Bible Lesson 62

GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS
#1 IN A SERIES
JOHN 3:16-21

In this lesson, we want to begin to look to God for the answer to our question about ‘What is true’. What is the truth about God and His love, sin in our lives and true salvation’ Is what we have been taught, the truth according to the Bible and the God of the Bible’ Are we all God’s children’ Does God love us all regardless of our sin’ Does Jesus Christ require anything of us, once we are saved’ Is there a way that all Christians should act’ Is there a heaven and a hell’

These and numerous other pressing questions about what the Bible teaches and whether the visible church is teaching the truth about Christ and Christianity, we will look to the Bible to determine the truth. You may ask, is that necessary’ Why ask those kinds of questions?

Don’t we have to accept what our church teaches as the truth’ Those questions are good and if we are serious and we are willing to accept Biblical truths, we will gain a world of good from our pursuit of those questions and their true answers? It is necessary, no, crucial that we ask these questions; because we have been lulled to sleep by false prophets (preachers/teachers); and we are in such a mess, that if Christ came back today, hell wouldn’t hold everyone if God hadn’t enlarged it to hold all who refuse to believe Biblical truth.

We need to ask these questions and find the answers to them because the policy of so many today is to counterfeit what God has said and to teach that counterfeit gospel to those who are too simple to find the truth for themselves. A survey by the Barna Group in late 2003 concluded that only 4% of the adult population of America has a Biblical worldview.

We should all understand that the Biblical worldview is shaped by the Bible and it includes the Bible’s moral standards in dealing with the problems of the world. Now with that in mind and with the understanding that Barna’s study found that 96% of Americans including those who claim to be Christians hold a view that runs counter to the Word of Almighty God.

Now, other studies show that 76.5% to 78.5% of Americans consider themselves Christians. That means that over 75% of all church members today have accepted a counterfeit gospel. You decide: are churches all over America being preached a gospel that will not save, a counterfeit gospel, that the Bible says that, ‘even if an angel from heaven should preach, they should be anathema’ (cursed). There is only one gospel, and any attempt to amend or change it to make it more acceptable to any congregation makes it a counterfeit.

Why would anyone accept a gospel that does not exactly line up with what the Bible has to say’ It is because we have become tolerant of change in doctrines, comfortable with our particular group and it’s programming, accepting of each other on such shallow levels that we will ‘throw in’ with about anyone who will talk to us? For some reason, we have become people with a ‘herd instinct’ and we do not think very deeply for ourselves, rather we follow wherever the crowd is going.

That attitude affects how we vote, how we raise our children, how we operate our businesses, and on and on. We find a place where people accept us and make us feel secure, and the preacher and teachers accept our belief system or lack of one, and we settle in, but one day we will be very sorry that we did not think and read and decide what was the truth for ourselves; because there is going to be a judgment day!

We are universal people who call themselves Christians, but we are people who enjoy having our ears tickled (2nd Timothy 4:3-4). We allow preachers to preach to us what we want to hear and we will hear nothing else. There are so many in the visible church of our day that is like the people of Judah were in the Prophet Isaiah’s time, who when he prophesied to them God’s will, they said, to the seers, ‘Do not see’, and to the Prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us right things, prophesy deceits, get out of the way, turn aside from the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us’ (Isaiah 30:10-11). Oh, you say, ‘we have never said anything like that’; but most church members today have said that by the way, they act and where they go and what they tolerate as gospel.

The prophet Jeremiah ran into that same kind of attitude when he prophesied the impending doom of Judah, and told them to ‘stand in the way and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it, then you will find rest for your souls’.

But they said, ‘we will not walk in it’ (Jeremiah 6:16). That is basically what a lot of church members will say to any preacher that will stand in the pulpit and preach, ‘Thus saith the Lord’.

When the church takes anyone that is not a born again Christian, they are in trouble with God. That began several decades ago when the visible church, left God and went into business for itself. The church slowly became worldly and began to want to appear successful to the world, in using the ways and standards of the world, rather than sticking to God’s Word. The visible church of our day is awash in sinful, hateful, and selfish people, and in many cases, if the Lord came back on any Sunday, most churches would not miss a beat because there are many more lost people in the church than there are saved.

I don’t care how closely your particular pastor can mimic the original doctrines of the Bible, we must not, and we dare not call them Christians, nor follow their counterfeit gospels. Have any of you ever called any preacher/teacher’s hand on some error that they are preaching’ Probably not, but if you do, be sure you will hear them say, ‘There are no perfect churches, and if there was one and you joined it, it wouldn’t be perfect anymore’? Don’t you believe that, because if that is true we have a problem; because the Lord is coming back to judge the quick and the dead and when He comes back, He is coming back for His bride the church, and that church will be a church that has neither spot nor wrinkle or any such thing (Ephesians 5:25-27).

If we look at the Greek word that is translated ‘church’ in the New Testament, we find that it comes from the word ‘ecclesia’ which does not speak of building and such, but of the ‘called out ones’, those who are truly saved. Does that mean that I am against the visible church’ Absolutely not! I love the church, but I don’t like what it is becoming. God warns us throughout the Bible to beware of false prophets, false apostles, false brethren, false Christs, false teachers, and false witnesses. Just a sample from the Old Testament: Jeremiah in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 14 and verse 14, says ‘Then the Lord said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their heart.’ In the book of Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses 1-10, God tells the Nation of Israel to deal harshly with false prophets (Kill them).

That is about all we have room to list in this lesson but all through the Word of God, we are warned by the Almighty to beware of false prophets. In the Sermon on the Mount, that powerful sermon preached by our Savior Jesus Christ, He says in Chapter 7:13-14, that there are two gates and two ways for people to enter; and Jesus says that we must enter in at the strait gate instead of the broad gate, and in the next verse (Verse 15), Christ says that we are to ‘Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves’. The Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, warns us specifically, ‘In latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons’ (1st Timothy 4:1). The Apostle John gave this warning, ‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world’ (1st John 4:1). The Apostle Peter quotes Paul and says, ‘Which untaught and unstable people twist to their destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures’ (2nd Peter 4:16). Again the Apostle Paul speaks of false apostles and says, ‘For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan, he transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is not a great thing if his ministers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works’ (2nd Cor.11:13-15). Our Lord and Savior spoke often to warn us of false prophets (preachers). Now, if our Savior, the God-man warns us about false prophets, why would we think that we don’t need to take care of who we listen to and what we hear. Shouldn’t we begin to test every spirit, and take more care and ask more questions and check all answers, before we call anyone to lead us in the Christian walk’

Just because some man has graduated from a seminary, is clean-cut, well-spoken, and our idea of a ‘good man’ is no reason that a church should call him to lead them. As hard as it is for me to say this, the truth is the truth, there are many pastors, teachers, and evangelists, who hold themselves out as men/women of God, and they are as lost as a ball in high weeds! You have to hand it to them because they look good, they look just like we think preachers ought to look, and they tickle our ears; however, they are lost and blind and if the blind lead the blind they both fall into the ditch. These are the people who spend all of their time ‘masking’ the true gospel, the truth of God, as they strive to climb the denominational hierarchy ladder. They are many times, just what a congregation is looking for because they please our flesh; however, the Word of God says, that ‘Even if an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we can read in the Bible, that he is to be eternally condemned (delivered to hell)’!

But enough ‘about them’. God already has a place for them; the problem is more about you than about them. Religious leaders who foul the Word of God will answer to the Righteous Judge for their misdeeds, but then so will you if you are drawn away by their heresy. With that said, why do you suppose so many people listen and love to hear preaching that conveys other than the absolute truth to their listeners’ Could it be that many of us are just too lazy, too apathetic, or too unconcerned to care’ So many today are so busy serving the devil that they have no time for God. That may sound strange but stop and think about your own life. Perhaps you have been snared by the devil’s lie, perhaps you don’t believe that God doesn’t love everyone and that in the end, we will all end up in heaven. That’s a nice dream, but it is not the truth of the Bible. Imagine, if you will, heaven that contains a mixed bag of saved and unsaved, how horrible life would be there. You would have people who are serving God and praising Him, and then at the same time, you would have the child-molester, and rapist, and robbers, and killers. It is absurd to think about, but then that’s what many people are hoping for in the end. Why are we in that position’ It is because we have come to think that we don’t have to pray and study to show ourselves approved unto God. We have hired us a preacher who is all things to all people and us because we are lazy and refuse to study the Word of God. Many in the visible church of our day believe that they are smarter than God and so they have no problem, correcting God’s Word. Shame on you; and shame on us for allowing the visible church to get in that shape.

Now for the Good News-Bad News! The truth of the Word of God, the fact that God has sent His Only Begotten Son to earth to take on the form and flesh of man(without sin), to die to redeem those who would obey Him( John 3:16; Hebrews 5:8-9), is Good News! The Bad News is that no man will ever know the Good news, about the love of God and the forgiveness of God until He has dealt with the Bad News, which is the fact that he was born under the wrath of God and requires the blood of Jesus Christ to remit his sin (Ephesians 2:1-3). Oh, I’m aware that many will deny that they have ever done anything that would require them to spend eternity in hell; but if you believe that, you are simply not aware of how holy our God is. Many people in the world today are in denial, and that’s the reason that they find their homes, schools, churches, and country in such a mess. We refuse to follow God’s perfect plan that is laid out for us in the pages of His Holy, Inerrant, and Sufficient Word, the Bible.

I don’t need polls and survey to show you that so many have deserted the Way of God; but since most people today live and die by polls and surveys, I will refer you to a survey that was run by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public life, and was completed recently. A massive 36,000 Americans were surveyed and guess what’ Fully 70% of all Americans say that they believe that there ‘many roads’ that lead to eternal life. That says that Jesus Christ was not telling the truth when He said that ‘No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him’ (John 6:44), and that the Holy Spirit was not correct when He inspired Luke to write the book of Acts and say that there was no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:10-12). The truth of the Word of God is that Jesus is the Only Way!

Now, many people who say things like ‘there are many roads that lead to God, really think that saying something like that makes them appear intellectual; however, any thinking person knows that people who say that are to be pitied because they are so simple and untrained in the Word and Will of God. There will be a day when everyone will know that Jesus Christ is the Only Way, the Only Truth and the Only Life (John 14:6), however, then it will be too late and those who have refused to believe will be told by God, ‘I never knew you: depart from Me ye that work iniquity’ (Matthew 7:23).

God will judge us in the end on what we believed and how our belief caused us to live’.not on what we wanted to believe and what we thought was a proper life. Come to your senses and read your Bible and be taught by God what is true. Don’t, as so many in our world do today, read the Word of God to teach it what you would like to believe. Stop believing the heresy that is taught in some churches every Sunday, heresy like, God loves everybody when what the Bible teaches us that God judged everybody and found us all wanting, then He sent His Son, Jesus Christ the God-Man, to die and shed His blood to redeem lost sinners (John 3:16-21). That Cross is the line in the sand that God drew and nobody, past that Cross, can or will be saved unless they come to Christ on His terms and God gives them a new life, a life that is lived in and by Jesus Christ.

I would ask that you not take my word for what I have said here, instead, you read your copy of God’s word and find these truths for yourselves. If you are too lazy or too busy to do that then you are beyond help. I will pray for you and ask God to open your eyes and your ears’.that’s what He did for me. Remember it is Jesus Christ and His sacrifice of His life that saves you; it is not me or any other person on earth or in heaven.

Until next time,

may God bless and keep you

This is Bro. Bob