(111)
6 DAYS
LEFT TO LIVE
Six days before receiving a
letter from a friend, a woman living abroad was notified of her friend's death,
and when the letter arrived she commented, "Little did Margaret know when
writing this she had only six days left to live."
What would you do if you knew
you had only six days left to live?
God warns, "Prepare to meet
thy God ... for you know not what a day may bring," Amos 4:12; Proverbs 27:1.
You may not have even six
minutes left. One day sooner than you think perhaps, you will have to
meet God, and to die without having been born again is to enter hell, not
heaven.
To be born again,
admit that you’re a sinner
without any righteousness,
believe that Christ loved you
enough to die in your stead for your sins, and that in response to that
confession and faith God will pardon all your sin and receive you into heaven.
Do it today. Tomorrow may be
too late.
******
(112)
THE
FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE
The first Christmas tree was
unique. It had neither lights nor
ornaments, yet it attracted a multitude, which included the political and religious
leaders of the city outside which it stood. Upon
it hung one solitary gift. It was
Calvary’s cross, and on it hung God’s priceless Gift to the world, His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
At Christmas attention
focuses on Bethlehem’s manger, but the incarnation is only half the Christmas
story. Calvary is the other half, for the Child Who lay in the manger
became the Man Who hung on the cross, to save men from hell and fit them for heaven,
for as Bethlehem’s manger is only half the Christmas story, so is physical death
only half the story of death. There is a
second death: consignment to eternal torment in the lake of fire, of all who reject
God’s Gift, Revelation 20.
How is He accepted?
(1)
Admit that you’re a sinner without any righteousness
(2)
Believe that He loved you enough to die in your place for your sins
(3)
Believe that in response to that faith, God pardons all your sin, and will
receive you into heaven. To refuse His
priceless gift is to offer God the supreme insult, and damn your own soul.
By
receiving Christ you’ll have the happiest Christmas of your life, and in addition a
happy eternity. I sincerely wish you both.
******
(113)
DO YOU KNOW...
...when you became a sinner?
The common misconception is
that it occurs when one first consciously sins, but God says that all are
born sinners, Psalm 51:5, and warns, "The wages of sin is death" Romans
6:23, death being first, decease of the body, and descent of the soul and spirit
into hell, and finally at the resurrection of damnation, John 5:29, consignment
of body, soul, and spirit to eternal torment in the lake of fire, Revelation
20:14-15.
Because we are born as
sinners, we need a new birth to save us from hell and fit us for heaven, for,
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" John 3:3.
The new birth isn't brought
about by baptism, confirmation, church membership, etc., but by admitting that
I’m a sinner, believing that Christ loved me enough to die in my stead for my
sins, and that in response to that faith God pardons me and will receive me into
heaven.
Can you remember how, when,
and where you were born again? If not, you have no hope of heaven.
To discuss this further call
the number below, or email me. No one will call, visit, or send literature.
******
(114)
THE NIGHT BELSHAZZAR DIED
Belshazzar's
impious feast ended abruptly when God wrote on the wall the announcement of his
death. As that night's revelry suddenly gave place to trembling and
consternation, so will life's brief hour of worldly pleasure pass, leaving the man
who had no time for God, all eternity to suffer His righteous wrath.
You
don't believe in God? What if you're wrong?
How
do you explain the precision with which the Bible has foretold over 25 hundred years
of history. Are you foolish enough to credit a mere man with such power?
For
a free weekly Bible lesson mailed to your home, give us your name and address.
No will call or visit. The
lessons are primarily for mature Christians, but will benefit anyone.
******
(115)
DEFYING THE UNSEEN GOD
It is one thing to defy God when He isn't seen; quite another to defy Him to His
face.
Belshazzar's mockery ended abruptly when he saw just God's fingers, Daniel 5:5.
Terror will replace taunting when earth's scoffers stand face to face with Him
Whose mercy they had despised, and He banishes them into hell. There are
neither unbelievers nor mockers in that terrible place, but their conversion has
come too late, hence God’s warning, “NOW is the accepted time ... NOW is the day
of salvation.”
To be reconciled to God, and prepared to stand before Him unafraid, accept His
indictment that “All have sinned ... there is none righteous,” believe that
Christ loved you enough to die in your stead for your sins, and that in response
to that confession and faith He will pardon all your sin, and will receive you
into heaven.
Do it today. Tomorrow may be too late. Tomorrow you could become a believer -
but in hell.
To discuss this further, call or email me. No one will call, visit, or send
literature.
******
(116)
FEAR
Omitted from today's popular,
but unscriptural Gospel, is the mention of anything that would produce fear in
the heart of the listener, yet there can be no genuine conversion until a man
has been made afraid to die in his sins. Paul's preaching made Felix and the
Philippian jailor tremble. The Gospel has to do with life and death, with
saving men from hell, not with helping them to enjoy life on earth. Christ
warned believers, "In the world ye shall have tribulation."
"The wages of sin is death,"
Romans 6:23 - consignment to eternal torment in the lake of fire, Revelation
20. Until that truth makes you afraid, you can't be saved; but when it does
strike fear into your heart, and causes you to ask, as did the Philippian
jailor, “What must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:30, then comes God’s answer, so
simple that many refuse to believe it just because it is so simple,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,” Acts 16:31.
A word of warning, however, is
needed relative to believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. One may believe all the
historicity of Christ, i.e., the facts of His birth, life, death, resurrection
and return to heaven, and yet not be saved. Belief in His historicity must be
held in the perspective of man’s sinful state, and it must be personal. It was
because I was born into this world as a sinner unable to save myself, that
Christ also was born into this world as a
Man. He came to die the death I deserved to die. But in
order to die in my place He must demonstrate that death had no claim upon His
life, hence the necessity of His sinless life, which enabled Him to yield
Himself to death, and having done that, to rise again out of death.
It is when I believe this,
that God imputes Christ’s death and resurrection to me. By God’s reckoning
Christ’s death is mine. He, upon Whom death had no claim, by dying as my
Substitute, has given death the life upon which it had a just claim. And
by God’s reckoning Christ’s resurrection is also mine. In Him resurrected, I
also have risen up out of death, never to die again. In response to that
belief, God pardons all my sin, and will receive me into heaven when I reach the
end of life’s journey.
But a further warning is
needed. My faith must be exercised in God’s time, as it is written, “Behold,
now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” 2 Corinthians
6:2. God’s offer of salvation is available only within a limited but
undisclosed time frame, not the whole of my life; and refusal to accept His
pardon within that time dooms me to hell and the eternal torment of the lake of
fire, see Genesis 6:3, “My spirit shall not always strive with man,” and
Proverbs 29:1, “He, that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Once I cross that invisible
line separating God’s mercy from His wrath, I am as surely doomed as if I were
already dead, for though my life may extend for years beyond that point, I
cannot be saved!
Trust Christ as your Savior
today. Tomorrow may be too late.
******
(117)
SAVED...
... is a word that has almost
vanished from the preacher's vocabulary, despite the universal need of salvation
announced in Acts 4:12, "We must be saved," and 1 Timothy 2:4, "God... will have
all men to be saved."
Why is it avoided? Because it is disturbingly linked with what men must be saved
from - hell!
But ignoring the words will neither remove the need of salvation, nor the
terrible reality of hell. God doesn't mince words.
We are either saved or going to hell, and if you can’t remember a time when the
fear of going there led you to confess yourself a sinner, and to trust Christ as
your Savior, you are still on that broad but deadly road upon which all men are
born, hence the imperative of the new spiritual birth that takes you off that
road and places you on the narrow road to heaven, see Matthew 7:13-23.
No one has always been a believer. That is Satan’s deadly opiate to lull to
eternal destruction those who have been born into Christian homes where
morality, baptism, church membership, etc., are mistakenly equated with
salvation from hell and fitness for heaven. They aren’t!
“You must be born again,” John 3:7
******
(118)
WHY DID CHRIST DIE?
"All
have sinned ... the wages of sin is death ... He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities ... the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us
all ... He was delivered for our offenses ... While we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us... for without shedding of blood is no remission of sin... The blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth us (believers) from all sin. 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 ... for God is not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
In
spite of what God has done however, to save men from hell and fit them for heaven,
multitudes do perish, for salvation is conditional, and contrary to general belief
only very few meet those conditions, Christ Himself warning, " Narrow is the way
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."
The popular but false "gospel" which teaches otherwise, contradicts
God's word, and deludes multitudes. Those who would escape hell must take up the cross and follow
Christ.
To
discuss this further, call the number below. No
one will call, visit, or send literature.
Scripture
references Ro 3:23;6:23; Isa 53:5,6; Ro 4:25;5:8; Heb 9:22; 1 Jn 1:7; Jn 3:16; 2 Pe
3:9; Mt 7:14; Lk 9:23.
******
(119
)
CAT DROPS DEAD
Last
week, while preparing coffee, a retired unsaved friend of mine heard a little thud
behind him. His apparently healthy cat
had dropped dead. What tragedy it would have been had he died instead, for that
instant his soul would have dropped into hell to await the resurrection of damnation,
Jn 5:29, and consignment to eternal torment in the lake of fire, Re 20:15.
Death
sometimes comes suddenly, hence the need to heed God's warning, "Ye know not
what shall be tomorrow" Jas 4:14. "Now
is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation" 2 Co 6:2.
Tomorrow you could be dead! If
so, where would your soul be?
For
a free weekly Bible lesson mailed to your home, give us your name and address.
No one will call or visit. The
lessons are primarily for born-again believers, but will benefit anyone.
******
(120)
"EXCEPT YE REPENT...
...
ye shall all likewise perish" Luke 13:3
Christ's warning to the most
religious, but unconverted people of His day, is still His warning to those who
are also religious but unconverted.
If your hope of heaven rests
in religion, then you are hopeless, for He also warns, "Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," John 3:3.
The new birth occurs only when
you repent of your sins, believe that Christ died in your stead for your sins,
and that in response to that faith God pardons all your sin, and will receive
you into heaven.
If you can’t remember how,
when, and where that new birth occurred, you have not been born again, and
without that new birth you're going to hell, not heaven, in spite of your
religion.
******
