| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net I recently had a fellow explain to me how God is a bully. Actually he used some colorful expletives to further categorize what a bully God is. He listed some examples of God's recorded wrath from the Old Testament and concluded with: "when I'm faced with a being more powerful than I am who says that if I don't worship and defer to him in the way he says I have to, that he will punish me horribly and deny me my life, I don't look at that being and say "God". I look at that being and say "bully". I'm not going to worship a bully, ......You'll have to forgive me, but I'll risk eternal flame before I'll worship that %*#/ of a >,^*". I fear from reading letters to the editor of big papers, hearing blurps from Bill Maher and watching what Hollywood pumps out as their version of Christianity, that there are far more folks with this mindset than I would ever have dreamed just hanging out with my brothers and sisters in Christ. My new friend also said: The god of the Old testament is an donkey void" (I may have changed those last two words). He said he could really get down with the Jesus of the New Testament which obviously wasn't the same God. He also threw in the patented "judge not lest ye be judged". I purpose now not to defend the God of the Old or New Testament cause he doesn't need me to do that. What I would like to do is just talk about this warm and fuzzy Jesus he thinks he knows, cause boy are we gonna be surprised. False teaching # 1 -- If there is a God, and I do enough good in life, I will get to go to heaven rather than hell --- Or, If my good deeds outweigh my bad. Truth A. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works (deeds), lest any man should boast." Eph. 2:8-9 If you could keep God's law completely, It would be by your good merit and not His grace - "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Romans 3:20 Truth B. Heaven is not the goal, just as hell isn't the motivation for seeking deliverance, redemption or salvation. Jesus (the Bible) speaks more often of the difference between Life and Death, and speaks of them both in the lineal tense. Fasten your pewbelt. In John 3:18, Jesus speaking of Himself says: "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Vs 36 = "He that believeth on the Son hath (present tense) everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth (remains) on him." In Eph. 2, we are told that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but God hath "quickened us" - made us alive. Life then, isn't heaven someday, but rather a relationship with Jesus which continues in a place called heaven. Heaven isn't the end game. Life defined = "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent." John 17 By what authority? "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:" John 5:22 Jesus again speaking of Himself in Matt. 10:28 - "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." Sounds like the same God to me. What then is death in God's eyes? It is eternal separation from God (Rev. 20:14). Life is an eternal relationship with Him, and death is an eternal rejection of Him. Death (separation) is our default mode. We were dead in our sins (Eph. 2) and the wrath of God remains on us (John 3:36) "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places (present tense) in Christ Jesus:" Eph. 2:4-6 Ultimately, God doesn't send us to hell because of sin - We are all sinners. God sends us to hell for not accepting as worthy the only prescribed remedy for our condition which was the precious blood of His worthy sacrifice in the person of Jesus Christ. I don't see a bully, I see a Great God and Savior who went to unimaginable lengths to save me from my sin. When you read this, do you sigh - "Allelula What a Savior"? or do your neck veins distend as you curse the God you cannot control? Therein lies your destiny. God Bless. |
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