~ Everyones Going To Be Saved, Aren't They? ~

EVERYONE'S GOING TO BE SAVED EVENTUALLY...

ARENT THEY?

The Church of Jesus Christ certainly seems to have lost its way in this nation. Left here by our Lord to be the salt and light of the world, yet the Evangelical community continues to grow ever more bland and is apparently looking for an even bigger bowl in which to hide under for safety. To listen to many teachers in the contemporary and worldly Purpose Driven Emergent Church of America today you could easily come away with the idea that the Christian message has now somehow been changed into a universal salvation that is inclusive of all "faith traditions." But could it really be that Jesus of Nazareth was the stupidest Man Who ever lived? For you see, if universalism is actually true, then our Lord would have to have been a fool to relentlessly preach the exclusive message that would eventually get Him crucified for absolutely no reason whatsover. I would have to say, that's a HUGE "IF"...

Contemporary Confusion

The young Mormon Missionary sitting in my living room said to me, "I don't believe in Mormonism, I'm still searching for the truth about God. It's hard to know who, or what, to believe." I really don't find it difficult to have compassion toward someone like this young man who is being so sincere. Not being raised in the Church myself, I remember a time when I was also trying to hear God's voice through all the static of confusing and conflicting opinions and religions that dominate the landscape.

Let me give you a couple of examples: A famous comedian, and philosopher wanna-be says: "Man feels this need to be reunited with nature; that's why mankind believes there's a 'Big man' [up there] keeping track of what he does. So that's why man is always trying to do good things." But as he further enlightens us ... "You don't have to be reunited with nature by doing good things, you just have to realize that you're one with that tree over there." In other words, God is not a Person ... but a universal power ... similar to the "force" in Star Wars ... and if we could only understand that we are all god, and therefore, one with nature, then we would solve all the world's problems. This belief of the New Age Movement and the Mind Science cults is known as pantheism, and basically teaches that just as many drops of water together become the ocean, so we all together become God consciousness. It is a very popular belief today.

When asked "What is the meaning of life?" in Omni magazine, Oxford lecturer in Zoology, Dr. Richard Dawkins said: "The meaning of life is to allow our selfish genes to reproduce while merely using our bodies as disposable vessels." Ah, kind of makes you feel all warm and tingly doesn't it? But as one studies Comparative Religions, you will see all kinds of confusion about whether there is a God, Who God is, and how one can come to know Him.

In fact, many people today don't even think the search for truth about God is even worth their time. They say things like: "Oh, I'm just not interested in spiritual things. I mean, with all those religions out there, no one religion could possibly be right...why, that's much too narrow for my way of thinking. And it really doesn't matter anyway, because if there is a God, all religions are basically the same, so everyone's going to be saved eventually...aren't they?"

I can understand how people can feel this way, before Jesus saved me I felt this way myself. And I must admit that as you first hear "all religions eventually lead to God" it seems to make sense, just as the much vaunted theory of evolution appears sensible until you find out that it violates the most basic laws of science. You see, the issue isn't "does something make sense to me," but rather, the question one should be asking would be, "is this something true?" And if it isn't true that all religions lead to God, and if it isn't true that everyone is going to be saved, then we will need to know how one can be saved, and what it is we must be saved from.

These are the issues I wish to address in this message as we take a look at what the Lord has to say about mankind's nature, and his destiny...in God's Word...the Bible. Let me state at the outset, that while I appreciate the right we all have to hold whatever opinions we like, the position of the classic historic orthodox Christian Church is that the Bible is the infallible, inerrant Word of the one true and living God. The great Church reformer Martin Luther said it well – "I am ready to [believe people] only when they prove their opinions from Scripture, which has never erred."

The Church Is Under Attack

We turn now to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25 and verse 40, as we look to see what Christ Jesus has to say about a very crucial issue at the end of this Age of God's Grace. What did the Lord say about the future destiny of all those who end up on His left?

The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me." Then He will say to those on His left, "Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me." They will also answer, "Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?" He will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me." Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. Matthew 25:40-46.

The fact that this subject of salvation is even at issue at all is a telling sign of the liberal times in which we live... an age characterized by more and more pressure to be "tolerant" of differing opinions... both inside the Church as well as outside. We're regularly told: Don't judge; to each his own; you have the right to do whatever you want, as long as you don't hurt anyone else... and other such trite pabulum. Indeed we are very careful to protect the rights of others, but who among us is as concerned with God's rights here in His creation?

It simply cannot be too strongly stressed that our Lord's Church is under ever mounting attacks, not only from the outside, which would be expected, but Scripture warns us of attacks that would come from the inside as well. In the Book of Acts, chapter 20, during his farewell address to the elders at the church of Ephesus, the Apostle Paul warns them of impending attacks. Let's look at verse 28. Paul says, Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the Church of God, which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

Notice that God the Holy Spirit warns us through His great Apostle that these "grievous, savage" wolves will attack our Lord's Church from the outside. The Apostle is actually referring to a similar warning that Jesus Himself gave in Matthew 7:15-16 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing [in other words, they'll look and act like sheep ... Christians] ... but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. [The King James Version calls them ravening wolves.] By their fruit you will recognize them. So clearly the Body of Christ is warned to expect these "ferocious, grievous, ravening, and savage" wolves to attack us from without in an attempt to prey on the flock of our Great Shepherd...Christ Jesus the Lord.

But, there is another kind of attack we should expect. Let's go back to Acts chapter 20, and verse 30 Even from your own number [men from inside the Church] will arise and distort the truth [the historic, orthodox Christian Faith. Why?] in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! As one preacher put it: "Satan does some of his best work closest to the Altar." 1 Timothy 4:1 reads The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the Faith and follow deceiving [or seducing] spirits and things taught by demons. We are told to expect this. It has been happening, and it is happening now!

Attacking The Church In The Name Of Christ

However, it is easier to understand why unbelievers outside the Church would misunderstand the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's much harder to believe... actually it seems incredible... that people who claim to be Christians would pervert His Gospel and misrepresent Him. And yet, it was Jesus Himself Who told us that this would be the case! Matthew 7:21-23

Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven." Many will say to Me on that day, "Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" Then I will tell them plainly, "I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!"

This wouldn't exactly seem to be a message of inclusivism now, would it? You see, it is one thing to claim to be a Christian, but the fruit of your life, or works, will eventually prove whether you are saved, and belong to Jesus, or whether your claims are but empty words. In chapter 2 of his book, James, the half brother of Jesus writes: Show me your faith without deeds [or works] and I will show you my faith by what I do (verse 18). Let me give you a modern translation: If you are gonna talk the talk, then you'd better walk the walk.

Now, these deeds, or works, being spoken of here by James as well as the fruit Jesus as talks about in Matthew chapter 7, do not, and cannot, save a person. One does not do works in order to be saved; rather, one produces works, or fruit in keeping with repentance (see Luke 3:8) because he has already been saved. That's why these works comprise two areas; the fruit of one's life, as well as the fruit of one's doctrine, or teachings. Just living a "Christian-like" life-style is not enough as virtually all world religions, non-Christian cults or peoples in general, can point to relatively high moral standards.

In a testimony to the absolute truth of Romans chapters 1 and 2, mankind intuitively lives by certain moral absolutes. Of mankind, Romans 2:15 says, they show that the requirements of [God's]Law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness. In almost any culture, whether they've ever read the Bible or not, mankind tends to follow a pattern remarkably like that set by the Ten Commandments. Almost as if man didn't just simply evolve out of a primordial pond of slimy algae; but rather, really was created in the image of God, just like the Bible says. But, that can't be true, could it? Some will say: "But that's not scientific, I'm much too sophisticated to believe that." Ah yes, what was I thinking? Believing that a universe suddenly came out of nothing, and that non-living matter somehow became alive certainly makes a lot more sense?!

Peace, Love, Tolerance...And Other Such Seeker Sensitive Fantasies

This age of liberalism we live in, the attitude of too much tolerance, ironically has its root in the Church's over-emphasis on the love of God, and our corresponding unwillingness to judge and confront sin. It's been well-said elsewhere that every heresy begins with a misunderstanding of the character of God. Whenever one attribute of God's divine nature is over-emphasized at the expense of others, you are asking for trouble. It is the job of the Christian to test the spirits, 1 John 4:1. I fully expect you to take up your Bibles and test what I preach to you.

Not only that, you should also put to the test anyone claiming to teach God's Word. A true minister of the Lord Jesus Christ has no fear of you doing so. It is to be expected! Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As part of our witness for Christ we are to expose and confront sin, and to attack vigorously false doctrine in the Church. Jude 3 tells us we should contend earnestly for the faith. "Contend earnestly" is the translation of a phrase in the original Greek which literally means "struggle as if in a wrestling match." And may you never forget, a wise man is very careful who it is he listens to.

The Founder of the Christian faith, Jesus of Nazareth, perfect love in human flesh, didn't just blindly tolerate people living just "any way they want to as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else," not without at least trying to tell them the truth. They are hurting God, and themselves, not to live according to His perfect Law. And when they refused to listen, He spoke louder. You children of the devil; you brood of vipers; woe to you teachers of the Law and Pharisees; you hypocrites; you blind guides who are white-washed tombs full of dead men's bones!

You see, the religious leaders of our Lord's day just didn't get together one day and say: "Hey Caiaphas; c'mere! You know that Jesus of Nazareth? Yeah, that sweet tolerant Fellow with the glowing complexion and the halo over His head. That's right, the One with the dove on His shoulder. Well, I've been thinkin'of an idea. Now, since Jesus never so much as criticized us publicly, or for that matter, even given us the slightest impression that He disagrees with us; why don't we see to it that He gets crucified!"

The absolute truth is that the message of Jesus Christ runs counter to what the world expects God to be like. A good analogy is that He calls you out of the world to walk the opposite way the rest of the people are going. Remember now, Romans 12:18 says, If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. As I have pointed out before, just by the way the sentence is written, you know it will not always be possible to avoid offending someone. It goes with the territory; and Jesus has already told us it would!

The choice that has appeared before us today in the Evangelical Christian community with crystalline clarity is that we can listen to someone like Rick Warren, "I see absolutely zero reason in separating my fellowship from anybody" or, we can listen to our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why it hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: No servant is greater than his Master." John 15:18-20. But you can't have it both ways.

Christ Jesus further explained it this way, For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners.' But wisdom is proved right by her actions" Matthew 11:18-19. In fact,it's been pointed out that the last, and greatest, of the Old Testament style prophets, John the Baptist, couldn't please the world, or the religious establishment by abstaining from all of life's comforts. And Jesus of Nazareth ... God Himself in human form, couldn't do it by eating and drinking with them. So just what makes you think that you're going to be able to pull it off?

Dr. Walter Martin, the author of the classic The Kingdom of the Cults, used to say, "controversy for the sake of controversy is sin; controversy for the sake of truth is a Divine command." As Christians, we are doing pretty well to love the sinners, but we fail today in not hating the sin. Through all these years of backward seeker sensitive teaching from leaders in the modern Church Growth Movement we've become so willing to compromise so that we don't offend anyone, that we have become all too willing to offend God's holiness. The problem lies in the fact that increasingly fewer people judge sin from God's perspective, if they bother to judge it at all, and tend to view it by how it seems to affect other people, instead of looking at how sin affects Almighty God.

How Does God View Sin?

In answering this question Everyone's Going To Be Saved Eventually...Aren't They? it's important that we look at how God Himself feels about sin, and sinners. And not by our emotions, nor by our own "way of thinking," but by our only reliable guide in these critical matters the Holy Bible, the Word of the living God. Anglican theologian, Dr. J.I. Packer, before he became a compromiser himself, was right when he wrote his classic book Knowing God:

'People have [gotten] into the way of following private religious hunches rather than learning of God from His Own Word...modern man thinks of all religions as equal and equivalent, and draws his stock of ideas about God from pagan as well as Christian sources; and we have to try and show people the uniqueness and finality of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's last Word to man.' (p.144)

Let's look first at the question: How does God view sin? The short answer is: He hates it! It is sin that lead to death in the first place. The Bible says in Romans 5:12 sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned. When God created man in His Own image, which means His Own moral character, He never intended man to have to die. But because the Lord did not want robots programmed to love Him, He created Adam and Eve as literal people with a free will to choose to love and obey God, or to rebel against Him. When they made the choice to follow the desires of their own hearts, mankind was then plunged headlong into the curse of sin.

In theological circles this is known as the doctrine of original sin. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology defines original sin; "not [as] a biological taint or physical deformity, but a spiritual infection that in some mysterious way is transmitted through reproduction." So now we have a cursed creation. and we live in a world full of sinners. Some of us walking in daily forgiveness through personal faith in Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior by confession and repentance, while others are but a single heartbeat from Hell, but sinners we are. As it is written; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

Now, you might ask: What is sin? I think Dr. Martin put it very well when he defined sin as "any transgression of God's Law, and all unrighteousness is sin." The Greek word most often used for sin in the New Testament, hamartia, means "a missing of the mark." It's an old archery term. That "mark" being the perfect holiness of God as mirrored in the Law of Moses, and fully revealed in Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Word. This ought to begin to give you an indication of just how easy it is to sin... to "miss the mark" of Jesus Christ. Just take a look around this world and you can easily see that we human beings have proven quite adept at falling well short of His sinless life!

However, what is missing from our lives today is an understanding of just how far we do miss the mark of the holiness of our Lord by. This is because we humans tend to measure ourselves by each other, but the standard God will judge each of us by is the perfect life of Christ Jesus. Outside and inside of the Church, through the cancer of the cult of Liberal Theology, and its natural daughter the seeker sensitive Church Growth Movement, sin has been trivialized to protect our self-esteem, until God has been made to seem more and more like man. So, instead of man being made in the image of God, it has now become reversed, God has been re-made into the image of man. We've attempted to take the Lord down from His glorious throne and make Him conform to our image, rather than us conform to His image as God has always intended.

The Holiness Of God

The Holy and righteous LORD God Almighty, Creator of the universe, is quite often referred to in joking and irreverent ways in our blasphemous culture, or worse yet, has His Name used in vulgar profanity. O but how insensitive and foolish we are to refer in this demeaning way to a Being so pure, powerful, and holy, that we'd literally disintegrate in His awesome presence! How arrogant of God's creation to misuse and ignore His Word in a futile attempt to conform Him to our corrupt image, to demand that Almighty God explain His ways to us, or in an attempt to try and force Him to think as we do. To those who accuse God of being unfair, or of not explaining Himself to us in the ways we'd prefer... the LORD God would say to you: "Take off your shoes, you're on Holy ground. Don't you ever ask Me Who I AM, or what I AM; just be thankful when I tell you that I AM!"

In his highly recommended book 'The Holiness of God', Christian theologian Dr. R.C. Sproul writes:

We have not used the gift of life for the purpose God intended. Life on this planet has become the arena in which we daily carry out the work of cosmic treason. Our crime is far more serious, far more destructive than that of Benedict Arnold. No traitor to any king or nation has even approached the wickedness of our treason before God. Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the One who has given us life itself. Have you ever considered the deeper implications of the slightest sin, of the most minor peccadilo? What are we saying to our Creator when we disobey Him at the slightest point? We are saying no to the righteousness of God. We are saying, "God Your law is not good. My judgment is better than Yours. Your authority does not apply to me. I am above and beyond Your jurisdiction. I have the right to do what I want to do, not what You command me to do" (p.164)

Dr. Sproul is right, anytime that we refuse to let God guide us in any part of our lives... we sin...period! And sin is nothing less than rebellion against the Laws of the Holy living God. Many times you'll hear a minister encourage you to make Jesus your personal Lord and Savior, and we should, but let me point out that Jesus is the Lord and Savior of His universe whether you acknowledge Him or not! And one day you will stand before His dreadful and awesome presence to account for what I've told you. It is a fact you'd do well to think about! Now you have no excuse. It will do you no good to say, "but the Church is full of hypocrites." You are absolutely right, but the world is as well, so that's irrelevant. "But what about the people in Africa who die, and they've never heard of Jesus?" What of them, the point right now is: You now have heard, so you have no excuse. The Lord is talking to you, and you now know Who Jesus is. There won't be any escape! The truth is that you will have to give an account of your life to your Creator.

God Loves Sinners ... Since When?

So then how does God view sinners, those who decide to reject the Lordship of Christ and continue on in willful sin once they've heard the Gospel. We've probably all heard the phrase, "God hates sin, but He loves the sinner," but is that really the case? There's a book called The Other Side Of The Good News, which I highly recommend to every serious student of the Bible. It's written by Dr. Larry Dixon, who points out that one of Christianity's greatest theologians, the great 16th century French reformer John Calvin said: "We are taught by Scripture to perceive that apart from Christ, God is, so to speak, hostile to us, and His hand is armed for our destruction."

Dr. Dixon himself goes on "Seldom do we consider the malevolence of God, and almost never do we hear, or preach sermons on God's wrath and the justified perfect hatred God has of sinners." We need to remember that God is infinite, and to our limited, finite minds, many things about Him are a paradox. Paradox meaning things that appear to contradict, but actually don't. At the same time God loves the part of you He will use when you come to Him in Christ, He hates the part of you that rejects Him, that very part of you that hates Him. You must understand that apart from Christ, we are simply not the delightful little creatures we like to think we are. Here is what Jesus said about man in Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him. Did you get that? The Master says, though you are evil.

Let's go to the Book of Romans, chapter 8 for a moment. The Apostle Paul tells us that without the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, our basic nature is selfishness, as our minds are set on the "flesh," the "carnal"... in other words on ourselves. Romans 8:7 the sinful mind [if you have the King James Version it reads, the carnal mind]. The Greek word here is sarx and it refers to your body, your fleshly, carnal nature. With this in mind then, let's begin again, the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. All who are without Christ are controlled by the carnal, sinful, human nature, those not regenerated, or born again, cannot [possibly] please God. That's not just my opinion, that's the very Word of God the Holy Spirit Himself.

In commenting on this verse, John Calvin put it this way, "the will of man is in all things opposed to [God's] will; for, as much as what is crooked differs from what is straight, so much must be the difference between us and God." Still need convincing? Listen to what Jesus tells us about mankind here in Mark 7:21-23 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside. And Paul once again, I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature...What a wretched man I am! (Romans 8:18, 24).

The Malevolence Of God

Does that wound your self-esteem? Good, it was meant to. This is not a matter to take lightly. Here is what God tells us about Himself through the prophet King David in Psalm 5:4-6 You are not a God Who takes pleasure in evil; with You the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors. So much for those rap-music self-styled gangstas who brag about loving their so-called "thug life." Also way too many TV evangelists, and politicians, fall into this category as well.

Space doesn't allow me to go into this further, but I ask you to make the time to take your Bible and look up the following Scriptures: Leviticus 26:27-28; Psalm 11:5; Proverbs 3:31-32; and Isaiah 61:8. And if you still have doubts about what God thinks of sinners, read Ezekiel chapters 7-9! And then try to tell yourself that all religions please God. Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows... Galatians 6:8. If you sow hate toward the Lord by violating His Laws, then you will reap the perfect hatred of Almighty God. The renowned Bible commentator Adam Clarke put it in perspective when he wrote: "Alas; what a fate awaits those who continue in willful sin, the hatred of God Almighty!"

Some people think that Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament has a very harsh view of sinners. For those of you who think that Jesus somehow changes this, let me remind you that Jesus is Yahweh, and Malachi 3:6 says I, Yahweh, do not change. While talking with His disciples in the 14th chapter of John, Christ tells them in verse 9 Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. In other words, "We're exactly alike."

In 2 Kings chapter 19, when the Assyrian army mocked Yahweh God and came to attack His chosen people Israel, we read in verse 35 That night the Angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. If you do a little background study, you will find that the traditional view of orthodox Christian scholars of the Bible is that the Angel of the Lord is Jesus in a pre-incarnate form. And Hebrews 13:8 tells us, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. God hated wicked people yesterday, and He hates them today.

Why? Who do you think it is who brings all the suffering and bloodshed upon his innocent fellow man? Think about this for a moment; every time a child is molested, every time someone is murdered, every time someone is abused, God sees it, and He grieves over it. Listen to what Jesus tells us in Luke 17:1-2: Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. No, one simply cannot escape the holy judgments of the righteous God in either the Old Testament or in the New, nor can they escape His pure, justified hatred for those who sin.

If you are beginning to feel condemned, and without hope, then you are getting the message. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, this is talking about spiritual death, eternal separation from God. In John 3:18 Jesus says Whoever believes in [Me] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already. Now you understand what Paul was talking about earlier, in our human condition we are condemned to sin against God, with no ability on our own to stop. John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him. On all who reject God's only provision for the forgiveness of sins, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think we are safe in saying that one doesn't feel wrath toward someone you are pleased with.

The Certainty Of Hell

So, no matter what else you have heard, or whatever you've been trying to convince yourself of, the proper view of mankind's state before the Holy God, apart from His grace in Christ Jesus is: Man is totally depraved, corrupt, degenerate, sinful, and hopelessly lost. Eternally, helplessly, desperately, in need of a Savior. You say: "Alright, maybe I do need to be saved, but what is it that I need to be saved from?" I'm so glad you asked. Remember back to the initial text of this message, Matthew 25:41 "Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Elsewhere in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus refers to this fire as Hell. Do you realize that it was Jesus Himself Who originated the doctrine of eternal, conscious torment of the wicked dead in a literal place called Hell as we hear it today? Anyone wishing to deny this doctrine will find himself immediately staring into the face of the Creator of this very universe, Christ Jesus of Nazareth. An extremely precarious place to be to say the very least!

This is not the place for an apologetic concerning Hell; suffice to say that the Bible unquestionably teaches that all who die apart from a saving relationship to God through the blood shed on the cross by Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, no matter what culture, no matter what race, no matter what religion, all who die apart from Christ will follow the Devil and his angels into Hell. They will be forever shut out of the presence of God, with no second chance. And let's not get bogged down with exactly what Hell is, or isn't, because we do know this much for sure: Hell is so awful that Christ Jesus was willing to undergo crucifixion to grab the keys to the gates of it. Not only that, but it also took the power of the life, death and resurrection of God the Son to keep all of us from going there!

Many will say at this point: "this is a very narrow view, isn't it?" And I will answer with the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Who says in Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Yes, Jesus says the road to eternal life is narrow, but praise God, there is a road! And you can be one of those few if you'll give yourself to Christ. That's the Good News of God in Jesus Christ! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God... through Jesus Christ our Lord ... Romans 7:24-25. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 5, beginning at verse 6, that at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for [us] the ungodly...God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And right now, if you believe that He died for your sins, and that He rose from the dead, if you place your trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then you can say with Paul, Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! And then you will never have to fear Hell, the fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.

None Of God's Children Are In Hell

However, there are those who will still say: "I'm sorry, I just can't believe that a loving God could ever send any of His children to Hell." That is the view of the overly tolerant liberal ones that dominate the Christian landscape today, and it's also the prevailing belief of the times in which we live. In fact, that very statement was made to me by that Mormon Missionary I talked about at the beginning of this message. And let me say that I totally agree, God will never send any of His children to Hell. But John 1:12 says, Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. You don't need the right to become a child of God, unless you were not one to begin with. You are not born a child of God, you become one by adoption when you repent and surrender your life to Jesus as your Lord, asking Him to forgive your sins and to come live inside of you (John 14:6-23; Romans 8:9-17; 1 Corinthians 2:9-16). If you've already done that, then you'll never have to face the certainty of God's coming wrath, His perfect hatred of sin, because Jesus has already borne that for you.

You see, Romans chapter 8 clearly shows just what the Master meant in John chapter 3. You may remember that Christ was talking with Nicodemus, who was an upstanding, moral man, a leader of the "church" of that day. While discussing how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus said to him, "You must be born again." The Greek can also be translated "born from above," but in either case it is something that God the Holy Spirit, third Person of the Holy Trinity, has to do inside the natural man in order for him to be "born again from above." The term we use to refer to this work of God is regeneration. 2 Corinthians 5:17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! And only then does a man become a child of God, only then can we even hope to please the Lord God.

Earlier we discussed Romans chapter 8 verse 7, and we saw that those who aren't regenerated, or born again, cannot [possibly] please God. Now you can understand Romans 3:10-12, As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." How's that for self-esteem; no human being, not even the "little old lady" across the street, nor even someone as "good" as Mother Theresa was can possibly do anything to please God in the flesh. This is because no matter what you do before you are born again, on some level before an all Holy God, it is still done for yourself. The "Prince of Preachers," the powerful 19th century Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon, put it quite well when he said: "Some of you are hanging over the mouth of Hell by a solitary plank of wood; and that plank is rotten."

It's not pleasant to talk about, but it seems that instead of worshiping the Holy God of the Bible, we are all too willing to settle for a kind of "cosmic Santa Claus." In The Other Side Of The Good News Dr. Dixon says: "T.S. Elliot said: 'If we eliminate the doctrine of the final judgment, then we turn God into a divine Santa Claus who declares, "Everyone shall get toys, and be glad.'" Well, I do mean to burst your bubble, just like the story of Santa Claus, it's a fantasy.

In answer to the question: Everyone's Going To Be Saved Eventually...Aren't They? let me answer categorically ... No. Certainly, one has the right to believe whatever one wants to believe, that most, or eventually everyone, will be saved. This view is called "universalism," and it is a very popular belief right now, and it's rapidly gaining ground even in Evangelical seminaries. However, it is crystal clear that you will find no support for this heretical view in the Bible, as you have now been shown. The false hope of avoiding the bloody cross of Jesus Christ and the absolute certainty of Hell for all those who reject Him, collapses with the precision laser beam light of God the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures of God's Word, the Bible.

It's Personal

I close with this: Any one of us can have our lives changed in a mere instant, and it can happen at any moment. It happened to my family one Spring evening years ago. As my family waved goodbye to my Mom, like we'd done for years each evening as she left for her work as a Nurses Aide at Valley Regional Hospital, we had no idea that five minutes later we were going to receive a phone call that would change our lives for ever. A drunken driver going seventy miles an hour down the narrow, twisting Old Claremont road that she'd driven to work on hundreds of times, smashed directly into her car killing her instantly. In a split second her eternal destiny was sealed, with no second chance.

Listen to Jesus in Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in. Listen more closely; do you hear Him knocking? Have you heard Him knocking before, but you didn't open the door? Are you going to open that door today? I strongly urge you to think seriously about it, because one day Jesus will just stop knocking. Let me share something that even those on the soft side of Evangelicalism can see. Dr. Charles Stanley once taught: "The time will come one day when God will no longer strive with you. He'll just say, 'I can't work with this one,' and then He'll just set you on a shelf, never to bother with you again."

There was an old Nazarene preacher who gave a young minister who was just starting out some advice that the young man never forgot: "Son," he said, "I sure like the way you preach the Gospel, and I'd like to give you a little bit of advice." The young minister told him that he would love to hear anything the more experienced man of God might wish to share. And the old preacher looked at him and said, "When you go out, always preach the love of God, and the grace of God, in Jesus Christ. But, if they don't want Jesus, then leave 'em with the Law according to Moses."

Grace, the unmerited favor of God through faith in Christ Jesus, Who perfectly fulfilled that Law, or, the righteous judgment of this same Lord according to the perfect Law of God, which no mere mortal man could ever fulfill. To answer the call to come to Christ is the all, important decision that only you alone can make.

Posted by Ken at September 16, 2005 01:49 PM