For God's sake do not trifle with us!
(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)
Mark 8:36, "What will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?"
When the Savior was on earth, He always taught upon vital matters. He never dealt with minutiae, but only with crucial facts. He had no time for trifles, but with essential truths. He never spoke of opinions or speculations, but of momentous verities.
Yet how many preachers week after week, discourse about trivialities of no importance! I have sometimes, when hearing sermons, wished that the preacher would come to the point, and would deal with serious matters that really concerned our soul's welfare.
What concern have dying men, with the thousand trivial opinions which are flitting around us? We have Heaven or Hell before us, and death within a stone's throw! For God's sake do not trifle with us, but tell us the truth at once!
"In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word! Be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage, with great patience and careful instruction." 2 Timothy 4:1-2
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil." 2 Corinthians 5:10
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Matthew 25:46
"We preach to people who must live forever . . .
in Heaven, or Hell;
with God, or devils;
in an eternity of joy, or of torment!"
Thomas Doolittle