Hebrews 12:14-15, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”
This vital phrase “holiness, without which no man shall see the
Lord”
from our text passage is commonly misunderstood and butchered. Evangelist
Ray Comfort gets it
wrong. Dr. Kent Hovind
gets it wrong! One's personal holiness has NOTHING to do with receiving
God's free gift of eternal life, as Ray Comfort says! Nor is this Scripture talking about having
God's imputed righteousness, as Kent Hovind says. Kindly, these men
interpret Hebrews 12:14 incorrectly!
Pastor John MacArthur also gets it wrong! MacArthur deceitfully claims that he believes in the eternal security of a believer, while at the same time teaching the error that only those who continue living holy lives will go to Heaven:
“Eternal security is a great spiritual truth, but it should never be presented merely as a matter of being once saved, always saved—with no regard for what you believe or do. The writer of Hebrews 12:14 states frankly that only those who continue living holy lives will enter the Lord's presence. [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Dr. John MacArthur, Kingdom Living Here and Now (pg. 150).
Mr. MacArthur horribly perverts Hebrews 12:14, by alleging that the author of Hebrews is teaching that a believer must continue in holy living in order to go to Heaven. What a big theological blunder! The Word of God is adamantly clear in Romans 4:5, “But to him that WORKETH NOT, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Salvation is without self-righteous works, and trying to live a holy life is a work.
Ray Comfort says Hebrews 12:14 means to live a holy life or else you're not saved. Kent Hovind says it means that we have God's imputed righteousness within us or else we're not saved. Although we are saved by God's imputed righteousness, Kent is wrong in his interpretation of Hebrews 12:14. The phrase, “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord,” has NOTHING to do with God's imputed righteousness.
So what does Hebrews 12:14 really mean? Verse 15 gives us the answer. Without holiness in the life of a believer, other people won't see the Lord, “lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” The Scriptures are teaching us that if we don't live a holy life in the Lord, people will go to Hell because of our poor testimony. That's what Hebrews 12:14 means!
Hebrews 12:14 is actually a quote from Deuteronomy 29:18, “Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood.” When a nation turns away from God it is headed for destruction and doom. When a believer lives in sin, it adversely affects others. This is why the United States is so messed up today in 2016. Our churches are in spiritual shambles. False Bible revisions have flooded into the churches. False teachings on repentance have flooded into the churches. The heresy of Zionism has flooded into the churches, leading them to support World War III (and consequently, a New World Order). We've tolerated evil for so long that it doesn't affect us anymore. Pastors hardly preach against abortion anymore, or anything else for that matter. Because all of these evils have been tolerated by the older generation, they have been embraced by the younger generation. The churches are no longer interested in seeking, defending and proclaiming the truth!
Hebrews 12:14-15, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” Ray Comfort, Kent Hovind and John MacArthur all interpret this passage of Scripture wrong. They all left off the first part of the Verse which says to, “Follow peace with all men.” Without this pursuit of peace, and living a holy life in Christ Jesus through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, other people won't see Jesus Christ exemplified in us and won't come to the Lord. Oh, what a tremendous responsibility we all have as Christian believers to win the lost. In other words—Our talk talks, and our walk talks, but our walk talks louder than out talk talks! Yes Sir, you know it!
May we as believers not become a poisonous root to those around us by our poor testimony, thereby many be defiled.
