2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
Last Sunday, Pastor Kyle continued in our church’s sermon series through the Apostle Paul’s epistle of 1 Corinthians. Almost all of us have been in a “close call” situation in which we could have perished. The word “perish” in the 1828 Webster’s dictionary as: (1) To die; to lose life in any manner; applied to animals. Men perish by disease or decay, by the sword, by drowning, by hunger or famine, etc. Many times, the actions needed to be taken to get us out of life-threatening circumstances (like a riptide) are counterintuitive, but the one thing to get us through. When people are in a life-threatening situation and feel like they are going to perish, they become frantic and panic. When panicking to save our lives, we will reach for anything that we feel might save us. But, we need to grab the “right” thing, and might go against your natural instinct, yet is exactly what we need … the “right” kind of crazy is wisdom.
John 3:16-19 “For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He gave His
[One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior]
shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him[as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already[that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the[One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him]. This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.”
In 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul talks about godly wisdom verses the wisdom of the world. He speaks of two groups of people in the world; (1) those who are perishing – they cannot stand nor embrace the things of God, the things of the Bible or the Gospel, and (2) those who are in the process of being saved – who believe and love the Lord, love the Bible, and embrace the Gospel in their lives. The 1828 Webster’s dictionary’s next definition of the word “perish” relates to the “natural” man’s sin nature state of being, during their life on earth, on this side of eternity: To die; to wither and decay; To waste away; To be in a state of decay or passing away. We are dying and dying until we are physically dead. If we really believe the Bible, then we know 100% that every single one of our friends, family, neighbors and acquaintances who are not yet believe and follow of Jesus Christ (the Savior of the world) is perish.
He Apostle Paul explains to Born-again Believers in Ephesians 2:1-5 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the [a]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
The 1828 Webster’s dictionary’s next definition of the word “perish” relates to spiritual death and eternal separation from God in Hell after physical death: To be destroyed; to come to nothing. To fail entirely or to be extirpated. To be burst or ruined;. To be wasted or rendered useless. To be injured or tormented. To be lost eternally; to be sentenced to endless misery. 1 John 5:12-13 tells us that, “He who has the Son [by accepting Him as Lord and Savior] has the life [that is eternal]; he who does not have the Son of God [by personal faith] does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God [which represents all that Jesus Christ is and does], so that you will know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that you [already] have eternal life.” Why? Romans 6:23 explains, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus Christ saves us from what? The just and deserved wrath of Almighty God against sin ... the Second death. Come Judgment Day, when we physically die, at the Great White Throne judgment before Jesus Christ Himself, the Apostle John tells us in Revelation 20:12, “I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” He continues on in Revelation 20:13-15, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” That is what it means to perish. Don’t take it lightly.
Psalm 1:1-6 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
Because of sin (the voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God; any voluntary transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command; a wicked act; iniquity, neglect of known duty, all evil thoughts purposes, words and desires, whatever is contrary to God's commands or law), people are in the process of perishing, but may look to God, in Jesus Christ as Savior, to save them from certain death (eternal). The commissioned mission of the Christian is to hand the lost sinner the lifeline of the counterintuitive Gospel of Salvation. It is only when we lose our sinful self-centered life that we can gain true life in Christ.
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on perishing in sin and salvation in Christ on the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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