Hello Friends!
Welcome Back. This week we will examine the third element found in John 8:21-30 that defines how a person can die in sin - being unbelieving...
Being Unbelieving
In John 8:24 Jesus says:
"Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins."
So the third way to guarantee you will die in your sins is to be unbelieving of the gospel. You don't have to go out and kill someone and be bad to go to hell, because hell is not just for criminals, it is for everyone and anyone who refuses Christ. If you refuse Christ in this life, God isn't going to force you to dwell with Him forever in eternity.
You you say, "What am I supposed to believe?" There was once a popular song called "I believe," which kept repeating the words "I believe," I believe what? How about the song "I believe in Music." If that is all you believe in, you're in trouble! We find the same kind of vague or misdirected faith when we ask people, "Do you believe in Christ?" And they respond, "Yeah, I believe in Christ, He lived and so forth."
But Jesus had something more definite in mind. Notice what He says throughout John 6:
"Unless you believe that I am He."
It isn't enough to believe that Jesus is the One you think He is; you must believe that He is the One He claimed to be. He claimed to be God by such phrases as:
"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never thirst" (John 6:35)
"I am the Light of the world" (John 8:12)
"I am the door" (John 10:9)
"I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11)
"I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25)
"I am the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6)
Because Jesus was identifying Himself with God, saving faith not only becomes a question of turning from sin, but trusting the Son as well. It's a question of believing that Jesus is who He claimed to be. You may ask, "Am I going to die in my sin unless I believe that Jesus is all that He claimed to be?" That's right. You ought to find out who He claimed to be, for Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing a message about Christ. You can never have true faith unless you hear the truth about Christ. True faith is the result of hearing and believing with your heart that Jesus is who He claimed to be, and that God verified that claim by raising Him from the dead (Romans 10:9).
Jesus promises His opponents that they will die with their sin unforgiven if they do not believe He is who He claims to be - God in human flesh. Not to believe and turn away shatters hope and leaves only hell's gloomy foreboding. You may also ask, "So, how does one become a Christian?" I'm glad you asked! The gospel is simple, but many will miss out. You must believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be: God in human flesh, the Savior who died for your sin and rose again, defeating death and the grave. A person can go to hell and remain there eternally for not believing those few things. Faith in Christ comes by hearing a message about Him, and if you haven't heard enough, then you ought to read some more or find someone who can tell you. There is no sense in going to hell for something you failed to do, because not believing is the same thing as rejecting:
"He who is not with Me, is against Me" (Matthew 12:30)
Don't be like the Pharisees who should have known, but continued to mock.
Please join us next week as we conclude this series with the fourth way to die in your sin...
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings on your success!
Shane <><
Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)
Hello Friends!
Welcome Back. This week we will examine the second element found in John 8:21-30 that defines how a person can die in sin - being earthbound...
Being Earthbound
In John 8:23 Jesus says:
"I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world."
Here Jesus draws another contrast. He tells the Pharisees that hey are part of the world system of which He is not. The term "world" simply refers to the invisible spiritual realm of evil. We use the word to identify a particular system, such as the world of politics, the world of sports, and so on. The system Jesus has in mind here is the system of evil opposed to God and Christ. If you want to guarantee that you will die in your sin, just be a slave to this world system and accept whatever it offers. Then you can be classified as "sons of this age" (Luke 16:8) entrapped in "this present evil age," from which Jesus seeks to deliver man (Galatians 1:4). Opposed to the Truth of God, the world propagates its own self-righteous systems.
You could characterize the system in this way: it is materialistic and humanistic, believing that man is going to solve his problems by himself and rule his own fate; it is lost in preoccupation with sex; it is plagued by carnal ambition, pride, greed, jealousy, envy, self-pleasure, selfish desire, murder, and so on. Its opinions are wrong, its aims are selfish, its pleasures are sinful, its influences are demoralizing, its politics are corrupt, its honors are empty, its smiles are phony and its love is fickle. Furthermore, it is in the process of dissolution; according to 1 John 2:17, "the world is passing away." It will self-destruct.
Jesus identifies those mocking Him as being a part of the world system. They were sinful, selfish, earthbound souls, who were controlled by the dictates of the evil system run by Satan. They had separated themselves from Jesus Christ with a gulf in between them that was impassable. Even though they were religious, and maybe even humanitarian at heart, they were still a part of Satan's evil system opposed to God. In essence, Jesus is simply saying to them, "You're going to die in your sins for two reasons: number one, you are self-righteous, and number two, you are totally engulfed in the system - you buy whatever the world is selling." We must choose a better way.
Please join us next week as we examine a third way to die in sin...
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings on your success!
Shane <><
Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)
Hello Friends!
Over the next four weeks we will investigate the most important question an individual will be confronted with in their life time - "Where will I go when I die?" The Holy Scriptures give us the only two options available... heaven or hell. Each one of us will decide for ourselves which we will choose, ultimately determining our eternal destiny once we pass from this life. We will examine what the Bible requires of anyone choosing heaven as their final destination, as well as the main hindrances that will cause many souls to be deceived into an eternity in hell apart from God. It is my heart's cry that you would choose heaven over hell, good over evil - God over Satan...
Heaven or Hell: Which Will You Choose?
It's wonderful when a person comes to Jesus Christ - they no longer are under the tyranny of sin and guilt or of lust and desire - and they no longer are under the bondage of a purposeless and meaningless kind of existence. Christ not only gives meaning to life, but also restores harmony to our spiritual lives by completely forgiving our sin. Now, what happens when someone does not want to establish a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ? If receiving Jesus Christ results in an abundant and eternal life, then not receiving Jesus Christ results in the curse of God. No one ever went to hell who didn't choose to go there, the Bible is clear on that fact. However, God isn't going to force Himself eternally on someone who doesn't want Him.
In this series, we will examine four elements that show how a person can die in their sin eternally separated from God. They are found in the Gospel of John chapter 8, verses 21-30. It is not my desire, nor is it Jesus' desire, for anyone to enter hell, for God is "not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). It is not condemnation, but rather warning that Jesus speaks in these verses.
This week we will examine the first element - self-righteousness...
Being Self-Righteous
The first way to guarantee that you will die in your sins and not go to the Father's house in heaven with Jesus is to be convinced that you don't need to be saved, that you are spiritually all right. By far, those who deny their need of a Savior are the most difficult to reach. People who claim to be righteous apart from Christ by saying, "I belong to this special religious group," or "I'm one of the 144,000," or "I've got my papers that say I'm a righteous person," are only deceiving themselves. Self-righteous people, who have developed a system that they believe gives them the right to enter God's presence, are the hardest people to convince that they need a Savior because they already feel they are fine. Satan is clever. When he puts together a phony system based on human achievement and works-righteousness, he does it in such a complex and supposedly Biblical way that it is tremendously deceiving. People become captivated in cults and falsely assume they can gain righteousness by what they do. But no one ever comes to Jesus Christ who doesn't see Him as a Savior who takes away sin and himself as a sinner who needs his sin taken away.
The Jews that Jesus confronts in the Scriptures are clearly self-righteous, as you can discern this from their answers. In John 8:22, Jesus had just given them a loving warning, and their response is a mocking joke:
"So the Jews were saying, 'Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says "Where I am going, you cannot come"?"
They implied that Jesus was going to commit suicide. The Jews believed suicide was the worst sin, for which the blackest part of Hades was reserved. People who had killed themselves had no possibility of ever entering "Abraham's bosom" (Luke 16:22). Therefore, the Jews concluded that if Jesus killed Himself, He would be going to Hades, the opposite place to where they assumed they were going. They didn't even understand what Jesus was really saying. They were so self-righteous, having systematized their religion so carefully, that they believed that they were the ones who would populate heaven. Nevertheless, Jesus mercifully warns them with an announcement of impending doom. How deaf could they be? If you read the whole New Testament, you would be hard-pressed to find a story of the conversion of a Pharisee. There are a few, but not many because they were such hard people to reach with the Biblical Truth.
These Jews were correct in concluding that Jesus was going to die. However, they were completely wrong in thinking that His death was going to be by suicide. Rather, it was going to be a self-sacrificial, voluntary offering of Himself to be crucified for our sins. Acts 2:23 says:
"This Man, delivered over by the hands of godless men and put Him to death."
It was murder, not suicide. He was a willing victim, laying down His life in order to accomplish redemption.
Self-righteousness is the big lie of Satan. The truth is you are saved by Christ; the lie is you are saved by anything other than Christ. That lie can come in all kinds of packages: you can be saved by following certain rules, doing specific religious routines, belonging to a particular system, being good enough to outweigh your shortcomings - there's a myriad of possible systems to counter the one Truth, and they are all part of Satan's big lie. If Satan can get someone into a system that says they are righteous, it's very hard to extract them from it. One reason is that self-righteousness is very proud. In Job 12:2, I am reminded of what Job said to those who judged him:
"Truly then you are the people, and with you wisdom will die."
Proverbs 12:15 says:
"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes."
Luke 16:15 says:
"That which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God."
When men believe Satan's lie and develop a system that is highly esteemed in their eyes, it is an abomination to God. Salvation can never be earned by good works and in keeping religious rituals.
So, the first way to die in your sins is to be self-righteous and laugh at anyone who talks about sin or hell. The world does that all the time. It mocks Jesus, making a joke out of His warnings about hell. It refuses to admit its sin and its need of Christ's forgiveness as it trusts in good works or self-made religion for salvation. A person who gets wrapped up into the kind of self-righteous systems that the world offers, whether it is a religious institution like Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses, or one's own self-made system, can become very belligerent once he becomes committed to it.
For example, there was an article that was written by a man who after he had heard Billy Graham preach, said:
"After hearing Dr. Billy Graham on the air, viewing him on the television, and seeing reports and letters concerning his mission, I am heartily sick of the type of religion that insists my soul and everyone else's needs saving - whatever that means. I have never felt that I was lost nor do I feel that I daily wallow in the mire of sin, although repetitious preaching insists that I do. Give me a practical religion that teaches gentleness and tolerance, that acknowledges no barriers of color or creed, that remembers the aged and teaches children goodness and not sin. If in order to save my soul I must accept such a philosophy as I have recently heard preached, I prefer to remain forever dammed."
Now that's a precarious position to be in. Evidently this man has developed a system in which he believes he has attained self-righteousness before God, and therefore fearlessly mocks the Truth.
That letter exactly reflects the attitude of the Pharisees and scribes. Desiring to give a correct analysis of the situation, in John 8:23 Jesus responds to their mockery:
"And He was saying to them, 'You are from below, I am from above'"
Jesus understood their intention in mocking Him that He was going to kill Himself and go to Hades. But Jesus says, in effect, "It is you who are from Hades; I am from above. You've got it reversed." With this cutting reply, Jesus does not mean that they were literally from Hades; He means that their unbelief, hypocrisy, false religion, ignorance, and willful self-righteousness were spawned from the enemy of our souls. He makes the distinction clear that they are following Satan while He is following God. They were, like all unbelieving people are in this world, from beneath in the sense that they were part of the evil system.
In John 8:44, Jesus said to them:
"You are of your father the devil."
Ephesians 2:2 tells us that such people operate their lives:
"...according to the prince of the power of the air."
Whereas the unbeliever is unknowingly guided by Satan from beneath, the believer is guided from above because his citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20), and he positionally resides in "heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3 & 2:6). We are connected to either heaven or hell while we are alive by virtue of who we identify with here and now. So Jesus, warning the Pharisees, puts things in perspective, saying in effect, "Your roots run downward to Hades because your lifestyle makes it manifest. You had better recognize the source of your religious system." If you want to die in your sin, just follow the Pharisee's attitude: believe you don't need Christ as your Savior, assume you are okay, have solved all your problems, and have attained righteousness. Convince yourself of that and you will die in your sins, eternally separated from God and heaven.
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings on your success!
Shane <><
Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)
Hello Friends!
Welcome Back. In this final segment of our series, we will investigate the reasons naturalism survives today and what can be done to circumvent its influence in our lives. Enjoy!
Why Naturalism Survives
Despite massive amounts of scientific and philosophical arguments against it, the worldview of naturalism and the idea of evolution persist. Today there is a huge cloud of doubt hanging over the science of evolution. As Christians, we must pursue this information and honestly explore and openly criticize it when we see it for what it is.
It is all part of defending what we believe and know to be true. Disclosing such faulty ideas helps us make the case for the authenticity of the biblical account of the origin of life (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Evolution and naturalism as a belief about the origin and development of life is being shown by scientists to be no explanation for the origin of life at all. How then do we account for its persistence as the only explanation for the origin and diversification of life in the textbooks our students must read in our public schools?
The first reason is that those promoting evolution and naturalism are in control. They currently control the debate on the issues and they control what goes into the textbooks. They do not include any other explanations for life because they don't want to. This intellectual dishonesty has been enabled by those of us who believe in God and creation, as we have abdicated our responsibility long ago for intellectual rigor on the major issues of our times. Basically, we walked away; they took over, and now we find it a stronghold in the educational process that is very difficult to deal with. Also, many of us have succumbed to the false idea of neutrality and thus backed off on defending the Christian position - only to allow these secularists to now be able to impose their religion on the education system and thus generations of our children.
The second reason evolution persists is because it is absolutely necessary for the philosophical worldview of naturalism. The real battle about evolution is not one of operational science, but of philosophy. The belief in evolution as an explanation for the origin of life is religious - it is man's attempt to explain life without God. The religion of naturalism (or atheism) that is being taught to generations of students is the philosophy that attempts to totally remove God from all aspects of our lives. For the naturalist, there is no God, no supernatural, and no life beyond death. That is their philosophical starting point - one, they are not prepared to question, regardless of the evidence that conflicts with it.
As Dr. Carl Sagan said:
"The Cosmos is all there ever was or ever will be."
This is the naturalistic mantra. And it becomes very circular in its reasoning. People believe in evolution because of the naturalistic worldview (naturalism is the focal point for their starting point but in reality, man being the ultimate authority is the underlying starting point). But the same people who believe in the naturalist worldview say they do so because of evolution. In reality, because they won't question their naturalistic starting point, they won't question evolution. See the problem? Why is it important? Why should anyone care?
1. The growing issues of concern in our culture have as their foundational cause the transition from a Christian worldview to principles now based on naturalism. The question about life's origin is used to justify this wrong foundation. Lose the battle here and you lost that battle in its entirety.
2. The philosophical assumptions of those who teach your children have the power, if left unchecked, to determine their eternal destiny. This might scare you. It should! Those who control the textbooks and curriculum of our public education system have capitulated to naturalistic thinking and God has been removed, and we are paying the price.
Currently, we are losing the battle. By and large, we send or children away each morning to government (public) schools, or have sent them to secular colleges or universities, to be inculcated with the subtle but pervasive ideas about naturalism and any other number of godless philosophies.
Lately, however, the subtlety of those who promote naturalism as the philosophy behind public education has been replaced by militancy - and our students and parents are increasingly feeling it. The goal of the current educational philosophy is certainly not neutral as is claimed (Matthew 12:30).
We can see that more clearly as militancy emerges. The new goal is to convince students there is no such thing as transcendent or supernatural truths. The only source of truth is man, and God doesn't exist.
Of course, students are told that "science" confirms this naturalistic position. However, students are not being taught the distinction between historical science (beliefs about the past) and operational science (knowledge based on observation, repeatability, and experimentation that builds technology). Students have been led to believe that if they don't believe in naturalism, they are giving up the science that built our technology. Sadly, this brainwashing in false ideas has had a devastating effect on these students. They, in essence, have been thoroughly indoctrinated in a secular worldview and convinced that this is a neutral position that is supported by unbiased scientists who are merely seeking the truth.
So, what can we do about this? By systematically training our children from a Biblical starting point, we can instill in them the necessary components of a Biblical worldview. We must also consider that none of these arguments matter if our children are not followers of Jesus Christ. Preaching the Gospel to them and helping them understand the true nature of repentance and faith in Christ alone for salvation is a crucial starting point. As we teach them apologetics and help them learn how to study the Bible to feed their own souls, we will be fostering a faith that will withstand the attacks from the world. We can help them understand the philosophies that have set themselves up against Christ and that through the empowering of the Holy Spirit they can successfully fight these battles. Firmly grounding their worldview in the Scriptures offers them the blessed hope and assurance that they can conquer the challenges from the world.
Assurance of the Blessed Hope
When a person lives in the blessed hope, it gives him the assurance of eternal life with the Lord Jesus. It also gives him the assurance of returning with the Lord Jesus Christ as one on the clouds of heaven. According to the Bible, this assurance is obtained by realizing that God loves you and that He wants you to have eternal life with Him. God personally cares about you and desires that you have eternal life with Him.
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. (John 3:16)
The way of believing in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior is to repent of sin and to trust Him completely as your Lord and Savior. When you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, all your sin is forgiven by God, for Jesus paid the penalty on the cross for your sins. Without repentance of sin and the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, it is impossible to have eternal life with God.
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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)
When you confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are now to live with the expectation of His second coming in your heart. This is the blessed hope; the expectation of the second coming of the Lord Jesus and being with Him forever. It is the evidence that you will be with the Lord Jesus when He returns with the clouds of heaven.
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. (Titus 2:13)
The Lord Jesus has paid the penalty for your sin by His blood shed on the cross. God has provided a way for you to have eternal life with Him. The Christian faith is about a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, not a religious system of works or unreasonable requirements that no one could possibly live up to. Right now you can turn to God by prayer through faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Please do not put this off, because now is the day of salvation and time is running out...
If you have been blessed by this message or have a specific question, prayer request or testimony, please send me a note to: encouragingconcepts@live.com
I love hearing from you. Keep reading Encouraging Concepts!
Blessings on your success!
Shane <><
Lighthouse Publications <><
"Dedicated to the Never Ending Search for the Creator's calling within You" (TM)
