TO KNOWINGLY DISBELIEVE (Mark 12:13-27)

The criminal justice system in our country makes a distinction between those who commit crimes either ignorantly or accidentally, and those who commit crimes knowingly, willfully, and with malicious intent.  This distinction has been playing out in our media for the last several weeks.  However, the justice system has a special dislike of those who commit crimes knowingly, willfully, and with malicious intent. 

This same principle works in the spiritual realm as well.  The Bible is clear that there are degrees of punishment in Hell, as well as levels of reward in heaven.  There is no doubt in my mind that a person like Stalin, or Hitler, or Charles Manson, or a person who would intentionally harm a child, has a special place in the hottest, loneliest, darkest, and most pain filled place in Hell reserved for them.  It is a place that they will spend the eons of eternity being tormented in.

But imagine the penalty that will be imposed by God on those who have willfully, knowingly, and maliciously rejected Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the sacrifice that He made on the cross for the sins that they have committed. 

These people have heard and rejected the gospel message of Jesus Christ on the TV, the radio, in books and magazines, and the personal testimonies of family and friends who told them how a gracious God has sent His only Begotten Son, so that they may have eternal life.  They have then compounded this sin by convincing others to reject Christ, or even persecuting those that are Christians.  They have made this choice knowingly, willfully, and maliciously.

Listen to this podcast to hear how Jesus Christ exposes the willful ignorance of those that would reject the Word of God and the great Biblical truth of the resurrection of the dead.