(001)
SOME GREAT THING
In
2 Ki 2:5 we read of “Naaman, captain of the host of Syria ... a great man ... a
mighty man of valor, but he was a leper,” who rejected the command of Elisha the
prophet to wash in Jordan, saying, “Are not Abana and Pharpar better than all the
waters of Israel? May I not wash in them
and be clean? But his servants said,
“If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done
it?” Then went he and dipped himself
in Jordan ... and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he
was clean.”
Naaman,
meaning pleasantness, represents many in the world today.
They too are successful, pleasant, kind, moral - but like Naaman they have a
disease more deadly than leprosy: sin, as it is written, “Jews and Gentiles are all
under sin ... there is none righteous ... for all have sinned, “ Ro 3:9,10.23.
In
Naaman’s day, apart from the miraculous intervention of God, leprosy was fatal.
Sin is more deadly, for it affects the soul - and not just for time, but for
eternity, “For the wages of sin is death” Ro 6:23.
The death of the body is the time result of sin, but the Bible warns of
a second death which relates to eternity, “This is the second death ... whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” Re
20:11-15.
God’s
remedy for sin is even simpler than was His method of healing Naaman, and therein
lies a problem for many. They refuse to
believe that salvation could be so simple. Like Naaman, they have preconceived ideas as to how God should
heal. His response to Elisha’s command
is typical of the response of many to the Gospel, but human skepticism didn’t
change God’s way then, nor does it today. It
may seem incredible - particularly to a cosmopolitan society - that sin can be
forgiven, men delivered from hell, and fitted for heaven, by nothing more than faith
to believe that when Christ died on the cross it was in their place for their sins.
Yet that is God’s only way. “God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in
Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” Jn 3:16.
“I (Christ) am the way ... no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” Jn
14:6. “Neither is there salvation in
any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we
must be saved” Ac 4:12.
Naaman
brought a great treasure. He thought
healing would have to be bought. Whether
from leprosy or sin, however, God’s healing can’t be bought, yet many make
Naaman’s mistake: they feel they must do some great thing - join a church, reform
their lives, give money, etc., anything in fact except what God commands, i.e.,
believe that Christ died in their place for their sins.
All
the wealth of the world couldn’t have bought healing for Naaman, nor can it for
you, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul? Or what shall a man give
in exchange for his soul?” Mk 8:36-37. Souls
are “not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ... but with the
precious blood of Christ” 1 Pe 1:18-19.
In
response to the question, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul replied, “Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Ac 16:31.
That’s still God’s remedy for sin. Obedience
healed Naaman’s leprosy. It will heal
your sin.
******
(002)
GOOD
NEWS FOR BAD PEOPLE
BAD NEWS FOR GOOD PEOPLE
First,
the good news for bad people: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the
Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be
red like crimson, they shall be as wool,” Isa.1:18.
“Christ died for the ungodly,” Ro.5:6.
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” 1 Tim.1:15.
“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,”
Lk.19:10. “This Man (Jesus) receiveth
sinners, and eateth with them,” Lk.15:2. “The
Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins,” Mk.2:10. “The blood of Jesus Christ... cleanseth us (who trust Him as
Savior) from all sin,” 1 Jn.1:7. “Whosoever
believeth in Him (Jesus) shall receive remission of sins,” Acts 10:43.
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” Acts 16:31.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,” Jn.3:16.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ,” Ro.5:1. “For God sent
not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might
be saved. He that believeth on him
(Jesus) is not condemned....He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life
....”Jn.3:17-18,36.
But
now THE BAD NEWS FOR GOOD PEOPLE:
“None
is good, save one, that is, God,” Lk.18:19. “Jews
and Gentiles...are all under sin....There is none righteous, no, not one....For all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” Ro.3:9-11,23.
“We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags,” Isa.64:6. You see, the
truth is that there are no people good in God’s sight.
Christ
warns those who think they are good, “I came not to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance,” Mk.2:17. “Except
ye be converted...ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,” Mt.18:3.
“Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,” Lk.13:3.
“Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” Jn.3:3.
“Ye must be born again,” Jn.3:7.
“He that believeth not (on Christ as Savior) is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God,” Jn.3:18. “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath
of God abideth on him,” Jn.3:36.
The
only people who are good in God’s sight are those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ as Savior, for in response to the question, “What shall we do, that we
might work the works of God?” Christ replied, “This is the work of God, that ye
believe on Him Whom He hath sent,” Jn.6:28-29.
People may be moral, religious, kind, generous, church-goers, Bible-readers,
and a host of other things that men count good; but in the end, it is only God’s
opinion that matters, and the only person HE counts good is the man or woman who has
accepted Christ as Savior.
Where
do you stand? Do you see yourself as so
bad that you need a Savior to save you from hell and fit you for heaven?
Then you can be saved, by believing that Christ died in your guilty place for
your sins.
Do
you see yourself as not completely bad, as having some good about you?
Then you are lost, and cannot be saved until you are willing to abandon the
thought that you have even a shred of righteousness.
Remember, God warns, “ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God,” Ro.3:23. “Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God....Ye must be born again,” Jn.3:3,7.
******
(003)
WHAT
IS THE GOSPEL?
In
Mark 16:15 Christ commanded, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel,”
and many profess to be doing that, but it seems there are almost as many gospels
as there are preachers, which prompts the question, What is the Gospel?
First,
let’s note what it is not. It
is not an invitation to join a church, reform, read the Bible, pray, give money, do
good, etc.
Much
of what purports to be the Gospel promises that if you “receive Jesus” by
believing what is written about Him, it will transform your life.
But neither is this the Biblical Gospel. The Gospel is not the panacea
for life’s troubles, Christ Himself warning believers, In the world ye shall have tribulation
(Jn 16:33).
What,
then, is the Gospel? It is God’s
warning that all men are born sinners (Ro 3:23), who can be saved from hell
and fitted for heaven only when they accept that indictment, confess themselves
sinners, and believe that when Christ died on the cross it was as their Substitute,
for their sins. The Gospel has to do
with the salvation of the soul from hell, not improvement of life on earth.
We may believe all that is written about Christ, but if we fail to believe
also what God has written about us, i.e., that “All have sinned,” we will
enter hell, not heaven, at death. “He
that believeth on him (Christ) is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already (Jn 3:18).
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(004)
THE
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS
In
Luke 16 we read of a rich man, and of Lazarus, a beggar who ate the scraps from his
table; but the passage from time to eternity brought a dramatic change.
Lazarus had comfort; the rich man, misery, so that he cried, “Send Lazarus
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am
tormented in this flame” (Lk 16:24).
What
made the difference? Faith in Christ!
Faith takes men to heaven; lack of faith, to hell, “He that believeth on Him
is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed” (Jn 3:18).
Many,
like the rich man, are spiritually bankrupt though they have money; others, like
Lazarus, are spiritually rich though they haven’t a cent, for if a man has
everything, but not Christ, he has nothing, while he who has nothing but Christ has
everything he needs for time and eternity.
Are
you reading this with cynical amusement? Please
don’t. Your own eternal state is
portrayed in that of one of these men. You too must go from time into eternity, to heaven or hell, to
blessing or torment. Which?
You don’t know? Your very uncertainty is its own answer - you too will be pleading
for a drop of water to alleviate your torment; you too will be begging God to send
warning to loved ones left on earth. How do I know? The
believer knows where he is going. Only the unbeliever is uncertain, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life”
(1 Jn 5:13).
Faith
in Christ as the One Who died on Calvary’s cross in your place, for your sins, is
all you need to be sure of heaven. Lack
of that faith is all you need to be sure of hell and eternal torment.
******
(005)
“THE SUMMER IS ENDED…
...
and we are not saved” Jer 8:20, was the wail of a captive Israel, whose sin had
ended God’s patience. It will be the
eternal lament of all who die unsaved. It
will be yours unless you (1) accept God’s indictment that “All have
sinned” Ro 3:23, (2) obey His command, “Repent and be converted” Ac 3:19, (3)
believe, not just in the historicity of Christ, but in Him as your personal Savior,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” Ac 16:30, (4) believe
in His resurrection, and confess Him to others, “If you confess with your mouth the
Lord Jesus, and believe that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”
Ro 10:9. This constitutes the “new
birth” Jn 3:3,7, without which you too will cry eternally from the torment of the
lake of fire, Rev 20:14-15, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and I am not
saved.”
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(006)
WHAT
TO BELIEVE
Almost
two thousand years ago the jailer in Philippi asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?” Their reply
was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” Acts 16:30-31.
In
a conversation with the Jewish ruler Nicodemus, Christ said, “For God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life...He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he
that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God....He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on
him,” John 3:16,18,36.
These
verses are only a few of the many in the New Testament declaring that salvation
results from believing in or on Jesus Christ. Yet
there are many who confess that in spite of a firm belief in Christ, they have no
assurance of salvation; while there are also many who confess that simply on the
basis of belief in Christ they do have that assurance.
Why
should two apparently similar beliefs produce results so manifestly different?
The
explanation lies in the nature of the belief. There
are few people who don’t believe in the historicity of Christ: His birth, His
sinless life, His miracles, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and His return to
heaven. The person who has the assurance
of salvation believes these things, as does the person who believes, but still has no
assurance.
What
element, then, is missing from the belief of the unassured?
It is this: he fails to take account of the fact that it is his own state that
has made necessary all these historical facts concerning Christ.
He fails to link himself personally with these historical facts as being the cause
of them. The assured believer, on
the other hand, believes not only the facts concerning Christ, but he believes also
that it was his own sinful state that made necessary the birth and death of Christ.
He believes not only what is written in the Bible about Christ, he believes
also what is written in the Bible about himself, and he recognizes that the two are
inseparably linked together.
When
he reads in Romans 3:10 “There is none righteous...” and in Romans 3:23 “For
all have sinned...” he believes that these things are true of him.
When he reads in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” he believes that it is written
to him personally, as though he were the only person on earth.
When he reads in Romans 10:9-10 “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved,” he believes it is written to him personally.
The
problem of the unassured is not what he believes about Christ, but what he doesn’t
believe about himself. He fails to
believe how desperate his own condition is, and the result is that he can’t fully
believe his need of salvation. He
doesn’t believe that his sin carries with it the sentence of death; and the result
is that while he believes that Christ died, he doesn’t believe that Christ loved
him so much that He died for him for his sins.
Salvation
is something that must be accepted, not just as God’s free gift, but as the only
remedy for a desperate state. With that
salvation, the soul goes to heaven; without it, the soul goes first to hell, and
after the judgment of the great white throne, Revelation 20:11, to the lake of fire
to endure eternal torment.
The
problem of the unassured believer is not with his belief of the historical facts
concerning Christ; it is with his disbelief of all the facts concerning
himself. His lack of assurance is in
direct proportion to his disbelief of what the Bible says about him.
The
man who would know the assurance of salvation must know also his need of
salvation. He must believe not only the
historical facts concerning Christ, he must believe also all the facts concerning his
own state as those facts are declared in the Bible.
The
truth is that a man may believe everything about Christ, but if he doesn’t
also believe everything written in the Bible about himself, he is an unbeliever.
There
is no more puzzling paradox than man’s response to the Bible.
He will believe in heaven, but not in hell, in spite of the fact that it is
the same Bible that declares the existence of both.
He will believe that everyone is going to heaven in spite of the fact that the
Bible says all are going to hell. He
believes in a God of love, but not in a God of justice, though the same Bible
declares that the two Divine attributes exist in equal measure.
He will believe that man can work his way to heaven in spite of the fact that
the Bible says he can’t. He believes
there are many ways to heaven, though the Bible says there is only one, Jesus Christ.
The
tragedy of this paradox of half belief is that it is just as deadly as total
unbelief, for nothing less than belief of what the Bible says about man, as well as
what it says about Christ, will take a man or woman into heaven.
******
(007)
WHICH
CHURCH IS RIGHT?
God recognizes only one Church, and it is neither Catholic, Jewish, nor
Protestant. It consists of all, who since Pentecost, have been born again
through faith in Christ as Savior John 3:3, 7.
When complete it will be removed to heaven by translation of the living
believers, and resurrection of those believers who will have died, 1 Corinthians
15; 1 Thessalonians 4.
That event is imminent. Every sign relative to its occurrence has already been
fulfilled. It could occur today, and that is of vital importance to you, for if
at that instant you are outside His Church, you will be left on earth, and your
soul will be lost just as surely as if you had died, 2 Thessalonians 2:8-12, for
you must then meet Christ as Judge, not Savior.
If your only hope of heaven lies in being a member of a Catholic, Jewish, or
Protestant church, or any other, then you have NO HOPE, for apart from a
new spiritual birth you are outside the only Church God recognizes, and to die
outside that Church is to enter the eternal torment of the lake of fire,
Revelation 20.
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(008)
2
BIRTHS, 2 DEATHS, 2 RESURRECTIONS
Jesus
Christ announced the necessity of a SECOND BIRTH when He declared, “Ye MUST
be born again,” for “Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3-7, and Revelation 20:14
asserts that all who die without having been born again will die a SECOND DEATH,
i.e., enter the lake of fire to endure eternal torment.
There
are also TWO RESURRECTIONS, Christ declaring, “The hour is coming, in which
all in the graves shall come forth; they that have done good, unto THE
RESURRECTION OF LIFE; and they that have done evil, unto THE RESURRECTION OF
DAMNATION,” John 3:28-29. (The
good that saves is to believe on Christ as Savior, “This is the work of God,
that ye believe on Him (Christ)” John 6:29; and the evil that condemns
eternally is to die in unbelief).
To
be born again, believe (1) that you’re unfit for heaven, (2) that when Christ died,
it was in your place, for your sins. The
second birth guarantees that there will be no second death. Believers will rise at
the RESURRECTION OF LIFE to enter heaven, but unbelievers will rise at the RESURRECTION
OF DAMNATION to die the second death, i.e., enter the lake of fire to endure
eternal torment.
******
(009)
WHEN
WILL MESSIAH COME?
According
to Dan 9:25 and Zechariah 9:9 He should have come in AD32, entering Jerusalem on an
ass’s colt. Is it just coincidence
that Christ rode into Jerusalem on an ass’s colt in AD32, was hailed as Messiah,
and at the end of that same week was crucified?
It
is no coincidence! It was the
fulfillment of prophecy, for Scripture declares that Messiah would come first as
God’s Lamb to die by crucifixion for men’s sins, be raised again, and then
after 2,000 years, return as the Lion of Judah to rule the earth for 1,000 years.
All the Biblical signs relative to that return have been fulfilled.
His return as the Lion of Judah is imminent.
But
the Scriptures which foretell His two comings, warn that those who haven’t trusted
Him as Savior, will be cast into hell at His return.
Have you trusted Him as your Savior?
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(010)
TORMENTED IN FLAME
In
Luke 16 we read of a rich man, and of Lazarus a beggar who ate the scraps from his
table; but death brought a dramatic change. Lazarus had comfort; the rich man, misery, so that he cried,
“Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue;
for I am tormented in this flame” (Lk 16:24).
What
made the difference? Faith in Christ!
Faith takes men to heaven; lack of faith, to hell, “He that believeth on Him
is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed” (Jn 3:18).
Many
have money but are spiritually bankrupt; others, like Lazarus, lack money, but are
spiritually rich, for he who has nothing but Christ has everything, while he who has
everything but Christ has nothing for eternity.
You
may be reading this with cynical amusement, but your own eternal state is portrayed
in that of one of these men. You too
must go from time into eternity, to heaven or hell, to blessing or torment.
Which? You don’t know? Your very uncertainty is its own answer - you too will be pleading
for a drop of water to alleviate your torment; you too will be begging God to send
warning to loved ones left on earth. How do I know? The
believer knows where he is going. Only the unbeliever is uncertain, “These things have I written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal
life” (1 Jn 5:13).
Faith
in Christ as the One Who died on Calvary’s cross in your place, for your sins, is
all you need to be sure of heaven. Lack
of that faith is all you need to be sure of hell and eternal torment.
