Search Results for: What Must I Do TO Be Saved

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There are many things that people attribute to the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. He is given credit for most doctrines that are taught, most movements that are begun, and most decisions that are made in religious people’s lives. The Holy Spirit was sent to the apostles and the early church soon after

Jesus ascended back to heaven. We read about Him pouring out His power on them in Acts 2, the day the church of Christ had its beginning in this world. That was a marvelous day. The events that took place were so convincing and powerful that at least three thousand people were willing to listen to Peter preach the saving gospel of Christ, and they were baptized, saved, and added to the church.

It all began when the Spirit was poured out upon the apostles in the beginning of Acts 2. They began to speak in other languages or tongues, and some did not understand and accused them of being drunk. But Peter said that the things that they were then witnessing were actually the fulfillment of prophecy. In other words, they could know that this was orchestrated by God because the Old Testament prophets long before had prophesied of that day, and of these things that they were now seeing take place.

Acts 2:14-16 “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;”

Peter says what you now see is what Joel—hundreds of years ago—prophesied would happen. They were seeing the beginning of a great outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the early church, which would result in the gospel being preached and multitudes being saved before judgment came. This is that, he says.

Today, there are many fantastic claims made about the Holy Spirit and His work, and when you compare them with what the scriptures actually teach about the Spirit’s mission, medium and message, you quickly come to see that this is NOT that.

About 800 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Joel foretold a time of blessing and a time of judgment to come. In Joel 2, he prophesied that before God’s judgment was unleashed, His Spirit would first be poured out, in order to save people from the promised judgment. In other words, the gospel of Christ would be preached by the power and influence of the Spirit before God’s judgment came to unbelievers.

Joel 2:28-32 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”

There is much that could be said about that prophecy, but in short, God’s Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit. All flesh obviously doesn’t refer to every human being on the earth, but rather refers to people of all races—Jew and Gentile—and without distinction: young and old, rich and poor, male and female. In other words, people of every tongue, tribe and walk of life would benefit from this work of the Spirit in the latter days, speaking of the gospel dispensation: the end of the Jewish age and the beginning of the gospel age. Salvation would be offered to ALL before destruction came.

800 years later, on the Day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy and says, this is what you are now seeing. This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel (Acts 2:16). The apostles were speaking in languages that they had never learned before. This was obviously a miraculous happening, and people were amazed by the sign. Under the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter—who himself did not understand the gospel message only a few days before—now, with great authority, stands and opens his mouth and preaches the first sermon about the crucified and risen Christ. As a result, three thousand people are led to obey the gospel and be saved.

Jesus had also promised that the Holy Spirit would be given to the apostles on the Day of Pentecost. He looked forward to the same thing Joel did. Jesus told them exactly why they would be given the Holy Spirit and what He would do when they received Him.

Mark 13:10-11 “And the gospel must first be published among all nations. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.”

In other words, the coming of the Holy Spirit would equip and inspire the apostles with the revelation of Christ, and the very words they would need to communicate that message to the world. That’s why the scriptures are divinely inspired, you see. The Bible is not a human book even though it was written down by human hands. Those men were inspired by the Holy Spirit to infallibly speak and write what they did. Jesus told His apostles of the Holy Spirit’s coming.

John 16:7-14 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away (speaking of His death, burial and resurrection): for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

What accomplished all of those things that Jesus said the Spirit would do? It was the gospel that the Spirit inspired these men to preach. Here, and in John 14:26, Jesus is promising the Holy Spirit or paraclete unto these apostles in a special way, a special measure, a special manifestation of the Holy Spirit, that was going to uniquely qualify and equip them as the apostles of Jesus Christ, to reveal the gospel to the world. That’s why the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. The events of Acts 2 that the Jews witnessed in the apostles, and then later the same kind of sign that others saw when the Holy Spirit was poured out in a similar fashion on Cornelius and his Gentile household in Acts 10, served as evidence that what was being preached was indeed from God. And that those who obeyed that preaching were indeed being saved.

That leads us to ask: what about the many claims that people make about the Holy Spirit today? And there are many. Most things we see and hear in religion today are attributed to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, it seems. Oftentimes people will even point to the miraculous events of Acts 2 and Acts 10 that were brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit, and use that as evidence for what the Holy Spirit is supposedly doing in and through them. But is that so? It’s very important that we carefully compare. Is this which we see today that which Joel prophesied and what we see being fulfilled in Acts 2? I contend, No. In fact, far from it.

Let’s consider some things that the Holy Spirit does NOT do. First of all, the Holy Spirit was not given to establish a ministry for Himself. His purpose was not to shine the spotlight upon Himself or exalt Himself. Make no mistake: the Holy Spirit is God. He is a part of the Godhead or trinity, if you want to use that descriptive term. Therefore, He is worthy of our respect and our praise. But the Holy Spirit’s mission to earth was not to come and exalt Himself or to focus everyone upon Himself; His mission to earth was to focus men upon Jesus. More specifically, the salvation that Jesus brought to earth in the gospel.

John 16:14 “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

The Holy Spirit was the power and influence by whom the gospel would be preached, pointing men to Jesus. When a man claims to have a ministry or a message that he attributes to the Holy Spirit, and he claims that the Holy Spirit is allegedly doing something to or through him and that becomes the focus of his ministry, you can immediately know that that is not what Joel nor Jesus was pointing to.

The point of miracles was not the miracles themselves. The point of miracles was not merely the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. The point of miracles, which were performed by the power of the Holy Spirit, was to confirm that the messenger was speaking the message of truth and salvation. Even Jesus did not perform miracles merely to make people well or whole again. The miracle wasn’t the point. That is not to say that Jesus did not have compassion upon those for whom He worked the miracles—certainly He did. But the overarching purpose of every miracle was to prove that He was the Christ.

John 20:30-31 “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

Then, of the apostles of Christ, the Hebrew writer said this:

Hebrews 2:3-4 “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”

You see, the signs and wonders given were for the purpose of confirming the message the apostles were given by the Holy Spirit to preach. When Paul wrote to the troubled church at Corinth and rebuked them for their misuse and misunderstanding of miraculous gifts, he said this:

1 Corinthians 14:22 “Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not:”

They were a sign. Miracles were merely meant to be signs to those who would believe evidence that the message they were hearing was truly from the Lord.

So, do men today possess that same power? That’s a very good question. Let’s look at a passage in Hebrews again.

Hebrews 2:4 “God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?”

The works of the Holy Spirit were to bear them witness. Why did they need that witness? Because they claimed to be speaking as God was inspiring them to speak. Anyone could make the claim that God was leading them to say something, but the gifts of the Holy Spirit bore witness to the fact that they indeed were speaking on behalf of the Lord. Today, people claim that the Holy Spirit speaks through them, but if that be the case, as goes the claim, so should go the demonstration. If a person is going to claim that the Holy Spirit has spoken through him, he should have the power to work a miracle in order to prove it because that was the purpose of miracles within the apostles in the early church.

Not only that, but these gifts were only imparted by the apostles laying hands on the recipient.

Acts 8:18 “And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,”

No one else had that power, otherwise they wouldn’t have had to send for apostles to come down there to Samaria and lay hands on these new converts. Nobody had that power except for the apostles of Jesus. The apostles of Christ are no longer with us, so who has the ability to impart that power by the laying on of hands? The Bible only attributes that power to the apostles.

Miracles not only bore witness to the authority of the apostles and the veracity of their message, but they also extended their ministry. What I mean by that is, as the gospel was preached and churches were established, the apostles would lay hands on some in those places and impart the gifts that they would need to be able to edify the church since they did not yet have the complete revelation of Christ given unto them. Paul speaks of these miraculous gifts in his letter to the Corinthian church.

1 Corinthians 13:8-12 “Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues (speaking of the miraculous ability to speak in other languages which they had never studied), they shall cease; whether there be knowledge (speaking of knowledge that is divinely imparted), it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part (The church at that time only had what revelation had thus far been given; they didn’t have all of it). But when that which is perfect (meaning complete) is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

These supernatural gifts that we read about in Acts 2 and that we then see proliferated through the early church by the laying on of the apostles’ hands served a purpose that was unique to that time, when the revelation of Jesus Christ was in the process of being first made known and written down and thus preserved for the church of all ages to come, and now that that which is perfect is come, those things that are in part shall be done away. They have been done away.

The complete revelation now gives us all that we need, to know the mind of Christ. So, the powers of the Holy Spirit originally poured out upon the apostles on the Day of Pentecost and then given to Christians by the laying on of those apostles’ hands confirmed the revelation in the process of being given. Therefore, when men today promote themselves as healers and miracle workers who are sent out to take away your sicknesses and other problems in life, and they claim they are ‘Holy Ghost ministries’ using Him to supposedly take away people’s debts or promise prosperity to people, you need to understand that they are misusing the name of the Holy Spirit and you can know that this is not that.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit does not guide men apart from the revelation that He already gave. There should be a red flag when anybody claims to you that the Holy Spirit has led them into something that they have not read and studied in God’s word.

Jude 3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” 

Why did he say that? Why was that such an urgent message to them? Look at verse 4.

Jude 4 “For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

These false teachers of false doctrines who were trying to lead them away from the faith that had been given to them by the apostles. They were trying to bring something new and strange to them, and Jude told them to contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. I’m told that the original language is better translated once for all or once for all time delivered unto the saints. Today, we see many who claim to be led by the Spirit. They attribute feelings, hunches, intuitions, dreams, visions and voices to the supposed leading or prompting of the Holy Spirit. But Jude precludes any kind of revelations beyond what was originally revealed in the New Testament.

Some say yes, but the Holy Spirit never leads me to do anything that would contradict the word of God. How do you know? Well, I test it by the Bible and if it’s against the Bible, then the Holy Spirit didn’t lead me to say it or do it or preach it. Well, if that’s the case, why does one need a miraculous revelation or leading from the Holy Spirit? Why not just resolve to follow the Bible which the Holy Spirit already gave us?

Some people claim that we need the Holy Spirit’s direct and miraculous intervention in order to interpret and understand the scriptures. But did the Holy Spirit really fail to make it intelligible when He originally gave it? What makes the Bible confusing and hard to understand for many is NOT an absence of the Holy Spirit, but a willing blindness to what He has already said. Paul told the church at Thessalonica that people are deluded because they don’t love the truth, that they otherwise might be saved. It’s a heart problem that prevents them from understanding the Bible, and not a revelation problem.

Friend, the fact is that everything the Holy Spirit has said to do by way of teaching, guiding and instructing the Christian can also be said of the gospel or the word of the New Testament, which the Holy Spirit gave. Just take out a piece of paper and make a list. What does the Bible say that the Holy Spirit does, so far as instructing, leading, guiding or teaching the Christian? Or leading the sinner to salvation, which necessitates hearing the gospel and obeying it? I propose that everything you can write down that He reveals or does to a person concerning their salvation, their sanctification can also be said of the gospel that the Holy Spirit gave. When one claims some revelation, teaching or practice based on what the Holy Spirit allegedly led him/her to say or do, you can know that this is not that which we read about in the book of Acts.

Finally, the Holy Spirit does not cause people to lose control of themselves. That’s not what Joel was referring to. We hear phrases today like slain in the Spirit, where a preacher will lay hands on a person or perhaps breathe on them and the person then falls to the ground and rolls around, or sometimes will run through the building jumping pews or behaving erratically, claiming they are under the control or influence of the Holy Spirit. My friend, the Holy Spirit never caused anyone to do anything of the sort. There is not a single word in the New Testament of the Holy Spirit giving people convulsions or making them lose control or act in an emotional or wild manner. You never read of the Holy Spirit making members of the early church cry, laugh or exhibit any other kind of emotion as evidence of a feeling or spiritual influence. In fact, when Paul regulated the use of miraculous or spiritual gifts in the church at Corinth, he commanded that all things be done decently and in order (I Corinthians 14:40). Those words in the Greek mean gracefully, with decorum, with regular order and so forth. When one spoke in tongues, it was to be interpreted so it could be understood. The church was to be edified from the use of these gifts. It’s a shame when people attribute wild and emotionally driven behavior that even violates the order and decorum that Paul demanded in the church’s assembly to the Holy Spirit.

If we want to honor the Holy Spirit, let us keep, believe and obey what He has told us to do in the word of God.

 

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There is coming a day of judgment. A day when all people who have ever lived will pass before the Lord Jesus Christ in review. If we can believe one word in the Bible, we must believe that, because the Bible is replete with statement after statement that judgment day is coming. In that day, every thought, word and deed will be weighed against the standard of God’s holy word. The scriptures picture it much like a trial and sentencing. In Revelation 20:11, the Spirit of God lifts back the veil of time and eternity and allows John to see an incredible event.

Revelation 20:11-15 “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 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.”

Here, John pictures a court: a bar of judgment, an impartial judge, a defendant and a mountain of evidence used to examine the case. The verdict is irrevocable and it is gravely serious, because those who do not pass this exam are not sent to prison or placed on probation; they are sent to eternal torment. A frightening picture for the person who is outside of Jesus Christ today.

But on another occasion, Jesus mentions something else that will be at the judgment on that day: witnesses, called to testify against the unrighteous.

The Bible is clear that a judgment day is coming, and neither you nor I can avoid it. No one will bypass the judgment seat of Christ. We are warned throughout the scriptures to carefully consider our words, our choices, our deeds, even our thoughts and attitudes, because they each and every one will be weighed when we stand before the Lord to be judged. Consider these passages:

Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

Romans 14:10-12 “…for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

Revelation 20:12 “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

Ecclesiastes 12:14 “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Matthew 12:36 “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”

Each of these passages should make us stop and seriously consider our lives. There is not a person listening today who will not be present when Jesus, the righteous judge is seated, the books are opened and the examination of all examinations begins. One by one, we will take our places before the judgment bar of Christ and answer for the lives we have lived. We will answer for what we believed, for whether or not we obeyed the Lord. Our cases will not be adjudicated based upon our own opinions, or by popular opinion. We will not be judged by the Constitution or the laws of the United States or any other nation, or by the ruling of the Supreme Court. We won’t be subject to the whims of the judge on that particular day, but we’ll be measured by His fixed, absolute and eternal standard. John said that the books were opened, and perhaps these books refer to many things, such as the book of nature, which judges us.

Romans 1:20 “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” 

Perhaps he is also referring to the book of conscience.

Romans 2:15 “Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;” 

But he is most certainly referring to the inspired books of the New Testament.

John 12:48 “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

Romans 2:16 “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”

The book of life will also be opened, containing the names of those who obeyed Christ and were washed in His blood.

Luke 10:20 “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” 

Those not found written in that book will be cast into hell.

Revelation 20:15 “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

There really won’t be anything the wicked and the unprepared can say in their defense on that day, though they may try. You recall that Jesus pictured the judgment day on one occasion by saying that some would remonstrate the verdict (Matthew 25:31-46). But though they argued, they were cast into outer darkness and they were lost.

Perhaps many of us will attempt to make excuses for our poor decisions or our lack of preparation, or have some explanation or rationalization for our sinful living. Many perhaps will plead ignorance. But all of these things will not prevail to change the verdict.

I want you to consider with me for a few moments another picture that Jesus drew of the judgment day in Matthew 12, involving witnesses at the judgment. The scribes and Pharisees had asked Jesus to perform a sign or miracle to prove that He was Christ. He refused on that occasion—not because He was averse or unable to perform a miracle, but because He knew their hearts, and He knew that they wouldn’t accept a sign even if they had seen one. He knew that because of their blindness and their obstinacy. They wouldn’t even accept the greatest sign that was to come, and that was His resurrection from the dead. So, He warns them.

Matthew 12:39-42 “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.”

Jesus says the witnesses will be summoned in the judgment against these stiffnecked, ungodly, unbelieving people. These people were implying, you see, that they couldn’t believe without a sign. That was their excuse. Perhaps they would believe if Jesus would perform a miracle. But they had no excuse because they rejected the signs that had and would be given, and Jesus knew that.

That makes me think of the many excuses we hear from people today as to why they live in sin and refuse to obey the truth. Why they fail to be saved. In fact, many believe that their excuse allows them to be saved despite the wrong in their lives. But, according to Jesus, the righteous judge, the case is sealed. It will be sealed by witnesses that will rise up against them.

First of all, Jesus shows that those who reject the preaching of the gospel will be condemned by righteous witnesses.

Matthew 12:40-41 “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” 

Without rehearsing the story that I suppose many of us have heard all of our lives, Jonah refused to go to Nineveh and preach to them, and he got into trouble with the Lord for that. He boarded a ship, trying to run away from the Lord, but God prepared a great fish and a storm came up and the men of the ship threw Jonah overboard and the fish swallowed him. He spent three days and nights in the belly of that great fish until God finally caused it to vomit him out upon the shore, and Jonah resolved that he would do the will of the Lord and preach to wicked Nineveh, to make a long story short.

Jesus said that that pointed forward, or prefigured Jesus Christ. The fact that, just as Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of the fish, so Jesus would spend three days and nights in the heart of the earth; that is, in the grave. Then, the greatest miracle of all time would take place, and it is the lynchpin of Christianity. It is the great truth claim of the Christian message, and that is that Jesus broke the surly bonds of death and hell and the grave, and came forth resurrected. He was then seen by hundreds of witnesses after His resurrection, and on the Day of Pentecost, the apostles, who were eyewitnesses of His resurrection, would testify to the world that He was indeed raised, and therefore indisputably and undeniably, the Son of God and Lord and Christ! Some, on that day, would believe in Jesus and render obedience to Christ and the gospel and be saved.

But the Jewish nation as a whole would still reject Jesus. These very religious leaders who were so set against Jesus and accused Him of blasphemy, even in the face of the resurrection would not accept the fact that He was the Son of God. That He IS King of kings and Lord of lords. Therefore, Jesus said that Nineveh repented when Jonah went and preached to them after the great miracle that occurred, but they themselves wouldn’t even believe the preaching of the gospel after it was confirmed by the greatest miracle of all time. He said that those people of Nineveh would rise and condemn those who reject the gospel in the day of judgment.

Then, there are those who are too busy for the church. They are too unconcerned about Christ. Those who squander the opportunities they have to learn the truth and prepare for eternity. Some won’t show much interest in the Bible because they don’t immediately understand all of it. Friend, it’s not the parts we DON’T understand that concern me, as much as the parts that we DO. You see, when we do what we understand is right, it becomes easier to unravel and do the rest. Some are too caught up in carnal and worldly matters to truly investigate the truth claims of the Bible and give them a fair and sincere hearing. Jesus spoke of them this way:

Luke 14:16-20 “Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”

Well, what about those who are so indifferent to the Bible? So indifferent about their souls? So indifferent about the great invitation that has been extended to them? Look again at what Jesus said in Matthew 12.

Matthew 12:42 “The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.”

The people to whom Jesus was speaking revered Solomon. They looked back upon him as a REAL king. They longed for Israel to be as it was in the days of Solomon. They acknowledged the great wisdom and power and might and kingship of Solomon, but they cared nothing about the truth of Jesus. Jesus told them that a greater than Solomon is here.

There are people today who are moved by what the President says, or what a famous actor in Hollywood says. They care very much about how the Supreme Court rules. But they couldn’t care less about what Jesus and His apostles said. But this busy, powerful, mighty woman of old recognized the wisdom of Solomon, Jesus says, and she went a great distance to great trouble and effort to eagerly sit at the feet of Solomon and learn from him. Is truth and salvation important enough to you to put everything else in your life below the privilege and opportunity of sitting at the feet of Jesus and learning of Him and the life He wants you to lead? To consider your soul and where you’ll spend eternity—not a few years upon this earth, but eternity in heaven or in hell? Jesus said that she will testify against those who undervalue or even reject the teachings of Christ.

Then there are those who say perhaps I’m wrong, but it’s because I’ve been misled, and if someone misled me, then they will answer for that. Have you met people who have comforted themselves with such a thought? I have. I wonder about the noble Bereans we read about.

Acts 17:11 “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

I wonder if they’ll be called to testify against those who are willingly ignorant and those who are spiritually and theologically lazy in the day of judgment. No man can really plead ignorance to Jesus in that day because we have been given the inspired scriptures to read, study and apply and compare, which are profitable to teach, reprove, correct and instruct us in all the ways of righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

What about those who say that they live a morally clean life? They are respectable people, kind to their neighbors and love the people around them. What of those who take refuge in their own goodness and virtue and morality? Surely they won’t be lost. Surely God won’t condemn me. Surely Jesus won’t send me to hell because I live what most people around me would consider a good life. I wonder if Cornelius will be called up to testify against them and condemn them at the judgment?

Acts 10:1-2 “There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.”

He was a devout man, he feared God, he gave much to the poor and prayed always. But he wasn’t saved until he obeyed the gospel of Christ (Acts 10-11). Perhaps he will rise in the judgment and condemn many who make excuse—not for what they DID, but for what they DIDN’T do; not for what they WERE, but for what they WEREN’T.

Then I think of many I have personally known through the years in the kingdom of the Lord. I think of many devoted Christians who sacrificed, toiled, prayed, worked, cared, evangelized, served, and many of them despite great obstacles and hindrances, put the kingdom of God first in their lives and served the Lord faithfully. You say I’d like to visit that church you talk about. I’m a Christian and I know I should be in a congregation where they faithfully meet and worship God, but it’s too far…You don’t understand that I’m busy…I don’t really feel well. I have a headache today…Gas is expensive, you know…and on and on. I personally know people who, this very day, will get into a vehicle and drive two hours or more to be in an assembly of the saints, where they know they can worship God in spirit and in truth. And they do it every Sunday. Without fail. Will they perhaps rise in the judgment and condemn those who refuse to seek the Lord and His kingdom first?

Friend, the judgment is looming for all of us. That is the point. It is an urgent matter with eternal implications. Witnesses at the judgment. For some of us, that should be a frightening thought. Have you obeyed the gospel? Have you thus far failed to repent of your sins, confess your faith in Christ and be baptized in water for the remission of your sins, being then added to the Lord’s body?

Are you a member of the church that you read about in the Bible? Are you a faithful part of a local congregation that worships and operates according to the scriptures? Are you doing your part? Are you faithful within the church, serving Jesus every day?

Tillit S. Teddlie was a prolific and a great songwriter among the churches of Christ throughout the 20^th century. Many, many years ago, it is said that he was in a town in west Texas where a well-publicized criminal trial was wrapping up. A man was convicted of capital murder and it came the day for him to be sentenced. The town turned out and packed that old courtroom to hear the judge pass down sentence. Bro. Teddlie was curious. He had never seen such a proceeding, so he wanted to go and see what it was like. He said that the courtroom was packed with a crowd of people who were quietly waiting to see what the judge would decide. To see the sentence handed down. A hush fell over the courtroom and he said as the condemned man stood, the judge said these chilling words: “I hereby sentence you to death.” There was something about hearing those words that sent a chill over bro. Teddlie, prompting him to go away and write a song that has been sung for nearly a century now.

Someday you’ll stand at the bar on high, Someday your record you’ll see.

            Someday you’ll answer the question of life; What will your answer be?

            Sadly you’ll stand if you’re unprepared. Trembling, you’ll fall on your knee.

            Facing the sentence of life or of death; What will that sentence be?

            Now is the time to prepare, my friend. Make your soul spotless and free.

            Washed in the blood of the Crucified One. He will your answer be.

            What will it be? What will it be? Where will you spend your eternity?

            What will it be? O, what will it be? What will your answer be?   

I want to challenge you today. Give that question some very serious consideration. What will your answer be when you stand before the righteous judge, the Lord Jesus Christ? If judgment were today, what would your answer be and what witnesses could stand and testify against you in the great court of eternity? It very well could be today. If you were to leave this world unexpectedly through death, the judgment awaits you. There is no putting it off, there is no preparing at another time. Judgment day, for all practical purposes, will have arrived.

I hope you’ll make no delay in preparing to meet the Lord. If you’ve not obeyed the gospel, we want to help you do that. We want to help you find the answers from God’s word as to what you should do, how you should be living and how you should prepare, to be robed and ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the great day of judgment. Reach out to us today. 

©2016 BibleWay Media. All rights reserved. BibleWay Media grants permission to copy this material for personal use. Permission is also granted to distribute this transcript as long as it is reproduced in its entirety, used solely for its original purpose of spreading the gospel, and attribution is given to the author and Let the Bible Speak.

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It’s a great privilege for me to be able to study the word of God with you for a few minutes today. We’ll continue our look at the ancient Passover and its fulfillment today in the kingdom of the Lord. We’ve been comparing the Passover with its paschal lamb to the death of Jesus on Calvary and the Lord’s Supper, which commemorates His death. Jesus revealed the common link between these two respective ordinances–one given to the Jews of old, and the other given to the church today–when He observed the last Passover with His disciples and at that time instituted the sacred feast for new covenant believers.

Luke 22:15-20 “And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”

We left off our study the last time talking about the rich symbolism contained in the elements of the Passover and in the design of the Lord’s Supper. How the Lord set both tables: not leaving it up to the Jews of old to observe the Passover in any way they saw fit; neither leaving it up to the church today to observe the Lord’s Supper any way we may choose. Both were perpetuated by a pattern originally given. We’ll continue this line of thought in today’s study.

The Passover which enabled the Jews to leave Egypt, become a nation and go on to inherit the land of promise, was perhaps the most powerful and central event in their history. It clearly pointed ahead in time to Christ Jesus, our Passover lamb, whose blood saved us from death and destruction, and empowers us to be saved and set apart, and gives us the hope of eternal life. The Passover meal was ordained by God for the Jews to keep down through the years, throughout their generations as a nation. So every time they slew a paschal lamb at the beginning of each new year, they remembered how God had brought them out of Egypt, given birth to them as a nation, set them toward the land of Canaan, thus initiating the fulfillment of the great promise He had made to their father, Abraham. They were to observe this every year so long as they were a nation. They were to do so according to the strict pattern that God gave to Moses and Aaron, according to Exodus 12. An unblemished male lamb was to be chosen, and on the evening of the 14^th day that lamb was to be killed. Its blood was to be spread on the upper and side doorposts of each house—not the roof, not the walls, but the doorposts. The family was to gather inside the house where they would together consume the lamb with bitter herbs. There was to be nothing left that wasn’t burned with fire. There was to be one lamb per house—not two, not three, not however many they thought the circumstance called for, but only one.

Keep in mind, my friend, that the pattern always determines the circumstance; the circumstance doesn’t determine or alter the pattern, because back then, if there were not enough in the house to consume a whole lamb, they were to join with their neighbors and share a lamb. If there were too many to share one lamb, then some were to leave and go join with another house and eat the Passover with them. They were to adjust the size of the house to fit one lamb. One lamb allowed per dwelling. God was very particular about that. Why would He be so strict concerning that? Why not two lambs? Why not as many lambs as the gathering perhaps called for? Well, you see, all of this is because of what each aspect of the Passover symbolized to them. If they changed the meal, then they changed the meaning. For example, the lamb had to be unblemished because it was a type or symbol of Jesus Christ, the spotless lamb of God, who would one day take away the sin of the world. The lamb was to slain in the evening of the 14^th day. Why? to picture what would take place when Jesus was crucified in the evening. The lamb could not be divided because it pictured the body of Jesus, who would not have one bone broken in His crucifixion, fulfilling an important prophecy and painting a powerful picture. They were to come together and consume one lamb because their oneness and brotherhood as the family of God was seen in this memorial meal.

So, as each family gathered in each dwelling and the table was set with the things that God had decreed, a beautiful picture was painted before them. If any of these things were changed, that picture was corrupted. It was a perpetual memorial, perpetuated by conforming to a pattern that God had given them for a purpose of symbolizing the crucial facts of their redemption.

Today, we not only want to see the perpetuity, the pattern and the purpose of the Passover, but also the prophecy of it. Look again at what Jesus told His disciples in our text.

Luke 22:15-16 “And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

Underscore that word fulfilled. In other words, that Passover was merely a type, a shadow, a prophecy in practice, if you please, that God was using to point forward to something else. It was not the permanent institution. I know that the word forever is used in the Old Testament concerning the Passover, as well as other things contained within the Mosaic Old Testament code. I realize that. But the word forever does not necessarily mean eternal. If you’ll very carefully study and trace that word and its usage throughout the scripture, you’ll see that it can be a very broad word. It doesn’t necessarily mean as long as time lasts or eternal. It can mean as long as something is appointed or ordained to be done or observed. It can mean throughout a dispensation or era of time and so forth. Here in our text, the word that Jesus used when He said “until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God,” that word fulfilled means to make replete, to satisfy, to finish a period or task; to verify or coincide with a prediction (Strong’s Greek Lexicon, 4137). W.E. Vines says that it means to complete something (Vine’s Expository, p.257). Interestingly, the same Greek word appears in Acts 7:30, where Stephen was preaching about the calling of Moses.

Acts 7:30 “And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.”

In other words, for something to be fulfilled, it means that its course is run and will therefore be no more. When Jesus said that the Passover would be fulfilled in the kingdom, He wasn’t saying that it would continue in the kingdom, rather what it was pointing forward to in the kingdom during the age of the Jewish covenant would then become a reality in Christ and His kingdom. So, to what did the Passover point forward? The death of Jesus, as we’ve already pointed out. The sacrifice of the lamb of God. The Passover’s purpose would now be fulfilled, and like the other shadows and types of the Old Testament, it would be removed. It would fade into history.

We read about and are very thankful for the Passover of the ancient Jews, as it was an instrumental part of God’s plan, purpose and revelation, but it has been fulfilled. The Passover allowed them to be freed from Egypt and their bondage, to become a nation and ultimately produce the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save Jews and Gentiles alike from their sins. We’re thankful for the ancient Passover, but observing the Passover today means nothing to a Christian living under the new covenant. It would serve no purpose to a Christian today.

In recent years, it seems to have become popular for many people who profess to be Christians to observe the Passover. There’s nothing wrong with eating a lamb, if that’s what you want to do. Maybe you’re curious as to what a lamb would have tasted like. There’s nothing wrong with that, but to observe it as a religious feast? Some say it’s merely a way of reliving the experience of the ancient Jews or perhaps other reasons are given. Friend, I don’t need to sacrifice a bull or a goat to understand or appreciate that limited, remedial system under the old law. I don’t need to put myself in the place of an Old Testament priest and re-enact animal sacrifice. I learn about the place in history of those sacrifices through reading the Old Testament scriptures, which are given for our learning (Romans 15:4).

You see, now, I rejoice in the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the unblemished and perfect sacrificial offering for sin. I don’t need to literally burn incense to understand the worship in the ancient Jewish temple, or to learn the lesson gleaned from the deaths of Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10). I’m glad that I don’t live under that law and under those ceremonies and requirements. Rather, I rejoice that we, as priests unto God, can offer our prayers and praise to the throne of God as a sweet-smelling savor through Jesus Christ.

In the same way, I don’t need to try to observe the Passover like the Jews of old in order to understand its significance in history. In fact, I don’t think it’s any more appropriate for Christians to do that than it is to go back and try to observe any of the other days, feasts, festivals or ceremonies of the old covenant. The apostle Paul sternly rebuked the mixing of Jewish law with the gospel throughout the book of Galatians.

Galatians 4:10-11 “Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.”

Paul was talking about the feasts, festivals and so on of that former dispensation, and I would echo his words as well. We leave all of that behind because we now enjoy the reality in Christ. I am thankful today that Christ Jesus is MY Passover. I don’t observe a feast once a year looking FORWARD to Him one day coming and dying for my sins. I come together with Christians in the fulfillment of the Passover meal every Lord’s Day to look BACK upon the death of Jesus, which has already taken place, you see.

1 Corinthians 5:7 “..For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”

Christians should be satisfied to observe that which Jesus now ordains in His kingdom instead of trying to go back and partake of that which was inferior and merely pointed forward to something that is now better than what they had. The Passover was prophetic, and now, that which it prophesied of, is here and with us. Those who are saved and faithful in Christ Jesus are privileged to gather with Him around His table in the local assembly of His church every first day of the week (Acts 2:42, Acts 20:7) to remember and rejoice in the benefits of His death upon the cross of Calvary.

Remember, the Passover pointed forward to the cross, the Lord’s Supper points backward to the cross, and just as the symbols of the Passover had sacred significance to the ancient Jew who looked for a Messiah to come, so the sacred symbols of the Lord’s Supper are each significant to every believer who scripturally and faithfully observes it each Lord’s Day today.

Let’s think about that in our remaining moments. The cross of Jesus Christ is, of course, the focal point of the Christian faith. The communion is all about the cross and what took place there.

1 Corinthians 2:2 “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

Understanding what happened at Calvary is not only the basis of salvation; it’s also the basis for how we partake of the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper pictures Christ’s death, so to properly and rightly observe it, we need to understand what happened in His death. There are three things that took place when Jesus was crucified and died upon the cross:

1. His body was given as a sacrifice.
2. His blood was shed for sin.
3. A new covenant was ratified.

All three of those things are pictured in the Lord’s Supper if it is scripturally observed. Not two, but all three. Read carefully the parallel accounts of the institution of the Lord’s Supper (Matthew 26 , Mark 14, Luke 22 and the revelation given to Paul by the Lord of that night in I Corinthians 11) and you’ll see that Jesus correspondingly made three definitive statements when He instituted the supper:

1. What happened at Calvary? His body was sacrificed. Jesus, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Just as the paschal lamb was sacrificed, so the body of Jesus was made a sacrifice.

Luke 22:19 “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.”

The Greek word for bread is artos and it means a loaf. This loaf of unleavened bread that Jesus took and shared with them, He said it was His body. He is actually saying My body is given as a sacrifice for you. We memorialize or remember that when we each partake of that one, undivided loaf of unleavened bread. The symbolism is rich.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17 “…The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”

You see, individual wafers and multiple loaves or something other than a loaf of unleavened bread shared by a congregation does not properly represent the body of Jesus. It corrupts the picture. That’s not how Jesus designed the memorial.

2. What happened at Calvary? His blood was shed in His death. That is so fundamental, so essential.

Hebrews 9:22 “…and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

Hebrews 10:4 “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”

Jesus’ blood washed away our sins.

3. By the shedding of His blood, He ratified the new covenant. He made effective or brought into force a new contract, a new agreement between God and man. The old covenant passed away and the new was made of force by the shedding of the blood of Jesus. Thus, you have the third definitive statement of Jesus:

Luke 22:20 “Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”

Three statements: This bread is my body, this is my blood (speaking of the fruit of the vine), and this cup is the new testament in my blood. Three statements, three objects, three inseparable things pictured. Jesus DIDN’T say this cup is my blood of the new testament. Nor did He say this is the new testament in my blood. He said this cup is the new testament (or new covenant) in my blood and He said this is my blood of the new testament. Why aren’t they just the same statement made in different ways? Because they’re not talking about the same things. The new testament is NOT the blood and the blood is NOT the new testament. One is an agreement between God and man; the other is the substance that made that agreement of force. Both are necessary.

There are many, many accounts in the life of Jesus and statements that the Lord made that we must be careful to compare and parallel the synoptic gospels in order to get the full picture. Each writer emphasized something that the other writers may not have even mentioned. We see that all throughout the miracles of Jesus and the teachings of Jesus. When we bring the gospel accounts together and parallel them, it’s only then that we get the complete picture. This is why we have three synoptic gospels plus the gospel of John canonized in our Bibles.

When you parallel all of the accounts of the Lord’s Supper, it becomes clear that three sacred, essential and powerful things are portrayed in the design of the communion: His body, His blood and the new covenant. Just as there are three things represented, there were three things that the scriptures carefully mention that Jesus took and used as He instituted the Lord’s Supper, to remind us of those three things involved in our redemption at Calvary: this bread is my body, this cup is the new testament and this (speaking of the fruit of the vine) is my blood of the new testament. He commanded them to share in His blood, shed for our sins to ratify the new covenant.

But men have changed the supper. Men have told us that the example that Jesus gave was not really an example, that it was incidental. But not when Jesus attached spiritual significance to the things He used when He established His own memorial to remember His death. One lamb per Jewish household, one undivided lamb to represent the Lord Jesus and His unbroken bones, His undivided body.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17 “he cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”

It’s a beautiful picture, if we observe the Lord’s Supper according to the pattern that the Lord Jesus gave.

©2016 BibleWay Media. All rights reserved. BibleWay Media grants permission to copy this material for personal use. Permission is also granted to distribute this transcript as long as it is reproduced in its entirety, used solely for its original purpose of spreading the gospel, and attribution is given to the author and Let the Bible Speak.

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What is one of the most well-known and beloved passages of scripture in the Bible today? It used to be John 3:16, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore. There is a passage that more people today can quote than perhaps any other. In fact, many of the irreligious always seem to have this passage on the tips of their tongues in case they ever become involved in a discussion over the moral or doctrinal controversies of our time. I’m talking about the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Not only do many people know this passage by heart, but it is also one of the few scriptures they believe can and should be taken literally, and applied dogmatically.

Matthew 7:1-5 “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

It seems as though Jesus is telling us to mind our own business, keep our thoughts to ourselves, and don’t dare speak disapprovingly of someone else’s choices, beliefs or lifestyle. But is that really what Jesus is saying? Is it wrong to judge the beliefs and behavior or other people, because if you speak up and speak out and say that something is wrong or sinful, someone will always say, But Jesus said not to judge! But that is not what this verse is saying. Today, we’re going to turn to the word of God for the answer to the question: Is it wrong to judge others?

The new religion in our world today is the religion of tolerance. At least, that is the claim. In fact, the only sin that we’re really allowed to call a sin today is the act of calling something a sin. Tolerance is actually not a bad thing, but a good thing. What is tolerance? I’m afraid we have a false concept of it today. The dictionary definition is to recognize and respect other’s beliefs and practices without sharing them; to bear up or put up with someone or something not liked.

Well, I’m glad that we’re not forced to believe or renounce something, aren’t you? I’m glad that someone else cannot come along and forcibly constrain me to believe and practice something against my will. I’m glad I have that freedom, and I’m glad that you have that freedom, too, regardless of what you do or don’t believe. I’m thankful that we don’t live in a theocracy. I’m thankful that the government doesn’t tell us what we must believe, what we can and cannot preach, or how we must or must not worship. I’m glad that that’s left up to my conscience to dictate in accordance with what I believe the word of God to teach.

Now, I believe that there is one way to heaven. I believe that the Bible teaches that. I believe that there is one truth to be believed, and that’s what is contained in this holy book, the Bible. Anything contrary to that is wrong. Now, that’s what I believe, and I don’t mind anyone knowing that’s what I believe. But now, if you don’t believe that, you certainly have the civil freedom to reject that. You may disagree, and I may believe that you’re in error and you may believe that I am wrong. That doesn’t mean that both of us are right, and it also doesn’t mean that I would deny you the civil and legal freedom to believe what you choose to believe. You see, that’s tolerance. We can live in a civilized society together despite our disagreements.

But, today, we have embraced a NEW form of tolerance that says, You can’t say I’m wrong. You can’t say that something is wrong because you disagree with it. You can’t say or even believe, with any amount of conviction, that any given lifestyle is sinful, because that, we’re told, is being intolerant. Well, is that what Jesus was teaching when He said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.?” Is it hateful and Pharisaic to adjudicate and judge spiritual and moral issues? It would seem that that is what Jesus was saying, IF we simply take this verse of the chapter at face value. But what He said extends far beyond the first verse. It was part of a larger context.

Three basic rules of correct Bible interpretation are as follows:

1. Understand the meaning of the words originally used. Understand what the words chosen by the speakers in the Bible and understand what those who wrote their words down meant.
2. Examine the surrounding context.
3. The rule of harmony. That is, all truths run in parallel lines, and if one supposed truth contradicts another supposed truth, then that tells us that at least one of these supposed truths is NOT the truth. To put it another way, if I interpret a verse of scripture in a way that contradicts what other verses say, then I have misinterpreted the scriptures, because the truth does not contradict itself.

Well, let’s apply those three rules here. First of all, what does the word judge mean, when Jesus used it? The word that Jesus used that is translated judge was the Greek word krino. Now, that word has various shades of meaning and it’s used in different contexts throughout the New Testament. Overall, it simply means to separate or select or determine. But, it has various applications. For example, it can mean to condemn someone, such as when Jesus used it in this passage.

John 12:48 “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

The word is also used that way in Acts 13:27 and Romans 2:27. But it can also mean to govern or administrate. Jesus used the word this way in this passage:

Matthew 19:28 “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

Then again, the word judge can simply mean to form an opinion or analyze a matter. For example, in this passage, when Jesus told the parable of the two debtors.

Luke 7:40-43 “And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.”

So, the basic definition of the word is the same but it can be used in different ways. Now, in this case (Luke 7), Jesus called upon Simon to make a judgment, then He commended him for making the right judgment. That alone should tell us that it is not always wrong to judge, depending on how the word is used and the circumstance surrounding the judgment.

Secondly, in order to understand what Jesus was saying in our text passage (Matthew 7), we have to look at the context, which we will do in just a moment. Thirdly, if we properly understand Jesus’ prohibition on judging, it cannot contradict other things that Jesus and His apostles said about judging; we have to harmonize all of these passages.

Here is where many people get off track. They get all mixed up about what Jesus was saying in Matthew 7. Notice carefully: Jesus could not have been saying that it is wrong for Christians to judge the behavior and beliefs of other people because besides this one verse where Jesus forbids one kind of judging, we can read numerous passages where the Bible actually commands Christians to judge in other ways. You don’t have to read very far—just five verses down.

Matthew 7:6 “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

Wouldn’t that require some kind of judgment or discernment? Wouldn’t we have to look at the other person, and by their words or their behavior, make some kind of evaluation or spiritual determination about them? But, the post-modernist in effect says that there is no such thing as a dog. There is no such thing as a hog, because we all supposedly have a right to our own version of truth. So there would be no such thing as a dog or swine, as Jesus refers to them. Unless, of course, it is a person who denies the tenets of post-modernism; then they might be worse than a pig or a dog.

Read on just a little farther.

Matthew 7:15-16 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”

Let’s think about that. How could we ever identify and beware of a false prophet, if we are never to judge the beliefs and conduct of another person? You see, it just doesn’t make any sense. The apostle John would later warn in this way:

1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

We could never do what the Bible commands us to do if Jesus was saying in Mathew 7:1 that it is wrong to distinguish truth from error and righteousness from sin.

In even plainer language, the apostle Paul rebuked the worldly church at Corinth because they were harboring a man in their congregation who was guilty of fornication, and not just fornication–this man was actually living in an incestuous type of relationship. He had his father’s wife, the Bible says. Here’s a man who is openly living in sin, and the church is essentially turning a blind eye, acting as though nothing was wrong. They were just overlooking this man’s sin. That’s the way most people today believe that a church should operate. They believe it’s terrible that any church would call a person a sinner. They think that it’s reprehensible that any church would refuse fellowship to someone because of their sinful lifestyle. Haven’t you heard people say, But, we’re ALL sinners. Or, Who are WE to judge someone else? Or, they’ll shake their finger and say, Ah, ah, Jesus said, “Judge not.” I dare say there are many people who rarely, if ever, open a Bible and read it, but who can readily quote Matthew 7:1, and who are not even aware that this teaching in I Corinthians 5 is even in the Bible. Paul told the church how to deal with this man who was living in this illicit lifestyle. He was unrepentant; he refused to give up his sin. Look what Paul told them.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.”

Without refers to someone not in the kingdom, but out in the world; within refers to someone in the kingdom, the church. Paul tells them to put that person away from the church. This is a pretty pointed passage of scripture. Paul is talking about accountability and the exercise of church discipline. He is saying that the people of the world are already lost, because they’re outside of Christ. So, it’s not up to the church to pass some kind of judgment on them; they’re already judged by the fact that they’re outside of Christ. But, the church had a responsibility toward this man, for his sake AND for theirs. Paul says that they were to withdraw from him. They were to refuse to eat with him until he repented of his sin. He said that it was up to the church to judge this man’s behavior. It was up to the church to take corrective action, and it was not an option that the church could exercise, but it was a process that Paul commanded them to exercise. It was to be done in order to try to save this man from his error and wickedness, while at the same time protecting the church from his weakening, leavening influence. Paul tells them to pass judgment upon this man.

Now, if Jesus was condemning ALL forms of judgment in our text, then what do we do with 1 Corinthians 5? What do we say about Paul’s command to preachers in this passage:

2 Timothy 4:2 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

Paul said that we are to reprove sin and rebuke sin. Well, how could we do that if we don’t discern between good and evil? How could we do that if we did not in some manner of speaking pass some form of judgment?

You see, Matthew 7:1 has been used as a refuge for all kinds of sin, immorality and digression from the truth in an attempt to keep preachers and others from condemning error. But that simply CANNOT be what Jesus was saying if the Bible is true. And if a person says the Bible is NOT true, then what are they doing quoting Matthew 7:1 anyway? What makes that verse true and everything else false?

There IS such a thing as righteous judgment. That’s the difference. Jesus told the Jews this, about judging:

John 7:24 “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

Here, Jesus commands them to judge. Then He tells them to do so according to righteousness. What does that mean? It means to adjudicate the matter using truth, using the word of God. Not my opinion or my philosophy, not make a careless and rash judgment, but to very carefully apply the truth and make a logical and righteous judgment.

When the Bible says that something is wrong, it’s wrong. Not because you or I say it’s wrong; because the Bible says it’s wrong. And the Bible very plainly condemns immorality. The Bible condemns adultery. The Bible condemns fornication. The Bible condemns homosexuality. The Bible condemns stealing, lying, covetousness, idolatry…the Bible describes all of these things as works of the flesh. The Bible does not mince words. The apostle Paul enumerated all of those sins and others.

Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Now, that’s what the Bible says. That’s God’s transcendent and eternal truth. That’s not what I say; that’s what the word of God says. Therefore, when we take the word of God and apply it to a given situation, in essence that’s not our judgment. Rather it’s simply pointing to God’s judgment in the matter. What God has already revealed in His word.

So, what kind of judging was Jesus forbidding in Matthew 7:1? Obviously, some kind of judgment was prohibited. “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” What could He have been talking about? The context plainly shows what kind of judgment He was condemning. Again, an important rule of proper Bible interpretation is to look at the surrounding verses, instead of isolating the passage. So, what did Jesus go on to say in the passage?

Matthew 7:2-5 “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

Clearly, Jesus is talking here about hypocrisy. People who are busy examining and analyzing and looking for the faults in other people. These are hypercritical people with no concern over their own faults. He’s talking about gross hypocrisy at that. He’s not saying that one must be flawless or perfect before he can sincerely warn someone else about their sin; that’s not what He’s saying at all. He’s talking about people who are puffed up with self-righteous pride, who will pick and parse to discern some minute fault in the life of someone else, while they themselves have some glaring sin protruding from their own lives. Jesus is saying that the judgment that you apply to someone else is going to apply to you, so you had best beware.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, said that the disobedient Jews were no better off than the heathen Gentiles. Romans 1 is a lengthy dissertation by Paul, showing the immorality and Godlessness of the Gentiles, the pagans. Anybody with any spiritual sense who reads that passage would recoil at the horrible way Paul describes these people. That’s what the Jews did, as well. They looked down their noses at the Gentiles, considering them as dogs or subhuman. But Paul issued a stinging rebuke to these self-righteous Jews:

Romans 2:3 “And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?”

You see, the Jews did the same thing the Gentiles did; they were guilty of the very same sins. But they didn’t see themselves as sinners, simply because they were Jews. That changed everything in their eyes because they had the blood of Abraham coursing through their veins.

Romans 2:21-22 “Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?”

Now, I want to ask you something: Was Paul saying that there is nothing wrong with stealing? Of course he wasn’t. Was Paul saying, Oh, it’s fine to commit adultery.? No, he wasn’t saying that. Paul condemned adultery. We already noted that in the letter to Corinth, he told those brethren how to deal with the man who was guilty of sexual immorality. Paul is not saying that it’s fine to commit adultery. Was he saying that no one should ever criticize another person for participating in idolatry? No, he wrote to the Corinthians about that as well, and condemned them for trying to eat at the table of the Lord and sit at the table of demons also (I Corinthians 10). He is saying, Make sure you’re not the one who needs to be corrected first.

Friend, it’s not wrong for a Christian to judge. In fact, you wouldn’t be my friend if you saw me on the road to hell, and you didn’t care enough to warn me of where I was headed. That’s the worst kind of hatred that I can think of. If you knew that I was living in such a way, with no regard for God’s truth, in violation of His law, and that I was going to be lost, and you didn’t care enough to warn me about that, you don’t love me. I wouldn’t love you, if I refused to warn you of condemnation. But make sure you’re doing it because you care. Make sure that you’re leading me to heaven, not just pointing the way while you yourself walk the road to hell. That’s what Jesus was telling us in Matthew 7. He was speaking about people, who themselves were on the road to hell while they were pointing to other people, the road to heaven. Jesus says to get yourself on the right road. You lead people to heaven. Get the beam out of your own eye before you go trying to find the little speck that is in their eye.

Don’t judge hypocritically, with an unholy motive, out of pride, self-righteousness or a feeling of self-sufficiency or superiority. Judge righteous judgment. Let the word of God be the standard. Love the souls of men. Desire for the souls of men to be right with God, and to be saved. Judge righteous judgment, and thus, lead your fellow man down the road that leads to eternal life. It’s not wrong to judge; it’s wrong to judge unrighteous, hypocritical judgment. But Jesus told us to be sure that we judge righteously.

Click here to watch this sermon.

What does it take to get to heaven when you die? Who will be allowed inside the pearly gates? What will the Lord say to people on the great Day of Judgment? All of us who believe in heaven want to know the answers to those questions. In fact, people in nearly every culture on earth tend to believe in some type of afterlife, or existence after death. Our desire to understand the meaning and purpose of life is simply not satisfied with a ‘the grave ends all’ philosophy. But, what kind of existence will we have after death? Is heaven real, and is there really a hell? If so, who is going there?

Matthew 25:33-34 “And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:”

Some years ago when several Pennsylvania miners were trapped underground awaiting rescue, one of them who was a young man began to think that he might die, and he started talking to one of the others who was trapped with him, about what would happen when he died. Later, in an interview with Dateline NBC, he said he asked the older man, “Will I go to heaven when I die?” He went on to say that he had never been baptized, and he knew the Bible says that one must be baptized in order to be forgiven of his sins. He said that the older man tried to comfort him by telling him that “all good people go to heaven,” then he added, “No matter what.”

Well, was he telling that young miner the truth? Do ALL good people go to heaven? We would like to think so; actually, I DO believe that all ‘good’ people go to heaven. I’ll explain why in this study.

Dealing with the death of someone we love is always difficult, especially in view of the afterlife, and the prospect of eternal reward or punishment. We tend to comfort ourselves by thinking about the positive traits and virtues in that person’s life. In fact, most of us believe that it’s important for a person to try to be a good person, and I suppose most would also say that there should be some kind of justice and punishment for those who do mean and wicked things to others.

Well, if we believe that there is a hell, we want to believe that it is reserved for the most heinous, mean and morally bankrupt people; villains and wicked men, who abuse and mistreat others. Hell is for people like Mao Zedong and Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, perhaps Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Maybe we reserve a place in the flames for child molesters and murderers, Satanists and, of course, the devil himself. But, really, that’s about it. We can’t conceive or imagine our neighbor going to hell. We can’t grasp the idea of a loved one spending eternity apart from God in hell, regardless of whether a person actually obeyed the gospel and followed Jesus. If the person was nice, had good intentions, was charitable, lived a respectable life as we think of it, or did some virtuous thing in our eyes, then we tend to think, Surely that person will go to heaven. After all, how could a loving God allow a ‘good’ person to be punished forever in hell? So what if they didn’t understand the Bible? So what if they really weren’t a Christian as we define the term? So what if they weren’t a part of the church? I just have to believe that all good people go to heaven, and if God is love, then it can’t be any other way.

It may surprise you to hear a Christian preacher say that yes, it is true: all good people DO go to heaven. I really believe they do. In fact, the righteousness and justice of God demand that all good people go to heaven. Did you ever think about the fact that God Himself wouldn’t be good, if good people did not go to heaven?

Acts 10:34-35 “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.”

Abraham asked God long ago to spare the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, IF righteous people could be found within them. And he reasoned with God like this:

Genesis 18:25 “That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

We need to remember some things about God.

1. God is the lawgiver. It is God who makes the rules. God gives the standard of morality. He alone is the source for goodness and morality. He defines what is good and what is bad. Consequently, if there were no God, what possible basis for right and wrong would we have? It would all be subjective, at best, and man could decide that any kind of behavior—no matter how reprehensible you or I might think it is—is good and acceptable. How do we define good versus evil, if that does not come from outside of us? So, truth is transcendent. God is the source of truth, morality and He is the source and definition of all virtue, by essence of who and what He is.
2. Remember that God is perfect. God cannot sin, He cannot lie, He cannot go against His own word. He would not be God if He did.
3. God is just. Not only can God not refuse to punish sin and still be who He is, but have you stopped to think about the fact that He cannot refuse one who has NOT sinned? He would not be just, fair and righteous if He punished someone who had done nothing wrong.

Therefore, in keeping with the justice and holiness and righteousness of God, I believe that all good people go to heaven. The problem is, who is good? What does it mean to be good? Are you good? Am I good? Are my mother and father good? What about my neighbors—are they good?

In Matthew 19, a young man came running up to Jesus and asked Him this question:

Matthew 19:16 “And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”

Now, we don’t know a great deal about this man, and we can only really speculate as to his motive in asking Jesus this question, but it seems to me that he was honestly impressed with Jesus and was sincerely asking Him about how to go to heaven. I want you to notice that this young man used the word “good’ like we often use the word to refer to people. He calls Jesus “good master,” meaning good teacher. What does he mean by it? Perhaps it was merely a way for him to show respect to Jesus, but I think he was most likely acknowledging the Lord’s moral character, and that he was impressed with Jesus on some count.

Not only does he call the Lord good, but he then goes on to ask what good thing he needs to do to have eternal life. I really believe that this man thought Jesus was a good man, like we think of goodness, like we look at some seemingly virtuous or impressive person, and believing that Jesus understood the will of God, he wanted to know what good deed he could do that would make God accept him and allow him to go to heaven. I think this young man thought as mulititudes of people around us think today: Jesus is good, in the sense that He is morally superior. He was a good man, a good teacher. So, if I just try to be good, then I’ll get to go to heaven. Surely there is some good thing I can do, some good quality that I can possess, maybe if I give enough to charity and am good and kind enough to people who are less fortunate that I am, as long as I am well-intentioned…Surely, if I do some good thing, I can go to heaven.

But, how did Jesus answer him?

Matthew 19:17 “And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”

You see, Jesus wants this young man to understand the meaning of the word “good.” He tells him that only God is good, and He wants this man to know that if he really means what he says, he is acknowledging a great truth about Jesus Christ: that is, not that He is merely an impressive man or that He just possesses some upright and moral qualities, but that by acknowledging that He is good, this man is saying that He is God, because only God is good. If Jesus is truly good, then He is deity because God alone is good.

We’ve given the word “good” a relative meaning. We say that if a person has some commendable moral quality or is kind and caring and giving that he/she is a good person. After all, who would put Mother Teresa in the same category as Jezebel? Who would put someone who went about caring for the poor or the sick in the same category as Charles Manson, regardless of their religion or personal morality? We wouldn’t equate such a person with a wicked person like that! So, we begin to reason that because this person is better than this really wicked person over here, how could that person possibly be lost? That’s how we come to reason that surely all “good people” are going to heaven.

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not trying to say that your neighbor, who minds his own business, pays his taxes, gives to charity and doesn’t harm anybody is the same as Charles Manson or Timothy McVeigh. But, that’s how WE define “good.” Jesus says that it means something else. God looks at goodness in a totally different way, and as God defines “good people,” it is absolutely true that all good people go to heaven. The problem is, where do you find a good person?

There really is no such thing as a good person.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.”

You see, only God is good, and all of us have fallen very short of the mark when measured by God’s goodness and holiness. I cringe to think that there are people—and there are—who claim to believe in God, and even claim to be Christians, who would dare say, “I like God, I love God. But I don’t need His forgiveness because I’m a good person.” No one, no matter how rich, powerful, successful, well-intentioned, benevolent, kind, caring or honest—no one has lived up to the standard of God.

In Romans 1, the apostle Paul painted a dark and ugly picture of the pagan Gentile world, and he showed that they were sinners, separated from God. But, lest the religious Jews stuck out their chests, Paul shows that they were no better off in the second chapter. Then, in chapter three, he draws a powerful and convicting conclusion when he says this of God’s own people by way of the flesh:

Romans 3:9-10 “What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:”

Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”

Every single person who is able to choose between right and wrong has made wrong choices in his/her life, because the Bible says unequivocally and without question, that we are ALL sinners. We have ALL fallen short of the glory of God. It doesn’t matter how nice you are. It doesn’t matter how respectable you think your life may be. It doesn’t matter how much you give to charity or how much you engage in religious activity or how honest you are.

1 John 1:8,10 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us… If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Yes, all good people go to heaven, but there is no such thing as a good person. So, where does that leave us? I’ll tell you where it leaves us: in desperate need of Jesus.

Isaiah 59:1-2 “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Our sins make us worthy of eternal death. That means that every single one of us deserves to be cast into hell because we have sinned against the Lord. Surely you won’t say, “I’ve never sinned.” But maybe you think, My sins aren’t that bad or terrible compared to someone else’s sins. Well, are you sure about that? Well, I’ve never murdered anyone. According to I John 3:15, if you’ve ever hated your brother, you’re a murderer. Well, I don’t cheat on my spouse. Good for you. But Jesus said in Matthew 5:28 that if you’ve ever looked at another person with lust, you’ve committed adultery in your heart. You say, I don’t steal. Do you every covet? Have you ever told a lie? Ever? Have you ever misled or deceived someone? Have you ever been drunk or attending a drinking party? Have you ever used God’s name in vain, or uttered a profanity? Have you always done right by others, in every circumstance, with every person you’ve ever met? Have you every failed to do something that the Bible says we are to do?

Those are all things clearly spelled out in God’s word as sins. They are defined by God’s word as sin.

James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

What are we to conclude from that? That we’re all sinners. We’ve all been sinners. We’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. We’re all in need of redemption and Jesus. Listen: all of your good deeds won’t change that. Your good intentions don’t change that. There is only one way to be accepted by God, and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. ALL OF US are defiled and stained by our sins on our own. But, Jesus died on Calvary to atone for our sins. He shed His blood so that our sins could be forgiven, and we could be justified and washed white. We can only be declared righteous in the eyes of God through the forgiveness of our sins, obtained by obedient faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are no exceptions to that. All good people go to heaven, but the only way God will ever look at me and declare me to be “good” is through and by the redemption that is offered through Jesus Christ and what He did upon Calvary.

Ananias told Saul the following:

Acts 22:16 “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”

Cornelius, of Acts 10, had to do just that, just like Saul of Tarsus. By the way, Saul was a religious man who never violated his conscience. But he did some terrible things, and he was a sinner in the sight of God. Ananias told him he needed to be baptized to wash away his sins, and call on the name of the Lord to be saved. Then we come to the case of Cornelius, in the very next chapter, and he had to do the same thing. However, we’re told that Cornelius was a devout man.

Acts 10:2 “A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.”

Cornelius feared God, he gave alms to the poor, and he prayed always. Most people would call Cornelius a “good” man. I mean, who would say that a man who goes to worship regularly, digs deep in his pockets for the poor and downtrodden, he lives a very humble life, fearing God and trying to obey the Lord, he’s always praying. Most would call him a “good” man. But, what did God say about him? What does the Holy Spirit in His word say about him? That Cornelius was lost, because he was outside of Christ. He had to send for Peter to come and preach the gospel to him and tell him about Jesus. Peter finally said this:

Acts 10:47 “Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?”

He had to believe and obey Christ in order to be saved. There was no exception to that, and there still is no exception to that. Good people go to heaven, but Cornelius—as good as we might like to think he was—was not a good man, because he was outside of Jesus and therefore, in his sins. Saul of Tarsus was not a good man because he was in his sins. You’re not a good person, I’m not a good person, apart from Jesus Christ because we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So, I ask today: are you in Christ Jesus? Because only those who are in Christ are going to heaven. I know that is awfully narrow. I know that excludes a lot of people who we think are good people. But, Jesus said this:

John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

And you only get into Christ through the obedience of faith in the gospel. Very sadly, Paul declared that this is what will happen when Jesus returns:

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that 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;”

What is Paul saying? He is saying that those who have never obeyed the gospel, and thus remain in their sins, are not fit for the presence of the Lord. They can’t live for eternity in the presence of a holy, perfect, righteous and just God. So, he says that in flaming fire, the Lord is going to come and destroy them, and they will be banished from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.

One of the most difficult, seeming dichotomies that we have to grapple with is that of the justice of God and the love of God; the holiness of God as opposed to the grace of God. If we’re not very careful as we look to the scriptures for a picture of what God is like, we will embrace some scriptures and forget all about others, and we will come away with a distorted view of God. Is God love? Absolutely. Is God just? You’d better believe it. But, when we only take one attribute of God and try to make that represent all of God, what we do is take half of the truth and trying to make it all of the truth, and it becomes an untruth.

The fact of the matter is that God IS love. He is love in that He wants the sinner to be saved. He is love in that He provided an atonement for our sins. He is love in that He sent Jesus in His grace and mercy, to die upon the cross so that we could go free from sin. But, God IS also just, in the sense that sin will either be punished through the vicarious sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, OR the sinner will pay for his own sin in death. If we’re not careful, we will allow our emotions and or human reasoning to create a God who doesn’t exist.

Yes, God is holy, He is righteous, and only those made fit for His association will be allowed into heaven, His perfect dwelling. Let me remind you of what Paul said.

Colossians 3:24 “Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.”

If you’ve never been baptized into Christ for the remission of your sins, we’d be so glad to help you do that today, so that you can begin serving the Lord and preparing to live eternally in the presence of a holy God. But you must have your sins washed away. You must be in Christ. You must be in His body. The Bible tells us that He is the savior of the body (Ephesians 5:23). You must serve Him all of your life, if you would ever expect to spend eternity with Him in the great by and by.

All good people go to heaven, but every person is in need of Jesus in order to be good.