God is Love and Just

   Dentists, athletic trainers, teachers, parents – they all know that sometimes to be good is not to be kind. God allows suffering and deprives us of the lesser good of pleasure in order to help us toward the greater good of moral and spiritual education. We learn from the mistakes we make and the suffering they bring. The universe is a soul – making machine. The point of our lives in this world isn’t comfort, but training and preparation for eternity. Scripture tells us that even Jesus learned obedience through suffering (Heb.5:8) – and if that was true for Him, why wouldn’t it be even more for us? 

   The death of God on the cross, at that time, nobody saw how anything good could ever result from this tragedy. And yet God foresaw that the result would be the opening of heaven to human beings. So the worst tragedy in history brought about the most glorious event in history. If the ultimate evil can result in the ultimate good – it can happen elsewhere. Here, God lifts the curtain and lets us see it. Elsewhere He simply says, “Trust Me.”

   Suppose you’re the devil. You’re the enemy of God and you want to hurt Him. You can not get to Him, but you can get to the human beings that he loves. You have got hostages. Satan makes it easy to chose evil over good. The overwhelming majority of the pain in the world is caused by human beings choosing to kill, to slander, to be selfish, to stray, to break our promises, to be reckless…to love PPG = Power, Pride, and Greed. The source of evil is not God’s power but mankind’s freedom.

   God gives us just enough evidence so that those who want Him can have Him. Those who want to follow the clues will. Some will find. Those who seek, and hearts are set on finding Him and who follow the clues.

   If there is a God, why is there so much evil?  OR  If there is no God, why is there so much good?

God uses the standard of good to judge evil.   If there is no God, where did we get the standard of goodness by which we judge evil as evil. The good of God, the joy of God, is going to infinitely outweigh all of the sufferings – and even the joys – of this world.

   Evil people get away with hurting others all the time. Certainly God can’t consider that fair. How can God watch that happen? People are not getting away with anything. Justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied. There will come a day when God will settle accounts and people will be held responsible for the evil and the suffering they have caused. Criticizing God for not doing what we think He should do now is like reading half a novel and criticizing the author for not resolving the plot. Pain and suffering are frequently the means by witch we become motivated to finally surrender to God and seek the cure of Christ.

   Is it possible, to thank God for the pain that befalls us? In heaven we will do exactly that. In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.

 The bottom line to all this is Jesus. It’s Jesus Himself. It’s not a bunch of words, it’s The Word.

Jesus is there, sitting beside us in the lowest places of our lives. He defeated death for all that confesses Him as Lord of all.

Paul the apostle had what he called “a thorn in his flesh” that he asked God three times to remove and God’s answer was that His grace was sufficient and that His strength is made perfect in weakness. Even good can come out of evil.

If God does not exist, then objective moral values do not exist. Thus, without God there is no absolute right and wrong, which imposes itself on our conscience.

The premise is that whatever begins to exist must have a cause. In other words, ‘being’ can’t come from ‘nothing.’ Since God never began to exist, He doesn’t require a cause. He never came into being. Scientifically speaking, it’s far more probable for a life-prohibiting universe to exist than a life-sustaining one. Life is balanced on a razor’s edge.

The Bible says, “I the Lord do not change.” In both testaments you’ve got the identical, unchangeable God-the one who is so holy He cannot look upon sin, and yet the one whose loving, merciful, gracious, and compassionate heart wants to pour forgiveness on all people who repent. God’s character is absolutely holy, and that He has got to punish sin and rebellion. He’s a righteous judge; that’s undeniably part of who He is. But, second, His character is also merciful. The Israelites were the chosen people through whom God would bring salvation to the entire world through Jesus Christ. Some nations were out to destroy Israel. God could dealt with them through a natural disaster like a flood, but instead He used Israel as His instrument of judgment. He took action not only for the sake of the Israelites, but ultimately for the sake of everyone through history whose salvation would be provided by the Messiah who was to be born among them. God created life and He has the right to take it. God is sovereign over all of life and He has the right to take it if He wishes. It’s called death. The only question is when and how, which we have to leave up to Him. God’s nature demands that He deal with corrupt people who stubbornly and willfully persist in their evil. And isn’t that what He should do? Isn’t that what we want-for justice to be done? For those who repent and turn to Him, He’s compassionate, merciful, gracious, and kind. In the end, we’ll all see His fairness. 

How about the Children?

Every child who dies before the age of accountability goes to heaven to spend eternity in the presence of God. Now, if they had continued to live in a horrible society, past the age of accountability, they undoubtedly could have become corrupted and thereby lost forever. See Isaiah 7:16.  Under the rules of conduct God had given to the Israelites, whenever they went into an enemy city they were to first make the people an offer of peace. 

There is more evidence that the Bible is a reliable source than there is for any other book from the ancient world.  The 66 books written in different literary styles by perhaps 40 different authors with divers backgrounds over 1500 years, and yet the Bible amazingly unfolds one continuous drama with one central message. That points to the existence of the divine Mind that the writers clamed inspired them.

First, there’s archaeological confirmation of its reliability.  There have been thousands-not hundreds-of archaeological findings in the Middle East that support the picture presented in the biblical record.

Second, there’s miraculous confirmation of its divine authority. The only reason anyone should accept the Bible as divinely authoritative is because it has miraculous confirmation.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The biggest miracle has happened –making something out of nothing…

The Bible is miraculously confirmed by the fulfillment of predictive prophecies. The Bible is the only book in the world that has precise, specific prophecies that have been made hundreds of years in advance and that were fulfilled, and that are being fulfilled. There are 191 predictions in the Old Testament about the coming of Christ, including his ancestry, the city in which He would be born, that He would be born of a virgin, precisely the time in history when He would die, and so on….

Based on the evidence for who Jesus was, there really aren’t any competitors. So choose Jesus, not the one who claimed wisdom, Confucius; or the one who claimed enlightenment, Buddha; or the one who claimed to be a prophet, Muhammad, but with the one who claimed to be GOD in human flesh. The one who declared, ‘Before Abraham was born, I am-and proved it.’

Christianity isn’t true because it works; it works because it’s true.

 Moses could mediate on the law;  Muhammad could brandish a sword;  Buddha could give personal counsel;  Confucius could offer wise sayings;  But none of these men was qualified to offer an atonement for the sins of the world….Christ alone is worthy of unlimited devotion and service.

Jesus Christ has made it clear that the eternal truths of God may be known. Jesus Christ is the centerpiece of the gospel-in Him, all of truth came together. So while there may be aspects of truth elsewhere, the sum total of truth is in Christ. Jesus did not come into the world to make bad people good, He came into the world to make dead people live. Apart from Him, we cannot even believe what is right, let alone live the right way. You let Jesus pay for your sin or you try to pay for it yourself.

God Himself does not send anybody to heaven or to hell; the person chooses to respond to the grace of God or to reject the grace of God, although even that decision is enabled by His grace. The Bible says anyone spending eternity with God in heaven is there because of the grace and provision of Jesus Christ, which the person trusted and received. If the person has rejected that grace, then was he a good man or a bad man? Scripture tells us nobody is really good until he or she is first redeemed. If God were to truly give what every one of us deserved, none of us would get to heaven. Hell is the absence of God. God hates hell and He hates people going there. The bible is very clear: God says He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezk. 33:11). Hell was not part of the original creation. Hell is something God was forced to make because people chose to rebel against Him and turn against what was best for them and the purpose for which they were created.  The worst thing a person can do, which is to mock and dishonor and refuse to love the person that we owe absolutely everything to, which is our Creator, God Himself.

To think that a person could go through their whole life constantly ignoring Him, constantly mocking Him by the way they choose to live without Him, saying, “I couldn’t care less about what you put me here to do. I couldn’t care less about your values or your Son’s death for me. I’m going to ignore all of that” – that’s the ultimate sin. And that punishment is everlasting separation from God. The option of forcing everyone to go to heaven is immoral, because it’s dehumanizing; it strips them of the dignity of making their own decision; it denies them their freedom of choice; and it treats them as a means to an end. God respects human freedom. In fact, it would be unloving – a sort of divine rape – to force people to accept heaven and God if they didn’t really want them. When God allows people to say “no” to Him, He actually respects and dignifies them. God considers people so intrinsically valuable that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and die so that they can, if they choose, spend eternity in heaven with Him.

God does everything He can to give people a chance, and there will be not a single person who will be able to say to God, “If you had just not allowed me to die prematurely, if you’d have given me another twelve months, I know I would have made that decision.” The simple fact is God rewards those who seek Him. 

Remember, we don’t decide what’s true based on what we like or don’t like. We have to consider the evidence.  

Whenever you’re trying to start a friendship with any person, you don’t understand everything about him and you don’t necessarily agree of feel good about every view he holds. But you have to ask, on balance, do you trust this person enough to want to enter a friendship with Him? The same is true with Jesus. Every single issue isn’t going to be resolved before we enter into a relationship with Him. But the question is, on balance, can you trust Him???   Read the gospel of John.

The shame is not that people have doubts, but that they are ashamed of them. They believe that having doubts isn’t evidence of the absence of faith; on the contrary, they consider them to be the very essence of faith itself.

Can a person be a Christian and have reservations or doubts? 

People mix up faith and feelings. Some people equate faith with a perpetual religious high. When the high wears off, they start to doubt whether they have any faith at all. Faith is not always about having positive emotional feelings toward God or life. There’s either a will to believe or there’s a will not to believe. That’s the core of it. Faith is a choice.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.  Read all of Hebrews chapter 11.

If faith never encounters doubt, if truth never struggles with error, if good never battles with evil, how can faith know its own power?  Choose between a faith that has stared doubt in the eye and made it blink, or a naïve faith that has never known the firing line of doubt.

When the preponderance of all the evidence tilts decisively in God’s favor, and a person then makes the rational choice to put their trust in Him, they can hold some of their more peripheral objections in tension until the day comes when they’re resolved.  In the meantime, they can still make the choice to believe – and ask God to help them with their unbelief.

In all the evidence that there’s a God, that He created you, that the New Testament is historically trustworthy, that Jesus performed miracles and rose from the dead, that God wants to spend eternity with you in heaven.   

Truth

What someone believes about God affects everything else that they believe.  The 5 most consequential questions in life are these:

1.      Origin: Where did we come from?

2.      Identity: Who are we?

3.      Meaning: Why are we here?

4.      Morality: How should we live?

5.      Destiny: Where are we going?

The answer to each of these depends on the existence of God.

 If God exists, then there’s ultimate meaning and purpose to your life. If there’s real purpose to your life, then there’s real right and wrong way to live it. Choices you make now not only affect you here but also will affect you in eternity. If there is no God, then your life ultimately means nothing. Since there is no enduring purpose to life, there’s no right or wrong way to live it. And it doesn’t matter how you live or what you believe-your destiny is dust.

Yet despite these intellectual, emotional, and all kinds of obstacles, we submit that it’s not faith in Christianity that’s difficult but faith in atheism or any other religion. Once one looks at the evidence, we think it takes more faith to be a non-Christian than it does to be a Christian. The fact that every religious worldview requires faith-even the worldview that says there is no God.

All major religions claim that they are the only way to God. Nearly all religions have some truth. If the Bible is true, then any specific clam that contradicts the Bible must be false. All the evidence in the world cannot compel anyone to believe it. Evidence is not what’s in the way-the person is. The Bible clams that Jesus rose from the dead, the Qur’anic denial of that fact makes it false.  Unexamined life is not worth living, and the unexamined faith is not worth believing. 

We humans have a fatal tendency to try to adjust the truth to fit our desires rather than adjusting our desires to fit the truth.

We expect to be told the truth when we pick up a reference book, read an article, or watch a news story; we want the truth from advertisers, teachers and politicians; we assume road signs, medicine bottles, and food labels reveal the truth. We demand the truth for almost every facet of life that affects our money, relationships, safety, or health.  Despite our unwavering demands for truth in those areas, many of us say we aren’t interested in truth when it comes to morality or religion. Many downright reject the idea that any religion can be true. We love the truth when it enlightens us, but we hate it when it convicts us.

Truth is not relative but absolute. If something is true, it’s true for all people, at all times, in all places. Truth is discovered, not invented.

We can believe everything is true, but we cannot make everything true.

Truth is not dependent on our feelings or preferences. Something is true whether we like it or not.

It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

GOD (The creator, as the Bible describes Him.) is the only one that has no tolerance.

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

We must preach the truth, even if it makes us unpopular, suffer, or if it hurts.

Some of the modern teachings are trying to tell us such things as;

“There is no truth” as we could say “Is that true?”

“There are no absolutes”     “Are you absolutely sure?”

“All truth is relative”           “Is that a relative truth?”

“It’s true for you but not for me!”     “Is that statement true for you, or is it true for everyone?”

“True for you but not for me” may be the mantra of our day, but it’s not how the world really works. Try saying that to your bank teller, the police, or the IRS and see how far you get!”

If there really is no truth, then why try to learn anything? Why should any student listen to any professor? After all, he doesn’t have the truth. What’s the point of obeying the teacher’s moral prohibitions against cheating on test or plagiarizing term papers?   False ideas about truth lead to false ideas about life. If you can kill the concept of truth, then you can kill the concept of any true religion or any true morality.   Many of us who deny there’s truth in religion are not actually blind to it, but only willfully blind to it.   Most people arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.

If atheists are right, then we might as well lie, cheat, and steal to get what we want because this life is all there is, and there are no consequences in eternity.   The truth in morality and religion has temporal and maybe eternal consequences. Apathy and ignorance can be fatal. What you don’t know, or don’t care to know, can hurt you.  So why should anyone believe anything at all? Because they have evidence to support those beliefs, and because beliefs have consequences.

True knowledge is knowledge by causes. In other words, science is a search for causes. That’s what scientists do-they try to discover what caused what.  “If there is no God, why is there something rather than nothing?” is a question that we all have to answer. And in light of the evidence, we are left with only two options: either no one created something out of nothing, or else someone created something out of nothing.

For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of knowledge; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.

Every design had a designer.   We know beyond a reasonable doubt that the universe is designed.  Therefore, the universe had a Designer.   When top evolutionists have to resort to aliens to explain the origin of life, you know the simplest life must be incredibly complex.  All attempts to create life from non-life, starting from Pasteur, have been unsuccessful.  It’s the Darwinists who are allowing their faith to overrule observation and reason. 

We all have heard “you ought not judge” is itself a judgment! (Pluralists misinterpret Jesus’ comments on judging [Matt. 7:1-5]. Jesus did not prohibit judging as such, only judging hypocritically.) Indeed, everyone-the pluralist, the Christian, the atheist, the agnostic-makes judgments.

Christianity is all about forgiveness, it’s also about denying yourself and carrying your cross. Indeed, Christianity is free, but it can cost you your life.

To read the best book that explains this so much beater get “I Don’t Have Enough FAITH To Be An ATHEIST”  By Norman L. Geisler  and Frank Turek…

Genesis 1:28   “And God blessed them, and said unto them  (that is Adam and Eve, although Eve hasn’t been created, she is still in Adam. So He is addressing them both.),  `Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion…’”

Adam was to have rule over the whole creation under God. He had total dominion. He was going to be literally God’s second in command. When Adam sinned, what happened to that role as having dominion? He lost it. He dropped the ball.  Satan picked it up. From that time on Scripture makes it so abundantly clear, that Satan is the god of this world. Another Scripture says, “The world lieth in the lap of the wicked one.” Everything that mankind accomplishes, whether it’s good, beautiful, ugly, or bad, Satan has prompted it. God is not in the business of a material world. And so the world is truly in the lap of that wicked one. Satan has dominion.

Go to Matthew Chapter 4:8. Here we have the temptation. And Satan is trying every ploy, trying to get Jesus to bow down to him.

Matthew 4:8   “Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;…”     All the beautiful Parthenon’s, aqueducts, and all the productions; and everything that mankind had accomplished. Satan said, “Do you see all of that?” Matthew 4:9   “And saith unto him  (Christ),  All these things will I give thee,…”

It was his to give. Absolutely they are his dominion today. But he didn’t trick Jesus, because Jesus knew that one day He would have them back anyway. And He didn’t have to fall down and worship Satan to get them. In Revelation Chapter 5, as the Son of God comes before the Ancient of days and He takes that mortgage from God the Father. He says in so many words, “I’ll pay it off.” He is going to pay off the curse. The world has been under the curse ever since Genesis Chapter 3. And now it is time to end it. He will pay off Satan’s mortgage. And He alone can do it. Because of his death, burial, and resurrection. He is worthy.        (Are Adam and Eve in heaven?)

Revelation 5:8a,9,10   “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb… And they sung a new song, saying `Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof;  (He is worthy);  for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests  (here is that promise);  and we shall reign on the earth.”

This all could happen during the seven years of Tribulation. Satan is going to have his final time. And it’s going to be such a crescendo of the wrath of God upon Satan and mankind, which have been following him. And all the cataclysmic events of those seven years will culminate with the curse being totally lifted from the earth. Satan defeated and removed from the scene, and after that entire holocaust, out will come that Garden of Eden like earth for the Kingdom.

In Daniel Chapter 6, we find that the decree has now gone out, by virtue of the king, because of those who hated Daniel, and knew his prayer habits. Unknown to the king, they get him to sign a decree that everyone has to pray and bow their knee only to the King of the Medes and Persians. That puts Daniel on the outside

Daniel 6:10  “Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed  (the decree)  he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God,…”

He gave thanks. A lot of times we think of prayer as only asking. But what God demands first is a heart of thanksgiving. And if we can pray with thanksgiving, then we can rest assured that we are on Scriptural grounds. Come over to Chapter 9 where again we pick up this man Daniel using the power of prayer. Here’s this young Jew in captivity, out of his homeland and clear out in a pagan land, strange and far from home. And yet he can give thanks. But now look at his prayer on behalf of his people Israel. As he prays in verse 4 and 5:

Daniel 9:5 “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity  (he is speaking about himself and his people, the Nation of Israel, and of course that is why they are in captivity because of their rebellion.), and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: “

We won’t read his whole prayer; But now let’s come down to verse 18 as his prayer is winding down. And he is praying his heart out on behalf of his own nation. Most think that all of us are alarmed at what is going on in our country. We are alarmed about the spiritual rebelliousness, there is no interest, and there is only one answer to it. And that is that God’s people are going to have to get back on their knees.

If every born again child of God in America, would spend 10 to 20 or 30 minutes a day praying (couples together, or as individuals if they could do that),  We know that things would start happening in our favor instead of going against us. The enemy is getting to the place where they can almost push us out the side door. And they are just simply trying to make us inoperative as believers in The Bible.

Daniel 9:18  “O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations (Daniel is praying on behalf of his own people Israel and the City of Jerusalem.),  and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses  (not because they deserve it),  but for thy great mercies.”

Now it is the same way for us today. We can never go before God and ask for anything because we deserve it. Everything that we get, every breath that we breathe, every heartbeat is because of the Grace of God. And so Daniel, even back here under Law, when they have no knowledge of what we call the Grace of God, yet he is calling upon the very Grace of God.

Daniel 9:19   “O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God:…”    This man is pouring out his heart. And remember it’s the same God we pray to today. We are under a whole different economy, granted, and we will go to the New Testament now and see what a difference that does make. Let’s go to the Book of Philippians and come to Chapter 4. Again there is such a difference in some of these commands to pray. But here in Paul’s letter to the Church, we have something that is so practical. All of this is the privilege of the believer. That is whom Paul is writing to. As he writes to the believer, he speaks to the unbeliever.

Philippians 4:6   “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

Let’s break that tremendous verse down. “Be careful for nothing;  (now the word “careful” is translated out of a Greek word that really means to be anxious, or worry about nothing. We can have concerns. There is a big difference between worrying and having concerns. To actually sit and be a worrywart, God forbids it. You’ve heard the old saying, “Why worry when you can pray.” God doesn’t want us to worry);  but  (instead of worrying)  in every thing  (It means everything. There is nothing that God has canceled out, and said, “Don’t bother Me with it.” We can go to God with our little problems. He wants to be bothered, if that’s the word you want to use)  by prayer and supplication  (the same word Daniel used. But the next two words?)  with thanksgiving   If we asked with thanksgiving, with that attitude of realizing that He doesn’t have to do what you are asking Him for. He’s going to answer your prayer according to His Grace, and Mercy. As you start praying, you thank him first. Thank him for what He is going to do with your particular request. And that is exactly what Paul is referring to. And we will also see in Thessalonians that He says basically the same thing. That as we pray we do it with that heartfelt attitude of thanksgiving)  let you requests be made known unto God.

Doesn’t God know? Sure He does. But He wants you and I to communicate. He wants us to let Him know from our hearts what we desire and what we need.

Philippians 4:7  “And the peace  (not with God, but the peace of God. You made peace with God the day you took His offer of salvation. That is reconciliation. Reconciliation is when you the sinner who was separated from God, was reconciled to God through the work of the Cross. Then you made peace with God. There is no longer that enmity. You’re no longer an outcast. You’re now His child. As you walk the Christian life, you can have an outpouring of the peace of God. It never leaves us, but we can have more at sometimes than others. It is the same with the filling of the Spirit. Here we are promised that as we pray, leaving everything in the Throne Room of Heaven, we can live every day knowing that the peace)  of God, which passeth all understanding  (it is beyond human concept to have this peace of God. And only the believer understands what that is. When you have that peace of God that passeth all understanding it ),   shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

I Thessalonians 5:16,17   “Rejoice evermore,”   Paul is right on target. These Thessalonian believers had this assurance that again their God was with them. That no one could touch them without His knowing it. So Paul could rightfully write,   “Rejoice evermore, Pray without ceasing.”

Talk to God as you go throw each day as you would any best friend….

1 Cor. 2:13-15 (NLT)    When we tell you this, we do not use words of human wisdom. We speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. [14] But people who aren’t Christians can’t understand these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them because only those who have the Spirit can understand what the Spirit means. [15] We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can’t understand us at all.

Here we’re preparing the earth of the millennial reign, heaven on earth. It’s going to be an earth of tremendous production. There’ll be no want. There’ll be no sweat of the brow; it’s going to be an easy production, and food will be in abundance everywhere.

Isaiah 65:19-20a “And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days:…”   Death will be almost unknown in this thousand-year period.

Isaiah 65:20b “…for the child shall die an hundred years old;   (At a hundred they’re still just as vibrant as a child.)   but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.”  Which means there might be a possibility of someone having to be removed. It’s going to be so rare that the Scripture really doesn’t deal with it all that much.

Isaiah 65:21-22a “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22. They shall not build, and another inhabit;…”  Which was Israel’s history. They’d get their economy going and enemy forces would come in and take their crops and destroy their houses and they were under constant turmoil. But that will happen no more.

Isaiah 65:22b “…they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”   Most think they’ll live the whole thousand-year period of time, even as they did back before the flood.

Isaiah 65:23-24 “They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.  (The next verse is a perfect parallel with John’s gospel chapter 14.)  24. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”  Go to John’s Gospel because this has been such a confusing thing for so many people, and they can’t get it through their thinking that Christ was looking forward to the Kingdom time when He said so many of these things. They’re not apropos for us today.

John 14:13. This will all become a reality in this Kingdom economy, when Christ is ruling and Satan is locked up. Every Jew will be in a special manifestation of God’s grace and power. The Lord is speaking, and He says:   “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.”  All they have to do is speak it. Providing, of course, that it’s within common sense, and that’s going to be a given. But it’s going to be a time when all their prayers will be answered as if they had merely had the thought.

Isaiah 65:25a “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,…”   This isn’t just pie in the sky. A lot of people scoff at this, and they say, “That’s just a figure of speech.” This is going to become a literal reality when God will literally change the digestive system of the wild animals where they will not eat of other living things. Isaiah 11 says that they will eat of everything that grows naturally, the herbs and the grasses and so forth.

Isaiah 65:25 “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: (His whole digestive system will be transferred from carnivorous to eating forage.)  and dust shall be the serpent’s meat.  (The serpent will not be active in the Kingdom, this is a play on words that the serpent will not enjoy all these good things of the Kingdom.)  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,  (or in my Kingdom)  saith the LORD.”  Now go into the final chapter of Isaiah, and Isaiah is 66 chapters long and our Bible is 66 books. There seems to be a parallel.

Isaiah 66:1 “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool:  (That is a significance of His Sovereignty. The earth is just His footstool. It’s just a little marble out of all of God’s creation. And it’s His.)  where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?” 

Isaiah 66:5a “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you,…”   The little remnant has been hated by the majority. We’re seeing the same thing today. Even in the realms of Christendom, the true believer is more and more being scorned by the masses. They think we’re narrow-minded, and they don’t literally take this Book to be true.

Isaiah 66:5b  “…Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, let the LORD, be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.  (or disappointed.)

I Peter 2:6 “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,  (Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah)  elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.”  Another word for confounded is disappointed.   When will the mass of the so-called religious people be disappointed? When they find themselves in the wrong place! That’s the same way with church people today. When they slip out into eternity, many are going to be disappointed.

Isaiah 66:7 “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.”  We are talking about Israel. Christ’s birth is the man-child at Bethlehem.

Isaiah 66:8 “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”     We’re jumping up from the miracle of Bethlehem to the super miracle of the Second Coming and Christ establishing His Kingdom, and the saved of Israel entering into all the promises that they’ve been looking for. It is going to take an instant. The moment Christ returns they’re going to come into the glory of that promised Kingdom.

Isaiah 66:9-10a “Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb? saith thy God.  (God isn’t going to fall short of all these promises.)  10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her,…” 

Isaiah 66:15-16 “For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.”

Isaiah 66:18 “For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.”   It will happen at His Second Coming, and we’re getting closer and closer every day.

Isaiah 66:19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. [20] And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. [21] And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord.

[22] For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.

[23] And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. [24] And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

66:22-24 Isaiah brings his book to a close with great drama. For the faithless there is a sobering portrayal of judgment. For the faithful, there is a glorious picture of rich reward—“so will your name and descendants endure.” The contrast is so striking that it would seem that everyone would want to be God’s follower. But we are often just as rebellious, foolish, and reluctant to change as the Israelites. We are just as negligent in feeding the hungry, working for justice, and obeying God’s Word. Make sure you are among those who will be richly blessed.

Here we’re preparing the earth of the millennial reign, heaven on earth. It’s going to be an earth of tremendous production. There’ll be no want. There’ll be no sweat of the brow; it’s going to be an easy production, and food will be in abundance everywhere.

Isaiah 65:19-20a “And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days:…”   Death will be almost unknown in this thousand-year period.

Isaiah 65:20b “…for the child shall die an hundred years old;   (At a hundred they’re still just as vibrant as a child.)   but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.”  Which means there might be a possibility of someone having to be removed. It’s going to be so rare that the Scripture really doesn’t deal with it all that much.

Isaiah 65:21-22a “And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. 22. They shall not build, and another inhabit;…”  Which was Israel’s history. They’d get their economy going and enemy forces would come in and take their crops and destroy their houses and they were under constant turmoil. But that will happen no more.

Isaiah 65:22b “…they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.”   Most think they’ll live the whole thousand-year period of time, even as they did back before the flood.

Isaiah 65:23-24 “They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.  (The next verse is a perfect parallel with John’s gospel chapter 14.)  24. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”  Go to John’s Gospel because this has been such a confusing thing for so many people, and they can’t get it through their thinking that Christ was looking forward to the Kingdom time when He said so many of these things. They’re not apropos for us today.

John 14:13. This will all become a reality in this Kingdom economy, when Christ is ruling and Satan is locked up. Every Jew will be in a special manifestation of God’s grace and power. The Lord is speaking, and He says:   “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.”  All they have to do is speak it. Providing, of course, that it’s within common sense, and that’s going to be a given. But it’s going to be a time when all their prayers will be answered as if they had merely had the thought.

Isaiah 65:25a “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,…”   This isn’t just pie in the sky. A lot of people scoff at this, and they say, “That’s just a figure of speech.” This is going to become a literal reality when God will literally change the digestive system of the wild animals where they will not eat of other living things. Isaiah 11 says that they will eat of everything that grows naturally, the herbs and the grasses and so forth.

Isaiah 65:25 “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: (His whole digestive system will be transferred from carnivorous to eating forage.)  and dust shall be the serpent’s meat.  (The serpent will not be active in the Kingdom, this is a play on words that the serpent will not enjoy all these good things of the Kingdom.)  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,  (or in my Kingdom)  saith the LORD.”  Now go into the final chapter of Isaiah, and Isaiah is 66 chapters long and our Bible is 66 books. There seems to be a parallel.

Isaiah 66:1 “Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool:  (That is a significance of His Sovereignty. The earth is just His footstool. It’s just a little marble out of all of God’s creation. And it’s His.)  where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?” 

Isaiah 66:5a “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you,…”   The little remnant has been hated by the majority. We’re seeing the same thing today. Even in the realms of Christendom, the true believer is more and more being scorned by the masses. They think we’re narrow-minded, and they don’t literally take this Book to be true.

Isaiah 66:5b  “…Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, let the LORD, be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.  (or disappointed.)

I Peter 2:6 “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,  (Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah)  elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.”  Another word for confounded is disappointed.   When will the mass of the so-called religious people be disappointed? When they find themselves in the wrong place! That’s the same way with church people today. When they slip out into eternity, many are going to be disappointed.

Isaiah 66:7 “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.”  We are talking about Israel. Christ’s birth is the man-child at Bethlehem.

Isaiah 66:8 “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.”     We’re jumping up from the miracle of Bethlehem to the super miracle of the Second Coming and Christ establishing His Kingdom, and the saved of Israel entering into all the promises that they’ve been looking for. It is going to take an instant. The moment Christ returns they’re going to come into the glory of that promised Kingdom.

Isaiah 66:9-10a “Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth and shut the womb? saith thy God.  (God isn’t going to fall short of all these promises.)  10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her,…” 

Isaiah 66:15-16 “For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.”

Isaiah 66:18 “For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.”   It will happen at His Second Coming, and we’re getting closer and closer every day.

Isaiah 66:19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. [20] And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. [21] And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord.

[22] For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.

[23] And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. [24] And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

66:22-24 Isaiah brings his book to a close with great drama. For the faithless there is a sobering portrayal of judgment. For the faithful, there is a glorious picture of rich reward—“so will your name and descendants endure.” The contrast is so striking that it would seem that everyone would want to be God’s follower. But we are often just as rebellious, foolish, and reluctant to change as the Israelites. We are just as negligent in feeding the hungry, working for justice, and obeying God’s Word. Make sure you are among those who will be richly blessed.

Isaiah 64:6a “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;…” Did the Pharisees think of themselves as “filthy rags?”  They were self-righteous. They could do no wrong. Even Saul of Tarsus, who later became the Apostle Paul, was a religious to the hilt! He couldn’t find any fault in his lifestyle; he was religious. But the believing element could recognize what they were in God’s sight, and that’s why God could save them.

Isaiah 64:6-7 But we are all as an unclean thing, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf;  (We have nothing going for us.)  and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. 7. And there is none that calleth on thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.”  That was the very attitude that caused this little remnant of Israel to become believers.

It’s no different today. The circumstance of most of Christianity today never brings a person to recognize their need. They’re okay. They’re going to make it. They’ve got all their reasons, but you see, the first step for salvation is to recognize our sinfulness. Remember that this is the first step in God’s saving grace for mortal man, whether it was Israel in antiquity or for us today. That first step for salvation is to recognize that we are nothing in God’s sight. Our own righteousness is nothing more than filthy rags.

Isaiah 65:1-2a “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. 2. I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people,”  This is Israel! They’ve had the Word. They’ve had the prophets. They’ve had the temple. They’ve had the priesthood. But it didn’t make any difference. They were just as rebellious and unbelieving as the Gentile pagan world around them.

Isaiah 65:2 “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;”  Lest you think that this is recent in Israel’s history, go back with me to the last verse of Judges. This is about shortly after they came out of Egypt. About 400 years before King David, and this is unbelievable. Samuel was the last of the judges, but this last verse just typifies ancient Israel almost from day one. Of course, Isaiah is now writing almost a thousand years later, and he’s deploring the same fact.

Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”   When you let the human race do their own thing, it’s never good.   In Isaiah we want to see that God has mercifully put up with the human race from day one because Israel was, you know, the covenant people. They should have been a people of obedience. But they weren’t. The only ones that were obedient were just that small remnant.

Isaiah 65:3 “A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick;”   They are Idol worshiping. They didn’t even build altars the way God instructed them to build altars, because when Israel was taught how to build an altar, they didn’t use brick, they used hewn stone. Bricks are manmade. They’re cooked in an oven. But see, here they used altars made of a counterfeit rather than the way God had instructed Israel. It just shows rebelliousness.

Isaiah 65:4 “Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh,  (That was forbidden all the way up in Israel’s history.)  and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;”   Even their soup that they made was made of stuff that was totally contrary to Israel’s dietary laws.

Isaiah 65:5a “Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.”   They are likened the Pharisees. That was their attitude. They were righteous. They were holy. They would wrap their clerical robes around themselves, and they could do no wrong. But these were the same way. They say,  “I’m holier than you are.”

Isaiah 65:5b “These are a smoke in my nose,  (Not the smoke of incense, as God appreciated in the temple worship. But this was acrid smoke that burned the nostrils.)   a fire that burneth all the day.”  You can go back to an analogy of the ancients. They probably lived in small dwellings. They didn’t have central heat and air, The normal material for burning to keep the house warm was dried cow manure. Just like they did out west. The acrid smoke of that cattle refuse would literally permeate the whole house. That’s what they lived in. But God likens that to His experience with Israel.

Isaiah 65:6-7 “Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom. 7. Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.”    It’s been generation after generation.

Isaiah 65:8a “Thus saith the LORD, as the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not;”   The grapevines the hired help were pulling out to burn were the ones that weren’t producing – the dead ones. But, as they’re about to pull out this dead grapevine, the husbandman sees one cluster of grapes. He says, “Don’t destroy that good little cluster of grapes.”

Isaiah 65:8b “Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all.”   The remnant.  Don’t destroy the vine. There is one cluster of grapes that is still useful for the grape juice.

Isaiah 65:9-10a  “And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect   (The remnant again. The true believer)  shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.  (We come to the promises of this coming Kingdom.)  10. And Sharon…”  That is the Valley of Sharon, which is just east of the Mediterranean coast. It’s one of the valleys of Israel, and now a lot of it is covered with the sand that has blown up from the Mediterranean Sea.

Isaiah 65:10a “And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks,  (Sharon is going to revert back to that beautiful productive valley of grass and water for the flocks of Israel.)   and the valley of Achor…”    This was shortly after they came across the Jordan River, and they were to have nothing to do with the spoils of the little town of Ai. They were instructed, don’t touch any of that stuff, it should all be destroyed. Achan took some for himself, and he thought he’d gotten away with it but God knew. Achan was dealt harshly over that. The Valley of Achor became a curse to Israel. It was just something that was avoided. But, here in the Kingdom it’s going to be a valley of blessing.

Isaiah 65:10b “…and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.”   For the remnant that’s going to come into the glorious earthly Kingdom that’s been promised since day one.

Isaiah 65:11-12a “But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink-offering unto that number. 12. Therefore, will I number you   (That’s the unbelieving element again.)  to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter:…”   Zechariah said two thirds will die; one third will come through the Tribulation and be the remnant to go into the Kingdom.

Isaiah 65:13-15a “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servant shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty, behold my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: 14. Behold, my servants  (That is the believing remnant.)  shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. 15. And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee,…”   Remember the two women at the well and two people sleeping in the bed, and what does the Lord say in Matthew?   “The one shall be taken, the other left?”   Which one will be taken? The unbeliever! He’ll be removed (die) and the believer will go on into the Kingdom economy.

Isaiah 65:17 “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former  (That is the old earth.)  shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.”  There’s room for controversy here. Is He speaking of the new heaven and new earth of Revelation 21 and 22, or is He speaking of the renovated earth of the Kingdom Age?

Most feel he’s talking about the renovated earth for the millennial reign. You’ve got to remember the thousand-year reign of Christ is the Kingdom economy, in which Christ will rule and reign from Jerusalem. Then, at the end of those thousand years, according to Revelation, in chapter 20 we find that those thousand years are over. It’s going to be heaven on earth because Satan has been locked up. There has been no one to tempt them. They have had a perfect environment. They’ve not been tempted to sin or to rebel until Satan’s released, and then for a little while he’s going to again confuse the multitudes.

Revelation 20:7-9   “And when the thousand years are expired,  (That’s the Kingdom, the millennium.)  Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog,  (All of them.)  to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, (It’s just a repetition of Armageddon all over again.)  and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city:  (Which is Jerusalem, but this time God wastes no time.)  and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”   In the next verse, Satan is consigned to the Lake of Fire. Then you go through the Great White Throne, preparing everything for the coming eternal bliss of both Israel and the Gentile world.

John prophetically sees a new heaven and a new earth. Most don’t think it’s the new heaven and new earth that Isaiah’s referring to. He’s referring to the thousand-year earth, which will be renovated. But this will be brand new.

Revelation 21:1a “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were  passed away;…”  Peter puts it in scientific language, and he says,  “that the earth and everything in it is burned up and it’s going to be dissolved.”   It’s going to be melted down, and out of that will then come the eternal new heaven and new earth, and again it just seems that God’s going to still maintain that separation between Israel and the Body of Christ, who are the “heavenly,” even for all of eternity.

Vital Stats:

• When?  Sunday August 14th from 5:00p.m. to 6:30p.m.
• It’s going to be TONS of fun!
• Great Door Prizes
• Water Slide & Much More – wear your bathing suit

Come join in the festivities and register for Awana!

Isaiah 63:7 “I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.”   The vast majority of Israel was in an attitude of rebellion and unbelief, but in the midst of rebellious national Israel, there was always a remnant!

Isaiah 1:9 “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant,  (Not a large remnant, but rather a small one. If it hadn’t been for that they…)  we would have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”  But, it was because of that small remnant.

Isaiah 63:8a “For he said,  (that is the Lord)  Surely they  (this remnant)  are my people,…”   In Romans chapter 11  “They are my people.”  He doesn’t say that concerning Israel today. They are out there in unbelief. And although He’s certainly in control, He’s got them where He wants them, yet they are not a nation of believers, they are not what God will yet call   “My people.”                                                          Isaiah 63:8 “For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.”   They were true believers.

Isaiah 63:9a “In all their affliction  (Israel has always gone through a constant time of persecution and affliction, but in all their affliction…)  he was afflicted,…”  That is, He suffered with them. God does not precipitate tragic events, Satan does.  God permits it, but Satan is the one who moves and shakes these things. Why does Satan bring so much turmoil and suffering on the human race when he’s already got them under his control? Because Satan knows it hurts the heart of God. God doesn’t enjoy seeing anyone mistreated. It tears at His heart, even in their unbelief. As Israel was suffering affliction, God was suffering with them.

Isaiah 63:9a “In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;…”   Now, you want to remember the whole book of Exodus is really a picture of Redemption. Redemption is buying something back that you have previously owned. When the brothers sold Joseph down into Egypt it was the sin that broke the fellowship between him and the brothers. The whole process of redemption had to begin, and that, of course, was bringing them back out of Egypt 200 and some years later.

Isaiah 63:9b-10a “…he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.  (Up through their ancient history, the days of antiquity.)  10. But  (in spite of all of His love and grace)  they rebelled,…”  In unbelief. They didn’t want to be collared by godliness and spirituality. They wanted to live the life of the flesh.                                                                                                                               Isaiah 63:10b “…and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.”  Consequently, again, He used Babylon and He used the Syrians and He used other nations to be their tormentors.

Isaiah 63:11-12 “Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? 12. That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?”                                                                               Isaiah 63:13 “That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble?”   That’s a play on words.  In the Middle East in the wilderness is the desert. Flat for miles and miles. That’s smooth going compared to going through the rocks and canyons of a mountainous area. This is the picture now, the horseman in the wilderness in the Middle East is riding without fear of stumbling or rocks or whatever like that, and this is the God who led them as someone riding on horseback on a flat desert table. Then, “they should not stumble.”  But, on the other hand, verse 14, we have another picture and it’s:

Isaiah 63:14a”As a beast goeth down into the valley,…”   Beasts go down into the valleys of a terrain because of water. These are the analogies that you’ve got to look for. God brought them out just like a horseman riding on the desert, but He took care of them like animals going down to the cool water of a mountain stream.

Isaiah 63:14b “…the Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest: so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.”   This is really a prayer, on behalf of this small little remnant who recognized who the God of Israel really was.

Isaiah 63:15-16a “Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and they strength, the sounding of thy bowels (innermost being) and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?  (In the next verse there’s an interesting statement.)  16. Doubtless thou art our father,…” Did unbelieving Israel think that?

Look at John’s gospel 8:39. The Pharisees are now confronting Jesus and ridiculing Him. They’re scorning Him.                                                                                                                                               John 8:39a “They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father.”   They really didn’t understand God the Creator of everything as their Father. They ridiculed Christ when He claimed to know the Father and were the Father. They knew nothing of God as their Father. They recognized Abraham as their father, and they were religious on that basis. But to have God as their Father; they knew nothing of it. The believing element can claim God as Father.

Isaiah 63:16a “Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not:…”   Israel detested the true believers. 

Isaiah 63:16b-17 “…thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer;  (The One who purchased their salvation.)  thy name is from everlasting. 17. O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.”   way back here Isaiah is prophesying how the remnant at the end-time, will be waiting for the return of Christ to establish His Kingdom. So they can pray, “Return.”  But, the unbelieving element did not want that.

Go to Acts chapter 7. Here we have the account of Stephen. He’d just finished his great dissertation condemning the nation of Israel, in 7:54. This is going to be the attitude of the masses of Israel compared to that remnant that will be spared and are waiting for the Lord to return – much like the unbelieving element confronting Stephen.

Acts 7:54-55a “When they heard these things,  (That is from Stephen.)  they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55. But he,  (Stephen)  being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,”   Why did Stephen see Jesus standing when all the rest of Scripture says,  “He sat down at the right hand of the Father on high?”  If He’s going to return, what does he have to do from the seated position?  He has to stand. Israel was not ready for that in Stephen’s day. Back to Psalms 68, and this will show you why. They didn’t want Christ to return. That’s the last thing they wanted. But the remnant did.

Psalms 68:1 “Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered:  (Because when He stands from that seated position, He’s going to come in judgment first before He brings in the blessings of the Kingdom.)   let them also that hate him flee before him.”   When He returns He’s going to be as if stomping on the masses of humanity so that the blood is splattered on His raiment. It was compared to the grapes in a grape vat. All of Scripture draws that analogy that He’s going to return in wrath against His enemies, but it’ll be the greatest blessing on earth for the remnant of believing Israel who will be waiting for His coming.

Psalms 68:2-4 “As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.”  (That is His Second Coming.)  3. But  (The righteous are going to be glad.)  let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. 4. Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens, by his name JAH  (Jehovah),  and rejoice before him.”  That’s the exuberance of the remnant at the return of Christ. But not the majority of Israel.

Isaiah 63:17b “Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.”   The believers wanted Him to return. Don’t forget the setting. This is the Tribulation remnant that is waiting for His sudden return.

Isaiah 63:18-19 “The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries  (This is a reference to the Babylonians as well as the Romans.)   have trodden down thy sanctuary.  (Most feel this is a reference to the temple. But, the little remnant of Israel can claim…)  19. We are thine: (Because of their faith God has redeemed them. They are a believing remnant.)  thou never barest rule over them; they  (That is the adversaries.)  were not called by thy name.”     It’s so obvious now that this is the prayer and the expectation of the remnant.

Just to show you how all of Scripture fits, look at Revelation chapter 14. John is writing after Christ’s first advent, and it’s in perfect accord with what Isaiah wrote 700 years before.    Revelation 14:14 “And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man,”  (Christ.)   having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.”  (To harvest).

Revelation 14:15 “And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap:  (or harvest)  for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”   It is ripe for judgment.   God has now put up with their rejection for 6000 years, culminating in the ungodliness of our present day. Why does God pour out such horrible judgment on one generation of people? How can He ignore all those that go clear back to Adam?  There are almost as many people living on the planet today as have lived all the way back through human history. 

Do you realize that most of the present day world was totally unknown and uninhabited until about 1000 to 1200 AD? The whole Western Hemisphere was pretty well uninhabited and unknown until after 1000 AD, the same way with much of the South Sea Islands and so forth. At the time of Christ the total population was only about 500,000,000. That’s one half of one billion.  That’s a lot of people, but nothing compared to the seven plus billion that we are today. When God’s wrath and judgment are poured out on this final generation, He is literally dealing with almost as many people as have lived down through the centuries. Why should this generation suffer so? Because they are symbolically representative of all who’ve gone before.

Revelation 14:17-18 “And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather (or bring together) the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.”    In all of history and in fact, many places of the world today, the staple drink is the grape juice or the wine. When they gathered the ripe grapes they would go into the wine vat. They didn’t go to the supermarket. 

Revelation 14:19 “And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress, of the wrath of God.”   This is symbolic language. A wine vat was an enclosure. It was not all that big, and at the bottom was the drain where they could crush the grapes. So, if we’re dealing symbolically with the human race, what will be God’s wine vat into which He will put the masses? The valleys, especially of Israel. The Valley of Megiddo. The Valley of Sharon. The Jericho Valley. Little Israel is divided into all these separate valleys. They’re going to be packed full of the armies of the world that are still left, two hundred million coming from the Orient.

This is under a supernatural set of circumstances. Those generals are going to do things that would ordinarily be considered absolutely stupid. Why pack all your troops into those valleys? They’re going to pack them in like sardines in a can. You have no idea how many million men you can put in just a square mile.  Millions are going to be packed into these valleys of Israel and waiting for the “Treader of the Grapes.” Christ at His Second Coming.  He isn’t actually going to walk in them. That is a symbolic term. But it’s amazing that the last great plague that is listed in the book of Revelation is the hundred pound hail stones! The Bible doesn’t explicitly say this, but once these armies of the world are packed into the valleys of Israel, the hundred pound hailstones will be God’s treader of the grapes.

Revelation 14:20a “And the winepress was trodden without the city,…”   We know that all these valleys of Israel are beyond Jerusalem. You’ve got the Hula Valley up north of Galilee. Then you’ve got the Valley of Megiddo just running off the north end of Galilee. The Valley of Sharon along the Mediterranean Sea. You’ve got the Jordan Valley coming down from Galilee to the Dead Sea – all those valleys, packed full of the world’s troops.

Revelation 14:20 “And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress,  (Not grape juice, blood. The grapes are Mankind)  even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.”   That’s about 180 miles. That’s about the distance from the Hula Valley down to the Red Sea. It’s going to be a literal river of blood, mixed with water from those hail stones.

Revelation 16:21a “And there fell upon men  (not grapes)  a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent:…”   A talent was a hundred pounds. Hundred pound hail stones.

Revelation 16:21b “…and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”   Earlier in the Tribulation you have the same thing. After listing some of the trumpet judgments, which will be shortly after the middle of the Tribulation, we will see, men don’t change their attitudes toward God. Even after all the severe physical judgments that have come upon the planet, this is the result.

Revelation 9:21 “Neither repented they of their murders, nor their sorceries,  (Pharmacia – Which means drugs. It will be a drug culture.)   nor of their fornication,  (the gross immorality)  nor of their thefts.”     All of this judgment from God doesn’t change their thinking or their lifestyle.

Out of that will come a remnant that will become believers. This is where the fulfillment of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19 for the nation of Israel. In the midst of all of this wrath and outpouring, God’s 144,000 Jews are going to be proclaiming salvation.  Revelation 7:9-10 “After this  (after the sealing of the 144,000)  I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number,  (Watch where they come from, and that’s why this is the fulfilling of the Great Commission. They’re going to come from…)  of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,  (But, see, they’ve already been martyred. They’re already pictured before the throne. They’re no longer on the planet.)   stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; 10. And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.”  The picture is that of these 144,000 Jews circumvent the globe preaching the Gospel – not of the Grace of God, but the Gospel of the Kingdom, there are going to be multitudes saved, but they’ll be martyred immediately.

The powers that be will know who they are, and they will be able to isolate them. But, they’ll only be a small percentage, as always. That may be a great number. But compared to the whole, it is just a small percentage. That’s the way it’s always been. They will be martyred just as fast as they profess their faith. But, they can’t kill the 144,000, because they’re sealed with the mark of God.

This is all indicative of what the world is getting ready for. The more you watch the news, the more you can see that it’s coming, because God’s grace isn’t going to last forever. His patience is going to run out. Don’t blame God; it’s not His fault. It’s because of their constant rejection of His glorious Gospel of the Grace of God, which in a nutshell is,   “Believe in your heart for salvation that Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and rose again”   as we see so plainly in I Corinthians 15:1-4, plus nothing else.

Isaiah 64:5-6 “Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; (or angry) for we have sinned: (See, that’s the problem.)  in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. 6. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”  You can’t be saved until you know that you’re lost.  This verse just told us that Israel realized they had sinned. Their iniquities were just compounded. All their so-called self-righteousness was like filthy rags. The filthy rags here were really the cast-off rags of a leper with all of its filth. That’s what self-righteousness is in God’s eyes.

ARE YOU  GOING TO HEAVEN?

ARE YOU A GOOD PERSON?  You say yes. You say I have not killed anyone, raped anyone, have not committed adultery, have stolen very little, and have said very few lies.

What you have done is compared your self with other people around you. Lets compare your good life to what God is going to use on judgment day, The 10 Commandments.  Just to look at just a few.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.   Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.   Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Have you ever told a lie?    Have you ever stolen something?   Have you ever taken God’s name (God, Jesus…) in vain?    Have you ever lusted after some one or hated some one?  Jesus said if you think in your heart that you have done something, then you have just as well have done it.  Romans 3:23-27 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; All have come short, and they cannot meet God’s criteria. They can no way claim to be good enough to enter God’s heaven.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life…”   Wages you work for, and that’s what you deserve, but a gift is something you do not deserve. And that is what Salvation is all about. It’s a gift, and not something that you can do, not one iota of work to earn; it has to be a gift. “… through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it (the Gospel) is the power of God unto salvation…”   Paul has brought it out to the Gentile world and now God lays that responsibility upon Gentiles to believe the Gospel which Paul calls “My Gospel:”

Romans 2:16 “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”  He also calls it  “The Gospel of the Grace of God.”  In addition he calls it  “that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles.”

Romans 16:25 “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”  (For more info on the mystery ask for it).

`Salvation’ it’s that all-inclusive word that implies everything that God does on behalf of the believer who cries out, “I’m a sinner, I’m in need of Salvation, and I believe that Christ died for me.” Then God does everything else. He imputes righteousness, He forgives, He cleanses, He baptizes us into Christ’s Body, He does everything that needs to be done, and how do we know He did it? By faith, You’re not going to feel any of those things, or see any of those things, but you’re going to know that He did it because The Bible says so. But what is the Gospel? Go to I Corinthians 15, the first four verses. And here is the Gospel that saves you.

I Corinthians 15:1-4 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel  which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved (it’s by the Gospel that you’re saved, and you’d better know what you believed), if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received (Paul received our Gospel from the crucified, buried, and Resurrected Lord from Heaven), how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”                                                                                                 This was all pre-planned before anything was ever created. God would create man, and man would sin, and find himself in need of a Savior, a Redeemer. So God set everything in motion, and brought about Christ in His earthly ministry, brought about His Crucifixion, and raised Him from the dead, brought Him back into heaven from which He has now revealed these things that Paul calls the secrets or the mysteries, and the very core of that is the Gospel. “That Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.”

Eph. 1:13-14 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, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

Romans 5:8 “But God (The Almighty, Creator, Triune God) commendeth (extended) his love toward us (everything is based on His love), in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, (Believing is something that you don’t do with your hands and feet, but believing is the attitude of the heart. So if you believe that Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead) thou shalt be saved.”

Here we have to go beyond the Jesus of His earthly ministry. During His earthly ministry, He hadn’t died yet, but as soon as He finished the work of the Cross-, and the power of the Resurrection, He now becomes Lord of our lives. He becomes not just Jesus, but He becomes Jesus Christ The Lord, or The Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote it, and God said it through him. And this is where He wants us to come. So just say, “God you said it, and I believe it with all my heart.” Then what does God become? Duty bound. He is duty bound to fulfill His Word, otherwise this Book is a lie. But He will fulfill what He said He would do.

Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believeth (Once in a while we need to self examine. Am I just believing a head knowledge, or am I believing with all my inner most being that Christ died for me?) unto righteousness;…” As soon as we believe the Gospel for our Salvation then God imputes His righteousness.

Romans 3:22 “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:” Now, Paul is saying the same thing here in Romans 10:10

Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness (that God can actually clothe him with the righteousness of Christ); and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Too many people have just had a mental assent, and say, “Yeah, I believe in God.” But that’s not what God is looking for. God is looking for a verbalization of all of these various steps. You tell God that you recognize from Scripture that you’re a sinner. Tell Him out loud, “Lord I’m a sinner, I’m a child of Adam, and I have no reason to expect you to take me into your heaven, because that’s what your Book tells me.” And the same way when we call on Him for Salvation. Don’t just assume that God reads your heart although He certainly can, but He wants us to actually, audibly say it out loud. Just ask God to save you, and tell Him that you believe that what He’s done, He’s done on your behalf.

Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”                      You take a swimming pool on a hot summer day, and all those kids yelling and screaming, but it’s the kid that’s in trouble in spite of the other entire racket that the lifeguard hears. God is the same way. His ear is tuned to the very second that sinner cries out and says, “God, I’m a sinner, but I believe that You died for me.”

John 3:16-19   For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Ro 8:1-4 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

We should be able to say, “I’m going to heaven because I know that Christ did everything on my behalf. I’ve done nothing and am not deserving.” None of us are deserving of God’s Heaven, but we know we’re going there because of God’s promises.

John 6:28-29 Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God?  Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.       John 6:47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

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

ACTS 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.                                                                                                                                     1Jo.4: 4-10 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.   1Jo. 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.                               1Tim. 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;                 Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

What you have to worry about is what are you going to do with Jesus and His Gospel.  

When you face God on judgment day, will you be there by yourself, or will Jesus be there with you because you believed in what He has done for you.

Tit 3:3-7 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Those who go to eternal doom will know they do not have to be there. It’s going to be an eternity of regret.   “I did not have to be here.”  This was all paid for and I rejected it.   There is nothing worse than regret.      They rejected a pardon from all sin.

Hebrews 6:9a “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation,…”  Notice how Paul calls them “beloved.”  That’s the secret. He wouldn’t call them beloved if they weren’t believers. And so he says, “But beloved, we are persuaded.”  That word persuaded is probably a little stronger than our English and he was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. He said, “We are persuaded better things of you.” We’re to have considered “better things of you and things that accompany salvation.”   The whole reason for the Word of God is to bring lost mankind to a knowledge of salvation. Because, after all, three score and ten is the allotted time, 70 years. If we go beyond that, that’s just by God’s good grace.

Paul is admonishing these people – that he understands that they do have salvation and the things that accompany it. It comes right back to salvation is not just a “fire escape.” Salvation is not just a matter of escaping eternal doom, but rather salvation is that which precipitates a life of spiritual production here on earth, and that’s what we’re here for.

Romans 1:16a “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it  (the Gospel)  is the power of God unto salvation…”   Salvation! Eternal life! The hope of glory to come! But, that which makes it possible for us to live a godly life in the here and now in this Church Age.

Romans 1:16b “…to everyone that believeth;…”    We’re going to use some verses associated with this one crucial word – salvation.

We should always call the very first step of faith to salvation is to recognize that we’re sinners, that we have fallen short of the glory of God.                                                                                                     Romans 3:23 “For all  (Jew and Gentile, Black and White, rich and poor)  have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”   Because we’re sons of Adam. We have inherited a sin nature.

Romans 3:24a “Being justified…”  Justification is the result of salvation. When we enter into God’s great salvation, He justifies us.   :24 “Being justified freely by his grace  (not by works)  through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”

When Adam sinned, he “pawned” the human race to Satan. And the whole idea of the coming Tribulation is when God will finally pay off that debt that Satan is holding over the planet. And He’s going to pay it off with all of the wrath and vexation of that. But for mankind, He paid the price of redemption with His death on the Cross. Every sin was paid for. It has been made possible for every human being to come out of that slave market. The price of redemption was paid and we experience it only by virtue of our salvation experience.  The other offshoot word of “salvation” in Scripture is “saved.” Paul uses it over and over, by which you are saved. By which you experience salvation.

Romans 3:25a “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood….”  The price of redemption.  Peter said, “You’ve not been redeemed with silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ.” That was the price of redemption. And to think that most of Christendom has thrown the blood out the back door.  It is the very basis of our salvation and we dare not walk it under foot because it’s by virtue of our faith in that shed blood which is the price of redemption.  That He could buy us back from having been hocked to Satan when Adam fell.

Romans 3:26a “To declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness: that he  (God in Christ)  might be just,….”   To be just is to be Fair! With no room for controversy and so God is just in doing justifying the person who believes.  We’re redeemed by placing our faith in that shed blood of Christ.

We are justified when we believe the Gospel, that Christ died, was buried and rose again. And God is perfectly just in declaring us as justified. He’s Sovereign. He can do that.  We’re to live with that concept. If you go through life knowing that God has declared you as bought out of a slave market, justified from all things – doesn’t that give you incentive to do your part? Not for salvation, but as a result of it. Sure it should. And it should behoove every believer to do everything we can as Paul instructs in his epistles to “flee the things of the flesh and to avoid every appearance of evil.”

Romans 7:4a “Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law…”   We’re not under Law. That’s the same thing he’s trying to tell these Hebrews. Get away from the legalism. Get out from under Judaism and step out into this, which is so much better. And so he says:   “Wherefore, my brethren ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;  (by virtue of His crucifixion)  that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,  (this of course, is just a scriptural use of words to prove a point, that we are now united with Christ. Just like a man married, and for what purpose)  that we should bring forth fruit.”  You should have an impact on people around you to the place that you can bring in some lost souls.

That’s where you and I come in. We’ve got to let them know that it’s not a whole bunch of do’s and don’ts. It’s not getting so holy that you’re just sort of an oddball.  The Christian life is the most practical thing on earth. There is nothing more practical then a solid Christian life. You’ll never find a good, true believing Christian caught up in the throws of court proceedings and crime. That’s not their lifestyle. We can all fail. But it is not the Christian’s lifestyle to be constantly on the police blotter. We are in union with Christ and the purpose is that we are to produce fruit. We’re to get busy. And we’d better or the Muslim world will overtake us.

This is all jumping off from that word salvation in Hebrews chapter 6 as Paul was agreeing that the believing element of these Hebrews had salvation. So he wasn’t condemning them for being apostate but it was the people who were a part and parcel of their congregation who were and had been.   

Ephesians 2:4-6 “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5. Even when we were dead in sins,  (the offspring of Adam)  hath quickened  (or made us alive spiritually)  us together with Christ, ( by grace are you saved”) 6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:”    God always has a purpose in everything He does, and here is another one, in the next verse.   :7-8 “That in the ages to come  (eternity)  he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.  8. For by grace are you saved  (unmerited favor that we don’t deserve)  through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

There’s nothing in there of baptism, or of tongues. There’s nothing in there of good works, because the only way we’re saved is by faith plus nothing!  We always have to qualify that. That doesn’t mean that we can say, “Oh I’m saved”, and then go on our way.  We’re saved for the purpose of producing fruit, and that’s not “easy believeism.”  It’s not easy to get out there and produce fruit. If you’re paddling a canoe up a river, upstream, how much of the time can you take the paddle out of the water? Never! Because the moment you do, back down the river you go.  And it’s a constant exercise of energy to keep moving on in the Christian experience.

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  (and you don’t work for a gift)  9. Not of works,  (because if it was works then)  any man should boast.  (Now we follow-up after salvation)  10. For we are his workmanship,  (We are something now that God is working to form us and to prepare us for our service.)  created in Christ Jesus unto good works,  (Not for salvation but as a result of it.)  which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” 

Ephesians 2:11a “Wherefore remember,  (he’s writing to Gentiles. He’s writing to us.)  that ye being in times past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision…”  Which remember was a derogatory term that the Jews used concerning Gentiles. And usually they made it a little more derogatory by adding the word dogs. Gentiles were uncircumcised dogs in the Jewish vernacular and so Paul is alluding to that same thing. That that’s what the circumcision in the flesh called Gentiles.

Ephesians 2:12 “That at that time  (while God was dealing with Israel back there in that Old Testament economy and during Christ’s earthly ministry and yes, even these Hebrews to whom Paul is addressing in the letter)  ye  (Gentiles) were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel  (we weren’t citizens of Israel. We’re not Jews. We were uncircumcised Gentiles)  and strangers from the covenants of promise,  (consequently where were the Gentiles before the Age of Grace?)  having no hope, and without God in the world.” 

But verse 13, this is the flipside – we’re no longer in that time, we are now in this Age of Grace,              :13 “But now in Christ ye who sometimes were far off  (we Gentiles)  are now made nigh  (not through the Mosaic Law. Not through Judaism. Not through legalism. But)  by the blood of Christ.”  Through the blood of Christ. And remember what the Book of Romans said concerning the blood of Christ? “Put your faith in it, and believe it with all your heart.” God has said that the blood of Christ has paid your sin debt.

Hebrews 6:9-10 “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, through we thus speak. 10. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”   These people were true believers.  Then we saw in verse 10 where we left off, that God is not unrighteous. He’s never unfair. And God will never forget the work of the believer in love.

Remember in I Corinthians 13, the very last words of that chapter are:      I Corinthians 13:13 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity,  (love)  these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”  (love)   If you’ll watch all through Paul’s epistles, you constantly see those three words popping up. Here’s another good example. Up here in verse 10, we have “He will never forget your work and labor of love.”   Then you come down to verse 11 and  “…to show diligence to the full assurance of hope.”  Then to verse 12, “…that you be not slothful but followers of them who through faith….”

Hebrews 6:11 “And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:”

He’s talking about the “beloved”  up in verse 9. He’s not talking about those who had turned their backs and went back into Judaism and became apostate, but rather about the believing element.  “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you,”   It’s to those believers that he says, “they have the full assurance of hope.”  For how long? “Unto the end.”  We know eternity has no end, so in this case he must be talking about their sojourn on earth until death, and that God will never forsake them.

Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you  (He has brought us to the place of embracing our salvation, and we know that we’re saved. Here’s a promise)  will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

He will never let us go, nor will He will ever forget about us, and it’s the same concept here in Hebrews 6. Even with these Jewish believers who had stepped right on into this same concept of Paul’s Completed Gospel now, that they were full of the assurance of hope.

The Bible is a historical document. Interestingly enough, if you subject it to the same tests that you subject other historical documents to, you’ll discover that the Bible proves itself to be far superior to any other ancient writing. 

First, let’s look at the New Testament which, incidentally, was originally written in the Greek language between 50 and 100 A.D. Although we don’t have the original autographs, there are presently some 5,000 Greek manuscripts in existence, with as many as 25,000 more copies. Just as amazing is the fact that the earliest manuscripts can be dated back as far as 120 A.D. This is tremendous when you consider that only seven of Plato’s manuscripts are in existence today — and there’s a 1,300-year gap which separates the earliest copy from the original writing!
Equally amazing is another fact; and that is, that the New Testament has been virtually unaltered. This has been demonstrated by scholars who have compared the earliest written manuscripts with manuscripts written centuries later. And remember, the accounts in the New Testament were recorded directly by eyewitnesses, (or by those who were associated with them) and in fact had close contact with the events themselves.
But what about the Old Testament? Let’s take a quick look at one of the most incredible finds of the century — the Dead Sea Scrolls. With the discovery of these manuscripts at Qumran in 1946, texts were found that were about 1,000 years older than any previously known Old Testament manuscript. And when compared with the later texts, these writings proved to be virtually identical. 

With every turn of the archaeologist’s spade, we see further evidence of Scripture’s trustworthiness. Such renowned and historical scholars as William Albright and Sir Frederick Kenyon have clearly testified that the findings of archaeology have served to underscore the authenticity of the Bible. The evidence of “The Bible’s” reliability, speaks for itself.

Matthew 11:25-30 ²⁵ At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.
²⁶ “Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight.
²⁷ “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.  ²⁸ “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
²⁹ “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. ³⁰ “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 ¹⁴ But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.
¹⁵ But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one.
¹⁶ For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:1-6   Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,  ² but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.  ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,  ⁴ in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
⁵ For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.  ⁶ For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.