Saturday, July 19, 2008
WHAT IS HEAVEN?
What is heaven?
In this article we are going to give the biblical answer to that important question.
Those who are familiar with Old Testament Scriptures will remember the story of the visit of the queen of Sheba with Solomon. The queen of Sheba had heard of Solomon's greatness and glory and wisdom. Her subjects had tried to give her an idea of what it was like. They spoke vividly and strongly of Solomon's glory. But she simply could not believe it. So we read, in 1 Kings 10, that she determined to go see for herself. When she came, she listened to the wisdom of Solomon, who told her all that was in her heart. She asked him many different questions and she saw all of his glory, his apparel, and all the things attending his kingdom. And beholding all the glory of king Solomon, she exclaimed, "The half was not told me." That will be the experience of those who go to heaven. The half of what heaven is cannot be told to you.
What is heaven?
What is it like?
What will we do there?
What will it be like to stand before God and behold His glory and listen as He answers all the questions of our heart and tells us all that is in our heart?
You must live a holy life in true faith and repentance and go and see for yourself. Heaven is far beyond our ability to comprehend now. It is exalted in glory. All of heaven radiates with the holiness and goodness of God. There is no sin, no sorrow, there. There is the enjoyment of everlasting and perfect peace, joy, and praise.
Yet today, belonging to Jesus Christ by a gift of God, we know that in death we shall be there to praise and to glorify God forever.
God's Word tells us that this life is only preparatory for the life which is to come, either eternal life or eternal death, either heaven or hell. The Word of God is very plain. Death is not the end. After death we must stand before God. And there we shall receive our eternal reward, whether that be heaven or hell. There is heaven and there is hell. And all men, women, young people, and children go either, by the grace and love of God, to be with Jesus Christ, or, in the way of unbelief and unrepentant sin, to the lake of fire. In death the body, as we read in Ecclesiastes 12:7, returns to the dust from whence it was taken, and the spirit to God who gave it. This life, then, is only temporary. This life is only preparatory for the life, the eternal life, that is to come. Your soul will, and your soul must, exist after death. And it shall exist either in the torments of hell or in the bliss of heaven. To go to heaven is possible only by grace, through faith, in a life of repentance and trust and service to Jesus Christ.
You see, there is no in between. And there are no exceptions. You and I will not simply cease to be in death. It is not so that in death a person is reincarnated or that, perhaps, at death a person goes to a place of suffering and after that suffering is over he goes into another place. It is not so that at death we simply go on to the next level or go to some distant planet in the universe. That is all folly. That is all superstition. The Word of God declares in Hebrews 9:27, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
You must know where you are going. That is possible by the grace of God, by faith in His Word, the Bible, by faith in Jesus Christ, the gift of God. Heaven is given to those who, by God's love, love God, and His Son Jesus Christ, to those who already begin the life of heaven now, having the life of the risen and exalted Jesus Christ in their hearts and belonging to Him.
We are going to lift up our hearts and minds to contemplate heaven, the most majestic and sacred truth that could ever enter our minds.
We read in Lamentations 3:41, "Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens." To lift up one's heart is an act of worship. It is to spread forth one's hands abroad to God in the heavens, to heaven where God is known. If you read Lamentations 3 you will find that the prophet Jeremiah is exhorting those who are lowly and humbled under their sin and those who have undergone a divine inspection in their heart and whose ways who have been examined by God. He is speaking to them to lift up their hearts unto heaven where God is. The prophet is encouraging those who are awakened by the grace of God out of the deadness of sin; those who, by the grace of God, consider their never-dying souls; those who are conscious of their sins and yet, with uplifted hearts, turn toward God who dwells in heaven.
We shall then consider heaven as the wonderful reality taught to us in the Bible.
Let us answer the question today:
What is heaven?
Perhaps, before we answer the question, what is heaven, we need to ask another question.
Where is heaven?
In answer to that, the Bible tells us that heaven is spiritual. Heaven is real. Only it is in a different realm than that of the earth. We read in the Bible of the heavenly realm and of the earthly realm. The earthly realm is the realm of the physical, the material, the visible to our eyes, the realm that we can see, touch, smell, hear, and taste. And the Bible tells us that it is this realm of the earthly that is corruptible, that is, under the curse of sin and death due to the sin of man.
Heaven, on the other hand, is spiritual. It is heavenly. We cannot see it with these eyes. We cannot hear it with our present ears. We cannot feel it with our hands. We cannot taste or smell it. Heaven is not made of anything of this earth. Paul told the Greek philosophers in Acts 17:24, "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands." Paul there is standing before the Greek philosophers on Mars' Hill. The Greeks had made houses of stone for their gods. And they would give their gods various gifts: fruits and meat to eat. Perhaps the ancient idolaters would even provide their idol gods with swords and canoes and all sorts of equipment for the after-life. They conceived of the realm of the gods in terms of this earthly life. And Paul says, That is not the case; it is folly. Heaven is spiritual. Heaven is the place created by the eternal and the living God. It is the place where the angels live. It is the place, as we read in Hebrews, where the spirits of just men made perfect now dwell. It is a sanctuary, it is glorious, it is high, and it is fair.
The difference between the heavenly and the earthly, the Bible tells us, is in terms of glory. Heaven is exalted. Heaven is high and lifted up - not in the physical sense, not that it is higher in altitude. But it is high, lifted up, in majesty, lifted up in the glory of God, lifted up in the holiness of God. We read in Psalm 113:5, "Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high?" High in majesty.
We read again, "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place" (Isaiah 57:15).
And again, in Isaiah 63:15, we read, "Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory." Heaven is the place of God's holiness and glory. Heaven is pure, holy, glorious. God must give you new eyes before you can see it.
There is another truth here - the difference between heaven that now is and the heaven that shall be. There is a heaven right now where the saints are in their glorified souls. And there is also the final heaven, or what the Bible calls the new heaven and the new earth, where we shall be not only with our glorified souls but also with glorified bodies. The heaven that now is, the Bible says, shall be changed when Christ comes to make the new heaven and the new earth, when Christ comes at the end of the world, when He comes to judge all men and to destroy this world of sin, and to create out of it the final heaven and the final earth. We read, Isaiah 65:17, "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind."
Again, in Matthew 24, the Lord said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."
Heaven, right now, is where God, the angels, and all the glorified saints exist. And, although it is glorious, that heaven is not the final state that God has in mind. The saints who are now there are not in their glorified bodies. That heaven will pass away. It will be completed when Christ returns to make all things new, to create out of this earth and out of heaven the new Jerusalem. You may read of that in Revelation 21.
Now, let us go to our question:
What is heaven?
Everywhere the Bible answers: Heaven is God's dwelling place. It is the place where we shall have perfect fellowship with the living and true God. That truth is like a golden thread running throughout all of the Scriptures. Repeatedly we are told that heaven is exactly this: It is God's dwelling. It is where God's presence is fully revealed and God's presence is fully enjoyed, at least as much as a creature can ever enjoy the blessed fellowship of the living God.
The Bible uses these terms to describe heaven: Thy holy habitation, Thy dwelling place, His holy dwelling, the height of His sanctuary. It speaks of God who dwells in the heavens. Heaven is the dwelling place of God, where the intimate life of God and life with God is to be enjoyed. The word "dwell" is such a rich word, you know. It means much more than simply to live. When you say that this is where I dwell, you are not saying simply that that is where you are. But the word "dwell" conveys the idea of fellowship. Where you dwell is where you reveal who you are. You open up. You show your love, you share the intimate parts of your life. So, heaven is God's dwelling, the place where the presence and fellowship, the love and grace of God are made known. That is what makes heaven heaven. That is all the glory of heaven, the things that we cannot imagine. The Bible speaks to us of His throne and of gates of pearl and streets of gold and the tree of life, and of the light that shall be there - all of those things exist to reflect the glory of God's own presence.
That is really why the Bible does not tell us much about heaven. Not only because right now it is beyond our ability to comprehend, but also because God wants us to understand that heaven, as to its very heart, is God's dwelling. There is one central thing that makes heaven so blessed, so majestic, so awful in its splendor. That one thing is this: we shall see God. Blessed, we read, are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. That is, they shall be brought as close as a creature made of God can be brought to know and to love and to adore God. We shall all know the Lord, Hebrews 8. We shall stand before Him. 1 Corinthians 13:11 tells us that now we see through a glass darkly. We catch a glimpse, we catch an outline of all that God has revealed about heaven to us, of the love of God, and all the wonders of belonging to Him perfectly and living with Him fully. And when we think of it, tears come to our eyes, especially when we see our unworthy selves.
But, in heaven, the full light of God's love and grace will flood our souls. The full impact of His blessedness will overwhelm us. And we will sing, "My God, how wonderful Thou art; Thy majesty how bright. How beautiful Thy mercy seat in depths of burning light."
That surely means that if you do not love God now and do not know what it is to walk with Him now, and if it does not thrill your heart to be with Him now, heaven can mean nothing to you. For those whose hearts are not changed, changed to bow before the living Word of God in faith and obedience, heaven has no attraction. Heaven has an attraction only when we are changed, to humble ourselves before God in repentance; only when, by the grace of God, we are taught to obey God, to trust God, to live unto God and for God and to worship God. If that has not happened to you, you do not want to go to heaven. Heaven would be torment, hell to you.
You see, death does not change anything. The great change of a person is not death. The great change of which the Bible speaks is called "regeneration" - what Jesus called being "born again" by the Spirit of God. That is when heaven begins. I say heaven begins at regeneration because when we are born again Christ gives to us eternal life, life that shall never die. Jesus said ( John 11), He that believeth in Me shall never die. The true change, the beginning of heavenly life, is when that life of Christ is placed in our hearts by a wonder of God's Spirit and grace. Heaven shall be the perfection of that. You see, that is why I said that the true change is not in death. Death simply confirms things. Death makes permanent, death makes perfect that which is already begun in this life. Heaven consists, then, of the uninterrupted and full and rich fellowship with the living God. We shall stand before His throne. We shall cast our crowns of salvation before Him. We shall cry out, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty."
We shall take the words of the psalmist and say, "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them." That is heaven. It is the dwelling of God.
Let us conclude our message today by putting this question before ourselves:
What, then, holds sway in our heart?
Does God?
Does His Word?
Does fellowship with God?
Is that the only thing that matters to us?
Is that the root and the heart of our life, to have fellowship with Him, and to have fellowship with Him in His holy Word?
What captures our mind at its roots?
The earthly things, good times, pride, honor, possessions?
Or God?
For those who love the Lord God through Jesus Christ, heaven will be the perfection of what God has already given them. Now God has given to us, as sinners, that eternal life in Jesus Christ which consists, Jesus said, in knowing God (John 17:3). Then, in heaven, we shall have that life perfected.
Is that what you want, the perfection of what God has already planted in your heart?
Then you will yearn for heaven, the time when you shall have perfect fellowship with Him forever. All sorrow and all sighing and all our sin will be forever gone. And we shall stand in the light of His blessed presence.
By Carl Haak
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT GOD?
God Is One - Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:4
God Is Light - 1 John 1:5
God Is Love - 1 John 4:8-16
God Is the Creator - Isaiah 40:12-26
God Is Infinite - Jeremiah 23:24; Psalm 147:5;
God Is Truth -Psalm 117:2; Jeremiah 10:10
God Is Everywhere - Psalm 139:7-12
God Is All Knowing - 1 John 3:20
God Is All Powerful - Jeremiah 32:17-27
God Is Perfect - 1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 139
God Is Invisible - 1 Timothy 1:17
God is Unequaled - Isaiah 40:13-25
God Is A Most Pure Spirit - John 4:24
God Does Not Change - Numbers 23:19; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17
God Is Without Limit - 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23-24
God Is Eternal - Psalm 90:2; 1 Timothy 1:17
God Is Incomprehensible - Romans 11:33; Psalm 145:3
God Is The Almighty One - Revelation 1:8, Revelation 4:8
God Is Most Wise - Romans 16:27; Jude 25
God Is Most Holy - Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8
God Is Most Free - Psalm 115:3
God Is Gracious - Exodus 33:19; 1 Peter 2:3
God Works According To The Counsel Of His Own Will - Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:28
God Receives Glory - Romans 8:36; Revelation 4:11
God Is Merciful - Exodus 34:6; Psalm 67:1; James 5:11
God Hates Sin - Psalm 5:5-6; Habakkuk 1:13
God Abounds In Goodness - Psalm 31:19; Psalm 52:1; Romans 11:22
God Is Forgiving - Daniel 9:9; Ephesians 1:7; Psalm 86:5
God Rewards Those Who Diligently Seek Him - Hebrews 11:6
God Hates False Religion - Deuteronomy 12; Deuteronomy 7:2, 25; Deuteronomy 18:9-12
God Is Just In All His Judgments - Nehemiah 9:32-33; 2 Thessalonians 1:6
God Is Long-suffering - Psalm 86:15; 2 Peter 3:15
God Hates Certain People - Psalm 5:4-6; Psalm 11:5; Romans 9:11-13; Malachi 1:3
God Loves His Elect - Ephesians 1:2-8; Ephesians 2:4-9; Revelation 1:5, Revelation 21:3-4
God Is A Shepherd - Genesis 49:24; John 10:11
God Hates A Lying Tongue - Proverbs 6:16-17
Sunday, July 06, 2008
HOW CAN ONE BE SURE THAT HE HAS BEEN BORN AGAIN?
How can one be sure that he is born again and a child of God?
That is an important question. The Scriptures call every believer to take that question seriously and to ask it. Read 2 Peter 1:10. There we are admonished to make our calling and election sure. In 2 Corinthians 13:4, 5 we read that we are to prove our own selves. We are to look for the evidences of the grace of God within our souls.
Now, how are we sure that we are born again?
We must especially be delivered from all deception and all false security in this sense. We must have a genuine confidence and assurance that we are children of God, born of the grace of God, born not, as we read in John 1, of the will of man, but of the will of God.
Now, how do we know that?
How do we know that we are truly born of God?
The work of God always leaves marks. That is true in human life. A skillful work leaves the print and the mark of the author. So also the work of being born again leaves with us certain marks (certain fruits, the Bible says, certain evidences) that God has indeed worked in our hearts.
What are those evidences?
I believe there are especially three. If you want to see all three of them in two verses, turn to Romans 7:24-25, where the apostle says, "O wretched man that I am! (there is the first mark: the knowledge of sin) who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (There is the second mark: a desire and need for deliverance.) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord (there is the third mark: a thankfulness to God for salvation).
These are the three marks or evidences of regeneration, that is, three ways whereby we know that the Spirit of God has worked His true work in our hearts and has united us to our Savior.
The first. There will be in us a sorrow for sin. That sorrow for sin is not simply a knowledge of what sin is. And it is not simply an ability to spot sin in others.
Sorrow for sin is a knowledge of sin according to which one sees that the biggest letter in the word sin is the middle one.
Do you know how to spell sin?
Some people spell the word sin s-u-n. That spells sun, the sun in the sky. S-u (over there)-n. But that is not the way the child of God spells sin. He spells it: s-I-n. So, first of all, the Holy Spirit works in us a knowledge of our own sin - not simply a conception of sin generally, but a knowledge of my own personal sin - and that knowledge of my own personal sin as I have sinned before the living God, that God revealed in the Scriptures.
Let me read some Scripture to you. This is characteristic of every child of God. Isaiah 6:5. Listen to Isaiah, when he was given to see the vision of God in His glory: "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
Isaiah was truly brought to see God.
What was the evidence of that?
The evidence of it was that he saw himself mirrored over against God as a sinner. We read in Luke 5:8, "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
In Psalm 51:3-4, David says, "I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest."
So the first mark of a true work of God's grace in our hearts, of being born again, is the knowledge of sin and a sorrow for that sin as committed against God. It is a sorrow which brings (2 Corinthians 7:10) repentance, a turning, an abhorring, a desire to be delivered from those sins that formerly seemed not so great, but now as we see them in the light of God are horrendously large.
There is another evidence. And that evidence is this: there is not only a knowledge of sin, but a knowledge that it is Jesus Christ who alone can take away and deliver me from my sins. It is a knowledge (now listen carefully) that it is only Jesus in His work upon the cross that can remove my sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For he (God) hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Not our own works. Not our own will. None of these atoned or washed away sin. No, the knowledge of a regenerated believer is that Christ has removed that sin in His one work upon Calvary's cross. Ephesians 1:7, "In whom (in Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of his grace."
Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
The third mark of regeneration is a desire to live a holy life. Knowing his sin, knowing his great deliverance in Jesus Christ, the believer, the regenerated child of God, wants to live a holy life. Philippians 3:13-14, "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
Paul says, I press on. I press on after that calling which is given to me in Jesus Christ, the calling to be conformed to Him in all of my thinking, all of my desiring, all of my longing. Paul there acknowledges that he has not apprehended this. He acknowledges that there still remains much sin in him. That is emphasized repeatedly in the Bible: Ephesians 4:22-24 and other passages. We have that old man of sin in us. But the believer now desires to put that off and to live unto his God with all praise and thanksgiving.
What are the marks of being born again?
Sorrow for sin before God. Trust and faith given of God that Jesus Christ alone makes us whole in the sight of God. And, number three, a desire to live the holy life.
Are these things, not perfectly, but are these things written upon your heart?
It is Holy Spirit who is the author of that writing. That is the work of regeneration.
By Carl Haak
WHO IS GOING TO HELL?
What an awful thing for a person to go to hell-to be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone and there to suffer eternally. There is no possible deliverance from the flames of hell (Revelation 14:11): "The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and they have no rest day nor night."
That is, no relief from the torment. Not like a night of pain when one cannot rest and yet finds rest in the morning. Not like thirty years of affliction. But forever, without any possible pause-eternal torment. To be in the company of the Devil and his angels, experiencing precisely what sin which is committed against God deserves.
Will God cast people into hell?
Yes. He has. He does. And He will.
The question is not whether or not you choose to believe in hell. That is not the question. The question is whether or not you believe in the Bible. For the Bible testifies that the Son of man (Matthew 13:42) "will gather all them which do iniquity and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Nor can you come to the Bible and select what you will believe out of it and what you will not. If you do not believe the Bible as one unity in all of its truth, you do not believe any truths of the Bible. You cannot believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and simply dismiss the truth of hell and those who go to hell.
It is from this punishment of eternal hell that Jesus Christ has delivered repentant believers given to Him of His Father. And it is standing by the grace of God alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone that we have perfect assurance over the flames of judgment and hell.
By nature we, or ourselves as Christians, would live with all men and women under the supposition that we really do not deserve the hand of God. We think that we are really good people-at least better than others. But the grace of Jesus Christ changes this and gives us to confess: "There, but for the grace of God, go I."
There are many who grit their teeth at the reality of hell. They will not believe that. They say, "How can that be?" These, says the Word of God, are willingly ignorant (2 Peter 3). They are blinded by the god of this world, they are blinded to their sin and to a holy God. There are others who try to modify the Scriptures. They say that all infants who die in infancy go to heaven, denying depravity, denying the need that each soul that goes to heaven must be born again with the spiritual resurrection life of Jesus Christ. And that life must also be implanted then in an infant according to God's power and Spirit. There are those who say there is a purgatory-that is, the place where a person goes to suffer for the deeds that he has not atoned for in this present life. When that suffering is done, he may go on to be with God. This is the imagination of man. There is nothing of this in God's Word. There are many who outrightly deny the truth of hell. Many churches no longer preach the gospel at all. Rather, they preach the word of self-improvement. Let us not mention hell. Let us not mention curse and sin and the judgment of God. Let us talk about self-worth and self-betterment and self-improvement.
"And my people love to have it so," says Jeremiah in his prophecy.
But the Bible, God's Word, is clear. Take it up and read.
If you do not repent and trust in Jesus Christ as seen in new obedience, you shall all likewise perish (Luke 13:5): "Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
Who are going to hell?
God's answer is the only one that counts. And the answer of the Word of God is: everyone who does not repent and sincerely trust in Jesus Christ as seen by new obedience. 2 Thessalonians 1:8, "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Jesus Christ is our only Savior. Not a savior, not an expression of a God somehow or some way. There is no way to heaven but through faith in Jesus Christ. I said "way to heaven." For the grounds on the basis of which one goes to heaven is the work of Jesus Christ. Christ gives Himself for the elect of God upon Calvary's tree to remove our guilt. But then Christ also works in those for whom He died, the elect of the Father, a saving faith whereby they believe in Christ and repent of their sins.
There are other things that the Bible reveals of those who will perish eternally. The Bible tells us that they are not written in the Lamb's Book of Life (Revelation 20:15): "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." The Bible speaks of God's eternal reprobation, of God's eternal determination of those who will be lost in hell, in the way of their sins. Romans 9 speaks of vessels prepared by the potter who are fitted for destruction. 1 Peter 2:8 speaks of those who stumble over Jesus Christ, who are disobedient, who are offended in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Peter adds these words, that they were appointed to do so. The Bible teaches that there was an eternal determination of God, what we call a sovereign decree of God, from the very beginning appointing certain men and women to eternal death and destruction.
Still more. The Bible says that those who worship the Beast and receive his mark upon their foreheads will be those who go to hell (Revelation 14:9-11): "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, … and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." And the Beast is explained to us in Revelation 13 as the antichristian kingdom, the kingdom of man which shall arise at the end of the world, inspired by Satan, who will deceive men to worship him, claiming to be God-to worship the Beast, to worship man, and to take his mark as identifying you as belonging to this world of rebellion and unbelief. All who take this mark shall end eternally in hell. They are those who mind earthly things and whose god is their belly (Philippians 3:17).
We know that. That is the Word of God. God's sovereign predestination, His eternal determination of who will be saved and who will be lost. His election and His reprobation. Romans 9:11: "That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.)" And verse 13: "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." We know that the elect, by grace, will reveal themselves as those who seek the things which are above and who will not worship the Beast, nor receive his mark. These things we know.
But we must also understand that those chosen and delivered from damnation through Jesus Christ will show, will manifest, will give evidence of that election in repentance and faith. The command of the gospel is: Repent and believe the gospel. Those who go to hell lack, are in hatred of, true repentance and saving faith. So we examine ourselves in the words of 1 John 4, that we might assure our hearts before Him: this is the gift of God; this is the gift of grace through the Holy Spirit, that you experience godly sorrow over your sin and a sincere trust in Jesus Christ.
Those who go to hell are those who repent not and those who believe not.
Before setting those two marks before you from the Word of God, the two marks of all who perish, I must bring out a truth of eternal damnation which reflects upon each one of those truths.
There are degrees of eternal punishment in hell. This is determined by one's proximity, or closeness, to the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. In respect to the duration of the punishment of hell, all shall be punished alike. Forever are the flames of hell. But as to the degree of the torment, not all will be punished alike. Those who have the least punishment in hell shall have enough. But some shall have a hotter place, a greater damnation. They shall be beaten with greater stripes. We read in Mark 12:40, "These shall receive greater damnation," referring to the hypocrisy of the Pharisees in their religious pride.
We read in Luke 12:47-48, "And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes."
The degree of punishment corresponds to the closeness in which a person stood to the light. Matthew 10:15: "Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city." That passage is very striking. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by God for their gross violation of God's law, for homosexuality, for sexual uncleanness, for violation of God's purity and holiness. Yet, the measure of accountability, the degree of punishment before God, is determined by the light of revealed truth in which a person stood. Sodom and Gomorrah will be punished in the day of judgment; but it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for those cities, than for the city which has heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the city in which Christ has stood by proclaiming His Word of faith and repentance in Him as the only Savior, the city which nevertheless rejects that light of Christ. It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, punished for their homosexuality, than for that city which has turned its back upon the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That is the Word of God. That is not my word, that is the Bible. And that makes me tremble. Not to repent and not to believe is treason, defiance of God. How much worse when that is done under the light of God come to a person, when one rejects the Word, and then sneers and scorns at those who do repent, and says, "Oh, goody-goody two shoes!" It is better that you had never been born than that you had heard the Word of God and turned not from your sins.
I will not hide from you the place in which you stand now. You stand close to the light of the gospel. You may have heard the gospel. That is a great blessing. But it can also lead to the greatest of all curses.
Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall one be counted worthy, having heard that gospel of Christ and not repented and believed?
Do you repent and believe, by the grace of God?
No, not perfectly! Not looking to yourself as if your repentance and your faith is now good enough to bring you to heaven! No, no!
But do you experience these two realities in your life, by God's grace: the sorrow for sin before God, and trust in Christ?
The Scripture makes very plain that those who are destined of God to suffer the torments of hell reveal themselves as those who do not repent. Revelation 9:20-21, "And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts."
Here the Word of God speaks of men who are under the most severe physical judgments of God. There are judgments which are falling all around them, even as the brimstone fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. They see that their life is tortured in misery and that they are being ruined. Judgments which prefigure the final judgment. Yet, they repented not of their murders or of their sorceries or of their fornications.
In Revelation 16:9-11 we read: "And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain. And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds."
Take note of that! That establishes the closest possible tie between the state of one's heart towards God and repentance.
What are the two things spoken of those who repented not?
They gave not God the glory, and they blasphemed God. Repentance involves, at its core, a fundamental, crucial, basic change of heart toward God, as He is revealed in His Word. A change from resentment, from resentment of God's power and sovereignty, from hatred of His holiness, to bowing before Him in joy and praising His virtues.
What is repentance?
Repentance is the change of heart that God makes in a person-a change of heart toward God and toward sin. Most people have a general idea of what repentance is; they say, Repentance is giving up sin, turning away from sin. But repentance is much more-much, much more than simple human enlightenment. Repentance is not simply when a person wakes up, becomes a changed person, sees things in a different light, understands that the way of his life was bringing all kinds of problems, simply outgrows a certain sin, does not get any pleasure out of it, says it's not worth it anymore. No, repentance is more than that. Repentance is when God changes a person. Those in hell who repent not are those God willed not to change, determined not to give them the grace of repentance, but to leave them in their sins as monuments to His own justice. Repentance is not simply realizing how terrible hell is and then fleeing from it. People do not repent even in hell. When they know from experience how terrible hell is, yet they repent not. Only God can cause you to repent and be saved. If He changes you in your heart, bringing you the Word of God and showing you what kind of person you are, you repent. If He does not, you will not. Not threats, not death, not accidents. God must confer repentance. It is a gift of God. Acts 5:30-31: "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins."
Acts 11:18:
"When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."
2 Timothy 2:25:
"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth."
Give them repentance!
The Living Bible (some of you may be acquainted with that-"Good News for Modern Man" it is sometimes called) takes each of the above passages and translates it this way: That God gives opportunity to men to repent. Now if they had done that once, I could have given them the benefit of the doubt. But when the Living Bible translates it that way each time, rather than saying that God gave men repentance, then I will say that the Living Bible is nothing but a deliberate perversion of God's Word in order to give the glory to man, in order to take from God what alone is His and supposedly entrust it to the will of man.
God must change a person from the inside out. He works a work of grace in the heart. He gives a new heart, which He alone can give, out of pure mercy. The impenitent heart must be changed. It must be changed in its position before God and sin. When a man with an impenitent heart says, "I repent," he means, "I'm sorry about going to hell. I don't want to go to the everlasting furnace." But he does not have a sorrow for sin, only a sorrow about suffering for sin. The old heart still loves sin. It just does not love the consequences of sin. It will do anything to avoid hell.
How severe is the bondage of sin, and how great is the grace of God to free!
May God give repentance to the acknowledging of the truth to you and to me, a gift of His grace worked through the gospel of Jesus Christ which comes to you today and says: Repent and believe the gospel.
We have began to discuss the question of who is going to hell. We have shown from the Word of God that hell is a reality which is taught by the Bible and that if one refuses to believe in the reality of hell, then one must refuse to believe in the Bible itself. For the Bible proclaims that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the One who has delivered God's children from the flames of eternal hell.
We have seen, further, that the fruits of God's grace in the life of those who are saved are the fruits of repentance and faith. Those who will perish eternally in hell are those who repent not and who believe not the gospel. The Bible makes very plain that repentance and faith is a gift of God-a gift that God has given to those whom He has chosen in Jesus Christ. It is a gift that they experience in their lives which brings them to sorrow for sin and a lively trust, a personal faith, in Jesus Christ the Lord.
We have also discussed the need of repentance. We have seen, from the Word of God, that God must change the heart from the inside out, and that God must give repentance unto the acknowledging of the truth of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:25). We have reflected upon how horrible sin really is, impenitence; how severe is the bondage of sin; how great is God's grace to free us. A person, apart from the grace of God, would rather die in hell than to be without sin. The impenitent heart says, I love sin, I live in sin. Even hell's fires cannot burn the love of sin out of a person. And the impenitent get their wish, for in hell they sin to eternity, and are in the company of sinners all the time. Those in hell repent not at all. For one sin committed there is no repentance.
We must be changed. When God gives a new heart it is a heart of repentance, a heart that bleeds, a heart that is soft, a heart that hates sin in principle. It is a heart which gives up sin as sin. Not simply giving up sinful things, saying, No more drunkenness; no more beating of my wife. But it gives up the love of sin in principle. You see that the consequences of your sin are just. You do not pout about the consequences. You do not say, It's unfair that I have to suffer for these things which I have done. You do not try to get out of that punishment. You used to hate to be found out. You stole money, and you only worried about getting caught. But now you restore and you accept the penalty. Those who, by grace, admit that hell is the just reward for sin do not go to hell. Those who say, "Hell is not just," because they are haters of God's holiness and lovers of sin, go to hell.
Who are those who go to hell?
Those who repent not, those who find no place of repentance (Hebrews 12). Those who have many tears for being cheated and having to suffer for what they have done, but have no tears for a sinful heart. Imagine that! To love sin, to find no place of sorrow for sin, never to say with self-knowledge, "I am undone in sin," to remain proud before God.
Such shall receive the wages of sin which is eternal death (Romans 6:23).
But also those who believe not the gospel are those who shall go to hell. The Scriptures make very plain that all those who do not trust in Jesus Christ by a living, Spirit-worked faith shall perish. All who continue in unbelief shall be cast into the lake of fire. The Scriptures say to us in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 that Christ, with flaming fire, takes vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, in that chapter, is counseling the Thessalonian believers who were suffering persecution for Jesus Christ. He says, Now you must rest, you must find your comfort in Christ's second coming. God will then take vengeance on those who believe not the testimony of the gospel, upon those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel.
The apostle says again, in 2 Thessalonians 2:12, that they all will be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. All who receive not the love of the truth, all to whom God sends strong delusion (verse 11): "and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie." All will be damned who believe not the truth.
We read in Revelation 21:8, "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
Again, in Matthew 11:20-30, Jesus upbraids the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida because they repented not and did not believe Him through His mighty works. He calls to faith His own: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Faith in Jesus Christ, the gift of God, that is the way of salvation. And all who believe not the gospel shall perish.
But what is faith?
Faith is union to Jesus Christ. Faith is seen in trust and confidence in Jesus Christ. Faith is seen in sincere obedience to Christ. Faith is not simply an acknowledgment that God is. The devils also believe that and tremble, says James in the second chapter of his epistle. It is not the mere knowledge of a system of truth. It is very important to understand the truth, for the truth, said Jesus, shall set you free (John 12:31). But it is not simply a matter of the intellect, of the mind. Faith is an attachment, a living attachment to the Son of God, bringing knowledge of Him and confidence in Him. 2 Timothy 1:12: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." And always that faith is evidenced in obedience. To believe is to obey the command of the gospel, to delight in the ways of God, and to follow the path of righteousness in Christ. Faith, you see, brings one to the battlefield. Spiritually you fight the good fight of faith, you lay hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6). You hold fast to the word of truth. You follow after righteousness and holiness in your life.
And this faith, this union to Jesus Christ, this loving and living attachment, is the gift of God. All are unbelieving and blind and ignorant and hardened of themselves. Faith in Jesus Christ does not find its origin, its genesis, its root in the will of man. A person, of himself, does not choose to believe. God must plant in him the power of faith. God gives faith. Philippians 1:29: "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake."
Ephesians 2:8:
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."
Those who perish are unbelieving. They are left by God, in His decree of election and reprobation, in their natural state of unbelief. Unbelief is pride; it is the natural man exalting himself and saying, I will determine what is right; I will determine what I want to believe and what I will not. Unbelief is folly. It is the rejecting of the truth of God. It is the rejecting of the living God who is truth. And it is the putting forth of one's own folly in its place. It is to place one's own darkened understanding as the standard of truth. "I'll believe this and I'll not believe that…." It is to subject the Bible to one's own reason. It is to fashion one's God after one's own thoughts. It is to make a God who is convenient for oneself, suited to one's own desires. Then, to trust for help and comfort in one's own strength, to turn to man, to think of this world as the end-all-that is unbelief. Unbelief is the rejecting of the truth of the Bible, the Christ of the Bible, the God revealed in the Bible. And it is placing one's trust in any other thing than God revealed in the Bible, and His Son, Jesus Christ. It is pride, folly, ignorance.
Who will perish?
Those who die in unbelief-unbelief of the truth of the Scriptures; unbelief of Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, the life; unbelief of Jesus as Savior and as Lord, the Lord of their life.
Those whom Christ knows not, those who know not Christ as their Savior. Instead of Christ on the throne of their heart, they sit on the throne as usurpers. God never intended man to be autonomous, that is, self-governing. He placed a throne on man's heart. And the only rightful king for that throne is God. But, you see, unbelief is a rebel! Unbelief is a usurper on the throne. It places self upon the throne. And for that heinous offense, anarchy against God, an attack upon His throne-rights, all unbelievers are cast into the lake of fire.
What is the Word of God?
Repent and believe the gospel. We are shut up to the grace of God, for both repentance and faith are His gracious gifts given to those who are His children, the elect out of the pure, sovereign good-pleasure of God.
But we can know whether we are one of those children. We can know for certainty our own election. For when God elects in love He makes known to you that precious love in your own heart. 1 Thessalonians 1:4: "Knowing, beloved, your election" (Paul says you can know your election). God gives you to know it. He gives you to know that you are delivered from wrath. And He gives you to know it by working in you these two heavenly, spiritual graces: repentance toward God, and faith in Jesus Christ.
Repentance, which is a shattered heart, over sin before God. An abhorrence of sin, an abhorrence of self as the sinner, and a cry to God for mercy and faith. Faith which is a trust in Jesus Christ alone-a commitment and assurance in Christ as Savior, who has saved and has saved me for no other reason than out of His own mercy and love.
All who are strangers to this repentance and faith perish eternally in hell. They hate God. They believe the lie. Their sinful self sits enthroned upon the throne of their lives. Their damnation is just!
But we are persuaded better things of you, beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone who, by the wonderful power of God's grace, by the working of the Holy Spirit, repents and sincerely trusts in Jesus Christ shall have life. Everyone who repents and believes the gospel as seen in a life of new obedience shall never perish but shall have eternal life.
May God make His Word both powerful and effective in our life, turning us daily to repentance from our sins and faith in Jesus Christ, the wonderful, perfect, and only Savior, who has delivered us from so great a destruction of hell and has brought us forever into the fellowship of God.
By Carl Haak
THE THREE PERSONED GOD
On the night in which Jesus Christ was betrayed, He gathered His disciples together for a final time in an upper room. Only hours separated Him from the cross, where He would be mocked and beaten and nailed to the tree. The time of His earthly ministry with His disciples had come to its end. As the Son of God in our flesh, He opened the evening by washing His disciples' feet in an expression of profound humility, that He would humble Himself even unto the death of the cross for us.
Then He arose to speak to them one last time. What He said is found in John 13-17.
In such circumstances, what would you expect to hear from His lips?
An exhortation to the disciples to be faithful?
Yes.
An expression of His undying love for them?
Yes. But there was a theme that ran through His teaching that night which very few would expect to find. Jesus, on that night, expounded to His disciples the truth of the Trinity - that God in His Being is One, and that in the one Being of God there dwells three blessed Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He taught them in profound and personal and rich words of the relationship between the Father and the Son, between the Son and the Spirit, between the Spirit and the Father. Some of the most wonderful teaching on the Trinity is based on those chapters.
Why?
Certainly the time at which the Lord chose to bring this instruction shows how important this subject is. Jesus decided that the great mystery of the Trinity was the one teaching the disciples needed most to hear at that moment.
Why?
Because He had come in order that we might know God, in all the riches of His being. He had come in order that we might know God as the God who is our Father who loved us, as the Son who died for us, and as the Holy Spirit who would bring salvation to our hearts.
But more. This truth was so fundamental because the entire heart of the gospel depends upon it. Those who deny the Trinity have no gospel, for at the heart of the Trinity is the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and therefore, as the Son of God, the one who is able to bring a perfect sacrifice for our sins. Only those who know the Trinity by a true faith can stand firm in the days of trial. Jesus concentrated on this truth in the darkest hour, at the time when His disciples stood in great need for comfort and encouragement. This doctrine of the Trinity has the most practical and important place in our lives.
Many think of the doctrine of the Trinity as so much heavy baggage to carry around as dry dogma. Jesus said that it is the fountain out of which we may joyfully draw the waters of our salvation. Our faith is constructed on the foundation of the Trinity. Those who believe, unto the saving of the soul, must believe the holy Trinity. All of the Scriptures thrill with the presence of the three Persons of the Godhead: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And these three, says John (1 John 5:7), are one.
The Trinity is necessary to make a Christian. The truth of the Trinity comforts and cheers and gives hope to a Christian. This is the God who has saved us. We have the divine love of the Father, the redemption of the Son, and the blessings of Christ poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And in all of this, we have the one God of our salvation.
We must learn to sing on this earth: "Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. World without end. Amen, amen."
God has revealed Himself in His Word as the one, only, true God in whom exist three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We may speak of the Trinity, a word which means three-in-one: three Persons in the one Being of God, because Scripture has so made God known. Scripture accurately mirrors God, shows God to us. This is crucial. All of our understanding of who God is, what God is like, must be taken from the Bible. Or we make an idol. We will lie and distort and make a god after our own imagination. Every time we talk of God, every time we form in our minds what God is like, the words of Romans 1 ought to ring holy caution in our heart: "Who, knowing God, glorified Him not as God, but became vain in their imaginations and changed the truth of God into a lie." The human mind, unguided by the holy Scriptures and apart from faith, always makes God less than what He is, always makes God out to be like man, like the creature.
You will often hear people say, "Oh, but my God is not like that! He would never send people to hell. I can't imagine that. Oh, my God would never send a car crash, or cancer. God cannot control those things." You see, people are forming their god after themselves. Always we will make God out to be limited in His sovereignty, that is, in His royal power. We will make God unable to do what He wants to because He is checked by man's will. Ultimately, if you think it through, man will always say, "Man is god."
So all of our thinking is to be based upon the Word of God. The Bible is God's revelation. The Bible is not, first of all, about man. It is about God! Who He is, what He is, and what He has done in order that man might bow and worship before God.
The Bible tells us that God is one. There is only one true God. There are not many Gods, and Jehovah, the God of the Bible, is the best of them. There are not three separate Gods: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But there is one divine Being who is God. In Deuteronomy 6:4 Moses presses the commandments of God upon Israel as they entered into the land of Canaan, and commands them to teach their sons and their sons' sons all the days of their life.
What must they teach?
Listen. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." The same thing is found in Isaiah 44:6-8. Clear words in a day when God's people had formed gods for themselves out of stumps of wood. God says, "Behold, I am the first and the last. And beside me, there is no God."
God is God alone. Other gods are not the noble expressions of men's attempt to attain after God. Allah, Buddha, humanism are accursed. Do not trust them. They cannot save you. They are dumb, blind, powerless. God says in Isaiah 45:22, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."
God is one in Being. God's Being, the Bible tells us, is a spiritual Being, "God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). God is not material. He is not visible. He is not physical. He is not earthly. He is the only invisible God (1 Timothy 1:17), who dwells in a light to which no man can approach (1 Timothy 6:16). He transcends, that is, He is infinitely lifted up in His being, above all earthly things. He is light in Himself. He depends on nothing outside of Himself. He is God. He is glorious, filled with radiant and pure attributes. He is love, mercy, truth, holy, just, and right. That is His glory - the out-shining of all of His virtues. So we can say, "My God, how wonderful Thou art!"
In the one Being of God there lives in blessed unity and love Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We call them Persons to get at what the Bible teaches. A person is the "I." Your person is what makes you you, your self-consciousness, what sets you apart from everyone else. We read in Psalm 139, "Oh Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me." The person is myself, what I think, what I want, what I love. The person is the individual you. In God there are three Persons. There are three who say "I." There are three who possess self-conscious existence: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And, as I said, 1 John 5:7 tells us that these three agree in one. Three Persons in the Godhead who say, "I love, I desire." These three Persons are not each one-third of God. No, they are fully God! Speaking of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, 1 Timothy 6:16 says that He is the blessed and the only potentate. He is fully God. These three Persons are not arranged in the Being of God in order of rank or subordination. Not in order of time. No, we confess that they are fully God. All co-eternal, co-essential, and co-equal.
Now let us follow our Lord's words, shall we, in John 14-16. He taught, first of all, that all three were one in Being (John 14:11). He says to His disciples: "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me."
"In" is used here in the sense of possessing one essence. He said, "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30). They are one in Being as God. Yet, they are separate Persons, Father and Son. He says in verse 9 of John 14, "He that hath seen me (person) hath seen the Father (person)." And yet one in Being.
He says again, in John 14:16 of the Holy Spirit, that He will send another Comforter unto you, that He (person) may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not neither knoweth Him. But ye know Him, for He (person) dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.
Now, what is the Lord saying?
Is He saying that two are going to come to us: the Spirit and He, Himself?
No. He is saying that God, God the Holy Spirit possessing Christ will come to us. The Holy Spirit, then, is God. Everything that can be said of our Lord as equal to God may be said of the Comforter. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, is God.
Then in John 16 we read that Jesus says, "I came forth from the Father and return unto the Father." The disciples respond by saying: "We believe that Thou camest forth from God." The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Yet, said Jesus, all three have their own function within the being of God. The Father has sent forth the Son. He calls the Son "My only Begotten." There dwells between them the relation of tenderest love. Jesus says in John 5, "The Father loveth the Son." The Son came from the Father and came to glorify and reveal the Father. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
And so, when we bring it all together in a way that we cannot fathom, there are three Persons in the one Being of God who dwell in a life of perfect fellowship and love and warmth.
And all three are blessed in one. That is the Trinity.
Contemplating this the church of Jesus Christ has been led to confess it in this way:
Now to the great and sacred Three,
The Father, Son, and Spirit be
Eternal power and glory given.
To all the world where God is known,
By all the angels near the throne,
And all the saints in earth and heaven.
As the triune God, He is united in the work of our salvation. As the triune God He creates, He redeems us in Jesus Christ, and He makes us holy by the Holy Spirit. If you were to ask me: "What is salvation?" now we have the answer: It is to be brought to know this God and to enjoy fellowship with Him forever. Jesus said in John 17:3, "And this is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."
Salvation, then, is the work of the triune God. As the Father, though not alone, He created us. As the Son, though not alone, He redeemed us. As the Holy Spirit, although not alone, He sanctifies us. The work of the Trinity unites in salvation. We do not confess merely: He creates, He redeems, He sanctifies. But He is our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier, the Spirit who makes us holy. We say "God is for us! All of God is for us! The triune God, who works our salvation, is for us." We confess that our salvation is of the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. It is of God.
Can you imagine?
The sacred three-in-one to whom nothing can be added, who lives in Himself in the fullness of love and joy, is committed by the decision of His own will to save us completely and to draw us to Himself.
This is the God who is to be worshipped. Paul says in Ephesians 3:14, "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Do you?
As the Father, He makes me His son, and shows me all the riches of His favor. As the Son, the Son of God redeems me and loves me and gave Himself for me. As the Holy Spirit, He dwells in me and promises never to forsake me and brings me the salvation of Jesus Christ.
If you deny this truth, you worship an idol. Failure to embrace the truth of the Trinity means no salvation. It means that you refuse the one true God of the Bible. This is how He has revealed Himself. This is eternal life: to know the triune God! He that denies this has no salvation. John says in 1 John 2 that "he that hath not the Son, hath not the Father."
This is the one whom we adore upon bended knee. Heaven will be the place where we stand before this one God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and gaze upon Him in wonder. And we will say, "Lord, what can we offer Thee, what can we add to Thee, what can we bring to Thee that Thou dost not have, perfect three-in-one, holy God, delightful Trinity? Nothing can be added to Thee. Thou hast loved me and willed that I behold Thy glory. All glory, laud, and honor be to Thee, our Redeemer King."
Now, on this earth?
On this earth we live in the midst of trials, sin, and suffering. But we live in faith, faith in God: God the Father who loves me, God the Son who died for me, God the Holy Spirit who dwells in me. Knowing Him as the triune God there is nothing that I could yet desire (Psalm 73). The psalmist says, "Having Thee on earth, what is there that I could yet desire?"
Except, perhaps, this: that I might know on this earth Thee, and then be known as one who knows, loves, and glorifies Thee in my actions, words, and thoughts. One whose life confesses: glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen and Amen.
By Carl Haak
WHAT IS HELL?
Heaven is the dwelling place of God with His people. It is the place where God’s people shall have perfect communion with their God and where salvation will be perfected. Heaven is a place of everlasting rest for the saints, where sin and sorrow and struggle will be forever gone, and God’s people shall enjoy the perfect work and salvation of Christ. Heaven is the ardent hope of every believer. A believer lives now in the hope of heaven. He looks for, yearns after, and sets his heart upon the hope of eternal glory.
Who are going to go to heaven?
The answer must come from God’s Word. In the book of Revelation we see in four statements. We see from the book of Revelation that only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life go to heaven, that is, those whom God chooses and gives to Jesus Christ, a choice that He made before He created the world, a choice He made in free grace and love. We see, more, that those who go to heaven must be washed from the filth of their sins in the blood of Jesus Christ; that they themselves are corrupt and filthy sinners, and before they could ever appear in God’s presence in heaven, they must be washed clean from their sins. Still more, we see that the answer to the question of who is going to heaven was that one must be freed from the power of sin in his life, one must be made a servant of Jesus Christ who desires, already now, to serve Him and obey His Word.
Today we will ask another important question:
What is hell?
Can you conceive of a more sobering thought than hell—hell, which, the Bible says, is everlasting torment of the body and soul in the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and all who do not repent?
My heart trembles over the truth of hell.
The world today mocks hell. They make it an object of their ridicule and laughter. In fact, they even challenge God to cast them into hell. Other people imagine hell to be something in this life. They say that their life is a living hell, referring to all the suffering and miseries that they have had. There are others who readily tell other people to go to hell. Or, the moment they hurt themselves, they say, “Oh, hell.” They use it as a curse-word.
When one comes before the Bible, one finds that the truth of hell is the most sobering truth that can be imagined. It is the truth of God’s Word that wakes the child of God out of the daze and stupor of this world. The devil seeks to have the children of unbelief, the children of the world, deceived. He seeks to keep them in blindness and darkness to the reality of the fact that eternal hell awaits all who do not repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
A believing child of God stirs up his mind over the subject of hell. He sees the reality, not the myth, of the place Jesus called outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We see the seriousness of our sins. And we understand that sin is not a plaything, sin is not an excusable thing. Sin is a horrendous thing that deserves eternal punishment in hell.
Still more, we see the wonder of belonging to Jesus Christ who has delivered us from hell.
If the truth of hell does not produce in your heart trembling, if, perhaps, there is just a little, fleeting trembling, but you have never contemplated the truth of hell and never truly fled for refuge to Jesus Christ, then the Word of God to you right now is: Repent. If your life is only one of hypocrisy, if your confession of Christ is only outward, and if, in all seriousness, you have no foundation under you, no foundation to keep you from the flames of hell, then the Word of the gospel to you now is: Repent! Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” The sober reality of hell is used of God to bring His children to the wonderful reality of belonging to the Savior Jesus Christ.
If heaven were the only eternal state that God tells us of in His Word, we could stop our series on heaven. But the Word of God makes very plain that there is not only a heaven but also a hell. If it were true that a soul could be annihilated, simply cease to exist; or if it were true that we could hold out the possibility of amnesty (that a person, at death, would get another chance), or somehow receive a pardon, or that there would be a period of probation—then, too, perhaps, the human mind could have peace apart from Christ. But the Word of God speaks very solemnly of the truth of eternal hell.
Most people choose not to believe in hell. They say that death is the end, or the great unknown (we don’t know what happens after death). So they try to push death and hell out of their daily consciousness. There are many who call themselves Christians and do not believe in hell. They say, “My God would never send anyone to eternal torment.” In fact, it is commonly believed today that a Christian, by definition, is one who rejects the truth of hell. Scarcely anyone believes that he is going to go to hell. Man insulates himself from the reality of eternal punishment.
Yet the Bible is plain for any who will read it. God’s Word speaks of hell. And hell is not, as many modern Bible expositors teach, a garbage pit outside of Jerusalem. No, the Bible says that hell is a bottomless pit (Revelation 9:1), it is a lake of fire, burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:20). It is the place where men and women are tormented, held in chains of darkness, where the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and they have no rest day or night (Revelation 14:11).
Do you believe that hell exists?
The question really is this:
Do you believe the Bible?
Do you subject yourself to the truth of God’s Word?
If we examine all the testimony that is found in the Bible concerning hell, we will see that there was one who spoke more of hell than any other, and warned of it, and lived in the consciousness that impenitent sinners go to hell. That One was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the One who told us (Matthew 10:28) that we must not fear those who kill the body and after that have nothing more they can do. He told us whom we should fear. Fear Him who can cast body and soul into hell fire. It was Jesus Christ who described (Matthew 8:11-12) hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. It was Jesus Christ who said (Matthew 22) that those who would not be found in the last day robed in the garment of His righteousness would be cast out into outer darkness. It was Jesus Christ (Luke 13) who warned that a failure to repent meant that one would perish forever in the damnation of hell. Jesus Christ talked of hell with His disciples. He brought it up when He spoke of our personal relationships. He warned us that whoever calls another person a fool would be in danger of hell fire. He spoke of the fact that when we refuse to forgive one another, we will be held over in the prison of death.
Then Jesus Christ said (Matthew 11) that it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for those who heard His word and did it not. Sodom and Gomorrah, you may remember, were cities in the Old Testament that were destroyed by fire and brimstone for their sin against God. Jesus said, in the day of judgment it will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah, men who were filled with wickedness, than for those who heard His Word and did not repent. He said to the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, where He had done His mighty works and preached His wonderful sermons, “Woe unto you, Chorazin and Bethsaida.”
Hear now the word of God. Repent. Then go to your house, by faith, confident of refuge—refuge that is found in belonging to Jesus Christ, the only One who can deliver and has delivered His people from so great a death as eternal hell.
Jesus spoke of hell often. He spoke of it very pointedly in Matthew 25. In verse 41 we read, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” There Jesus describes hell as the place where the curse of God is inflicted upon a person, to be endured for ever and ever. He says that hell is where the wicked are shut up under the curse of God in everlasting misery, in the company of the devil and his angels. The time will come when men will hear the words, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus, in Matthew 25, was speaking of the final judgment, when all men will be gathered before Him. And He says that He will divide them as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.
Just as the Bible teaches that at death the soul of a believer goes up to heaven and his body goes to the grave to await the resurrection day, when the body will be raised to go into final glory, so also does the Bible teach that the soul of an unbeliever at death goes to hell. Jesus taught in Luke 16:24 that a man who did not believe or repent awoke in death to the torments of flame in hell. Further, the Bible teaches that the body of an unbeliever will also be raised up at Christ’s return. In John 5:29 we read of the resurrection of the good and of the evil, a resurrection unto life and unto death. So, body and soul, a person will go into everlasting punishment, where all the haters of the Lord, all who despise His Word, all the unbelieving, are damned under the curse of God.
What is the curse of God?
When Jesus spoke of the curse of God He was referring to the just penalty of the holy God for the breaking of His law. We read in Galatians 3:10, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”
The law of God, the Ten Commandments, express the will of the holy God for the life of men and women, boys and girls—of all men and all women of every age and every place. The curse is the infliction of God’s wrath upon those who would presumptuously stand in defiance of His law and transgress that law.
The Word of God says to us in Galatians 3 that that was the curse that was also due unto believers. It was the curse that Christ redeemed us from when He was made a curse for us upon the cross of Calvary. To be cursed, then, is to appear before the face of God, before the face of the eternal Judge, to stand before the judgment seat of Christ as a transgressor, as one who has broken the law of God — not having faith in Jesus Christ, not belonging to a Christ who has delivered you from that curse, but rather agreeing, in your heart, with your transgression, standing before the holy God in enmity and saying in your heart to His law, “I will not, I never will bow to that holy law.” Then to hear the words of holy indignation, the most horrible words that a soul could ever hear: “Depart from me, ye cursed.” To have the full penalty of a holy God’s wrath fall down upon a person, pressing him down to the pit for an eternity in suffering—that is hell.
Let all who now curse inwardly, let all who in the pride of their heart set themselves up over against God’s law, let all whose mouths are filled with cursing and bitterness repent and flee to Jesus Christ in faith. Let all who would, in the words of Psalm 50, imagine that, after all, a little transgression will never hurt a person, all who are willing to consent with the thief and with those who curse and swear and say, “Well, it’s all right to sin”—let all such hear the Word of God: Repent, lest God descend upon you and tear you in pieces.
I said that this was the curse from which Jesus Christ has delivered believers, the penalty for our rebellion and sin against God, the penalty for our repeated offenses against God. Jesus Christ has delivered us from this curse because this curse was actually inflicted upon Him in our place. So we know how dreadful this curse is. We know how dreadful it is from what it did to our Savior upon the cross. Our Savior upon the cross was banished from the smile of God. He was lashed with all the blows of God’s holy wrath, which should have been directed against us. Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 5:11, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Those who are confident of their deliverance from sin in Jesus Christ, but who know how terrible is the judgment that their sins deserve, do not simply go out and forget the penalty that their sins deserve. Rather, they go out, says Paul, and persuade men, they urge men, “Are you going to go on in the way of sin and rebellion and clothe yourself with the curse of God?”
Although our society professes widespread belief in God, yet the knowledge of the curse of the holy God against those who break His holy law does not exist for our culture. That is evidenced, for example, in homosexuality. Romans 1 says that homosexuality is the depths of breaking God’s law. Yes, homosexuality is a sin that Jesus Christ delivers from, that the grace of God pardons from. He takes us out of that sin. But that very act of homosexuality today is promoted as being right. It is condoned by the church, so that, if we listen to much of the church that claims that it has the gospel, we would conclude that God ought to apologize for what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah, for He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for the sin of homosexuality. Today, salvation is no longer declared as deliverance from the curse of God against sin. Today, salvation is simply freedom from frustration. Jesus has come to remove our frustrations, to save us from anxieties, to teach us to live with our doubts and our fears.
The curse of God?
Threatened upon a man or woman for breaking His law?
That is no longer declared.
But let it be heard today! The Bible, the truth, is this: Salvation is to be delivered from the curse that was due to us. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. That is salvation! And hell is when that curse is inflicted upon you.
Hear the Word of God. Repent. Forsake your sins. Go to Jesus Christ in the gift of faith. For there alone is refuge.
By Carl Haak
Who are going to go to heaven?
The answer must come from God’s Word. In the book of Revelation we see in four statements. We see from the book of Revelation that only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life go to heaven, that is, those whom God chooses and gives to Jesus Christ, a choice that He made before He created the world, a choice He made in free grace and love. We see, more, that those who go to heaven must be washed from the filth of their sins in the blood of Jesus Christ; that they themselves are corrupt and filthy sinners, and before they could ever appear in God’s presence in heaven, they must be washed clean from their sins. Still more, we see that the answer to the question of who is going to heaven was that one must be freed from the power of sin in his life, one must be made a servant of Jesus Christ who desires, already now, to serve Him and obey His Word.
Today we will ask another important question:
What is hell?
Can you conceive of a more sobering thought than hell—hell, which, the Bible says, is everlasting torment of the body and soul in the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and all who do not repent?
My heart trembles over the truth of hell.
The world today mocks hell. They make it an object of their ridicule and laughter. In fact, they even challenge God to cast them into hell. Other people imagine hell to be something in this life. They say that their life is a living hell, referring to all the suffering and miseries that they have had. There are others who readily tell other people to go to hell. Or, the moment they hurt themselves, they say, “Oh, hell.” They use it as a curse-word.
When one comes before the Bible, one finds that the truth of hell is the most sobering truth that can be imagined. It is the truth of God’s Word that wakes the child of God out of the daze and stupor of this world. The devil seeks to have the children of unbelief, the children of the world, deceived. He seeks to keep them in blindness and darkness to the reality of the fact that eternal hell awaits all who do not repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
A believing child of God stirs up his mind over the subject of hell. He sees the reality, not the myth, of the place Jesus called outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We see the seriousness of our sins. And we understand that sin is not a plaything, sin is not an excusable thing. Sin is a horrendous thing that deserves eternal punishment in hell.
Still more, we see the wonder of belonging to Jesus Christ who has delivered us from hell.
If the truth of hell does not produce in your heart trembling, if, perhaps, there is just a little, fleeting trembling, but you have never contemplated the truth of hell and never truly fled for refuge to Jesus Christ, then the Word of God to you right now is: Repent. If your life is only one of hypocrisy, if your confession of Christ is only outward, and if, in all seriousness, you have no foundation under you, no foundation to keep you from the flames of hell, then the Word of the gospel to you now is: Repent! Jesus said, “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” The sober reality of hell is used of God to bring His children to the wonderful reality of belonging to the Savior Jesus Christ.
If heaven were the only eternal state that God tells us of in His Word, we could stop our series on heaven. But the Word of God makes very plain that there is not only a heaven but also a hell. If it were true that a soul could be annihilated, simply cease to exist; or if it were true that we could hold out the possibility of amnesty (that a person, at death, would get another chance), or somehow receive a pardon, or that there would be a period of probation—then, too, perhaps, the human mind could have peace apart from Christ. But the Word of God speaks very solemnly of the truth of eternal hell.
Most people choose not to believe in hell. They say that death is the end, or the great unknown (we don’t know what happens after death). So they try to push death and hell out of their daily consciousness. There are many who call themselves Christians and do not believe in hell. They say, “My God would never send anyone to eternal torment.” In fact, it is commonly believed today that a Christian, by definition, is one who rejects the truth of hell. Scarcely anyone believes that he is going to go to hell. Man insulates himself from the reality of eternal punishment.
Yet the Bible is plain for any who will read it. God’s Word speaks of hell. And hell is not, as many modern Bible expositors teach, a garbage pit outside of Jerusalem. No, the Bible says that hell is a bottomless pit (Revelation 9:1), it is a lake of fire, burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:20). It is the place where men and women are tormented, held in chains of darkness, where the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and they have no rest day or night (Revelation 14:11).
Do you believe that hell exists?
The question really is this:
Do you believe the Bible?
Do you subject yourself to the truth of God’s Word?
If we examine all the testimony that is found in the Bible concerning hell, we will see that there was one who spoke more of hell than any other, and warned of it, and lived in the consciousness that impenitent sinners go to hell. That One was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the One who told us (Matthew 10:28) that we must not fear those who kill the body and after that have nothing more they can do. He told us whom we should fear. Fear Him who can cast body and soul into hell fire. It was Jesus Christ who described (Matthew 8:11-12) hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. It was Jesus Christ who said (Matthew 22) that those who would not be found in the last day robed in the garment of His righteousness would be cast out into outer darkness. It was Jesus Christ (Luke 13) who warned that a failure to repent meant that one would perish forever in the damnation of hell. Jesus Christ talked of hell with His disciples. He brought it up when He spoke of our personal relationships. He warned us that whoever calls another person a fool would be in danger of hell fire. He spoke of the fact that when we refuse to forgive one another, we will be held over in the prison of death.
Then Jesus Christ said (Matthew 11) that it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for those who heard His word and did it not. Sodom and Gomorrah, you may remember, were cities in the Old Testament that were destroyed by fire and brimstone for their sin against God. Jesus said, in the day of judgment it will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah, men who were filled with wickedness, than for those who heard His Word and did not repent. He said to the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida, where He had done His mighty works and preached His wonderful sermons, “Woe unto you, Chorazin and Bethsaida.”
Hear now the word of God. Repent. Then go to your house, by faith, confident of refuge—refuge that is found in belonging to Jesus Christ, the only One who can deliver and has delivered His people from so great a death as eternal hell.
Jesus spoke of hell often. He spoke of it very pointedly in Matthew 25. In verse 41 we read, “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” There Jesus describes hell as the place where the curse of God is inflicted upon a person, to be endured for ever and ever. He says that hell is where the wicked are shut up under the curse of God in everlasting misery, in the company of the devil and his angels. The time will come when men will hear the words, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Jesus, in Matthew 25, was speaking of the final judgment, when all men will be gathered before Him. And He says that He will divide them as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.
Just as the Bible teaches that at death the soul of a believer goes up to heaven and his body goes to the grave to await the resurrection day, when the body will be raised to go into final glory, so also does the Bible teach that the soul of an unbeliever at death goes to hell. Jesus taught in Luke 16:24 that a man who did not believe or repent awoke in death to the torments of flame in hell. Further, the Bible teaches that the body of an unbeliever will also be raised up at Christ’s return. In John 5:29 we read of the resurrection of the good and of the evil, a resurrection unto life and unto death. So, body and soul, a person will go into everlasting punishment, where all the haters of the Lord, all who despise His Word, all the unbelieving, are damned under the curse of God.
What is the curse of God?
When Jesus spoke of the curse of God He was referring to the just penalty of the holy God for the breaking of His law. We read in Galatians 3:10, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”
The law of God, the Ten Commandments, express the will of the holy God for the life of men and women, boys and girls—of all men and all women of every age and every place. The curse is the infliction of God’s wrath upon those who would presumptuously stand in defiance of His law and transgress that law.
The Word of God says to us in Galatians 3 that that was the curse that was also due unto believers. It was the curse that Christ redeemed us from when He was made a curse for us upon the cross of Calvary. To be cursed, then, is to appear before the face of God, before the face of the eternal Judge, to stand before the judgment seat of Christ as a transgressor, as one who has broken the law of God — not having faith in Jesus Christ, not belonging to a Christ who has delivered you from that curse, but rather agreeing, in your heart, with your transgression, standing before the holy God in enmity and saying in your heart to His law, “I will not, I never will bow to that holy law.” Then to hear the words of holy indignation, the most horrible words that a soul could ever hear: “Depart from me, ye cursed.” To have the full penalty of a holy God’s wrath fall down upon a person, pressing him down to the pit for an eternity in suffering—that is hell.
Let all who now curse inwardly, let all who in the pride of their heart set themselves up over against God’s law, let all whose mouths are filled with cursing and bitterness repent and flee to Jesus Christ in faith. Let all who would, in the words of Psalm 50, imagine that, after all, a little transgression will never hurt a person, all who are willing to consent with the thief and with those who curse and swear and say, “Well, it’s all right to sin”—let all such hear the Word of God: Repent, lest God descend upon you and tear you in pieces.
I said that this was the curse from which Jesus Christ has delivered believers, the penalty for our rebellion and sin against God, the penalty for our repeated offenses against God. Jesus Christ has delivered us from this curse because this curse was actually inflicted upon Him in our place. So we know how dreadful this curse is. We know how dreadful it is from what it did to our Savior upon the cross. Our Savior upon the cross was banished from the smile of God. He was lashed with all the blows of God’s holy wrath, which should have been directed against us. Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 5:11, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Those who are confident of their deliverance from sin in Jesus Christ, but who know how terrible is the judgment that their sins deserve, do not simply go out and forget the penalty that their sins deserve. Rather, they go out, says Paul, and persuade men, they urge men, “Are you going to go on in the way of sin and rebellion and clothe yourself with the curse of God?”
Although our society professes widespread belief in God, yet the knowledge of the curse of the holy God against those who break His holy law does not exist for our culture. That is evidenced, for example, in homosexuality. Romans 1 says that homosexuality is the depths of breaking God’s law. Yes, homosexuality is a sin that Jesus Christ delivers from, that the grace of God pardons from. He takes us out of that sin. But that very act of homosexuality today is promoted as being right. It is condoned by the church, so that, if we listen to much of the church that claims that it has the gospel, we would conclude that God ought to apologize for what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah, for He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for the sin of homosexuality. Today, salvation is no longer declared as deliverance from the curse of God against sin. Today, salvation is simply freedom from frustration. Jesus has come to remove our frustrations, to save us from anxieties, to teach us to live with our doubts and our fears.
The curse of God?
Threatened upon a man or woman for breaking His law?
That is no longer declared.
But let it be heard today! The Bible, the truth, is this: Salvation is to be delivered from the curse that was due to us. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. That is salvation! And hell is when that curse is inflicted upon you.
Hear the Word of God. Repent. Forsake your sins. Go to Jesus Christ in the gift of faith. For there alone is refuge.
By Carl Haak
Thursday, June 12, 2008
A Study Of 1 Peter 4:17
1 Peter 4:17
For the time (is come) that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
This verse seems to lay down the principle that before the end of time comes, before the final judgment of all the unsaved in the world occurs, the House of God will be judged first.
"Judgment Must Begin at the House of God" (1 Peter 4:17, Matthew 24:21,24,15,29,37-39, Romans 11:7)
And we can find many verses, which support this principle.
What is the House of God?
The House of God is the New Testament Church.
You realize that we are now talking about the Final Tribulation Period.
What is the Final Tribulation Period?
"A tribulation period" means it is a "time of great trouble".
The Final Tribulation Period is the last period of great trouble.
What kind of trouble?
What is the nature of the Final Tribulation Period?
Will there be mass persecution and killing of Christians?
What is this judgment that is to occur in the Final Tribulation Period?
The Lord Jesus told us about the Final Tribulation Period in Matthew 24:21,
Matthew 24:21
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
And then the Lord Jesus explained the nature of that tribulation in verse 24,
Matthew 24:24
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
In other words, the Lord Jesus said that this tribulation is a period of great trouble, because false prophets will bring false gospels that are so close to the true Gospel that even the elect would be deceived, if that were possible.
Who are the elect?
Is the nation of Israel the elect people of God?
The Bible says: NO!
God says in Romans 11:
Romans 11:7
What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
The election refers to the group of people whom God chose from all the nations of the world, including the nation of Israel. It is called the remnant chosen by grace, because they have been chosen unto salvation not based on any work that they have done, not based on any decision or action to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but they have been saved entirely by the grace of God. God saved them, and God is going to preserve them so that they will not be led astray by other gospels that are so close to the true Gospel. These elect, these chosen of God cannot be deceived. But the rest of the Church will be led astray, and that is the Judgment on the House of God.
The Church in the Last Days (Revelation11:3,4,7,8, Revelation 13:1,5-9)
People in the Church can be led astray because not everyone in the Church is a saved individual. The Church is an externally visible organization. Both saved and unsaved people are joining the Church. But the elect are those whom God chose unto salvation, and they form the nucleus of Born Again believers in the Church. According to Revelation 1, every Church is symbolically represented by a candlestick in heaven. When the elect have left the Church, or when they have been driven out of the Church, then the Church has become a dead church. That Church has come under the Judgment of God, and God removes the candlestick of that church out of its place.
Is that something that can happen to a Church?
Yes! God says in Revelation 11:3-4,
Revelation 11:3
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
Revelation 11:4
These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Who do these two witnesses represent?
They represent the faithful Church who preaches the true Gospel into all the world. In Romans 11 God represents the Church by an olive tree, and in Revelation 1 God represents the Church by a candlestick in heaven. This faithful Church proclaims the Gospel 1260 days, which is 3½ years, which is symbolic for the entire New Testament. history of the world.
But then, in verses 7 and 8we read,
Revelation 11:7
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Revelation 11:8
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
These verses say that near the end of time Satan, who is the beast that ascendeth out of the Bottomless Pit, shall make war against the two witnesses, and shall overcome them and kill them.
How will Satan accomplish that?
Will he persecute the Christians and kill them?
Throughout the history of the world that has never worked. The result of persecution has always been a vibrant growth of the Church. The blood of the martyrs has always been the seed of the Church. Every time in the past that Satan tried this methodology, he has always lost.
How will Satan accomplish this?
Notice where the two witnesses are killed: The great city, which is representing the kingdom of Satan, which is spiritually called Sodom, the wicked city doomed for destruction, and it is spiritually called Egypt, which is a picture of the kingdom of Satan, and where also our Lord was crucified. The Lord Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem, which means in the kingdom of Satan. In other words, we read in Revelation 11:7-8 that the kingdom of Satan will silence the Gospel by overrunning the faithful Churches in the world with gospels that are so close to the true Gospel. Now, this is an altogether unpopular idea, but there is an abundance of Scripture that supports this scenario. Let's look at:
Nebuchadnezzar, My Servant (Jeremiah 25:9,15,18,26,29, Jeremiah 27:5-7)
In Jeremiah 25 God makes it abundantly clear that He is not just speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem. In this chapter God makes it plain that the conquest of the Babylonian armies was a picture of the armies of Satan conquering the whole world. Historically, Babylon did not conquer the whole world. Not even close. But God used this historical event to paint the picture as if Babylon did conquer the whole world. God used Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, as His servant to carry out this task, which totally fit within God's plan. Nebuchadnezzar is representing Satan. In the end of time God uses Satan to carry out this task of conquering the whole world, so that God can bring Judgment on the Church. God said:
Jeremiah 25:9
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Al the families of the North. We have already seen last week that this is a figure, which means that the emissaries of Satan, who are bringing their own false gospels into the Church, will overrun the Church. And then, these false gospels will overrun the whole world. This is how Satan will destroy, not by physical destruction, but by spiritual destruction. God says in verse 15,
Jeremiah 25:15
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.
To whom does God bring first this cup of His fury?
First to Jerusalem, the city that is called by His name, the Old Testament congregation that was a picture of the New Testament congregation. God says in verse 18,
Jeremiah 25:18
To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
Then one nation after another receives the cup of God's wrath, until all the kingdoms of the earth have received the cup of God's wrath. God says in verse 26,
Jeremiah 25:26
And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.
Why do they receive the cup of God's wrath?
God is not unjust. But at the end of time God is angry at all the nations of the world for embracing the false gospels. That is why God ends it all, and all the nations of the world will mourn when they see Christ appearing on the clouds of glory. And if anyone objects to receiving God's wrath, God says in verse 29,
Jeremiah 25:29
For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
What is that sword?
That sword is the Word of God. They are being judged with the Word.
The Little Horn (Daniel 7:7,8,21,25, Daniel 8:8-12,23-25)
God wrote the history of the Old Testament so extensively, because it was a picture of what God was going to do with the New Testament congregation.
But will we heed the warning?
In Daniel chapters 7 and 8 we find another confirmation of what is going to happen to the New Testament church near the end of time. God gave Daniel several visions of the future in the form of parables. Here in chapter 7 God showed Daniel four beasts. We read in Daniel 7:7,
Daniel 7:7
After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Daniel 7:8
I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
Who does the little horn represent?
The little horn represents Satan. A horn is a symbol of strength. Christ has all the strength. Christ is the Big Horn; therefore Satan is just a little horn. Nevertheless, Satan still has a great deal of power here on this earth. We read in verse 21,
Daniel 7:21
I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;
What does this mean that Satan will prevail against the saints?
We know that the saints can never lose their salvation. But Satan can silence the witness of the saints, and that would have the same effect as if he would have killed the saints.
Is that not equivalent to the two witnesses being killed?
Just in case we have not understood all these ramifications, God rubs it in again in verse 25,
Daniel 7:25
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
He shall wear out the saints of the most High, and they shall be given into his hand. This is clear language telling us that the faithful Churches, represented by the two witnesses, are killed (spiritually) and that God has used Nebuchadnezzar, representing Satan, to bring judgment on the Church worldwide because of the apostasy in the Church near the end of time.
This is not a popular doctrine. Most churches today will cling to the promise that Christ will build His Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. This promise is certainly true, but it is a promise made only to those who have been Born Again. It is a promise made only to those who are truly saved. On your outline I have included a great number of other verses, which support the teaching I have presented. Do your homework. No doubt, Judgment begins with the House of God.
But there is another aspect of the principle that Judgment begins with the House of God, which is presented in 1 Peter 4:17.
The Fiery Trials (1 Peter 4:12, Philippians 1:29)
We cannot escape the fact that verse 17 is wedged in between a whole passage on suffering. It is true that we will suffer during the Final Tribulation Period. We will suffer because of the nature of the Final Tribulation Period: The Gospel has been silenced. We will suffer because our Church is being judged by God, because of the apostasy committed by her.
We will suffer because where will our unsaved loved ones now be able to hear the true Gospel proclaimed?
And what other suffering did God write about in 1 Peter 4?
1 Peter 4:12
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1 Peter 4:13
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1 Peter 4:14
If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1 Peter 4:15
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
1 Peter 4:16
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1 Peter 4:17
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1 Peter 4:18
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1 Peter 4:19
Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
This entire passage speaks about suffering for Christ.
Who is God addressing in this passage?
Chapter 1 verse 2 says that God is speaking "to the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father". God is speaking to the elect saints who have already been Born Again. God is not only addressing the saints near the end of time who have to suffer through the Final Tribulation Period, but God is addressing the saints in the First Century AD just as well as the saints in every Century. God says that we all will endure a fiery trial, which is to test us.
Who needs this?
God does not need this test. God knows our heart, and therefore God already knows the outcome of the test. God does not need the test, but we do. The Lord Jesus already told His disciples that they would endure suffering for His sake. And here we read that every believer will suffer for Christ's sake. This is supported by many verses. God says,
Philippians 1:29
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
As you know, the gift of faith is a gift from God. But did you know that the honor to suffer for His sake is also a gift from God? We suffer persecutions because we dare to witness for Christ. God says
2 Thessalonians 1:4
So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
2 Thessalonians 1:5
Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
One reason for this is because the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
How do we take this suffering?
With Rejoicing?
We endure our earthly suffering with rejoicing, because our focus is not on the sufferings of this present earth, but on the glory of the life hereafter. That is exactly what we read here in 1 Peter 4:13-14,
1 Peter 4:13
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1 Peter 4:14
If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.
Here is the test for you:
If you endure ridicule, or if you are being reproached for your stand on the absolute sovereignty of God, or on salvation entirely by the grace of God, or on the sanctity of marriage, will you rejoice for being reproached?
Will you think of the glory in the life hereafter, or will you bemoan the fact that you are being treated unfairly?
The Lord Jesus had something profound to say about this subject of suffering and rejoicing in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:10-12. There He said:
Matthew 5:10
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:11
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Matthew 5:12
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Who are these blessed ones?
They are the same group of people who are called the Poor in spirit, and They that mourn, and They who are meek, and They who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and They who are merciful, and The pure in heart, and The peacemakers. These are the characteristics of someone who has been Born Again. In other words, the Lord Jesus said: If you are persecuted for righteousness sake, consider it all joy, because your name is written in heaven. Don't take their insult personally, because they have not insulted you, but they have insulted your Heavenly Father. Pity them, for their judgment will be great.
Why is this fiery trial happening to you?
God has ordained it:
To the Glory of God (1 Peter 4:14,16, 1 Peter 1:7, 5:10-11)
It is difficult to imagine anything that is not done for the glory of God. Even the heathen cannot escape bringing glory to God. To wicked Pharaoh, king of Egypt, God said in Romans 9:17,
Romans 9:17
Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
As you know, because of the wickedness of Pharaoh, God's power was abundantly demonstrated throughout the land of Egypt. Likewise, if the heathen persecute us, remember the words of 1 Peter 4:14
1 Peter 4:14
If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
How are we reproached for the name of Christ?
In this country almost everyone seems to know the name of Christ. There seems to be very little chance that we will be reproached for the name of Christ. But if we look at His Name carefully then we see that Christ is called "The Word of God". If we insist on giving all the glory to Christ, because we hold high the truth that is found in the Word of God, then we are going to be reviled, and we are being made the laughing stock of our family, and we are being ridiculed by our fellow workers, and we are told that we have joined a cult, and so on. God says:
1 Peter 4:16
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
Because great is your reward in heaven. God speaks to this in 1 Peter 1:7. God says, take courage:
1 Peter 1:7
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Our faith is much more precious than gold. Gold will perish in he fire to come, but our faith that was given by God will endure to the end, even though it was tested by fire. The martyrs of old have demonstrated this and they have shown us that God does not lie. We love the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that will end the trials we still have to endure now. But God will support us in our trials. His grace is altogether sufficient for us. God says in 1 Peter 5:10,
1 Peter 5:10
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
1 Peter 5:11
To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Now we come to a different subject matter in 1 Peter 4:17,
Don't Take Verses Out of Context (1 Peter 4:17, Matthew 7:1-2)
Perhaps you have seen already that 1 Peter 4:17 is a verse, which is lodged in between a passage speaking about suffering. God is addressing this as a comforting message to the saints at all times. The prophets of old have suffered at the hands of those who hated the Word of God. The New Testament saints have suffered at the hands of those who hated the Word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ has suffered at the hands of those who hated Him, who Himself is called the Word of God. And now God says:
1 Peter 4:17
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
At first blush we have to admit: This verse does not seem to belong here.
Why is God speaking now about Judgment?
It is the Greek word "Krima", which means, "passing a condemning sentence".
At first blush we thought that the meaning of 1 Peter 4:17 was that this was speaking about the Final Tribulation Period, meaning that "Judgment begins at the House of God". I have shown from Revelation 11 & 13, and from Jeremiah 25 & 27, and from Daniel 7 & 8 that near the end time indeed the Church will be overrun by false gospels instigated by Satan, and therefore indeed "Judgment begins at the House of God". There is enough evidence of that. But the context of 1 Peter 4:17 dictates that the subject matter is suffering and persecution at all times. In other words, 1 Peter 4:17 is not speaking specifically about the time of the end. If we want to discuss the end time we can use Revelation 11,12, Jeremiah 25, 27, Daniel 7 and 8, but we do not need to drag 1 Peter 4:17 into it. That is not necessary. We must not take this verse out of context.
Now, what then does 1 Peter 4:17 mean?
Who is judging here?
Who is passing the condemning sentence?
There are only three possibilities:
#1. God,
#2. Believers,
#3. Unbelievers.
There are no other parties.
Could it be that God is passing judgment over a long period of time as this one fails the test, and as that one passes the test, and so on?
Absolutely not! God made that decision at the cross. God is not the one waiting to pass judgment when we are being tried.
Second possibility:
Are believers passing judgment on themselves here?
But that is not possible. The common theme in this passage is that of persecution because of our witness for Christ, as stated in verse 14. The common theme is that we have become partakers of Christ's sufferings, as stated in verse 13. The common theme is that the persecution takes on the form of burning, as stated in verse 12. This is not carried out by believers, but by unbelievers. Therefore, those who persecute us in verse 12 also do the judgment in verse 17.
But can we point to another verse where this Greek word Judgment (Krima) is used by unbelievers who are judging others?
Yes! We read in Matthew 7:1-2,
Matthew 7:1
Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Matthew 7:2
For with what judgment
The unbelievers have engaged in judging
What are they judging?
1 Peter 4:17
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
If this verse is to be understood within its context, then it simply is saying that the unbelievers pass judgment first on the Church. They have judged us already and that is why fiery trials await us. But our lot is not so bad. Wait until you see what shall be the end of them that obey not the Gospel of God
Everything Happens According to God's Will (1 Peter 4:18-19, 1 Peter 2:9)
God has a purpose for our suffering. Sometimes it is chastening, which is for our own instruction. Sometimes it is for the purpose of teaching others what it means to live for God's glory. Whatever purpose God has in mind, the life of a believer is not smooth sailing. That is why God wrote in 1 Peter 4:
1 Peter 4:18
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
What does God mean that the righteous scarcely be saved?
Does God mean that we got saved by the skin of our teeth?
Did we just barely get saved?
Definitely God does not mean that. When Christ saved us He saved us by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. He saved us with great power and with an absolute certainty. He saved us by engraving our names with a nail in the palm of His hand. There is no uncertainty in the cross of Christ. Our sins have not been barely paid, but they have been paid in full.
The word "scarcely" is really an unfortunate translation. It should have stated: "And if the righteous with difficulty, or not easily, be saved,………" That is absolutely true. We did not easily become saved, but with great difficulty. It cost Christ everything He had, because we loved our sins too much.
We are like a brand plucked out of the fire! We were on our way to the fires of Hell, and we were bound and determined to go our own way until God the Holy Spirit cast us down and rubbed our face in the mud. God made us hear the Gospel. God made us believe His Word. Then God sent us out as His ambassadors, and that is when the suffering started. But it was all according to the Will of God.
1 Peter 4:19
Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls (to him) in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
Commit your souls in well doing, not in evil doing. Keep doing those things that are well pleasing in His sight, because He is the faithful creator of our new soul. He owns us. He has glorified us:
1 Peter 2:9
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
If you suffer, let it be that you suffer unjustly, for the sake of Christ,
But Not as an Evildoer (1 Peter 4:15, 1 Peter 3:16-17)
1 Peter 4:15
But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as "a busybody in other men's matters". (allotriepiskopos)
If someone suffers, let it not be because of some suffering we put on ourselves. Let it not be that we suffer because of a bad attitude we develop in our mind. Let it not be that we suffer because we like to play the victim. Some people develop a martyr attitude; they are unhappy because they think that they are treated unjustly. If we suffer let it be that we suffer unjustly, for the sake of Christ.
1 Peter 3:17
For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
AMEN.
By Alfred Chompff
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
What Does Jesus Mean In Matthew 23 When He Says "This Generation"?
Today we want to consider the scribes and Pharisees as actually representing the entire nation of Jews who believes their teachings, and are led by their religious rulers on a slippery slide into Hell. The sins of the religious rulers are imitated and propagated by those who believe their false gospel. And thus, when the Lord Jesus refers to “This Generation” He actually does not point only to the religious rulers, but to the entire nation of Jews who follow them. Therefore I chose for the title of this sermon, “This Generation”. Let us now begin to read from Matthew 23:32-39,
"Wherefore, Behold" (Matthew 23:32-39)
Matthew 23:32
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Matthew 23:33
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Matthew 23:34
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city:
Matthew 23:35
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Matthew 23:36
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Matthew 23:38
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
Matthew 23:39
For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
We want to begin with verse 34, which says, “Wherefore, behold”.
What is the wherefore therefore?
It indicates that the passage that follows ties into the previous two verses, which read, “Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers”.
Fill ye up then the cup of the wrath of God upon yourselves, because He is visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him. And then the Lord Jesus calls them serpents, and a generation of vipers who are unable to escape the damnation of Hell. “Wherefore, behold”. Look and see what I have done and what you have done. I have sent to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes who have brought you the true Gospel, but you shall kill them, and crucify them, and scourge them in your synagogues, and you shall persecute them from city to city. And even though I have designed such persecution on my servants the prophets, even though I designed that their blood will be shed, woe unto those men by whom this iniquity is committed. Wherefore, behold, look and see what the nature is of my wrath that shall come upon you and your house. Look and see what I am going to do with this entire nation of Jews who are slavishly following the false teachings of the scribes and Pharisees. Look and see what I am going to do with this great city that you adore which is called Jerusalem. This is the content of the passage at hand. And so, let us consider:
Behold, I Send Unto You Prophets (Matthew 23:34, 10:16-17, Colossians 4:6, John 16:2)
Matthew 23:34
Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
When God sends to us prophets and teachers, He sends them as wise men who are bringing the true Gospel, for they have been taught of God. But their wisdom does not come out of themselves, for it is God who gives them the words to speak, for all the glory of conversion must be to God’s honor and glory. But God is also bringing them as defenseless sheep, for God must receive the honor of being their Defender and their Avenger.
In Matthew 10:16 we read the instructions that the Lord gave to His 12 disciples when He sent them out two by two to evangelize the nation of Israel. This was just a practice run for the 12. But this is not just a piece of history. The Lord put these words in the Bible to give the church, or better to give us, instructions how to evangelize the world. We are sent into the world as wise men to teach people the true Gospel. We have that privilege, and we should humbly accept this task with gratitude, for it is a great honor to be sent by the Lord Jesus as His ambassador. This is not a burden, but a delightful assignment. We read in Matthew 10:16-17,
Matthew 10:16-17
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Beware, for we are sent as defenseless sheep in the midst of wolves. We must be wise as serpents in this task, which actually means that we must outwit Satan and his demons, who are those serpents. But instead of being harmful as serpents we must be harmless as doves. That we must not be harmful in our speech does not mean that we must avoid speaking about Hell.
Quite the opposite!
We must not be harmful by leaving out some essential ingredients of the Gospel, but we should not be afraid to present the whole counsel of God. Let us not be afraid to bring with us the salt of the Gospel, which represents the judgment of God on sin. Let us remember the words of Colossians 4:6, which says, “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man”.
And let us remember that the prophet Jonah did not leave out God’s judgment on sin, and it pleased the Lord to save many through the hearing of that message. And so our message will be an offense to most people, for we do not aim to please men, who would like to hear that God loves them in spite of their sinful life, but we aim to please God by urging people to repent. This is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, for He preached like John the Baptist preached, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. That is why we read in John 16:2, “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whoso-ever killeth you will think that he doeth God service”.
Yes, this was the response to the messages of the Old Testament prophets, and we should not be surprised if we also meet with opposition from the Devil and all his messengers. The Devil and all his human messengers are in full agreement that the furtherance of the true Gospel must be stopped.
From where shall we experience this persecution?
Is it from the heathen outside the church?
NO!
If the heathen outside the church do not show an interest, they will simply turn a deaf ear. But we should expect persecution from within the church, or from other churches, for it is the worldwide church that is in favor of a watered down gospel, a gospel of good works and love from a god who smiles on all wicked mankind, a gospel that is pleasing to all denominations, a gospel that treats all denominations as brothers and sisters in Christ. And so, when we preach the true Gospel, and we deny that God loves everyone in the whole world, and we deny that Christ suffered and died for everyone in the whole world, we can expect the scorn of the worldwide church, and we can expect their efforts in this age of minimal bloodshed to silence us by any civilized means possible. For throughout the centuries persecution of the true prophets of the Lord has always come from within the church. For example, the prophet Jeremiah was not persecuted by the king of Babylon, but by his own countrymen. Thus, it is this apostate fraction of the church, which is a very large fraction, which is held accountable for persecution and death of the true prophets of the Lord. Only then can we understand the words of the Lord Jesus spoken in the next verse. Please turn again to Matthew 23:35. The Lord Jesus tells us there something very interesting. He speaks there of the blood of Abel, and the blood of all the righteous prophets.
All the Righteous Blood (Matthew 23:35, Numbers 35:33, Romans 8:3, Revelation 18:24, 12:1, Luke 11:51)
Matthew 23:35
That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
The Lord Jesus blames the nation of the Jews of all the righteous blood that was shed upon the earth.
Why was this accusation right?
Well, the nation of the Jews was the church of those days. And it was the church who was responsible for shedding all the righteous people who have been killed. Even righteous Abel was killed by someone from his own church.
Do we realize that Cain and Abel were of the same church?
O Yes!
Cain and Abel were under the same instructions from their parents concerning the worship of God, and they were both verbally addressed by the same God. Abel represented the saved fraction of that church, and Cain represented the unsaved fraction of that church. Abel’s blood not only cried against Cain, but continues today to cry against all that walk in the way of Cain, and hate and persecute others in the church because their works are righteous.
Since man was created in the image of God, God jealously guards the blood of man, for his blood resembles the blood of Christ of which God is very jealous. Therefore, when man is violently killed, God requires that his killing be avenged. We read in:
Numbers 35:33
So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
There are mainly two principles which God brings forth in this verse.
#1. When someone has been murdered, his blood defiles the earth, and God demands that this defilement be cleansed from off the earth.
#2. The only way the earth can be cleansed of the guilt of this murder, is by the execution of the murderer who committed this murder.
In Old Testament times it was the nearest kinsman of the victim who had the task to avenge the murder of his relative.
Can we see that in our country this law has not been obeyed for many years?
Murderers are set free after a few years in jail. Thus the land has been defiled for many years, and God will not leave this sin of the ruling authorities unpunished. However, we also have to see the spiritual side of this rule of law that God gave in Old Testament days.
The word “Kinsman” is identical to the word “Redeemer”. When God sent His only begotten Son into the world He made Him in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3). This is how God made Him our nearest Kinsman, our Redeemer. And when the Devil spiritually murdered us in the Garden of Eden, for we all came into the world dead in trespasses and sins, Christ came as our Redeemer to take vengeance on Satan and all his hosts, including all of Satan’s messengers in human form. Christ will demand their blood, which is another way of saying that He will demand that they must endure the second death, which means to suffer the penalty of forever “dying thou shalt die”.
Historically, in the year 587 BC the Old Testament church was overrun by Babylon, because the Old Testament church had become apostate. The Old Testament church was swallowed up by Babylon. But then the church grew in Babylon and eventually the church was identified with Babylon. Something similar is occurring in New Testament time. The New Testament church is overrun by the Charismatic Movement, which, like Babylon, is a nation of tongue speakers whose tongue they do not understand. And in the process of time this apostacy leads God to compare the apostate church with Babylon. This is the situation God speaks about in Revelation 17 and 18. And then we read something very interesting in Revelation 18:24, where God says, “And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth”.
Can you see that this statement is very similar to what God says in Matthew 23:35?
God repeated this statement of Matthew 23:35 in Luke 11:51, where we read,
Luke 11:50
That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
But since God used almost the same language of condemnation for the church in Jesus’ days as well as for the church in the end times, it proves that it is not only the New Testament church that is labeled Babylon, but the entire faithless church of both Old Testament and New Testament is Babylon the harlot, just as the whole church is “The Woman” in Revelation 12:1.
All the righteous blood that was shed is required of this woman, the church, and Christ is going to be the executioner of the guilty. Then as we continue to read in verse 36, Christ says:
"Verily I Say Unto You" (Matthew 23:34-36)
The Lord Jesus is saying unto the entire nation of the Jews in Matthew 23:36,
Matthew 23:36
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
“All these things”, refers to all these sins listed in verse 34, and all these curses listed in verse 35, shall come upon this generation. The Lord assures us this by the expression that He has used so often: “Verily, verily, I say unto you”; truly, truly, I say unto you; most assuredly I say unto you; most certainly I say unto you that all these sins and all these curses shall come upon this generation.
Is He speaking about the generation of Jews in His days?
Certainly the Lord imputes the sin of their fathers to them, because they imitated it.
Was God waiting because “the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full”?
That is possible, but it is not very likely that this is the meaning of the certainty that the Lord Jesus speaks about.
What is the meaning of “all these things”?
#1. It refers to all these sins listed in verse 34. But all these sins were not committed in the timeframe of one generation. Part of verse 34 is in the future tense. Some of them they shall kill. This could possibly refer to the persecution headed by Saul of Tarsus. But some of them they shall crucify, and we do not read of these crucifixions anywhere in the Bible. Some of them they shall scourge in their synagogues. This could again refer to the persecution headed by Saul of Tarsus. But some of them they shall persecute from city to city. The only one of whom we read that this was done to him was the apostle Paul. Thus we are drawn to believe that this particular generation did not commit all these sins that are listed in verse 34.
#2. All these things refers to all the judgments that will come upon “this generation” for all the righteous blood that was shed upon the earth. We know that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. But this fact is not even recorded in the Bible.
And could the destruction of Jerusalem be the penalty for committing all these murders?
NO!
For the penalty must fit the crime, and the destruction of Jerusalem was far too lenient a penalty for the murders that were imputed to them. We need to understand that physical death, or physical destruction of a city, or physical destruction of a nation, is a far lesser penalty than eternal damnation in Hell. And the penalty for all these murders was certainly damnation in Hell for the majority of them, except for the remnant chosen by grace. But this sentence has not been carried out yet. From Revelation 20 we understand that the Lake of Fire will be populated only after all the unsaved have been arraigned and all their sins have been declared to them, even sins as small as uttering an idle word. Our God is a righteous God, who will not cast anyone into Hell before they have been sentenced.
#3. Since God uses almost the same language of condemnation in Matthew 23:35 and in Revelation 18:24, addressing both the Old Testament church and the New Testament church, we are drawn to believe that the sentence of Matthew 23:35-36 is still in progress. And so, we see that both verse 34 and verse 35 in Matthew 23 are still in progress. God is showing us that the expression “this generation” does not represent one generation, but must be understood differently. Now when we search the Bible we find the expression, “this generation” exactly 20 times in 19 verses. We do not have time to go through all 19 references today. But it is remarkable that all 19 verses point to a coherent understanding of the expression “this generation” that cannot be missed. Let us now look at:
"This Generation" (Genesis 7:1, Psalm 95:10, Matthew 12:41-42, 23:36, 24:34, Luke 11:30, 50-51, 17:25)
Let us now turn our attention to Genesis 7:1. We have here the story of Noah and all those who went with Noah into the ark that he and his sons built. God called Noah righteous, for Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And when 120 years were past for the building of the ark, God commanded Noah to come into the ark, for the time was at hand that God would send a flood that would cover the whole earth. And then we read in Genesis 7:1,
Genesis 7:1
And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
What was the reason why God was destroying all mankind with a flood?
Genesis 6:5 says that God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And so, what then is the meaning of the words “this generation”? It means “this evil generation”. Noah was called righteous, but all the rest of the known world was populated with wicked people.
We will now turn now to the Psalms, Psalm 95:10. The second half of this Psalm is quoted in Hebrews 3. We remember this chapter in Hebrews, for it deals with the stubborn hardening of the hearts of the children of Israel. God ends this Psalm with the words, “Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest”. Together with Hebrews 3 we understand that they were condemned, because they remained in unbelief. We read in Psalm 95:10,
Psalm 95:10
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
What do we find is the meaning of the words, “this generation”?
It means “this evil generation”. Save for a few people of this generation, like Moses and Joshua and Caleb, God calls the majority of this generation an evil generation; a wicked generation.
Now we shall turn to the Gospel According to Matthew, Matthew 12:41, and we have here a passage where the scribes and Pharisees are asking Jesus to perform a sign, so that they can believe that He is the promised Messiah. But the Lord’s answer was that only an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to them. The Lord plainly told them that they were an evil and adulterous generation. Then the Lord says in Matthew 12:41-42,
Matthew 12:41
The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
Matthew 12:42
The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
Two times does the Lord condemn this generation, because they did not believe the preaching of the Lord Jesus. But not only did the generation of Jews at the time of Jesus not believe the true Gospel. All the generations that came after them also did not believe the Gospel as described on the pages of the New Testament.
Therefore, what do we find is the meaning of the words “this generation” in this chapter?
It plainly means “this evil generation of Jews”.
We have already seen the evidence that the words “this generation” do not apply to a single generation of Jews, but to many generations of Jews who will commit the sins of verse 34. We read in:
Matthew 23:36
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
What is the meaning here of the words, “this generation”?
It plainly means “this evil generation of Jews”.
Except for a remnant chosen by grace they are an evil and adulterous generation that stubbornly refuses to believe the prophets and wise men that God sends to them. In Matthew 24 the Lord Jesus was giving prophecies concerning the end of time, which is also known as the Olivet Discourse. And then He says in Matthew 24:34,
Matthew 24:34
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Now here we can clearly see that the words, “this generation” do not refer to one single generation, for since the Lord spoke the words of this passage many generations have passed.
What do we find the words, “this generation” means?
It means “this evil generation of Jews”. Now, this conclusion is of great importance in determining the correct eschatology, for here the Lord Jesus says that the nation of evil unbelieving Jews shall continue until the end of time. There will not be a Jewish age where all the blood descendants of Jacob shall repent and turn to Christ. It shall not come to pass, for we read in John 1:13, “Not of blood”. Those that are to be born from above are not chosen because they are of the right bloodline, for God is not a respecter of persons.
The Lord Jesus was not speaking to the scribes and Pharisees in particular. When the people were gathered together “He began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet”. He called the people He was preaching to an evil generation.
Who were those people?
They were primarily Jews who wanted to hear Him. We read in Luke 11:30,
Luke 11:30
For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
How do we understand the words “this generation”?
We should read this as “this evil generation of Jews”. Even unto the present day this evil generation of Jews shall not believe, for they are an evil and adulterous generation that seeks for signs. Please drop down to verse 50 in this chapter. There we read
Luke 11:50-51
That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
How should we understand the words “this generation”? We should read this as “this evil generation of Jews” which continues until the present time, for they are the representatives of the Old Testament church.
In Luke 17:25 the Lord Jesus speaks here about end time events. But then He calms their fears. Paraphrased He says, “Those days are not upon us yet, for first must the Son of man be crucified”. We read in Luke 17:25,
Luke 17:25
But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
How do we understand the words “this generation”?
We should read this as “this evil generation of Jews”. Christ must first suffer many things and be rejected of this evil generation of Jews, and be crucified. Only then shall we watch for end time events. And so we have seen in 10 examples of the words “this generation” that, except in the case of Noah, it means “this evil generation of Jews”. If you search for the other 10 cases where the combination “this generation” occurs, you will see that the meaning is always, “this evil generation of Jews”. But let us be clear about one thing: The entire human race can be called “this evil generation”, for this evil nature is not reserved for the Jews only. We all came into the world as messengers of Satan, and we all were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. So, let us not look down our noses to the Jews, for we too before our salvation belonged to that evil generation. It is only by God’s grace that He took some of us out of that predicament of being on a slippery slide into Hell. He saved us by His grace, through the cross of Christ, not by our act of believing, but by giving us the faith to believe the whole Bible.
In Genesis it can appear as if God was concerned only with the physical descendants of Abraham. But it was God’s plan all along to evangelize the whole world, not just a focus on the nation of Israel. And the gospel according to Matthew is very helpful in making it abundantly clear that God’s emphasis is on the remnant chosen by grace out of all the nations of the world, and not just out of Israel. In fact, it is clear that in the New Testament time God is done with the nation of Israel as a special nation before Him. Let us now continue with Matthew 23:37.
How Often Would I Have Gathered You (Matthew 23:37, 20:16, 22:14, John 6:44, Hebrews 2:2)
Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
What are we seeing here?
What picture of God do we get from this verse?
Is He a God who would like to save these people in Jerusalem, but He was not able, because they would not want to listen to the prophets?
Is God not able to do something that He wants to do?
Does this look at all like the God whom we serve?
How does God save people?
Does God wait until we listen to the prophets and then He saves us?
Does God not save through election?
And indeed, the Bible says in many places that the Father draws to Jesus those whom He chose to save. We must always remember the words of John 6:44, “No man CAN come to me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him”.
How then are we to understand the words of Matthew 23:37?
Let us now look at this verse from another angle. The Lord Jesus said, “how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not”. Let us look at this verse from the point of view of “how often?”
Does God address the whole human race with the Gospel of salvation?
Indeed, God does that, for we read both in Matthew 20:16 and in Matthew 22:14, “Many are called, but few are chosen”. The Gospel call goes out into all the world. To all the people of the world the Lord says, “how often would I have gathered thy children together, but ye would not”.
In fact, there is no one in the whole wide world who would like to come to the Lord Jesus, No Not One. This is the truth that God declares in the Bible. The only reason someone would want to come to the Lord Jesus is because the Father draws him. Our God is sovereign, and our God is not a servant of men. Our God saves whom He will, and the names of the people He intends to save have been selected by the Father and have already been inscribed into the mind of the Second Person of the Triune God before the foundation of the world.
The Father chose a Bride for His Son; what is so bad about that?
And the Son volunteered to cleanse His Bride before He would take her into God’s holy heaven. This He did on the cross of Calvary. To this end God the Holy Spirit made all the arrangements before this event and after. And thus, God has an active part in the lives of all people in the world. But people sin voluntarily. And thus, when we read in Matthew 23:37, “and ye would not” it tells us that people in their arrogant attitude toward God and toward His future judgment have voluntarily chosen to ignore the God of the Bible.
What is the price people pay when they are turning down God’s call to salvation?
They are willingly ignorant of the fact that God has written in Hebrews 2:3, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation”. They shall not escape, for they have sinned voluntarily.
"Behold, Your House Is Made Desolate" (Matthew 23:38-39, Romans 11:25)
Matthew 23:38-39
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Behold, look and see, if you have eyes you can observe it; “your house is left unto you desolate”. To all the unsaved paraphrased the Lord says, “Look and see, your spiritual house is left unto you desolate. Your spiritual life is in ruins. Your desire for the Lord who made you is less and less every day. Your desire for worldly things is growing greater every day. And what shall become of you in your old age when all this material wealth shall be taken away?” And to the nation of the Jews paraphrased the Lord says, “Look and see, your spiritual house is left unto you desolate.Your city Jerusalem has been destroyed, the countryside has been made a waste, your people have been scattered over all the nations of the world, but you have still not returned unto Me. What else can I show that your house is left unto you desolate? And how long shall this desolate condition prevail? Paraphrased God says in Rom 11:25, “until the end of time”. We read in Romans 11:25,
Romans 11:25
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Until the fullness of the Gentiles have come in does not mean that every Gentile will be saved, but that everyone of the remnant from the Gentiles has been saved.
And when will that be?
It will be when the Last Day has arrived, for when the last of the elect will have been saved, then shall the end come. When this Gospel will have been preached into all the nations of the world, and when a remnant of both Jews and Gentiles shall have been drawn to hear and believe the Gospel, then shall the end come. And what a glorious day that will be when we see Jesus on the clouds of glory, and we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and we shall be joined to Him in our new glorified body. It is then that we shall say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”.
AMEN.
By Alfred Chompff
Monday, April 28, 2008
CAN WE KNOW WHO THE NON-ELECT ARE?
God summons the elect usually through the preaching of the gospel. Now, Christians do not first learn the identities of the elect, and then proceed to preach the gospel only to them. Rather, they preach the gospel "to all creation,"
and
"Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:15-16).
Therefore, whether it is in the form of public oration, private conversation, written literature, or other means, the preaching or presentation of the gospel goes forth to both the elect and the non-elect. The elect will come to faith; the non-elect will either reject the gospel, or produce a temporary and false profession of faith.
Because of this, theologians distinguish between the OUTWARD CALLING and the INWARD CALLING. The outward calling refers to the preaching of the gospel by human beings, and is presented to both the elect and the non-elect. On the other hand, the inward or effectual calling is a work of God accompanying the outward calling to cause the elect to come to faith in Christ.
The preaching of the gospel appears to everyone as an outward calling, but it also comes as an inward summons to the elect. The outward calling is produced by human beings, but the inward calling is solely a work of God and occurs only to the elect. The inward calling is usually concurrent with the outward calling. In other words, many people may hear the gospel in a given situation, but God will cause only the elect to believe what is preached, while he hardens the non-elect against it.
Matthew 22:14 says, "For many are invited, but few are chosen." The word "invited" in this verse may be translated "called," as many other translations have it. Many are indeed "invited" in that they hear the outward call of the gospel, but only a few are among God's elect, and therefore genuine and permanent professions of faith only come from the latter group.
By Vincent Cheung
Sunday, March 02, 2008
THE MEANING OF "KOSMOS" IN JOHN 3:16
It may appear to some of our readers that the exposition we have given of John 3:16 in the chapter on "Difficulties and Objections" is a forced and unnatural one, inasmuch as our definition of the term "world" seems to be out of harmony with the meaning and scope of this word in other passages, where, to supply the world of believers (God's elect) as a definition of "world" would make no sense. Many have said to us, "Surely, 'world' means world, that is, you, me, and everybody." In reply we would say: We know from experience how difficult it is to set aside the "traditions of men" and come to a passage which we have heard explained in a certain way scores of times, and study it carefully for ourselves without bias Nevertheless, this is essential if we would learn the mind of God.
Many people suppose they already know the simple meaning of John 3:16, and therefore they conclude that no diligent study is required of them to discover the precise teaching of this verse. Needless to say, such an attitude shuts out any further light which they otherwise might obtain on the passage. Yet, if anyone will take a Concordance and read carefully the various passages in which the term "world" (as a translation of "kosmos") occurs, he will quickly perceive that to ascertain the precise meaning of, the word "world" in any given passage is not nearly so easy as is popularly supposed. The word "kosmos," and its English equivalent "world," is not used with a uniform significance in the New Testament. Very far from it. It is used in quite a number of different ways. Below we will refer to a few passages where this term occurs, suggesting a tentative definition in each case:
1 "Kosmos" is used of the Universe as a whole: Acts 17: 24 - "God that made the world and all things therein seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth."
2 "Kosmos" is used of the earth: John 13:1; Ephesians 1:4, etc., etc.- "When Jesus knew that his hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world He loved them unto the end."
"Depart out of this world" signifies, leave this earth.
"According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world." This expression signifies, before the earth was founded -- compare Job 38:4 etc.
3 "Kosmos" is used of the world-system: John 12:31 etc. "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the Prince of this world be cast out" -- compare Matthew 4:8 and 1 John 5:19, R. V.
4 "Kosmos" is used of the whole human race: Romans 3:19, etc.-- "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God."
5 "Kosmos" is used of humanity minus believers: John 15:18; Romans 3:6 "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you." Believers do not "hate" Christ, so that "the world" here must signify the world of un-believers in contrast from believers who love Christ. "God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world." Here is another passage where "the world" cannot mean "you, me, and everybody," for believers will not be "judged" by God, see John 5:24. So that here, too, it must be the world of un-believers which is in view.
6 "Kosmos" is used of Gentiles in contrast from Jews: Romans 11:12 etc. "Now if the fall of them (Israel) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them (Israel) the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their (Israel's) fulness." Note how the first clause in italics is defined by the latter clause placed in italics. Here, again, "the world" cannot signify all humanity for it excludes Israel!
7 "Kosmos" is used of believers only: John 1:29; 3:16-17; 6:33; 12;47; 1 Corinthians 4:9; 2 Corinthians 5:19. We leave our readers to turn to these passages, asking them to note, carefully, exactly what is said and predicated of "the world" in each place.
Thus it will be seen that "kosmos" has at least seven clearly defined different meanings in the New Testament.
It may be asked, Has then God used a word thus to confuse and confound those who read the Scriptures?
We answer, No! nor has He written His Word for lazy people who are too dilitary, or too busy with the things of this world, or, like Martha, so much occupied with "serving," they have no time and no heart to "search" and "study" Holy Writ!
Should it be asked further, But how is a searcher of the Scriptures to know which of the above meanings the term "world" has in any given passage?
The answer is: This may be ascertained by a careful study of the context, by diligently noting what is predicated of "the world" in each passage, and by prayer fully consulting other parallel passages to the one being studied. The principal subject of John 3:16 is Christ as the Gift of God. The first clause tells us what moved God to "give" His only begotten Son, and that was His great "love;" the second clause informs us for whom God "gave" His Son, and that is for, "whosoever (or, better, 'every one') believeth;" while the last clause makes known why God "gave" His Son (His purpose), and that is, that everyone that believeth "should not perish but have everlasting life."
That "the world" in John 3:16 refers to the world of believers (God's elect), in contradistinction from "the world of the ungodly" (2 Peter 2:5), is established, unequivocally established, by a comparison of the other passages which speak of God's "love."
"God commendeth His love toward US" -- the saints, Romans 5:8.
"Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth" -- every son, Hebrews 12:6.
"We love Him, because He first loved US" -- believers, 1 John 4:19.
The wicked God "pities" (see Matthew 18:33). Unto the unthankful and evil God is "kind" (see Luke 6:35). The vessels of wrath He endures "with much long-suffering" (see Romans 9:22). But "His own" God "loves"!!
By A.W. Pink
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
REMARRIAGE AND MATTHEW 19:9
1. Marriage is the "one flesh" union between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24) "until death us do part" (Romans 7:2-3; 1 Corinthians 7:39) such that remarriage when one's spouse is living is adultery (Matthew 5:32; Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18; Romans 7:2-3) This is also the position of the historic Christian church for its first 1500 years or so with barely a dissenting voice. It is the traditional view of Anglicanism and the Brethren, as well as that of the Protestant Reformed Churches (in America, Canada, N. Ireland and the Philippines) and many within the Dutch Reformed. It is also the conviction of people within Presbyterian, Congregationalist, Baptist and other churches.
2. Matthew 19:9 is the only biblical verse which could, if taken all by itself, allow for the remarriage of the "innocent party" while his or her spouse is still living. However, this interpretation of the text is ruled out by the following three considerations.
a. It would contradict many other clear passages in the Word of God:
... whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery (Matthew 5:32).
Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery (Mark 10:11-12).
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery (Luke 16:18).
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man (Romans 7:2-3).
And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife (1 Corinthians 7:10-11).
The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord (1 Corinthians 7:39).
b. It does not fit with the context. I have never heard anyone respond to the teaching that the "innocent party" may remarry while his or her spouse is still living as the disciples immediately did to Christ’s teaching: "If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry" (Matthew 19:10).
The position that there is no remarriage (even for the "innocent party") while his or her spouse is living frequently draws forth this cry. Similarly, Christ’s reply to the disciples’ protest makes perfect sense with the doctrine that no one may remarry while their spouse is living but not with the view that the "innocent party" may remarry while his or her spouse is living. Jesus states, "... there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake" (Matthew 19:12). The Son of God points to divine illumination as enabling one to "receive" His teaching: "But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given ... He that is able to receive it, let him receive it" (vv. 11-12). This explains why some have difficulty accepting this truth of God's Word. This is especially the case today for ours is an "adulterous generation" (Matthew 12:39; 16:4) like that which followed the scribes and Pharisees in the first century, many of whom taught "no fault divorce" (Matthew 5:31-32; 19:3-9).
c. It is excluded by 1 Corinthians 7:10-11, where the Apostle Paul summarizes and states the teaching of Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry: "And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband ..." Inspired Scripture here teaches two, and only two, options for a divorced woman (or man):
(1) remain unmarried or
(2) be reconciled to your spouse.
No third option, remarriage, is mentioned. Faithful to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5, Mark 10, Luke 16, and Matthew 19, Paul does not give permission to remarry while one’s spouse is living.
Thus the exception clause ("except it be for fornication") is not an exception enabling remarriage (while one’s spouse is living) but an exception permitting divorce (after which clause it is added): "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery" (Matthew 19:9).
3. The unbreakable bond of marriage is biblical teaching, laid down by God at creation (Genesis 2:24), declared by the Old Testament prophets (Malachi 2:10-16), and reaffirmed by Christ (Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18) and the New Testament apostles (Romans 7:2-3; 1 Corinthians 7:39). It is a picture of the "great mystery" of the union of Christ and His elect church (Ephesians 5:32).
By Angus Stewart
Monday, October 15, 2007
IS SALVATION BY BOTH GRACE AND BY WORKS?
“Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” (Romans 11:5-6)
A man was arguing with a Gospel preacher about this matter of faith and works. “I think that getting to heaven is like rowing a boat,” he said. “One oar is faith, and the other is works. If you use both, you get there. If you use only one, you go around in circles.”
‘’There is only one thing wrong with your illustration,” replied the preacher. “Going to heaven is not a matter of rowing a boat. Nobody is going to heaven in a rowboat! Going to heaven is by getting on the ark, and that ark is Christ.” The preacher continued, “Besides, “There is only one ‘good work’ that takes a sinner to heaven -- the finished work of Christ on the cross” (John 17:1-4; 19:30; Hebrews 10:11-14).
Sunday, September 02, 2007
WHY PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE?
If God the Father has predestined only a limited number to be saved, if God the Son died to redeem only those given to Him by the Father, and if God the Spirit quickens only God's elect, then what is the use of giving the Gospel to the world at large, and where is the warrant for telling sinners that "Whosever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life?"
First, it is of great importance that we should be clear on the Gospel itself. The Gospel is God's good news concerning Christ, and not concerning sinners, Romans 1:1,3. It is God's purpose to proclaim far and wide the truth that His own Son became "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The Gospel is God's witness of the glorious person and work of Christ in having saved sinners by His blood and righteousness.
Second, repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be preached in the name of the Lord Jesus "unto all nations." In time, the Spirit of God regenerates all that God has chosen to save in Christ, and will cause their path to cross with the faithful Gospel message. They must hear the Gospel, and believe it, before they can rejoice in the knowledge of sins forgiven at the cross. The Gospel is God's winnowing fan: it separates the chaff from the wheat, and gathers the latter into the silo.
Third, it is sufficient for us to know that God commands us to preach the Gospel to every creature. It is not for us to reason about the consistency between this and the fact that "few are chosen" It is for us to obey. Those in whom He has revealed Christ in truth will desire to proclaim Him to a lost world, know that God will bless it to the calling out of every one whom He purposed to save from eternity.
By Ken Wimer
SHOULD WE MAKE AN ISSUE OF THE GOSPEL OF GRACE?
Absolutely! There is no other Gospel than the Gospel of Grace. The message of Scripture is clear on this, "For by grace, are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8,9).
There are three reasons why we must preach the Gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, and make an issue of it.
1. Because it is the only message God has ordained for His true servants to preach - Acts 13:38,39. To preach any other message is to depart from the doctrine of Christ, dishonor God, and damn souls to hell by giving them a false refuge and hope, 2 John 9
2. Because it is the only means that God has ordained to reveal to sinners lost in darkness that Christ has fully accomplished all the requirements of God's justice in the salvation of sinners, 1 Corinthians 1:18,21-24. Some say that preaching Sovereign Grace kills evangelism. It is true that it will kill modern day methods of evangelism. The question that we need to ask is not, "What will you do with Jesus?" It is rather, "What will the Sovereign Christ do with me?" The Gospel of Grace answers precisely that question. He has come to save a people, whom God the Father gave Him from all eternity, Matthew 1:21. He laid down His life to redeem His people, and justify them before God the Father, Hebrews 9:12, 14,15.
3. Because it is the only way of truly glorifying God and exalting Christ - 1 Corinthians 1:30,31. God will not share His glory with another.
A look back in history clearly demonstrates that God has always blessed the clear, decisive, preaching of the Gospel. Wherever the Gospel has made headway in any nation, it has been through God's servants going and preaching a distinct, doctrinal message of sovereign grace. It is to tell men plainly of Christ's vicarious death, telling them of complete justification through the righteous obedience and expiatory death of the Lord Jesus to which His people submit by faith, and bidding them believe on the crucified Savior; by preaching ruin by sin, redemption by Christ, regeneration by the Spirit. Without this clear evangelical doctrine, there is no evangelism.
By Ken Wimer
There are three reasons why we must preach the Gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, and make an issue of it.
1. Because it is the only message God has ordained for His true servants to preach - Acts 13:38,39. To preach any other message is to depart from the doctrine of Christ, dishonor God, and damn souls to hell by giving them a false refuge and hope, 2 John 9
2. Because it is the only means that God has ordained to reveal to sinners lost in darkness that Christ has fully accomplished all the requirements of God's justice in the salvation of sinners, 1 Corinthians 1:18,21-24. Some say that preaching Sovereign Grace kills evangelism. It is true that it will kill modern day methods of evangelism. The question that we need to ask is not, "What will you do with Jesus?" It is rather, "What will the Sovereign Christ do with me?" The Gospel of Grace answers precisely that question. He has come to save a people, whom God the Father gave Him from all eternity, Matthew 1:21. He laid down His life to redeem His people, and justify them before God the Father, Hebrews 9:12, 14,15.
3. Because it is the only way of truly glorifying God and exalting Christ - 1 Corinthians 1:30,31. God will not share His glory with another.
A look back in history clearly demonstrates that God has always blessed the clear, decisive, preaching of the Gospel. Wherever the Gospel has made headway in any nation, it has been through God's servants going and preaching a distinct, doctrinal message of sovereign grace. It is to tell men plainly of Christ's vicarious death, telling them of complete justification through the righteous obedience and expiatory death of the Lord Jesus to which His people submit by faith, and bidding them believe on the crucified Savior; by preaching ruin by sin, redemption by Christ, regeneration by the Spirit. Without this clear evangelical doctrine, there is no evangelism.
By Ken Wimer
DOES MAN HAVE A FREE-WILL?
What distinguishes people from animals is that people have wills. They can think, make choices, and act upon those choices. The problem is that their will is not free. It is bound by the sin nature inherited from Adam.
1. When God first created Adam, he had free-will either to good or evil, Genesis 1:31
2. When Adam disobeyed, sin entered, and death (physically and spiritually) was passed upon all men in him, Romans 5:12. Since that time, all who are born into this world are sinners from birth, Psalm 58:13
3. Since Adam's fall, all who are born are free to evil, but not to good. This is proven in the Fall itself. Here are some points to ponder on this subject.
-If man, in the Fall, lost his free-will to good, then it cannot be found in the fallen estate.
-If conversion is a new creation, then fallen sinners have no free-will to good. Creation is a production of something out of nothing. This means that there is nothing good in man for God to work with. He simply creates him anew.
-Conversion is the result of new birth. We cannot birth ourselves. This is why the Scriptures speak of the new birth as being born from above, (John 3:3). God must give him birth, because man has no will of his own to come to God, John 6:44.
-Conversion is the raising of one who is dead in sin. It is a spiritual resurrection, John 5:25. If man had a will to come to God himself, such a work of God would not be required. Yet the Scriptures teach that it takes the same power of God that raised Christ from the dead, to raise dead sinners, (Ephesians 1:19,20).
The sum of all this is that God must bring sinners to Christ, through the preaching of the Gospel, and the Almighty work of the Spirit. He takes sinners who are dead in their sins, and brings them irresistibly and willingly, although their natural will is inclined to oppose.
By Ken Wimer
1. When God first created Adam, he had free-will either to good or evil, Genesis 1:31
2. When Adam disobeyed, sin entered, and death (physically and spiritually) was passed upon all men in him, Romans 5:12. Since that time, all who are born into this world are sinners from birth, Psalm 58:13
3. Since Adam's fall, all who are born are free to evil, but not to good. This is proven in the Fall itself. Here are some points to ponder on this subject.
-If man, in the Fall, lost his free-will to good, then it cannot be found in the fallen estate.
-If conversion is a new creation, then fallen sinners have no free-will to good. Creation is a production of something out of nothing. This means that there is nothing good in man for God to work with. He simply creates him anew.
-Conversion is the result of new birth. We cannot birth ourselves. This is why the Scriptures speak of the new birth as being born from above, (John 3:3). God must give him birth, because man has no will of his own to come to God, John 6:44.
-Conversion is the raising of one who is dead in sin. It is a spiritual resurrection, John 5:25. If man had a will to come to God himself, such a work of God would not be required. Yet the Scriptures teach that it takes the same power of God that raised Christ from the dead, to raise dead sinners, (Ephesians 1:19,20).
The sum of all this is that God must bring sinners to Christ, through the preaching of the Gospel, and the Almighty work of the Spirit. He takes sinners who are dead in their sins, and brings them irresistibly and willingly, although their natural will is inclined to oppose.
By Ken Wimer
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF 'TULIP'?
There is no certainty as to the origin of the acronym 'TULIP.' This is of English origin and is a label for the declaration of faith made by Synod of Dordt, mentioned later in this article. To properly understand the development of what are called the "Five Points of Calvinism," or "TULIP," it is important to see its development in the overall history of Europe beginning in the 16th century.
The state of the religion during the close of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century in Europe, even as today, was one of complete darkness. There was a lot of pomp and outward show, but few places of true worship where the Gospel was faithful preached except for pockets of believers meeting together outside organized religion. Beautiful church buildings had been erected in the Middle Ages, but within these buildings the truth of God's grace in Christ Jesus was not preached.
In this darkness, what has been called the Reformation began with men known as Reformers. Martin Luther in Germany nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg in 1517. Ulrich Zwingli led the Reformation movement in the northern part of Switzerland, and ultimately died in a civil war when Catholics invaded the canton of Zurich in 1531. John Calvin wrote his Institutes in France and dedicated them to the king of France hoping that it would convince him that the persecution of those who were part of the Reformation was wrong. He later fled to Switzerland in 1535. After Luther's death in 1536, all who had become convinced of the errors of the Roman Catholic Church looked to Calvin for guidance and instruction. The problem with these men is that they took truth from the Scripture and endeavored to preach it in order to reform the Church, rather than see themselves and their congregations as lost and in need of complete transformation rather than reformation. Like so many, they tried to put new wine in old wine skins.
The term Calvinism comes out of the seventeenth century, largely in opposition to the teachings of Arminius, a Dutch theolgian who was educated at Leyden, Basle, and Geneva. He went to Amsterdam to serve as minister of the Reformed congregation (1588). Holland had become a center of Calvinism during the sixteenth century, but during his fifteen years as pastor, Arminius came to question some of the teachings of Calvinism. Disputes arose, and he left the pastorate and became professor of theology at the University of Leyden. The conflict continued until it divided the student body as well as the ministers in the Reformed Church.
Within a year after the death of Arminius, his followers issued the Remonstrance of 1610 that outlines the system known as Arminianism. The major points of departure were that
1. The decree of salvation applies to all, and that one must believe to make it effectual for oneself.
2. Christ died for all men without exception.
3. The Holy Spirit helps sinners do what they should (such as having faith in Christ). However, men must work it out themselves.
4. God's saving grace is resistible. 5. It is possible for those who are Christians to fall from grace.
"Calvinism" is largely derived from Calvin's writings and expositions of Scripture. John Calvin himself would not have used the term "Calvinism" , but his followers did in an effort to combat Arminianism. It is a shame today that what is preached as the true Gospel is often branded as Calvinism as a defense against having to deal with the truth. People would rather say, 'O! That's Calvinism," rather than admit that what they are really fighting is THE GOSPEL!
While this system of thought was made explicit by Calvin in his writings, it was further elaborated in the latter part of the sixteenth century, and partially summarized in the Canons of the Synod of Dort (1618), almost 50 years after his death; and nine years after the death of Arminius. Each of the five points of Calvinism under the acronym TULIP is in answer to the five points of Arminianism.
TOTAL DEPRAVITY
All people are totally contaminated by sin and corrupt in everything the say, do, or think. They do not possess a free will because they are bound by their sin nature and spiritually dead, blind, and deaf in the things of God - The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, 1 Corinthians 2:14.
UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
God chose many sinners to salvation by His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He chose those whom He will save, of His free will and sovereign purpose, even before He created the world. His choice was not conditioned on anything in sinners, but entirely on the Son of God as the Lamb slain before the world's foundation. "predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will." Ephesians 1:11.
LIMITED ATONEMENT
Christ died only for those whom the Father gave Him to save. If Christ died for all, then all would be saved. Since God purposed only to save the elect, then Christ died only for them. The blood of Christ is infinitely sufficient to atone for all, but Christ died to save no more than the number that the Father ordained to salvation. "I know my sheep and am known of mine...and I lay down my life for the sheep." John 10:14,15
IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
God acts in sovereign grace in such a way that the elect will find Christ irresistible. God does not forcibly bring sinners to His Son, but rather, gives them life and draws them irresistibly to Him. "No man can come to me, except the Father draw him," (John 6:44). "All that the Father gives me shall come to me!" (John 6:37).
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
The redeemed of God will surely persevere because He has given them His promise that no creature can take them away from Him (including themselves). "For the Lord...forsaketh not His saints, the are preserved forever." Psalm 37:28
By Ken Wimer
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
QUESTION 21 - CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT HELL IS, WHERE IT IS AND WHO GOES THERE?
Question: Can you describe hell?
Answer: Hell is eternal damnation. Hell is most terrible and most awful and the thought of it should strike terror in our hearts. The Bible uses many different phrases and sentences in order to give us an idea of the awfulness of hell.
No one has ever been in the place called hell (gehanna) because it has not yet come into existence. The Bible is our guide, and God speaks of hell as a lake of fire, a place of outer darkness, a place where the worm does not die, and where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Read Deuteronomy 28, from verse 15 to the end of the chapter, and you will see expression after expression of things that happen on this earth which are used to develop a picture of the awfulness of hell. Hell is the reason why we are so eager to share the Gospel. The only antidote for hell is the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot be happier than when someone becomes saved.
Question: Can you give some verses to prove that if someone remains unsaved, there is no hope for him, and he will go to hell?
Answer: This is a terrible truth, and we might not like it, but it is true, and that is why the Bible says in Hebrews 2:3:
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him.
We read in Hebrews 9:27:
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.
So, judgment and hell are altogether certain for the unsaved.
God is talking about the end of the world in John 5:28-29, where we read:
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
The only people who have done good in God’s sight are those who have received the righteousness of Christ; while they were still living on earth, they became saved.
It is an awful thing to contemplate, but if we die unsaved, there is no hope and no possibility of salvation.
God gives us the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. The rich man died and was in hell, and he asked Abraham to send a drop of water to cool his tongue. Abraham said there is a great chasm, and he could not send anyone. This is a dramatic picture of someone who hopes there might be a little mercy or a little Gospel after he dies, but there is none. If he dies unsaved, hell is a certainty.
These verses are God’s Word to us, and we better listen very carefully. In our finite minds, which are very tiny compared with the infinite wisdom of God, we do not like what the Bible says, and we decide that there must be another way. Then, we try to design our own plan and that means we are not listening to God.
Frankly, I would not trust my mind for anything. I can trust only what God has to say in His Word, the Bible.
Question: Will you comment on Luke 12:47-48?
Answer: There we read:
And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
Salvation is a gift. The same gift of eternal life is given to every believer. Hell is payment for sin.
We read in Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The punishment has to be in proportion to the sin. Any sin is sufficient to put us in hell, and hell is enormously terrible even at best. Those who have known the Gospel, for example, and they have knowledge of the will of God and the law of God, are more guilty, and they will be punished more than those who have never heard the Gospel. Thus, there are different degrees of punishment, but even the least punishment is super, super terrible.
There is no comfort in this. God underscores that sin brings payment, which is enduring the wrath of God.
Question: Where is hell located?
Answer: Hell is the condition of being under the wrath of God.
On the last day, there will be an official arraignment, an official trial, of all the peoples of the world to discover if they have sinned. Of course, everyone who stands for trial will be found guilty of sin, and then they must endure the wrath of God forever.
But God has other plans for this present universe. It is going to be destroyed by fire and re-created a new universe, a new heaven and a new earth, where Christ will dwell eternally with all the believers, which means He has to find another place for the unsaved who are under the wrath of God forever. Wherever that is, we do not know. God has to make that place, and it will be called hell forever.
Hell will be outside the new heaven and the new earth. The unsaved can never have identification with the new heavens and the new earth. Hell will be a place of super-terrible torment. The language of hell is ugly.
We read in Revelation 14:11:
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night.
Matthew 8:12 tells us:
But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness [hell]: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
God speaks of hell as a lake of fire in Revelation 20:10:
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Question: Does the word “hell” mean “grave”?
Answer: The word “hell” in the original Hebrew of the Old Testament and the original Greek of the New Testament can mean the “grave,” but the definition depends on the context. If the context is about something that is for evermore, then it is talking about being under the wrath of God forever in hell.
Hell is also called “a lake of fire” (Revelation Chapters 19 and 20), a place of “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12, Matthew 22:13, Matthew 25:30), and a place where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30, Luke 13:28).
The Bible also talks about the “grave,” and normally, the context will indicate which word is in view, but, occasionally, the usage and the context of the word do not tell us whether God is talking about the grave or eternal damnation.
We know that the grave is associated with hell in the sense that if we die unsaved, we will be resurrected to stand for judgment, and we will be cast into hell. Thus, there is a very intimate relationship between the grave and hell.
When unbelievers die before this great judgement they go down to the pit, which is what the bible calls a place of silence.
QUESTION 20 - WHO ARE THE 2 WITNESSES WE READ ABOUT IN REVELATION 11?
Question: Who are the 2 witnesses we read about in revelation 11?
Answer:
We read in Revelation 11:3-6
"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophesy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will."
The two witnesses are the Elect who share the Word of God to the world.
This is a common theme in Scripture. Anyone who is the Elect is automatically made a prophet for God (they are given the task to declare the Gospel of Christ.
And we know that the Gospel of Christ is found in the Bible. God planned this from the start, knowing that in the latter days the Bible would give today's prophets more information and could be used for teaching the masses. So the Elect (the 2 Witnesses), are mandated to send the Gospel out into the world. This was prophesied first in Joel and then in the book of Acts.
God tells us that He would pour out his Spirit on His servants and his handmaidens and they would in turn prophesy. And God has used the number 2 many times in Scripture to show this is His purpose for sending out His Gospel (remember the seventy that were sent out by twos).
QUESTION 19 -
Question: Is it OK for a woman to preach in a church? Also, what about women evangelists? What about Deborah in the Old Testament?
Answer: It is not OK for a woman to preach in a church.
1 Corinthians 14:34 says:
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
This teaches that when the whole congregation comes together, women are to be silent.
1 Timothy 2:11-12 declares:
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
The matter of women preaching, women elders, and women deacons, is all a violation of the Word of God, and it indicates the rebellion that is in the churches against the authority of the Scriptures.
The same is true for women evangelists; women are not to preach to or teach men. A woman missionary can be a translator for a Bible translator organization, that is, translate from one language to another, or teach women of a different culture, but women are not to lead a Bible study that includes men, and women are not to preach in the congregation.
We read in Judges 4 and 5 that Deborah was an Old Testament judge; we read in 2 Kings 22 that Huldah was a prophetess; and Anna came into the temple and made declarations, according to Luke 2; there are maybe half a dozen examples like these in the Bible. This is true even though every apostle was a man, every prophet with these few exceptions was a man, every priest with no exceptions was a man, and so to set the record straight and make sure there was no misunderstanding, God clearly states in 1 Corinthians 14 that women are to be silent in the congregation.
God had His own reasons for making those exceptions, for example, in the days of the judges, there was a lot of rebellion against God, but when God commanded the assault on the Philistines, Deborah would not go unless Barak the king went with her.
Answer: It is not OK for a woman to preach in a church.
1 Corinthians 14:34 says:
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
This teaches that when the whole congregation comes together, women are to be silent.
1 Timothy 2:11-12 declares:
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
The matter of women preaching, women elders, and women deacons, is all a violation of the Word of God, and it indicates the rebellion that is in the churches against the authority of the Scriptures.
The same is true for women evangelists; women are not to preach to or teach men. A woman missionary can be a translator for a Bible translator organization, that is, translate from one language to another, or teach women of a different culture, but women are not to lead a Bible study that includes men, and women are not to preach in the congregation.
We read in Judges 4 and 5 that Deborah was an Old Testament judge; we read in 2 Kings 22 that Huldah was a prophetess; and Anna came into the temple and made declarations, according to Luke 2; there are maybe half a dozen examples like these in the Bible. This is true even though every apostle was a man, every prophet with these few exceptions was a man, every priest with no exceptions was a man, and so to set the record straight and make sure there was no misunderstanding, God clearly states in 1 Corinthians 14 that women are to be silent in the congregation.
God had His own reasons for making those exceptions, for example, in the days of the judges, there was a lot of rebellion against God, but when God commanded the assault on the Philistines, Deborah would not go unless Barak the king went with her.
QUESTION 18 - DOES WATER BAPTISM SAVE?
Question: If you are baptized, does that mean you are saved?
Answer: No.
Water baptism does not initiate salvation, and it does not guarantee salvation. Water baptism in itself has no spiritual substance. Water baptism is a sign or a shadow that points to the washing that has occured in the person's life, that is, the washing away of our sins, and only God can wash away our sins.
Water baptism is simply washing away some dirt off the skin. It is a sign that points to spiritual baptism, but it is not a condition for salvation.
Answer: No.
Water baptism does not initiate salvation, and it does not guarantee salvation. Water baptism in itself has no spiritual substance. Water baptism is a sign or a shadow that points to the washing that has occured in the person's life, that is, the washing away of our sins, and only God can wash away our sins.
Water baptism is simply washing away some dirt off the skin. It is a sign that points to spiritual baptism, but it is not a condition for salvation.
QUESTION 15 - WAS SATAN BOUND AT THE CROSS?
Question: Could you elaborate a little on why you think that Satan was bound for a thousand years at the cross?
Answer: When we search the Bible for references to the binding of Satan, we find, for example, in Matthew 12:29, that Jesus says of the strongman who is Satan:Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil [or plunder] his house.
How is his house plundered?
As we bring the Gospel, the people who become saved are taken out of Satan's dominion.
In the Book of Jude, we read in verse 6:
And the angels [Satan is a fallen angel] which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.In other words, something happened to the fallen angels before the Book of Jude was written. Moreover, in 2 Peter 2:4 we read of another past judgment:
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.
Whatever happened to these angels was an accomplished fact when 2 Peter was written, which was a few decades after the cross. Thus, we know that something happened at the cross.
In the matter of salvation, before the time of the cross, very few people were saved. Even after Jesus preached for three and a half years, there were only a handful of believers, 120 in the upper room, and a little more than 500 in Galilee.
Then, Christ went to the cross, He returned to heaven, and on Pentecost in Acts 2, in one afternoon after Peter preached one sermon, about 3,000 were saved. Something had happened to Satan's hold on those in his kingdom; people are being taken out of his kingdom, which means that Satan had been bound. Satan was bound until the final tribulation period, so that people all over the world can become saved.
Answer: When we search the Bible for references to the binding of Satan, we find, for example, in Matthew 12:29, that Jesus says of the strongman who is Satan:Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil [or plunder] his house.
How is his house plundered?
As we bring the Gospel, the people who become saved are taken out of Satan's dominion.
In the Book of Jude, we read in verse 6:
And the angels [Satan is a fallen angel] which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.In other words, something happened to the fallen angels before the Book of Jude was written. Moreover, in 2 Peter 2:4 we read of another past judgment:
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.
Whatever happened to these angels was an accomplished fact when 2 Peter was written, which was a few decades after the cross. Thus, we know that something happened at the cross.
In the matter of salvation, before the time of the cross, very few people were saved. Even after Jesus preached for three and a half years, there were only a handful of believers, 120 in the upper room, and a little more than 500 in Galilee.
Then, Christ went to the cross, He returned to heaven, and on Pentecost in Acts 2, in one afternoon after Peter preached one sermon, about 3,000 were saved. Something had happened to Satan's hold on those in his kingdom; people are being taken out of his kingdom, which means that Satan had been bound. Satan was bound until the final tribulation period, so that people all over the world can become saved.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
QUESTION 12 - ARE ADULTERY & FORNICATION GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE?
Question: Are adultery and fornication grounds for divorce?
Is it adultery when the husband leaves the home?
Answer: Adultery and fornication are not grounds for divorce.
That is commonly taught today but it is not true. It was true in the Old Testament that if a man found his wife in an adulterous situation, he could write her a bill of divorcement (but a woman could not divorce her husband for adultery). That was a temporary law and God used that law to divorce national Israel; God was married spiritually to national Israel which was living very adulterously. Whereas God should have destroyed national Israel because of their adultery (an adulterous wife was to be stoned to death), He could not do that because Christ had to come out of that nation. God put Israel away because of adultery, and it became final at the cross. Christ rescinded that law; He said that from the beginning it was not so, and what God has joined together, let not man put asunder.
In I Corinthians 7:39, we read:
The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.
There is to be no divorce. The alternative is forgiveness. How often do we forgive? Seven times seventy which is a figure of speech to indicate that there is no end of forgiveness.
That is the law of God. If anyone divorces his spouse, he is in rebellion against God. If he files for divorce, she is to continue to love him and try to be reconciled. It might appear to be that one spouse is at fault, but if you look more closely, you will see that both are at fault at least to some degree. If one spouse is truly a child of God and tries to do things God’s way, then it is difficult for the other one to have cause for anger and hatred. God has established these laws for the protection of the wife, husband, and children.
Today, in some countries, approximately 50% of marriages end in divorce, and this is a great tragedy; children do not know who their parents are, and they are shuttled back and forth between strange parents and step-parents. The family unit is a mess; it has been fatally fractured because the church has revised God’s rules. The church has its own rules and has just about destroyed the family.
QUESTION 11 - DOES THE BIBLE TALK ABOUT PURGATORY
Question: Does the Bible talk about purgatory?
Answer: It is not found in the Bible.
Purgatory is a doctrine taught by the Roman Catholic Church. Purgatory means to be purged, and it is taught that purgatory is a place people can go when they die and somehow get purged of their sins. The Bible says it is appointed unto men once to die and then the judgment. When we die, our eternal destiny is absolutely determined. If we are a child of God when we die, our soul leaves our body and in our soul we go to live and reign with Christ in heaven. If we are not saved when we die, we go to a place of silence to wait for the resurrection of the last day at which time we will stand before the judgment throne. Purgatory is not a Biblical idea at all.
QUESTION 10 - ARE WE TO ALLOW CULT MEMBERS INTO OUR HOME?
Question: Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons come to my house and confuse me. I do not know what to do.
Answer:
The Bible tells us that if someone comes with another gospel, as these people you mentioned do, we are to give them no greeting. Do not engage in conversation with them. Tell them, “I would be disobeying God if I talked with you.” Then close your door.
God says in II John 1:9-11:
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
These people know the verses they use but they do not know the Bible. They might seem convincing because they build their theology around the few verses they use. They do not consider many verses. We are not to try to witness to them. Of course, if they ask what you believe you can tell them, but they are coming as missionaries of their gospel.
QUESTION 9 - WHAT IS THE BIBLICAL TEACHING ABOUT THE TRINITY?
Question: What is the Biblical teaching about the trinity? Is it three in one or is it three different beings?
Answer:
“Trinity” is not a Biblical word, but it means “three.”
The Bible is very mysterious about that.
The Bible has a lot to say about God, but we cannot understand it all. God insists there is one God, and yet, He clearly reveals Himself as three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
God says of the Lord Jesus in Colossians 2:9:
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Jesus says of Himself in John 10:30:
I and my Father are one.
He says in John 14:9:
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
We cannot reconcile and understand that language. Many theologians and Bible teachers have attempted to give the analogy of ice, water, and steam, which is all H2O, but the fact is that when steam is steam, it is not ice. So, the analogies always break down. We cannot make a good analogy, and we should not even try because we are talking about His infinite majesty who is greater than our minds can comprehend.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
QUESTION 8 - IS SMOKING A SIN?
Question - Is Smoking a Sin?
Answer - By Tony Warren
This question is one which is asked much more frequently in modern times since more Pastors are taking a hands off approach to Church correction. You are more likely to hear things like, 'it's a matter of Christian liberty, so use your individual conscience.'
In light of this attitude, it is possible that many Christians who smoke may have not even considered this an issue, or not even realized that it could be sin. This is no doubt (in part) due to it not being something which is preached against by many Pastors today, and in some cases it is actually condoned.
While no one in our day who is in their right mind would ever say smoking is a good thing, incredibly many theologians have nevertheless taken the indefensible position that 'this' doesn't mean it's a bad thing either. They place smoking into some sort of cosmic 'grey area,' and categorize it as a matter of conscience. When one chooses to look at things more from a personal rights viewpoint rather than strictly the scriptures, it is easy to blur the line between good and bad.
Humanly speaking, it's easier to label a theologian judgmental, than it is to examine the evidence against smoking and commend 'Biblical judgment.' Because when searching through scripture and considering all of the pertinent facts, I believe that the only 'honest' answer that we can come to regarding this question, is Yes. Smoking is a Sin. And it is a sin on multiple levels.
It is a Detriment to the Body Considering the universal Medical opinion, I don't know anyone who could legitimately argue today that smoking is not injurious to one's health. The fact is, nine out of ten lung cancer victims are smokers. The scientific evidence is that smokers have a three to one chance of heart attack, over non-smokers. Even smoking in (so-called) moderation, on the average, will shorten one's life span by many years.
Not only is it harmful to the smoker, but the preponderance of evidence is that it is also harmful to others through what is called 'second-hand smoke.' A Christian who Knows that other people may be harmed by their smoking, and yet chooses to indulge in this act simply to pleasure himself, has spiritual issues beyond and above the issue of smoking.
James 4:17
"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."
It is clear that deliberately doing something which is injurious to others is sin. But one might ask, 'what if they smoke in total isolation from others, would that still be sin?' The answer I believe is yes, for smoking is a sin against the body which is the Lord's. Just as a Christian wouldn't knowingly harm others because he understands that it is a sin to do so, likewise, one can not knowingly harm himself, because that would be just as much a sin. It is the same as if you went about poisoning yourself. For we glorify God in our body, which belongs to the Lord. Therefore, to defile or poison that body, is a sin or transgression against God to whom it belongs.
1st Corinthians 6:19-20
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
We are to regard our Body as a holy vessel of the Lord, literally! For He has both bought us, and dwells within this vessel. Our body is not our own, and we should seek to live clean and Holy lives both in reverence to the Lord and as an example to others showing that we are different from the world. To smoke (which we know hurts this body which is the Lord's), is desecration of the Lord's Temple.
The problem (as I see it) is not one of doing what we know is right, but one of selfishness, or of doing what we want. A problem of trading what is the prudent and righteous thing to do, for the physical and temporal pleasures of a few puffs of smoke. Many are simply unwilling to give that up, even for the cause of Christ. Yes, I know that this is a harsh way to put it, but I believe in many instances, this is an accurate assessment.
It is somewhat of a spiritual dichotomy, because most non-Christians won't even attempt to pretend that smoking is not harmful. But the Christian often will. They will often retort that, 'it's their body and they have Christian liberty to do with it what they want.' Contrasted with God's declaration that we are 'not' our own, but are bought with a price and belong to Him (1st Corinthians 6:19-20, 7:22-23). Unfortunately, the Christian who is supposed to be more honest than the world, seems to go to great lengths to justify himself in desperately attempting to ease his conscience and hold onto this vice. One of their favorite verses to hold up in support of their vice is Matthew chapter fifteen. This is used as an 'end-all' proof text for their liberty to smoke.
Matthew 15:10-11
"And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man."
They joy in pointing out that what Jesus was teaching is that what a man consumes does not defile him. Therefore, they reason that the consumption of cigarettes cannot defile a man. However, this is misapplication on three levels.
One, they are taking this out of context for their own selfish purposes. Jesus is not saying that you can put poisons into your body, because it doesn't defile you (which is the logical conclusion drawn from their use of this verse this way), but Jesus is saying that it is their doctrines which defile them, not neglecting to wash your hands before meals. In no way is Jesus putting forth a principle that people have liberty to take poisons into their body, nor is he proclaiming that doing so is not a sin. That is a ridiculous use of this passage, and what's more, most know it. They are simply looking to 'rationalize' away their actions.
Two, in fact the Scriptures do clearly warn about doing things to harm our body, and so this passage cannot possibly be contradicting other scriptures. For example scripture tells us that gluttony or over-eating is a transgression of God's law, and it just as clearly warns about over-drinking or drunkenness. And so we can not in any way remove guilt of sin by arrogantly declaring that we have 'Christian liberty' to put into our bodies anything that we want, when it harms us. The 'truth' is, we don't have Christian liberty to do so, we have Christian responsibility not to.
Three, if Christ was indeed saying this, it would negate the spiritual, about defiling ourselves by putting something into our mouths which will bring damnation to us (as in the communion).
1st Corinthians 11:29
"For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."
1st Corinthians 6:12
How is this passage true if what goes in the body means nothing? The answer of course is, this is true, because that was never what Jesus meant when He spoke of what defiles a man. Eating unworthily 'is' a Sin, because sin begins in the mind. The sin is in the thought to commit the act itself, not in the substance that is eaten. Likewise, the sin is in the mind to commit the act of smoking, knowing what it does to the body, and to others. It is not in smoke. Smoke is no more sin than a communion wafer is sin, but it is the act of smoking itself, or of eating unworthily, which is sin. So this passage in no way absolves man from sin in his smoking.
The question is, does smoking harm the body, and is harming the body a sin? When we answer that question 'honestly' then, and only then, will we stop rationalizing away sin. For the health problems related to long term smoking are well documented.
It is Addictive Some people claim that Smoking does not involve a fundamental moral issue, but they are wrong in that also. For at it's root is the sin of lust to bondage. To protect what has grown to be no less than 'sacred moments' of smoking pleasures, people will deny that smoking is harmful, or even addictive. The reason for these illogical declarations come from their inability to discern their addiction, nor to look at themselves honestly. In many instances they do not want to face the actual extent of their enslavement to tobacco and nicotine. And make no mistake, it is an enslavement, even though those addicted usually profess ability to stop smoking whenever they want.
Because to confess that they cannot would be to admit enslavement, and thus to admit that it is a sin. Frequently they do not realize the extent of their bondage because they have never faced the real prospect of it's loss. But in looking at this honestly, we face the fact that we actually 'like these type sins,' which we subconsciously consider insignificant in the big scheme of things.
The very 'fact' that even attempting to quit smoking is a very hard thing to do is reason enough that it is a sin which all Christians should be against. But the pride in rationalization can be blinding. The truth is, quitting smoking is known to be one of the most difficult things in this world to do. Research has shown 'conclusively' that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet, even more addictive than heroin some say. Such information should make us all sit up, take notice, and wonder how anyone professing Christianity could 'biblically' justify or condone the use of this substance. Yet, many professed Christians routinely attempt to do it, and just as routinely become indignant that any Theologian would actually say it is wrong for them to indulge in this vice.
"All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."
Anything which one cannot stop doing makes him a slave to it. For all intents and purposes it becomes his 'god' which he is dependent upon. i.e., in bondage he serves it, rather than our Lord. In a word, idolatry. Whether psychologically or physiologically addicted, it is idolatry. We cannot serve two masters, whether alcohol, smoking, or any other addictive substance, and to say it is not sin (considering the facts), is just plain sticking one's head in the 'proverbial' sand. Christians should treat the smoking addiction like any other sin. We confess it as sin (as opposed to claiming we have no sin), and we tackle it in the strength of Christ. We lay this burden down at the foot of the cross.
Philippians 4:13
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
Even though it is difficult, and withdrawal may take time before one is no longer desiring the puffs from cigarettes, we as Christians are to look to God from whom comes our help. And anyone who says cigarettes are not addicting are kidding themselves. And if it 'is' addicting, then it is a sin, because it makes man a slave to this substance. And Blessed is the man who can face these truths honestly.
It is a bad Witness and a cause for the Brethren to Stumble Even if a Christian were convinced that they could smoke without sinning (I cannot imagine how), knowing what they do about cigarettes, it's addictive properties, and the probability of a weaker brethren emulating and being brought into addictive bondage by smoking, it would still be a sin. Because the true Christian should for the sake of the weaker brethren, not smoke. And we won't, except our hearts be hardened, or we be so addicted that we must. Again, we are our brothers keeper, and we love the brethren as ourselves.
1st John 3:14
"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death."
If we love our brother, we desire the best for them as we do for ourselves. Most people who smoke wish that they would have never started smoking, and though they rationalize it and justify it, I'm sure that deep down they realize that it is a dirty, addictive habit. So why would a Christian want to continue to smoke, knowing that by their witness as a Christian, they are encouraging others to start? i.e., the weaker brother sees other Christians doing it, and feel justified in picking up the habit. That is not the witness that a true Christian wants to put forth. The principle applies:
Romans 14:15-16
"But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Let not then your good be evil spoken of:"
We cannot destroy a weaker brethren even if we think we can be justified in doing it ourselves. If something were lawful, and yet causes our weaker brethren to fall, for his sake we cannot do it. And it is sin if we do. For we are living examples.
2nd Thessalonians 3:9
"Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us."
Christians are an example to the brethren and to the world, and that example in no way should include smoking cigarettes that a weaker brethren might stumble and fall. And if we take the attitude that it's not our fault and we don't really care if they do, then again, we have more spiritual issues than smoking to contend with.
It Not to the Glory of God If I may relate a story, there was a woman who had been smoking for a long while and when told it was not a good witness protested to her Pastor that she didn't think smoking was a sin. The Pastor asked her if smoking was something that she would be embarrassed about doing if the Lord returned today and met her face to face? She thought on that a while, and had to reluctantly admit that it would indeed be embarrassing. For up until that point, she had not realized that she was not addressing the issue 'honestly.' But when it came to Christ watching her puff on a cigarette face to face, she understood 'personally' the sin. We should all look at things that way, realizing that Christ 'is' watching us, and there should be no difference in what we are embarrassed about now, or when Christ returns. The old adage applies, 'When in doubt, leave it out!'
Romans 14:23
"And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."
Another Christian admitted that smoking was a bad habit, a foolish habit, and even a habit which might be harmful, but still insisted that it is not a sin, and thus not really a big moral issue. No, they weren't Roman catholic, but their ideas about sin were just as illogical. Because when did a bad habit, a foolish habit, and a harmful habit, become not a sin? Such rationalizing leaves you wondering if you have missed something somewhere. Whatever is a 'bad' thing to do, is automatically antithetical to doing the Good thing, and is thus sin. Bad means that which is not good, or that which is in error or wrong to do.
Isaiah 65:2
"I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;"
The problem with man is that he walks after his own thoughts, doing what is right in his own eyes, and not 'bowing' or surrendering to authority of scripture. To do what is 'not good' rather than what is the good thing. But whatever is not good, is bad, and thus sin. Likewise, whatever is a foolish thing to do, is automatically the incorrect thing to do, and is also sin.
Proverbs 9:6
"Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding."
When we go in the way of understanding, we are not foolish, and consider all of God's Word on a matter. Anything we do which is harmful to ourselves or to others must be confessed sin. If we smoke, knowing it can harm others, it is as if we have set out poison for them. In the Biblical vernacular, as if we have set devices, nets or traps to hurt them.
Psalms 35:7
"For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul."
When we harm people without a reason, we are committing transgression (sin) against them. And so for all these reasons, to say that smoking is bad, is foolish, and is harmful to ourselves and others, and yet insist it is not sin is simply, biblically ridiculous. Would a true believer be able to smoke with a clear conscience knowing all we know about the harm that it does to both us, and those around us? I don't know. But I do know that he 'shouldn't' have a clear conscience doing it.
Hebrews 13:18
"Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly."
How could we smoke and have a clear conscience knowing that we are slowly poisoning our body, and harming others, and that it is an addicting substance? How could we have a clear conscience knowing that we are a witness to others that this is an appropriate way for a Christian to act? It's a good question.
1st Corinthians 10:31
"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." This is a command of God, not a suggestion. Smoking is not to the Glory of the Lord, and is therefore, sin. A transgression of God's law that 'whatever we do, do all to the Glory of God.' So again, those choosing to rationalize away that smoking is sin, must be throwing God's word behind the back, or trampling it under foot. Because there is no way that smoking can be seen as to the Glory of God. Thus it is sin.
Smoking is Rooted in Paganism The historical aspects of smoking is not germane to whether it is Biblically permissible, and thus to this article, but it is interesting that there is no record of any Christian ever smoking in scripture. It was probably unknown to believers in Biblical times. If it was, it would have been seen as the diverse rites and customs of the gentile or heathen nations.
Another interesting thing is that most false religions all over the world, from the very beginning, mimic the Christian religion, whether in their burnings that supposedly take prayers to their gods in the smoke, of building temples, or praying, or of human sacrifice to their god, it is a imitating the one true faith (and that is not by accident). It's not some cosmic coincidence, nor reason to doubt there is one God (as anthropologists insist), it is because Satan is the false or 'substitute' Christ. The antichrist who was/is/and will be the great deceiver of man through false or substitute religion. Scripture is replete with prophesy and evidence of this. Smoking in religious practices is just another of his devices to try and make a mockery out of the true Religion.
As far as anyone knows, smoking began as a religious rite of the Mayans. They were a people who used it in their worship of false gods, and who practiced human sacrifice. The American Indians, who many believe were their progeny, believed that the smoke carried the messages from whoever was smoking, to the spirit world. Much like the ceremonial burning of incense in Israel signified the prayers, or as in revelation of prayers being taken in the smoke before God. We see this same mimic of Christian belief that smoking carries the prayers to the spirits in the false religion of Buddhism. It is not insignificant that many of the pagan customs which have infiltrated the Churches, have their roots in the false religions of these cultures.
ConclusionGod has commanded us (not suggested to us), that we strive to live Holy lives. The fact is, even economically, cigarettes costs so much that it causes an unjustifiable financial impact for any Christian. i.e., is this the best way to use the mammon which God has put in our care? To quite literally burn it up in the fire? Obviously, it is not, and is both a waste time, and of our resources. Christians are the faithful stewards of what God has given them (Matthew 25:14-30), and our body, money, and time, are not our own, but the Lord's. This is what those who have their eyes so focused on themselves, refuse to understand about this issue.
That smoke defiles the body is readily seen. Looking at the lungs of a person who has smoked for any length of time, we see that they are 'black' with the collection of this smoke pollution. Can we honestly say this is God Glorifying? Not with a straight face! And the health care expenses after years of smoking increase exponentially. The Longer you smoke, the more health problems you will have, and it is all avoidable simply by 'denying ourselves,' for the Cause of Christ.
So, does smoking mean that a person is not a Christian? Certainly not. That is not the question here. The question we are addressing is, '..is smoking a sin?' And in that regard, there is one thing we can say with absolute certainty, and that is that smoking is not to the Glory of God in any way whatsoever. It is a detriment to the body, it is an extremely addictive substance which makes a slave out of those who use it, it is a bad witness for the cause of Christ, it may be harmful to others, and it is a cause for our weaker brethren to stumble. Therefore, it is without question, a sin. And anyone claiming that it is not, is 'lying' to themselves. God tells us that if we've broken just one single commandment, we stand guilty of the whole law of God. Which means there are no insignificant sins. If we know that it is sin, then we should pray that we would be delivered from it. There isn't one good thing about smoking. What that ultimately means to us depends upon if we would rather do the will of God, or our own will.
The Victory We will never gain the victory over smoking so long as we keep telling ourselves that we have some 'God given right' to pollute our body with this substance. Victory over any sin starts with recognizing it for what it is, confessing it as sin, and repenting of it.
"How do we get the victory over it?" For starters, we must not coddle it, or make excuses for it, but confess that it is indeed sin. Confession, repentance, and our need for the strength of Christ in overcoming it, is paramount. We set our hearts on things above, and pray the Lord will, "forgive us sinners, and give us the strength to gain the victory in this trial." So many people leave the Lord out in their attempt to overcome evil, and that is a big mistake. Prayer is expressly 'for' these type situations, where we can take our problems directly to the throne of God and Him who can solve them.
If thy hand offend thee, cut if off. In other words, we break away from that which is an offense. We throw those cigarettes away, not leave them around the house as a temptation. We cut it off leaving no avenue for further tempting, and we lean upon the Lord for our strength.
2nd Corinthians 12:9
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." We don't need smoking, God's Grace is enough for us. Our weakness for cigarettes will be manifest as we grow realizing strength in the Lord. The power of God working within us to alleviate the pressure to smoke. All to His glory. The strength in humility, wherein we will no longer boast that, 'I like smoking, so no one is going to tell me what to do!' The strength wherein we put Christ first, and ourselves last. The strength wherein we love our neighbor as ourselves, and wherein our concern for them far outweighs our concern for our own pleasure. In this we will find that giving up smoking is not giving up liberty, nor is it some sort of prideful defeat. On the contrary, it is a realization of true Christian liberty, and bountiful spoil in true victory. If we Glory, let us glory in the Lord.
We pray that the Lord who is Gracious above all will give you the wisdom and understanding to discern the truth of His Holy Word for our lives
Amen!
Peace,
Copyright ©2001 Tony Warren
Saturday, September 02, 2006
QUESTION 7 - WHAT ABOUT ALL THE BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS?
Question - What about all the BibleContradictions?
Answer - By Tony Warren
Actually, there are no Bible contradictions, there are only passages which "seem" to be contradictions to some people either because they are unaware of the context, the language may be difficult, they are not considering some other information, or they may not readily understand what's in view. Most of the alleged contradictions are so obvious that a blind man could have seen them and corrected them. Some people point to these as proof that the bible is of men, because of the obvious contradictions. But the opposite is true. If it was of men, the (seeming) obvious contradictions would have been corrected long ago. But they weren't corrected because they aren't contradictions. The Bible testifies of itself that it is the divinely inspired Word of God.
There are so many people who are looking for contradictions that it's expected that they would find them (when there are none). These will grab hold of anything to try and tear down the authority of scripture. Some of these are from the world, and some are of the Church, but all come with an agenda. Most of these purported contradictions can be explained with a little study in the scriptures. But there are also those who won't accept any explanation you give, because they are predisposed to believe there are contradictions. And even some doctrines which most Christians routinely acknowledge as true, some people will look upon as contradictions.
For example, scripture says we are not justified by works, and in another place it says we are justified by works. That seems to be a contradiction to the skeptic who is looking for one. But he who has studied the scriptures carefully knows that we indeed "are" justified by works. We are justified by the works of Christ (Romans 5:9). But we are not justified by our own works. That's why one part of scripture says we are justified by works, and another verse says we are not justified by works. And so both statements are 100 percent true, it's just that the uninformed take them standing alone without the balance of other information in scripture, and thus "think" they are contradictions.
Again, we are justified by faith, the faith of Christ! But not our faith! Faith without works is dead, because any faith with no works cannot be Saving faith, but dead faith (as the faith of a religious fanatic who drives a car loaded with explosives into a building). He has faith, but it's not Saving faith it is dead faith, and the works thereof are not the work of Christ, but dead! This is the faith without works. ..without Good Works. A tree is known by it's fruit. So you see, again, there is no contradiction, only lack of understanding of the scriptures.
Another example is Romans 3:23 where scripture tells us that "all have sinned," but we read in 1st Peter 2:22 that the Lord Jesus committed no sin! Is there a contradiction? No, it only seems a contradiction to those who seek one. The "all" in each passage is qualified by other passages. Just as if I were to say that, "I took all of the children to school". The fact is, that could mean that I took only 3 children to school out of 30 that were in a certain class. But it was "all" the Children who were in my house. You see, the word all is qualified. But without the qualifying information, it seems like a contradiction. And that is how many people look at the scriptures. As if it exists in a vacuum and is not qualified by everything else in scripture. In this way, scripture is often misunderstood because the novice doesn't study the scriptures or compare scripture with scripture to understand the additional information therein, which qualifies these statements.
Let's take the practical biblical example of John the baptist. Christ said this is Elijah that was prophesied to come (Matthew 11:14), but John said that he was not Elijah (John 1:21). Is this another contradiction? To the Biblical novice it would certainly appear so. But not at all! Because John wasn't Elijah, the same as Jesus wasn't David. Yet the prophesy of David spake of Christ. Likewise, John wasn't Elijah, but he is the fulfillment of the prophesy of Elijah coming to prepare the way of the Lord. Therefore, when the prophesy spoke of Elijah coming, it didn't speak of an incarnation, it was speaking spiritually of John the baptist. i.e., John coming in the Spirit of Elijah. In the spiritual sense, He was elijah. Not literally his reincarnation! In the prophesy of John the Baptist, we read:
Luke 1:17
"And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord".
When it spake of Elijah coming, it was speaking of a "type", or that there would come a man in the Spirit of Elijah. Christ says John fulfilled that prophesy. Therefore is he the Elijah that was prophesied, not the Elijah that lived years before and was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind.
Likewise, when it spoke of the prophesy of David reigning, it spoke spiritually of Christ. God's Word of truth often uses people, and even things, to spiritually signify or illustrate prophesy. This is not unlike the prophesy of a Nail in a sure place, which spoke of Christ. But it didn't mean that there was a literal nail coming, nor a literal Lamb, nor a literal Branch from a tree, nor a Root! And it's not a contradiction that he wasn't a literal Lamb, but fulfilled the prophesy of a coming lamb. It's God way of showing us something spiritually.
Again, when the 4 gospels record some event in a slightly different way, does that mean it's contradictory? No, because each writer is witnessing according to his God inspired perspective. If you were to have four eye witnesses to a crime, each one would see the same crime, but each one would explain it by highlighting what he remembers best of the time. One may have observed four men go in the building. Another may have only witnessed two go in, and then a third go in later. One may spend most of the time talking about the panic that was created. The other may concentrate on talking about the criminals who were giving orders. If they all had to write about what they saw, one may only give one line to the criminals, while another write 20 lines about them. This is the way the gospels are written, each one giving us a view from another perspective.
Likewise, in the supposed contradiction of names in scripture. Some people in scripture have several names, and sometimes names were so common that many people had the same name. There was also a patriarchal system where the word "begat" doesn't always mean a strict father/son relationship. We could say Abraham begat Jacob. That doesn't necessarily mean that there wasn't another Son in between (in this case Isaac). i.e., Abraham was the father of Jacob patriarchally, but not literally. These are just a few of the examples, but most of the alleged contradictions have similar simple explanations, and those few which we may not yet understand, are surely explainable with a little effort or careful study.
The bottom line is, there are no contradictions in scripture, there is only passages which some people do not understand. If I had a dime for every supposed contradiction I heard which was readily explained by scripture, ..well, I wouldn't need dimes for a long time!
Peace,
Copyright 1998 Tony Warren
Answer - By Tony Warren
Actually, there are no Bible contradictions, there are only passages which "seem" to be contradictions to some people either because they are unaware of the context, the language may be difficult, they are not considering some other information, or they may not readily understand what's in view. Most of the alleged contradictions are so obvious that a blind man could have seen them and corrected them. Some people point to these as proof that the bible is of men, because of the obvious contradictions. But the opposite is true. If it was of men, the (seeming) obvious contradictions would have been corrected long ago. But they weren't corrected because they aren't contradictions. The Bible testifies of itself that it is the divinely inspired Word of God.
There are so many people who are looking for contradictions that it's expected that they would find them (when there are none). These will grab hold of anything to try and tear down the authority of scripture. Some of these are from the world, and some are of the Church, but all come with an agenda. Most of these purported contradictions can be explained with a little study in the scriptures. But there are also those who won't accept any explanation you give, because they are predisposed to believe there are contradictions. And even some doctrines which most Christians routinely acknowledge as true, some people will look upon as contradictions.
For example, scripture says we are not justified by works, and in another place it says we are justified by works. That seems to be a contradiction to the skeptic who is looking for one. But he who has studied the scriptures carefully knows that we indeed "are" justified by works. We are justified by the works of Christ (Romans 5:9). But we are not justified by our own works. That's why one part of scripture says we are justified by works, and another verse says we are not justified by works. And so both statements are 100 percent true, it's just that the uninformed take them standing alone without the balance of other information in scripture, and thus "think" they are contradictions.
Again, we are justified by faith, the faith of Christ! But not our faith! Faith without works is dead, because any faith with no works cannot be Saving faith, but dead faith (as the faith of a religious fanatic who drives a car loaded with explosives into a building). He has faith, but it's not Saving faith it is dead faith, and the works thereof are not the work of Christ, but dead! This is the faith without works. ..without Good Works. A tree is known by it's fruit. So you see, again, there is no contradiction, only lack of understanding of the scriptures.
Another example is Romans 3:23 where scripture tells us that "all have sinned," but we read in 1st Peter 2:22 that the Lord Jesus committed no sin! Is there a contradiction? No, it only seems a contradiction to those who seek one. The "all" in each passage is qualified by other passages. Just as if I were to say that, "I took all of the children to school". The fact is, that could mean that I took only 3 children to school out of 30 that were in a certain class. But it was "all" the Children who were in my house. You see, the word all is qualified. But without the qualifying information, it seems like a contradiction. And that is how many people look at the scriptures. As if it exists in a vacuum and is not qualified by everything else in scripture. In this way, scripture is often misunderstood because the novice doesn't study the scriptures or compare scripture with scripture to understand the additional information therein, which qualifies these statements.
Let's take the practical biblical example of John the baptist. Christ said this is Elijah that was prophesied to come (Matthew 11:14), but John said that he was not Elijah (John 1:21). Is this another contradiction? To the Biblical novice it would certainly appear so. But not at all! Because John wasn't Elijah, the same as Jesus wasn't David. Yet the prophesy of David spake of Christ. Likewise, John wasn't Elijah, but he is the fulfillment of the prophesy of Elijah coming to prepare the way of the Lord. Therefore, when the prophesy spoke of Elijah coming, it didn't speak of an incarnation, it was speaking spiritually of John the baptist. i.e., John coming in the Spirit of Elijah. In the spiritual sense, He was elijah. Not literally his reincarnation! In the prophesy of John the Baptist, we read:
Luke 1:17
"And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord".
When it spake of Elijah coming, it was speaking of a "type", or that there would come a man in the Spirit of Elijah. Christ says John fulfilled that prophesy. Therefore is he the Elijah that was prophesied, not the Elijah that lived years before and was taken up into heaven in a whirlwind.
Likewise, when it spoke of the prophesy of David reigning, it spoke spiritually of Christ. God's Word of truth often uses people, and even things, to spiritually signify or illustrate prophesy. This is not unlike the prophesy of a Nail in a sure place, which spoke of Christ. But it didn't mean that there was a literal nail coming, nor a literal Lamb, nor a literal Branch from a tree, nor a Root! And it's not a contradiction that he wasn't a literal Lamb, but fulfilled the prophesy of a coming lamb. It's God way of showing us something spiritually.
Again, when the 4 gospels record some event in a slightly different way, does that mean it's contradictory? No, because each writer is witnessing according to his God inspired perspective. If you were to have four eye witnesses to a crime, each one would see the same crime, but each one would explain it by highlighting what he remembers best of the time. One may have observed four men go in the building. Another may have only witnessed two go in, and then a third go in later. One may spend most of the time talking about the panic that was created. The other may concentrate on talking about the criminals who were giving orders. If they all had to write about what they saw, one may only give one line to the criminals, while another write 20 lines about them. This is the way the gospels are written, each one giving us a view from another perspective.
Likewise, in the supposed contradiction of names in scripture. Some people in scripture have several names, and sometimes names were so common that many people had the same name. There was also a patriarchal system where the word "begat" doesn't always mean a strict father/son relationship. We could say Abraham begat Jacob. That doesn't necessarily mean that there wasn't another Son in between (in this case Isaac). i.e., Abraham was the father of Jacob patriarchally, but not literally. These are just a few of the examples, but most of the alleged contradictions have similar simple explanations, and those few which we may not yet understand, are surely explainable with a little effort or careful study.
The bottom line is, there are no contradictions in scripture, there is only passages which some people do not understand. If I had a dime for every supposed contradiction I heard which was readily explained by scripture, ..well, I wouldn't need dimes for a long time!
Peace,
Copyright 1998 Tony Warren
QUESTION 5 - CAN YOU EXPLAIN MATTHEW 7:13-14
We read in Matthew 7:13-14:
Enter ye in at the strait [that is, compressed] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
The narrow gate is the Lord Jesus Christ.
We read in Acts 4:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
The only name for salvation is Jesus. Mankind has come up with a thousand different plans of how they think they can get right with God, they have all kinds of religions and gospels, but there is only one way to become right with God, and that is through Jesus Christ.
We have to trust Him.
He is the only one who could have paid for our sins; He became sin for us.
Only God can give us the faith to believe and trust and the faith is a result of the fact that God has saved us. God says “and few there be that find it.” The Bible speaks of the body of believers as a remnant, just a tiny part of the whole.
Enter ye in at the strait [that is, compressed] gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
The narrow gate is the Lord Jesus Christ.
We read in Acts 4:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
The only name for salvation is Jesus. Mankind has come up with a thousand different plans of how they think they can get right with God, they have all kinds of religions and gospels, but there is only one way to become right with God, and that is through Jesus Christ.
We have to trust Him.
He is the only one who could have paid for our sins; He became sin for us.
Only God can give us the faith to believe and trust and the faith is a result of the fact that God has saved us. God says “and few there be that find it.” The Bible speaks of the body of believers as a remnant, just a tiny part of the whole.
QUESTION 4 - WITHOUT JESUS WILL WE GO TO HELL?
Question - Do you think that without Jesus we will go to hell?
Answer - If Christ is not our Savior, we will end up in hell for sure.
God’s justice demands that the payment for sin be made and Jesus is the only one who was capable of making that payment.
The big question is: If I am not saved, how can I become saved? How can I know that God paid for my sins? That is God’s business, but God tells us that we can plead to Him for mercy.
We can cry out to God, “O, God, have mercy on me. You ought to send me to hell because I am a sinner, but I want to be your child. Have mercy on me. I want to know more and more about your wonderful salvation plan, and so I read the Bible and obey, but, O, God have mercy on me.”
God does have mercy on those who cry to Him with all their heart.
Friday, June 23, 2006
QUESTION 3 - DOES MAN HAVE A FREE WILL TO ACCEPT OR REJECT SALVATION?
Question - Does man have a free will to accept or reject Christ?
Answer -
The problem with the term "free will" is that Bible teachers and Theologians use this term (or idea) to teach a doctrine that includes an action on our part (using our free will) to seal or complete the action of Salvation. We either accept or decline the offer of Salvation made to us from God. This kind of thinking begun with wrong Bibical ideas regarding on how to be Saved. It starts out with the premise that Christ went to the cross and made the payment for every sin commited by man in the history of mankind. People have created this doctrine by using a verse here or there in Scripture and then proceed to ignore what else the Bible teaches on this subject.
They then reach a conclusion that this is the method for Salvation. When we compare Scriptures that deal with how we can become Saved, we quickly see that this is false doctrine. But for those who teach "free will", this is the foundation they use. If you do not accept this gift from God, if you do not reach out and take advantage of this offer of Salvation, then you have rejected Christ and will be sent to Hell. This man-made doctrine has no Bibical Truth in it!
What the Bible teaches about Salvation is this. First, Christ had to pay for every sin of those He came to Save (past, present, or future) at the time of the cross. Jesus was found guilty for all of those sins and then paid the price which is the equivelent of spending an eternity in Hell. Notice that Christ did all of the work required. Secondly, the Bible teaches that the person to be Saved is spiritually dead. They will NEVER reach out to God.
Romans 3:11 tells us "There are none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God."
The book of Ezekiel chapter 37, tells us we are just a valley of dry bones with no water of the Gospel whatsoever. To teach that all of us have a "free will" to choose or decline God's offer for Salvation because all of mankind's sins have been already paid for is deceptive, a lie, and will lead many to the Judgment Throne of God on the last day.
This was never the way to become Saved. How terrible for those who think they are Saved only to find out differently.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
QUESTION 1 - WHAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN?
Question: What is the unpardonable sin?
Answer: The unpardonable sin was a sin committed by scribes who belonged to the church that Jesus attended. These scribes believed that Jesus was under the power of Satan rather than under the power of God.
Jesus says in Matthew 12:31:Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
All sins can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The scribes had said that Jesus had an unclean spirit.
Therefore, anyone who has the slightest desire that Christ be his Saviour could not have committed the unpardonable sin. The scribes did not want Jesus as their Saviour because they were convinced that He was of Satan.
Thus, if you have any desire that Christ might be your Saviour, you can be sure that you have not committed the unpardonable sin.
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