Faith Is About Truth

“An Uncomfortable, Incomprehensible Truth” – R. Nelson

BIBLE MEDITATION:
“So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” Luke 16:22-23

ENCOURAGING WORD:

Most people in this world believe in a heavenly dwelling but shrug off the concept of hell. Sadly, this includes many pastors and priests that should be held accountable to their congregation, to share the whole truth, not just the feel-good ear tickling messages. I need to make one thing perfectly clear; I do not find pleasure in sharing this message, but I believe it is a message that everybody should know. Hell is a real place and it is one of only two places where we will spend eternity. We read a very disturbing verse in Matthew 7:21 where Jesus says; “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. This is often a mis-understood verse because the will of His Father really has nothing to do with good works as most people think. In John 6:29 we get the answer to what is the will of the Father, “Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Then Jesus follows up in Matthew 7:22-23 with these Words. “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” These two verses make it extremely clear that we are not saved by good works. There are people that believe in Jesus Christ but will never bother to get to know Him on a personal level. We need to be in fellowship with Christ and build a relationship with Him. Jesus Christ requires and desires a loving relationship with His children. We need to understand that true Christianity is a relationship with Jesus Christ, not a religion as most people are taught to believe. Without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ you will undoubtedly wind up in hell for all eternity, there are no if, and or buts about it. It is a choice that you, and only you can make.

There is only one way to escape the eternal condemnation of hell and that is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. We read in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9; “In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,” This should not be taken lightly, this should be the most important question to ask yourself. “If I died today, would I be certain that I would be with the Lord or would I be separated from Him for all eternity?” The answer to this question must be answered yes, or no. The birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was foretold by many prophets of old. Some people go as far as to say, “Jesus Christ was not who He said He was, He was just a man who fulfilled some of the prophecies so people would believe He was the Christ!” First, how could someone arrange to be born and fulfill all the prophecies about His birth? Not possible! You can stop right there with the foolishness; it is absurd to believe that for a moment! Furthermore, let me ask you a question, would you die a severe death as Jesus Christ did for a cause that did not exist? If you are taught that hell doesn’t exist and nobody will go there as a result of sin, then why did Jesus Christ come to this world to die the most vicious agonizing death known to man, if it wasn’t for an extremely necessary purpose? Do you think for a moment that God the Father, would allow His Son to go through the horrific death He did if there was no reason?

Jesus Christ had to pay for the sins of the world, in order for those that would believe in Him to escape the eternal confines of hell! If hell didn’t exist, there would be no reason for Jesus Christ to do what He had to do. Hell is more real than the blue earth that you are standing on, the only difference is, hell is forever, this earth that we currently occupy today is temporary. If there was no hell, Jesus Christ would not have done what He did. If there is no hell, then Jesus Christ died for His people to keep them from a destination that does not exist. We need to think logically.

I don’t find pleasure in discussing this horrible place called hell, however, let me put it in a way that will make it clear why I felt it necessary to share this message. If someone were to take you to a faraway land and didn’t tell you anything about it, you most likely would not go, but let’s say you really trusted this person. After a couple days of travel, you finally get to your destination. It turns out to be the most hideous, despicable, most disgusting place that you could ever imagine. How upset would you be if your friend didn’t fill you in on the truth of where you were going before you went. Wouldn’t you like to have been warned first of this horrible place? Well, here are the comparisons, if you do not accept Jesus Christ you will go to a place that your pastor, priest or whoever you trust to tell you the truth, didn’t tell you about. They try to sugar coat it and tell you that everybody is going to heaven, so they don’t give you the alternative option. I am here to tell you what the alternative is, so that you can get your affairs in order and understand that hell is a real place. Here is a verse that you should take to heart for those that believe we are all going to heaven. Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14; “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Notice it says a few, not everybody, not most of the people, but few will be that find the way!

Many people don’t understand that hell was not created for mankind. God created it for Satan and his fallen angels. But, unfortunately, back in the Garden of Eden when man was deceived by Satan, sin entered the world and from that point on man had a choice, to serve Satan or to serve God. Before the fall of man, the earth was a perfect environment for man to dwell in. Once sin entered the world, God turned the world over to Satan. Hells gates were then opened to those that rejected God and would choose to serve the creation instead of the creator. We read in Matthew 25:41 what will happen to those who reject God and the provision that He made for the redemption of mankind. “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

When sin entered the world, God knew that the only way for man-kind to be saved was through a plan of redemption. Man had to somehow be redeemed. And because sinful man could not save himself, God had no other choice than to come to the earth, in the personage of Jesus Christ, live a perfect sinless life, and then take the sins of the world upon His shoulders and nail them to the cross. Jesus Christ fulfilled that purpose, and by doing so, man could be redeemed and found righteous before the God of the universe by accepting the greatest gift ever offered…” Grace.” We read in Romans 3: 24-26; “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth

a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, [I say], at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Can it be made any more clear? So, you see, there is a way to be saved from an eternity in hell but it is up to you to make that choice. Will you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior or will you continue to live in your sinful state which puts you on the outside of the loving care of God the Father? The choice that you make will determine where you spend eternity.

We need to understand that there will always be those that will try to teach us that hell does not exist. If hell does not exist, then the Bible is not absolute truth. Jesus Himself taught more about hell than He did about heaven, so if hell does not exist then heaven doesn’t either neither does heaven. I once heard of a professor that was questioning hell and he asked this question, “How can hell be both fire and outer darkness?” I pondered this question myself for quite a while. Then I recently heard that a scientist discovered that there are these black dark holes in our universe. These black holes could very well be total darkness filled with heat and fire. This thought that came to me is an explanation of how outer darkness and the lake of fire could coexist. Everybody knows that the more intense a fire gets, the darker the flame gets. Our finite minds can only recon what we can see, but suppose that heat can get so hot, beyond what we can manufacture or imagine, that it is actually black? Outer darkness could be so hot that it would feel like a lake of fire and because it is so dark, it would appear as if it were total darkness. This thought is by no means confirmed in the Bible that I know of, just my own thoughts of what it could be.

ACTION POINT:

You and only you can decide for yourself which path you will take. When you stand before the creator of the universe, you will have no one to blame but yourself for the decisions that you have made. We read in Romans 1:20; “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” In other words. Ignorance of the law will not be an excuse. You need to make that choice today whom you will serve, and like Joshua said in chapter 24:15; “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Will you serve other gods, or will you serve Jesus Christ? I agree with Joshua, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Amen!

“Commentary from Our Chaplin – R. Fritz”

“Heaven or Hell”

We all have choices to make in our life and what I believe to be the most important choice is our decision of where we want to spend eternity, heaven and hell. We show evidence of that choice by our words and actions. We will be judged by our words and actions and our yard stick that measures us is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ entered His creation to set us free from sin. You must read about him to be able to follow him; with him life will be much more meaningful. I can say this because of the choices I made and because of that choice my life has changed. Changed for the better, this doesn’t mean that every day is perfect. Because of that relationship with Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit gives me words to speak and the knowledge to get through the things I go through every day. This is something everybody can have if they choose Him. I decided to give all of myself to Jesus, not just a part of me. I did that because I wanted to win the battle of life and at that time, I did not really know him, I just trusted in His Word. This is where I learned to be an overcomer. What you don’t understand is that you’re going to go through rough times in your life but now you will go through them with Jesus Christ. He will never leave you, nor forsake you as we read in Hebrews 13:5; “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” You can trust in the Word of God.

If we “LOVE” him, we will obey him, this is when our lives will change and our relationship with Jesus will go to a new level. Now, He can use you for his “Glory,” and because you have chosen Him, the trials and issues that you go through will be with Jesus by your side, “Trust” Him. The Holy Spirit now knows that you can be trusted to do God’s work. You will now be entrusted to take on a greater role for the work of His kingdom and for the working of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 25:29; “‘for to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. In other words, the more you do for the eternal kingdom, the more you will be given in return.

You now have an opportunity to have a life like me or better than me, you just must decide, this decision of choosing Jesus will change your life forever! With that decision, you now have chosen “Heaven” in a big way. Your life will be filled with more joy and gladness than you ever dreamed of with the Holy Spirit directing your path.

Hell is real, people have left their body on their death bed and went to Hell and were sent back to their body to inform us what it was like, so we can be warned about the horrors of hell and can make the right decision. Look at some of the testimonies out there in books or videos for people that don’t read the Bible. The Bible has verses in Revelations on who will be going to Hell. For people who don’t read the Bible, google, “What does the Bible say about “Hell”? You will get an answer, then, ask Jesus Christ to change your life.

In Closing – R. Nelson

God has created every one of us for a purpose, to serve Him and be redeemed (to free from captivity by payment of ransom) to Him through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. But, being the loving God that He is, He gave us a free will to choose to love Him or reject Him. He could have made us all robots, but God wants our true love and devotion and He wants fellowship with us for all eternity. Ask yourself this question: “How can you not love a God that willingly came to earth for the soul purpose of redeeming mankind back to Himself. He willingly suffered for you on the cross so that you wouldn’t have to suffer for all eternity in hell, and all you have to do is believe, trust and obey.” You, and only you can make that decision. Give God your heart today he gave it to you in the first place, but He sure would like it back in the form of love and obedience through His Son, Jesus Christ! “May God fill your hearts with joy and gladness unto the day of His reckoning (a settling of accounts.)” Amen!