Tag: according to what they had done

17.c. “Even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

John 11:17  Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

 Romans 8:11    If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

 2 Corinthians 4:14    knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

 Philippians 3:20-21     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.

 1 Thessalonians 4:14     For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

 Revelation 20:10-15    and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.  Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

“Those that believe in Jesus Christ appear to die, but yet they live. They are not in the grave, they are forever with the Lord. They are not unconscious they are with their Lord in Paradise. Death cannot kill a believer, it can only usher him into a freer form of life.” “Death comes to the ungodly man as a penal infliction, but to the righteous as a summons to his Father’s palace: to the sinner it is an execution, to the saint an undressing. Death to the wicked is the King of terrors: death to the saint is the end of terrors, the commencement of glory.” (Spurgeon)

At death, there is rejoicing for those who believe and regret for those who reject and deny Jesus Christ.  Scripture is clear and yet so many reject the grace, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ. Denying Jesus Christ has earthly effects, but the most important is it has eternal consequences.  We never truly know when death will knock on our door.  We can be ready for that knock and rejoice to know our home is in heaven and we will be with Jesus forever more.

32. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come;

Numbers 23:19   God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Habakkuk 2:3     For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Malachi 3:6     For I the LORD do not change

Luke 21:33     Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Titus 1:2    in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began

Hebrews 6:18    so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.

James 1:17     Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

God does not lie, He does not change, and what He promises will take place.  Think about what He has promised: Savior Jesus Christ, Steadfast love, Purpose, Justice, Power, Refuge, Courage, Hope, Love, Peace, Joy, Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Forgiveness, Salvation, Rebirth – Born Again, Eternal Life, Resurrection, Heaven

He has also promised: Judgement, anger, wrath, Hell, torment, agony, separation, foolishness, disaster, chaos, turmoil, unrest, justice, eternal damnation

What separates these two paths of all of mankind?  Choice!!!  Choice in what we believe.  Choice in who we believe.  Nothing is more clear than what is stated:

John 3:16-21  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Romans 1:18-21  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Revelation 20:11-15  Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

distinction between those who serve God and those who do not

Psalms 89:5  Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!  For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,  a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?  You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.  You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.  The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them.

Daniel 7:10    A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

Psalms 96:11     Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it;  let the field exult, and everything in it! Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy  before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Malachi 3:16     Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.  “They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.  Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Revelation 20:11     Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.  Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Isaiah 30:27    Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;

Isaiah 66:15     “For behold, the LORD will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.  For by fire will the LORD enter into judgment, and by his sword, with all flesh; and those slain by the LORD shall be many.

Nahum 1:5    The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it.  Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

John 3:18  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

There are times we just don’t feel good enough to be considered worthy, fruitful, or for that matter saved. For some reason the redemptive work of Christ does not seem real and effective for our life.  We believe but do not have a victorious heart and mind. Why is that?  We are in battle(s) – the battle with our conscious where we are self convicted – the battle with what others tell us and we are convicted by others – the battle where satan convicts us by telling us we are worthless and not good enough for God – the battle where we do think we are good enough on our own – the battle our sinful nature has with the Holy Spirit when we are convicted on our actions and thoughts in light of God’s word.  Our conscious and others conviction may or may not be true.   Satan is the father of all lies and will continually convict us with these lies and half truths.  However, the Holy Spirit will convict us with absolute truth.  It is easy to fall into the trap of unworthiness or good enough and end up ineffectual in our Christian walk.  Both of these end in either complacency or neglect.  When we catch of glimpse of God’s Holiness and our sinfulness it is easy to feel unworthy and you are right.  We are unworthy.  That is all the more reason to shout for joy and give thanks to Jesus Christ who, though we were sinners and have a sinful nature, went to the cross and died for our sins.  He did this to redeem us and make our sin as white as snow to all who believe in Him.  At the moment of believe and trust in Jesus Christ our sins were no more.  Some may feel they are not worthy of this redemption, believing they are not good enough or they are too bad to be forgiven.  God’s word is true!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

We are never good enough to be saved.  Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners.  He takes us as we are, right where we are at in life – full of guilt and shame. Are we sinless, no but they are forgiven.  Do we stop sinning, no but if we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive our sin.  God is truth and His word is true.  If our sins are forgiven they are no more before God’s eyes.  We can be certain of His word of truth.  We can be victorious.  We can have joy and peace.  Satan would have us believe it is a lie.  It is not a lie.  How can we know?  Stay in His word and live to honor, glorify, serve and obey Him.  You are whiter than snow, confessed sin to God is forgiven. Stop living defeated, complacent, and neglectful.  You can live victorious for God through His word.

I will Praise You

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.”

“I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.”

Psalms 71:14  But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge. With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come; I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone. O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you? You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again. You will increase my greatness and comfort me again.

Psalms 66:16    Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.

2 Samuel 22:1 And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.  He said, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,  my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.  I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.  “For the waves of death encompassed me, the torrents of destruction assailed me;  the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.  “In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I called. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears.

1 Chronicles 16:4  Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!  Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!  Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!  Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!  Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered,

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  Giving thanks to God and speaking about His righteousness, power, might, strength and salvation are indicators of the abundance of Him in our heart and mind.  Note how those in scripture speak of God.  This is for our edification and to encourage us to continually seek God in all we do.  A good place to start is in His word with a daily desire to know and honor Him.  This is a heart deep commitment and most certainly He is worthy of our all.

Times of Ignorance

“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.”

“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Psalms 18:46
The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation

Jeremiah 10:10
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

Psalms 42:2
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalms 84:2
My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Daniel 6:26
I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring forever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.

Matthew 16:16
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Acts 14:15
“Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them.

Hebrews 10:31
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Nahum 1:6
Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him

Revelation 20:11
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Malachi 3:2
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

God is the true God, living God, everlasting King who in times past has overlooked our ignorance but now has commanded all people to repent.  You don’t have to dig very far into science literature to see the concept “There is no God”.  Just because science smart people say there is no God does not mean it is fact or true.  I fear all of this talk has diluted many Christians to a very shallow faith for the simple reason of not wanting to seem uneducated. I can not see the wind but I can see the effects of it in the leaves moving on trees.  I can say there is wind because of the effects I see.  On this same thought I can see the earth and everything that has been created.  I can see stars in the sky.  Science has allowed us to see the formation of a baby in the womb.  Some say that all of this came from a big bag somehow and spend their entire lives searching for what they call the “God Particle”, the building block for all things seen and unseen.  Why is it so many are willing to believe that something like a “Big Bang” can come from nothing.  Doesn’t there have to be a “start.”  Something that created order in the universe.  To say this is not true and to even say those who believe in God are foolish is ignorance.  It is believing a lie.  God said He will no longer overlook ignorance and the time of repentance is now. Wisdom of this world will not find God.  A heart full of pride will never find God for their heart sees no need.  And yet God gives them opportunity after opportunity to humble themselves, repent, yield, trust and follow after Him. He gives many promises and warnings in His word, knocking at everyone heart’s door reaching out to give them true purpose and meaning in this life, plus life ever after with Him.  God is alive!  He will call everyone into account for what they have done and to those who have repented and follow Him, He gives the promise of eternal life.  To those who choose to neglect this promise of everlasting life – they will experience God’s wrath and forever be thrown into hell.  Look around at what has been created and know it was created by the one and only living God.  He is knocking at the door of every heart.  Open your heart, mind and soul to Him, repent, yield, trust and follow after Him.