In a much different (perfect) world, yes. Once sin (corruption) entered the world, they still had extraordinary long life (900+ years) because the decay which brings about death was new to the world. The forces which work against us (to age us and wear us down) were just beginning and Adam and Eve were not plagued with any genetic mutations or disease which would have brought about their demise - as we see today. So it took longer for them to die. Their bodies were perfect and yes, meant to last forever! As time has worn on, we see the full effect of the corruption that entered the world in Eden. If you have ever studied the laws of thermodynamics, you see the picture scientifically! It is a scientific law that the earth has been wound up and BEGUN at a specific point and has been unwinding (wearing down) ever since, just like the Bible says it was. Everything in the universe is slowing down, wearing out and decaying, not the other way around (as evolution teaches.)
The perfect world of Eden IS how God intended it to be. What we experience now is a result of man's choice NOT to do things God's way. We are fortunate, however, that He still gives a second chance to those who want it.
Truth
If you aren't concerned about whether or not what you believe is the TRUTH, you should be. In the end, the truth is going to be the ONLY thing that matters. Believing a lie, no matter how good it makes you feel, does not make it a reality. If what you believe is based solely on your own personal ideas, preferences and imagination about the "way things should be"; can this possibly be real? As if we can dream something up and it be "our" truth. I have to hope that deep down, even the people who SAY they believe that, know how foolish it is to put faith in anything of their own design.
The fact is, as we all know from having spent time on the Earth, the TRUTH hurts sometimes. What I believe about God and the Bible does, in fact, bring pain to me sometimes.
It hurts when I am convicted of sin and have to repent of that.
It hurts when I am asked to change or give up something I very much want to hold on to.
It hurts when I have plans to go one way and God directs me somewhere else.
It hurts when God disciplines me.
It hurts to think that loved ones who have died without Jesus are in hell at this moment.
It's NOT always easy. Some people will inevitably read this and say, "What a fool for believing something so unappealing. I would never believe that!" But that's just the thing. I did not make this... it is making me. I cannot pick and choose because I did not make this up. It is just the truth and just like truth in non-spiritual things, I must take the bad with the good. And the good God provides in my life is more than enough to make up for the difficulties.
If your "belief system" is nothing more than a bunch of ideas you have put together which make you feel happy and good about yourself and where you are headed - then I would strongly suggest you give it some more thought. One day the feelings and emotions that are driving you right now won't even exist anymore. The only thing left will be your soul, God and the truth. At that moment, you will be confronted with whether or not you believed and accepted His Truth.
When you come before the throne of God... what will you stand on? Your own ideas from your own imagination which provided you with the strength and comfort you needed to make it through this life - or God's Word - which maybe wasn't so comfortable but which WILL be the foundation you'll need under you to be able to stand in His presence.
The Bible says there will be a day when everything that CAN BE shaken WILL BE shaken. And all that will remain after that will be all we ever really had. What will you have left?
The fact is, as we all know from having spent time on the Earth, the TRUTH hurts sometimes. What I believe about God and the Bible does, in fact, bring pain to me sometimes.
It hurts when I am convicted of sin and have to repent of that.
It hurts when I am asked to change or give up something I very much want to hold on to.
It hurts when I have plans to go one way and God directs me somewhere else.
It hurts when God disciplines me.
It hurts to think that loved ones who have died without Jesus are in hell at this moment.
It's NOT always easy. Some people will inevitably read this and say, "What a fool for believing something so unappealing. I would never believe that!" But that's just the thing. I did not make this... it is making me. I cannot pick and choose because I did not make this up. It is just the truth and just like truth in non-spiritual things, I must take the bad with the good. And the good God provides in my life is more than enough to make up for the difficulties.
If your "belief system" is nothing more than a bunch of ideas you have put together which make you feel happy and good about yourself and where you are headed - then I would strongly suggest you give it some more thought. One day the feelings and emotions that are driving you right now won't even exist anymore. The only thing left will be your soul, God and the truth. At that moment, you will be confronted with whether or not you believed and accepted His Truth.
When you come before the throne of God... what will you stand on? Your own ideas from your own imagination which provided you with the strength and comfort you needed to make it through this life - or God's Word - which maybe wasn't so comfortable but which WILL be the foundation you'll need under you to be able to stand in His presence.
The Bible says there will be a day when everything that CAN BE shaken WILL BE shaken. And all that will remain after that will be all we ever really had. What will you have left?
What are you so afraid of?
The word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
Could this be the reason so many people refuse to read it?
Could this be the reason so many people refuse to read it?
Opening the Bible
There is nothing comfortable about the Bible - until we manage to get so used to it that we make it comfortable for ourselves. Have we ceased to question the book and be questioned by it? Have we ceased to fight it? Then perhaps our reading is no longer serious.
Trampling the Son of God underfoot...
Job was called righteous and blameless by God Himself. Yet as good as Job was, even he trembled before God and cried out woefully that he needed to repent when confronted with the enormity of Who God is and what His great majesty is like!
Isaiah had a similar experience when he saw God. God's splendor shined a bright light exposing his own filth and all he could do was cry out "Woe is me for I am unclean!"
When we stand there before Him, will we be any less afraid and shaken? I think this is when the verses about fearing God come into play. Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom because when you recognize that there is a reason to fear, you wise up and start to think clearly. Satan loves it when you don't fear God - or when you don't think about Him at all for that matter. One of his smartest tactics is to convice people who love their sin that they should continue in it because "God is too loving and merciful to really punish them."
What these people are forgetting is that love cannot be love if it is not also just. God is just. A just God will demand justice. A just God will demand that the price for sin be paid. Going back to that moment when you stand before Him in terror and trembling, will you be looking around desperately for Jesus to help you at that instant... crying out to Jesus to shield you from the flaming majesty of God the Father which has you exposed to the core? (Heb 4:13)
I can tell you one thing, I will be! And I will be so thankful when He steps forward on my behalf. I will be falling at Jesus' feet and reminding Him that I believed in the sacrifice He made for me! I will cling to Him in utter dependance on the faith I have been putting into Him during the years I spent on this earth.
I will thank Him that He atoned for my sins so that as I stand before God, I will be able to be presented holy and spotless and pure... because I would be cast out of His presence otherwise! The Bible says in that moment, all things will be open and exposed, even the things done in darkness which we thought no one knew about. Naked and exposed. That's how we'll feel and I'm sure it will be nothing short of sheer terror.
Matt 7:21 says there are going to be people in this very situation who will have a terrible surprise in that moment of confrontation with the God of all Creation! It says there are going to be people who are shocked and saying, "But Lord! Lord! We did great works in your name on the earth! We were your followers!" And what does God tell them??
(Here's one of those things Satan would rather you not think about!)
He says to them, "Depart from me, I never knew you." How on earth can people spend their lives calling Him "Lord, Lord" and doing work in His name and yet He never really knew them? How can we know we're not going to be shocked in that moment, finding out He doesn't know US? I believe the book of First John was given to us (among other passages) as a test to see whether He will say that He knows us or not.
A sample of that test: "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Look at the people filling up churches today who are saying they have fellowship with Him and yet walking in darkness! God says these people are lying. They might be content right NOW to be pulling the wool over the eyes of other people, but in that moment - face to face with God - they are going to be confronted with just how dangerous it was to trample the Son of God underfoot, count the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insult the Spirit of grace. (Heb 10:29)
I believe the biggest heresy ever brought upon the Christian church is that it's reasonable or acceptable for a saved person to be carnal. Romans 8 says the carnal mind is enmity with God. Enmity means: Hatred; ill will; hostile or unfriendly disposition. If you are a "carnal Christian" you are putting yourself in a position of "hatred, ill will, hostility, or unfriendly disposition" with the Creator God who has promised to punish all sin. He cannot lie and therefore He will punish all sin as He has promised He will.
If you are calling Jesus your "savior" because you were led in a prayer one time, but He is not your LORD this very day, then chances are He really doesn't know you. (If you're going to be CALLING Him "Lord, Lord" on that day, better make sure He really IS your Lord right now!)
If He is LORD over you, it means that you have surrendered all of those selfish things that He hates and you have chosen instead to do things His way! If He is truly your Lord you will love what He loves and hate what He hates. "Sin to a true believer is horrible because it crucified the Savior. He sees in every iniquity the nails and the spear." - Charles Spurgeon
If you are His child, He will not let you continue in sin for very long without straightening you out, just like any good Father does. "If you are without chastening, then you are illegitimate and not sons." A sign of a true Christian is that they are sensitive to the sin in their lives. (Would you expect the Spirit of God to live inside a person and NOT cause that person to be sensitive to the very thing He hates the most?)
Isaiah had a similar experience when he saw God. God's splendor shined a bright light exposing his own filth and all he could do was cry out "Woe is me for I am unclean!"
When we stand there before Him, will we be any less afraid and shaken? I think this is when the verses about fearing God come into play. Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom because when you recognize that there is a reason to fear, you wise up and start to think clearly. Satan loves it when you don't fear God - or when you don't think about Him at all for that matter. One of his smartest tactics is to convice people who love their sin that they should continue in it because "God is too loving and merciful to really punish them."
What these people are forgetting is that love cannot be love if it is not also just. God is just. A just God will demand justice. A just God will demand that the price for sin be paid. Going back to that moment when you stand before Him in terror and trembling, will you be looking around desperately for Jesus to help you at that instant... crying out to Jesus to shield you from the flaming majesty of God the Father which has you exposed to the core? (Heb 4:13)
I can tell you one thing, I will be! And I will be so thankful when He steps forward on my behalf. I will be falling at Jesus' feet and reminding Him that I believed in the sacrifice He made for me! I will cling to Him in utter dependance on the faith I have been putting into Him during the years I spent on this earth.
I will thank Him that He atoned for my sins so that as I stand before God, I will be able to be presented holy and spotless and pure... because I would be cast out of His presence otherwise! The Bible says in that moment, all things will be open and exposed, even the things done in darkness which we thought no one knew about. Naked and exposed. That's how we'll feel and I'm sure it will be nothing short of sheer terror.
Matt 7:21 says there are going to be people in this very situation who will have a terrible surprise in that moment of confrontation with the God of all Creation! It says there are going to be people who are shocked and saying, "But Lord! Lord! We did great works in your name on the earth! We were your followers!" And what does God tell them??
(Here's one of those things Satan would rather you not think about!)
He says to them, "Depart from me, I never knew you." How on earth can people spend their lives calling Him "Lord, Lord" and doing work in His name and yet He never really knew them? How can we know we're not going to be shocked in that moment, finding out He doesn't know US? I believe the book of First John was given to us (among other passages) as a test to see whether He will say that He knows us or not.
A sample of that test: "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."
Look at the people filling up churches today who are saying they have fellowship with Him and yet walking in darkness! God says these people are lying. They might be content right NOW to be pulling the wool over the eyes of other people, but in that moment - face to face with God - they are going to be confronted with just how dangerous it was to trample the Son of God underfoot, count the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insult the Spirit of grace. (Heb 10:29)
I believe the biggest heresy ever brought upon the Christian church is that it's reasonable or acceptable for a saved person to be carnal. Romans 8 says the carnal mind is enmity with God. Enmity means: Hatred; ill will; hostile or unfriendly disposition. If you are a "carnal Christian" you are putting yourself in a position of "hatred, ill will, hostility, or unfriendly disposition" with the Creator God who has promised to punish all sin. He cannot lie and therefore He will punish all sin as He has promised He will.
If you are calling Jesus your "savior" because you were led in a prayer one time, but He is not your LORD this very day, then chances are He really doesn't know you. (If you're going to be CALLING Him "Lord, Lord" on that day, better make sure He really IS your Lord right now!)
If He is LORD over you, it means that you have surrendered all of those selfish things that He hates and you have chosen instead to do things His way! If He is truly your Lord you will love what He loves and hate what He hates. "Sin to a true believer is horrible because it crucified the Savior. He sees in every iniquity the nails and the spear." - Charles Spurgeon
If you are His child, He will not let you continue in sin for very long without straightening you out, just like any good Father does. "If you are without chastening, then you are illegitimate and not sons." A sign of a true Christian is that they are sensitive to the sin in their lives. (Would you expect the Spirit of God to live inside a person and NOT cause that person to be sensitive to the very thing He hates the most?)
Do you think God is "too good" to send you to hell?
I have noticed a lot of people use the reasoning that God is "too good" to send anyone to hell and that He will just wink at sin and overlook it and just open up the doors to Heaven to welcome everyone. (Of course these same people will adamantly tell you that blatant evil-doers like Hitler are in hell, so I guess they concede that even a merciful God must draw the line somewhere!)
I have an example for those of you who might have thought of God as so all-loving and all-merciful that he would NEVER send people to such a horrible place...
Imagine you are in a court of law confronting the man who murdered someone you loved dearly. You are angry and distraught and you are demanding that justice be served!
Now imagine this kindly old judge has kind of a soft spot for murderers and decides the death penalty - or even life in prison - is just too harsh. His merciful spirit compels him to just sign release papers and hand them over to the guy with a smile and a hug. Now I ask you, is this a "good" judge? Is he just?
Could a God who proclaims His justice to us over and over in scripture ever be guilty of such a gross lack of justice as this? Of course not. Yet this is what people expect God will do for them. They spend their entire lives breaking His laws and shrugging off sin and then think because He is GOOD He will forgive them anyway in the end.
I'm telling you right now... it is BECAUSE HE IS GOOD that He will punish all sin. Period. If your sin hasn't been paid for by Jesus' sacrifice, then you will pay for it yourself. It's not easy to hear the truth, sometimes I think it hurts church people the most because they've essentially gotten used to the idea that they can participate and go through the motions with their church family - but still cling to their sins and do those things that God hates. (Using Jesus as their sin credit card - "I'm gonna go ahead and commit this act of fornication, but Jesus died for my sins, so charge this one to Him, thanks!")
But it's impossible to have a real encounter with the Creator of the Universe and not be changed. So, along with 1 John, I say to you now, if you aren't changed then you aren't saved. (And along with Paul Washer, "If you don't have a new relationship with sin, you don't have a new relationship with God.")
I have an example for those of you who might have thought of God as so all-loving and all-merciful that he would NEVER send people to such a horrible place...
Imagine you are in a court of law confronting the man who murdered someone you loved dearly. You are angry and distraught and you are demanding that justice be served!
Now imagine this kindly old judge has kind of a soft spot for murderers and decides the death penalty - or even life in prison - is just too harsh. His merciful spirit compels him to just sign release papers and hand them over to the guy with a smile and a hug. Now I ask you, is this a "good" judge? Is he just?
Could a God who proclaims His justice to us over and over in scripture ever be guilty of such a gross lack of justice as this? Of course not. Yet this is what people expect God will do for them. They spend their entire lives breaking His laws and shrugging off sin and then think because He is GOOD He will forgive them anyway in the end.
I'm telling you right now... it is BECAUSE HE IS GOOD that He will punish all sin. Period. If your sin hasn't been paid for by Jesus' sacrifice, then you will pay for it yourself. It's not easy to hear the truth, sometimes I think it hurts church people the most because they've essentially gotten used to the idea that they can participate and go through the motions with their church family - but still cling to their sins and do those things that God hates. (Using Jesus as their sin credit card - "I'm gonna go ahead and commit this act of fornication, but Jesus died for my sins, so charge this one to Him, thanks!")
But it's impossible to have a real encounter with the Creator of the Universe and not be changed. So, along with 1 John, I say to you now, if you aren't changed then you aren't saved. (And along with Paul Washer, "If you don't have a new relationship with sin, you don't have a new relationship with God.")
Christian Perfection
"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. . . ." Philippians 3:12
It is a snare to imagine that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do; God's purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements is apt to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you go off on this idea of personal holiness, the dead-set of your life will not be for God, but for what you call the manifestation of God in your life. "It can never be God's will that I should be sick." If it was God's will to bruise His own Son, why should He not bruise you? The thing that tells for God is not your relevant consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your real vital relation to Jesus Christ, and your abandonment to Him whether you are well or ill.
Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that strikes you is the irrelevancy of the things you have to do, and the next thing that strikes you is the fact that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives are apt to leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary, by human effort and devotion we can reach the standard God wants. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in perfect relation to God so that my life produces a longing after God in other lives, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His show-room; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He likes. - MUFHH
It is a snare to imagine that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do; God's purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements is apt to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you go off on this idea of personal holiness, the dead-set of your life will not be for God, but for what you call the manifestation of God in your life. "It can never be God's will that I should be sick." If it was God's will to bruise His own Son, why should He not bruise you? The thing that tells for God is not your relevant consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your real vital relation to Jesus Christ, and your abandonment to Him whether you are well or ill.
Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship to God which shows itself amid the irrelevancies of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that strikes you is the irrelevancy of the things you have to do, and the next thing that strikes you is the fact that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives are apt to leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary, by human effort and devotion we can reach the standard God wants. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in perfect relation to God so that my life produces a longing after God in other lives, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God is not after perfecting me to be a specimen in His show-room; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He likes. - MUFHH
Worshipping... in flesh and in fallacy
Jesus: "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
The only way to worship in spirit and in truth is to live every moment in an attitude of worship, and this is what Jesus meant when He said those words. Everything we do, every moment of our day, should be an act of worship. When we are faced with overwhelming temptation, we should resist it - and offer THAT to God as worship. That PAIN we feel when we sacrifice something we really want because we know it is a sin - that very pain - is worshipping God. He is pleased when we sacrifice these things for Him. He is pleased when we surrender our own will for His... when we suppress those thoughts and and resist those urges that we really want to give in to... that's worshipping in spirit and in truth.
What we call worship is a sham for the most part because first, it is neither spiritual nor truthful. If we have spent a week disobeying God, making excuses for sin, and giving in to temptation and then we stand before God claiming to WORSHIP Him... what does God think about that? It's probably a lot like the feeling you'd get if you knew your spouse had been cheating on you all week long, but tonight wants to cozy up and pretend like everything is happy and good between the two of you.
I believe worship has fallen victim to the same lack of truth that has caused so many other aspects of church to wither away (prayer, reverence, emphasis on God's Word, etc.) I don't believe any of us will be able to experience true worship until that truth is restored. span>
The only way to worship in spirit and in truth is to live every moment in an attitude of worship, and this is what Jesus meant when He said those words. Everything we do, every moment of our day, should be an act of worship. When we are faced with overwhelming temptation, we should resist it - and offer THAT to God as worship. That PAIN we feel when we sacrifice something we really want because we know it is a sin - that very pain - is worshipping God. He is pleased when we sacrifice these things for Him. He is pleased when we surrender our own will for His... when we suppress those thoughts and and resist those urges that we really want to give in to... that's worshipping in spirit and in truth.
What we call worship is a sham for the most part because first, it is neither spiritual nor truthful. If we have spent a week disobeying God, making excuses for sin, and giving in to temptation and then we stand before God claiming to WORSHIP Him... what does God think about that? It's probably a lot like the feeling you'd get if you knew your spouse had been cheating on you all week long, but tonight wants to cozy up and pretend like everything is happy and good between the two of you.
I believe worship has fallen victim to the same lack of truth that has caused so many other aspects of church to wither away (prayer, reverence, emphasis on God's Word, etc.) I don't believe any of us will be able to experience true worship until that truth is restored. span>
May the Lamb Who Was Slain Receive the Reward of His Suffering
The attitude of humanism that has invaded the church tells us that it's all about us.
Why do we get saved? Why do we want others to be saved? Is it just so we can all avoid hell and spend eternity in paradise with God? If you believe it's all about you, then that might be what you think.
But that's so far from the truth. Try to think beyond yourself for a moment and answer these questions...
Why does God want you to be saved? Why does He want you to be holy? Why does He want you to be a witness for him so that others can be saved? It's all about Him... not you.
God wants you to be saved because HE deserves the reward of His suffering. Doesn't HE DESERVE those for whom He died? God wants you to be holy because it's the only way HE can get glory out of a human life!
"Christianity says, "The end of all being is the glory of God." Humanism says, "The end of all being is the happiness of man."
Paris Reidhead: What about you? Why did you repent? I’d like to see some people repent on Biblical terms again. George Whitefield knew it. He stood on Boston Commons speaking to twenty thousand people and he said, "Listen sinners – you’re monsters – monsters of iniquity! You deserve Hell! And the worst of your crimes is that criminals though you’ve been, you haven’t had the good grace to see it!" He said, "If you will not weep for your sins and your crimes against a Holy God, George Whitefield will weep for you!" That man would put his head back and he would sob like a baby. Why? Because they were in danger of Hell? No! But because they were "monsters of iniquity", that didn’t even see their sin or care about their crimes. You see the difference? The difference is, here is somebody trembling because he is going to be hurt in Hell. And he has no sense of the enormity of his guilt! And no sense of the enormity of his crime! And no sense of his insult against Deity! He’s only trembling because his skin is about to be singed! He’s afraid and I submit to you that where as fear is good office work in preparing us for grace, it’s no place to stop. And the Holy Ghost doesn’t stop there. That’s the reason why no one can savingly receive Christ until they’ve repented. And no one can repent until they’ve been convicted. And conviction is the work of the Holy Ghost that helps a sinner to see that he is a criminal before God and DESERVES all of God’s wrath. And if God were to send him to the lowest corner of a devil’s Hell forever and ten eternities, that he deserved it all! And a hundred fold more. Because he’s seen his crimes.
There is only one reason for you to go to the Cross, dear young person – and that’s because until you come to the place of union with Christ in death, you are defrauding the Son of God of the glory that He could get out of your life. For no flesh shall glory in His sight. And until you’ve understood the sanctifying work of God by the Holy Ghost taking you into union with Christ in death and burial and resurrection, you have to serve in what you have and all you have which is under the sentence of death: human personality, and human nature, and human strength, and human energy. And God will get no glory out of that! So the reason for you to go to the cross isn’t that you’re going to get victory – you will get victory. It isn’t that you’re going to have joy – you will have joy. But the reason for you to embrace the cross and press through until you know that you can testify with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ.." (Galatians 2:20) It isn’t what you’re going to get out of it, but what He’ll get out of it, for the glory of God. By the same token, why aren’t you pressed through to know the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Why aren’t you pressed through to know the fullness of Christ? I’ll tell you why – Because the only possible way that Jesus Christ will get glory out of a life that He’s redeemed with His precious blood, is when He can fill that life with His presence and live through it his own life."
Paris Reidhead, Ten Shekels and a Shirt http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=282
Why do we get saved? Why do we want others to be saved? Is it just so we can all avoid hell and spend eternity in paradise with God? If you believe it's all about you, then that might be what you think.
But that's so far from the truth. Try to think beyond yourself for a moment and answer these questions...
Why does God want you to be saved? Why does He want you to be holy? Why does He want you to be a witness for him so that others can be saved? It's all about Him... not you.
God wants you to be saved because HE deserves the reward of His suffering. Doesn't HE DESERVE those for whom He died? God wants you to be holy because it's the only way HE can get glory out of a human life!
"Christianity says, "The end of all being is the glory of God." Humanism says, "The end of all being is the happiness of man."
Paris Reidhead: What about you? Why did you repent? I’d like to see some people repent on Biblical terms again. George Whitefield knew it. He stood on Boston Commons speaking to twenty thousand people and he said, "Listen sinners – you’re monsters – monsters of iniquity! You deserve Hell! And the worst of your crimes is that criminals though you’ve been, you haven’t had the good grace to see it!" He said, "If you will not weep for your sins and your crimes against a Holy God, George Whitefield will weep for you!" That man would put his head back and he would sob like a baby. Why? Because they were in danger of Hell? No! But because they were "monsters of iniquity", that didn’t even see their sin or care about their crimes. You see the difference? The difference is, here is somebody trembling because he is going to be hurt in Hell. And he has no sense of the enormity of his guilt! And no sense of the enormity of his crime! And no sense of his insult against Deity! He’s only trembling because his skin is about to be singed! He’s afraid and I submit to you that where as fear is good office work in preparing us for grace, it’s no place to stop. And the Holy Ghost doesn’t stop there. That’s the reason why no one can savingly receive Christ until they’ve repented. And no one can repent until they’ve been convicted. And conviction is the work of the Holy Ghost that helps a sinner to see that he is a criminal before God and DESERVES all of God’s wrath. And if God were to send him to the lowest corner of a devil’s Hell forever and ten eternities, that he deserved it all! And a hundred fold more. Because he’s seen his crimes.
There is only one reason for you to go to the Cross, dear young person – and that’s because until you come to the place of union with Christ in death, you are defrauding the Son of God of the glory that He could get out of your life. For no flesh shall glory in His sight. And until you’ve understood the sanctifying work of God by the Holy Ghost taking you into union with Christ in death and burial and resurrection, you have to serve in what you have and all you have which is under the sentence of death: human personality, and human nature, and human strength, and human energy. And God will get no glory out of that! So the reason for you to go to the cross isn’t that you’re going to get victory – you will get victory. It isn’t that you’re going to have joy – you will have joy. But the reason for you to embrace the cross and press through until you know that you can testify with Paul, "I am crucified with Christ.." (Galatians 2:20) It isn’t what you’re going to get out of it, but what He’ll get out of it, for the glory of God. By the same token, why aren’t you pressed through to know the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Why aren’t you pressed through to know the fullness of Christ? I’ll tell you why – Because the only possible way that Jesus Christ will get glory out of a life that He’s redeemed with His precious blood, is when He can fill that life with His presence and live through it his own life."
Paris Reidhead, Ten Shekels and a Shirt http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=282
Walking away sad...
Isn't it strange how nobody in the Bible ever prayed to "receive" Jesus as their Savior? Have you ever thought about that? It's true. I challenge you to find one example in God's Word of a person praying to "receive Him".
If you'll notice, people in the Bible, were saved because they BELIEVED... not because they prayed. They first of all, became humble enough to truly look inside themselves and understand that they really were lost and that they needed Him. This brought about repentance. Then, they believed on Him and they were changed. Then normally, they were baptized.
Is there anything wrong with praying to receive Jesus as our Savior? Not if the believing part and the changing part happened like it was supposed to! But what if there was no humble understanding and no repentance, no believing or trusting in Him... then what have we produced when this person finishes his prayer? A person who thinks he's saved who's really not.
Then we wonder why there's so much sin and corruption and worldliness inside the church? It really is sad. The saddest thing is that it hasn't always been this way. 50 years ago, a Baptist preacher would not assure you that you were saved by asking you if you prayed a prayer one time.
If Jesus operated the way most preachers do today, He would be chasing the Rich Young Ruler down the street, begging him to just make that verbal profession - no matter what was in his heart! But Jesus didn't DO that!
Jesus told Him that if he wasn't willing to give up the things that were seperating him from God, then he couldn't be saved. He was looking for that repentance and that change... and He didn't see it.
You know, the Rich Young Ruler walked away "sad." But at least he didn't walk away deceived into thinking he was saved when he really wasn't.
If you'll notice, people in the Bible, were saved because they BELIEVED... not because they prayed. They first of all, became humble enough to truly look inside themselves and understand that they really were lost and that they needed Him. This brought about repentance. Then, they believed on Him and they were changed. Then normally, they were baptized.
Is there anything wrong with praying to receive Jesus as our Savior? Not if the believing part and the changing part happened like it was supposed to! But what if there was no humble understanding and no repentance, no believing or trusting in Him... then what have we produced when this person finishes his prayer? A person who thinks he's saved who's really not.
Then we wonder why there's so much sin and corruption and worldliness inside the church? It really is sad. The saddest thing is that it hasn't always been this way. 50 years ago, a Baptist preacher would not assure you that you were saved by asking you if you prayed a prayer one time.
If Jesus operated the way most preachers do today, He would be chasing the Rich Young Ruler down the street, begging him to just make that verbal profession - no matter what was in his heart! But Jesus didn't DO that!
Jesus told Him that if he wasn't willing to give up the things that were seperating him from God, then he couldn't be saved. He was looking for that repentance and that change... and He didn't see it.
You know, the Rich Young Ruler walked away "sad." But at least he didn't walk away deceived into thinking he was saved when he really wasn't.
Guilt is a gift
Have you ever thought about all the extremes people go to sometimes to alleviate that horrible feeling of GUILT they have over sins they've committed? They distract themselves to keep their minds off of it, they mediate or drink themselves into a state of mind where they can't remember it, they seek counseling to "deal with it" - which usually means deferring the blame for it to parents or siblings from their childhood.Obviously we have lost sight of the fact that guilt is a gift from God and it was given for a reason... because we're GUILTY. It is guilt that drives us to repentance. It is guilt that drives us to take what's wrong and make it right. It is guilt that drives us to seek forgiveness and to forgive. There probably aren't too many people out there in the world telling you the truth these days so what the heck, I'll say it: Embrace your guilt! Stop running from it. Think about it. Meditate on it. Pray about it. Bow before God and beg Him to show you what it is that needs to be done for this burden of guilt to be lifted! Then ask for His help and do it!
Saved from WHAT?
The nature of Christ's salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day "evangelist." He announces a Savior from hell rather than a Savior from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness. The very first thing said of Him in the New Testament is, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people (not "from the wrath to come," but) from their sins." (Matt. 1:21) Christ is a Savior for those realizing something of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, who feel the awful burden of it on their conscience, who loathe themselves for it, who long to be freed from its terrible dominion; and a Savior for no others. Were He to "save from hell" those still in love with sin, He would be a Minister of sin, condoning their wickedness and siding with them against God. What an unspeakably horrible and blasphemous thing with which to charge the Holy One! A.W. Pink
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