Jesus Christ Is Your Only Hope

By Justin Edwards

Cast yourself upon Christ and flee from the wrath to come - He is your only Hope!

Jesus: Holy and Righteous God of Love and Wrath - Part 4

By Justin Edwards

Last week I posted the first three parts of this series that outlined some of the attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only true God.  In Part 1 it was shown that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament; that He is unchanging; that He is the Alpha and the Omega; and that He is a God of love, mercy, and grace.  Part 2 outlined that Jesus is a holy and righteous God; and Part 3 showed that He is a just judge who will pour out His wrath on those who have rebelled against Him (those who reject the Gospel or live a lifestyle contrary to it).  Yet, for those with ears to hear and eyes to see, there is Good News!

Despite His terrible and just wrath against the wicked - all born into this world who have a sinful nature - the Lord Jesus Christ is rich in mercy.  He has provided a way out for sinners to escape the wrath to come.  If you have a penitent heart for having sinned against God, pay attention to what the Bible says about the Savior.

The Suffering Servant

The prophet Isaiah gives the most detailed account of just how much Christ suffered for His people.  From a human perspective, yes, it was the Jews who murdered Jesus, and it was the Romans who washed their hands of this crime, but ultimately, it was not they who crushed the Son of God.  It was His own Father who crushed Jesus.  God killed His own Son, and it pleased Him to do so.  Why?  Because this was God's plan all along - to redeem a people for Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ (Titus 2:14).  Let's turn our focus to Christ's sufferings in Isaiah 53:1-12, which was written over 700 years before the 1st coming of Christ:

Who has believed what he has heard from us?  And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Listen to C.J. Mahaney portray the account of Christ's sufferings from the 2007 Resolved Conference message titled The Suffering Servant.

The Redemptive Savior

Why did Christ come?  He most certainly did not come to give you your "best life now", nor did He come to merely give us an example for which to live by. Scripture tells us He came to shed His blood, without which there can be no remission of sin (Hebrews 9:22):

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. - Matthew 1:21

Who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. - Romans 4:25

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, - 1 Corinthians 15:3

So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. - Hebrews 9:28

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. - 1 Peter 2:24

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21

The Love of God

Why did Christ have to die?  As shown above, the shedding of blood is necessary to atone for sin.  There is no other way.  Why is this the case?  The only answer I have is it is the infinite wisdom of God that decreed it necessary, and our thoughts are not God's thoughts, neither are our ways His ways (Isaiah 55:8).  If He said it is good and necessary, then it must be good and necessary and I accept that by faith.  But what was the motivation behind it all?  The Good News is based on love:

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:13

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. - 1 John 3:16

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. - John 10:11

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. - 1 John 4:9-10

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. - Romans 5:6-8

Ironically enough, Love epitomized is the most hated person in the world.

Jesus the Only Way

You have no doubt heard that Christ said in John 14:6,

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Whether you have heard it once or a thousand times, it remains true.  You must go through Jesus Christ by faith in order to receive eternal life.  There is no life found in Buddha, Allah, Mother Earth, New Age philosophy, the Catholic jesus, the Mormon jesus, the liberal jesus, the social justice jesus, or any other jesus who is not the Narrow Way Jesus.  This is what He says, 

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. - Matthew 7:13-14

Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. - Luke 13:24

Only those with contrite hearts will enter the kingdom of God as the Apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 7:10,

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

If you want Life and to escape God's wrath, this is what Jesus says to you:

I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. - John 6:35

Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. - John 4:13-14

I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? - John 11:25-26

Do you want this Bread and Water?  Do you want Life?

Jesus Is Worthy

The Son of God is worthy for you to come to Him.  

He was crushed by His own Father to demonstrate His love toward sinners.  Are you a sinner?  

God killed His own Son, who willingly laid His life down for His sheep.  Are you one of His sheep?  

Jesus refrained from saving Himself so that He could save and heal the sick.  Are you sick from the disease of sin?  

Beaten, cursed, afflicted, bruised, scorned, mocked, tormented, and brutalized - is He not worthy of your worship, praise, devotion, allegiance, love, and surrender? 

A perfect man, the only one to ever grace this earth, became sin so His Father could punish Him as our substitute.  He bore the iniquities of His children.  Are you one of His children?  Is He not worthy for you to come home?  To receive your inheritance?

The angels know He is worthy and sing,

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! - Revelation 5:12

The saints exalt Him by singing,

Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. - Revelation 4:11

The glorified creatures of heaven proclaim, 

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!...Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” - Revelation 7:10-12

Is the Lord Jesus Christ not worthy of you to join the heavenly choir?

Purchased to Be Set Free

Jesus tells us in John 8:34-36

Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Dear friend, do you want to be set free?  Do you want to know and have true freedom?  Freedom from the bondage of your sin, freedom from the god of this world, freedom from your enslavement to your flesh, freedom from the love of the world and the things of this world?  Do you want this freedom?  This is why Christ purchased His people with His own blood - to set them free!  He bought us to set us free!

Jesus, a holy and righteous God of love and wrath, will set His people free.  If you are of His people, and you are weary from the chains, cry out to Christ to be set free.  Don't wait any longer, today is the day of salvation.  To illustrate this point, that Christ bought us to set us free, listen to Paris Reidhead below.  Truly, when our freedom is purchased by One so worthy, we will want nothing more than to be His slave.

Won't you be a slave to Christ?  That is the Good News, dear friend.  The freedom is yours for the taking - become a slave to the worthy and glorious risen King.  Yield your life to Christ, and be free. 

Jesus: Holy and Righteous God of Love and Wrath - Part 3

By Justin Edwards

In that day the Lamb shall become a Lion.  A lion captures its prey by its mighty jaws, and once it is caught, he crushes his prey and conquers his prey and consumes his prey.  So it will be in this last day for the Lion of the tribe of Judah as He will capture and crush every unbeliever outside of Himself.  So terrifying... - Steven Lawson

In a day where most people believe that God has only three attributes - love, grace, and mercy - it is imperative that we effectively communicate all of God's attributes, including His holiness, righteousness, justice, and wrath.  By excluding any of these attributes or denying them, one is preaching, teaching, or believing in a different god altogether - one that doesn't exist.  God is all of these things, and most emphatically He is holy, holy, holy (Revelation 4:8).

Part 1 of this series briefly outlined from Scripture that Jesus is the God of the Old Testament, that He does not change, that He is the Alpha and Omega, and He is gracious, merciful, and loving. We'll get into these latter three attributes later, but not without first discussing his other attributes.  Part 2 briefly outlined God's holiness and righteousness, and this post will discuss the justice and wrath of God, who is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords and the King of kings.

I remind the reader that if you do not base your understanding of Jesus Christ on the Word of God, then you have no objective standard from which to base your opinion.  And that is all you have - opinion.  You have built your house on a bed of sand, and in the end it will fall.  You must trust in the Jesus of the Bible, the whole Jesus, lest you never receive His enduring love and face the fury of His wrath. 

Let's continue our understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ as found in Scripture.

Sin Is Lawlessness

Before we discuss the justice and wrath of God, we must first take a look at sin.  Sin is simply defined in 1 John 3:4 as

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

Sin is breaking the law of God, and living a sinful lifestyle is living in lawlessness. It is rebelling against God's commandments.  Because God is holy and righteous, rebellion against His wisdom provokes Him to wrath as we see in Deuteronomy 9:7:

Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

The Law that He has given us to love is found in the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:1-21), yet we are a rebellious people and do not love the ways of the Lord as we ought.  Some of us hate the commandments, others dismiss them, while others try to live by them as if doing so will earn them a ticket to heaven by their own self-righteousness.  However, the Bible says it is impossible for unbelievers and religious hypocrites to submit to the Law of God:

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. - Romans 8:7

We therefore stand as men and women condemned under the Law of God.  There is nothing that we need to do to be condemned nor is there anything that God must do to condemn us as we are condemned already (John 3:18).  We, by nature, are sinners, and as sinners we do what naturally comes to us - sin.  As such, God has appointed Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ as sovereign judge to carry out the sentence of condemned sinners.

God Is Just

God doesn't do things because they are good, something is good because God does it.  Because He is a good judge, He will leave no crime against Him unpunished.  He must carry out justice for every sin that has ever been committed by every human that has ever walked the planet (Jeremiah 17:10; Matthew 16:27; 1 Corinthians 4:5).  Sin is a violation of God's holiness, therefore His holiness must be vindicated by punishing every single sin that has violated His holiness. Every injustice will be brought into account.

Scripture often uses righteousness and justice as synonyms, so let's look at a few more verses displaying this attribute:

God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. - Psalm 7:11

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” - Genesis 18:25

Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? - Job 8:3

Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. - Job 34:10

To declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. - Psalm 92:15

But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, 8 and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness. - Psalm 9:7-8

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! - Romans 9:14

And I heard the altar saying,  “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!” - Revelation 16:7

Jesus Christ the Judge 

Because God is upright and good, He must punish wickedness as it is an affront to His holiness.  In order to carry out justice, there must be a judge.  The Lord Jesus Christ is that judge, and Scripture is clear that He will not allow the wicked and those who disobey Him to go unpunished.  This is what the Bible says:

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the power of his anointed. - 1 Samuel 2:10

The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. - John 5:22-23

And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. - Acts 10:42

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. - Acts 17:30-31

They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. - Romans 2:15-16

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: - 2 Timothy 4:1

The Wrath of Jesus

So how will Jesus carry out God's justice in the future (as opposed to his present judgment per Romans 1:18-32, etc.)?  A survey of the Revelation of Jesus Christ reveals many judgments will come upon mankind through wars, plagues, famine, natural disasters, and other supernatural terror.  Angels and demons alike will carry out these judgments, and it will be known by mankind who is judging them.  On that day, the wicked will seek refuge, but there will be no escape from the wrath of Christ:

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” - Revelation 6:15-17

In that day, we see how this Great King will come in glory:

...when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. - 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10

When Christ comes, the One who is called Faithful and True, He will come in righteousness to make war as He judges the wicked.  He will strike them down as the Lord treads the winepress of the fury of His wrath:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Jesus Christ is not coming as a gentle and meek Lamb, He is coming as the fierce Lion of the tribe of Judah to destroy the wicked and their works, and this includes everyone who disobeys the Gospel and rebels against His righteousness.  All sinners who remain on that day will be 

...slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. - Revelation 19:21

After Christ establishes His earthly Kingdom and reigns for 1,000 years, He will resurrect from the dead those who rebelled against Him.  This is what the Bible says is in store for the wicked as they face the final, righteous judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ:

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. - Revelation 20:11-15

Will that be you on that great and terrible day?  What Jesus do you profess to know today?  Is it a jesus you have crafted with your mind, who is corrupt by overlooking sin?  Is it a jesus who loves, loves, loves, yet is not holy, holy, holy?  Is your jesus more concerned with social justice and solving people's problems than he is with the salvation of men's souls?  I tell you, if your Jesus is none other than the Jesus that has been revealed in the Bible, then you are worshiping an idol and you will face the wrath of the Lamb of Almighty God.

This is no day to be playing with your eternity.  In Part 2 I posted a link to a message by Dr. Steven Lawson on the Great White Judgment, and I think it's important enough to post it again here.  You can find the article at this link, or for convenience, you can view the video below.

There is still good news to be discussed, please continue to Part 4.

Be Comforted, My Brethren

By Justin Edwards

It's been about 5 weeks since I began a series titled The Coming of the Lord that was to be based on a sermon series from my pastor, Loran Livingston, on 1 Thessalonians 1-5. As the messages on chapters 3 and 4 were not necessarily on the coming of the Lord as I had anticipated, I did not feel led to write about them. However, the message on 10/31/10 was quite uplifting and comforting for the Bride of Christ, so I will conclude the series with this message and a different title (you can read Parts 1 and 2 here: The Coming of the Lord - Part 1; The Coming of the Lord - Part 2 (A Message on Pastors)).

The Apostle Paul ends chapter 4 with a reference to the Rapture of the Church, and in combination with references from John 14:1-3 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, we have the clear biblical basis for this doctrine. Although the rapture doctrine cannot be honestly disregarded in Scripture, the timing of the rapture of the Church has caused much division in the Body of Christ. Moreover, extreme views and extra-biblical liberties have led many to attempt to predict the date of the rapture (datesetting), but the fact of the matter is, NO ONE knows the hour, and to suggest foreknowledge of this spectacular event is utter foolishness. Discussing the timing of the rapture is perfectly fine, but when division occurs between different "camps" (pre-trib, mid-trib, and post-trib), there is nothing that edifies the Body or brings glory to God. If this topic creates a stumbling block for the furtherance of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, it's best not to argue over such things if it cannot be done peaceably.

With that said, Scripture is indeed quite clear that the Bride of Christ will not be here for the Day of the Lord, otherwise known as the Time of Jacob's Trouble, the 70th week of Daniel, and the 7-year tribulation (the latter half often referred as the Great Tribulation). Scripture references supporting a pre-tribulation rapture include:  Revelation 3:10, 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, and 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. There are other Scriptures that show imminence and provide logical evidence the Church will not be present during the tribulation, but for the sake of brevity in this article, I will focus on the Scripture of yesterday's message.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 reads,

1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

Paul opens by saying the brethren have no need to be concerned with the timing of the tribulation. He exhorts them to not be distracted with the timing of God's final judgment, but rather to occupy their time in living godly lives knowing full well that judgment is coming unexpectedly upon the people of the earth. As verses 2 and 3 make clear, judgment will come as a thief in the night when the people of the earth least expect it. At a time when the world is saying "peace and safety" (which will have culminated with the signing of the 7-year covenant between the Antichrist and Israel), sudden destruction will come upon them and they shall not escape. Yet, distracting ourselves with trying to figure out who the Antichrist is or when this covenant will be signed is futile because no one knows, and more importantly, we will not be here to find out (so why are you stocking up on supplies?).

We are not in darkness so to be overtaken by this unexpected judgment. We, the Body of Christ, are children of light (Ephesians 5:8) and walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7). Those who walk in darkness, however, are subject to the wrath of God as children of wrath and disobedience (Ephesians 2:2-3, Ephesians 5:6, 1 John 1:6). Paul also makes this contrast clear in verses 4 and 5.

And because we are not children of darkness but of light, let us walk in a manner worthy of our calling (Ephesians 4:1, Philippians 1:27, Colossians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 2:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:1). As such and as instructed in verses 6 and 8, let us be sober and be watchful of the spiritual darkness around us. As we have been redeemed from our fallen spiritual condition, we must live accordingly by the power of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, those who are walking in darkness will be drunk with darkness when the wrath of God falls on the earth, as if jolted out of a coma for they are spiritually unconscious. And while we wait for the coming of our Lord, we must continue in our work of faith, labor of love, and hope of salvation (1 Thessalonians 1:3) that awaits us when we are glorified with the Son of God (Romans 8:18).

My brothers and sisters, God has not appointed us to wrath and the Apostle Paul makes this evident in verse 9 and also 1 Thessalonians 1:10 (in addition to the Lord's revelation in Revelation 3:10). Whether born again believers have already died or they live today, we will all be together one day soon (verse 10). To make this all the more clear (that we have no reason to fear the Day of the Lord), let's take another look at verses 1-10. Pay special attention to the contrasting pronouns Paul uses to distinguish between believers and those in darkness:

1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

Isn't it clear? There is a marked difference between "us" and "them". "They" will incur the wrath of God. "We" will be kept from the hour of trial that will come upon dwellers of the earth. "They" are sons of the devil (1 John 3:8), while "we" are already citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20). "Their" end is destruction and have their minds set on earthly things (Philippians 3:19), while "we" have been sealed by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22) and have our minds set on heavenly things (Colossians 3:1-2). "They" stand condemned (John 3:18), while there is no condemnation for "us" who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

So be comforted, my brethren. If you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, then you need not fear the days to come. Once God has planted His seed in you (1 John 3:9), you are His forever as God does not revoke His promises (Romans 11:29). If you have been called, you will be justified, and if you have been justified, you will be conformed to Christ, and if you are conformed to Christ, you will be glorified (Romans 8:29-30). All who the Father has given to the Son will never be lost (John 6:39), no one can snatch you out of His hand (John 10:28-29), and nothing in ALL of creation will ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39). Let us take comfort in knowing that God has secured our salvation for His glory alone, and He has not appointed us to His wrath but has made for Himself a bride that is holy and blameless before the sight of God (Colossians 1:22).

If you have some time now or this week, please take a moment to watch or listen to Loran Livingston's message from Sunday (see below). If you need to be spiritually renewed and find yourselves weary of this world and the things of the world, this is a timely message for you. The days ahead may be few or many, and they will surely be difficult as the darkness continues to restrict around us. But keep your eyes on Jesus and take comfort in the Hope of your salvation Who has delivered you from the wrath to come, and know that He will never forsake you no matter the trials and tribulation you are currently going through.

The King is coming, let us watch and be sober.

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

Loran Livingston Video 10/31/10 

Loran Livingston mp3 10/31/10

The Reality of Hell

By Justin Edwards

Thanks to Mike Anderson over at  Let Us Repent and Believe for posting "Hell" by R.C. Sproul yesterday. I heard this message on the radio a few months ago and never got around to finding the transcript. If we truly understood the realities of hell, we would all the more tell people how to avoid it. Moreover, if we fail to mention the wrath of God and the wages of sin (spiritual death) when we share the Gospel, the message loses its weight for that would not be the complete Gospel. Charles Spurgeon said,

Diminish your idea of the wrath of God and the terrors of hell, and in that proportion you will diminish the results of your work. (Source)

And on the dread of hell, Spurgeon uttered,

Hell is horrible, for we may say of it, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the horrors which God hath prepared for them that hate him. (Source)

May we never diminish our idea of the wrath of God and the torments of hell.

HELL

by R.C. Sproul

We have often heard statements such as “War is hell” or “I went through hell.” These expressions are, of course, not taken literally. Rather, they reflect our tendency to use the word hell as a descriptive term for the most ghastly human experience possible. Yet no human experience in this world is actually comparable to hell. If we try to imagine the worst of all possible suffering in the here and now we have not yet stretched our imaginations to reach the dreadful reality of hell.

Hell is trivialized when it is used as a common curse word. To use the word lightly may be a halfhearted human attempt to take the concept lightly or to treat it in an amusing way. We tend to joke about things most frightening to us in a futile effort to declaw and defang them, reducing their threatening power.

There is no biblical concept more grim or terror-invoking than the idea of hell. It is so unpopular with us that few would give credence to it at all except that it comes to us from the teaching of Christ Himself.

Almost all the biblical teaching about hell comes from the lips of Jesus. It is this doctrine, perhaps more than any other, that strains even the Christian’s loyalty to the teaching of Christ. Modern Christians have pushed the limits of minimizing hell in an effort to sidestep or soften Jesus’ own teaching. The Bible describes hell as a place of outer darkness, a lake of fire, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place of eternal separation from the blessings of God, a prison, a place of torment where the worm doesn’t turn or die. These graphic images of eternal punishment provoke the question, should we take these descriptions literally or are they merely symbols?

I suspect they are symbols, but I find no relief in that. We must not think of them as being merely symbols. It is probable that the sinner in hell would prefer a literal lake of fire as his eternal abode to the reality of hell represented in the lake of fire image. If these images are indeed symbols, then we must conclude that the reality is worse than the symbol suggests. The function of symbols is to point beyond themselves to a higher or more intense state of actuality than the symbol itself can contain.
That Jesus used the most awful symbols imaginable to describe hell is no comfort to those who see them simply as symbols.

A breath of relief is usually heard when someone declares, “Hell is a symbol for separation from God.” To be separated from God for eternity is no great threat to the impenitent person. The ungodly want nothing more than to be separated from God. Their problem in hell will not be separation from God, it will be the presence of God that will torment them. In hell, God will be present in the fullness of His divine wrath. He will be there to exercise His just punishment of the damned. They will know Him as an all-consuming fire.

No matter how we analyze the concept of hell it often sounds to us as a place of cruel and unusual punishment. If, however, we can take any comfort in the concept of hell, we can take it in the full assurance that there will be no cruelty there. It is impossible for God to be cruel. Cruelty involves inflicting a punishment that is more severe or harsh than the crime. Cruelty in this sense is unjust. God is incapable of inflicting an unjust punishment. The Judge of all the earth will surely do what is right. No innocent person will ever suffer at His hand.

Perhaps the most frightening aspect of hell is its eternality. People can endure the greatest agony if they know it will ultimately stop. In hell there is no such hope. The Bible clearly teaches that the punishment is eternal. The same word is used for both eternal life and eternal death. Punishment implies pain. Mere annihilation, which some have lobbied for, involves no pain. Jonathan Edwards, in preaching on Revelation 6:15-16 said, “Wicked men will hereafter earnestly wish to be turned to nothing and forever cease to be that they may escape the wrath of God.” (John H. Gerstner, Jonathan Edwards on Heaven and Hell [Orlando: Ligonier Ministries, 1991], 75.)

Hell, then, is an eternity before the righteous, ever-burning wrath of God, a suffering torment from which there is no escape and no relief. Understanding this is crucial to our drive to appreciate the work of Christ and to preach His gospel.

Summary

1. The suffering of hell is beyond any experience of misery found in this world.
2. Hell is clearly included in the teaching of Jesus.
3. If the biblical descriptions of hell are symbols, then the reality will be worse than the symbols.
4. Hell is the presence of God in His wrath and judgment.
5. There is no cruelty in hell. Hell will be a place of perfect justice.
6. Hell is eternal. There is no escape through either repentance or annihilation.

Biblical passages for reflection: Matthew 8:11-12, Mark 9:42-48, Luke 16:19-31, Jude 1:3-13, Revelation 20:11-15.

The Wrath of God

By A.W. Pink

It is sad to find so many professing Christians who appear to regard the wrath of God as something for which they need to make an apology, or at least they wish there were no such thing. While some would not go so far as to openly admit that they consider it a blemish on the Divine character, yet they are far from regarding it with delight, they like not to think about it, and they rarely hear it mentioned without a secret resentment rising up in their hearts against it.

Even with those who are more sober in their judgment, not a few seem to imagine that there is a severity about the Divine wrath which is too terrifying to form a theme for profitable contemplation. Others harbor the delusion that God’s wrath is not consistent with His goodness, and so seek to banish it from their thoughts.

Yes, many there are who turn away from a vision of God’s wrath as though they were called to look upon some blotch in the Divine character, or some blot upon the Divine government. But what saith the Scriptures? As we turn to them we find that God has made no attempt to conceal the fact of His wrath. He is not ashamed to make it known that vengeance and fury belong unto Him. His own challenge is,

"See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal; neither is there any that can deliver out of My hand. For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say, I live forever, If I whet My glittering sword, and Mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to Mine enemies, and will reward them that hate Me" (Deuteronomy 32:39-41). 

A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God, than there are to His love and tenderness. Because God is holy, He hates all sin; And because He hates all sin, His anger burns against the sinner: Psalm 7:11.

Now the wrath of God is as much a Divine perfection as is His faithfulness, power, or mercy. It must be so, for there is no blemish whatever, not the slightest defect in the character of God; yet there would be if "wrath" were absent from Him! Indifference to sin is a moral blemish, and he who hates it not is a moral leper. How could He who is the Sum of all excellency look with equal satisfaction upon virtue and vice, wisdom and folly? How could He who is infinitely holy disregard sin and refuse to manifest His "severity" (Romans 9:12) toward it? How could He who delights only in that which is pure and lovely, loathe and hate not that which is impure and vile? The very nature of God makes Hell as real a necessity, as imperatively and eternally requisite as Heaven is. Not only is there no imperfection in God, but there is no perfection in Him that is less perfect than another.

The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence which He passes upon evil-doers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against His authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty. Insurrectionists against God’s government shall be made to know that God is the Lord. They shall be made to feel how great that Majesty is which they despise, and how dreadful is that threatened wrath which they so little regarded. Not that God’s anger is a malignant and malicious retaliation, inflicting injury for the sake of it, or in return for injury received. No; while God will vindicate His dominion as the Governor of the universe, He will not be vindictive.

That Divine wrath is one of the perfections of God is not only evident from the considerations presented above, but is also clearly established by the express declarations of His own Word. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven" (Romans 1:18). Robert Haldane comments on this verse as follows:

It was revealed when the sentence of death was first pronounced, the earth cursed, and man driven out of the earthly paradise; and afterwards by such examples of punishment as those of the Deluge and the destruction of the Cities of the Plain by fire from heaven; but especially by the reign of death throughout the world. It was proclaimed in the curse of the law on every transgression, and was intimated in the institution of sacrifice.

In the 8th of Romans, the apostle calls the attention of believers to the fact that the whole creation has become subject to vanity, and groaneth and travaileth together in pain. The same creation which declares that there is a God, and publishes His glory, also proclaims that He is the Enemy of sin and the Avenger of the crimes of men . . . But above all, the wrath of God was revealed from heaven when the Son of God came down to manifest the Divine character, and when that wrath was displayed in His sufferings and death, in a manner more awful than by all the tokens God had before given of His displeasure against sin.

Besides this, the future and eternal punishment of the wicked is now declared in terms more solemn and explicit than formerly. Under the new dispensation there are two revelations given from heaven, one of wrath, the other of grace.

Again; that the wrath of God is a Divine perfection is plainly demonstrated by what we read of in Psalm 95:11, "Unto whom I sware in My wrath." There are two occasions of God "swearing": in making promises (Genesis. 22:16), and in denouncing threatening (Deuteronomy. 1:34). In the former, He swares in mercy to His children; in the latter, He swares to terrify the wicked. An oath is for solemn confirmation: Hebrews 6:16. In Genesis 22:16 God said, "By Myself have I sworn." In Psalm 89:35 He declares, "Once have I sworn by My holiness." While in Psalm 95:11 He affirmed, "I swear in My wrath." Thus the great Jehovah Himself appeals to His "wrath" as a perfection equal to His "holiness": He swares by the one as much as by the other! Again; as in Christ "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9), and as all the Divine perfections are illustriously displayed by Him (John 1:18), therefore do we read of "the wrath of the Lamb" (Revelation. 6:16).

The wrath of God is a perfection of the Divine character upon which we need to frequently meditate. First, that our hearts may be duly impressed by God’s detestation of sin. We are ever prone to regard sin lightly, to gloss over its hideousness, to make excuses for it. But the more we study and ponder God’s abhorrence of sin and His frightful vengeance upon it, the more likely are we to realize its heinousness. Second, to beget a true fear in our souls for God: "Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:28,29). We cannot serve Him "acceptably" unless there is due "reverence" for His awful Majesty and "godly fear" of His righteous anger, and these are best promoted by frequently calling to mind that "our God is a consuming fire." Third, to draw out our souls in fervent praise for having delivered us from "the wrath to come" (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Our readiness or our reluctancy to meditate upon the wrath of God becomes a sure test of how our hearts’ really stand affected toward Him. If we do not truly rejoice in God, for what He is in Himself, and that because of all the perfections which are eternally resident in Him, then how dwelleth the love of God in us? Each of us needs to be most prayerfully on his guard against devising an image of God in our thoughts which is patterned after our own evil inclinations. Of old the Lord complained, "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself" (Psalm 50:21), If we rejoice not "at the remembrance of His holiness" (Psalm 97:12), if we rejoice not to know that in a soon coming Day God will make a most glorious display of His wrath, by taking vengeance on all who now oppose Him, it is proof positive that our hearts are not in subjection to Him, that we are yet in our sins, on the way to the everlasting burnings.

"Rejoice, O ye nations (Gentiles) His people, for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and will render vengeance to His adversaries" (Deuteronomy 32:43). And again we read, "I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God; For true and righteous are His judgments: for He hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. And again they said Alleluia." (Revelation 19:13). Great will be the rejoicing of the saints in that day when the Lord shall vindicate His majesty, exercise His awful dominion, magnify His justice, and overthrow the proud rebels who have dared to defy Him.

"If thou Lord, shouldest mark (impute) iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" (Psalm 130:3). Well may each of us ask this question, for it is written, "the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment" (Psalm 1:5). How sorely was Christ’s soul exercised with thoughts of God’s marking the iniquities of His people when they were upon Him! He was "amazed and very heavy" (Mark 14:33). His awful agony, His bloody sweat, His strong cries and supplications (Hebrews 5:7), His reiterated prayers ("If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me"), His last dreadful cry, ("My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?") all manifest what fearful apprehensions He had of what it was for God to "mark iniquities." Well may poor sinners cry out, "Lord who shall stand" when the Son of God Himself so trembled beneath the weight of His wrath? If thou, my reader, hast not "fled for refuge" to Christ, the only Saviour, "how wilt thou do in the swelling of the Jordan?" (Jeremiah 12:5)?

When I consider how the goodness of God is abused by the greatest part of mankind, I cannot but be of his mind that said, The greatest miracle in the world is God’s patience and bounty to an ungrateful world. If a prince hath an enemy got into one of his towns, he doth not send them in provision, but lays close siege to the place, and doth what he can to starve them. But the great God, that could wink all His enemies into destruction, bears with them, and is at daily cost to maintain them. Well may He command us to bless them that curse us, who Himself does good to the evil and unthankful.

But think not, sinners, that you shall escape thus; God’s mill goes slow, but grinds small; the more admirable His patience and bounty now is, the more dreadful and unsupportable will that fury be which ariseth out of His abused goodness. Nothing smoother than the sea, yet when stirred into a tempest, nothing rageth more. Nothing so sweet as the patience and goodness of God, and nothing so terrible as His wrath when it takes fire. (Wm Gurnall, 1660).

Then flee, my reader, flee to Christ; "flee from the wrath to come" (Matthew. 3:7) ere it be too late. Do not, we earnestly beseech you, suppose that this message is intended for somebody else. It is to you! Do not be contented by thinking you have already fled to Christ. Make certain! Beg the Lord to search your heart and show you yourself.

A Word to Preachers. Brethren, do we in our oral ministry, preach on this solemn subject as much as we ought? The Old Testament prophets frequently told their hearers that their wicked lives provoked the Holy One of Israel, and that they were treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath. And conditions in the world are no better now than they were then!

Nothing is so calculated to arouse the careless and cause carnal professors to search their hearts, as to enlarge upon the fact that "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 7:11). The forerunner of Christ warned his hearers to "flee from the wrath to come" (Matthew 3:7). The Saviour bade His auditors "Fear Him, which after He hath killed, hath power to cast into Hell; yea, I say unto you. Fear Him" (Luke 12:5). The apostle Paul said, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Corinthians 5:11). Faithfulness demands that we speak as plainly about Hell as about Heaven.

(HT: PB Ministries)

The Coming of the Lord - Part 1

By Justin Edwards

It is my privilege to share with you a 5-part series from my pastor, Loran Livingston, which began September 26, 2010. Pastor Livingston noted that each chapter in the book of 1 Thessalonians concludes with a reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. These chapters exhort us to be confident the Lord will deliver us from the wrath to come upon the earth, to cling to the hope and joy found in anticipating the glorious appearing of Christ, to increase our love for the brethren, to encourage one another that He is coming for His Bride, and to be sanctified completely by the Spirit whereby we put off the works of darkness and yield to righteousness so that we will be found blameless at the coming of this Mighty King! This first message was very powerful and I'm excited for what lies ahead as God prepares His Body for His glorious return in these last days. The links to the video and mp3 are at the end of this post.

We find in 1 Thessalonians 1:3 three proofs of salvation:  work of faith, labor of love, and endurance inspired by hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because salvation is a work of God by which He brings Himself glory, all born again Christians will exhibit in some capacity service to the Lord that is rooted in love and spurred by faith. It is not possible to be saved and not be involved in the work of the ministry because when He saves us, He charges us to carry on the work He started. In fact, God ordained us for His service long ago:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10

This work includes serving within the Body through the local church, within our homes, or within the community by living and proclaiming the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We work together as one Body to edify one another and to fulfill the Great Commission. We all have work to do for the Kingdom and none of us are exempt from this duty.

We must work when we don't feel like it and when no one appreciates it or notices. Our work is unto the Lord and not unto man. He rewards us for our faithfulness towards Him. Whatever our calling is, our sole purpose is to make Jesus known to the ends of the earth - and that includes your backyard. Jesus said it best what we are to do with our time on earth in Matthew 6:19-21:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Verse 21 is so profound - the desire of your heart will be clear by the location of your treasure. In other words, what do you spend your time doing? Upon examination of yourself, are you working for God or for yourself? Are you serving Him with your life, or are you pursuing riches, pleasures, and material things? Are you more concerned with the cares of this world, or do you consider yourself dead and surrendered to the work of God? Is your life defined by temporal things or eternal things? These are essential questions to ask ourselves. Where are you storing your treasure? In heaven or on earth? That will determine where your heart is - whether you a child of God or a child of wrath.

Not only were the Thessalonians praised for their faith, love, and enduring hope, but their eager obedience to preach the Gospel was known everywhere. 1 Thessalonians 1:8,

For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.

And where did they learn to spread their faith? From the Lord and those from whom they first heard the Gospel as we see in verse 6,

And you became followers of us and of the Lord...

Every born again believer must be an example to the brethren. It is how we grow in maturity by studying the Word of God and being examples amongst each other. This is the duty of every believer, so we must examine ourselves to see what example we are leading. Do we share our faith, or not? Do we love the brethren? Do we love our enemies? Do we love our neighbors? Remember, the Great Commission is not an option - it is a mandate from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Perhaps most remarkable of the Thessalonians was their obvious repentance. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 provides us a clear picture of what biblical repentance looks like:

For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

There are several things going on here. In this one verse, we see how they

1. Turned to God
2. From idols
3. To serve the living and true God (as opposed to dead idols)

That is repentance! This presents a radical change in the Thessalonians as they turned their backs on the idols they served and turned to the one true God to serve Him in faith and obedience. Every believer had an idol(s) before they came to faith in Jesus Christ. It is impossible to continue serving these idols and serve the Lord. We must turn from them. No man can hold on to his sins and lay his life down at the cross. He must lay down his sins with his life if He is to be born again. What he is laying down is a lifestyle that served himself, and he is committing himself to a lifestyle of serving God. You cannot serve two masters and you must deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ daily. This is forsaking it all, and it's the only way we can be a disciple of Christ.

The evidence this repentance has taken place will be found in the whole of the life of the believer. There will be a radical change that contrasts the new life against the old life. Your life will be marked by obedience to the Word of God, rather than obedience to your flesh and its desires. Sin is no longer your master for you have become a slave to righteousness. If you have not had a radical change in your life that separates you from the world, it's time you get back to the alter and find out what went wrong. Giving mere lip service to God will fall short of His righteousness. The Christian life is 24/7, not just on Sundays. If you're acting and talking differently on Sundays than you are the rest of the week, you must come to repentance. You're either a Christian, or you're not a Christian - James 1:22,

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

For those that are found in Christ Jesus, we have much to look forward to. The Lord is coming and He is coming soon! No matter what we are faced with we can always turn to Him and declare, "but Jesus is coming!" If you are not looking for the return of Christ, if you have no hope that He is coming, if this fact brings you no joy, or if you dread that Day - what do you think that means? We must be looking for Him as Hebrews 9:28 says,

so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

And there is a crown waiting for those longing for His appearing - 1 Timothy 4:8

Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

And those who are longing for His appearing, can have confidence they will be saved from the wrath to come. The Apostle Paul makes this clear in 1 Thessalonians 1:10,

and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Jesus affirms this truth in Revelation 3:10

Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

We must be longing for Christ to come for us. This is to be our joy! Our hope! Does this dominate your thinking? If Jesus does not dominate your thinking and His return does not consume you with this enduring hope and everlasting joy, then you must examine yourself. No born again believer thinks like this - we are all eager to see His face!  Do you?

If you find yourself in a predicament, what are you waiting for? Haven't you gone long enough in trying to serve two masters? Isn't it time to repent from your idols and turn to God in faith? Can you not see that this world is passing away, and those who love it are passing away with it? Aren't you ready to store your treasures in heaven? Aren't you ready to serve the One who paid such a great price for you? Isn't He worthy? Did your sins not nail Him to that rugged cross? Won't you fall on your knees? Won't you give your life to Him today? Even now?

Turn to Christ and be healed. Come with nothing in your hands, and submit your life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Escape the wrath to come, for it might come today, and I promise you do not want to be here when it does. Just listen to the description Pastor Livingston gives in the message below.

This could be the last message you read or hear before you see Jesus, or before you feel heat. If this might be you, don't wait any longer. Lay down your pride and make your calling and election sure. Today is the day of salvation! If you are indeed a believer and there is a besetting sin in your life, confess and repent before the Lord so He can cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. - 1 John 3:3

Please click on the following links to watch or listen:

The Coming of the Lord Video

The Coming of the Lord mp3

Eagerly Await His Return

By Justin Edwards

In this last message of the When Christ Returns series, Loran Livingston exhorts us to eagerly await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ! He is coming back any moment now and we must continue to sound the alarm that His return is imminent and we must all be ready. We must continue to pursue Him in holiness and for those who have yet to repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, the time to do is now! Judgment Day is coming! The great wrath of God will be the worst devastation this world has ever seen - it is unimaginable as revealed in the Book of Revelation. But there is an escape! There is a way! There is a door to run through to escape God's judgment against the earth and it comes only through the narrow way of Jesus Christ! For God has promised His Bride (the Body of Christ) will not face the wrath to come as the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 regarding those who have repented,

and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

 We also see this in 1 Thessalonians 5:9,

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

What is this wrath? It is the wrath of God that is coming against the sons of disobedience. Ephesians 2:1-3,

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

Born again believers used to be dead in their trespasses and sins and we once walked according to the flesh and according to the ways of the world. But there are many, professing Christians even, who are still slaves to sin and will yet face the wrath of a Holy God. Ephesians 5:6,

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

 What are "these things"?  They are the works of the flesh mentioned in the Ephesians 5:5,

For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

And in Galatians 5:19-21,

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

We see Paul repeating this yet again in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 

However, by the saving grace of God, those who have been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ are no longer controlled by these practices for we see in 1 Corinthians 6:11,

And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

So with that, born again believers can eagerly await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 8:18-23,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Even creation moans and longs for it to be delivered from the curse to which it is subjected. How much more then should we eagerly await with anxious anticipation to be delivered from the captivity of our flesh and receive our glorified bodies! Where there will be no more pain, no more sorrow, no more curse, no more death, no more temptation, no more corruption, no more weakness, and no limitations!

Who is it that Jesus is coming back for? It is those who are eagerly expecting His return - that is, born again Christians who expect Him to physically return to earth. Hebrews 9:27-28,

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

 This will be the completeness of our salvation - Jesus Christ Himself! He will receive us unto Himself as promised in John 14:3. So how can we prepare ourselves for heaven? How must we prepare ourselves to meet Jesus face to face? 1 John 3:3,

And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

And in 2 Corinthians 7:1,

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

But you cannot purify yourself, which is your submission to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, unless you have first been justified by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you profess to believe in Jesus for your salvation, can you remember a time when you were lost? Can you remember a time when you were controlled by sin and have since been delivered from it? Are you still pursuing the things of God or have you returned to the ways of the world and the desires of your flesh? This is how we can know we have fellowship with God and therefore are cleansed by His blood - 1 John 1:6-7,

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

As Paul Washer has so correctly explained, "we have assurance that we have come to know Him not just because one time we repented, but we are continuing to repent today. It is not just that at one time we believed, but that we are continuing to believe today. It is not just that one time we walked with Him; we continue to walk with Him today because He who began a good work will finish it." 

Do you want this assurance that you will go to heaven? Do you want assurance that you will spend the rest of eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you want assurance that you will avoid the wrath of God to come, which culminates in the final resting place of the damned in the Lake of Fire? 

You can have this assurance today. You must repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation alone. Please visit this page to be sure you know how to receive this free gift from God that will break the power of sin over you. Don't hesitate to contact me if you still are unsure. Tomorrow is not promised to you - can you guarantee you will wake up in morning? Can you guarantee you will see heaven?

This has been a wonderful series and I am blessed to have been able to share it with you. Please take the time to watch the message below, and you can find all messages from the series here: When Christ Returns.

May we all be able to say from the deepest cry of our hearts, Come quickly Lord Jesus!

Judging Planet Earth

By Jack Kelly

The combination of the Rapture and the Battle of Ezekiel 38 will fill the world with anguish and uncertainty as Daniel's 70th Week begins. Where did all those Christian people go? How did Israel so utterly destroy that massive invasion force all by itself? Who caused the nuclear exchanges in various places? How did all these things happen so suddenly? Why didn't somebody see this coming and do something about it?

The Seal Judgments

In the midst of the chaos and confusion a man with an incredible ability to restore the world's hope for the future will emerge, promising to bring peace. (Rev. 6:2) The frightened populace will listen and will quickly persuade themselves to follow his lead. He'll agree to Israel's demand for a Temple, not because He wants to help them honor God for securing their victory but because he has plans of his own for the Temple. (Daniel 9:27)

From their own Scriptures (Ezekiel 48:1-10) he'll show Israel why their new Temple shouldn't be built where the old ones had stood. Instead it should be located a few miles north, in ancient Shiloh, where the Tabernacle had been located. This will leave the Moslem facilities intact for a time on the current Temple mount. After the disappearance of the Church Islam will fast become the dominant religion of the world and they believe their third most holy place is on that mount. With this bold stroke he'll bring a semblance of peace to the region, demonstrating that Jew and Moslem can live in peace as neighbors in a brave new world (Dan 8:25). The people of Earth will breathe a collective sigh of relief.

But all too soon wars will start to break out in various places (Rev. 6:3) because this leader's ultimate goal is world domination and some nations will resist. He'll convince people it's only a necessary inconvenience and assure them that everything will soon be all right again. But the combination of wars, food shortages, and runaway inflation will begin taking their toll (Rev. 6:6). The deadly effects of this combination will be felt across one fourth of the Earth.

Though it's often called a religion of peace, Islam offers the world only two options, submission or death, as the martyrs among believers of other faiths will soon learn. For the multitude of new Christians who witnessed the disappearance of friends and family in the rapture and know from first hand experience the truth of the gospel, conversion to Islam will be impossible and the number of those who will die for their faith will mount rapidly and steadily. (Rev. 6:9) They'll cry out to the Lord for vengeance but He'll caution them to be patient for a little while longer because many more will die just as they have (Rev. 6:10-11).

A great earthquake that will be felt world wide will trigger volcanic action spewing millions of tons of ash into the air, blotting out the Sun and bringing the Blood Moon (Rev. 6:12-14). Some will blame the earthquake on a unique planetary alignment predicted by the Mayans long ago. Others will say it's due to the return into the Solar System of a long lost planet. The upper atmosphere will literally burst into flame because of the simultaneous magnetic polar reversals on the Sun and Earth.

The world's leaders will run for cover, some intuitively knowing that the Wrath of God they were warned about by the Christians who've all disappeared has already begun and they'll be shown no quarter. (Rev. 6:16-17)

The Trumpet Judgments

As if to confirm the worst fears of these leaders, a storm of hail, fire, and blood will rain down upon the Earth burning up a third of it. A third of the trees and all the green grass will go up in smoke. (Rev. 8:7) A meteor-like object the size of a huge mountain will crash into the sea. The resulting contamination will turn a third of the world's oceans to blood killing all the marine life in the affected areas. The tsunami this causes will capsize and destroy a third of the ships in the world. Over 50,000 commercial ships will disappear in a single day. (Rev. 8:8-9)

Then another star will fall to Earth and when it does a third of the fresh water will be contaminated. It will be toxic and foul tasting and many people will die from drinking it. (Rev. 8:10-11)

Both the day and the night will lose a third of their light due to the smoke and ash from the fires and volcanos. Through the smoke and haze a messenger will bring a warning from the Lord, “The worst is yet to come.” (Rev. 8:12-13)

A fallen angel will open the shaft of the Abyss and smoke will billow forth, further contaminating the already toxic air. Creatures resembling locusts will fly from the smoke and for 5 months will inflict scorpion like stings on the people. These stings will be so painful people will wish they could die, but there'll be no escape (Rev. 9:1-11). The only people on Earth who will be immune from their venom will be the 144,000 evangelists the Lord will have commissioned from among 12 named tribes of Israel (Rev. 7:1-8).

Four angels who've been bound at the gateway to the East (the Euphrates) will be released to kill one third of the Earth's remaining population with plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur. (Rev. 9:13-19) The East is far different from the West and because of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Eastern religions the Far East will be the most difficult to bring under the Islamic one world banner. Since 40% of the world's population lives there the number of casualties will be enormous.

Between the Rapture, the martyrdom, the wars and the judgments well over 2 billion people will no longer be found among the living on planet Earth as Daniel's 70th Week approaches the mid point. And yet the Bible gives no indication that the unbelievers who remain will see the error of their ways and change their minds. This is the hardest core of the unsaved, the ones who refused to believe the truth of the Lord and accepted the lie of the anti-Christ instead (2 Thes. 2:10). In their deluded state they'll think they're on the side of light not darkness, and right not wrong. They'll see God as the invading enemy and Satan as their leader. Spiritually, everything will be upside down.

But at the blowing of the 7th Trumpet, the Lord's reign will begin (Rev. 11:15). Having used every device at His command to persuade the people of Earth to change their minds and accept His offer of pardon, He will now take action to unseat the usurper from the throne that's rightfully His and claim for Himself that which He's purchased with His own blood, Planet Earth. Those who've sided with Satan will now face the worst time of judgment in the history of mankind. Were it not for a remnant of the Lord's people among them, not a single soul would be left standing when this is over (Matt. 24:21-22).

The Bowl Judgments

The Bowl judgments make up the 3 1/2 year period of time we know as the Great Tribulation. The Seal and Trumpet cycles of judgments were partly for the purpose of demonstrating evidence of God's existence to the undecided among the people of Earth. But that will have come to an end with the Bowl judgments. They're strictly for the purpose of bringing judgment upon those who've rejected Him. In the process the Lord is going to completely destroy all the nations to which His people have been scattered (Jeremiah 30:11). Today there are nearly as many Jews in America as there are in Israel, so you know this country will not escape.

By now Satan will have been expelled from Heaven (Rev. 12:9), taken up residence in the body of the anti-Christ (Rev. 13:4) and unleashed his full fury on those who refuse to bow before him. Three angels will have delivered God's final messages to mankind. The first one will offer one last chance to accept the Gospel, the second will announce the coming destruction of Babylon and all the city represents, and the third will warn mankind against taking the mark of the beast. (Rev. 14:6-11)

People who will have disregarded the warning against taking the mark will be treated to a dose of ugly and painful sores (Rev. 16:2) All the water on Earth will turn to blood, whether in the sea (Rev. 16:3) or in springs and rivers (Rev. 16:4). All sources of water will now be contaminated. The angel in charge of the waters reminds us that God is just in doing this because those He's judging have shed the blood of God's saints and prophets. Now He's giving them blood to drink. (Rev. 16:5-7)

The Sun will go super nova at this point becoming so hot people will burst into flames just by going outside. Again they will curse God but refuse to repent. (Rev. 16:8-9)

Then the Sun will go totally dark turning day into night, and still the people of Earth will curse God but refuse to repent (Rev. 16:10-11).

The anti-Christ will gather the armies of the world to Armageddon in a final effort to repel the Earth's “invaders”. From Heaven a loud voice will shout, “It is done!” and the full fury of God's wrath will be loosed on Earth. Lightning, thunder, and the worst earthquake man has ever experienced will be followed by a torrent of 100 pound hail stones. (Rev. 16:17-21) The punishment for blasphemy is stoning, and the blaspheming people of Earth will suffer the most extreme form of this punishment for their behavior.

Then God will turn to Babylon, headquarters of the forces who've defied Him since the time after the flood. There are three components involved, governmental, commercial, and religious, and among them they have enslaved the people of Earth for several millennia.

First God will use the governmental component to destroy the religious one.

“The beast (anti-Christ) and the ten horns (ten kings who assist him) you saw will hate the prostitute (religious Babylon). They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled." (Rev. 17:16-17)

Then He'll turn to the commercial component. It will be so totally destroyed that Earth's leaders will stand aghast scarcely believing what their own eyes are telling them.

They will weep and mourn and cry out, "Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!” (Rev. 18:16-17)

Finally the governmental component.

The beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh. (Rev. 19:20-21)

For six thousand years God has worked tirelessly to reconcile Himself to man, even giving His own life in exchange for ours, and all of His efforts have ended in failure. Covenant after covenant was instituted and broken due to man's unfaithfulness. The only one that wasn't is the one the Father made with His son to save us. But even then man, given the choice to participate as a beneficiary, refused. Soon, His patience exhausted, God will remove the remnant that chose the pardon He offers, and judge the rest. Can you blame Him?

(HT: Rapture Ready)

Come Out of Babylon

By Justin Edwards

Loran Livingston continues in the When Christ Returns series with a message to come out of the world system. Revelation 18:4 says,

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.

1 John 2:15-17,

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Scripture is clear that those who who love the world and pursue the worldly pleasures of life instead of pursuing the holiness of God through the Lord Jesus Christ will pass away with the world and have no inheritance in the Kingdom of God. Rather, they will be partakers with the world and her final judgment.

Christians have gotten lost in the things of this world. We have become consumed with entertainment, politics, careers, and success. But the children of God have been called to do the good works of the Lord. Ephesians 2:10,

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

This world is temporary and is passing away. Instead of serving Jesus Christ in all areas of their lives, we are caught in the mire of a fallen system. Many care more about their retirement than the lost souls they speak to every day. Their priorities are upside down.

Are you dependent on the Lord and seek to be more like Him? Are you anticipating His coming? Or are you dependent upon the world system and indifferent to the things of God and serving yourself instead? Examine yourself to see if your life reflects the following words in Titus 2:11-14,

¹¹ For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, ¹² teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Are you zealous for good works? Are you pursuing godliness and fleeing from the riches of this world? Dwell in the mirror of Scripture and make certain you are coming out of Babylon.

Colossians 3:1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Direct mp3 download: Come Out of Babylon mp3


Come Out Of Babylon