Quite often, we receive questions from our readers that tend to be "universal" - i.e., questions that might come to mind for a number of believers.  As such, we've added this page to our site in an effort to add a new dimension to our ministry.  Each question will be posted on this page, with a link at the end of the question to a page containing the answer to that question.  All questions will remain on this site, so you can go back and re-read them at any time. 

Our readers asked...

Frequently Asked Questions

• How did David hear the voice of God in answer to his prayers? How do we hear Him today? How do I distinguish between my voice and the voice of the Lord?
• Matthew 7:13-14 says that most people choose the narrow gate - meaning they choose to go to hell. If that is true, what chance do I have? What can I do to make sure I will go to heaven?
• In a recent devotional, you said,
• I just do NOT understand the Trinity. It does not make any sense! Can you please explain it to me?
• If the Law – including the Ten Commandments – was nailed to the cross, what relevance does it have for us today? Shouldn’t Christians obey the Ten Commandments?
• When we start to feel overwhelmed by life what can we do in addition to praying and reading our Bible? Is there some additional reading we can do? If someone is interested in understanding the Bible more deeply is there a reference material to the Bible?
• Is depression caused by doubt or chemical imbalance, and/or should it be treated with faith or medication?
• Why do so many Christians who continue to believe the 10 commandments are valid and relevant today, choose to ignore (or forget) the 4th commandment which the Lord specifically tells us to "remember?" (Note: The question regards the Sabbath.)
• If we claim to be Christians, but continue to commit the sins we supposedly repented of, will we still go to heaven?
• If our purpose in life is to bring glory to God, Why would God need us to bring Him glory, because after all He is God?
• My Faith wavers in the area of finances, better job and a husband. I do pray but just don't know when my turn will every come.
• Christ was crucified and raised on the third day. We celebrate this occasion from Good Friday (morning) to Easter Sunday (morning). This not three days! Please explain.
• How do you hold on to your faith when you feel like you're almost always let down or disappointed eventually?
• How does one completely trust the Lord so that we can live by faith?
• I believe God can deliver, but don't feel that I deserve His help, so I refrain from talking to him about "everything." How do I work through
• When you see all the bad around you, and may experience it in your day to day life. How do you keep the faith?
• What does it feel like when you finally take the leap?
• Can you lose your salvation if you aren't living by faith and aren't living right?
• I have a very special friend that is incarcerated. I live by faith in hopes for his early release. How do I know if it is my will telling me to wait, or God's will for me to wait?
• Is Faith given in different proportions to people; can extra Faith be earned in any way? What scripture confirms your answer?
• Was Mary Magdalene an apostle of Jesus and pretended to be Thomas and was she pregnant at the time Jesus died on the cross?
• How do we know when God is working through our faith? Faith without works is dead, so we need to do something to walk in faith. I'm not sure when it is God or me, I guess?
• What happens to animals and birds when they die?
• "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:39-43 The creed says God will raise the living and the dead. My question is do we go to heaven when we die or do we wait for the judgment day?
• How do I know that God has really forgiven me of my sins when my spouse keeps bringing up my sins over and over again on a daily basis?
• At times I find myself very discouraged. How do I go about it to keep my faith strong all the time?
• Why has this world has been left by God to be ruled by gangsters? Where are all the good people???
• I believe 'waiting' is part of living by faith. But how do know sometimes when we are 'to wait' or 'move?' I keep these things in prayer - but I find it difficult to discern which to do sometimes especially if emotions get involved.

Frequently Asked Questions

The “short” answer to your first question is that David could “hear” God because he had a one-on-one intimate relationship with God.  In Acts 13:22, speaking of what God had done concerning Israel, Paul said, “After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.”  Think about that for a moment… in order for David to be the man whom God Almighty referred to as “a man after mine own heart,” David had to be something special, right?  Nope.  David was no different from you or me – or at least, no different than you and I CAN be… 

Jesus wants us to have a close, intimate, personal relationship with Him.  If we have that close, intimate, personal relationship with Him, then we won’t have any trouble at all “hearing” Him when He speaks to us – no matter how He chooses to do so.  We will recognize His “voice” no matter what is happening in our lives.  And we will be able to distinguish HIS voice from our own thoughts and/or the cacophony of things the world is telling us.

The Lord speaks to us in a number of different ways… Three of those ways are:

Through His Word
Through His Holy Spirit
Through other people

Each of these ways of speaking to us is made more effective by how closely we are walking with the Lord each day.  In other words, the better you know Him and the closer you are to Him, the easier it is for you to “hear” His voice.

How do you develop that close, intimate, personal relationship with Jesus?  The same way you develop a close, intimate, personal relationship with another person… by spending TIME with Him, every single day, getting to know Him on every possible level and opening yourself up to Him, sharing the innermost parts of yourself with Him.  Now, it’s true, that Jesus already knows you and me much better than we know ourselves, so why should we have to “open ourselves up to Him?”  Because in doing so, we become closer to Him just as we do when we open up to another person.  We have to be willing to let Him see us – warts and all – for who we are, because by doing so, we are admitting to ourselves who and what we are.  And it’s through that sharing back and forth that we grow closer to Him each and every day.

How do you get to know Him, inside and out?  First, by reading – and really studying – your Bible.  For instance, pick out a subject – “love” or “fear” or “loneliness” or “anger” – and using a good concordance (like Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance with a Greek and Hebrew lexicon in the back), look up everything God has to say on that subject.  Create a notebook and take notes.  Or just use a highlighter and write in the margins of your Bible – whatever method you use, make sure that it’s a method that will work for you.  And then stick to it, every single day.  The more time you spend studying God’s Word, the more you’ll find Him “speaking” to you through that very Word.  You will begin to be amazed at how often the answer to some question that’s been bothering you will be found in the “random” scripture you landed on to study on a given day.  And you’ll soon come to realize that your “random” selection isn’t so random after all – that the Lord directed you to that particular passage so you would find the answer to the question you’d asked Him several times in the recent past.

At the same time you’re studying, spend time in prayer.  And remember, prayer does not have to be “formal” or use an “outline” or big, flowery words.  Prayer is just you talking to Jesus – pouring your heart out to Him and opening up yourself to Him completely, surrendering your heart and your will to Him to do with as He sees fit.  And also, you should be interceding for your friends, for your family, for your nation’s leaders, and for others that you know are in need – like the tsunami victims and the victims of Katrina and Rita.   

One thing… after you make a commitment to spend time with Jesus every day, if a day comes along and for some reason you “miss your appointment” – do NOT beat yourself up for it, or walk around feeling guilty all day because you forgot or overslept or for whatever reason didn’t get your Bible study and praying done.  If you do that, you’ve placed yourself under “the Law of Daily Bible Study and Prayer”.  As a Christian, you live under God’s GRACE, not the Law – neither the Law in the Bible or another man-made (or self-made) law.  If you miss a day, don’t worry about it.  Just tell Jesus you’re sorry and that you miss Him, and you’ll be there tomorrow.

Okay, now you’ve made a commitment to spend time with Jesus every day, and you’re getting to know Him on a deep, personal level.  But you still aren’t sure how to know when He is speaking to you.  First of all, remember what Jesus said in John 10:27 - “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”  The closer you are to Him, the better able you will be to recognize His voice.  Does this mean you should listen for an audible voice?  No, not at all.  While I know that God has and does speak audibly to people on occasion, that is very rare.  He does, however, speak to our hearts.  And one sure way to distinguish whether it’s Him speaking or yourself is, “Does what I’m thinking agree with God’s Word?”  Quite often, that can be the deciding factor immediately, because our own thoughts will be much more likely to be a little “askew” when it comes to God’s Word.  At other times, there is no way to compare the “message” to the Bible, because what you’re asking doesn’t have a specific reference within God’s word.

For instance, some years ago, J.R. and I were in a situation where we had to move, and we had less than a week to do so.  The house we were renting had been sold, and the new owners wanted to take possession.  It was the Sunday after Christmas.  We had thought about staying home because there was supposed to be a snowstorm moving in and our church was 20 miles away.  I told J.R. that we had to change our plans and go to church that evening.  When he asked why, I told him that someone was going to be at church that had y because of the snow that was supposed to be heading our way.  But there was a couple sitting behind us to my right – a couple whose name I didn’t know, but whom we had seen at church before.  While waiting for the service to start, I heard the woman speak to her husband, saying, “Remind me tomorrow to call the paper and put an ad in for Mama and Daddy’s house.”  My head spun around so fast, I made myself dizzy!  I leaned back toward the woman and whispered, “Do you have a house for rent?”  Her eyes got wide, and she said, “Yes, as a matter of fact, we do… my parents’ house.”  I said, “We need a house to rent and would like to move this weekend.  Is the house vacant?”  It was, and we not only rented it, but they charged us no deposit and even helped us move in! 

How did I know that someone would be at church that night who had a house to rent?  The Holy Spirit told me.  And, because I’d spent so much time with Jesus over the years, I could recognize the Holy Spirit’s “voice,” even though it was not an audible voice.  Instead, it was that “gentle whisper” that is talked about in 1 Kings 19:11-13…

    The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
    Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
      Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"  (NIV)

The King James version says “a still small voice” in verse 12.  In the NIV, quoted above, the phrase is translated as “a gentle whisper.”  Either one is an excellent description of the “voice” people hear when the Lord speaks to them. 

So, the Lord speaks to us through His Word, and He speaks to us in a “gentle whisper.”  There is another way that He speaks to us… through other people.  Let me qualify this statement a bit, because you have to be cautious about this particular type of “communication”… Let me give you a for instance…

Some years ago, a young woman I knew was about to get married, and she just didn’t seem to be as happy about the upcoming nuptials as I thought someone should be.  Finally, about two weeks before the wedding, she dropped by my house to chat, and about halfway into the conversation, she burst into tears!  After she got control of herself enough to talk, she told me that she didn’t want to marry this man!  I asked her, “If you don’t want to marry him, why are you doing it?”  “Because God wants me to marry him!” she said, then began to sob even harder.  As we continued to talk, I learned that two women at her church had told her that God had told THEM that she should marry this man!  The problem was, she didn’t love him.  In fact, she was terrified of him.  Within about 3 months after they started dating, he had begun emotionally and mentally abusing her, and from all evidence, he was only a few steps away from moving into full blown physical abuse.  Finally, I said, “If God wanted you to marry this man, don’t you think He would have told YOU about it Himself?”  She looked stunned for a moment, and then said, “Well, I guess so.”  I laughed and said, “Well, I KNOW so!  If God has something He wants you to do, He’s not going to tell Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones; He’s going to tell YOU!  Obviously, He hasn’t done that.  In fact, from the way you’re behaving, I’d say He’s telling you just the opposite.”  After what became several hours of talking and crying and praying with me, she called the wedding off.  A year later, she met the man that God had planned for her, and the “message” she received at that point was from God directly to her.

So, when considering any “message” you receive from someone who claims the message is from God, make sure the Lord is confirming that same message to you.  For instance, back in the early part of 1992, I had been through the roughest time of my life for nearly three years.  I had come to a point where I was beginning to think that my life would be nothing but one trial after another for the rest of my time on earth.  Then I received a “message” from God that not only would my time of trial soon end, but also, like Job, He would restore to me everything I had lost during that time – and then some!  How did I receive this message?  In the period of one day, three different women, totally unrelated to each other in any way, told me that God had told them that I needed to read a particular scripture.  The scripture was so obscure it could not possibly have been a “coincidence”.  The scripture was Joel 2:25-27:

       "I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
       the great locust and the young locust,
       the other locusts and the locust swarm —
       my great army that I sent among you.

       You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
       and you will praise the name of the LORD your God,
       who has worked wonders for you;
       never again will my people be shamed.

       Then you will know that I am in Israel,
       that I am the LORD your God,
       and that there is no other;
       never again will my people be shamed.”

A few months later, God began to “repay” me “for the y ears the locusts have eaten,” and restore to me everything I had lost, and then some!  Obviously, God HAD been speaking to me through those three women that day, and He confirmed that message by following through with His promise.

I hope that this will help you understand how you can “hear” God speaking to you, and that it will begin your walk toward that close, intimate, personal relationship with Jesus wherein you will always recognize His voice, no matter how He chooses to speak to you.

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I want to give you the “short” answer to your question, and then follow that with the longer explanation that includes all the scripture that explains God’s truth in detail. 

The “narrow gate” that Jesus referred to in Matthew 7:13-14 is Jesus Himself.  In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  The “broad road that leads to destruction” is broad because it includes every other way that mankind has invented in its attempt to bypass God’s truth and do things its own way. 

Once we have chosen to accept Jesus’ free gift of salvation, nothing we can do will ever change our eternal destination.  Just as there is no “good work” good enough to gain heaven for us, there is no sin bad enough that it can’t be wiped away by the blood of Jesus.  When we get off track – when we stop being obedient to God’s Word – we do lose our fellowship with Jesus.  When we stop spending time with Him – reading and studying the Bible, praying, and just enjoying being in his presence – we lose the close, intimate personal relationship with him that he wants to have with us.  It’s a cold, mean, ugly world out there without Jesus, but that doesn’t stop us from jumping into the fray again and again and again, only to be dragged back to square one by the Holy Spirit. 

I used to do that – for YEARS, I was like a ball in a pinball machine, bouncing off of the world and back into Jesus, and back into the world again – and again – and again.  Every time I walked out of fellowship with Jesus I was miserable.  You’d think good sense would have kept me where I was at peace and filled with His joy.  But, nope, just like most people, I’d allow the temptation to sin to overshadow my good sense, and I’d fall right into that muck again.  Praise God that he brought me back, welcoming me with open arms, again and again and again.  And also praise God that if I had died right in the middle of one of my “rebellious” phases, I’d still have found myself in heaven.  Again… there is nothing you or I or anyone can do to make ourselves good enough to achieve heaven without Jesus.  As Paul said in Galatians 2:21, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law (or through good works), Christ died for nothing!"  (My comment in parentheses.)

In that same light, there is nothing you or I or anyone can do that is bad enough to cause us to lose our salvation once it has been obtained.  If that were possible, then each time someone lost his salvation, Jesus would have to return to the cross and be crucified all over again.  

Jesus wants us to KNOW that we are saved, to have absolute confidence in our eternal destination.  In 1 John 5:13, John said, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” 

If you have chosen Jesus – and you only have to do that ONE time – then you will enter through the “narrow gate” into heaven the day that you die.  Those who reject Jesus have chosen that “broad road that leads to destruction.”  Sadly, far more will choose that broad road than will choose the narrow gate.

That was the “short answer” to your questions. The following is a much more detailed explanation of the summary above.

It might be helpful here to talk for a moment about how one gets to heaven, and how one lands in hell.  A clear understanding of the answers to those two questions will help you with the questions that you’ve expressed.

Many people say, "I\'m a good person. I go to church. I take care of my family. I give to charity. I don\'t do anything really bad - like commit murder or adultery. So why do I need to worry? Good people go to heaven, don\'t they?" But their thinking is askew.  The truth is, every person has sinned against God. That’s EVERY person… not just a few, not just the “bad guys”, that’s EVERY single person who has ever lived, who is alive now, and who will ever live in the future…  That includes you, and it includes me.  In Romans 3:23, Paul says, “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

But what about all our “good works” – things that most people do, and some do even more… don’t those count for something?  Not according to God’s Word.  Isaiah 64:6 says, "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."  So, no matter how “good” a person is, it still comes back to that “filthy rags” thing.

And the price for that sin is very high… Paul tells us in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."  The person who lives without God in his life will pay the horrifying price of an eternity separated from God.  The Bible calls this place of separation hell, and Jesus repeatedly said that it is a place where the fire never goes out. 

The next question ties directly into your question about the “narrow gate” and “broad road”… that question is, “How could a loving God send someone to hell?”  The answer is, God never “sends” anyone to hell!  The free gift of salvation is open and available to anyone who will accept it.  And those who reject God’s free gift are sending themselves to hell.  I can’t help but believe that one reason so many choose hell today is because the message of the reality of hell has been “softened” – and the fact of the eternal fire and burning is left out because it’s “too unpleasant.”  But Jesus didn’t “soften” hell.  In fact, He talked more about hell than He did about heaven!  Why?  Because He – like the Father – does not want anyone to go there!! 

Another reason that so many choose hell is that people have not changed one whit since the day that Adam and Eve blew it in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve had the most perfect life that has ever existed… they had their every need and want met, they had no worries, no concerns, no fears, no sickness, no sadness – just idyllic days spent in the most beautiful environment that ever existed, with the unimaginable (for us) privilege of being able to walk and talk one-on-one with the Lord any time they wanted.  But that wasn’t good enough for them.  When the serpent told Eve that she could be “like God, knowing good and evil”, he appealed to her ego and her desire for power.  When the serpent said, “You shall not surely die,” he was telling Eve that she could not rely on God’s Word.  Think about that and then think about how many people today do not trust the Bible, falling hook, line and sinker for the first lie ever told.  And when the serpent said, “God knows that when you eat of it (that infamous tree!) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” he was telling her that SHE could be a GOD.  How many people today believe that they can be equal to God or even can be gods themselves, thereby buying totally into the second lie ever told!  So, as you can see, Adam and Eve CHOSE to disobey God, allowing their desires for power and glory to overshadow their good sense.

In that same way, falling into the same spiritual suicide as Adam and Eve, billions of people reject God’s Truth and the “narrow gate” of Jesus in favor of that “broad road that leads to destruction.”

The thing to remember is that Adam’s and Eve’s bad choice brought sin and death into the world, but by all evidence, they are spending eternity in heaven.  Even though they were sinners, God provided a way for them to achieve heaven… the same way provided for you and for me.

In spite of our rebellious ways… in spite of our determination to sin… God still loves us and wants us ALL to go to heaven.  In John 6:40, Jesus said, “For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

At this point, many people will say, “But nothing worth having is free!  There’s no such thing as a ‘free lunch’.  Surely there must be something we must do in order to be acceptable to God and be saved.” 

That’s not a new question… those whom Jesus taught asked the same thing in John 6:28, and Jesus answered them in John 6:29:

Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

And that’s it in a nutshell …  There is NOTHING you or I can do that will make us acceptable to God.  Even if we manage to get through an entire day without committing a sin, we’ve still got that “backlog” behind us – all those many sins we’ve committed in the past – AND those that we will, no matter how closely we try to walk with Jesus, commit in the future.  Our “flesh” WANTS to sin!  And the most devout Christians will struggle with sin from time to time.  Even the Apostle Paul struggled with sin.  He talks about it in Romans 7:14-25:

    “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

     “So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!
      “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”

Now, if even the best of us – like Paul, the man whom God chose to write nearly half of our New Testament – has a problem with sin, what are we to do?  In Romans 5:8, Paul said, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

THAT is the whole key… WE are incapable of being good enough to gain heaven.  There is nothing we can do to make ourselves good enough to gain heaven.  But God loves us anyway, in spite of our rebellion and sin.  He loves us so much that he sent His Son to die in our place so that we might spend eternity with him.  The ONLY thing we must do is BELIEVE…

Jesus said in John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."  And in John 3:16, "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.”

So, let’s say someone accepts Jesus’ free gift of salvation, and then – months or weeks or years – or even days – later – that person gets off the right track and stops living in obedience to God.  Is that person lost again?  Has salvation been lost?  Think about it… the Apostle Paul sinned – right in the middle of being an Apostle, he sinned.  Did he lose his salvation every time he sinned?  Of course not!  The reason is - just as there is nothing you or I can do to GAIN heaven on our own, there is also nothing we can do that can wipe out what Jesus did on the cross!  Once we’ve been born again, we are born again, period.  Once we have been indwelled by the Holy Spirit, there is nothing we can do to “evict” him!  Let’s look at what the Bible says to support this fact…

1 Peter 1:5 says, "who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

And Jude 24 says, "To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy,”

Once saved, we are SEALED until the day of redemption…

In Ephesians 4:30, Paul said, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

And in Ephesians 1:13, he said, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,”

So, what about a person who “backslides”, like we mentioned earlier?

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.  If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.”

What if - later on – we stop believing?  Well, Jesus CANNOT separate Himself from Himself.  As Paul said in 2 Timothy 2:13, "if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself." 

Remember, we are saved by grace, NOT by works.  Titus 3:5 says, "he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,"  And the scripture that had such great meaning to me the day I met the real Jesus - Ephesians 2:8-9, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.” 

Salvation is a FREE GIFT.  Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 5:18 - "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.”

Salvation is a NEW BIRTH.  Salvation is not a process; it is an event in time.

2 Corinthians 6:1-2 - "As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain.  For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’  I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” 

John 3:3 - "In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’”

1 Peter 1:23 - "For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” 

Once a person is spiritually reborn, that person is adopted and becomes a child of God.

Romans 8:15 - "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 

Nothing can separate us from God once we have been adopted.

Romans 8:38-39 - "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

John 10:29 - "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.” 

Jesus will NEVER leave us.

Hebrews 13:5b - "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Matthew 28:20b - "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Once a person accepts Jesus as his/her savior, that person ALREADY HAS eternal life.

1 John 5:13 - "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

John 5:24 - "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

Jesus will NOT cast you out.

John 6:37 - "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” 

We are PRESERVED in Jesus.

Jude 1:1 - "Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:”

2 Timothy 4:18 - "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

We are SHIELDED by the POWER of God, NOT by our own power.

1 Peter 1:5 - "who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” 

Jude 24 - "To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—“ 

What if someone commits a terrible sin?

1 Corinthians 5:1,5 - "It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. ... To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

What if you believe you can lose your salvation?

1 John 5:10 - "Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son."

I know that’s an awful lot of scripture to digest all at once, but it’s important to know that God’s word tells us these three things:

• We can do NOTHING to achieve heaven except receive God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus.
• We are free to choose heaven or hell. 
• If we choose heaven, we are “sealed” to Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and nothing we can do will ever change our eternal destination. 
• If we choose hell, we have no one to blame but ourselves.  As Paul said in Romans 1:18-20, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”
   

If you remember nothing else, remember this... From Genesis to Revelation, from earth's greatest tragedy to heaven's greatest triumph, the dramatic story of mankind's lowest depths and of God's highest heights can be couched in 25 words:  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everylasting life."

The story of Abraham and Sarah begins in Genesis 12, but the part of their story that is pertinent to this question begins with Genesis 15:1.  If you want to read only the portions that pertain to this question, you should read:

Genesis 15:1 through Genesis 16:16

Genesis 18:1-15

Genesis 21:1-21

Now, here’s a summary of that story…  In Genesis 15:1-6, the story begins…  At this point, Abraham’s name is “Abram,” because God had not yet changed his name.  In verses 4 and 5, God tells Abram that he will father a nation that is so large that his offspring will outnumber the stars.  Verse 6 says, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”

In the Near Eastern sky, about 8,000 stars are visible to the naked eye.  This promise was fulfilled in Egypt, when the enslaved Jews grew to number about 600,000 men, plus women and children – an estimated 2,000,000 people!  Ultimately, all who belong to Jesus are Abraham’s offspring (Galatians 3:29, Romans 4:11). 

But there was a problem.  Sarai (whose name was later changed to Sarah) was barren, and neither she nor Abram really believed that she could have a child.  Not only had she been barren all her life, but she was 90 years old and Abram was 100!!! 

It was at this point that Sarai allowed her human “logic” to overrule her faith in God, and she decided that God had actually meant that Abram would father a child through Sarai’s handmaiden, Hagar.  In those days, Sarai could claim Hagar’s child as her own since she “owned” Hagar.  She shared her “brilliant” idea with Abram, and he agreed, so he slept with Hagar, and Hagar had a child whose name was Ishmael. 

The birth of Ishmael created all sorts of ugliness between Sarai and Hagar.  And, when Sarai complained to Abram, rather than have to listen to her complaining, he told her to do whatever she wanted with Hagar.  That gave Sarai free reign to mistreat Hagar, and Hagar finally fled into the desert, taking Ishmael with her.  But an angel came to her, telling her to return to her mistress.  At the same time, the angel promised Hagar that her descendants would be “too numerous to count.” 

When Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90, Sarah miraculously became pregnant, and bore Isaac.  After Isaac was born, the contention between Sarah and Hagar grew worse.  On the day that Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a great feast.  At the feast, Ishmael was mocking what was going on, so Sarah told Abraham that he had to get rid of Hagar and her son.  This really upset Abraham, because he loved Ishmael.  But God said to him…

“Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.  I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring."

So Hagar was sent away, and she wandered the desert with Ishmael.  God protected them, though, and Ishmael grew up, married, and became the father of a great nation.

And this is where the answer to the question comes in… The nation that Abraham fathered through Isaac was the nation of Israel – the Jews.  The nation that Abraham fathered through Ishmael was the Arab nations.  The Jews and the Arab nations have been at war since that time.  As you most likely are aware, most Arab nations are Islamic, and violent Islamic fundamentalism is what drives the terrorists in their attempts to destroy Christians and Jews.

If Abraham and Sarah had just been patient and allowed God to fulfill his promise through Isaac, there would have been no Arab nations, no Islamic fundamentalists, and no war on terror.  Instead, they took matters into their own hands, and the results of their impatience are still being felt today.

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“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,...” Colossians 2:9

The concept of God’s nature can be incredibly difficult to understand, because He is infinite, while we are finite. He is limitless; we are limited. We are limited by space and matter and time.  He exists outside of space and matter and time. We are limited in our capacity to comprehend.  He is limitless in His capacity to understand. Our vocabulary, in and of itself, is limited when we try to convey certain truths about God because our vocabulary is only capable of conveying what is temporary. So, when we try to explain God’s nature, we must use temporary language to convey eternal concepts.

It’s really tempting to try to put God “in a box” ... to mentally create Him in an image with which we can be comfortable. But, if we truly want to know Him, then we must resist the temptation to treat the Bible like a salad bar, believing only those things we feel comfortable with putting on our “plate.”  Instead, if we are going to believe anything the Bible says about God, then we must believe everything the Bible says about Him. God’s Word treats Father, Son and Holy Spirit each as fully God, and at the same time, says that there is only one God. The conclusion is that there is one God in three persons - three persons fully united in one divine being.

As we attempt to explain the Trinity, we must keep in mind that while we may not be able to fully comprehend God, we can know Him through His Word and through a close, intimate, personal relationship with Him. We can know that He not only knows the minute details of our lives, but is vitally interested and involved in them. We can know that His desire to spend eternity with us is so great that He was willing to send His Son to die for us on the cross... to “become sin” as the final sacrifice so that all of our sins could be forgiven. We can know that through faith in Him, we can have assurance of eternity in heaven.

There is a simple set of boundaries which cannot be crossed if one is to maintain a clear picture of who God is... (1) We must not confuse the persons of the Trinity... The Father is not the Son; the Son is not the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not the Father.  (2) We must not divide the essence of who God is.  There is one God, not three.  If we stay within these boundaries, we stay within what God has revealed about Himself and His nature.

Since there are so many misconceptions about what the Trinity is, perhaps an easy way to better our understanding is to talk about what the Trinity is not...

The Trinity is not Modalism, which is the concept that at one state in history, the Father came onto the “stage” and He did “His thing,” and then He went into the    wings.  Then God came out again, this time as Jesus, and did His thing for 33 years. When the Son’s work was completed, He left the stage, and God came on wearing the third “mask” - as the Holy Spirit. That is NOT what God is.  If you will examine the Bible closely, you’ll discover that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were each involved in everything all the time.  All three were involved in creation.  All three were involved at Calvary.  All three were involved in your salvation.  All three are involved in your life even now.

The Trinity also is not Triad.  A triad is anything that has three parts - like a triangle... or an egg... or a wheel... or a cherry pie. A triad has to have all three parts in order to make it what it is. It is to triads that most people turn in trying to describe the Trinity.  For instance, it has been said that God is like water - ice, steam, and liquid. Or, God is like an egg - the shell, the yolk, and the white. Or, God is like a cherry pie - crust, cherries and juice.  The truth is, not one of these illustrations is a valid description of the Trinity. Instead, each is a triad - something made up of three parts, each of which can be removed from the other two parts and stand on its own.

The Trinity is not divided into “parts.”  We run into problems with describing the Trinity as having “parts” - like saying that Jesus is “part” of God.  It is impossible for Jesus to be “part of” or “a piece of” God, because the Father is Spirit. In order for there to be “parts” or “pieces,” God would have to be material matter, and He is not.  God is spirit. There is no dimension to God.  There is no beginning. There is no end. So it is impossible to talk about God as if God is “parts.”  God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. In the alternative, God is not the Father only.  He is not the Son only.  And He is not the Holy Spirit only. God is all three - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - three persons in one God.

Now, let’s take a look at how the Bible reveals the Trinity… We miss a lot of what the Bible says when we read it in English. The reason is, the original languages - predominately Greek and Hebrew - are very specific languages, with very specific words to denote very specific things. For instance, in Greek, there are four words that describe different kinds of love: agape (unconditional, godly love), phileo (brotherly love), philandros (affection), and eros (sexual love). Each time one of these words is translated into English, it is translated as “love.”  Obviously, if we were reading a passage in Greek that contained one of those words, we would gain a much clearer understanding of what the writer was saying than we do in English.

Since neither of those languages translates easily into English, the translation process is not an “exact science.” As such, some very important concepts can get lost in the translation process. The good news is, there are now many thousands of early manuscripts of the Bible - especially the New Testament - some dating to as early as 125 A.D., so we can take a look at the original language to get a better idea of what God is saying about Himself.

God began to reveal His triune nature in Genesis, the very first book of the Bible. In Genesis 1:26, God talks to Himself, saying, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” That’s a confusing statement in English, but in the original Hebrew, it becomes more clear because He says, “Let us” (the triune God) “make man”  (using the verb tense that would be used if one person was talking! It’s also important to note that “Elohim” - the Hebrew word translated as “God” in Genesis 1 and 2 - is a plural noun. It does not imply a plurality of Gods, but rather plurality (intensification) of majesty and creative power. So this one verse in Genesis shows us that the “supreme God,” who is infinite in creativity and power and majesty, “made man” - the one God, who is plural in His magnificence and many other attributes - made man.

Let’s look at a few other ways that God reveals His triune nature in the Bible. In Deuteronomy 6:4, God says, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” There are two Hebrew words used in the Bible to denote “one.”  The first is yachiyd, which means “absolute one.”  The other is echad, which means “united one.”In this verse, the word echad is used, meaning “united one.” This is one of many similar examples that illustrate that the writer (in this case, Moses) was not referring to God as an “absolute one,” but rather as a “united one.”

Each time echad is used in the Bible, it means “united one.”  For instance, Genesis 1:5 says, “And there was evening, and there was morning - the first day.”  Here, again, the word echad is used, and it implies that the evening and the morning are called “one” - not an absolute one, but a “united one.” Then, Genesis 2:24 says, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”  Again, the word echad is used, furnishing further evidence of the “united one” concept - referring to two separate persons becoming “one.”

In the alternative, the word yachiyd (absolute one) is used much differently.  For instance, Genesis 22:2 says, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love...” In this sentence, the word yachiyd is used, meaning only one, or absolute one. It’s interesting to note that never once in the entire Bible is the word yachiyd used in reference to God.

Trinity - or tri-unity - is three dimensions, each of which, in and of itself, is the whole. That’s a difficult concept, so how can we get an idea what it means? By looking at God’s creation.  Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

How can we see “God’s invisible qualities” in the universe? The universe is made up of space, matter and time.  You cannot have any one of the three without the other two.  The universe is not one-third space, one-third matter, and one-third time. All of the universe is space, all of it is matter, and all of it is time.

Within space, matter and time, you’ll find yet another trinity in each one. For instance, space is made up of length, breadth and height. And each of those three dimensions is a whole in and of itself. How do you measure space?  The same way you figure the space within a cube... by multiplying the length times the breadth times the height:  1 X 1 X 1 = 1.  You do not measure it by adding 1+1+1. It’s correct to use the same math to “measure” the Trinity - 1 X 1 X 1 = 1.  That’s an easy concept in math, but not so easy when it comes to God. With God, we want to add, but the correct “math” is multiplication, just as we saw in Genesis 1 & 2, where the “plurality” of Elohim meant intensification of God’s majesty and creative power. God is one in three.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”
John 14:6-10

God existed within Himself before He ever began the creation... for all eternity before, in fact.  He did not need His creation for anything. He is not the one, lone, monolithic god that the Allah of Islam is. Instead, He is totally self-sufficient. In His Trinity, He has fellowship with Himself.  He does not need anything or anyone.  So it is a total miracle of God’s grace that you and I are allowed to come and fellowship within the Trinity.

As we said, God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How does God, who is Spirit, show you and me who He is so that we can understand Him?  As we just said, He did that with His universe. But better yet, He did that with Jesus. In Isaiah 9:6-7, we see the concept beginning to form, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” This verse starts out with obvious reference to Jesus, talking about His Advent - His birth. It then goes on to give Him four of the many “names” or “titles” given to Jesus, each of which refers to a different person of the Trinity.  “Wonderful Counselor” is the Holy Spirit, “Everlasting Father” is God the Father, “Prince of Peace” is Jesus, and “Mighty God” is all three.

The Father in His person and the Son in His person and the Holy Spirit in His person are all co-equal and co-existent. The Father is not more important than the Son. The Son is not more important than the Spirit. They are all equal in their persons. In their function - what they actually do - the Son does the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit does the will of the Son. The result is what Jesus said in John 14:6-10, specifically verse 9, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are both spirit. Jesus, on the other hand, has human form. That is one of the miracles of the Incarnation... This Spirit, who is the invisible God, became material in space matter and time so that you and I could see the invisible. Jesus has not existed eternally, though. God the Son has, but not Jesus.  Jesus is the human/God - 100% human and 100% God at the same time.

All of this can be confusing, but there is good news... Even though we cannot fully comprehend the Triune God, we can know Him. We can know that He loves us more than we can ever totally comprehend. Even without being able to understand His love, we can relish it and live within the joy it gives us just knowing that this great God Almighty loves each of us so much that, even though He is totally self-sufficient, He still wants to spend eternity with us.

It’s interesting that people ask this question about God, but don’t hesitate to fully believe in many, many things that they do not comprehend. For instance, how many people truly comprehend human conception? Yes, we can explain step-by-step what happens when a baby is conceived, but who can comprehend how it happens?  And what about gravity? We can explain it... we can know that it is real, but we can not comprehend it at all. Those are just two of thousands of things in this world that we can’t comprehend, and yet we don’t question their existence or refuse to believe in them.

Some time back, a list of prominent scientists were each asked to submit their definition of “life.” When the responses were all in, there were as many different definitions as there were scientists. The conclusion was that science cannot define “life.” If science - and we - cannot define life, what makes us think we should be able to comprehend the Creator of life?

The good news is, even though we cannot fully comprehend our Triune God, we can get to know Him - through His Word, and through His hand on our lives. So, before you reject Him outright, spend some time getting to know Him, and let Him bless your life in ways that will amaze you.

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Jesus spent three years explaining the answer to these questions, and Paul addressed them in at least half of the epistles he wrote.  As such, I will warn you from the beginning that this answer is LONG.  It’s not a simple question to answer, and I want to be thorough, touching on every aspect of the issue.  So please try to read it all the way through to the end, because if you stop in the middle somewhere, you’ll have an incomplete understanding of this extremely important issue for the walk of a born again believer.

The Law vs. God's Amazing Grace

 “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” Galatians 1:3 (NIV)

 Paul, the Apostle, regularly began each of his letters with an introduction of who he was and who he was writing to.  Then he would say, "Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."  Why would this thing - grace - be so important for Paul to include it in the very beginning of virtually every letter he wrote?  Because the grace of God is the most important thing that any of us will ever receive.

But God's grace - this one thing that is so important - is also perhaps the most difficult concept to for us to understand.  It is something for which we have no point of reference.  It doesn't fit in with our human conception of reality.  Perhaps that is why God began to teach us about Himself by first giving Israel a list of rules to live by - the Law of Moses.  By giving men these laws (613 of them!), God began to illustrate how truly impossible it is for any man to live by them.  Through thousands of years and countless lives, God illustrated how very much we all need His grace.  And then, through Jesus, the laws became guidelines to live by.  Through Jesus, the laws became a standard, not an achievement ladder for obtaining grace.  Through Jesus, we use the law to understand what sin is, not as a means of obtaining righteousness.  Paul reiterated this concept again and again, but perhaps he said it best in Romans 3:20 (NIV), "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." 

Rules and regulations make us comfortable.  We know what we can do and when we can do it.  We know what we can't do and what will happen to us if we do.  This gives us a feeling of security.  But God's grace... now, there's something scary.... risky... insecure.  You and I don't want to be dependent on anyone for anything, even God.  So we keep our rules and regulations and merely flavor them with grace.  We want to keep God 90% in control, with us 10% in control... just in case.  So if God fails to come through with his 90%, we can step in and somehow influence Him to get back on the job!

But God is not a puppet.  He is not someone we can control by our wit or charm.  We can't influence how much grace He pours out on us by doing only those things that tickle His fancy.  We cannot manipulate God by trying to follow all the rules.  Instead, He says to us - "There is absolutely nothing you can do to obtain my grace... nothing."  And He also says that all those good works we’re doing, trying to rack up enough “Brownie points” for God to allow us into heaven, are but “filthy rags” to Him. (Isaiah 64:6 NIV)

And we say, "But surely there is something, something I can do.  If I serve more in church... if I give a 10% tithe and even more... if I teach Sunday School... if I witness more... if I don't drink or smoke... if I follow all the rules..."  We are constantly trying to EARN favor with God.  But we can't earn it.  And we can't UN-earn it.  There is nothing that we can do - right, wrong, or indifferent - that will influence God to give us more or less of His grace.  So He says to us, "Just bow down to me, and be grateful."

Like the Galatians, so many of us are quick to turn away from God's grace and toward a lifestyle that is dependent upon our own merits rather than what God can do and has done for us through Jesus.  It's so very hard to comprehend that He would love us just because He loves us.  No, we think we must have to do something to earn His love.  We must have to do something to get to heaven on our own.  We must have to do something to obtain His favor.  And if we don't do right, we'll lose His love.  Our salvation will go down the tubes if we don't follow the rules.  God only takes care of us if we're doing everything according to the rules.  Right?  Wrong!

Why are we, like the Galatians, so quick to abandon grace?  Again, it is because you and I are so very unwilling to depend on anyone else - including God - for our well-being.  So, instead of freedom, we choose slavery.  Instead of peace, we choose worry and fear.  Instead of God's grace, we choose to depend on ourselves, and thereby thumb our noses at Jesus' sacrifice for us on the cross.

But what about the Ten Commandments?  Surely they are still in effect, even if the other 600+ laws aren’t.  The answer is, no, not when it comes to what “supervises” us.  And it’s a good thing!  The truth is, there is not one person who can manage to observe the Ten Commandments wholly and completely.  In fact, most people can’t get past the FIRST Commandment, much less fully comply with the other nine.  The First Commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before me.”  No person has ever gone through his or her life without allowing something or someone to come between that person and God.  And if something or someone comes between you and God in any way, you have broken the first Commandment.   James 2:10 (NIV) says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”  Whew!  That’s rough, isn’t it?  But that is the absolute truth. 

Were the Ten Commandments nailed to the cross along with the rest of the Law?  Yes, they were.  And even so, aren’t we required to follow them as Christians?  Required, no, at least not if we’re doing so in order to earn “Brownie points” with God.  But if we love Him, then the answer is yes.  If we are grateful for what He did for us on the cross, then the answer is yes.  If we want to be effective witnesses for Him, then the answer is yes.

Acts 15 addresses this very issue.  Verses 5 and 6 point out that some wanted new believers to be circumcised and required to obey the Law of Moses (which certainly contains Sabbath keeping).  In verse 10, Paul rebukes them for trying to put a yoke (the Law) on the disciples that neither "we nor our fathers have been able to bear".  It would be good to read the entire chapter of Acts 15 with an open mind and prayer.  It will become obvious that if strict following of the Ten Commandments was required of them, this would have been the perfect place to disclose it since the discussion was the Old Testament Law's bearing on the New Testament believers.  But the Apostolic council determined that no aspect of the law was in force for the Christian.  Not circumcision, nor the dietary law and not the Sabbath (which is the fourth of the Ten Commandments, thereby including the Ten Commandments in their mandate).  The conclusion was that enough Jews were preaching the Old Testament laws, restrictions, diets and days of observance.  That was Moses.  That's Old Testament Law.  But we, the Church - the Body of Christ - must preach grace.

The reality is that the whole Law of Moses has been rendered inoperative by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.

This is evident in three ways…

First, from Romans 10:4 (NIV), "Christ is the end of the law, so there may be righteousness for everyone who believes."  Jesus is the complete end and fulfillment of the law's 600+ commandments, ending their jurisdiction over us completely.  We are no longer justified by law keeping of any kind.

Galatians 2:16 (NIV), "... know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified."  And in Hebrews 7:18-19 (NIV), "The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God."

Second, God’s rending of the veil in the temple at the moment of Jesus' death was a powerful demonstration that the Old Testament covenant had been done away with, and that God was beginning a new and superior covenant with His church.  Matthew 27:51 (NIV) says, "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  The earth shook and the rocks split."  God showed in a wonderful way that the way to Him was opened (Hebrews 10:14-22).  No longer is there a need for priesthoods, altars, temples, rites or sacrifices.  Jesus has finished, once for all, the works of salvation by His death on the cross. (Hebrews 7:27, 10:10; Romans 6:10).

This earthquake is parallel with the earthquake at Mt. Sinai when God gave Moses the Law.  (Exodus 19:16-19)  The earthquake at Calvary signified that the demands of the law were over and curse of the law forever abolished. (Hebrews 12:18-24)  The torn veil indicates He conquered sin; the earthquake that he conquered the law and fulfilled it.

And third, a careful study of the Scriptures will show that the law was never intended to be a permanent administration, but rather a temporary one.  Galatians 3:19 (NIV) states, "What, then, was the purpose of the law?  It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred (Jesus) had come."  Here, Paul is showing that the Law of Moses is an addition to God's covenant with Abraham.  It was added for the express purpose of revealing the holiness of God and the sinful nature of man, in order to make men know just how sinful they really were.  Paul said in Romans 7:7 (NIV), "Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law."

So the law was meant to be a temporary measure until the Messiah came.  Now that He has come, the law is no longer in effect.  Take a look at Romans 3:20-21 (NIV), "Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify."

Every bit of the law was nailed to that bloody cross at Calvary, having been completed and filled in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Colossians 2:14-16 (NIV) says, "...having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.  Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration, or a Sabbath day.  These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ."

The New King James translation renders that first phrase in verse 14 as, "having wiped out the handwriting."  The "written code" - or the "handwriting" - was the Decalogue – the Ten Commandments that were the only part of the Law that was written by the finger of God himself.  It represents the whole law.  This handwriting opposed us in that it amplified every man's guilt and unworthiness before God.  Jesus wiped out this handwriting by His triumph at Calvary.  He rendered it null and void. The Greek term used by Paul in verse 14 is "exaleipho" - "to totally wipe and wash away" or "to wipe off, wipe away, to obliterate." God used such a strong word to emphasize in unmistakable language the fact of the law's obliteration for the Christian.

Since Christians have been freed forever from the whole law (all 613 of them), we must resist any temptation to become legalistic and thereby to become ensnared into new bondage to legalistic requirements.  Believe me, I spent enough time under the “law” when I was trying to "earn" my way to heaven, and now I am totally and eternally grateful to Jesus for freeing me from that bondage.  Although I could never do enough to pay Him back for the gift He's given me, I will spend every day of this life serving Him as best I can, in my own meager way of showing Him my gratitude.

What God has shown me through His word - and through a lot of tough learning experiences - Paul addressed again and again in his letters, hitting the subject particularly hard in Romans and Galatians.  Over and over again, the New Testament scriptures teach us about the freedom of God's grace versus the bondage of the Law.  In Galatians 3:23-25 (NIV) Paul said, "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.  So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.  Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." Any time that we try to enforce "rules and regulations", God's grace goes right out the window in favor of bondage.  Paul summed it up the best in Galatians 2:21 (NIV), "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing."

Is God's grace a license to sin?  NO!  As Paul said in Romans 6:15-18 (NIV), "What then?  Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?  By no means!  Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."

So what about the person who claims to be a Christian, but there is no evidence of salvation in his life?  This is something that confuses a lot of people, especially in light of James 2:14, 17 (NIV), "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save him?....In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."   But if you look at those verses in James, and then read 1 John 1:5-10, the picture of how faith and works go together becomes much clearer.  1 John 1:5-10 (NIV) says, "This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you:  God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.  But if we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from unrighteousness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."  (Emphasis mine)  In other words, if a person claims to be saved, and yet there is no evidence of it in his life, then that person is a liar, plain and simple.  And if a person says that he is or can be without sin, then he is making Jesus out to be a liar.

So that's God's grace.  It is not only un-earned, it is undeserved.  Because not one of us is capable of earning the right to stand before God - not one.  And no matter how hard we might try, every good thing we do is nothing but those "filthy rags" in the eyes of God (Isaiah 64:6 NIV).  Perhaps Paul said it best in Ephesians 2:8 (NIV), "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast."

Are we required to follow the Law (especially the Ten Commandments) in order to get to heaven?  No.  Again, God gave us the Law so we would know what sin is, and it is through the law that we become conscious of sin.  But man is totally incapable of keeping the whole law, and as we learned from James 2:10, if we stumble on just one part of the Law, we are guilty of all of it! 

That brings us back to something I said in the devotional on Thursday, February 9th… there are only TWO commandments with which we need to concern ourselves, and these are the two commandments Jesus gave to us as revealed in Matthew 22:37-40 when he said, “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 

Why did Jesus say, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”?  He said that because if we truly do love the Lord our God with all our hearts and with all our souls and with all our minds, and also love our neighbors as ourselves, we will automatically follow the Ten Commandments.  We will put God first in all things.  We will not do murder or commit adultery or gossip or envy or any of the other things that are obvious on the “surface” of the Ten Commandments.  Plus, if we are truly focused on God that much, we will also see beyond the obvious admonitions of those commandments in the way that Jesus tried to make us see in Matthew 5 an 6.  We’ll realize that harboring hatred in our hearts is the equivalent to murder, and lusting after someone – even if we never physically act on that lust – is committing adultery.

One last thing… a few folks asked if the current furor over the display of the Ten Commandments is valid if the Law is no longer binding on Christians.  The answer is, absolutely yes!  Those Ten Commandments still stand as our basic guideline for living, written for us by the finger of God.  Jesus redeemed us from the condemnation of the Law, but its validity as a standard for Christian living still stands. 

As for grace, if you've been depending on yourself to get to heaven or to somehow “impress” God with your righteousness, stop.  Let go.  Relax.  Accept the free gift of grace God has given you. Realize that the only real righteousness comes through Jesus.  Accept the freedom that you can have through Jesus Christ.  Don't abandon God's grace.  Accept it, and be free!

"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing."  Galatians 2:21 (NIV)

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Actually, you’re starting in the right place by praying and reading your Bible.  There is nothing so comforting as the Psalms can be when we are in great distress.  It’s true that there are actually thousands of books that have been written about different subjects, but you have to be careful to “be a Berean” when reading any of those books.  By “be a Berean,” I mean to do exactly what the Bereans did… In Acts 17:11, the Bereans were commended because they listened to every word that Paul said, then they went home and checked their scriptures (our Old Testament) to see whether what Paul was saying was true or not. 

Here is why this is so important… If you’re familiar with carpentry, you know that when a carpenter begins a project, he will set down a “plumb line.”  He will use that line throughout his project to make sure everything about the project remains “true.”  As human beings, we also need a “plumb line” – a place to go where we can know that what we will find there is the truth.  That “plumb line” is the Bible – the ONLY source of constant and absolute truth available to us.  People – pastors, teachers, devotional writers – are fallible, and we can make mistakes, but the Bible is NEVER wrong on any point.  I know that it is a daunting idea to think about approaching the Bible in order to find what we need to find, but the more you use your Bible as that “plumb line,” the easier it will be for you to find what you’re looking for.  The more you study your Bible, the more you will know about God’s truth, and the easier it will be for you to locate specific subjects.

As for additional materials, the very best thing I can suggest is some “study tools” to help you.  For instance, a good “study” Bible can be invaluable.  I have the NIV Study Bible, as well as three other “study Bibles” in other translations which contain footnotes and cross-references.  Using all of them, I am certain to be able to find everything I’m looking for, plus gain some invaluable information about customs of the time, weights and measures, and cross-confirmation between the Old and New Testaments.  I also have a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance with Greek and Hebrew lexicons in the back, so that I can look up the original language when a particular term or passage confuses me.

If you will obtain some of these study tools, and really focus on studying your Bible rather than just reading it, you’ll also find a lot more comfort and encouragement than you’re finding now.  When you study, don’t try to take the Bible all in one big “bite.”  Instead, take one short section at a time and really study it.  For instance, if you have an NIV Bible (or one of most other translations), you’ll find that there are “subheads” within each chapter.  For instance, in the book of John, the first subhead before John 1:1 is “The Word Became Flesh.”  The next one is right before John 1:19, and is “John the Baptist Denies Being the Christ.”  So, you should take ONLY those first 18 verses, and really study them, using all the cross-references and footnotes to help you get the most out of them.  When you’ve exhausted your study of those verses, then move on to the next section which goes from verse 19 through verse 28.  You’ll find, at times, that a subject will begin in one chapter and end in the next chapter, which is why it’s important to read from subhead to subhead, rather than chapter by chapter.  The chapters and verses were originally numbered as a way for the copyists to keep up with who was copying which portion of the Bible (by hand), and they have no bearing on where a particular subject begins and ends.  The subheads have been added in recent years to help people study their Bibles and see the complete context of specific verses. 

The other thing I want to share with you is how to overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed by life.  I will share this same thing with some others in answer to their questions, because although your questions may differ in their particulars, the answer to each is basically the same…

These are the things God has taught me (the hard way, I might add) over the years:

• If someone asks you why you feel overwhelmed by life and why you want to stop feeling that way, your immediate answer MUST be “so that God may be glorified.”  Period.  If you have any other response to that question, the first thing you must do is change your motivation.  If you can’t change your motivation on your own, then ask the Lord to help you change it, because it’s only when we are walking totally within His will for us that He can bless us the way He wants to.  And the very first and most important part of getting us within His will is to change our motivation from a self-centered perspective to a God-centered perspective.  This is the first thing you need to do, and the things that follow will fall into place much more easily and less painfully.  And life won’t be nearly so overwhelming.
• Realize that you are right where God wants you to be right now.  He knows your situation.  He has allowed it to happen.  And His purpose for allowing it is an eternal one that you might not be able to see right now, or ever, for that matter.
• Keep your eyes on JESUS and off of your circumstances.  In Matthew 14:22-33, we can read the story of the night that Jesus walked on the water.  Something that most people miss is the fact that Peter walked on water that night, too!  Verses 29b-30 say, “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk on water just like Jesus!  But when he allowed his circumstances (the wind and the storm) to distract him, he sunk like a rock!  So, if you want to at least keep your head above water – if not actually walk on it – then you have to keep your eyes on Jesus and off of the situations that are causing you to feel overwhelmed.
• Be willing to accept God’s answer, no matter what it is, i.e. “Let YOUR will, not mine, be done, Lord.” 
• Realize that God’s method for achieving what He plans for your life may not take the route you think He should take.  So be willing to accept whatever God is doing and recognize that He sees past, present and future all at the same time. He already knows what the outcome is going to be, and the main thing you do not want to do is get in His way.
   

God has taken me through this process over and over again until I have it memorized, and it’s so much a part of me that it’s my instant reaction to every crisis. That’s where He wants all of us to be, but it takes willingness on your part to do things HIS way, and put HIM first rather than what you want.  What you want may be what He wants, too, but most of the time, He won’t even touch something unless we have let go of it and done the things I listed above.

Hang in there, and work really hard on doing things God’s way, and then let Him work.  No matter what the particulars of the outcome, you will be blessed.

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There is no “generic” answer to this question, because depression can be caused by either one.  And, depending upon the cause of the depression, the “treatment” can involve either medication or faith – or both. 

In general, when depression is NOT caused by a chemical imbalance, the problem is the focus of the person.  Rather than having a God-centered focus, the person is consumed by self-focus.  And any time we put our focus on ourselves, we pull ourselves away from the blessings that God wants to give us. 

If you are depressed, and you’ve confirmed with a doctor that the source of your depression is NOT a chemical imbalance, then the best “treatment process” is as follows:

• If someone asks you why you are depressed and why you want to stop feeling that way, your immediate answer MUST be “so that God may be glorified.”  Period.  If you have any other response to that question, the first thing you must do is change your motivation.  If you can’t change your motivation on your own, then ask the Lord to help you change it, because it’s only when we are walking totally within His will for us that He can bless us the way He wants to.  And the very first and most important part of getting us within His will is to change our motivation from a self-centered perspective to a God-centered perspective.  This is the first thing you need to do, and the things that follow will fall into place much more easily and less painfully.  And you will find your depression literally begin to “evaporate.”
• Realize that you are right where God wants you to be right now.  He knows your situation.  He has allowed it to happen.  And His purpose for allowing it is an eternal one that you might not be able to see right now, or ever, for that matter.
• Keep your eyes on JESUS and off of your circumstances.  In Matthew 14:22-33, we can read the story of the night that Jesus walked on the water.  Something that most people miss is the fact that Peter walked on water that night, too!  Verses 29b-30 say, “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.  But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk on water just like Jesus!  But when he allowed his circumstances (the wind and the storm) to distract him, he sunk like a rock!  So, if you want to at least keep your head above water – if not actually walk on it – then you have to keep your eyes on Jesus and off of the situations that are causing you to feel overwhelmed.
• Be willing to accept God’s answer to your prayers, no matter what it is, i.e. “Let YOUR will, not mine, be done, Lord.” 
• Realize that God’s method for achieving what He plans for your life may not take the route you think He should take.  So be willing to accept whatever God is doing and recognize that He sees past, present and future all at the same time. He already knows what the outcome is going to be, and the main thing you do not want to do is get in His way.
   

God has taken me through this process over and over again until I have it memorized, and it’s so much a part of me that it’s my instant reaction to every crisis. That’s where He wants all of us to be, but it takes willingness on your part to do things HIS way, and put HIM first rather than what you want.  What you want may be what He wants, too, but most of the time, He won’t even touch something unless we have let go of it and done the things I listed above.

Hang in there, and work really hard on doing things God’s way, and then let Him work.  No matter what the particulars of the outcome, you will be blessed.

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The question is, are Christians required to “keep the Sabbath?”

The following is written in an effort to help Christians understand what the Sabbath is, and whether a Christian who is trying to live a life pleasing to God must include keeping the Sabbath as part of that life.

Sabbath keeping is part of the Law, specifically the Ten Commandments.  The Ten Commandments were the first of the 613 Laws God gave to Moses to share with Israel.  God gave Israel the Law to show them what sin is (Romans 3:20b).  He also gave them the Law to show them that they would never be able to achieve heaven on their own, so they needed a redeemer. 

The truth is, there is not one person who can manage to observe the Ten Commandments wholly and completely.  In fact, most people can’t get past the FIRST Commandment, much less fully comply with the other nine.  The First Commandment is, "You shall have no other gods before me.”  No person has ever gone through his or her life without allowing something or someone to come between that person and God.  And if something or someone comes between you and God in any way, you have broken the first Commandment. 

However, the relevance of the Sabbath to Christians is the focus of this discussion, so let’s look at the fourth Commandment in its entirety (Exodus 20:8-11 NIV):

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

That commandment is pretty precise, and it involves a lot of “shall not’s”.  But was that commandment directed at Christians?  For whom was the Sabbath created?

It’s interesting to note that God mentions in this commandment that He rested on the seventh day.  But He didn’t bring up the Sabbath until hundreds of years later.   And it is important to know that one of the first principals of Biblical interpretation is to determine to whom the portion of scripture you are studying is addressed.  If you fail to bring that into consideration, confusion can be the result.  So let’s take a look at just who God was speaking to with the fourth commandment….

First look at Exodus 31:16:  "The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for generations to come as a lasting covenant."

This obviously is spoken to the children of Israel, not the gentiles and certainly not the church (the body of Christ).  This is an Old Testament passage setting forth the sign and seal of the Mosaic covenant - God's covenant with Israel.

In Exodus 31:13,17, we read:  "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths.  This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, .... It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever..."

The Sabbath was imposed upon the nation of Israel alone as a sign of God's exclusive covenant with them.

Ezekiel 20:12 says, "Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I the Lord made them holy."

Rabbi Abraham P. Block, in his book, "The Biblical and Historical Background of Jewish Customs and Ceremonies, makes it clear:  "The rites of circumcision and the Sabbath are equally basic to Judaism.  Both laws are memorials to a special covenant between God and the children of Israel.”

There are other passages that show that this law was between God and Israel in the Old Testament, but let's go to the New Testament which is the church age.  Surely somewhere in the 27 books of the New Testament, God would have issued the Sabbath mandate if it were binding on the church (the Body of Christ), or important to Him.

Acts 15 addresses this very issue.  Verses 5 and 6 point out that some wanted new believers to be circumcised and required to obey the Law of Moses (which certainly contains the Sabbath keeping).  Paul, in verse 10, rebukes them for trying to put a yoke (the Law) on the disciples that neither "we nor our fathers have been able to bear".  It would be good to read the entire chapter 15 with an open mind and prayer.  It will become obvious that if Sabbath observance was required of them, this would have been the perfect place to disclose it since the discussion was the Old Testament Law's bearing on the New Testament believers.  Here the Apostolic council determined that no aspect of the law was in force for the Christian.  Not circumcision, nor the dietary law and certainly not the Sabbath.  The conclusion was that enough Jews were preaching the Old Testament laws, restrictions, diets and days of observance.  That was Moses.  That's Old Testament Law.  But we, the church - the Body of Christ - must preach grace.

Did you know that Jesus declared an end to the Sabbath?

Look closely at John 5:16-18:  "So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.  Jesus said to them, 'My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.'  For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God."

The expression, "not only was he breaking the Sabbath", actually declares that Jesus had done nothing less than cancel the Sabbath commandment!

Since I am not a Greek scholar, I turned to those who do know the language.  I read opinion after opinion, and found all of them to be in agreement. For instance, M.R. Vincent translates "had broken" (as the phrase is translated in the KJV) as, "(Jesus) was literally loosing:  the imperfect tense.  Not, broke the Sabbath in any particular case, but was annulling the law and duty of Sabbath observance."

This is exactly what John meant.  This word translated "was loosing" has profound legal significance to its meaning in contexts dealing with laws of judicial decisions.  It is the same word in Matthew 16:19:  “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."  It was also used to describe the destruction of the world system:   “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.  That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.” (2 Peter 3:11-12)  Also, “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.” (1 John 3:8)  It means in Greek to annul the laws and duty of Sabbath observances.

W.E. Vine rendered it:  "loosing the force of them, rendering them not binding."

I could quote more authorities in Greek, but I believe that it is obvious that in John 5:18, Jesus is accused of not merely breaking the Sabbath, but of doing away with it!  The point is clearly made that Jesus annulled, abolished, and did away with the Sabbath forever.  It is no longer binding on the New Testament believer.  In fact, the whole Law of Moses has been rendered inoperative.  The whole Law of Moses has been made inoperative by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus.

This is evident in three ways.

First, from Romans 10:4, "Christ is the end of the law, so there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." Jesus is the complete end and fulfillment of the law's 613 commandments, ending their jurisdiction over us completely.  We are no longer justified by law keeping of any kind.

Galatians 2:16, "... know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified."  And in Hebrews 7:18-19, "The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God."

God’s rending of the veil in the temple at the moment of Jesus' death was a powerful demonstration that the Old Testament covenant had been done away with, and that God was beginning a new and superior covenant with His church.  Matthew 27:51 says, "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  The earth shook and the rocks split."  God showed in a wonderful way that the way to Him was opened (Hebrews 10:14-16).  No longer is there a need for priesthoods, altars, temples, rites or sacrifices.  Jesus has finished, once for all, the works of salvation by His death on the cross. (Hebrews 7:27, 10:10; Romans 6:10).

This earthquake is parallel with the earthquake at Mt. Sinai when God gave Moses the Law.  (Exodus 19:16)  The earthquake at Calvary signified that the demands of the law were over and curse of the law forever abolished. (Hebrews 12:18-24)  The torn veil indicates He conquered sin; the earthquake that he conquered the law and fulfilled it.

A careful study of the Scriptures will show that the law was never intended to be a permanent administration, but rather a temporary one.  Galatians 3:19 states, "What, then, was the purpose of the law?  It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred (Jesus) had come."  Here, Paul is showing that the Law of Moses is an addition to God's covenant with Abraham.  It was added for the express purpose of revealing the holiness of God and the sinful nature of man, in order to make men know just how sinful they really were.  Paul said in Romans 7:7, "Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law."

So the law was meant to be a temporary measure until the Christ came.  Now that He has come, the law is no longer in effect.  Take a look at Romans 3:20-21, "Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify."

Every bit of the law was nailed to that bloody cross at Calvary, having been completed and filled in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Colossians 2:14-17 says, "...having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.  Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration, or a Sabbath day.  These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ."

The "written code" was the Decalouge, written by the finger of God himself, representing the whole law.  This handwriting opposed us in that it only amplified every man's guilt and unworthiness before God.  Jesus blotted out this handwriting by His triumph at Calvary.  He rendered it null and void. The Greek term used by Paul in verse 14 is "exaleipho" - "to totally wipe and wash away" or "to wipe off, wipe away, to obliterate." God used such a strong word to emphasize in unmistakable language the fact of the law's obliteration for the Christian.

Since Christians have been freed forever from the whole law (all 613 of them), we must resist any temptation to become legalistic and thereby to become ensnared into new bondage to legalistic requirements.  Believe me, I spent enough time under the law when I was trying to "earn" my way to heaven, and now I am totally and eternally grateful to Jesus for freeing me of that bondage.  Although I could never do enough to "pay Him back" for the gift He's given me, I will spend every day of this life serving Him as best I can, in my own meager way of showing Him my gratitude.

Because we are complete in Jesus (Colossians 2:10), having found acceptance with God entirely through Jesus, He has dispensed with the former, shadowy elements that regulated meat and drink (i.e. clean and unclean foods), and "holy days" of any kind, including the 7th day Sabbath.  It wasn't man who did away with the Sabbath, but God who nailed it along with 612 other legal demands to a blood-stained cross.  Not even the Sabbath could fall from that cross and flutter down to be picked up by man.  The legalism of Sabbath observance can prevent a person from accepting the only salvation God recognizes, the one provided entirely by Jesus through faith alone.

One interesting point is that of the Ten Commandments, nine are repeated in the New Testament, while one is glaring absent - the Sabbath.  And of the nine that are reiterated, some are emphasized.

The only place that the fourth commandment (concerning the Sabbath) is mentioned is where Paul condemns its observance by Christians!  (Galatians 4:9-11; Colossians 2:16-17)

Why do Christians traditionally worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, rather than Saturday, which is the seventh day – the day which God designated to be the Sabbath?  Many people believe that Constantine changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.  However, the fact is that no one changed it.  The early church simply abandoned the Saturday Sabbath.  They recognized it as a distinctly Jewish practice that held no bearing on the church. When the Galatian church tried to go back to Sabbath keeping, Paul chastised them in Galatians 4:9-11, "But now that you know God - or rather are known by God - how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles?  Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?  You are observing special days and months and seasons and years!  I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you."  The Galatian Christians had been persuaded by legalists to return to aspects of Judaism, including Sabbath keeping.  It was for this that Paul rebuked them.

As for Constantine’s part in the so-called change of the Sabbath to Sunday, he simply ratified Sunday worship as a public holiday.  The church itself had sanctioned and practiced The Lord's Day long before the end of the first century.  You can find mention of Sunday worship in the letters of Ignatius, Barnabas, Justin Marty, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexander, Bardesanes, Tertulian, Origen and Victorianus, some from as early as 85 A.D.

It's important to remember that prior to Constantine, the Christian church had been persecuted, and had been forced to worship underground on Sunday. After Constantine's alleged conversion, he favored the Christians and with his official sanction, it became possible for the first time for Christians to assemble openly for worship.  . 

What God has shown me through His word - and through a lot of tough learning experiences - Paul addressed again and again in his letters, hitting the subject particularly hard in Romans and Galatians.  Over and over again, the New Testament scriptures teach us about the freedom of God's grace versus the bondage of the Law.  In Galatians 3:23-25 he said, "Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.  So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.  Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law." Any time that we try to enforce "rules and regulations", God's grace goes right out the window in favor of bondage.  Paul summed it up the best in Galatians 2:21, "I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing."

The full question was:

1 Corinthians 6:9-10:  “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”  What I get confused on, and have a difficult time expressing my question on, is we speak of God's forgiveness of our sins and I keep hearing people talk in sermons and on shows that He forgives all sins that we confess and repent of - and I have friends who continue in the sins that are mentioned here (which makes me think there is no repentance) but call themselves Christians and believe they will be going to heaven... doesn't this Word tell us we will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven if we continue in this sin? And if I'm correct in reading this as saying we will not make it to heaven, how can I impress upon my friends that continuing in this kind of behavior will only get them death? Is this passage another way of saying The Path is Narrow?

Answer:

You pretty much nailed your answer yourself, especially with your last sentence.  However, there are two different ways to look at situations like this…

First, there is the situation of a devout, born-again believer who is just having trouble getting rid of a “pet” sin.  The person repents of that sin, asks for forgiveness, and then falls right back into the same thing again at the first opportunity.  Having done it again, he agonizes over it, repents, and begs forgiveness all over again, and maybe stays away from that particular sin a little longer the next time.  BUT, he falls right back into it again – and again – and again.  Eventually, he will get rid of the sin, but not before a lot of repetition of the process again and again and again.  Is this person saved?  Of course he is!  He’s just having a rough time with his walk.

Even the Apostle Paul had a struggle with sin in his life.  Here’s what he said in Romans 7:7-25:

  "What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."  But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead.  Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

   "For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.  So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.  Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

  "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.  I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.   Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.   

   "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord! 
   "So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."

But then there is the other group – the ones I believe you were actually  talking about.  People like this are lost.  They may call themselves Christian, but when there is no commitment to Christ or to living the way He would have us live, they’re as lost as they can be.  One thing to remember, when a person is saved, that person is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and there will begin to be clear evidence of that person’s salvation in the way the person lives.  It might not all happen at once, but it will happen, and it will be obvious to those who have known the person that something has changed. 

In Matthew 7:15-23, Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.  By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

   "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'  Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

Obviously, Jesus was specifically talking about false prophets, but other people – ones who continue in that kind of lifestyle, basically thumbing their noses at Jesus - are bearing rotten fruit.  In most cases, their attitude is, “Oh, well, I’m forgiven, so I can do whatever I want to.”  If they say that, it’s obvious they don’t have a clue who Jesus is, because otherwise they would know that being saved is not a license to sin! 

As far as reaching these peopled with the message they need to hear, there can be a number of factors that could come into play that govern how best to approach them.  The first, and most obvious thing to do is pray, asking the Lord to open their eyes to the truth.  Then, when the Lord opens up a “window” where you can tell they’re ready to listen, show them that scripture from Matthew and ask them if they think their unrepentant attitude toward sin might just land them in that last group Jesus was talking about.  And remind them that although Jesus’ death on the cross was sufficient to cover every sin ever committed by every person in the world, the only sinners who are forgiven are repentant sinners.  And also remind them that “repent” is an action word, meaning to turn away.  If they refuse to turn away from their sin, much less feel sorry for having done it, do they think God is going to forgive them?  Why should He, when they refuse to live up to their end of the bargain?

God does not NEED glory, He DESERVES it.  He created us for His pleasure, and for the companionship we would provide for Him.  And all of the things we do as Christians should be done specifically to glorify Him.  Here are just a few of the many scriptures that speak of why God deserves our praise.

Philippians 2:13 - for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Revelation 4:11 - "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

Revelation 5:9 - And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Revelation 5:12 - In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"

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Your “turn” will come when you stop worrying about you and start focusing on Jesus.  When He is enough, THEN those other things will be given to you.  In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

   "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

As I mentioned on the teleconference, several of the questions presented, while different in their specifics, have an identical answer… 

If you are having faith problems in the areas of finances, a better job, and a husband, the reason is – again – that your focus is wrong.  Some years ago, when my youngest son was about to start college, and his older brother would soon be a junior in college – all on student loans, grants and part-time jobs, and I’d been unemployed for nearly three years, an elderly woman was introduced as a visitor in our church service one Sunday evening.  Our pastor said that she was a real “prayer warrior,” among other wonderful Christian qualities.  When the service was over, I made my way through the crowd, hoping for an “audience” with this woman since it appeared she had a real “hot line” to God!  (I didn’t realize that her “hot line” is the same one we all have as Christians – the Holy Spirit!)  When my turn to talk with her finally came, I asked her if she would pray for me, asking that I find a job.  She said, “Why do you want a job?” I answered, saying something about being able to pay my bills, support my children and eat.  She arched an eyebrow, looked into my eyes and said, “Why do you want a job?”  A bit bewildered, I muttered something similar to what I’d just said, and she – with a smile playing around the corners of her mouth, said, “Why do you want a job?”  I was beginning to feel the same way Peter must have felt as described in John 21 when Jesus asked him three times “Do you love me?”  I can’t remember what I said at that point, but I will never forget what she said next… A summary of what she told me that night is below:

• If someone asks you why you are praying about your finances, or your job, or a husband, your immediate and automatic, heart-felt response MUST be “so that God may be glorified.”  Period.  If you have any other response to one of those questions, the first thing you must do is change your motivation.  If you can’t change you