you, J.J. and Derek think alike...and that is NOT a good thing. Any novice reader can see that the bible portrays the "fear of God" as a attribute possessed by the righteous, and, likewise, the LACK of the fear of God as a attribute of the unrighteous.
And to say that "fear" is not meant to convey being afraid of harm is really a joke attempting to drain the meaning from the word, an attempt that is addressed directly in the sermon posted on this thread.
Acts 7:32 "‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses
trembled with fear and did not dare to look."
Hebrews 12:21 "The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, 'I am
trembling with fear.'"
Phil 2:12 "continue to work out your salvation with
fear and trembling"
Sounds like the bible meant to protray fear and trembling together...And it seems we have good reason to fear and tremble, because:
Heb 12:25 "See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?"
If everlasting fire is not to be feared, then nothing is to be feared and therefore fear has no meaning at all. But fear is healthy even in regard to temporary things: I go to work because I fear I won't be able to feed my family without money, I study for a test because I fear not making the grade, I don't flirt with a married man's wife because I fear he will kill me, I don't rob a bank because I fear of going to prison, etc, etc, etc...
God has been gracious enough to warn us of a coming judgment that will overtake even us if we refuse God and turn away from him; therefore, out of fear of being overtaken by God's coming judgment, we seek the safety God has provided, and out of a continued fear we remain within the safety zone.
Thank you, Derek, for your time.
