Category: hell and lake of fire

For What Saith the Scriptures?

Monday, December 15, 2014

“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3 KJV).

Today, our Bible Q&A website, “For What Saith the Scriptures?,” turns one year old!

A question rarely asked in Christian circles, “What saith the scripture?” is found twice in the Bible—today’s Scripture, and Galatians 4:30, “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”

God’s will for our lives is summed up in 1 Timothy 2:4, “[God our Saviour] Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” There are two issues here—soul salvation from sins and everlasting hellfire, and soul salvation from false teaching unto sound Bible doctrine. Firstly, God wants everyone to become Christians by trusting in and relying exclusively on His Son Jesus Christ and His finished crosswork at Calvary as sufficient payment for their sins. Secondly, God wants Christians to trust in and rely on the grace doctrines found in Paul’s epistles, Romans through Philemon.

Amazingly, both occurrences of “What saith the scripture?” have a special application to us—each instance correlates to one of the issues in 1 Timothy 2:4! The question “What saith the scripture?” in today’s Scripture uses the Bible to answer the question of soul salvation from sins and everlasting hellfire (faith instead of works, “all men to be saved;” 1 Timothy 2:4). The question “What saith the scripture?” in Galatians 4:30 uses the Bible to answer the question of soul salvation from false teaching unto sound Bible doctrine (grace instead of legalism, “come unto the knowledge of the truth;” 1 Timothy 2:4).

For this past year, we desired you to have a clear understanding of how to have forgiveness of sins and justification unto eternal life, and for you to have a clear understanding of what God’s Word has to say about issues in your Christian life. We were honored to serve you in this additional capacity; thank you for the prayer and support this past year. As always, we welcome your Bible questions, and hope to serve you in that way for years to come! 🙂

Our 100th Bible Q&A: “Does doctrine really matter?”

Close Call!

Friday, November 28, 2014

“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; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;” (Acts 17:24,25 KJV).

Saints, you never appreciate life until you come close to the end of it.

What was originally a sinus drip in me is now double-lung pneumonia. I spent much of the latter part of the morning and the early part of the afternoon in the emergency room receiving two intravenous fluid bags. The medicine I was previously taking for the sinus drip, coupled with severe dehydration and fever, had raised my heart rate to 155 beats a minute (the normal rate is 60 to 100)! I came dangerously close to having a mild heart attack. Instead, the Lord Jesus Christ decided to keep me here on earth a little longer. I am now resting at home, taking medication, and I will see my family doctor next week for a follow-up.

Our bodies, particularly our immune system, are truly a marvel, “fearfully and wonderfully made” indeed (Psalm 139:14). As today’s Scripture says, the God of creation “giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” God gives breath and He can most certainly take it at any time. Beloved, we take life for granted so often, and it takes a major health crisis to cause us to appreciate it. Life is very fragile, and it does not take much to end it. Therefore, it is ever so important to have eternal insurance today.

We can have all the health insurance possible, but the death rate is still one apiece, and nothing save the Lord Jesus Christ’s shed blood can cover the penalty of sin, eternal death in hell and the lake of fire. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The Lord Jesus paid the awful price for our eternal insurance, He died for us, that we, by trusting Him alone, might now live in and by Him… here in this life, and in the next! 🙂

In Every Thing Give Thanks

Thursday, November 27, 2014

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV).

Dear saints, take a moment this Thanksgiving to learn a valuable lesson from the Holy Scriptures!

God wants “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:3,4). To be “saved” here means you have been rescued from the penalty of sin (hell and the lake of fire), and that you have a home in heaven, because you have trusted the death, shed blood, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ as sufficient payment for your sins. To “come unto the knowledge of the truth” is when a person who has trusted Christ, begins to understand why God saved him or her, and how God will use him or her for His glory. Although soul salvation is instantaneous, spiritual maturity is a life-long process (that is especially true regarding handling difficulties, the grace way!).

It is human nature to avoid difficulties and stress, to flee them, rather than confront them. This self-preservation is advantageous, particularly in “life or death” situations. However, running from troubling circumstances is not the way God has designed our life in Christ to function. Today’s Scripture says, “In every thing give thanks,” not “For every thing give thanks.” We do not thank God for our troubles; we thank God while we are enduring those troubles. This is tough, I know, but it takes time for us to learn it. Even the Apostle Paul had to learn this.

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11-13).

Be thankful in every thing. God’s grace is sufficient for you, dear saint, in all of life’s circumstances. When you learn this, you are “[coming] unto the knowledge of the truth.”

*Excerpted from our Thanksgiving 2012 Bible study with the same name. That study can be read here or watched here.

Our latest Bible Q&A: “What are our spiritual blessings in Christ?”

Time Travel and the Mystery #6

Monday, November 17, 2014

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7,8 KJV).

Will it ever be possible to manipulate natural laws, to travel back in time and manipulate events, that things (hopefully) turn out differently? Let us consider today’s Scripture.

Colossians 2:13-15 explains: “[13] [God]…having forgiven you all trespasses; [14] Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; [15] And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” As today’s Scripture says, it was through Calvary’s finished crosswork that Jesus Christ overcame sin, death, and Satan and his cohorts. Imagine Satan’s utter embarrassment when he learned from Paul’s ministry how God made a spectacle of him and his policy of evil; he was so horrified to discover that he had actually contributed to his own downfall. A plan he had labored so hard and so long to accomplish, and now he himself had permanently ruined it!

Jesus Christ’s blood shed at Calvary currently enables God to save us, formerly pagan Gentile sinners headed for hell, to baptize us into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit when we trust that shed blood alone (1 Corinthians 12:13). Why does God save us? Not just to keep us out of hell, but to use us corporately in the heavenly places in the ages to come, for Jesus Christ’s glory (“our glory” of today’s Scripture; cf. Colossians 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 2:14). We Christians will be glorified one day so, ultimately, Jesus Christ will be glorified in and through us throughout eternity future (Romans 8:17-25)!

As we saw earlier, Colossians 1:16-20 also provides clarity regarding Israel’s program and God’s restoration of Earth. God the Father will use Christ’s shed blood to ratify the New Covenant, allowing Him to redeem Israel from their sins (Hebrews 10:1-25).

With all that as “background,” we proceed to analyze today’s Scripture with its context….

Our latest Bible Q&A: “How is mankind ‘lower than the angels?’”

In Him and Not in Hell

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:9 KJV).

Before we can have a right standing before God, we must realize our wrong standing before God.

A dear lady I shared the Gospel with not many weeks ago told me, “I think I will go to heaven. Now if I commit some horrible sin just before I die, then I will go to purgatory.” Like so many, she needed to realize that the ultimate sin is to believe we can live a perfect life to make God so happy with us that He will have no choice but to let us into heaven, that we can supplement and/or substitute Jesus Christ’s life and righteousness with our own, that we call God a liar by saying our sin nature can still offer so much as one work that is pleasing in His sight, that Jesus Christ failed to do what we must do.

When I asked this lady on the basis of what five minutes her life would be totally acceptable to God, what five minutes of her living were 100 percent perfect and made her worthy of heaven, she confessed she had no such five minutes; that is when she realized that that failure is sin, that her lack of assurance was a sign she was headed to anywhere but heaven!

I began to share with her the wonderful news of God’s righteousness in Jesus Christ received by simple faith in Him alone (today’s Scripture). God is offering us a place in heaven as a free gift and we cannot work for a gift (otherwise it becomes a debt). If we so much as believe we can work enough to add to Jesus’s perfect sacrifice, then we are telling God we want to pay for our own sins; the place where God’s wrath against our sin is appeased, is the lake of fire, and it burns forever because God’s wrath against our sin can and will never be appeased apart from Jesus Christ’s suffering at Calvary. Let us be found in Him, and not found in hell!

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Why did God ask where Adam was?”

Glorious Freedom #3

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12 KJV).

The third verse of Haldor Lillenas’ classic 1917 hymn “Glorious Freedom” highlights today’s Scripture.

“Freedom from pride and all sinful follies;
Freedom from love and glitter of gold;
Freedom from evil temper and anger;
Glorious freedom, rapture untold!”

Once, when we were lost, under the control of the Adversary, separated from the Creator God, on our merry way to eternal hellfire, we “were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past [we] walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others” (Ephesians 2:1-3). What a description!

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us [given us life and power to function in life] together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (verses 4,5). Now, we are dead with Christ and raised with Christ (Romans 6:3-11). Today’s Scripture says that we do not have to serve sin anymore; sin does not have to reign as a king over us anymore. We can choose to walk by faith in our new identity in Christ.

We are freed from pride (Philippians 2:5-11), for it is not us, but Christ living in us (Galatians 2:20). We are freed from foolishness (Ephesians 5:3,4; Titus 3:3), for we have Christ’s wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 2:9-16). We are freed from materialism, for “the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10; cf. 1 Timothy 6:6). We are freed from unrighteous anger; we are to be “kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven [us]” (Ephesians 4:26,32).

Freedom, not to serve self, but to serve others! Inexpressible delight indeed! 🙂

Meek and Mighty

Monday, September 29, 2014

And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them, derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God” (Luke 23:35 KJV).

Today’s Scripture is proof that God’s ways and God’s thoughts are truly higher than ours!

Galilean king Herod Antipas and Judaean governor Pontius Pilate had heard much of this Jesus of Nazareth these last three years, but, so far as Scripture is concerned, they did not personally meet Him until His final hours alive. To them, He did not appear as royalty. Firstly, He had allowed Himself to be captured peacefully. Then, He let soldiers harshly abuse Him. Finally, He remained mostly silent during their many extensive interrogations leading up to His crucifixion. Pilate “marvelled greatly” (Matthew 27:11-14). Those watching Jesus die were equally shocked. “This is the King whom JEHOVAH God sent to rescue us? He is now helpless on the cross!”

Little did mankind know that Messiah would come twice—once to suffer and die as Saviour, again to judge and reign as King. Neither the prophets nor the angels could understand (1 Peter 1:9-12). Now, with the completed Bible canon, we see it all quite clearly. One is His meek coming (Zechariah 9:9) and the other is His mighty coming (Zechariah 14:3). Before Messiah Jesus could be manifested with power on His majestic Davidic throne, He had to first go to Calvary’s cruel cross. The scoffers did not understand it, but even if God had revealed it, they still would not have cared to know His truth.

In Father God’s own timing, He will reveal from heaven Jesus Christ in “flaming fire,” to take vengeance on those who do not know the God of Scripture and those who refuse to humble themselves and trust the Gospel of His Grace as sufficient payment for their sins (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10). Jesus Christ came the first time, not to save Himself, but to save us, to suffer God’s wrath on our behalf, that we trust Him alone as Saviour now, that we not have to suffer God’s wrath against our sin when comes the second time, when He proves again that He is “the chosen of God!” What wisdom!

Eternal Life or Folly Forever

Thursday, September 25, 2014

“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3 KJV).

Like the Galatians, many today are “foolish,” not thinking clearly, assuming our salvation unto eternal life is gained or enhanced by our frail efforts!

Organized religion always urges us to do something to “enhance” our Christian life—tongue talking, aisle walking, sin confession, holy-day obligation, prayer recitation, generous donation, water rites, visits to holy sites. To varying degrees, every group pushes external activities, either to gain your salvation, to prove your salvation, or to keep your salvation. Undeniably, to arrive at such conclusions, they had to completely ignore the six Bible chapters, 149 verses, and 3,098 words known as “the book of Galatians.” As 1 Timothy 1:7 says, these works-religion people have no idea what they are saying or what they are insisting.

Friends, to corrupt the grace of God into a works-message is the most damnable of all teachings. It is strong language, but here is the plain truth. Either Jesus Christ paid for all our sins at Calvary’s cross, or He did not; either His performance was and is enough, or it was and is not ( He should have stayed in heaven then!).

To put our dirty, sinful fingers around God’s holy collar and demand He give us a place in heaven because we did a few “good” works is utterly silly; Jesus Christ did more than a few good works, and, unlike us, He was no sinner. On Calvary’s cross, He suffered your second death, the pain so deserving us in hellfire. What would take you eternity to do, He satisfied God’s righteousness in just a fraction of a day! God does not want reformation of deeds; He wants Jesus Christ to be in you to do good works (Galatians 2:20,21). We need a new nature, not just a change in lifestyle.

If our dear religious family members and friends could grasp these simple Bible truths, it would literally save them an eternity of regret! Jesus Christ’s shed blood paid the price, and His resurrection gives us new life. We can trust in Him alone, and He will do the rest! (Or we can continue in our folly.)

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Does God intervene in my life? If so, how?”

To Save Some

Monday, September 22, 2014

“…I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22b KJV).

We do what we can to reach the lost for Christ, but remember we will only “save some!”

The Christian soul-winner always has an array of interesting encounters and/or conversations with people. Some days ago I was passing out Gospel tracts and I met this one older gentleman. I asked him, “Would you care to have your sins forgiven, and to learn how to have a home in heaven?” He quickly replied, “No thanks, I already have one.” Whatever he meant about “having one,” I had no idea; I had never given him a tract before. I inquired, “So you already have the assurance of salvation and a home in heaven?” His reply was the classic, “I think so.” My final appeal was, “You can still take this Gospel tract so you can know.” He replied, “No thanks.” I moved on after saying, “Thank you.”

After that, there was an empty feeling deep inside of me. This man had no idea that he was headed to an everlasting devil’s hell, but he was completely unconcerned. Remember, dear friends, we cannot force people to be saved. If we could make their choices for them, we would in a heartbeat, but that would not be faith and that would not be free will.

No matter what we say, there are some people who do not want to hear anything about Jesus Christ. No matter how kind we are, they still do not want to hear the truth. There is nothing more that we can do for them. There comes a point in time when we simply have to move on, to not get hung up on those who are too stubborn to realize their need for the Savior Jesus Christ. Our Apostle knew that he would not save “many,” “most,” or “all;” he would only save “some” (today’s Scripture; cf. Romans 11:14). Let us conserve our time and energy for those who do want to hear the precious words of God.

Our latest Bible Q&A: “Why did Jesus Christ stand in Acts 7:55-56?”

The More Excellent Ministry #1

Monday, August 25, 2014

“For the love of Christ constraineth us… God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:14a,18bc KJV).

Our flesh is ever so weak, but Christ’s love—the unconditional love He has for us—drives us to push ourselves aside and think of others instead.

I recently received a most delightful email from a dear brother (his eyes will fall on these very lines). He and his wife have decided to dedicate what time they have left on this earth, to the furtherance of the Gospel of God’s Grace, and to the propagation of other dispensational Bible truths. They are burdened to reach a local retirement home for Jesus Christ’s glory!

We rejoice in Christ with them, knowing that once we grip God’s Word, it surely clutches our hearts. God placed such power in His Holy Bible (Hebrews 4:12), and once we extract that power with dispensational Bible study, and activate it by believing those words of God, that spiritual profit not only enlivens our inner man, it also compels us to share it so others can profit, too. “[T]he word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe…” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

Dear saints, this lost and dying world is heading toward a devil’s hell forever. Jesus Christ is not physically here to reach them before they reach it. Today’s Scripture says He left that privilege to us, His Body, but we cannot reach them with the word of reconciliation until we first study and know it (note 2 Corinthians 5:14-21). The great conflict between holy God and sinful man has been ameliorated on God’s side—He has given His only begotten Son for our sins—but the merits of that finished crosswork are of no everlasting benefit to us until we appropriate by faith/trust. God has reconciled sinful man to Himself, but unless man accepts that reconciliation by faith, then the battle between holy God and sinful man will continue, to be finally and fully settled forever in the lake of fire.

May we be willing to get out there and reach them with the message of God’s grace… and quick!