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PAUL'S
THANKSGIVING...
...
is
recorded in 2 Co 9:15, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable (incomparable)
gift,” i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ. He
gave that thanks because he recognized that he had been saved from hell and fitted
for heaven through Christ’s death. That
same salvation is available to all men, but effective only for those who acknowledge
their sinfulness, as did Paul; and who then, also like him, believe that Christ died
in their place for their sins, God imputing (crediting) Christ’s death to them, so
that by that imputation their sins have been fully atoned for, enabling Him on a
perfectly just basis to pardon the believer, and receive him into heaven.
Have
you ever thanked God for His incomparable Gift?
There is no better time than now, for it can only be received here on earth,
and tomorrow you could be in eternity, eternally condemned because you refused
God’s priceless Gift.
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GOD
SAYS
“There
is none righteous ... for all have sinned” Ro 3:10-23.
“The
wages of sin is death” Ro 6:23, but there are two deaths: first physical when the
body goes to the grave, and the soul of the unbeliever to hell, to await the
resurrection of damnation, Jn 5:29, when body and soul are cast into the eternal
torment of the lake of fire, “This is the second death” Rev 20:14.
But
God has provided a remedy, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” Ro
5:8, so that, “He who believes on Him is not condemned” Jn 3:18, “but has
eternal life” Jn 3:16. Saving faith however requires more than belief in the historicity
of Christ. It requires admission that I
have no righteousness, belief that Christ loved me enough to die in my place, and
that in response to that confession and belief God pardons me and will receive me
into heaven. This is the second birth
relative to which God says, “Ye must be born again” Jn 3:7.
Without that second birth you will die the second death.
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YOUR
FIRST AND LAST BREATH
Your
first breath brought you into this world; your last will take you into another:
heaven by choice, or hell by default, and both eternal.
Heaven must be prepared for, and your brief life on earth gives you
opportunity to make that preparation. How?
Admit that you’re a sinner without any righteousness; believe that Christ
loved you enough to die in your place for your sins, and that in response to that
faith God will pardon you and receive you into heaven.
Have you made that soul-saving choice yet?
Tomorrow could be too late. Tomorrow
you could be in hell. God warns, “You
know not what may be tomorrow” Jas 4:14, “Now is the accepted time, now is the
day of salvation” 2 Co 6:2.
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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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HOW
SHALL WE ESCAPE?
The
above caption is from Hebrews 2:3 “How shall we escape if we neglect so great
salvation?” a question which raises two others, Escape from what? and, What is this
great salvation?
As
to the first, God’s salvation saves men from hell and the lake of fire, for the
Bible warns that without it men’s souls first enter hell, and following the
resurrection of damnation, the lake of fire where body, soul and spirit will endure
eternal torment, called the second death, Revelation 20.
The
“great salvation” which provides the way of escape, is the good news that Jesus
Christ loved us so much that He died on the cross in our place for our sins, God’s
assurance being that all who confess themselves sinners without any righteousness,
and who believe that Christ has died in their stead, are forgiven, saved from hell
and fitted for heaven, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” John
3:16.
How
may you neglect this priceless salvation? By refusing to consciously confess to God
that you are a sinner without one shred of righteousness; by refusing to consciously
believe that Christ died, not just for the sins of the world, but for yours. by refusing to consciously believe that that faith saves you from
hell and fits you for heaven. Make that
salvation yours now. Tomorrow may be too
late!
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PREPARE
TO MEET THY GOD
This
warning to Israel in Amos 4:12, applies to all men, for “It is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment” He 9:27.
There are however two judgments, Ro 14:10; Rev 20:11: one for believers, the
other for unbelievers, and neither is to determine fitness for heaven, since each man
makes that choice on earth. The one is
to determine the eternal reward to be enjoyed by the believer in heaven; the other,
to determine the degree of eternal torment to be endured by the unbeliever in the
lake of fire Rev 20:15.
Are
you prepared to meet God? You don’t
know how to? Simply admit that you are a
sinner without one shred of righteousness; believe that Jesus Christ loved you enough
to die for you at Calvary, and that in response to that faith, God will pardon all
your sin, bestow His gift of eternal life, and receive you into heaven.
To
learn more about God’s way of salvation, and our Bible study classes, call:
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THE
HARVEST IS PAST
The complete quotation,
“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved” (Jeremiah
8:20), is the lament of an Israel going into captivity, because her continued
sin had exhausted God’s patience; and it will be the lament of all who
similarly offend. It may yet be yours.
Have you
(1) accepted God’s
indictment that “All have sinned” (Romans 3:23,
(2) obeyed His
command to, “Repent and be converted” (Acts 3:19),
(3) believed, not
just in the historicity of Christ, but in Him as your personal Savior,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:30),
(4) believed in His
resurrection, and confessed Him to others, “If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9)?
If not, you are as
disobedient as was Israel, and if you die unconverted, will, from the eternal
torment of the lake of fire, echo her bitter lament, “The harvest is past, the
summer is ended, and we are not saved.”
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ALMOST
PERSUADED
“Then
Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian” (Ac 26:28).
By
what was Agrippa almost persuaded? Paul’s
preaching of the Gospel, but sadly it is not recorded that this almost persuaded king
ever believed the Gospel.
Perhaps
you may be one of the almost persuaded. What
if you should be also one of the many almost persuaded who die unsaved?
That is unimaginable tragedy, to be within a step of heaven, yet to enter
instead, first hell, and then the eternal torment of the lake of fire (Rev 20).
To
escape hell and enter heaven you must (1) confess that you are a sinner without a
particle of righteousness, (2) believe that Christ died for your sins, and (3)
believe that that faith brings you God’s pardon and gift of eternal life, as it is
written, “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” (Jn 3:36).
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RIGHTEOUS
OR JUST GOOD
A
frequent response to the Gospel is, I’m a good Catholic, a good Jew, a good Hindu,
etc., but one I’ve never heard is, “I’m a righteous Catholic, a righteous Jew,
etc. This raises the question, Why do
those claiming to be good, balk at calling themselves righteous?
The
answer is that the professed goodness relates to the requirements of religion, but
righteousness has to do with the claims of God, and few are as foolhardy as to claim
to meet those standards, for God has written, “There is none righteous, no,
not one” (Ro 3:10).
To
be Biblically righteousness (and therefore fit for heaven), is to be declared
guiltless by God’s holy law, but since Jesus Christ is the only man to meet that
criterion, how can others be made righteousness?
Very simply. (1) Realize that
religious obedience will save none, for while it may make you good by man’s
standards, it can’t make you righteousness in God’s sight, and He requires
righteousness of all who would enter heaven. (2)
Believe that Jesus Christ has taken your place and died for your offenses against
God’s holy law. It claimed your life.
He has given His in place of yours. (3)
Believe that in response to that faith, God is willing to credit Christ’s death to
you, so that all the law’s claims against you have been met by Him.
It is that faith, not adherence to the laws of a religious system, that makes
a man righteous, and not merely good, that saves the soul from hell, and fits it for
heaven.
Which
are you, righteous through faith in Christ as your Savior, or merely good through
faithfulness to your religion? Remember,
not only does God say that there is none righteous, He says also, “There is none
good but one, that is, God” (Mk 10:18).
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THE
CLOSED DOOR
In
Rev 3:20 Jesus Christ is seen knocking at the door of men’s hearts, but Mt 7:14
declares that few open the door, i.e., trust Him as Savior.
In Lk 13:24-29 however the position is reversed: men seek admission at a door
which Christ refuses to open, “Many will seek to enter, and not be able, when the
Master hath shut the door,” resulting in eternal “weeping and gnashing of
teeth.”
Relative
to that fateful day we read, “As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be” Mt 24:37, and in regard to those days we read, “The earth was
corrupt and filled with violence” Gen 6:11. Only
fools will deny that conditions are the same today.
This is only one of many signs that Christ’s return is near, and as that
corrupt age ended in a sudden catastrophic foretold judgment, so will this one.
For
120 years Noah warned men who mocked him, but suddenly his preaching stopped.
The day of grace had ended. He
was taken into the ark, and God shut the door. Seven
days followed, and then came the foretold flood, but during those seven days the
mockers were as surely doomed as if it had come on the first day.
Who can begin to imagine their frantic beating on that closed door as the
waters of judgment engulfed them? There
were no mockers, no unbelievers that day.
So
will it be relative to this present age. Believers
will be suddenly caught up to heaven, and 2 Thess 2:1-12 warns that in the following
seven year Tribulation period, those who had rejected the Gospel will have no
opportunity to be saved, but will be banished into hell when Christ returns to end
the Tribulation, and inaugurate His Millennial kingdom.
How
many times have you ignored His knock? What
if this should be His last? Remember, to
open to Him, is to have Him open heaven’s door to you - and vice versa!
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