Revelation 9:20-21

"The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts."

 The heart of man is desperately wicked even unto the end of the world.  It is a sad reality we must realize that some men and women will die in their sin because of their stubbornness and hardheartedness. These people are seeing but never perceiving, hearing but never understanding lest they turn and be healed.  Goats cannot be turned into sheep anymore than weeds can be wheat, but Christ knows the difference and will sort them out in the last days.

So what is the difference? The elect, upon hearing the truth of Jesus Christ, will love him for they know the voice of their master intuitively.  However, the rejected will resist Christ and his gospel until the day they die.

So how can you tell if you are elect?  All of the elect want to be elect and all of the rejected could care less about Christ and his gospel.  So if you want to be elect, chances are that God has already chosen you from before time began to be elect and has instilled in you the desire to follow Christ.  All that's left is to actually follow Him.

2 Timothy 2:24-26

"And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will."

Senseless arguments are not necessary in God's kingdom.  There is no discourse that can happen among those who are unwilling and not open to the Gospel which is why Christ commands that we simply "shake the dust off or feet" (Mk 6:11) and walk away. It is why Paul left Athens and had little harvest there and why he rejoices so greatly for cities like Ephesus, Philippi, and Corinth who embrace the Gospel with faith.  There is no argument so clever or human words so persuasive that can open a hardened heart or uncover blind eyes.  God alone does these things.

But instead of quarrel, the Lord's servant is kind, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, and correcting with gentleness. Then God might grant repentance leading to knowledge of truth that they might escape from the schemes of the Devil.  Salvation comes not through debating the faith, but belongs solely to our God and is his sovereign choice.  Therefore, do not treat your brothers with contempt, but show him gently his error and give him reasons for the hope that you have in Christ.

Isaiah 1:9

Unless the Lord Almighty

had left us some survivors,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have been like Gomorrah. 

 God's inequity is not God's injustice.  In God's wrath, some will perish.  It is the inevitable truth that not all people will be saved on that great and fearful day.  Such is the heart of a man that is desperately sick (Jer 17:9), resisting even in the last days (Rev 9:20).  Even the greatest of evangelists during our time understand this, that sometimes you just need to kick the dust off your feet and move on (Matt 10:14; Mark 6:11).

Is God being unfair or unjust by choosing to save only some?  By no means! God did not have to save anyone at all.  All men have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God (Rom 3:23), the glory they were made to reflect (Gen 1:27).  Again and again, we see God punishing mankind for their sins, but never to the extent it deserves.  Genesis 6, Exodus 32, and all through Judges and the prophets, and yet he never fully erases humanity from the face of the Earth.

So we say with great thanksgiving,

Unless the Lord Almighty

had left us some survivors,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have been like Gomorrah. 

Our God is overflowing with grace and mercy, forgiving sins for no reason other than that it pleased him to do so through the death of His own Son, Jesus Christ.  Thanks be to God!

Mark 4:38

"Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"

"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" These are the words of the disciples, unaware that Christ's very presence was an answer to his question.  God does in fact care that we are perishing.  That is why he came down to us in order that we might live.


And yet Jesus was found asleep on the boat as it was tossed and turned by the waves on the open sea. How could Jesus remain so calm when death seemed imminent?  Either he doesn't care or they were not perishing.  Judging that God came down from heaven to save us, the latter must be true.


In the presence of Christ, we will never perish.  If He who is eternal lives in us, how can we die?  And if we who have been baptized died to sin, how then can we die to it once more?  We have been reborn so that the life we have we live to God so if you feel like you are perishing, ask yourself, "Is the LORD with me?" for if He is, you have nothing to fear.

Isaiah 55:1

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price."

What does it cost to get into heaven?  What must I do and how should I worship?  These are the most common questions people ask about heaven to which the most common answer is "be a good person".  The answer is wrong simply because the questions are also wrong.  Heaven is absolutely free to get into.  It was bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ and you simply need to believe in the message of Jesus Christ.  Simple right?

Actually, it absolutely is.  God needs absolutely nothing from you.  He's GOD, he doesn't need anything because everything is already his.  Heaven is already yours if you believe what God has said.  He has already done everything for you so you need not do anything.

However, if you truly believed in God, we can expect certain reactions:  Thanksgiving and worship of God, faith in what he has done, living a full life according to God's word, and lastly testifying in love and truth to the graciousness of our God.  None of these things buy salvation because salvation is free  and because it is free, these things are sure to follow those who believe it.

So how do you get to heaven?  Don't do anything but rather respond to what has already been done!

Revelation 5:12

In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

Worthy is the lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.  Perhaps the image isn't striking immediately until you start to think about what a lamb looks like after being slaughtered (graphic link, click at own risk).  Verse 6 describes this Lamb as "looking as if it had been slain" and since Revelation is a book of symbols, this lamb is none other than Christ.  It is this mutilated and twisted Lamb who is worthy to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise.

But this lamb to us was worthy of only death.  This is our God depicted in the most humble and gruesome of ways.  This is our God who was nailed to a cross and was silent as a lamb before the slaughter is silent. (Isaiah 53:7).  What blessed backwardsness is this?  Why is man judging God instead of the other way around?

But the truth is, God did judge us by sending Jesus Christ not to condemn the world but to save it. (John 3:17)  He sentenced us not to death, but to life and life abundant so that all who remain in Christ die to sin as Christ did but are born again into new and everlasting life.  We esteemed him not, but God deemed him worthy to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise.

Romans 9:22-23

"What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory?"

Who are the objects of divine wrath that God bore with great patience?  Who are the ones prepared for destruction that God did endure with long suffering and steadfastness? Ephesians 2:3 says this, "Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."  All of us together are objects of God's divine wrath.  God has put up with us for so long, with great patience and understanding.  We begin to see just how slow to anger this God is. (Ex 34:6)

And what is the miracle?  That we were prepared for destruction but we were not destroyed.  Those who were once dead are now alive.  Those who were not God's people are called God's people.   Those who were not God's beloved have become loved.  Ephesians 2:4 says, "But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions -- It is by grace you have been saved."

So then who are the objects of Mercy?  All who are made alive in Christ.  God has carried each and every single one of us.  He has carried the weight of our sin in Christ his Son and has poured out his wrath on him so that all might not perish but a remnant would remain.  He did this so that no one may boast but in Christ alone to the glory of his eternal name.  Amen!

James 2:15-16

"Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?"

James says in verse 17 that dead faith is useless.  And what is dead faith?  It is a lack of compassion and concern for your brother or sister.  It allows you to see suffering and simply go on your way.  It makes you feel great about yourself while another goes without the things they need to survive.  It tricks you into thinking you are alive when you are not.  Dead faith walks past God's children and leaves them to starve.


And if the faith is dead, it is not good for anything.  When batteries die, they need to be recharged or thrown out.  Dead faith does nothing. It doesn't work.  It bears no crops.  It yields no harvest.  There is no righteousness reaped.  There are no works to be had because the faith cannot produce them.  It is dead faith.  Dead.

But if faith brings forth the fruit God desires, then it is alive.  If it remains in the vine, then it will bear fruit.  Works make complete the faith and brings it to maturity.  Faith must be made complete in order for it to save.  Faith must have works, else it is a dead faith and a dead faith is no faith at all.  Faith is dead without works, so we need a faith that works!

Philippians 1:27

"Whatever happens, above all else conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.  Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel"

No matter what, we are in this together.  That is the message Paul is giving us in Philippians.   This is the first command he gives and it is also the most important.  Above all else, do this.  It is a call to unity and to endure together no matter what comes of him, whether he lives or dies in prison.  But why is it so important that the church be unified?

In John 17, Jesus Christ prays for all believers to be one just as He and the Father are one in order that the world would know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

It is through our unity that Christ proves his divinity.
It is our unity that shows the world that there exists a God in heaven who loves them.
It is our unity that brings about saving faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
It not only saves others, but it saves us as well.

And so not only our salvation but the salvation of the entire world depends on the church standing firm together.

Galatians 3:22

But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

What the Old Testament reveals is that we are guilty beyond compare.  Because we know the laws God requires, we are law breakers who do not do them.  God's standards for holiness are so high that breaking even one law breaks all of them. We are prisoners to our own sin, deserving of death for our own wickedness.  If you believe the Scriptures, you also must believe you are a prisoner of war.


But faith sets you apart for salvation.


It is not your works that save you-- it is Christ.  It is not your worship that saves you-- it is Christ.  It is not your joy or your piety that saves you-- it is Christ.  It is not even your faith that saves you-- it is Christ and his faithfulness that brings you up out of the land of slavery.

Do not look to heaven to call down eternal blessing through your pitiful prayers, but look to Christ who hears them.  Make no mistake, you are not at all worthy or important except for Christ who makes you worthy and important by the sheer fact that he designates you to be so.  Do not be fooled, for you are nothing until Christ makes you something.  Look to Christ so that he may grant you rest.  Christ is your salvation and there is no other.

Mark 10:21

"And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me."

What Jesus tells that man when he asks "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" is not what we would answer to someone asking the question of us.  Most of us would say, pray to ask Jesus into your heart, read the Bible every day, go to church, fellowship, worship, and so on.

Does that mean we think Jesus was not really serious with his answer?  Jesus says absolutely none of those things we would expect.  If we do not take Jesus seriously, should we expect Jesus to take our faith seriously?  This isn't a specific command for one person in particular, and when taken as the answer to the question "What must I do to inherit Eternal life?", this answer seems rather important to salvation.

Jesus gives a rather practical answer.  The faith he is asking this man to show is not personal saving faith but rather interpersonal saving faith that touches the heart of social concern.  What Jesus is asking for is a radical trust in him and not in possessions.  So no matter how much technology we can cram into our churches, we could do more for not only the world's salvation but ours as well if we only sold it to the poor and followed Him.

Hebrews 12:27

"This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain."

No matter what happens, God will never change.  Those who are in Christ are unshakeable because they are being held in the hand of the Eternal One.  You who are in Christ are a child of God and nothing in this world can ever change that because it is God who has ordained you for salvation and has adopted you legally to be his child.  At the end of the day and everything is falling apart, rejoice!  Rejoice because you have a Father in heaven who will never leave you or forsake you.


A time is coming soon when heaven and earth will pass away, but the Word of Christ endures forever. (Mt 24:35, Mk 13:31, Lk 21:33)  God's promises to us stand firm forever. They cannot be shaken by anything.  They are the firm foundation on which we build (Mt 7:24).  They never fade and they never falter and in the end they will be all that remain.

Why wait until heaven to enjoy your salvation when salvation has come unto the world?  Everything God creates is made to change.  So even when you are robbed of all that you hold dear and life takes its toll you can still say, "God is my gracious Father because Christ is my faithful husband! Why should I worry?"

John 9:41

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains."

Sometimes truth is revealed very gradually, and lately one that has become more and more self evident is this dangerous little notion: Ideas have consequences.


God has given us the capacity for  ideas and a means with which to communicate them and conversely enabled in us creativity, imagination, and the ability to dream and hope for the future.  However, we started having the wrong ideas.

We started trusting in our own ideas rather than those of God.  Our own perceptions have taken over and our vision of reality is distorted.  The more we say that "we see", the blinder we become.  We have given up God's vision for our own selfish and blind ambition.  And this is judgment: that those who were blind now see and those who claim to see become blind (v39). God has blinded the hearts of men lest they turn and be healed (Isa 6:9-10) in his judgment.

But praise God now that the Truth has been revealed to us, God in Christ, so that all who look upon him and believe be saved (v37-38).  No longer do our hearts sit blindly in judgment, but we have been shown our sin.  There is, now, therefore, no excuse for anyone to not be in Christ unless their eyes are still blinded by God.  Yet, Christ is being made manifest by his Church so that no man may have an excuse to be condemned.

Romans 9:3

"For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises."

To ask for this, means to ask for a life apart from Christ, eternally cut off from the Father.  Paul is willing to give up his salvation.  This is crazy.


But what if Christianity isn't about getting into heaven? If it's not about the eternal reward at the end of the long race?  If it's not about entering into the Kingdom of God and having your name written in the book of eternal life?  From the looks of it, it's about saving everyone else but yourself, and risking life and limb to do so.

Jesus is the first among many heroes.  Paul followed suit and many other martyrs even up to this day are dying for the sake of Christ and the gospel.  Why?  Because it is not their salvation they are after, but that of the world.  Christians are heroes.

For Paul, eternal life was on his list of things that could be sacrificed for the sake of his ministry.  He was never in it for himself, but for the love of Christ.  And we all know that Christ was not in the world for himself, but descended solely for us. Crazy? Yes.  Truth?  Absolutely.  Gospel? 100%.

Philippians 1:29

"For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,"

Paul says what many Christians today don't want you to hear because Paul is not ashamed of the gospel.  I mean the entire gospel, not just the good parts you tell your non-christian friends in hopes you might trick them into "faith".  What good is it to "save" someone through deception lest they come to believe the entire gospel is a lie once they realize the truth.


What does Paul say?  That not only is salvation a gift, but so are the sufferings we endure for his name.  A gift.  Because God likes to see his children suffer?  Far from it!  Those who suffer together strive together with one spirit and one mind for the faith of the gospel (v27).  We suffer with Christ because we are in Christ and no servant is greater than his master (John 15:20).  Our suffering together brings us into greater unity.


We are one Body and Christ is our head (Eph 4:15-16) because we are united in hardship.  So we rejoice in our suffering (Rom 5:3-5) because through them we know we are in Christ when we suffer for his sake and the sake of the gospel (Rom 8:17).  It is when we stand firm together despite suffering that is a sign to us of our salvation despite it appearing to the world that we are being destroyed (v28).

After all, those who lose their lives for Christ will save them (Mark 8:35), the one who is not ashamed of Christ, Christ will not be ashamed of him (Mark 8:38), and all who have left mother and brothers will not fail to receive a hundred fold what they have left, and with them persecutions (Mark 10:30).  Don't be afraid to tell people the truth of the gospel, all of it, for half a gospel produces half a Christian with half of a salvation.

Hebrews 12:14-15a

"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one misses the grace of God..."


God is most clearly shown in holiness for He is Holy.  If our lives do not point to the Lord, that is to the Holy One in our midst, who can see the invisible God?  Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God who lives in us through the Holy Spirit, is the one who makes us holy.  To live holy is to live incarnationally as the salt and light of the earth.


And so we also see to it that no one misses the grace of God for unto us a new righteousness has been revealed.  Because of Jesus Christ, all have free access to the throne of God.  Those who resist grace do so because they do not recognize grace.  Grace is irresistible save for the act of God himself which makes men have eyes but never seeing and ears but never understanding lest he turn and be healed.  They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.

So as we live holy as God is Holy, we continue to shine the light of the world that was brought forth from the virgin's womb and begotten of the Father through the Holy Spirit.  It is this light which opens the eyes of men that the scales might fall off.

Matthew 1:1

"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

The New Testament and the gospel begin with the most seemingly unremarkable of ways.  However, it could not have begun more appropriately.  It says three things:  Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the son of David, and Jesus is the son of Abraham.

Jesus is the Christ, the coming Messiah promised to the people of God.  The LORD has once again heard the sufferings of his people and their groans of agony under the oppressive reign of the Roman empire and of Herod.  The Gospel begins with a declaration which no one has spoken before, that the Christ has come and his name is Jesus, "God saves".

Jesus is the Son of David, the promised and everlasting king in his line.  He is the hope of God's everlasting kingdom and the fulfillment of God's covenant with David.

Jesus is also the Son of Abraham, his Seed through which God will bless every nation.  In the Old Testament, Abraham and David are the greatest hopes for the Jewish people and are symbols of God's promise.  Jesus is the embodied faithfulness of God.  Matthew starts his Gospel with a threefold statement of promise and fulfillment.  After years of anticipation, the messiah has finally come!  God has not forsaken his promises and he has not forgotten us.  This sentence points back to the entire Old Testament and you will never fully understand the New Testament until you understand what comes first.

Hosea 2:23

"I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one' I will say to those called 'Not my people', 'You are my people' and they will say, 'You are my God'."

Originally this verse is taken in the context of the election of Israel over all other nations, however now all who were non-elect have access to this God who takes for himself a people to worship him eternally because Christ. God's purpose for us, then, is for us to realize the glory he has given us in causing us to be elect in Christ. 

And this realization is not a "choice". We don't choose to recognize if our houses are on fire or not. We could deny the reality but our houses will burn down regardless. Our job as Christians is to tell of this glory and grace that all might recognize the world as it truly is.

Everything God does is so that he might be revealed to us as God. God has, throughout history, revealed himself through Human instrumentality. He has revealed himself through the history of the Jewish people as preserved in the Old Testament and through the humanity of Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God, and now through his Church, the Body of Christ in the present age. He lifted us up out of our sin. Once you realize the totality of the grace you have been given, you will be brought to faith by God.

Exodus 20:5

"You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me."

 God is not petty and insecure like most jealous people are.  His love is not so easily wounded by our playing the harlot under every tree on every hilltop.  Even though it is God's jealousy which causes the destruction of sin (through the "visiting of iniquity"), it is this same jealously which keeps us from dying.  God's jealousy leads us to salvation.

God simply refuses to let us depend on anything else other than Himself and in so doing refuses to let us die for putting our trust in anything but Christ is a sure death.  God's jealousy is a refusal to let those whom he has called bow down to or serve other things because God's holiness is in direct opposition to that which harms us and causes us to not thrive.  Just as a gardener destroys weeds or a doctor eradicates disease, so to does this jealous God remove from us our sins that we might live consecrated and holy as He is holy.  Then and only then can we live life in righteous fellowship with God.

Praise be to our jealous God who overcomes our sins that we might live! Praise be to our Creator, Savior, and Perfecter who makes us holy and blameless before him!

Ephesians 1:13-14

"And you were also included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-- to the praise of His glory."

In this short little introduction to Ephesians, Paul marks out the will of God for the salvation of men.  Here, we see the fullness of the Trinity coming together for our redemption; We are marked (by the Father) in Him (Christ) with the promised Holy Spirit.  It is the Father who draws us in through the Son by the Holy Spirit. The Father is the fisherman, the Son the rod, and the Holy Spirit is the hook that never lets us go.  Because it is God working in all three aspects of salvation, the process is made perfect.  Were salvation from men, salvation would fail.  But thank God that salvation is guaranteed for those who believe and are sealed with the Holy Spirit!

And this then is the mark of salvation for every true believer:  That even when you sin and stray from the path, The Spirit will convict you, Christ will forgive you, and the Father will always bring you back to him for the Father always disciplines his children.  All three Persons work together in perfect harmony for our redemption.  Do you believe it? But truly, truly, by faith it is so!