Joh 5:28 "Do not
marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will
hear His voice 29 "and come forth--those who have done good, to the
resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of
condemnation.
All people will be
resurrected! Some will go on to live eternally in Paradise where everything is
good! (Note God’s declaration of this fact after every day of Creation, God
saw that it was good) others will suffer
eternally with a total absence of Good in hell.
So, who goes where?
Jesus tells us here that those who have done evil will go to hell. But what
does that mean? Well, it’s more than being a vile and wicked person. There are
other nuances to that word, “evil.” In
the Greek is also used to describe
someone who is “good for nothing, worthless, mediocre. Some of those words
ought to get our attention. They ought to get us out of our padded pews and
into the streets with the Gospel and the love of Christ! Get off your butts’
people!
Those words ought to
connect us with other vital areas of Scripture that speak of the “evil” of complacency.
For instance, in the parable of the talents, there were three servants or “believers.”
They were given various amounts of money. Two of the servants invest their
talents and earn a return for their master, the third servant buried his talent
and earns “nothing.” What was the third servant good for? Nothing! He was
guilty of being “evil!”
The master himself
called that servant a “wicked, lazy servant,” and in the end said, “Throw
that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. (what do you expect to find in the absence of
anything good?)
In Rev 3:15,16 we see
once again the penalty for mediocrity, “Re 3:15 "I know your works,
that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.
16 "So then, because you are lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”
It wasn’t just the
lukewarm “attitude” of the Laodiceans that was causing problems for them, it
was their lukewarm deeds….mediocrity!
In Mt 7:19 ,20, “Every tree that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "Therefore by their
fruits you will know them.
Thus, by their fruit (their
end product, what they did) will be easily recognized. The absence of fruit
speaks about the value of a tree. Remember what happened to that fig tree that
didn’t supply fruit to Jesus when He needed it? Mt 21:18 “Now in the
morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by
the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it,
"Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree
withered away.”
Seems harsh, but it’s a
reality that many in the church duck! That withered fig tree is a forever
reminder of James 2:17, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is
dead.” Faith, without works is “good
for nothing. It is wicked, evil, and will be condemned.
Faith is not just “feel
good,” it is also do good!
