Tag: eternal life

On eternal things, v.3

In the Bible God tells us…

  • That there is none righteous, no not one.
  • All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
  • Our works of righteousness are nothing but filthy rags.
  • Because of sin we are enemies of God and the wages of sin is death.
  • The good news is that God proved his love for us, in that while we were sinners, Jesus Christ died for us. Because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believed on Him shall have everlasting life. Jesus Christ came to save sinners and God is not willing that any should perish but it is a person’s freewill to believe Him or not. Jesus declared that He alone is the way the Truth and the Life and that no one can come to God the Father but by Him.
  • The reality is that God made Hell for Satan and his angels. So we are not to neglect a great salvation because if we do there is no escape – no other remedy.
  • God has given only one way to Heaven. It is His home and it is His say. A person’s baptism, good works, mass/communion/Eucharist, church membership or any other thing outside of their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ – will NOT save them.
  • That is thou shalt confess with thy mouth and believe in thine heart that God had raised Jesus from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
  • Confess your sinner and that you believe Jesus paid your sin debt in full at Calvary -and THAT alone is what you are trusting for salvation. This salvation is eternal and secured by the work of God not our own works.
  • For by grace are ye saved thru faith and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.

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On the road to Emmaus

Luke 24:1-53 KJV – [1] Now upon the first [day] of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain [others] with them. [2] And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. [3] And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. [4] And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: [5] And as they were afraid, and bowed down [their] faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? [6] He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, [7] Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. [8] And they remembered his words, [9] And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. [10] It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary [the mother] of James, and other [women that were] with them, which told these things unto the apostles. [11] And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. [12] Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. [13] And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem [about] threescore furlongs. [14] And they talked together of all these things which had happened. [15] And it came to pass, that, while they communed [together] and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. [16] But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. [17] And he said unto them, What manner of communications [are] these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? [18] And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? [19] And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: [20] And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. [21] But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. [22] Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; [23] And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. [24] And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found [it] even so as the women had said: but him they saw not. [25] Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: [26] Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? [27] And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. [28] And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. [29] But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. [30] And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed [it], and brake, and gave to them. [31] And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. [32] And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? [33] And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, [34] Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon. [35] And they told what things [were done] in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. [36] And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace [be] unto you. [37] But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. [38] And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? [39] Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. [40] And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them [his] hands and [his] feet. [41] And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? [42] And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. [43] And he took [it], and did eat before them. [44] And he said unto them, These [are] the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and [in] the prophets, and [in] the psalms, concerning me. [45] Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, [46] And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: [47] And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. [48] And ye are witnesses of these things. [49] And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. [50] And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. [51] And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. [52] And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: [53] And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the account of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. I have a copy of the famous painting by Robert Zund in the “inner sanctum”. My mom bought it for me when she learned how special the account is to me. You can read the text (in purple) and see what happened so I don’t want to repeat the whole story but I do want to share some of the things that touch me about this account.

  • Cleopas & his friend are travelling after the news that Mary told the disciples and then have heard Peter & John verify that Jesus was not in the tomb. These two men head to Emmaus. It is apparent from the Bible that they were perplexed & saddened. I think they were in shock; I mean consider the events that they have experienced first hand over the past four days. Wouldn’t you be in a daze? Part of me thinks they started walking and they were not even considering where they were headed, they just knew they had to clear their heads. It is also apparent that they were discussing and trying to figure out exactly what was going on that Jesus appeared on their path and started walking along with them.
  • That when Jesus asked them what they were talking about & why were they sad. Cleopas is flabbergasted at the inquiry. How could this traveler not know?! It was not something done secretly but openly and loudly. Cleopas gives a great summary of the events and then Jesus (I always picture a smile) replies to them with the same flabbergastedness “How could YOU not know it was supposed to and needed to happen?!” Then Jesus beginning with Moses – meaning the Law and working his way through the Old Testament showed and proved to them why what happened did happen. I am sure these men were absolutely stunned because over and over in the Gospels there is reference to the people being blown away by how when Jesus expounded on the Scriptures how He spoke with such authority, confidence and wisdom. These two guys were being given a survey of the Old Testament by the Savior, Messiah, & Word. Think about it!
  • We are told that they were not allowed to discern or recognize it was Jesus who was the traveler. I figure it happened for one or both reasons. One, that is because they would have been so busy worshipping they would not have provided the opportunity for Him to show them what the OT taught about Him. Two, these men were already shocked and perplexed and God didn’t want to add to the confusion. What He wanted to do was help them so He made sure that He would first have the time to answer all their questions then He would reveals Himself.
  • That they recognized Him immediately when He prayed, when He spoke to the Father. They knew how He spoke to the Father and the words and the tone rang true. They had heard Jesus many times bless the breaking of bread for meal and here He does it again and I am certain He did it the same way He usually did. Then you get the verification once Jesus disappears! that again when He had been expounding they were struck by the way He taught.

One of the most powerful interpretations of the events on the road to Emmaus is the following song. Please do yourself a favor and spend the four minutes to listen to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAX-KJusIjQ

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Calvary

Best version/performance of this song is by the Florida Boys with tenor Greg Cook singing the lead.
The song captures among other Scriptures, Romans 5:8
“But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

When He Was On the Cross, I Was On His Mind
I’m not on an ego trip, I’m nothing on my own
I make mistakes and sometimes slip
Just common flesh and bone
But I’ll prove someday just why I say
I’m of a special kind
For when He was on the cross
I was on His mind

A look of love was on His face
The thorns were in His head
The blood was on that scarlet robe
And stained it crimson red
Though His eyes were on the crowd that day
He looked ahead in time
For when He was on the cross
I was on His mind

He knew me, yet He loved me
He whose glory makes the Heaven’s shine
So unworthy, of such mercy
For when He was on the cross
I was on His mind
For when He was on the cross
I was on His mind

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On eternal things v.2

I believe the second verse I memorized was for the Sunday school program when I was eight years old and in department 8. I am pretty sure my Sunday school teacher was a gentleman named Sonny Neal. 39 years have passed and he is still working for the Lord. He is a kind soul which each time I see him on Sunday morning brings a smile to my face and cheer to my heart. Like the first verse I memorized, this one I would not fully understand till much later in life. And the time that passed I took a very long and often frustrating path. For the sake of brevity I will summarize my experience to one point.

If you went into a Starbucks and order a tall coffee, paid for it and then took the hot beverage to your car and pulled away heading toward your next destination. If then – you raised the hot beverage to your mouth to sip your coffee and then realized it was simply hot water, what would you do? If you had enough time/the availability to turn around and go back to Starbucks to express your unsatisfaction and receive the beverage you paid for and ordered – you would. Let’s say that is what happens and after going back through the line you present what you received and explain what you ordered. The person remembers you and replies “oh you should have ordered a “red”; here I will make that for you.” And then turns away to make your order. You – standing perplexed – look around and see clearly on the menu board what you would expect. Coffee, tall, grande, venti and so on. You look at the signage and it all says what it usually does. The barista comes back with your coffee and you say, “Sorry but I am confused. When did ordering change? Why doesn’t the menu reflect the change?” The barista then goes on about the tradition and culture of the company etc.

Here is the point: There are those who are supposedly Christian leaders that lead people astray by their dishonest use of the vocabulary in the Bible. It even gets worse, because some so-called scholars and leaders have established boards with publishers to actually change the words from the Bible and even – preposterous as it may sound – remove words and whole verses (This phase of the problem will be for a future post). My writing today is about the dishonesty of vocabulary use and application. If you were to find out that your pastor/priest/clergy/elder/etc. meant one thing when they said another thing, how would you feel/react? Say for example when they used the word “love” they actually meant “hate”. If you asked questions in private or in class as to clarification they would talk about emotions and how they are God given and God uses this language to communicate to us in the Bible so we can understand. Where does that answer get you? Nowhere so you say “explain”. Then they take you through a Greek language primer explaining the Greek word and tenses and the use in that day and the expression is communicated differently today and in the end we have to translate to English and that brings us back to God communicating with us in our language so we can understand.  —- This scenario is not preposterous, it happens every single day.

Proof?

Ephesians 2:8&9 KJV: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Today supposed Christian leaders teach and preach that salvation must be earned. You see, grace is a work or sacrament one must repeatedly take part of and experience as a crucial element in the salvation plan. Please note grace cannot be a work – it is inconsistent with the actual vocabulary and definition of the word “grace”. In fact Paul plainly writes NOT OF WORKS in his explanation.  Unique mention? No.

“And if by grace, then [is it] no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if [it be] of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” – Romans 11:6 KJV

“Who hath saved us, and called [us] with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,” – 2 Timothy 1:9 KJV

So not only is it ridiculous that someone would teach that grace is a work but also tragic. See unlike the customer from Starbucks who was able to go back and resolve the matter satisfactorily though at a cost of their time and patience the person who dies and stands before God trusting their works to enter into Heaven for eternity will be ushered to the lake of fire. All of the screaming and hollering that “it isn’t fair” and “I’m sorry…” will fall on deaf ears. He will simply point to the Scriptures and say something like “you thought you could earn your way into My Heaven when I sent My Son to pay for your sins?” “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:23 Matthew 25:41 KJV – “… Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”

Grace is via God’s goodness toward human demerit. He provides mercy out of His goodness toward human guilt. The grace and mercy of God to all human beings was declared, revealed and realized via the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:8&9: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

John 3:15-18 KJV – “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” – John 14:6 KJV

So what and whom are you trusting? Your answer has eternal implications.

 

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On eternal things v.1

This is the first post of which I hope will be several on the subject matter of favorite verses/portions of the Bible. My “faith” as we say today, is of exceptional importance to me. It is the eyeglasses which I view and perceive the different things and experiences of my life. My Christian walk is something that I strive to be effective and I guess more importantly – something which I hope to be walking on the right path of. I have got myself to such a way of thinking that it is very difficult to do things without checking if I think this is something that God would want me to do and to do “now”. People argue/debate if we – as adults – are the sum of nature or nurturing. At this time in my life I think for most people it is a mix/blend of the two. I don’t think nature (genetics) provides one a license to be something horrible/bad. We – human beings – are complex creatures which the strands of nurture and nature are also wrapped with the cords of freewill/choice. What is very sobering if not scary is the understanding/realization that these temporal lives we are living at this moment/life span have eternal ramifications for our individual souls, which is the “real us”. The soul is not some abstract mystical thing but our very consciousness. This consciousness has the fullest experience of our senses and the mind we have developed as well as the memories of all our experiences – hence this is why I write it is “the real us”. We – our souls – peer at temporal life through our eyes and are plugged in to our body via the flesh. The flesh is temporal. The soul is eternal. At the death of the physical body the soul is given an eternal body that it will experience/use for all of eternity. It can NOT die – period. Why mention all this as introduction to these new types of posts? Because I am of the firm believe that our decision on our relationship and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ determines the “where” our eternal being will reside. If we believe that He alone is the way to heaven. He alone can forgive us of our sins. If He alone can provide our redemption and salvation. If we believe we cannot earn our way to heaven in any way. So that we have confessed our sins, asked God to forgive us and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ as our payment for sin – then we will be saved. The where of our eternal being is settled forever and it will be in Heaven. Anything different means an eternity in the Lake of Fire with absolutely no parole.

The first Bible verse that I memorized was Romans 5:8. If my memory is correct I was seven years old and it was for a program our Sunday School department was going to present in the evening church service. I know that at the time I did not fully understand what the verses meant. I knew I was to memorize it so I could walk up to the microphone in front of about 600 adults and quote it into the microphone. As the years passed and I was probably around the age of 28 I finally understood what the verse was saying. From the KJV “But God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Commendeth is an old English word which communicates the idea of displaying and proving. It is imperative that the second part of the definition is understood. So God proved how much he loved me and you that while we are sinners before Him, He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to die for us. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection provides the atonement and redemption to all those who trust Him for their salvation. So God did not do this after we felt we were worthy or after we so-called cleaned up our lives. He did it knowing correctly that we were undeserving and unable to fully understand what He was doing. He did it because He loved us and does not want us to go to Hell which was originally created as the place for Satan and his angels to be punished and reside for all eternity.

 

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