Bible Lesson 133

THE QUESTION OF LIFE AND ANSWERS FROM THE BIBLE.
Part II in a series

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.? James 4:14

Life is so short that the wood of the cradle rubs up tight against the marble of the tomb. George Sweeting

In this lesson we will begin by asking the question that the half brother of Jesus Christ asked under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: What is your life” If it is not too much to ask, would you stop right here and write down the answer, as you see it, to that question. What is your life. What have you accomplished, and what are the marks that illustrate the high points, and the low points, in your life’

Have you really dealt with your position before God’ That is the question and the answer is that many, in fact, most people in our world today have never taken the time and really looked at their lives in light of the Word and Will of God. Some whistle past the grave yard, some simply put it off which in and of itself is saying no to God. Others seek out teachers and preachers who never confront the sin in their lives and as a result will go to hell, with their minds darkened, and their souls unprepared to meet the Judge in that day.

So many allow the here and the now to occupy all of their time, their thought processes and their dedication. That has to be a consideration but that is certainly not the main consideration of life. We have become so friendly with the world that we now are enemies of God. I’m sure that makes some of you gasp and appear surprised; but you know that it is the truth.

You may even have the Word of God available ‘.but you are so busy with the world and all it’s enchantments, that you just don’t take the time to read it and listen for that still, small voice of God as He enlightens your soul. There is a definite requirement for your study and understanding of the Word of God; because God speaks to us through the writer of Romans and says, ‘Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.’ (Romans 10:17). The best way to know how to hear the Word of God is to undertake for yourself by reading, study and prayer, as you read the Word of God for yourselves.

Of Course there is the possibility that you can find a faithful Preacher or Teacher that will teach you the truth, but you cannot know the truth except by having that rock-ribbed surety that God has spoken to you from His Word.

Knowing the Word of God comes with knowing the God of the Word. Who is the God of the Word’ It is the God who created all that we know including you and I. It is the God that loved us even when we were His enemies and sent His One and Only Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross, substituting Himself for us to die to redeem us from sin. It is by Faith in the Work and Person of Jesus Christ on our behalf that brings us a life that is far better, far more enduring than the physical life that we looked at in our last lesson, (John 10:27-30; Romans 6:23; John 17:3).

Eternal life, or life eternal’. What can that mean’ Well, it means exactly what it says, and that is that those who know the Grace of God through Faith in Jesus Christ, will slip through the door that is physical death one day soon, but we will carry with us that life eternal that we began when we received Christ and submitted to Him as Lord and Savior. Once we are truly saved, born again, justified, sanctified and are obedient to Christ as Lord and Savior, we are sealed for heaven. That means that our sins have been propitiated, we have been and are being cleansed by the blood of Christ, and adopted into the family of God. We are then Children of God, and our eternity is settled, there is now therefore no condemnation for us because we are in Christ (Romans 8:1).

That is not about joining some church group, it is about dealing with God in His light of Glory about our sin and our rebellion against Him. I have no problem with our joining a group of people who call themselves a church, as long as they worship God in His way. When we are saved by God’s grace through God’s faith in His Son Jesus Christ, we are God’s property and no man can snatch us out of God’s hand (John 10:27-30; Ephesians 1:3-7; Ephesians 2:1-7). Now, lest any man thinks to fool God or pull a dirty trick on God, be forewarned-that will never happen; because God knows more about you than you know about yourself, and when God truly saves anyone He can be sure that one will always live like His child, because as we are told in many places, God does a work that cannot be undone. God rebirths a man putting the old nature to death, and creating a creature with all things new. And further than that, God always work in that new creature, not only to ‘want’ to do His will, but to ‘do’ His will.

God takes control! ( Romans 6:1-14; Philippians 2:13; Ephesians 2:10; 2nd Corinthians 5:17). When a person is truly saved and born again, that person becomes a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. That Church is an invisible church, and we are told to ‘forsake not the assembling of ourselves to together, in order to stir up love and good works and exhorting one another as we await the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Hebrews 10:24-25). What we have to be careful of is not joining some group with questionable beliefs who violate the clear precepts of our Lord.

I firmly believe that God will hold us accountable for joining a group that is not strictly in line with Bible Doctrines. You will have to work that out but one of the first things you should know is you won’t have a clue unless you have studied the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and know enough to discern error from the pulpit. Our scripture text for this lesson is James 4:14 where the Lord speaks to us about running too far ahead of God in this life here on the earth. Most of us listen to the News and the Weather at night and then decide that we will take a trip here or there, and we never think about God in the process.

Whether we know it or remember it, it all depends upon what God has for us during that time. We tend to get too involved in the minutia of the day and we forget to include God in everything that we are doing or even intend to do. God warns us there in James 4:14, that all of our plans hinge upon what He has decreed that tomorrow, and the next day and next week or next year will occur. It is a mark of the true Christian that they always make their plans, and there is nothing wrong with planning, but always make those plans with it in mind that it all depends upon God and what God’s eternal decree for men will allow. The word decree is preferable for speaking in the sense of plans when we speak of God’s plans for mankind.

When we find the words of God, which are only found in the Word of God, the Bible, we can know what God has decreed for mankind, at least in as far as God will reveal it to us today. So those who study the Word of God and meditate upon it, know as far as God intends for us to know what our tomorrows will bring. There are many blank spaces that we find because God does not share with us much on a refined basis about what is going to happen to us on certain days. That is because God has set us to understand that we must have faith in Him and we do what we can and expect Him to bring that into what He desires. We seem to have become expert compromisers and we have thought that we could compromise the things of God. God has decreed certain things that will enable a proper walk before God in this present world, we call those things (and we find them only in the Bible), doctrines, decrees, precepts, testimonies, and commandments.

None of these can be compromised by our uniting with people in error to rewrite God’s word. We as God’s Children, born again and obedient, are obligated and we always will, abide by and in what God has said to us. A.W. Tozer has written, ‘A new Decalogue has been adopted by the neo-Christians of our day, the first word of which reads ‘Thou shall not disagree, and a new set of Beatitudes too, which begins ‘Blessed are they that tolerate everything, for they shall not be made accountable for anything.’ It is now the accepted thing to talk over religious differences in public with the understanding that no one will try to convert another or point out errors in their belief. Imagine Moses agreeing to take part in a panel discussion with Israel over the golden calf; or Elijah engaging in gentlemanly dialogue with the prophets of Baal.

Or try to picture our Lord Jesus Christ seeking a meeting of minds with the Pharisees to iron out differences. The blessing of God is promised to the peacemaker, but the religious negotiator had better watch his step. Darkness and light can never be brought together by talk. Some things are not negotiable. What God would have us to do is to read His Inspired Word and pray for His illumination, as we focus on our will and our walk in this world, always remembering that we are one heart-beat away from death. When God made Adam from the dust of the earth, Adam was simply a mud ball until God breathed life into him.

Adam was given a wife to complete him, a garden to support his life and power over all the other creatures, however he disobeyed what God had instructed him not to do, and lost it all. That’s what can and probably will happen to us as God creatures, if we disobey the clear decrees of God. Whatever God has said He said for all times, and we are not exempted from anything that God has left in place. The only thing that God replaced is what He has perfected and that means that the old dietary laws and prohibitions against eating certain things has been replaced by our thanksgiving for our food, and the old system of animal sacrifices have been replaced by the one time perfect sacrifice of God’ sinless Son Jesus Christ. The Law which could never save, has been replaced by Grace and we are made perfect by the person and work of Jesus Christ as He died for us on the cross. Our old Creature and the old nature have been put to death on the cross with Christ and we will never have to stand in the Judgment for condemnation (Romans 6:1-14; Romans 8:1-11).

God has established clear paths for us to walk and though they may appear to be difficult, they are possible as long as our focus is on the One who died to redeem us from sin. Why do you suppose that the modern and contemporary church of our day is not as effective as the New Testemant Church after the cross. I believe the difference is that they knew what they believed and they walked according to that belief. We in our day, as a rule, probably do not know what we believe and we certainly are not walking in the paths that God set down for us to walk. We are not saved by works; however works are the fruit of salvation, and if we claim salvation and we are not working, we need to examine ourselves to make sure we are truly saved. (Ephesians 2:10; 2nd Corinthians 13:5).

We do not receive certificates of salvation and the only way we can know that we are saved is by the assurance of the Holy Spirit in us, and one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit is that we are walking in the footsteps of Christ, (Romans 8:14). Our physical lives, which we spend in the few years we live on this earth, at the very best do not amount to much. Oh, some make lots of money and even live in luxury, but their years fade and they die and return to the dust of the earth. The important life that we must contemplate is the eternal life that each of us will spend either in heaven or hell. Heaven is a place of great peace and joy, where there will never be any pain or any disease and our bodies will live forever never suffering the ravages of sin and all the bumps and crashes we suffer on the earth, but more importantly, heaven is where God is. Hell, on the contrary, is reserved for those who took too much time in the physical life to prepare for eternity and hell is a place of darkness, loneliness, suffering, torment and pain as we suffer forever’without end’.with no hope and no help. (Revelation 21:1- 22:5; Luke 16:19-31).

So the most important decision that ever faces us is what we are going to do about eternity. You don’t have to even think about it, and most people do not, but that simply means that they will chose to go to hell. What about you’ have you made preparation for your eternity’ Which did you decide, heaven or hell’ If you don’t want to spend your eternity in the burning flames of hell you must run to the cross of Christ and throw yourself on God’s mercy because nothing else can save you. You were born a child of the devil by virtue of Adam’s sin, and your soul belongs to Satan, so the question for you is ‘What will you give in exchange for your soul” That is the question that Jesus Christ the God-man put to His disciples in the book of Matthew. Jesus said ‘What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul’ Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul” (Matthew 16:24-27). I know that most of you have heard, over and over again, that ‘We are all God’s Children’ but that is a lie and the Bible clearly tells us that unless you know the truth and the truth has set you free, that you are the children of the devil, (John 8:30-44; John 10: 25-30).

Now, let me ask you, how would you like to wake up every day and know that your eternal life would be spent in heaven where there is no blind, cripple, sick, or hurting people. There will be no shortage of food there, and there will be pure water to drink for ever. There will be no hungry children and no disease, and God will wipe away all tears. Does that sound appealing to you’ If it doesn’t you just go ahead and do nothing and in the end you will end up in hell, which will be full of the flames of fire and worms that never turn. It will be dense darkness and you will never have a friend or anyone to comfort you. So the choice is yours and as an additional reward for those who will take the time and make the effort to find that ‘strait’ gate and go through and then walk that narrow path that is the other side of that gate, for the remainder of their lives here on the earth, they will begin to live their eternal lives right here on the earth.

Death will no longer have a sting and the grave can claim no victory over those who truly know Christ in the forgiveness of their sin. Those who chose hell over heaven, will have eternity to regret for their choices. It is not easy to go to heaven, it takes desire and hard work to stay focused upon the prize; but is easy to go to hell and all it takes is to stay on that gradual, gentle slope, that is soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, and signposts and before you know it you are facing our Holy and Just God without an advocate. That means you are damned for eternity. There is a story that I have read about an occasion when Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll, who was an agnostic lecturer of the last century, gave an address on hell.

He declared he could prove conclusively that hell was a wild dream of some scheming theologians who invented it to terrify credulous people. As he was launching into his subject, a half-drunk man stood up in the audience and yelled, ‘Make it strong, Bob. There are a lot of us poor fellows that are depending on you! If you are wrong, we are all lost. So be sure you can prove it clear and plain.’ No amount of logic or reasoning or wishing on the part of anyone can ever change or nullify God’s sure word; and God has told us more about hell than He has about heaven. One of the horrors of hell is the undying memory of a misspent life… ‘Son, remember’ Luke 16:25.

So we will conclude this lesson by reminding ourselves that God gave us life, and He gave it for a reason, that we might live lives that would glorify Him. God gave us life and He gave us all basically the light to make this life as good and as pleasant as it can be. Some of us squander what God gave us (health, intellect, environment and etc), and we spend this short time on the earth that we have in abject poverty and sickness. On top of that, we never spend enough time looking at reality and knowing the God of Creation to make preparation for that eternity that we will all surely have. My question to you is, have you made that preparation’

If you took time to answer that question I have another one; and that is what prevents you from casting yourself on the promises of Christ and His work for you, Remember in the word of an old Hymn’ ‘There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in His day; and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sin away.’ Seek the face of God and cry out for His tender mercy. I am scheduled to visit a dying woman today. She lies at death’s door in a place where those are almost dead are cared for until they expire. All I have to carry to her is the Word of God, and she will have to make that decision, that will make the difference between her eternal place of abode. I have a warning for you if you read this lesson and that is do not wait until you are on your death bed to seek forgiveness, because it may be too late.

Until next time,

may God bless and keep you

This is Bro. Bob