God’s gifts to the believer.
God gives many gifts in this life, to those who believe in his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus has provided countless blessings to those that believe in him. ” But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him. That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?” John 12. 37-38. No one in Jesus day, did anything to earn the healing, or miracles, or blessings, they received. We must believe that we have received these gifts, before we see them manifest in our lives. The bible states, ” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. ” Rom. 10.17. It is by reading Gods word, that we see, “it is written,” and begin to believe those things God has to give to his children. If someone were to put a million dollars into a bank account, and open it in our name, but we did not believe that person, it would do us no good. Jesus has provided countless blessing to them that believe in him, and his finished work on the cross.
In Math. 13.12 we read, ” For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” How can something be taken away from someone who doesn’t have it? That’s it, they do have it! Peace, joy, good health, a sound mind, a happy marriage, no fear of the future. If we fail to know these things, and many others, come as a result of a relationship with our Saviour, then we will fail to receive them. Ephesians 3.20, says ” Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, Amen” This is an amazing verse. Paul uses the phrase, “exceedingly abundantly, above all that we ask or think. ” He is doing his best to try and emphasize what God is prepared to do for us. First we must believe he will do it. Jesus paid the price for us to receive these blessings.
God is our father. He wants to give good things to his children. But we can limit what God can do for us. Even salvation itself is a gift, and God does not force it on anyone. In Psalm 78, speaking of the children of Israel we read, “How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel.” verse 40-41. Lets not wander in the desert for forty years, and limit what God wants to do for us.
Living without fear or worry.
The greatest gift the believer in Jesus Christ receives is the gift of the Holy Spirit and of eternal life. But many other wonderful gifts are given without merit or charge to those who receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. The curse of worrying has caused innumerable heartache to all those that are plagued by it. Anxiety and fear has caused countless millions to run to doctors and psychiatrist to find help. Jesus instructs his followers in Math.6.25, “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not life more than meat, and the body than raiment? ” and in verse 34 he goes on to say, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Paul writes in Phil. 4.6, “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” So Paul is amplifying what Jesus had taught, that we not be filled with worry and care for the future but be thankful that God has given us the peace of God. A peace filled mind is one of the greatest gifts we can receive here on this earth. Paul writes to Timothy and tells him, ” For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2Tim.1.7.
Fear is a sister to worry, it keeps us from living our lives to the fullest. Jesus said in Luke 12.4-5, ” And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear, Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell, yea I say unto you fear him.” We are to fear God but not man and the things of this world. And we need not fear God if we have accepted Jesus into our lives. In Heb. 2. 14-16, we read. ” For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had power of death, that is the devil. And deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” So we see here that Jesus came and died for us and by believing in him we no longer have to be in bondage. Even man’s greatest fear, death, has no power to create fear in us. Without fear or worry in our lives we can be free to live a life that is a witness to others of the goodness of the God we serve. The best thing about God’s gifts is that they are free and we can’t earn them. Let us have comfort in the fact that God is a loving God. Jesus promised to never leave us nor forsake us. Heb. 13.5. God is intimately concerned with our everyday lives. Jesus tells us , “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” and the Psalmist writes, ” How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand, when I awake , I am still with thee.” Psalm 139. 17-18. In conclusion, if we focus more on God’s mercy and blessings, and less upon ourselves, we will find we truly are daily, loaded with blessings. Our life here in this physical body is but for a moment, God’s good gifts are for all eternity. Lets focus more on the things that are not seen, and less on the things we can see, and worry and fear about. 2 Corn. 4: 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
How is a person saved?
What must a person do to become saved, and have eternal life with God? One might think that this would be the most important question on a persons mind. Growing up, I always thought God was in heaven, writing down every good and bad thing I did. I thought, if the good outweighed the bad at the end of a persons life, then this would be the way God determined your fate. As I got older, I learned that Jesus died for our sins. I still assumed that my past sins, as a non- Christian were forgiven, but I had to keep earning my way to heaven, by doing the right things to please God. I attended a church many years ago, that said they were the true Church of God, and were keeping all the traditions of the early 1st century church, that had been done away with by the Catholic Church. We observed the seventh day sabbath, and did not work on that day. We also abstained from meat, that the bible said was unclean. Along with this, we observed the old testament holy days, instead of Christmas and Easter. I thought these things were pleasing to God, and he would reward me for my obedience to him.
In Luke chapter 2, there is an account given of the birth of Christ, in verses 13-14 it says, ” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” The angels were not proclaiming peace on earth among men, but peace on earth, and good will toward men, from God. Before the birth of Jesus ,God rewarded ancient Israel according to how well they kept his laws and commandments, and punished them when they strayed from keeping them. This was recorded, and given to us as an example of what a relationship with God, apart from Christ, is like. In 2 Samuel Chapters 11 and 12 we can read the story of King David, and Bath-sheba. In this story, David lusts after Bath-sheba, and has sexual relations with her, although she is a married woman. When he finds out she is pregnant with his child, he calls her husband Uria up from fighting in the front lines, and tries to persuade him to go home, and have sex with his wife . When Uriah refuses, David has him killed, and takes Bath-sheba as his own wife. She bare him a son, but in 2 Sam. 11.27 it says, “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.” Nathan the prophet then tells King David, the punishment that he will be given, for committing this sin. David is told the sword shall never depart from his house, God says he will raise up evil against him, out of his own house. [See Absalom’s conspiracy in the following chapters.] And David is also told, the son who Bath-sheba bore to him, would also die. This is an example of the relationship between God, and man, before Jesus. David, having gone through this wrote in Psalm 32 . 1-2, looking forward to the time of Christ, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Paul repeats this blessing, in his letter to the Romans, where speaking of Abraham, Paul writes in Rom.4.5, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Paul then goes on to quote David, in Psalm32.
What is it then, that we need to have faith in? Can we have faith that God will keep us from sin, and not let us fall into temptation like David? After all, Paul writes in Rom. 2.13 ” For not the hearers of the law are justified before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” Here Paul writes, the doers of the law shall be justified. But what law is Paul speaking of? In Rom.3.27 Paul tells us, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith.” By the law of faith, we are justified. Again we can read, in Eph. 2.8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.” So were are saved by faith, not by works. Rom. 3-10 says , “There is none righteous, no, not one. ” And Isa. 64.6 says, ” But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind have taken us away.”
Finally, to answer the question, what must we have faith in to be saved? We read in Acts 2.21, ” And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And in Acts 4.12 speaking of Jesus we read, ” Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Jesus tells us in John 10.9, ” I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” Rom. 10.9-10 states, ” That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ” The Good News is, even the faith we have to believe that Jesus died for us, is a gift from God. Paul warned the Corinthian church, in 2Corn. 11.3, ” But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” There are churches, and preachers, that would have you believe it is very complicated to receive Gods grace, and gift of eternal life. Believe in God, and his goodness. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3.16. To be saved, we need to recognize that we are sinners,
and believe that Jesus died for our sins. And acccept him as our Lord and Saviour. Then, we can receive the free gift of eternal life.
Does God promise Christian’s wealth?
Many televangelists, and Christian denominations, promise riches and wealth to their followers. They explain God wants his people to be materially well off, the streets of heaven are paved with pure gold, and if we give, we will receive ten fold back again. Is this what the Bible really teaches on the subject of giving, and material wealth? I read somewhere there are two ways to be wealthy, the first is to accumulate much, the second is to have need of little. As Christians we already have the wealth of the universe waiting for us as our inheritance, and the priceless gift of eternal life with our Lord, at his coming.
Prov. 30.8-9 tells us, “Remove far from me vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me. Lest I be full, and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” Jesus taught us to pray, ” give us this day our daily bread.” Our daily bread meets our physical needs, and our heavenly bread meets our spiritual needs. Many of our lives are in turmoil, we are bombarded with advertising that makes us feel inadequate, unless we have the latest new item that is being promoted. We need to simplify our lives, and be thankful for what we have, and not covetous of those things we don’t have.
One thing most of us could use more of, instead of money, is peace in our lives. The Bible speaks of a peace that surpasses all understanding. It also tells us how to obtain such a peace. Paul writes to the Collossians and tells them, “Let your moderation be known to all men, The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. ” Col. 4.5-7. Let our moderation be known, be careful for nothing, and let our requests be made known to God. Well you say, I will let my requests be made known to God, he will give me material gain if I ask him right? James 4.3 tells us, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” God wants our needs taken care of, not our wants. ” Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness, from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.” II Tim. 6.5-8. I have seen many preachers on television, who parade their gain, and would have their congregations and their viewers believe that their gain is somehow godliness. Paul tells Timothy to withdraw himself from such. God does not reward the godly with wealth, or material gain or possessions. “Hearken my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” James2.5.
Christians and military service.
Can a Christian, in good conscience, serve in the military? If we are fighting against evil and tyranny it would seem like it is appropriate or even essential, but what does the Bible say about the subject. In his sermon on the mount, Jesus spoke of a time when it was appropriate, in Math. 5.38, he said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you. That ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” In Old Testament times things were handled differently. Lev. 24.19-20,”And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbor, as he hath done, so shall it be done to him . 20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.”
The suffering of innocent life does not go unnoticed by God. And it would be appropriate to even give our lives to defend the helpless or the unborn. When we think that going to war for God, or killing a life to save a life is serving God, then we cross over into the territory of God himself. In John 15.13, Jesus said to his disciples, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” and in his letter to the Romans, Paul states, ” For scarcely for a righteouse man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.” Rom. 5.7. It is Godly to die for another, it is not, to kill for another. Paul had much to say on this subject, in Rom. 12.19 he writes, “Dearly beloved, avenge not youselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.” Verse 22, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Countless wars have been fought and millions of lives lost in man’s attempt to wipe out evil by being overcome with evil, but God tells us to overcome evil with good. This does not seem at first like practical advise ,but our hope does not lie in this world but with the world to come. When Jesus had been delivered up to be crucified he was taken before Pilate and Pilate said to Jesus, ” Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me, what hast thou done?” Jesus answered and said ” My kingdom is not of this world, if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence.” John 18.35-36. The book of Revelations speaks of a time when Christ and his servants will fight. In Rev. 19.14 we read, “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” Jesus and his servants will fight evil once and for all, but at this time our command is to “Love thy enemy.”
Haiti earthquake and God’s wrath.
Is God punishing Haiti by sending an earthquake to their country? I have heard this proposed already by religious leaders, who should be ashamed of themselves. Rom. 3.23 states, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” We all deserve to die, ” For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom.6:23
Apart from Jesus, there is not a man or woman alive that didn’t deserve to hang on the cross, or to be buried under the ruble of an earthquake in Haiti. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousenesses are as filthy rags.” Isa. 64.6. God does not look down upon the sins of the Haitian people, or the citizens of New Orleans,, or anyones sins with more disgust or less. James 2.10 says “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” There are modern day Pharisees who think they are capable of keeping God’s commandments, and thereby keeping God pleased with them. God is not pleased with our commandment keeping, but with our faith in Christ. ” But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” Rom.4.5.
In John chapter 8, a woman was caught commiting adultery, in the very act. They brought her to Jesus, and explained the law of Moses commanded that she be stoned, then they asked Jesus, ” but what sayest thou?” John 8.7. Jesus said to the crowd, ” He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” and one by one they laid down their stones till only Jesus and the woman were left. At this point, since God is justified in punishing the unrighteouse, he should have picked up a rock and stoned her himself. Instead he said, “Woman where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned you?” She said No man, Lord, And Jesus said unto her, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more.” John 8.10-11.
God will pour out his wrath at the end of the age on sinners, who have refused to receive the free gift of salvation that was purchased for them upon the cross, when Jesus died for them. ” For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3.16. God loves the people of Haiti, as much as he loves the Pope in Rome, or the drug addict in Harlem, or the grandmother knitting socks, or you or me. Lets pray for the people of Haiti, and be thankful we have a loving God who cares for all his children.
Did God create hell?
Did God create a hell, where sinners are punished for all eternity ? “God is love,” 1 John 4.8, would it make sense for a God, who is the very definition of love to create such a place? In Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth, and he looked upon his creation and, “behold, it was very good.” Gen.1.31. Man suffers for the sin he commits, Gal. 6.7 states,” Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Man’s actions do result in consequences, but not in a torture chamber called hell.
God created man and set him in the Garden of Eden. He also placed in the garden two trees, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. Adam and Eve committed sin by disobeying God, and eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil . God warned them, if they ate of THIS tree they would die, not live for ever in a place of eternal punishment. It was Satan who lied to Eve, and told her she would not surely die. Satan told Eve the exact opposite of what God had told her, and this lie has been spread in the form of the doctrine of hell to this very day. God said to Adam after he had eaten of the forbidden fruit, “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Gen. 3.19. God also created the tree of life. The story of man’s fall is continued in Gen. 3.22, “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.” Man now knew what was good and what was evil, and had to pay for the consequences of the knowledge he had gained. James 4.17 states “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” The bar had been raised very high, by man, when he ate of this fruit. Continuing on in Genesis 3.22 God said, “and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Man was cut off from the tree of life at this point,” lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.”
God did not want man to become an eternal spirit, in his fallen state. God in his infinite mercy prevented man from becoming an eternal spirit, and living for ever. Only an eternal spirit can be punished for eternity in a hell. This tree of life is mentioned again in Rev. 2.7, Jesus states, “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Only Jesus and faith in him gives us eternal life. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man cometh to the Father, but by me.” John 14.6.
Man is sin full, and no amount of good works will ever get us saved, or give us eternal life with God. No amount of sin will ever get us damned, or give us eternal life in hell . The Apostle Paul states,” For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Eph. 2.8. But what are we saved from? Math. 25.46 says , “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.” Two things to note here , Jesus talks about everlasting punishment, not everlasting punishing, and the righteous go into everlasting life. We would have to have everlasting life, to be punished for eternity in hell. In Math. 10.28 Jesus says, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Notice Jesus is very clear, both soul and body will be destroyed in hell. Not punished or tortured forever, but destroyed. Also John 3.16 states, ” For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Webster’s dictionary describes the word perish as waste away, disappear or die. One of the most convincing passages on this subject comes from Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, in it he writes, “And to you who are troubled rest with us,when the Lord shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” II Thes. 1.7-9. I think we all understand what it means to be destroyed. And it certainly does not mean to exist forever in everlasting torment.
Finally the Bible speaks of a second death, in the lake of fire. All mankind will be resurrected, to stand before the judgment seat of God. Rev. 20.13, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” To be spared an eternal separation from God’s presence, by eternal death, we must be saved, and have our names written in the book of life. To be saved the Apostle Paul writes in Rom. 10.9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Jesus is the Tree of Life.
Saved By Faith In Christ 