Have You Believed a Lie?
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Take heed that no man deceive you,’” Matthew 24:4 (KJV).
It is harder I believe, to find the truth than a lie.
Why are we deceived? I believe it’s because we are not convinced of the truth of God. His word is truth.
Who are we hanging around that are not convinced of His truth?
The verse above says ‘take heed that no man deceive you.” Mans’ opinions are not always the truth and if we believe what others say over what He says we can be deceived and led astray from Him.
If we waver in doubt and unbelief the bible says we cannot please God and we will be tossed about by every wind of doctrine, so I challenge you to stick to the Holy Bible for truth, for He is the Truth.
What foundations of the faith are you standing firmly on today?
Remember, if the foundation is not sound and firm in Him, it will shift and fall. A house divided cannot stand.
As you approach the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, times of tribulation are on the horizon and you must be prepared with a sound solid faith in Jesus Christ, knowing your salvation is sure and eternal, and will never fade away.
Today I would like to discuss whether or not salvation and hell are eternal. I am distressed when I hear that a Christian is unsure of their salvation because of the sins they have committed, and that surely God will not accept them now because they still sin.
Sometimes these same people have a hard time believing that a loving God would send someone to hell to suffer eternally because they reject Christ.
Let’s look at these claims one by one from His word so that you can be sure and grounded.
Part 1: Eternal Salvation
My favorite salvation verse is John 3:16-18,
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
I love God’s word because it is so clear. The verses above tell you that God loves you, in fact He loves everyone in the world. And because He loves us He does not want us to perish in our sins, but to have everlasting life.
We all are sinners, there are none righteous no not one. Sin entered in the Garden of Eden, and when Adam and Eve disobeyed God they became sinners, and the curse followed to all men.
You see, God always gives us a choice to follow Him and be obedient in love. So, man took on the sin nature of Adam through birth, for the bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death.
This is why Jesus Christ came, to pay the penalty for our sins that our relationship with the Father might be restored by faith.
So when you die do you just go to the grave and that’s it?
You have to remember that God is Spirit and is from everlasting to everlasting, He has no beginning or end because He is eternal. And because you are made in His image, you have a spirit and it is your spirit that lives on into eternity.
So where will you spend eternity?
Yes, the bible says it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment. Notice in John 3:16 it says, He does not want us to perish. To perish means to come to destruction, to be lost, to be eternally separated from Him.
But because we are eternal beings, we will live forever somewhere, and because God is Holy, He must judge sin in our lives.
In the verses above He says that if you believe in Him you will not be condemned for your sins, but if you do not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God you are condemned already.
This condemnation sentences us to hell, the penalty for our sins. So, He has given you a choice. He has stepped in by His love and made an eternal payment for your sin, His precious blood.
He gave His one and only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as payment for your sin, the perfect sinless Son of God, so you could know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God, (1 John 5:13).
Jesus said the truth would set you free, and he whom Jesus sets free is free indeed….
Part 2 Eternal Salvation:
“And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you,” Matthew 24:4 (KJV).
He shed His precious blood and died upon the cross for you, He was buried and took your sins to the grave and left them there, and He rose again from the dead on the third day and lives forever to make intercession for you.
Beloved, first and foremost, our eternity with Him rests in the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead.
Paul stresses the importance of Christ’s resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-22, in regards to your eternal life in Him. He says,
“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man (Adam) came death, by Man (Jesus Christ) also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”
He made us acceptable by His blood, and because He has risen from the dead you too have that opportunity to live forever with Him and be raised in newness of life by believing and receiving what He did for you.
After we are saved the enemy of our faith, the devil, comes to bring condemnation because of what you have or have not done.
Remember Jesus didn’t come to condemn but to save, and payment was made in full for you. I believe this is where most Christians have their trouble many times.
Remember, sin is still a part of our new nature because of the flesh. When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior He sends His Holy Spirit to live within us to help us live the Christian life, to overcome sin daily.
If fact, He gives us the opportunity and ability through His Spirit to be more than conquerors through Him. However, when you sin you give the devil the right to cause trouble in your life, and his best weapon is condemnation.
He will do his best to make you feel like God doesn’t love you anymore and that because you messed up you may not be saved after all.
Beloved, if this were true that would mean that the blood of Christ is not sufficient to save you from your sins and that Christ’s death was in vain, and that because of what you do salvation and eternal life could be in jeopardy.
The devil is a liar, and the father of lies. You did not do anything to get saved and you cannot do anything to lose your salvation…eternal means everlasting!
The Holy Spirit is your guarantee of salvation to be revealed in the last time, and Jesus is the one that has made us acceptable to the Father.
You did not make yourself acceptable, you did not do anything to be good enough to be saved. Salvation is by His grace, it’s a free gift because of His love for you.
Salvation is through faith not your works, believing that His sacrifice on the cross was enough to forgive you of your sins and give you eternal life.
Be careful who you are listening to, for this bad decision could lead to much difficulty.
Will you choose Jesus today?
Will you admit you’re a sinner and that you need a Savior?
Will you repent and change your mind from trying to save yourself, to believing that what He did for you on the cross is the only way to be saved?
I love what Jesus said in John 11:25, 26,
“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Look at 1 Peter 1:3-5,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Also, John 10:28-30,
“And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast,” Ephesians 2:8-9.
“In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory,” Ephesians 1:13-14.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved,” Ephesians 1:1-7.
And lastly, John 17:6-12,
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”
God Bless You, you are in my prayers
~ Celeste Dewey
Awesome. Marvelous. Thanks sister.
Amen!!!