Previously I wrote about “The Judge,” the Judge who has provided a way of total pardon for all mankind who will accept His conditions.
God would rather be our Father than our Judge. He has provided one, and only one, way for this to be possible. Now the choice is ours. Will we stand before Him as our Judge, or will we stand by Him as our Savior and Lord?
The state of man is:
“For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23 NIV)
“For the wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23a NIV)
The hope of man is:
“but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23b NIV)
“And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:24 NIV)
The remedy provided is:
“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:25 NIV)
Only by trusting in the Son:
“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law,” (Romans 3:27-28 NIV)
Our salvation comes via:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:8-10 NIV)
God’s love and condition:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (John 3:16-18 NIV)
For those who accept:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2 NIV)
There is nothing but eternal happiness ahead for those who rest their faith in Jesus Christ, a happiness that we cannot comprehend while in these earthly bodies. However, for those who will not accept God’s most precious sacrifice for us, there is nothing but unbelievable eternal terror in the final sentencing at the Great White Throne judgment.
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.” (Revelation 20:11 NIV)
Hell is a reality for all who reject God’s only way of salvation. Judgment is assured and the sentence will be for eternity in the Lake of Fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. This is not a pleasant subject to write, but it needs to be said.
Unfortunately, most pastors and evangelists today shun this topic. They want to say only the words that will keep the people coming to their assemblies and, of course, keep the money flowing in. Their minds are not on saving souls, but instead it is on their continued popularity and especially their bank account. God help them.
Jesus had more to say about hell than He did Heaven, and He was, and is, God in the flesh. If the one and only true God desires to warn us of the realities of hell, who are we to ignore this subject.
We all see in our mind’s eye the murderers, rapists, child molesters, etc. deserving of an eternal hell, but hell is for anyone who refuses the only Door into Heaven; i.e. Jesus Christ, the Son of God. They may be the nicest people we could ever meet, kind-hearted to a fault, always helping others, but if they do not know Jesus as their own personal Savior and Lord, they will spend an eternity exiled from Him in hell.
By the way, when I use the term “hell” in this article, I am referring to the eventual Lake of Fire that all the lost will be cast in at the Judgment.
Hell will not be a luxury prison, as many in America have morphed into. There will be no libraries, television sets, exercise yards, lush lawns, basketball courts, doctors, nurses, dentists, beds, showers, meals, etc. There will only be eternal darkness, fire, terror, pain, regret, and loneliness. The worse part, in my opinion, will be separation from God, separation from all that is good, and knowing that they could have had unspeakable joy, but through every fault of their own, they rejected it for an eternal nightmare. In my opinion, they may remember, for all eternity, every instance they had a chance to be saved but rejected it.
I was watching a movie not long ago, and one person tells another, “Go to hell.” The other responded with, “You first.” I heard another respond another time, “I’ll meet you there.” Folks, hell is real, and it is nothing to be flippant about.
It seems to me there is a new religion coming upon the scene today, and that is the religion of “no religion.” Some religions believe in many gods. Some believe in their own false god. Others are appearing, however, who believe in nothing.
Let me insert that Christianity is not a religion, even though many claim it is. Religion is actually mankind trying to earn his way to whatever he believes in. Christianity is God reaching down to man via His only begotten Son to save those who will come to Him through His Son.
Many claim to be Christians today, but are only christians of a religion they have devised in their own minds. In other words, they are not true Christians, but only part of a large group who claim the “religion” of christianity. True Christians come from all walks of life, and are not members of a religion, but children of the most- high God. Many religious christians will spend eternity in hell, but true Christians will spend an eternity in Heaven with God.
Let us understand, there is only one way to God, and that is through Jesus Christ. It is not by our works, but only by His grace. The church, denomination, sect, etc. we belong to means nothing. We may give thousands or even millions of dollars to help those in need, but it will mean nothing on Judgment Day. We may have a school or hospital named after us, but it means nothing. We may be world famous and have the accolades of thousands of people at our funeral, but it means nothing. We may have books written about us, even songs to commemorate our life, but it means nothing.
The only thing that will matter when we breathe our last breath, is did we place our trust in Jesus Christ to save us before we died? Period. Otherwise, at the Great White Throne we will be judged and sentenced to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. On that day Jesus will say, “I never knew you. Depart from me.”
However, if we know Jesus as our Savior, death is nothing to fear. It is instead a joyful passing into Heaven and a face-to-face reunion with our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. All Heaven will rejoice because we made the correct decision before we died.
Don’t put off today what may cost you an eternity of hell.
Grant Phillips