(151)
ETERNAL
EXISTENCE OR ETERNAL LIFE
These
two things aren’t the same. Eternal existence is the state into which we are
brought by birth, but people are so taken up with the affairs of earthly life
that they rarely give a thought to the fact that earthly life is only the
first stage of an eternal existence. Physical death is not the end of man’s
existence. We will live our allotted number of years here on earth, and then
death will result in consignment of the body to the grave; and of the soul, to
eternal bliss in heaven, or eternal torment, first in hell, and ultimately the
lake of fire.
Eternal life, on the other hand, is the state into which we are brought by the
new birth, the imperative of that new spiritual birth being emphasized
by Christ in His warning, “You must be born again,” John 3:7. Without
the new birth you will first enter hell, and then at the resurrection of
damnation, John 5:29, the lake of fire, to exist for ever in torment,
Revelation 20:15.
It
was to save you from that terrible fate that Christ died; but His death is
effective to save only those who admit that they are sinners without any
righteousness, and who believe that He died in their place for their sins, and
that in response to that faith God pardons them, and will receive them into
heaven. “The gift of God is eternal life” and is received through faith in
Christ as Savior, Romans 6:23.
It is
unimaginable tragedy to die without having received that priceless gift, the
urgency of accepting it immediately, being declared in the fact that this
could be your last day on earth. Tomorrow you could be in hell awaiting final
consignment to the eternal torment of the lake of fire, a fate impossible to
escape once you have left this present world. God warns, “My Spirit shall not
always strive with man,” Genesis 6:3, and again, “He, that being often
reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without
remedy,” Proverbs 29:1.
Death, however, isn’t your only danger, nor is the possibility of your being
rendered incapable of coherent thought, through a stroke or accident. There
is also the terrible possibility that without even being aware of it, you
could today pass forever beyond the point where God’s priceless gift of
eternal life is available to you, His warning relative to that possibility
being conveyed in His further admonition, “Behold, now is the accepted
time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” 2 Corinthians 6:2. Today
may be your last chance to be saved. Tomorrow could be too late.
******
(152)
FOUR
STAIRWAYS
In a park in Spain are four
stairways, each facing in a different direction, providing four different
views, but leading nowhere, a guard rail preventing the observer from going
over the edge to certain death. In some respects they are like the world’s
religions: they too offer different views as to how men can escape hell and
enter heaven, but they lead only to the end of life on earth - and the man who
climbs them can’t stop when he reaches the top. They have no guard rail, and
the deluded observer is compelled by death to plunge from time into hell to
await the resurrection of damnation, and ultimate consignment to the eternal
torment of the lake of fire.
The stairway of religion may
lift you up into a state of greater morality than that which governs the bulk
of men, but it cannot lift you up to heaven. In fact, it brings you into an
even more dangerous state, for it deludes you into believing that moral
reformation is the equivalent of the new birth, the imperative of which is
emphasized by the Lord Jesus Christ, “Except a man be born again, he cannot
see (enter) the kingdom of heaven ... You must be born again,” John
3:3-7.
A further danger is that it
begets an insidious self-righteous pride which further compounds one’s guilt.
Religion and moral
reformation will take you to hell, not heaven.
Men are saved from hell and
fitted for heaven by honestly acknowledging that they are sinners without one
iota of righteousness; by believing that Christ loved them enough to come to
earth and die at Calvary in their stead, for their sins; and by believing that
in exchange for that confession and belief, God cleanses them from all sin,
and will receive them into heaven at the end of their earthly lives.
Are you on the way to heaven
through faith in Christ as your Savior, or on the stairway of religion which
offers a view, but which doesn’t reach heaven, and from which you will drop
into eternal torment?
Trust Christ today. By
tomorrow you could have taken that fatal plunge from the stairway of your
religion into hell.
******
(153)
ONLY ONE HEARTBEAT LEFT
Some
day your heart will give its last beat. What if it should be today?
Think
for a moment. Where will you be? What will you be doing?
It
doesn't matter much, but what does matter is where your soul will be after
that last heartbeat that will release it from your body to enter the eternal
bliss of heaven, or the torment of hell to await the resurrection of damnation
and consignment to the eternal torment of the lake of fire.
Since
you don't know how many heart beats you have left, and today could bring the
last one, isn't it madness to postpone saving your soul from hell, and
preparing it for heaven?
How?
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 faith
God will pardon all your sin and receive you into heaven.
To be
sure of entering hell, continue as you are, for all are born on the road that
leads there, and only a heartbeat separates you from plunging into its eternal
anguish.
******
(154)
IT’S NOT
FUNNY WHEN GOD LAUGHS
The only Biblical references
to God’s laughing relate to His mocking derision when those who refused His
salvation are abandoned to eternal judgment, e.g., Psalm 2:4-5 “He shall laugh
and trouble them in his displeasure.” See also Psalms 37:13; 59:8, and
Proverbs 1:26, “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear
cometh.”
Today men laugh and joke
about God, and mock those who preach the Gospel warning them of the need to be
born again to be saved from hell, and fitted for heaven, John 3:3,7. What
terrible remorse will be theirs when God withdraws His offer of salvation, and
instead executes judgment, as they weep and wail and beg for mercy, and He
laughs in mockery at their misery! Today He warns, “Now is the accepted time,
now is the day of salvation” 2 Corinthians 6:2. Today He pleads in love,
“Turn unto Me, and be saved” Isaiah 45:22. Tomorrow you may hear instead His
terrible command, “Depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, Matthew
25:41, as His mocking laughter follows you into hell.
To ensure that you will
never hear that terrible mocking laughter, and never enter that awful place of
endless torment, admit that you are a sinner without one iota of
righteousness; believe that Jesus Christ loved you so much that He was willing
to take your guilty place and die in your stead at Calvary for your sins; and
that in response to that confession and faith, God will pardon all your sin,
and receive you into heaven at the end of your earthly life.
******
(155)
THE BIGGEST
COIN
A man held out a handful of
coins to his grandson and invited him to take one. The boy took a nickel, but
then asked, “May I take a dime instead?” “Sure” replied Grandpa, so the boy
took the dime, but then thought he might perhaps take a quarter instead.
Grandpa agreed, so the dime was exchanged for the quarter. But then he saw a
fifty-cent piece, and was allowed to take it instead of the quarter, having
Grandpa’s assurance, “Johnny, that’s the one I wanted you to take in the first
place.”
This illustrates truth
relative to God. We take His smaller gifts: health, food, clothing, family,
friends, etc., when He wants us to take His best gift: eternal life. “God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life, John 3:16. “For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,”
Romans 6:23.
How does one accept this
priceless gift? First, accept God’s indictment, that like all other men, you
are a sinner without one iota of righteousness. Second, believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ loved you so much that He became Man - for as God He could not
die - so that He might die in your place for your sins, and by dying make full
atonement for all your sin. And third, Believe that in response to that
confession and that faith God will pardon all your sin, and receive you into
heaven when your earthly life ends.
That priceless gift,
however, may not be available tomorrow. Tomorrow you may be dead, hence
God’s warning, “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation,” 2
Corinthians 6:2.
******
(156)
A MATTER OF
LIFE OR DEATH
The crux of the Gospel is
the need to save yourself from hell. But if there is no hell then neither is
there a heaven, for it is the same book, the Bible, that declares the
existence of both, and if the Bible is wrong about heaven and hell, then
axiomatically it is not to be trusted about anything else. If the Bible is
wrong, then Jesus Christ was a liar, His death unnecessary, the Bible a fable,
a funeral service a farce, morality meaningless, and conduct without
consequences beyond this life.
Are you prepared to stake
the eternal fate of your soul on the belief that Jesus Christ was a
liar, and the Bible mere fable; that there is a heaven, but no hell? Then you
are of all fools the greatest, for the Bible furnishes irrefutable proof of
its being a Divinely inspired book. It has foretold with amazing accuracy
more than 2,500 years of what is now history, something no other book of any
order of any religion has done.
The Gospel is a matter of
life or death, and warns that unless you choose heaven, by admitting that
you’re a sinner, and by trusting in Christ as your Savior, you will at death
first enter hell and ultimately the lake of fire to endure eternal torment.
Christ died to provide you with the choice of life or death, both of them
eternal. By natural birth all of us have been born into a state of spiritual
death, but God has given us the opportunity to choose by an act of our own
free will to remain in that state, or to accept His priceless gift of eternal
life.
How do you make that
choice? First, accept God’s indictment, that like all other men, you are a
sinner without one iota of righteousness. Second, believe that the Lord Jesus
Christ loved you so much that He became Man - for as God He could not die - so
that He might die in your place for your sins, and by dying make full
atonement for all your sin. And third, Believe that in response to that
confession and that faith God will pardon all your sin, and receive you into
heaven when your earthly life ends.
But the privilege of
choosing life or death is not extended indefinitely, God’s warning being
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” 2
Corinthians 6:2. Tomorrow you could die, or become mentally incapable of
making a rational choice. Choose God’s gift of eternal life now while you
have opportunity.
******
(157)
GOD’S LAST OFFER
Today
God’s invitation is, “Turn unto me and be saved” Isaiah 45:22, but He warns,
“My Spirit shall not always strive with man” Genesis 6:3. A day is coming
when His command will be, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire”
Matthew 25:41.
Today
men may choose whether to accept His invitation. On that coming day they will
have no choice relative to His command, “Depart.”
Have
you accepted His invitation by confessing yourself a sinner, and trusting in
Christ as your Savior? What if this should be the last time He offers you
salvation, and instead commands you to depart into everlasting fire?
A
further warning relative to the imperative of accepting God’s offer of eternal
life is given in Proverbs 29:1, “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his
neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”
******
(158)
GERM WARFARE
The
potential for mass destruction through germ warfare is a grim reality which
has many world leaders deeply concerned. Against the background of this
threat, what is written in Scripture takes on new significance, for it also
speaks of countless multitudes dying by plagues and disease, "ugly and painful
sores" causing men to "gnaw their tongues in agony" Revelation 16. The signs
foretold in Scripture declare that that time of tribulation is near!
Before
the cataclysm comes however, God will remove all believers from the earth "in
the twinkling of an eye" 1 Corinthians 15:52, those who at that moment haven't
been born again, John 3:3,7, through faith in Christ as Savior, being left on
earth to endure the horrors of the Tribulation. That moment of removal is
near.
It
could be today. Have you been born again? If not, your danger is very real,
and very great.
******
(159)
WAITING FOR PROOF?
The
mockers at Calvary demanded that Christ prove His claims by coming down from
the cross, and He refused, not because He couldn't, but because His miracles
had already attested His claims, and He would give unbelievers no other proof.
Today's
mockers also demand proof, and will not be given it, for salvation is on the
basis of faith, and proof automatically voids faith.
Christ's post-resurrection appearances confirmed the faith of believers, but
no unbeliever saw Him after Calvary.
Today
Scripture confirms believers' faith, but unbelievers can't understand
Scripture, as it is written, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned,” 1 Corinthians 2:14.
A fixed
principle of salvation is that faith must precede proof. If you're waiting
for proof before trusting Christ as your Savior you will never enter heaven,
and in the lake of fire you will have all the proof you demanded on earth -
but then it will be too late to save your soul.
Today,
while there is still time, confess yourself a sinner without any
righteousness; believe that Christ loved you so much that He died in your
stead for your sins; and believe that in response to that confession and faith
God will pardon your sins and bestow His priceless gift of eternal life.
Then as
one possessed of new spiritual life you will find in Scripture what no
unconverted man will ever find: abundant proof to justify and confirm your
faith.
******
(160)
ALL HAVE SINNED, Romans
3:23
This is
God's indictment of all men, added to which is His warning, "The soul that
sins shall die" Ezekiel 18:20, "For the wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23,
death being first consignment of the body to the grave, and following the
resurrection of damnation, John 5:29, consignment of body and soul to eternal
torment in the lake of fire, Revelation 20:11-15.
It was
to save men from death that Christ died, God's love being revealed "in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" Romans 5:8.
That
redemption however, doesn't apply automatically, for as men incurred the
sentence of death through the choice made by Adam the federal head of the
human race, so must each man by a conscious choice receive God's pardon and
gift of eternal life, by accepting God's indictment, repenting, and believing
that when Christ died it was in his place for his sins, God's warning being,
"Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation" 2 Corinthians 6:2.
Tomorrow may be too late. Tomorrow you may be dead.
******
