I met a man the other day who did not believe that when the wicked die, they go immediately to hell. I quoted for him Luke 16:23, “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”
I offer two verses today, the first being Proverbs 9:9, “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” And the second, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Prov. 1:7)
Now, I do not call this man a fool, for I believe him to be saved, what I do question are those, who when the truths of the Word of God are offered, refuse to accept them as truth.
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” (2nd Peter 1:20) I could have offered to this man as well, “For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.” (Isaiah 38:18) and several other verses as well.
It is not the foo,l the one who lives their life as if there were no God, that I have difficulty with, it is those who profess to know Christ, and actually may, but will not accept truth when it is offered.
To grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord my friends is to test the Spirits, to be corrected and accept the correction when we are proven wrong, when what we believe, and may have for quite some time, is shown to be incorrect.
In one sense the weaker brother comes to mind here, what he does not see as truth causes him to believe that what is not sin is, but in the eyes of the Lord, and according to His Word, it is not. As they used to say many decades ago, a Spirit of deception has blinded them, at least in that point in their life.
The wisdom that comes from the Lord comes with Spiritual discernment, with the ability to discern between good and evil, and possibly above all, truth. And the one who has been blessed in such a way can, and many times does, become quite adamant about the truth.
One cannot serve the Living God as one should unless one has had the truth revealed to them, and if one does not accept correction when they are in error, their profitableness to the Kingdom of the Most High will be hindered. It matters not what the topic is, if it is of a Spiritual nature, it must be expounded upon in truth, how it is accepted though is not your concern, depending of course on if the one you are speaking to is saved or lost.
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5)
No one who has not been born-again has this wisdom, no one who has been born-again is immediately filled with wisdom, but there are many who are indeed are our brothers and sisters in Christ who will refuse wisdom and knowledge, even when the Scriptures on whatever topic arises reveals the error of their way of interpreting the Word of God.
Part of it may be that whatever the subject is, it may have imbedded itself so deep into their mind that they are unable to accept the truth. Works-based religious organizations are very adept at this form of brainwashing. But I believe that much of it rests in pride. We want to be right; we do not want to be corrected.
I ask only one thing in this short letter to you, accept correction, if after you have searched the Scriptures for yourself, done in-depth and diligent research on the topic and found you have been incorrect all along, accept the fact that you were wrong.
Then continue in Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”