“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)

Notice that the promise above says, “all things work together for good.” Even though Jesus said we would have trouble while living in this fallen world (John 16:33). And He certainly had his share of troubles, too, it’s going to end up “good” according to His purpose!

He promised several things we should always remember

Yes, even though trouble visits from time to time, there’s a lot of good promises in God's Word to lean on. First, Jesus said He won’t allow any temptation to attack you that’s stronger than what you are able to withstand—He controls its power over you (1 Cor. 10:13). Secondly, he said he would provide a way for you to escape when the enemy attacks you. And thirdly, He said that his power within you is stronger than the devil’s power over you (1 John 4:4). Fourthly, he said he would never leave you or forsake you (Heb. 13:5). And fifthly, according to our promise at the top of the page, He's going to make it all turn out in the end for your good! So, believe it and trust him—no matter how you look at it, it’s all good news!

Therefore

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7 NIV)

“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” (Rev. 3:5) 

What a wonderful promise!

Many Christians aren’t quite sure they are completely saved, even though the Word of God says repeatedly that they have “eternal life” the very moment they receive Jesus as their personal Savior.

“I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30)

Even so, they aren’t completely convinced!

This is subversion from the enemy to weaken God’s people and throw them off balance. But don’t buy into those lies! You were paid for with the price of Christ’s own blood! Therefore, once you receive the free gift of life, it cannot be stolen from you. Period!

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." (John 5:24 ESV)

When you placed your faith and trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ, then you were marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you cannot lose the free gift that has been given to you by Jesus.

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,” (Eph. 1:13)

Therefore

“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13 ESV)

There’s a wonderful eternity for the believer! 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

 The day Mt. St. Helens exploded

Over the last few days, we’ve been discussing the unpleasant subject of hell, a real place that Jesus repeatedly warned about. As I was thinking about His warnings of impending disaster for those who are unsaved, I remembered the day Mt. St. Helens erupted on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 a.m. It was so loud that Susan and I heard it explode from our home in upper Washington State. According to experts, it had a volcanic-explosivity-index of five, which has often been declared the most disastrous volcanic eruption in U.S. history. Hundreds of square miles were reduced to wasteland, and 57 people were killed, including innkeeper and World War I veteran Harry R. Truman, who had refused to leave although he had been warned repeatedly of the impending disaster. It was preceded by a two-month period of earthquakes and steam-venting episodes that resulted from the injection of magma at a shallow depth below the volcano and caused a sizable bulge and fracture system on the mountain's north slope. With all this volcanic activity happening several weeks before the eruption, there had been ample time to totally clear the area of people, yet many died because they failed to take the warning signs seriously.

The same can be said about Jesus’ warnings regarding hell!

Even though Jesus warned repeatedly about the dangers of a real place called hell, most people, even many churches and/or religious people choose to ignore or dismiss His many warnings today. And sadly, it’s not going to end well for them!

Finally, the good news!

The wonderful news is that no one has to go to hell! No one! This is why the gospel is called the good news! There is a way to be saved for eternity.

“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” (Rom. 10:9-10)

“And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)

What eternity look like for those who have been redeemed 

·      You will see Jesus face-to-face

“No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 22:3-5)

·      You will get a brand new body

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Phil. 3:20-21)

·      He has prepared a place in heaven for you!

“My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2) 

·      No more death, crying or pain

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)

Therefore

“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 3:20)

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 NIV)

There are only two choices, you choose

“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt. 25:46) 

Heaven and hell were mysteries to me

I did not grow up in a religious home and I had no understanding of the Bible’s teachings regarding heaven and hell. All I knew was what I saw portrayed in movies, all wrong. I pictured heaven as a place with angels sitting on clouds and playing harps, and hell was a place with a red devil holding a pitchfork. None of this is in the Bible. But, one day I found a little gospel pamphlet in a a friend’s glove compartment that explained clearly about the consequences of sin and an actual place called hell where the unregenerate will end up forever. The answer was also spelled out, that Jesus had shed His blood to pay for sin. This is what brought me to place my trust in Jesus as my savior from hell.

Over the last couple of days, I have been discussing a very uncomfortable subject, hell. There are many religious groups who have eliminated hell from their doctrines or redefined it as something different from what Jesus clearly taught, that it is, which is a place of never-ending separation from God in a fiery torment.

There is a terrible eternity for the unrighteous

Here are just a few of the many verses about the eternal destiny that lies ahead for the unregenerate (unrighteous).

“They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,” (2 Thess. 1:9)

“He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.” (Rom. 2:6-8)

“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Rev. 21:8)

Therefore

“For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” (Eph. 5:5)

 Tomorrow, Part 4: There is a wonderful eternity for the righteous.

A free Ticket

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)

I heard someone who was religious but didn’t believe in hell say, “I don’t believe a loving God would ever send someone to a fiery hell!” And my answer is that He did not. He went to the cross for them and shed His holy blood to pay for a free ticket to heaven; the only reason anyone will end up in hell is because they rejected what He had freely offered them.

No excuses will work!

There won’t be a single person in hell with a legitimate excuse for rejecting God’s offer. Jesus did what He did on the cross because He didn’t want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus warned about hell over and over! In fact, he spoke eleven times more about the dangers of hell than he did about the joys of heaven. He referred to hell as a place of “outer darkness” where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12). He also refers to hell as a “fiery furnace” where lawbreakers will be thrown at the end of the age when he returns. “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 13:41–42). He calls it “the hell of fire” (Matt. 5:22), “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41), “unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43), and “eternal punishment” (Matt. 25:46).

Different names for two distinct destinies

The Bible has many names describing heaven (Home, Heaven, Father’s house, Paradise, the city, heavenly country, the Kingdom of Christ/God, Holy place, and many others) and for hell (Sheol, Hades, Hell, Lake of fire, and many others) but, whatever they’re called, they all fall into only two categories: 1) Eternal life with God, or 2) Eternal separation from God in torment forever. 

Therefore

“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matt. 25:46)

Tomorrow, part 3: Only two choices, you choose!

PART ONE (of 4)

“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’” (Luke 16:23-24)

I love the happy promises, not so much the negative kind!

It’s difficult to tackle negative promises found throughout the Bible, like the promise of hell, for instance, which is a certainty for those who have not received Christ as their savior. We prefer talking about the thousands of happy promises, of course! But we must also pay attention to the negative ones, which are often in the form of warnings. And we must remember that our friends, loved ones, and all others we meet are going to live forever! Somewhere! God says so! It’s a fact that a lot of people choose not to believe in a literal hell. They believe that they will simply cease to exist the moment they die, and life will be completely over for them, period, with no future existence or consequences for their earthly actions. But the Bible doesn’t teach this!

 The rich man who went to hell

 Jesus told the story of two men, one rich and one poor. They both died, and the poor man, Lazarus, who was a righteous man, went to be with God in heaven, and the rich man, who wasn’t righteous and who had lived only to please himself, went to hell and was suffering there in constant torment—and will forever! The rich man pleaded for someone to go and warn his family so they wouldn’t end up where he was. (Luke 16:19-31)!

 By the way

 Some who don’t like this hell story say that Jesus meant it to be only allegorical and not to be taken literally. However, this is not accurate. Jesus said, “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.” (Luke 16:19). He said “was” because he was relating a true story about two men who actually had lived and died, and one of them, Lazarus, He mentioned by name.

 Therefore

 “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Tomorrow, Part 2: A free ticket!

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”  (Deut 31:6)

When I was growing up, I lived with many different families and was often moved along before I got to know them very well. One family was an exception; I stayed with them for a few months. They had a boy named “Jimmy” about my same age; we shared a room, and we soon felt like brothers. After I left, I did not hear from him for nearly forty years until he reached out to me on social media. It was immediately evident that we had led very different kinds of lives! I had become a pastor, and he had become an activist-atheist who daily filled his social media postings with horrible anti-God propaganda. I asked him how he had become an atheist, and he answered with all the typical heartfelt but baseless nonsense. I asked him about his parents, and he said they had gotten divorced. He said he continued to live with his father until his 16th birthday. Then his father got a new girlfriend who consumed his life. Soon after, his father took him to a big city, handed him some money, and said, “Don’t ever contact me; I never want to hear from you again!” His father had rejected and abandoned him. Each time I mentioned his father during our conversation, he bristled with anger and finally said, “Don't talk about my father anymore; I hate him!”

After hearing his story

I think I understand the reason Jimmy is an atheist; he has transferred his feelings of rejection, abandonment, and great emotional pain to God. I wish he would have allowed me to speak to him about God (he wouldn't), because I would have assured him that God loves him dearly and would never abandon him like his earthly father did. 

Therefore

“It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deut. 31:8 ESV)

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt. 23:12)

God cares about humility!

A theme that runs through the entire Bible is that God humbles the proud and exalts the humble.

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

Humility is one character trait impossible to achieve by focusing on it; the only way to become humble is to look away from yourself and instead look to God and others. Fixing your eyes on him will keep you in proper perspective. When you are humbled in this way, God’s promise is to exalt you.

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:4)

Therefore

“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,” (1 Peter 5:5-6)

“With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,” (Eph. 4:2) 

“Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37)

God’s forgiveness is a free gift because of Christ’s work on the cross (Matt. 26:28). But look at what he says in the verse above. He says we are to forgive, and then we will be forgiven. And the following passage is very clear.

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matt. 6:14-15 ESV))

Why is this important?

Not being willing or able to forgive those who have sinned against us is a sign of unbelief. The fact is that anyone who chooses to withhold forgiveness has not been to the cross and has not allowed God to forgive them of their own sins.

Therefore

“And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark. 11:25 ESV)

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Eph. 4:32  ESV) 

“Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matt. 8:21-22 ESV)