Category: Salvation

Refuge! #4

Thursday, October 11, 2018

“Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares” (Numbers 35:11 KJV).

Look closely! Could there be something prophetic here?

Many are astonished to learn that God did not set the nation Israel aside at Calvary’s cross. Although she deliberately executed His beloved Son, He extended to Israel a renewed opportunity of repentance in early Acts. He poured out His Holy Spirit on her believing remnant (Acts chapter 2). Those believers preached to unsaved Israel to repent and be water baptized in the name of Jesus Christ (verse 38). Divine wrath had not yet been poured out.

The Holy Spirit declares through the Apostle Peter in Acts chapter 3: “[12] …Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this [lame] man to walk? [13] The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. [14] But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; [15] And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. [17] And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. [18] But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.”

Verse 17 is highly notable. Indeed, Father God has honored His Son’s request in Luke 23:34. He has demoted the indictment of Israel from murder to manslaughter. They were spiritually ignorant, blinded; hence, they put Him to death. Premeditated killing (murder), according to the Mosaic Law, is punishable by death. Israel deserves death (destruction)! Thankfully, though, God took advantage of a loophole in the Law!! As a “manslayer unaware,” Israel may flee to “the cities of the refuge.” To where should she run? She must abscond by faith to the Little Flock, for the avenger of blood is impending….

The Hottest Places in Eternity #13

Saturday, October 6, 2018

“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Mark 6:11 KJV).

Are there degrees of punishment in Hell and the Lake of Fire? Indeed!

“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (Romans 2:16). Verily, verily, the God-Man who died for man’s sins is the Judge condemning unbelievers at the Great White Throne Judgment (cf. John 5:22). Christ’s finished crosswork (Paul’s Gospel) ultimately saved all saints of all ages, but they did not know it at the time. However, lost souls do not have the merits of the cross credited to their account, do not have their names written in the Book of Life, and are thus worthy of the Lake of Fire, the second death (Revelation 20:15).

Doubtless, friends, some of you reading these lines sit in unbelief even now. The Gospel of the Grace of God is plain for those who want to understand and believe unto eternal life: “Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). We pray you in Christ’s stead, be reconciled to God. Rely exclusively on the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour before it is eternally too late!!

Returning to the Great White Throne Judgment, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). Forced to bow before the Lord Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge, the lost of the ages now go their way. Justice has been served; they have been given their preference. Banished from His presence forever, they leave to serve out their death sentence in the hottest place in eternity!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Why are lost people not judged for their works immediately after physical death?”

The Hottest Places in Eternity #12

Friday, October 5, 2018

“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Mark 6:11 KJV).

Are there degrees of punishment in Hell and the Lake of Fire? Indeed!

Individuals in leadership will be held more accountable before Almighty God (cf. Matthew 23:14): “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.”

Satan initiated and tirelessly led creation’s rebellion against the Creator God; therefore, he will receive the hottest cell in eternity. Fallen angels, the Devil’s spiritual emissaries, have also practiced evil for 6,000 years—more damage than people. These will be severely tormented. The Antichrist, the False Prophet, and Judas Iscariot are those most consumed by Satan’s policy of evil; they too will be tortured beyond imagination.

Israel’s kings, priests, and false prophets will all be severely punished. They willfully perverted God’s people and His Bible for thousands of years. All other religious leaders (popes, priests, preachers, cardinals), political leaders (kings, queens, princes, presidents, prime ministers, dictators) and educational leaders (teachers, professors, especially educators at seminaries and Bible colleges) will suffer abounding flames. Their temperature will be dependent upon how many they led astray.

Husbands and fathers will face more intense eternal judgment than wives and mothers. It is God’s design that men (not women!) be spiritual leaders in the marriage, the family, and the local assembly (Ephesians 5:23; Ephesians 6:4; 1 Timothy 2:11-15). Indeed, Almighty God will hold men overwhelmingly responsible for broken homes, corrupt local churches, and wicked civilization overall.

All other lost people—from women to young people, right down to the youngest person who died after having deliberately rejected God’s Word to them, and up to the oldest senior citizen who perished after having intentionally refused God’s Word to them—all will be eternally tormented but less severely than the other classes.

Dear friends, Hell and the Lake of fire are most serious matters. Thankfully, in Christ Jesus, we can escape sin’s eternal penalty….

The Hottest Places in Eternity #11

Thursday, October 4, 2018

“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Mark 6:11 KJV).

Are there degrees of punishment in Hell and the Lake of Fire? Indeed!

Lost individuals who received more Divine revelation will be held more accountable before Almighty God (cf. today’s Scripture): “Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”

The LORD God gave His Word to Israel and her leaders (Deuteronomy 4:6-8; Psalm 147:19,20; Romans 3:1,2; Romans 9:4,5; et cetera). Gentiles (nations, non-Jews) were not given the Old Testament Bible. As concerning “time past” (or pre-Apostle Paul; cf. Ephesians 2:11-13), God will judge Israel more harshly than He will the Gentiles. Israel had greater spiritual light than the Gentiles, yet Israel lived just as wickedly (Romans 2:17-29)! Of all those in time past, unbelievers during Christ’s earthly ministry will face more serious condemnation than those who lived previously (cf. today’s Scripture).

Out of all the dispensations, frankly, our Dispensation of Grace will carry the worst eternal penalty. Lost people who have died during the last 2,000 years (and onward until the Rapture) have rejected God’s full revelation. They spurned a completed Bible, the most information the Creator ever revealed to mankind (Colossians 1:23-29; 2 Timothy 3:16,17)!!! If Jesus Christ declared His contemporaries would be more strictly judged than Sodom and Gomorrah because they had more spiritual light (Divine revelation) than Sodom and Gomorrah, how much more judgment for those lost today who have a completed Bible and ignored the LORD God’s counsel entirely? Horrors!!!

Friends, the message of God’s salvation available in the Lord Jesus Christ has circulated the globe now for 20 centuries. How kind He has been, how gracious, how longsuffering! With each passing day, unsaved mankind refuses His goodness. “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:5). Indeed, the lost are rejecting the Gospel of Grace and “treasuring up wrath….”

The Hottest Places in Eternity #9

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Mark 6:11 KJV).

Are there degrees of punishment in Hell and the Lake of Fire? Indeed!

If God caused a war, and the “watchman” (guardian) alerted the city that he saw danger approaching, those not taking heed would be responsible for their own fate (Ezekiel 33:1-5).

The LORD God continues in verses 6-9: “But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. So thou [Ezekiel], O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”

In Acts 20:26-27, Paul, God’s spokesman for the Dispensation of Grace, announced he was “pure from the blood of all men.” As a watchman, he had preached the Word of God’s Grace to lost and saved alike in Ephesus. The warning had been sent to the unsaved—Jesus Christ’s shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection as the sufficient payment for their sins. If they died in unbelief and went to Hell, it was their fault. The admonition had been issued to the Christians—God’s Grace, not Law, was the operating principle for victorious Christian living. If their spiritual lives were wrecked, they would be responsible. Paul, however, was guiltless!

Similarly, in eternal judgment, God holds unsaved leaders liable for not warning their people about Satan’s lie program….

God’s Offer to the Nations

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

“…[T]hat God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is God’s offer to all the nations of the world today.

September 11, 2001 was a day that changed our nation forever. It was the worst terrorist attack in our two-century national history. Afterward, many Americans began to talk about “God Bless America” and “God Save the United States.” These phrases are not as commonplace as they used to be.

In the 17 years that have passed since that awful day, it is a sad commentary that “God” is now the least of our nation’s concerns. With the redefining of marriage, controversial political arena, moral decay, skyrocketing national debt, and the uncertainty as to what constitutes a human life and what does not, obviously, the God of the Bible has been largely pushed out… until we need His help, and then we cry out to Him. Unless we need Him, we rather not think about anything He has to say.

While many argue that God is judging America today for its sins, the Bible does not support such an idea. Certainly, God dealt with Israel in that manner—“Do good and I will bless, but disobey and I will curse” (Leviticus chapter 26; Deuteronomy chapter 28)—but we have no relation to that Old Covenant of Law.

For the last 20 centuries, God has offered His grace to all the world’s nations, to have a right standing before Him by trusting Jesus Christ. People still die and go to hell, but today’s Scripture says that God is not judging nations for their sins. Through Jesus Christ’s finished crosswork, God offers reconciliation to sinners, whether here or around the world. However, that grace is exhaustible, and one day, it will be replaced with His wrath (Romans 2:1-16). Still, we believers are not appointed to God’s wrath; we are saved from all wrath through Jesus Christ (Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9).

The only hope for America—yea, for any nation—is faith in Jesus Christ alone!

*You can also see our 2011 Bible study commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11. It can be watched here or read here.

Rejecting God’s Grace Thrice

Wednesday, September 5, 2018

“Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:46-48 KJV).

After refusing Father God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, now unbelieving Israel snubs the Apostle Paul!

Saul of Tarsus, leading Israel’s rebellion against Jesus Christ, encouraged the stoning of God’s Spirit-filled prophet Stephen (chapter 7). In chapter 9, rather than pouring out His wrath, the Lord Jesus returns in mercy and grace to save wretched Saul. Formerly on his way to kill more Messianic Jews, Saul is now commissioned by the Lord Jesus to go to all the world with a new message—the Gospel of the Grace of God. As Saul (Paul) travels, he is to inform Israel of her fall and temporary setting aside. The God of Israel is now working amongst the Gentiles through him and without her (see Romans 11:11-14).

Today’s Scripture is from Paul and Barnabas’ first apostolic journey. In Asia Minor (Turkey), God reminds unbelieving Jews they are still rejecting His Word. Years later, on the second apostolic journey, the Holy Spirit’s words through Paul at Corinth (Greece) were: “And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles” (Acts 18:6).

More years pass. With Paul’s fourth apostolic journey ended, God declares to unbelieving Israel one final time (Rome): “Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it” (Acts 28:28). The Book of Acts is not a doctrinal book for us, but rather an unmistakable record of God being just in temporarily leaving Israel and going to us Gentiles.

A New View of Eternal Life

Saturday, September 1, 2018

“Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour” (Titus 1:1-3 KJV).

How does Paul’s special revelation add to our understanding of eternal life?

Eternal life is not simply living forever, as non-Christians will be perpetually conscious in Hell and the Lake of Fire (Matthew 25:41; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9; Revelation 14:9-11. The Lord Jesus Christ defined eternal life in John 17:3: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

As the Bible describes it, eternal life is intimate fellowship with Father God and His Son Jesus Christ. Our communion with Father God depends on Christ as Mediator: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not; ) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity” (1 Timothy 2:5-7).

With the Apostle Paul’s ministry, God revealed a special type of eternal life. It involved a new species of mankind—the Church the Body of Christ (see Ephesians 2:1-22). They would indeed enjoy God’s life, but not in an earthly kingdom (as with ministries previous to Paul). Instead, they would be the expression of God’s life in the heavenly places. When we trust Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we immediately obtain eternal life. However, sin prevents us from fully experiencing God’s life (for now).

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:13,14).

Bible Q&A #530: “What about snake-handling?” (~13 pages)

Beat Up With Corinthians!

Friday, August 31, 2018

“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15 KJV).

A dear Christian brother still struggled with the extensive denominational brainwashing he had endured decades prior. The priest read the Bible at Mass, but it was never edifying. Scripture about sin was recited to “beat up” the congregation. First and Second Corinthians were used to make them feel guilty (“prepared” for their next confession).

He was never told, and neither were the rest of the poor church members, how to have victory over sin. They were simply condemned as wretched sinners, which caused him (and likewise them) to fear the Bible. What a terrible way to use the Holy Scriptures. Just because a minister reads the Bible, that does not mean that he is serving the God of the Bible, using the Bible properly, or speaking on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beware!!

Today’s Scripture, written 20 centuries ago, says there were way back then (!) “false apostles, deceitful workers.” People who claimed to be “ministers of righteousness” and really “ministers of Satan!” This is strong language, friends. The Holy Spirit did not hesitate to say exactly what they were. Our churches are filled with them—self-righteous leaders who have no goal in life other than to support and defend their denominational system. So long as their church tradition is upheld, they do not care how much damage they inflict upon others, or how greatly they distort God’s words.

God did not simply give His Word to point out our sin; He supplied it so we could see how to be delivered from sin! “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3,4). “And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).

Buried Servants, Not Buried Program

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

“Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel” (Joshua 1:1,2 KJV).

Yea, “God buries His servants, but not His program.”

Moses was certainly dead: his soul has departed his body, and God Himself has buried the corpse (Deuteronomy 34:5,6). Yet, Israel will still enter the Promised Land—except under Joshua’s headship. Had it depended on Moses, it would have never happened. Moses is deceased… but God is living and in control!

While the God of the Bible uses men and women to accomplish mighty things, they are nevertheless bound to frail, temporary “houses of clay” (Job 4:19). He does not shield them from old age and ultimate physical death. Dying King David, another servant of Israel’s God, remarked, “I go the way of all the earth” (1 Kings 2:2).

These men were mighty testimonies of God’s power and grace, so why did He not spare them physical death? People ask today, “Why do the good die young and the evil live to old age?” Why does God let His servants die? He does not want them to be praised and worshipped. He is showing how it is His program, and He really does not need man’s cooperation. With or without man, God will achieve His goals in creation. He does not need us, but He does invite us to join Him! He wants to share His good pleasure with us, that it may become our good pleasure.

If we do join God’s side by faith, working with Him in His program, let us remember that it is still His program. We are not the issue. Hence, we will have a limited time on Earth to participate in His plan. Brethren, once we physically die and relocate to serve Him in the heavenly places, His purpose down here on Earth will continue (without us!!!!). It never depended on us anyway: it was here long before we were born and will remain long after we are gone. 🙂