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There is an argument that is used to defend the idea that once you have been born again, there is no way you will go to Hell. The reasoning goes something like this: Once you are born again you have become a child of God and there is no way for you to stop being a child of His. (The question is then asked.) Would you as a human being send your own child to Hell if they were rebellious? (The expected answer is: No.) (Next question.) If you then, who are nowhere near as loving as God, would not send your child to Hell, do you think that God, who is Love, would send one of His children to Hell? (Expected answer: No.) Funny how we like to use human reasoning to contradict what the Word of God teaches. Here is how the Bible says human parents should deal with a rebellious child who will not repent of their sin:

“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear” (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).

If God commands His people to judge their rebellious children, stoning them to death if they don’t repent. Why, then, do we think it strange that a holy God would judge His rebellious children who won’t repent by sending them to Hell? Does God hold His people to a higher standard than He Himself keeps?

Nowadays, if we have a child or brother or sister in the Lord who lives like the child above, we would call them a carnal Christian, and let them believe that without repentance, when they die, they will go to Heaven. Don’t we have a responsibility to God and to them to warn them of their true destiny if they do not repent of their carnality and sin?

“So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul” (Ezekiel 33:7-9). 

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus tells John to write and warn the saints in the seven churches to repent and overcome their sin and carnality before He returns for His church, so that they would not be left behind in the judgment that was coming. Most Christians I talk to believe that we are now living in the Last Days and that Christ’s return is imminent. If that is so, shouldn’t we be warning the sinning saints to repent?

In the example we just looked at in Deuteronomy, the parents chastened the one they loved, trying to get them to repent before they had to judge them to death. Our God does not want any of His children to be lost, which is why He is so patient, warning us and dealing with us to try to get us to repent. But He is a fair and just Judge and He will judge each one according to their deeds. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

A large part of what the Lord has inspired me to write in the last section of this book seems to be directed to His prodigal children who He is reaching out to in His love and mercy, for He desires that none would perish, but that all would come to repentance.

Maybe you are one of those, who although you have not left the Father’s house, the church, yet, you have left your first love. You are living in sin and carnality. If so, He is calling you to repent and return home to Him; He is waiting for you with open arms!

Before I went to China at the end of 2019, I used to teach the Lord’s Prayer a bit differently. As I expounded on Matthew 6:9, I would teach on “our Father in Heaven,” then skip over “Hallowed is Your name,” and go on to Matthew 6:10. But something happened that changed all that.

I was in China visiting my son-in-law who is a missionary there, when he asked me if I wanted a book back that I had given him a few years before. I was happy to take the book back as it is one of my favorite books: Studies in The Sermon on The Mount, authored by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

On our way back to Niagara Falls from China, we stopped in Tucson to spend Christmas with our kids and friends. We went out to lunch one day with a couple who are friends of ours, and I was sharing with them my thoughts on the Lord’s Prayer. When I finished the husband said, “Yes, and the fear of the Lord. God has really been impressing on me the importance of the fear of the Lord.”

“Okay,” I said, not wanting to argue, but not really seeing how the fear of the Lord was brought out in the Lord’s Prayer.

When I got back to NF and began working on this book, I thought I would look in Mr. Lloyd-Jones’ book on the Sermon on the Mount and see what he had to say about the Lord’s Prayer. When he got to the point in Matthew 6:9 that reads, “Hallowed be Your name,” he explains that this refers to God’s holiness, justice, and absolute righteousness; and our need to worship, honor, and glorify Him.

He referenced Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” and Hebrews 12:28-29, which says we are to approach Him with “reverence and godly fear; for our God is a consuming fire.” He makes the point, and I concur, that “we are coming into the presence of our loving Father, but we must do so realizing who He is.”

God is our loving Father, in fact God is love, and we love Him because He first loves us. But God is also holy, and we must revere His holiness, justice, and righteousness because for the sake of these He must judge sin. He did first in the Lord Jesus Christ which is how we are justified, but if we continue living in willful sin after we have been forgiven then He will certainly judge our sin in us. Jesus, who exhorted us to address God as our Father in the Lord’s prayer also exhorted us to, “Fear Him” in Luke 12:5. He is our loving Father, but He is also the righteous Judge of the whole earth, and we must acknowledge Him as both.

So, God used my friend, Mr. Lloyd-Jones and the Bible to show me that the fear of the Lord is indeed a part of the Lord’s Prayer and that it is something He wants us to be conscious of each day. It is an important part of a healthy Christian life.

By Smith Wigglesworth

Many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. —2 John 7

Scripture reading: 1 John 2

When I was in Sydney, they said, ―Whatever you do, you

must see this place that they built for the man, the new

man who is coming.‖

Theosophy, which is based on theories of reincarnation and

other falsities, has a new man. Nothing but Theosophy could have

a new man. The foundation of this Theosophy has always been cor-

ruptible. The formation of Theosophy was connected to one of the

greatest atheists of the day. Theosophy sprang out of atheism.

The Man of Sin, as he comes forth, will do many things. There

will be many false christs, and they will be manifestations of the

forthcoming of the Man of Sin, but they will all come to an end.

The Man of Sin will be revealed.

These people are determined to have a man. They know some-

one has to come. We Christians know who He is who is coming to

us. But these people begin to make a man in this manner: they find

a man in India, they polish him up as much as they can; they dress

him up, but we are told by the Lord that soft clothing can go onto

wolves‘ backs (Matt. 7:15).

We find that they are going to bring this man forth in great

style. When I went around the amphitheater in Sydney that was

made for this man to come, I saw as clearly as anything it was the

preparation for the Man of Sin. But they do not believe that.

What will make you to know it is the Man of Sin? This: every

religious sect and creed that are in the world all join to it. There is

not a religion known that has not joined with it.

Why, that is exactly what the Devil wants. He wants all the

false religions joining together, and the Man of Sin will be received

with great applause when he comes.

Who will be saved? Who will know the day? Who now knows

the Man of Sin? We feel him when we touch him, when he opens

his mouth, when he writes in the newspaper, when we see his ac-

tions—we know who he is.

What has the Man of Sin always said? Why, exactly what Je-

hovah‘s Witnesses say. What? That there is no hell. The Devil has

always said that. What does Christian Science say? No hell, no De-

vil. They are ready for him. The Devil has always said no hell, no

evil. And these people are preparing, though they do not know it,

for the Man of Sin.

We have to see that these days have to come before the Lord

can come. There has to be a “falling away” (2 Thess. 2:3). There

has to be in this day a manifestation so clear, of such undeniable

fact. I tell you, when they begin to build temples for the Man of Sin

to come (though they don‘t know it), you know the Day is at hand.

A person said to me, ―You see, the Christian Scientists must

be right. Look at the beautiful buildings; look at all the people fol-

lowing them.‖ Yes, everybody can belong to it. You can go to any

brothel you like, you can go to any theater you like, you can go to

any race course you like, you can be mixed up with the rest of the

people in your life and still be a Christian Scientist. You can have

the Devil right and left and anywhere and still belong to Christian

Science.

When the Man of Sin comes, he will be hailed on all sides.

When he is manifested, who will miss him? Why, the reverent, the

holy, the separated will miss him. Why will they miss him? Because

they will not be here to greet him!

Thought for today: He who has been begotten in you is the very

God of power who will preserve you and bring forth light and truth

so that your vision will be clear.

By Smith Wigglesworth

As the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies,

kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one

another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint

against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

—Colossians 3:12–13

Scripture reading: Colossians 3:1–17

Take note of this: there is an elect of God. I know that God

has people who are the elect of God, and if you would ex-

amine yourself, you would be amazed to find that you are

one of them. People are tremendously afraid of this position be-

cause they have so often heard, ―Oh, you know you are the elect of

God! You are sure to be all right.‖ There have been great churches

in England that were founded upon these things. I thank God that

they have all withered. If you go to England, you will find that

those strong people who used to hold all these things are almost

withered out. Why? Because they went on to say that, if you were

elect, you were right in whatever you did. That is wrong.

The elect of God are those who are pressing forward. The elect

of God cannot hold still: they are always on the wing. Every person

who has a knowledge of the elect of God realizes it is important

that he press forward. He cannot endure sin or shady things. The

elect are so in earnest to be elect for God that they burn every

bridge behind them.

Know that first there will be a falling away (2 Thess. 2:3). God

will bring into His treasury the realities of the truth and put them

side by side: the false, the true; those that can be shaken, and those

that cannot be shaken.

Thought for today: God wants us to be built upon the foundation

of truth so that we cannot be shaken in our minds, no matter what

comes.

By Smith Wigglesworth

If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
—John 7:37

Scripture reading: John 7:37–8:12
Most of us have seen water baptism in action so often that
we know what it means. But I want you to see that God‘s
very great desire is for you to be covered with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He wants you to be so immersed with the
light and revelation of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, that your whole body will be not only filled but also covered over until you walk in the presence of the power of God.

Jesus saw all the people at the Feast of Tabernacles, and He not only had a great ability to scrutinize, to unfold the inward
thoughts and intents of the heart, but He also saw things at a
glance; He took in a situation in just a moment‘s time.
We must not forget that He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He
was lovely because He was full of the divine inflow of the life of
God. Look at how He dealt with this situation. He saw the people
who had been at Jerusalem at the feast, and they were coming back
dissatisfied. My Lord could never be satisfied when anybody was
dissatisfied.
Nowhere in Scripture is it recorded that you should be fa
mished, naked, full of discord, full of evil, full of disorder, full of
sensuality, or full of carnality. That was what was taking place at
the feast, and they came away hungrier than they were before. Je
sus saw them like that, and He said, ―„Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters‟ (Isa. 55:1). Come to Me, you who are thirsty,
and I will give you drink.‖
Oh, the Master could give! The Master had it to give. Beloved,
He is here to give, and I am sure He will give.
Yes, the heavy hand of God is full of mercy. The two-edged
sword is full of dividing. (See Hebrews 4:12.) His quickening Spirit
puts to death everything that needs to die so that He might trans
form you by the resurrection of His life.
Thought for today: The death of Christ brings forth the life of
Christ.