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TITLE: Do you have worms?
TEXT: Mark 9:42-48
PROPOSITION:
QUESTION: How?
KEY WORD: Punishments
READING: Same

INTRODUCTION:
  1. Jesus uses an unusual phrase here.
  2. “Their” worm dies not; “The” fire is not quenched.
  3. Note this chart.

Their Worm The Fire
Internal External
Personal Universal
Conscience hurts
Spirit, mind, soul
Body hurts


OFFEND
Offend = cause to sin, cause to stumble, the cause of the fall, to entrap, snare
“Scandalidzo” - The plate where the bait goes and holds the trap open
The idea is - entice them to the bait, the plate moves and springs the trap
DON'T DO ANYTHING THAT WOULD ENTICE A BROTHER TO SIN.
Don't offend little one - better for millstone around neck thrown in the sea
Hand offend - cut it off
Foot offend - cut it off
Eye offend - pluck it out
Romans 14:21 - Don't eat or drink to cause a brother to stumble
1 Corinthians 8:13 - I will eat no flesh while the world stands

THEIR WORMS
The punishment most painful is on the inside
  1. Guilty conscience, angry spirit, hateful soul, lustful mind
  2. Ability to remember mistakes, sins
  3. Rich man (Luke 16) told, “Son, remember.”
Degrees of Punishment = understanding, willful rejection, guilty conscience
  1. Some punishment is external - jail, take a way a privilege, time out, etc.
  2. Some punishment is internal - memory, conscience, guilty
Worms are parasites that live inside, do harm, destroy, and cause pain and injury.
  1. Psalm 68:21 - God wounds the head of one who walks in his guilt
  2. 1 Timothy 5:12 - having guilt because they cast off their faith
  3. Psalm 32:1-5 - Description of a guilty conscience

DO NOT DIE
These worms (guilty feelings) do not stop, wear out, slow down, and diminish
Only God can cleanse the conscience - Hebrews 9:13-14
Baptism can cleanse the conscience - 1 Peter 3:21


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