I'll Be Honest

Did you hear that? In one stroke, that just wiped out everything that we just read. We just read over, and over, "if you eat that you will be unclean, you will be defiled, don't defile yourself." Listen to what He said, "there is nothing outside the man, which going into him, can defile him." Incredible statement. And I don't think the disciples had a clue, until years later, of what He had said.

Continuing in Jesus' teachings regarding the reality of hell and eternal punishment.

It is a very wonderful and kind thing of the Lord, that He would give us the most compassionate and loving Person in the world, to tell us the most about hell, and that's what we have in the Gospel accounts. Jesus taught that hell is a reality that ought to affect our present lives profoundly.

We tend to think about people searing their conscience when they go into sins: like lust, drunkenness and so on. However, in 1 Timothy 4 Paul's concern is with them searing their conscience through legalism. People were forbidding marriage and eating of certain foods, and in doing so were searing their consciences. When you get a zeal for the Lord it is very easy for Satan to high jack that with a “do not taste, do not touch” mentality. Do you have a good or seared conscience? Are your convictions based upon what the Scripture teaches?

Ryan Fullerton pastors in Louisville, Kentucky at http://www.ibclouisville.org/

"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself." John 12:32

The most extreme teachings of Jesus were the teachings about Himself. Yes the kingdom of heaven was at hand, but why? Because the King was present, He had come on the scene. The most radical things that Jesus ever said, He said about Himself. The teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ about Himself are so radical and so extreme that we cannot just be neutral towards Him. We either have to mock Him and spit on Him or we have to bow down and worship Him. We can't just say He was a great teacher and nothing more, He didn't leave us that option.

"Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.' And Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you..., because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.'" Matthew 16:16-17

"I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Luke 13:5

The teachings of Jesus regarding his concern for each person. "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Luke 15:10

The teachings of Jesus regarding the Fatherhood of God and the wonderful implications of this for the believer.

"From that time Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Matthew 4:17 Part 2 of "Teachings of Jesus"