There is a lot going on in 2024 around the world. I get it. There are wars and earthquakes and on top of it all America has an election this year! We know that tempers flare and everyone gets uptight in election years. Everyone has a candidate that they think will make the world a better place.
Let me cut to the chase-only God can change human hearts from dead in sin to alive in Christ. The right candidate will not change one human heart to alive in Christ. The right piece of legislation will not cause murders and robberies to cease. The right amount of donations will not alter the course of wayward humanity.
The Gospel is the good news for a reason. It saves men from sin and it changes men and women’s hearts from lost in sin to found in Christ! It is the good news that saves and the good news that sanctifies.
The Gospel does not promise to right all the wrongs in this world right now. Jesus will do this when He returns in His Second Coming in glory. The Gospel makes men right before God and makes men ready for Jesus when He does come. Are you right with God through the shed blood of Jesus? Have you trusted in Christ and that He died for you, was buried and rose again? If so, then have you told someone else about this glorious Jesus? What are you waiting for? And have you discipled your children in Jesus and to know all about Jesus? What are you waiting for? And have you discipled a friend in Jesus to know Jesus more and to make Jesus known to others? Well, what are you waiting for? Have you prayed God would change the hearts of your family members and friends that they too may know Jesus and Him crucified? I’m sure we all have some work to do. Let’s get to it.
Let me encourage you not to fiddle around during an election year with political aspirations of changing the country and world. Let me encourage you to pour out your heart to Jesus and ask that He change the hearts of men and women, one at a time, and that we would be salt and light in this world of darkness as the result of God’s change of men. The great commission is indeed Great! God has chosen you and I for this very purpose and for such a time as this! Go tell the world! Go make disciples!
”The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, for everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Greek” (Romans 1:16)
Many of us have spent our whole lives trying to do enough good deeds, in the hope that God will allow us into heaven. But is doing good deeds the requirement to get into heaven? Jesus said, “Be perfect as Your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) Jesus also said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20) . The Pharisees and scribes were the ones who followed the law to a tee and who were the supposedly the most righteous people of those days. And none of us have been more righteous than they. So how do we enter heaven when we die? The answer is found in the Gospel, which is also known as the Good News. The Good News is NOT “if you are a good enough person” then God will let you into heaven. Romans 3:23 teaches us that “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God”. Romans 3:10 teaches us that “There is no one who does good, not even one.” Ezekiel 18:20 teaches us that “The soul that sins it shall die”. The Bible paints a desperate picture for everyone in the human race. “All have sinned”. The picture gets more grim when it says, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) . God will one day judge sin and the penalty for committing sin is spiritual death and separation from God forever (Matthew 25:46) . This reality is not the most popular truth to bring up at a birthday party or a wedding, but nonetheless, God has spoken and His word is truth.
The Bible never teaches that if a man or woman does enough good things in life that God will weigh the scales and allow people into eternal peace and the place known as heaven. “There is no one who does good, not even one. There is no one who seeks God or who understands”.
The Bible does give us Good News, however. The Good News is God’s Good News to humanity. It is the Gospel. And God’s Gospel given by God to humanity is God’s plan for people to get into heaven when they die. Do you know what plan this is? It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is simply this: Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life, Jesus died on the cross to pay our sin debt to God, and Jesus earned the perfect righteousness that is required to get into heaven on judgment day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) . Jesus rose from the dead and is seated in power and glory and offers eternal life to all those who will turn from their sin by placing their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. “He who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved! (Romans 10:9,10,13) “
Question: What if I reject God’s plan of salvation and eternal life/heaven? Answer: Then you will be judged by God for how you lived your life and what you believed. God teaches us in His word that “if we say we are without sin we make God out to be a liar and His word is not in us (I John 1:10) .”
Question: Is the Gospel the only way to get into heaven? What about all paths leading to heaven? Answer: Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6) . Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is the only way that God has made for anyone and everyone to enter into heaven when they die (Matthew 1:21; Philippians 3:9; Acts 4:12; Ephesians 2:8-10) “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12.
Question: Why has God made only one way to get into heaven? Answer: Ephesians 1 teaches us that God made a plan before the world began to save His people from their sin. This plan was in Jesus Christ alone. There is a benefit in this as well: God has made clear and very simple from Genesis to Revelation that Jesus is the only way to heaven and that all other ways are dead ends and are in fact false (John 10:7-12) . There is only one Gospel of God unto salvation for man. “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:8) .”
Question: What does God do with the sin that I still commit even after He saves me through Jesus? Answer: When God saves us in time and in history, He forgives our sin and declares us righteous in Christ. The theological term for this act is Justification by Faith. This is a positional and once for all declaration of God that deals with our standing before God. God now begins to live through us and in us to accomplish His purposes in our lives. This second part of our life and process of God is called “Sanctification By Grace”. Sanctification does not save us or give us heaven. Sanctification does not produce justification. Jesus has already given us eternal life and heaven. We have already been Justified by God through faith. Sanctification purifies us in view of the fact that we are already saved and justified. Our position in Christ is firm and secure. We are children of God through Christ (Romans 8:11-16) . But our sinful nature must be purged from us until we are made completely like Christ. The Roman Catholic position is that this purification takes place in purgatory. But Scripture never teaches anything about purgatory. Scripture teaches us that Jesus has forgiven all of our sin through His death on the cross. “It is finished (John 19:30, Hebrews 9:26) .” Scripture teaches also that Jesus will carry on His good work in us until completion and the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6) . Keep in mind it is Jesus that is carrying on the good work and not us who are meeting God half way in sanctification in order to one day be justified by works. “No flesh shall be justified by the works of the law (Galatians 2:16) . “ Believers are justified by God once for all and believers are being sanctified by God for the rest of our lives. This is why we can say that in Christ, sin no longer reigns, but that sin still remains. We are at the same time “justified” and sinner. We are forgiven and declared right with God but are being made more spotless and clean until the bride is ready for her Savior and Lord to take her home. At that time she will be without sin and completely made righteous.
How about you? Have you trusted Jesus for forgiveness of your sins and His righteousness unto eternal life? If not, and you feel the conviction of His word upon your soul, pray a prayer such as this to God, “Lord Jesus forgive my sin. I believe that You lived the perfect life, died on the cross for my sins, that you were buried and resurrected the third day. I trust you with all my heart as I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
if you trusted Jesus and would like more resources on how to grow in your relationship with Jesus feel free to contact me at 702-376-7123.
For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
Zechariah continues this train of thought in 14:17-19 when he contrasts rain with the plague. Those in Christ and in relationship with Him, who serve Him, shall experience the life giving rain of God, while those that refuse to come to Christ for life and to serve Him, shall experience the plagues of God. The New Testament sheds more light upon this when it is spoken, “how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, – Hebrews 2:3
Revelation 19 is where the language of Isaiah is brought forth again by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John, “to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. – Revelation 19:18-19 Revelation testifies of the final battle as it takes place during the return of Jesus Christ. The beast and false prophet are then thrown into the lake of fire. The rest were slain by the sword that comes from the mouth of Jesus (Revelation 19:15, 20,21) . When Isaiah says, those nations shall be utterly laid waste, John says of Jesus, “From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. – Revelation 19:15. It is at the second coming of Christ that the unbelieving nations shall be laid to waste gruesomly by the final sword of God’s righteousness. They did not serve Him and they will perish from not serving Him.
This verse also lays weight to the idea of the exclusivity of salvation being found in no one else than in Jesus (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) . Allah, Krishna, Zeus, or any other mythical deities are never mentioned in the word of God. Neither is the idea of paying lip service to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob an option either. Serving is the key here in Isaiah 60:12. The nation or kingdom that will not serve you shall perish. Serving constitutes the idea of ownership and a lifetime of continual service and allegiance to God. Jesus said many on thay day will say “Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in your name” etc. But lip service without life service will have no one enter into the kingdom of God. True faith amounts to true lifestyle change. The Bible refers to this as “repentance”. The life that is preserved from perishing is the life that turns from serving oneself (sin) to serving the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. He who calls upon the name of the Lord shall not be put to shame.
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