Few Will Be Saved, Fear, Faith, Love

I was thinking about the post yesterday regarding Matt 7:13-14:

Matt 7:13“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

For those who say you can't determine meanings from one piece of scripture, I would agree which is why yesterday we discussed only 2 out of all Israel who left Egypt went into the promised land, Israel over and over wiped out by the Lord and only a remnant saved, Matt 7:13-14 and the related texts in Mark, Luke and John, as well as the place we quoted in Rev 3 saying that out of an entire geographic church (Sardis) only a few were found worthy. The theme is as consistent as it is solid in the Bible.

But that ^^ is not what this writer needs to convey today. I believe the Lord spoke to me today (again) about this issue. What came across to me is that people willfully turn away from the truths in the Word of God that they don't like for a number of reasons. People choose to not love the whole truth in favor of a partial truth that is no truth at all. These are the people spoken about here:

2 Thessalonians 2:10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those ... ... He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction,
because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them.

People say "well that piece of scripture would give me a "spirit of fear" if I really thought on it, so it cant be the truth." To that I would say, no, it does not give you a spirit of fear, God's Word never gives a spirit of fear. Its not what they have (a spirit of fear) that causes their fear, its what they do not have (a spirit of love) that causes the fear. The lack of love is what causes people to shy away from the whole counsel of God. These people would not be afraid of the full counsel of God if their love was made perfect. How can we say that?:

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out ... There is no fear in love. ... Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves
punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love.

When our love is what it should be, we no longer need buffet style babylonian churchianity, we can embrace true christianity, which is all about love. Yes, there will be judgement, and wrath and all kinds of other things that proceed from our loving God in the future, because He is not a one dimensional God as so many today would paint him. For us though, who are "in Christ," we should have the fear of God. The fear of God is not like the fear in the world. We have a healthy awe and respect for our God because He is awesome.

Another companion of our love, is our faith. We love and believe and these things enable us to embrace the full counsel of God, which is by definition the truth. And it is the truth that 1. sets us free, and 2. saves us:

John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

2 Thessalonians 2:10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those ... ... They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

From the things we see here today, we understand that there are some harsh truths in the bible, like few will be saved, but these truths which are hard for the unbelievers, the backslidden and the apostate, are not hard for us who love and believe "in Christ."

We must embrace the whole counsel of God, the full truth so we can be free and be saved. These thoughts were on my mind today. Blessed be the name of the Lord, AMEN.

grace, peace, truth and love~brother d