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Grace or Works?

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The Bible says that a person is saved by grace, but that they will be judged by their works. Can both of those statements be true?

The Bible states that there will be a judgment of the entire world and that God will judge both the righteous and the wicked. Moses wrote about the judgment in Deuteronomy 32, and it is found throughout the New Testament. Prophets and apostles spoke or wrote of the judgment over and over again. It is one of the most prominent teachings in the Bible.

The apostle Paul wrote a lot about the judgment. He had the opportunity to preach about it to the philosophers in Athens. There is an appointed day when God will judge the world. “Because He [God] has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:31

On another occasion, he presented the subject of the judgment to the Roman governor Felix. This was a once-and-only-once opportunity to speak to Felix. “After some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.’ ” Acts 24:24, 25. Unfortunately for Felix, like for so many people who procrastinate, that convenient time never came. Felix was given an opportunity that day to forsake his evil ways and to be made ready for the judgment, but he let it go by disregarded.

In this world, it is a judge’s responsibility to pass judgment based upon a set standard by which that judgment is determined. This standard is composed of the laws passed by the local, state and federal governments.

God also has a standard, a law made up of ten commandments (Exodus 20:3–17), and it is according to this law that He will judge the world on the appointed day.

This is described in James 2:10–12: “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.”

James makes this very clear: while there are ten commandments, the Bible speaks of them as one law. So, if a person breaks just one of the ten commandments, that person is a transgressor of God’s law and will be judged according to that law.

God spoke the law with His own voice to the children of Israel, and He wrote it with His own finger on tables of stone. Those tables of stone were given to Moses and placed in the ark of the covenant, in the most holy place of the earthly sanctuary.

When God spoke His law to the children of Israel, it was not the beginning or the origin of the law. Man knew from the time sin entered the world that it was not right to kill someone. It was wrong to lie, even all the way back to Lucifer’s campaign of deception in heaven. The Sabbath was established and sanctified at the end of the Creation week and had been observed by God’s people for thousands of years before the law was written down at Mt. Sinai. The children of Israel had spent many years in captivity in Egypt, and during their captivity, they neglected to teach their children about God’s law. This made it necessary for God to remind them of the law they had once faithfully followed.

God wrote the law, the ten commandments, on tables of stone, and it is significant that He did so. Writing with His own finger in solid rock, it showed that the character of His law was permanent, enduring—it could not be done away with. To express the everlasting nature of God’s law, Jesus said, “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass” than for a single part of a letter to pass from the law (Luke 16:17).

This presents to us a problem. We have all broken that law. “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness [transgression KJV].” 1 John 3:4. “[For] all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

So if all have sinned, if all have broken the law, and if all are to be judged by that law, then we all deserve to be judged guilty. Is it possible for us to escape the penalty of our sins?

First, let’s see what the penalty for breaking God’s law is. We find that in Romans 6:23 Paul wrote, “The wages of sin is death.” If the wages of sin were a ten-year prison sentence, then you could pay that penalty yourself. But the wages of sin is eternal, permanent death. Is there any way that we can escape this penalty?

If the penalty for sin is eternal death, then the only way of escape is if someone else pays the price. And that is exactly what Jesus Christ did. “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures … .” 1 Corinthians 15:3. Christ died and paid the penalty for our sins.

However, if we continue in sin, there is no chance that we will receive salvation. Notice what the Bible says: “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well for those who fear God, who fear before Him. But it will not be well with the wicked … . ” Ecclesiastes 8:11–13, first part

We cannot continue to live in sin and expect to be saved. Isaiah speaks to this principle, “Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” Isaiah 3:10, 11

We cannot be saved in our sin. There is only one way that we can be saved and that is to be saved from our sins. This was proclaimed before Jesus’ birth. The angel said to Joseph, “You can marry your wife, because, that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she is going to bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus because He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

How exactly does God save a sinner from their sin? One of the most comprehensive explanations of how God does this is found in the book of Romans. “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Christ Jesus, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:21–26

A scripture like that might cause some people to say, “That just sounds like theological talk. I don’t understand how it works. I don’t understand how or what to do. I can’t explain or understand all that theological language. Can’t you just tell it to me in simple language?”

Yes, the gospel can be stated in very simple language.

The first step is to repent—to be sorry enough for the sins we’ve committed that we turn away from them. “Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a Godly manner. What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” 2 Corinthians 7:10, 11

Repentance is the first step in salvation, but what is it that makes a person sorry for what they have done? The Bible says that it is the goodness of God that leads a person to repentance (Romans 2).

Since the Bible is clear that all have sinned, then everyone in the world needs to repent. Paul further supports this in Acts 17:30. Speaking to the philosophers in Athens he says, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.” Remember, repentance is simply being sorry enough to quit doing the sinful things they do. Genuine sorrow for sin gives no excuse for it. Unlike Adam and Eve who both tried to justify what they had done, the sin will be faced and confessed.

Once we have repented from our sins, the next step is to confess our sins. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. Confession involves not only God, but the individual we have wronged. We must go to that person to confess and make it right. Ezekiel talks about the necessity of making things right in Ezekiel 33:15. “If the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.” So confession also involves making restitution. If I have wronged someone, and if it is possible to do so, then I must make it right.

Having repented, confessed, and made restoration, one must make a commitment. Remember the story of the Philippian jailor found in Acts 16: “ ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ ” Verses 30, 31

The word “believe” is usually translated and used to mean faith, to believe something enough to make a commitment to it. In this case, you believe in the Lord enough to make a commitment to Him; to believe in Jesus, not only as your Saviour from sin, but as the Lord of your life.

Jesus explained this belief to the Jews in so simple a manner, that none could misunderstand. “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and you do not do what I say?” Luke 6:46. If you make a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in Him as your Saviour from sin, choosing to follow Him, then your faith will be accounted for righteousness and you will receive the gift of salvation. Faith is simply trusting in God enough to make a commitment to Him as your Lord, Master, and Saviour; then you just follow Him. What does it mean to follow Jesus? Luke 9:23 tells us, “ ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ ” Making a commitment to accept Jesus as your Saviour and the Lord of your life, means denying self.

By denying self, we surrender to the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to transform our sinful nature so that we can, by the power and grace of God, become like Christ—to ultimately have a Christlike character. “He who says he abides in Him, ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” 1 John 2:6. This means that we will live the way Jesus did.

We are not to simply make a profession of faith or belief. Rather we are to repent, confess, make restitution, and then commit to actually following Jesus. A wonderful promise is given to us when we follow these steps to salvation. “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission [forgiveness] of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38

The Bible says that by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. Baptism by water is a symbol of being baptized by [receiving] the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:16, 17 that when we receive the Holy Spirit, we become a new creation. “Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” The Holy Spirit creates in us a new mind, a new Spirit, making everything new. Then He will enable us to follow Christ in righteous, holy living; something we could never do ourselves.

The apostle Paul explains this all in greater detail in Romans 8:1–14. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” With a new heart, a new mind, and a new Spirit, we are enabled to live a new life, one patterned after Christ’s own life.

This is why the final judgment is based on works. We are saved by grace, but we must then exhibit the corresponding works of a transformed life. Our works are an outward expression of an inward change. Without the transformation of the Holy Spirit, we will continue to live a life according to the flesh and our works will, in the judgment, condemn us, because it will be clear that we have not received the Holy Spirit.

Jesus has said that no one can be in the kingdom of heaven unless they have received the Holy Spirit. “ ‘… Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ … ‘… Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ ” John 3:3, 5. “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. … But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16, 22–25

We can only receive the Holy Spirit if we choose to follow and obey Jesus. But when we receive the Holy Spirit, when He enables us to live a new life of faith, then in the judgment, when our works are examined, they will not be found to be the works of the old unconverted man, but the works of a life transformed by the saving power of the Holy Spirit. [Emphasis supplied.]

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Is My Name Written There?

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Revelation 22:11 and 12 imply that when Jesus Christ returns the second time, there will have been a judgment court at which all mankind from all ages of earth’s history will have stood before God where their characters have been fixed and their eternal destinies set.

Daniel talks about this same judgment in Daniel 7:9 and 10. “I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.”

Today, we keep most of our records in a computer system. However, God uses a far more accurate system of recordkeeping than anything we could devise.

The Bible is very clear that God has record books and that the information contained in these books will determine every individual’s future destiny. Revelation 20:12 says that the “… books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which are written in the books.”

But notice what Revelation 20:15 says: “Anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” My friend, the Bible is saying that if we are going to have eternal life, our names must be written in the book of life.

So we must ask ourselves this most important question: “Is my name in the book of life?”

Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, said in Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14, “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.”

All of our works, everything we’ve ever thought, said, or done is recorded in God’s book. Jesus said, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:36, 37

Concerning our thoughts, 1 Corinthians 4:5 says, “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.”

What does it mean to “reveal the counsels of the hearts”? Isaiah explains this in Isaiah 66:18, “I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues: and they shall come and see My glory.”

David also understood this and wrote in Psalm 139 explaining God’s knowledge of the human beings that He made. “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me’ [or cover me], even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to You.” Verses 1–12

It is clear that no matter where we go, what we do or say or think, God knows it all. As we have read, the record of each person’s life is recorded and one day soon God will ask each of us to give an account of the life that we have lived. Jesus tells us that there is nothing that will not be revealed. “Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26

There really are no secrets. We may be able to hide from man, but not God. Every deed known or unknown will be examined in the judgment, and we will be called to account for whether we obeyed God or not.

Luke 10 records the Lord’s appointment of the 70 elders who were sent out two by two to prepare the way for His eventual visit to a number of different places. It was their purpose to spread the good news of salvation offered by Jesus Christ, to heal the sick, and to point them to Him who heals both the body and the soul.

When the 70 returned to Jesus, they came to Him rejoicing because even the demons were constrained by them. When they spoke to the demons in Jesus’ name, the demons were forced to depart. But Jesus said to them in verse 20, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” It isn’t the power to work miracles, or even to cast out demons, that saves us. Jesus said our names must be written in the book of life.

When the judgment has come, Daniel 12:1 says, “At that time Michael shall stand up, the Great Prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time Your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.”

So, is your name written in heaven’s book of life?

But here is another critical question each of us must consider: “Can I be sure that my name will not be blotted out of the book of life?” The Bible is very clear that during the period of time when probation is open and available, right now, names are being added to the book of life, but names can also be taken out of the book of life. What happens that determines if a name is blotted out of the book of life? How can you have assurance that your name is written in the book of life?

Acts 16:30, 31 say, “He brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ ”

Believing something with your whole heart means making a commitment. In this scripture it is saying that if you believe in Jesus with all your heart, then you are making a commitment to Him. Jesus is our Saviour and Deliverer, and if we believe this, then we are accepting Him as such and making Him the Lord of our lives. Making Him the Lord of your life means that you are committing to obey Him. Obeying Him in all that He says and asks will result in your name being written in the book of life.

But how is a person’s name erased or blotted out of the book of life? If obedience is necessary in order to have one’s name written in the book of life, then disobedience can result in a name being removed from it.

“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” Acts 3:19–21. So, the New Testament teaches that when you come to Christ, you start to live a new life and your life of sin is in the past. You have been converted, a new creation—created to live a new Christlike life.

This text tells us that before Jesus comes again, our sins will be blotted out and our names will be retained in God’s book. The Old Testament prophets support this. “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25. And Isaiah 44:22, “I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”

But, what happens if a person claims to follow Jesus, but continues to live a life of sin? What if he is not converted? He professes to follow Jesus, but his life is not one of obedience and does not reflect Jesus’ character. The result is that when Jesus comes again, instead of his sins being blotted out, his name will be blotted out of God’s book.

“Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.” Nehemiah 4:5

“Let them [Christ’s enemies] be blotted out of the book of the living.” Psalm 69:28

Moses pleaded with the Lord on behalf of the children of Israel who had rebelled and sinned against Him. He said, “ ‘Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.’ And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.’ ” Exodus 32:31–33

Notice, the name of the person who continues in sin will be blotted out of God’s book. But if a person chooses to follow Jesus, their life of sin becomes part of their past. He or she is a new creation, created to live a new, Christlike life.

We all have a case pending in God’s court. If we have made a commitment to believe in and follow Jesus and accept Him as our Saviour, then our sins are blotted out, our name is written in the book of life, and our eternal life begins. On the other hand, if we have made no commitment to Jesus, nor do we accept Him as our Saviour, and continue living a life of sin, then our sins will not be blotted out, but our names will be, and we will miss out on eternal life. We must be saved from our sins if we are to spend all of eternity with Jesus when He comes again.

How can I know that my name will be retained in the book of life and not be taken out? This question is addressed very directly in Revelation 3:5, “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”

Jesus said the same thing to His disciples. We find it in Matthew 10:32, 33. “Whoever confesses Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

If we expect to have our name written in the book of life and for it to remain there until Jesus comes, then we must overcome the world and the flesh. The book of Revelation repeatedly states that the one who will be saved is the one who overcomes.

Who is an overcomer? And what must he or she overcome?

“Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” 1 John 5:4. If you have been converted and born again as a child of God, if your love and life are given to God, and you are obedient to His instruction and faithfully follow His direction, then you are an overcomer. You will not love the world, nor will you be controlled by your sinful nature (the flesh).

“Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” Romans 6:6

There are three things that the overcomer must overcome. We’ve already seen the first—the world. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” 1 John 2:15, 16

Second, the overcomer must overcome the flesh. “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24. What is the flesh? It is our sinful, carnal, selfish nature. There is only one way to overcome the flesh and that is through the power of the Holy Spirit working a transformative miracle in each life. When this occurs, a person is set free from his or her life of sin.

But there is still a third thing that the overcomer must overcome and that is the devil himself. James 4:7, 8 tell us exactly how that can be done. “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts you double-minded.”

So, if you want your name in the book of life, and if you want it to be retained there, then you must be an overcomer. You must overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. And all of this can be accomplished because the Lord will give you the power to do it if you choose to fully and completely give your heart to Him and follow Him.

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

The Unanswerable Question Answered

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Have you ever experienced something so unexplainable that you have wanted to ask, “Why?” Many people today do not believe that there is a God because if there were a God, how could He allow such terrible and unexplainable things to happen? A time is coming when we will all have the opportunity to ask, “Why?” and we will find an answer.

In the not-so-distant future, every human being will stand before God and give an account of himself or herself. God has a record of everything that has ever been said and done in this world. He even has a record of the thoughts of all of mankind. All of these things will one day, very soon, be revealed.

Jesus said, “[T]here is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26. Everything that is unknown or hidden today will, in that last day, be revealed.

The Bible tells us that God’s judgment will take place in three phases. This should be familiar to us because in the earthly court system, judgment is also dispensed in three phases:

Investigative – When a person is initially brought before a judge and a jury for a trial. All the evidence that has been gathered against the accused is presented in this first phase. The evidence will either be sufficient to find a person guilty or it will fail to convince the jury and the person will be acquitted, found innocent. If acquitted, then judgment is over. But if a person is convicted, then there are two more judgment phases to face.

Sentencing – A sentence, based upon the severity of the crime, is determined and set.

Executive – The execution of the sentence a person has been given is the final phase. It might be probation, a fine and/or community service, time in prison, or if it is a capital case, a death sentence.

God’s judgment is the same. Our focus in this article will be on the executive phase of God’s judgment. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades [the grave] delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:11–15

Here we see that this judgment is based on evidence, the things written in the records which God has been keeping since sin entered the world, and by which mankind will be judged “according to their works.” Somehow, Christians have gotten the idea that because they call themselves Christians, they won’t be judged according to what they do or don’t do. This is a terrible error because both the Old and New Testaments are clear that God will judge His people according to their works. Therefore, it is very important that we understand that our names must be found in the book of life and our works must be according to God’s law if we hope to meet God in the judgment and be found innocent of sin.

Looking again at Revelation 20, we see that this is how God will judge the people of the world, too, and that even though they may die in this life, they will be raised up again to face judgment. This judgment will be the second death. All who through sin became the enemies of God will die this second death judgment, when Satan and sin will be completely destroyed (Malachi 4:1). “Root and branch will be destroyed by the fires of the last days. Satan, the great general of apostasy, is the root, and all his workers, who teach his lies in regard to the law of God, are the branches.” Manuscript 58, 1897

“It will be seen that Satan’s rebellion against God has resulted in ruin to himself, and to all that chose to become his subjects. He has represented that great good would result from transgression; but it will be seen that ‘the wages of sin is death.’ Romans 6:23. … An end will be made of sin, with all the woe and ruin that have resulted from it.” The Faith I Live By, 357

This is the execution of the judgment.

Malachi says that God will once and for all destroy sin and Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:26 that Christ will then destroy our final enemy—death. At the judgment, the book of life will be opened and anyone whose name is not found there will be cast into the lake of fire and experience the second death.

Jesus’ second coming brings about this final judgment. The second coming, mentioned hundreds of times in the New Testament, is its keynote. It is also spoken of many times in the Old Testament. The end of all things occurs at Jesus’ second coming. Revelation 19:11–16 describes the second coming of Jesus in symbolic language, “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Notice that Jesus is coming back prepared to wage war. As we draw nearer to the end of time, the world will become increasingly wicked. We read this in Matthew 24, in both 1 and 2 Timothy, in 2 Peter chapters 2 and 3, and in Revelation. The Bible repeatedly warns that because of this wickedness, the Lord returns to wage one final battle with sin. “Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He will destroy its sinners from it.” Isaiah 13:9

The Old and New Testaments also state that sinners will be destroyed when the Lord returns once again to this earth. And why does this battle end this way? “[T]o give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” 2 Thessalonians 1:7–9

Revelation describes this destruction. “Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, ‘Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.’ And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.” Revelation 19:17–21

Isaiah also describes the end of all things contrary to righteousness. “The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! The Lord of hosts musters the army for battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven—the Lord and His weapons of indignation, to destroy the whole land. Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.” Isaiah 13:4–6

The Lord will return to destroy sin and sinners from off the earth. All those who worshiped the beast and his image and received his mark will be killed when the Lord returns. It doesn’t matter if someone is a king or a pauper, if sin is found in their life, if their name is not written in the book of life, they will die. None will be left.

We can see clearly what will happen to the wicked at Jesus’ return. But more importantly, let’s see what will happen to those who have dedicated their lives to doing the will of God; those who have received the Holy Spirit and been transformed into the likeness of Christ—Christians in the truest sense of the word.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17

“Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep [die], but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ” 1 Corinthians 15:51–54

Paul quotes this prophecy found in Isaiah 25:6–9: “In this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast. He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day: ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.’ ”

Being mortal means that we are subject to death. Immortal means we will no longer be subject to death.

The righteous children of God who have died will all be raised to immortality. Those who are living will be made immortal and caught up with those who are raised from the dead to meet the Lord together in the air. Jesus told His disciples just before His arrest and crucifixion, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1–3

When Jesus comes, the wicked who are alive on the earth, will all be killed by the brightness of His coming. But God’s children, whether they be dead or alive, will be given immortality and be taken up together into the clouds to meet Him.

“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

“But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.” Revelation 20:4–6, first part

The wicked will be dead, to be raised again to face final judgement after the millennium. Only Satan will remain alive.

“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.” Revelation 20:1–3

Revelation tells us that the devil will be bound to this earth in solitary confinement for 1,000 years. There will be no one to deceive; no one to suffer from his cruelty. And during this 1,000-year period, the saints will review the books, the record that God has been keeping throughout the history of the world. The trial is commenced, the evidence is given. The saints will see that the evidence is overwhelmingly compelling and they must agree with God’s verdict of guilty.

The New Testament is very clear that judgment will be committed to Christ’s saints. “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” 1 Corinthians 6:1–3

The saints will judge fallen angels and sinners alike, and will then fully understand why sinners must be destroyed.

It is during this time of judgement that the many unanswered questions that we have asked, will be answered. It isn’t that God cannot or refuses to answer our questions. God has a purpose for all the things that occur in this world and in our individual lives. We do not now see as God sees and therefore, we are unable to understand why things happen as they do. “Why did this happen? Why did God allow that?” They may be unanswered now, but there is no question regarding our lives on this earth that will be unanswerable. We just simply must wait for God’s time to receive the answer. And here, during the millennium, as we look over the books, we will see why things happened the way they did and be satisfied that God, in His love and mercy, did everything just right.

At the close of the millennium, Satan will be set free, the wicked will be raised from the dead, and all will be sentenced. The penalty for their sins: eternal death. No burning forever and ever … just death.

Satan, sin, and sinners—all gone. Having been sentenced for their sins, God executes judgment and all that is sinful is destroyed forever. “God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies; the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. …

“Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. … He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time.” Nahum 1:2, 3, 6, and 9, last part

We will soon find out that God always does what is right and best for His children.

“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!’

“And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: ‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!’ ” Revelation 5:11–13

Jesus said He would be back to take us home with Him. For eternity, we will hear again and again the story of our redemption. Questions will be asked and answered. We will sing praises to God and Jesus, His Son.

Are we waiting and longing for His return? Soon God’s children will be changed, the mortal will be given immortality and they will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. From then on, they will forever be with Him. Will you be ready to meet Him on that day?

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Who Must Give an Account?

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Some people believe that when a person dies, life is over for them. Others believe that when a person dies, there will be a future resurrection and then they will have to face judgment. Which view is correct? What is the weight of evidence? Is it true that someday everyone will have to give an account of themselves?

The Bible says that a time is coming when every human being will stand before the judgment seat of God. “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” John 5:28, 29

We read in John 11 that Jesus raised the man Lazarus from the dead. This miracle was not performed in private; in fact, there was a great multitude of witnesses. Lazarus’ sisters, the mourners, and many others who had come to the burial were there, much like we attend our own funeral services today.

“Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, ‘Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.’ Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Loose him, and let him go.’ Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.” Verses 39–45

When Jesus came the first time, He came for salvation. He stated it this way to Nicodemus in John 3:17: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

But when He comes the second time, the Bible repeatedly states that He is coming to bring judgment. At this second coming, each individual will either be saved or lost; and when the judgment seat is set, every human being will have to give an account of himself to God. From the beginning to the end, the Bible assures us that there will be a judgment.

Paul says in Romans 14:12, “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.” Peter says in 1 Peter 4:5, “They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.” Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 32:36, “For the Lord will judge His people … .” We read in Psalm 9:7 that God “has prepared His throne for judgment.” And Psalm 50:3, 4 says, “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people.”

In this world, many believe that they can do wrong and get away with it just because no one knows what they have done. But there is Someone who knows. God knows even the most secret things we do. Solomon wrote about this in Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil.” David had something to say about this as well in Psalm 139:1–4, “O Lord, You have searched me and known me.

“You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.” God understands what you are thinking even before you think it.

Then David says in verses 7–12, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell [the grave], behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ even the night shall be light about me; indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.”

It does not matter if it is daytime or nighttime, if you are on land or at sea, no matter where you are David says that the Lord knows. God is watching us and keeping record of what we think, do, and say. Jesus talks about this recordkeeping in Matthew 12:36, 37, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” God keeps a record of “every secret thing that is done.”

God keeps very good records and we find in the Greek New Testament that “Jesus saw their thoughts.” God knows what we do and what we say, but He also can discern our thoughts before they ever become actions or words. Isaiah 66:18 says, “I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory.”

We find something very similar in 1 Corinthians 4:5, “Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts.”

When the Bible says, “reveal the counsels of the hearts,” it means that our very thoughts, those that no one has ever known, will be revealed. Jesus said to the disciples, “Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26

In the judgment, every record that God has been keeping, all the things that cannot be hidden from Him—about every person, every society, every church, every nation, every institution, every government, every group of people, and every family—will be made known.

Should this make us afraid of the coming judgment? Jesus says in Matthew 16:24–27, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what 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? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each, according to his works.”

Notice that the judgment is going to be based upon what we have done in this life. Very many are going to find this distressing when they think of the awful things they have done. They will be wondering what will happen to them. God has been keeping a record of the sins of every individual life and unless that record is expunged, or blotted out, we will be in big trouble.

And that brings us to the gospel, because saving people from their sins is what the gospel is all about. Anything that we have done that is contrary to the law of God must be forgiven and blotted out of our record. John says, “If we confess our sins, He [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. The sins committed in the past and their guilt, along with the power sin has over our lives, can all be taken away.

Paul describes this in detail in Romans 3:23–25: “[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.”

Being saved, however, involves much more than just having our sins forgiven. While it is necessary for our sins to be forgiven so that we will be found worthy for heaven in the judgment, something more is involved in being saved than simply forgiveness of sins. The Bible says that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Romans 6:23, first part, says, “For the wages of sin is death … .” And Hebrews 9:22, last part, says, “and without shedding of blood there is no remission” of sin. Jesus’ death on the cross, the shedding of His blood, paid the penalty for sin, but, 1 John 1:7 tells us, that “if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from every sin.”

Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5. If we are not born of the Holy Spirit, we cannot be saved and will not enter into the kingdom of God. That is why Paul was so emphatic about the fact that the judgment is according to works. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10. Our works have no merit to gain salvation, but our works demonstrate the miraculous change wrought by the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

When a person is brought before a judge in an earthly court of law, his conduct is measured against the standard of the law to determine if he has committed transgression. How does God determine whether what we have done is good or bad? He also has a standard against which our thoughts, deeds, and words are measured. This standard is the law of God.

Many decades after Jesus died on the cross, James tells us clearly that God’s ten commandments, His law, is the standard for His coming judgment. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2:10–12

Here James is quoting the sixth and seventh commandments. Even if you keep the whole law, all the commandments, but one, you are a transgressor, guilty of breaking the whole law. The ten commandments are one law—one law with ten parts—and it is by this standard that we all will be judged when Jesus comes.

Paul, writing in Titus 2:11–14, says, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” And Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8. Here is the reason that Jesus died on the cross—that He might redeem us, save us from every lawless deed, and purify us.

So, there are some questions we should be asking ourselves: Am I being purified? Am I being cleansed from my sins by the blood of Jesus? Am I receiving the Holy Spirit so that I now have a new heart and a new mind?

If we are to have lives in harmony with the law of God, then the answers to each of these questions must be Yes. For if we have not been purified and cleansed, if our hearts and minds are the same old, sinful ones we’ve always had, then we are not in harmony with the government and law of God and we will be in trouble on the day of judgment.

To be in harmony with any earthly government, we must be in harmony with the laws of that government. The same holds true of the heavenly government. Many people today make a profession of Christianity, but they have never been born of the Holy Spirit and are therefore not in harmony with the laws of heaven.

Romans 8:1, 2 say, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” But notice then what Paul says in verses 4–9, 14: “[T] hat the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. … For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

Those who walk according to the law of God and no longer according to the flesh, in the judgment will be judged to be the sons of God. But those simply making a profession of Christianity, who have not been born of the Holy Spirit, who continue in sin, while desiring and hoping to be saved, will be judged out of harmony with God’s government and law and they will be condemned.

Friends, our goal in this life must be to be like Jesus. Christlikeness is the standard of character that we must reach in this life, if we are to be judged worthy of heaven and eternity. We can read this in John 8 and 1 John 3 and in other texts throughout the Bible. “Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2

To be ready for Jesus’ second appearing and to be judged worthy of heaven, we must have reached God’s standard of Christlikeness in our lives. This is accomplished only by the wonder-working power of the Holy Spirit. Paul describes those who will make up God’s church on the day of judgment in Ephesians 5:27, “[T]hat He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” This church is ready to meet the Lord when He comes. “And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Revelation 14:5

Someone might think that there is no hope for them, but if we commit our lives to Jesus Christ, He can and will work every miracle that is needed so that we can have the character of Christ formed in our lives just as He wants us to have. “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

God doesn’t do things halfway. If we will commit our lives to Him today, He will complete the work that He has begun in our hearts, just as He promised.

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Peace, When There Is No Peace

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Eighteen hundred years ago, the Bible said that scoffers would say in the last days, “all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 2 Peter 3:4, last part. But actually, the greatest wars, the greatest pestilences and famines, the greatest earthquakes and other disasters, have marked our time, our generation. Scoffers, even today, continue to say that all things will be as they have been from the beginning; but all things, friends, do not continue as they have.

In addition to all these natural disasters and calamities and wars that are to occur in the last days, the Bible predicted, in both the Old and New Testaments, that there would be a great international peace movement. Micah 4:1–5 says, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come.’ ” Notice, the Lord does not say this, the nations of the world are making this call, “ ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god … .”

In 1899, the World Court System was developed with the idea that war would be outlawed. But this world system did not stop wars from happening.

It’s likely that hardly anyone alive today remembers the Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact of 1928. Officially known as the General Treaty for Renunciation of War as an Instrument of National Policy, this international agreement committed the signatory states to not use war to resolve “disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them.” Wikipedia.com.

Thirty-one nations signed the agreement on August 27, 1928, and the Pact went into effect on July 24, 1929. Once in effect, 25 additional countries entered into the agreement. The Pact remains in force today, however, it did not stop World War II from happening, though declared wars became rare after the end of World War II in 1945.

We talk of peace all the time and the Bible says that in the last days people would be talking peace and safety, while at the same time, there would be war.

“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:2–4

Notice, in both Micah 4 and Isaiah 2, the peace movement is phrased in terms of religion. The intent of this peace movement will be that we will learn to do what is right and to follow the Lord, and we will no longer war with one another. We will stop making weapons meant to harm and cause destruction. We will learn to live in peace. We have established a world court and entered into agreements. We have established the League of Nations and now the United Nations. But regardless of what the people of the world are saying and doing in the last days, what did the Lord say?

“Proclaim this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am strong.” ’ Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord. ‘Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow—for their wickedness is great.’ Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:9–14

An awesome scripture, the very opposite of what the nations are saying. Let all the mighty men come down. The Bible is very clear that at the end of time the whole world will be gathered for war. While we say we will have peace, there will be war, and multitudes will be in the valley of decision.

So who will we be listening to? “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Romans 6:16. Have you decided who you belong to and who you will obey?

Many people believe that they belong to the Lord and are obeying Him. They believe they are Christians, Christlike, but when Jesus comes, He will not acknowledge them as His own. They will say they have done all these marvelous things, miracles, healings, prophesies in His name, but Matthew 7:21–23 says that when Jesus comes, He won’t even know who they are. “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Verse 23

“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8. You see, the one that you obey, is the one you belong to, and if you say that you are a Christian, but are living in sin, it is the devil who you really belong to. The Bible calls you the devil’s spiritual child, and it points out in this same chapter what sin is, “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” Verse 4

Today there are multitudes in the valley of decision, trying to understand and make up their minds who they will serve. Some might believe that they will just serve themselves, but selfishness is the root of all sin. If you serve yourself, then you are sinning and, you are on the devil’s side.

The great controversy, the war between good and evil, has been raging since Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Serving God or serving self is what this millennia-long controversy is all about. Will we do just as we please or will we be loyal to God’s government and His law? Because our natural nature is selfish, we will sin and be sinners until Jesus comes unless we make a choice. If we do not decide, then we will be lost for we will simply follow our natural inclination to sin.

In Noah’s day, all the world stood in the valley of decision, but ultimately their decisions were not to accept Noah’s message and go into the ark and be saved; and as a result, every person, except for eight, lost their life, and worse, their soul. When Jesus comes, the majority of the people alive in the world will be lost, all the while hoping and desiring to be saved, simply because they do not now choose to be Christians.

In a Roman dungeon, a short time before his death as a martyr, Paul wrote a letter to a young minister by the name of Timothy. In 2 Timothy 3:1–4 he said, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”

What an awful list of character traits for people to possess! Who would want to live with people like this? Yet, this is exactly why we will be unable to find peace in this world in the last days. No peace in an individual’s heart, in the family, between the races, between the nations. Without Jesus Christ in our hearts and in the world, there simply is no peace, because we all have the natural, selfish inclination to bear any or all of the character traits listed above.

But notice what Paul further says to Timothy. In the midst of the people of the world exhibiting these terrible traits of character, Paul describes the religious atmosphere as “having a form of godliness.” 2 Timothy 3:5. Outwardly the majority of the people seem to be godly, they make a profession of godliness, they go to church and claim to be Christians, but Paul says they have a “form of godliness, but [are] denying its power” and he tells Timothy to stay away from such people.

Do you know what the power of godliness is? When Jesus was here on earth, He told the Jews that “if you continue in My word … you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They were quick to reply, having forgotten their slavery in Egypt and their current condition under the authority of Rome, that they had never been in bondage to anyone. But Jesus immediately replied that the one who commits sin is the servant of sin, and the servant does not remain in the house forever (John 8:31–35), meaning, the person who is living in sin will not have eternal life.

But in Verse 36 we find that “[I]f the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” The gospel promises to set you free from sin, to enable you to live a righteous life. This can happen only as a result of being born of the Holy Spirit, experiencing what Jesus called the new birth. It is receiving from the Holy Spirit a new heart and a new mind, the implanting of a new principle of life within us so that we no longer live for ourselves, but we live to honor God and to help our fellow men.

Jesus said, unless this happens, unless the Son sets us free, then we are slaves. The slave to sin does not have eternal life, but the Son and those He sets free remain forever. That is the power of godliness, the power of divinity to set us free, not just from our guilt, because the Lord wants to do more than set us free from our guilt. He wants to set us free from the power of sin in our lives.

Since we are to turn away from those who simply have a form of godliness, but deny its power, we must be able to identify who they are. The apostle John tells us how we may know who is a follower of the Lord and who is not. “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.” 1 John 3:7–10

Laodicea, the last-day church of Revelation 3, is described as lukewarm. Paul said that the people of this church would be listening to doctrines of devils while they claimed to be religious, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.” 1 Timothy 4:1

Think about it, friends. Do we claim a form of godliness while denying the power of the Holy Spirit? Or have we allowed the Holy Spirit to work the miracle of transformation in our lives so that we are not simply making a claim of godliness, but actually living a life of godliness? Are we the people described by the Bible in Revelation 14:12 as the saints of God, the holy people who keep God’s commandments and have the faith of Jesus? Are we those of whom John wrote, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city”? Revelation 22:14

Today, we all have a decision to make. We must decide to be born again and to commit our lives to Jesus Christ. As promised, He will send the Holy Spirit to give us new hearts and new minds so that we will live new lives in Him, and then go home with Him when He comes.

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Time of the End

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Facts about the Future Series

Thousands of years ago, the Lord gave man this challenge: “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, who carry the wood of their carved image, and pray to a god that cannot save. Tell and bring forth your case; yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time? Who has told it from that time? Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides Me.” Isaiah 45:20, 21. He gave the same declaration in Isaiah 46:9, 10: “Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’ ”

Can we accurately predict the future? God is saying in these two passages from Isaiah that if we think we can, to try it. But the truth is, none of us can. We cannot even predict what will happen next week, much less what will happen a hundred years into the future. But the Bible has been depicting the events of the future and just exactly when they will occur for millennia.

A careful study of the prophecy of Daniel 12 tells us that the last days or the time of the end actually began at the close of the 18th century. “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Verse 4. It is very clear that knowledge has increased amazingly since the end of the 18th century. People are traveling all around the world, much more so than two hundred years ago.

At the end of the 18th century, there were no cars, planes, or internal combustion engines, so if people went anywhere, they had to walk or travel by horseback or in carriages and wagons pulled by an animal. And if a person wanted to travel to a different country, they would have to sail over the ocean on some type of sailing vessel. There were no telephones, telegraphs, typewriters, or computers, so if they wanted to go to school, they had to do their homework by hand. They wrote letters by hand. In fact, at the end of the 18th century, mankind was still living very much like those in Abraham’s time.

But the Bible says that at the end of time, people would travel much more and knowledge would increase. I have been in several international airports in England, France, Germany, and Holland. These airports are teeming with people traveling to and from places all around the world. A couple hundred years ago, a person was born, lived, and died within a relatively small radius. Only a few people such as the wealthy, soldiers, sailors, and royalty were able to travel extensively. But that has changed here in the time of the end.

We should, however, note that while the Bible predicted all these amazing developments, it has also predicted that terrible things will happen in the time of the end. Jesus said, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:37–39

This is an interesting scripture to think through. Noah spent 120 years building a 500-foot-long boat, on the land, with no place to launch it. During that time, he also preached to everyone in the world of the coming flood and the need for repentance. So how could it be that the world did not know that the flood was coming? They knew he was building a boat. They heard what he was saying and called him an alarmist, a fool, a crazy man, even a lunatic. But still he preached that when the boat was finished, the flood would come and destroy the whole world.

So how could Jesus say in Matthew 24 that they didn’t know that the flood was coming? It was because they did not believe what they had been told. Jesus says that the last days will be just like that. The Bible is more accessible today than it has ever been in the history of the world. People have access to Bible prophecy, but they do not believe what they read. The end of days will be a time of great unbelief.

The world is not interested in knowing that the Bible says that we are living in the last days or that the world will soon come to an end. Like those in Noah’s day, they have been told, they can know, but—what they hear, what they read, what they see—they simply do not believe.

The people in Noah’s day scoffed at him and would not believe that a flood was coming. They had proved to themselves, scientifically, that a flood was impossible. There were no oceans and most of the water was under the earth. The Bible calls them the fountains of the deep. It had never rained; the earth was watered by a dew or mist that came up from the ground and watered everything. It did not appear to them that there was enough water to even cover the earth. They felt that God loved those He had made and would not destroy them. So they did not believe and they did not get on the boat.

Peter talks about this same attitude in the last days, “[K]nowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ ” 2 Peter 3:3, 4

And then we read in verses 5–7, “For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”

So, the world was told that the flood would come, but they did not believe. And the Bible says that in the last days the same attitude would exist. Men will know that the world will come to an end, but they will not believe. Consequently, when the world does end, most of the people alive today will not be ready.

Imagine how God must feel. What more could He do? He has given them the Bible as a guide, sent prophets, increased knowledge, but the people of the world will not listen and will choose instead to go on their own way. If you were God, what would you do?

Genesis 6:5 says, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Evil imaginations and thoughts lead to nothing good. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” Verse 11. If the world in the last days is to be like the world in Noah’s day, then we will see increasing wickedness and violence. And as a result of this wickedness, the Bible predicts very clearly that the last days will be a time of great lawlessness. People will keep neither the law of God nor the laws of man.

“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 24:12, 13. Paul says it a different way in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 and 9, “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until he [the anti-christ] is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

“The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Jesus also said that the last days would be like the days of Lot. “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:28–30. Life went on as usual, until suddenly great calamity came and the world as they knew it ended.

This is one of the great signs in Bible prophecy regarding the last days. Almost all the world will be living lawless lives, unwilling to keep the laws of God or man, but, when the Lord comes, all those who have practiced lawlessness will be destroyed. “But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” Revelation 9:20, 21

There are many Bible prophecies that predict the things happening in the world today. Luke 21 lists several signs that will occur over time, specifically for the last generation.

“There will be great earthquakes in various places.” Verse 11. If you do some research regarding the number of earthquakes over the last hundred years, you will find that earthquake occurrences have increased, not only in number, but also in severity. In fact, in the ten-year period between 1980 and 1990, the same number of major earthquakes occurred as those that occurred between 526 and 1797, a period of almost 1,300 years.

Verse 11 also predicts that famines and pestilences will occur in the last days. Again, in the last hundred years, there have been 56 recorded famines somewhere in the world. Two such famines occurred in Russia and northwest China. Over two million people starved to death in the Russian famine and more than twelve million people died in China. It was said of them both that they were the worst famines in all the history of the world.

A pestilence is a contagious or infectious epidemic that is very virulent and devastating. There have been 90 virulent epidemics caused either by known or new viruses within the last 50 years—as we have experienced over the last two years with Covid-19 and its numerous mutations. The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 has been described as, “[t]he crowning tragedy of so many tragic years. At least twenty million people perished.” (The Encyclopedia Britannica).

Joel 1:4 tells us that there will be great destruction by insects. “What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; and what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.” Beginning in the spring of 2019 after Cyclone Mekunu produced heavy rains in the Arabian Peninsula, swarms of locusts developed in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, Oman, Iran, India, and Pakistan. By mid-2020, a new swam had appeared in Paraguay and Argentina in South America, and the travel restrictions implemented as a result of the Covid pandemic has hindered efforts to end this plague.

In the business world, the Bible predicts that in the last days there will be a rapid accumulation of wealth. There are more extremely wealthy people today than ever before in the history of the world. In 1925, there were 207 individual millionaires in America and one billionaire. As of 2021, there are 22 million individual millionaires in America and 630 billionaires. This rapid increase in wealth is described in James 5:1–3: “Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.”

The Bible predicts racial hatred, troubles, and uprisings throughout the world, great corruption in world governments, disregard for justice, contempt for authority, increased pressure for religious legislation, and a growing prestige for hierarchical church government in the last days. (See Micah chapters 1–4 and Revelation 13)

There will be a moral breakdown within society and lawlessness (law breaking) will abound. The love of money will become so great that the acquisition of it will be the determined goal of most people. Crime will increase and we are certainly seeing that today in numbers almost beyond imagination.

The seeking of pleasure, perversion in the marriage relationship, immorality of every kind will become (has become!) widespread—an easy accomplishment as knowledge increases and man can travel throughout the world at any time.

Social problems will increase as real spirituality declines. “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.” 2 Timothy 3:1–5, first part

There will be a rebellion against the straight truths found in God’s word. People will demand that their preachers speak only smooth things. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3, 4

And we read in Matthew 24:6, “[Y]ou will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Whenever you say something like that people will say, “Oh, I know, but there’s always been wars.” Yes, it is true, ever since sin entered the world, there have always been wars. But, there has never, ever been a war like World War I from 1914 to 1918. Regarding this war, Winston Churchill said, “It was different from all ancient wars and from all modern wars. All the horrors of all the ages were brought together. Henceforth whole populations will take part in war. Mankind has never been in this position before.” During World War II, whole nations were engaged in war and taken into captivity. Millions of people died of hunger, starvation, and forced labor, as well as from bombardment, from land and sea and the air. And then war took on an entirely new dimension with the creation of the atomic bomb.

In the midst of this fighting and killing, the Bible predicts that there will be a great international peace movement. All the while the nations are marching to war, they will be talking peace.

But the Bible doesn’t only predict wickedness and destruction. It also predicts that in the last days there will be a small group of people, a remnant, who have been and will be keeping God’s commandments. They are described in Revelation 14:12, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus.” When you understand the context of this scripture, you will see that this remnant group is found to exist in the last days, when almost the whole world will be deceived by lawless teachings and false doctrines.

So, we can see in our world today exactly what the Bible has predicted would happen in the time of the end and we are quickly approaching the very last days. We must leave this world and the things in it behind and determine to follow Jesus, accepting Him as our Lord and Saviour, so that we may be included in the remnant; that small group who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. Are we ready for that last day to come?

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

What Can We Depend On?

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Is there a dependable way to tell the difference between truth and falsehood? You certainly cannot trust what people say or what they profess to be. What is the one thing, the only thing that you can depend on more than your senses?

Today there is a belief that everyone in the world eventually will be saved, but nowhere do we find such an assurance in the Bible. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself taught just the opposite. In the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many that go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13, 14. Jesus said that the way that leads to eternal life is narrow and few will go that way, but He is also saying that the majority of people in the world will go down the broad road, which leads to destruction.

Luke 13:24 says, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” The reason is because they cannot take their sinful desires, pleasures, and ambitions with them.

People are in danger of being deceived by teachers of falsehood who are telling them that they don’t need to take such a narrow road, that the broad way will still end up all right. Jesus knew that these deceivers would rise up and seek to draw people away from the narrow path, telling them that they could take the broad road and still have eternal life, so He immediately gave the warning that there are people in this world who intend to deceive: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:15–20

Notice how we can tell the difference between truth and error: “We are not bidden to prove them [false teachers] by their fair speeches or their exalted professions. They are to be judged by the word of God.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessings, 145. When we read the context of this verse, we find that it is a strict warning against listening to spiritualist manifestations or supernatural apparitions, or people claiming to speak for the dead or being spirits of the dead. But look what Isaiah 8:20 says, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

So what is the one and only thing we can depend on more than our senses? It is the word of God.

The wise man Solomon said in Proverbs 19:27, “Cease listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.” What message are we listening to? Is it a message that leads us to fear and reverence God, to love Him, and obey His commandments? If we do not feel the weight of the moral law, if we make light of any of God’s precepts, if we break one of the least of His commandments, we will have no place in heaven, and our claims to be religious teachers will be without foundation, because the teachings that encourage disregard and disobedience of God’s law originate with the prince of darkness, the enemy of God.

So, not all who call themselves Christians are actually Christ’s people. “[S]uch are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” 2 Corinthians 11:13–15. Paul is saying here that there are false apostles who pretend to be teachers of righteousness and apostles of Christ, but they actually are serving another master. Jesus says the same thing in Matthew 7:21–23. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ ”

Note, these people call Jesus, “Lord” and themselves His children. These are not people who just come and sit in the pew at church; they are Christian workers. They have “prophesied” in His name and believe they have the Holy Spirit and the gift of prophecy. They have “cast out demons” and worked many miracles in Jesus’ name, and yet He says, “I never knew you.” How can that be?

God’s word, the Bible, tells us that there is a great spiritual battle going on in this world between two supernatural forces. Christ is one of these supernatural forces, but there is another. This force is Satan, and while his methods sadly have met with much success over the millennia, he still has lost battle after battle in this spiritual warfare. Now he has decided to join the winning side and present himself as Christ.

The Biblical word antichrist simply means someone that stands in the place of Christ. Satan is coming to stand in the place of Christ, and anyone serving the antichrist will believe that they are serving Christ. The apostle Paul is very clear on this point, “I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” 2 Corinthians 11:3, 4

Paul fears that teachers will come teaching a different Jesus than he and others have taught, and as a result, the people would receive a different spirit, all the while believing they were receiving the Holy Spirit. Paul says they will preach a different gospel and they will bring to you a spirit that we did not bring to them. So what is this different gospel?

The gospel as taught by Jesus will set a person free from the power of sin in their life. He that “… commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not remain in the house forever, but the Son remains forever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:34–36, literal translation. The apostles preached this gospel.

We find that Paul preached this gospel in chapters 6 and 8 of Romans. John preached it in 1 John 2:3, 4: “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” John, considered so loveable and so soft-spoken, did not mince words when speaking to those who claim to be a Christian, but choose to live in violation of the law of God. James is just as clear, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble [offend] in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2:10–12

The people of God in the last days are those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12), but friends, there are many who are in great danger today of thinking that they are Christians while living in sin, and we must be vigilant lest we become like them.

In this world, we are accustomed to doing things mostly right or just right enough to get by, but that is not God’s way. Remember what we found in James 2? “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” A person cannot be a New Testament Christian unless they follow Jesus all the way. Jesus says in Luke 14:33, “[W]hoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” We cannot take any of the riches or material things of this world into the kingdom of heaven. Only one thing can be taken from this life to the next and that is our character. Everything else we possess here will be burned up. God will create a new world for His children to live in.

New Testament Christianity gives a person victory over their besetting sins and the power to live a new life. So, a person who claims to be a Christian, but is living a life of sin, is in reality a lawbreaker. These are the people who believe they are Christians and are following Jesus, and yet believe they can break God’s law. They will expectantly come to Jesus believing that they are saved, waiting to hear the words “Well done,” but instead they will hear, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” Matthew 7:23, last part

They believe they are serving Christ and have the Holy Spirit, and that they are following the gospel, but imagine what a terrible shock it then will be to hear Jesus say He doesn’t know them, because they have instead been serving another Jesus, following a different gospel, being led by some other spirit. There are many people today, as there were when Jesus first spoke these words, who want eternal life, but to them, the price seems too great. Obeying Jesus in everything will cause them to suffer some kind of a loss in this world. We find this described in the story of the rich, young ruler (Mark 10:17–22).

As Jesus closed the Sermon on the Mount, He gave a forceful illustration describing the future destiny of all. “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24–27

Do you see the difference? Does your life conform to what Jesus has said or not? Seven hundred years before Jesus came to this world, Isaiah said “The word of our God shall stand forever.” Isaiah 40:8. And many years after the Sermon on the Mount was preached, Peter quotes these words from Isaiah: “But the word of the Lord endures forever. This is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.” 1 Peter 1:25

When you receive the gospel, you are building on the sure foundation that will last forever, the one and only thing you can depend on, the word of God. This is what the world needs. Whoever builds on it is building upon Christ, and in receiving His word, we receive Christ, the only steadfast and sure foundation. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Matthew 24:35. The great principles of the law of God, the very nature of God Himself, are enshrouded in the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:11, “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” And Peter said in Acts 4:12, “[T]here is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” This is the only foundation upon which we can securely build. Building on Christ is obeying His word. He says that if we obey Him, we will be like the man who built his house on the rock, and when the storm came the house did not fall. But if we hear what He says to do, and do not obey, then we will be like the man who built his house on the sand and when the storm came, his house was utterly destroyed.

Holiness is the result of surrendering all to God and doing His will. Jesus places the salvation of man, not upon profession merely, but upon faith that is made manifest by works of righteousness. Doing, not merely saying, is required and expected of the followers of Christ. It is through action that character is built (James 1:22–25).

There are many people today who want to be followers of Jesus Christ, but they don’t know how to start. They know very little about the Bible. There is darkness all around them, and they do not know how to find the light. No matter how little a person may understand about God’s word, it is necessary only to ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. We must choose to obey and follow Him. We must set our hearts to obey Jesus Christ and acknowledge Him as the Lord of our lives. The more we follow Him, even if we only know a little, the more light will come. As we build on God’s word, our characters will be made after the similitude of the character of Christ. The path of the righteous, the path of the just, is like a shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day.

Jesus is the living Stone, the sure Foundation. His life is imparted to all who build upon Him and do His words. Peter said, “[Y]ou also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house … .” 1 Peter 2:5. And Paul said, “[I]n whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”  Ephesians 2:21. The living stones become one with the Foundation because a common life dwells in all. That building cannot be overthrown. Every other building built on any other foundation will fall. If we build our characters on human ideas, opinions, forms, and ceremonies, then our building will be destroyed by the fierce tempests of temptation.

But right now, today, before the tempest comes that will end this world’s history, the Lord says, “As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn, from your evil ways! For why will you die?” Ezekiel 33:11.

Do you desire to be a follower of Jesus? The Lord wants to save us and He will save us if we are willing to turn to Him and follow Him with all our heart.

[Emphasis supplied.]

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

The Broad Road Or The Narrow Road

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Some people believe that it is easier to be saved than to be lost. And others believe that it is easier to be lost than to be saved. Which is it?

We find the Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12. Jesus said, “Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them.” Immediately after giving this Golden Rule, He said in verses 13 and 14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult [restricted] is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” This was surprising to the people when Jesus told it to them, but continues to be just as surprising to people throughout history.

The Golden Rule excludes all pride and self-seeking, attributes that are allowed on the broad road that leads to destruction. If you want to enter into eternal life, you must climb the narrow road. There will be few on the narrow road, because the multitude will choose the broad, downward path.

The broad road is characterized by worldliness, selfishness, pride and self-seeking, dishonesty, and moral abasement. Almost the entire human race can take this road. It has plenty of room for anyone to have an opinion, doctrine, or teaching that they choose, and enough space to follow any inclination, and whatever their self-love would require. Because of our sinful human nature, there is no need to have to search for the broad road. It seems that we know right where to find it, and the broad road gives us plenty of latitude to do as we please and as our nature leads us to do.

On the other hand, the road that leads to eternal life is narrow and not as easily found. The entrance is narrow and the entire road is restricted and difficult. Clinging to any besetting sin, we will find that the gate is too narrow to go through. Our own ways, our own will, our own inclinations, evil habits and practices must be given up, or we will be unable to follow the narrow road.

If we want to follow the Lord, we cannot serve ourselves. The road to heaven—the narrow road—is too narrow and steep for a person whose life is centered in his or her own ambitions, who seeks the world’s opinion and seeks to follow the world’s standard. It is too steep for the sinful, lovers of pleasure to climb. The Bible says that in the last days there will be people that love pleasure more than they love God, but those people will not be in the kingdom of heaven.

Toil, patience, self-denial, reproach, and poverty were the lot of Jesus Christ when He was here on this world. He endured what the Bible calls “such hostility from sinners against Himself.” (Hebrews 12:3), and it is this same walk that we must walk on the narrow road if we are to enter into the paradise of God.

However, while it appears that the narrow road is the difficult path and the broad road is the easier path, we must remember that the broad road is deceptive. It is a road that leads to death, with much pain and grief, and many penalties, sorrows, and disappointments. Because we feel “free” when we walk the broad road, free to do what we want, say what we want, be what we want, we heedlessly march down the broad road with a purpose. But because of God’s love for us, He has made it hard for the headstrong to obliviously destroy themselves. Satan makes the broad road seem attractive, exciting, but remember that he is a liar and deceit is his specialty. The longer one walks the broad road he or she will soon find bitter remorse, cankering care, pain, and sorrow. It may seem that our selfish plans will achieve flattering prospects and that life is one enjoyment after another, but it will soon become clear that happiness is poisoned and because of the sin in our lives, everything will be wrecked. Thus, that which started out as joyful becomes despairing. Notice what the Bible says in Proverbs 13:15, last part: “But the way of the unfaithful is hard.” Isaiah said, “ ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’ ” Isaiah 57:21. How often do we think one way, but discover it is not what we thought it would be? The Bible says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Proverbs 16:25. The broad road seems more attractive at the beginning. There is nothing to give up to travel that road, but eventually it leads to a terrible destination.

But concerning those who choose to go up the narrow way, Proverbs 3:17 says, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” The Christian life seems restricted at the start. “[This] life is a life of constant conflict. … Every act of obedience, every deed of self-denial, every trial bravely endured, every temptation resisted, every victory gained, is a step forward in the march to eternal triumph.” Ye Shall Receive Power, 357. The Lord has made the road that leads to eternal life plain so that even a terrible sinner need not miss it. The person who is willing to practice righteous and holy living can walk up the narrow road because they are willing “to lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets” him or her (Hebrews 12:1). Access is secured for all who want to go through and no soul need ever say, “God does not care about me.” If we take Christ as our guide, laying aside our sins and walking through the narrow gate, He will lead us safely.

The person not yet on the road to eternal life may see it as a rough and steep climb. There may be pitfalls. He or she will have to toil and fight when there is no fight left in them. They may become discouraged, but if they are following Jesus and obeying His word, they will not fail of reaching the desired haven at last. You see, Jesus Himself walked up that way and has smoothed the path for all who follow in His steps. All the way there are wellsprings of joy to refresh the weary and one can find peace, even in difficulty and tribulation. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 7:4, last part, “I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful … .” Why? Because, the One whom the soul loves, the One that we follow, walks unseen beside us, and at each upward step, we can discern more distinctly the touch of His hand. “The path of the just is like the shining sun [star], that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” Proverbs 4:18

The Jews thought that the Messiah would come and give them victory over the Roman Empire and set them up as a great nation, but Jesus disappointed their hopes in the Sermon on the Mount. He had not come to overthrow the world’s great kingdoms or to make Israel a great, worldly kingdom. He told them that He had come to reveal to them the character that is the true glory of His kingdom, offering them not the promise of earthly dominion, but to place before them the opportunity to be one with Him in character and love. He assured them that it would be their supreme desire and worth their sincere effort. He was not calling them to battle against the Roman Empire, but rather to fight the battle against self and to win. He said, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many … will seek to enter and will not be able.” Luke 13:24

Yes friends, there will be many people who will seek salvation, but will not find it. Many will be lost, while hoping and desiring to be saved. Paul encourages us in 1 Timothy 6:12 to “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.” And Philippians 1:30 says, “Having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.”

“The Christian life is a battle and a march. In this warfare there is no release; the effort must be continuous and persevering. It is by unceasing endeavor that we maintain the victory over the temptations of Satan. Christian integrity must be sought with resistless energy and maintained with a resolute fixedness of purpose.

“No one will be borne upward without stern, persevering effort in his own behalf.” Reflecting Christ, 312

The field of battle is the human heart. We must struggle against evil within—sinful thoughts and desires, actions and words. The greatest battle that has ever been fought by any man, is the surrender of self to the will of God, the yielding of the heart to the sovereignty of love. The victory over self must be gained if we are to enter the kingdom of heaven. The Bible promises salvation only to those who overcome, but while we must overcome the wickedness that is our natural nature, it is by grace alone that we receive salvation. Salvation can be enjoyed only by those who have been forgiven of their sins and have received the grace of Christ. You must have not only a title to heaven, which the sacrifice on the cross of Calvary provided for you, but you must be fit for heaven and being made fit is the result of this great battle with self. That is why the Bible says that without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14, last part). Victory, then, is gained by our choice, but not by human power.

The old nature, the will of the flesh, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The hereditary tendencies, the former habits, must be given up. If we determine that we are going to enter this spiritual kingdom, then we find that the powers and passions of the unregenerate nature, aided by the forces of the kingdom of darkness are arrayed against us. Selfishness and pride rise up in the heart and attempt to make us stand against anything that would show them to be sinful. We cannot of ourselves conquer these evil desires and habits that strive for the mastery inside. We cannot overcome the mighty enemy who holds us captive. Only God can give us the victory. The Lord desires us to have the mastery over ourselves, to be in control over our own wills and our own ways, but He cannot work in our hearts and change us without our consent and cooperation.

“The victory is not won without much earnest prayer, without the humbling of self at every step. Our will is not to be forced into cooperation with divine agencies, but it must be voluntarily submitted. … The will must be placed on the side of God’s will. You are not able, of yourself, to bring your purposes and desires and inclinations into submission to the will of God; but if you are ‘willing to be made willing,’ God will accomplish the work for you … . For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 142, 143

Second Corinthians 10:5 says, “[C]asting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Is our every thought brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ? “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12, 13. This is the reason that so many people who want to take the narrow road do not make it; they turn away from the conditions by which alone they would be able to go through the narrow gate.

There are many today who are traveling down the broad road, but they are not fully satisfied with the path they are walking on, wishing they could break away from the slavery of sin. They look toward the narrow gate and try in their own strength to break some of their evil habits or sinful practices, but  because of their weak but sinful nature, selfishness, love of the world, pride, and unsanctified ambition, they hesitate, falter, and turn back. They would have to renounce their own will, their chosen objects of affection, but this they cannot do. They desire to do good, they even make some effort to do it, but they do not have a settled purpose to secure eternal life, because it would cost them everything.

The only hope for us is to choose to surrender our will to God’s will, hour by hour and day by day. We must be willing to be made willing. We must choose to cooperate with Him. We cannot retain our natural, sinful self and expect to enter into the kingdom of God. If we ever wish to attain holiness, it will be through the renunciation of self and the receiving of the mind of Christ. Pride and self-sufficiency have to be crucified. So the question is simply this: Are you willing to be brought into perfect conformity with the will of God and make the necessary sacrifice to go through the narrow gate and up the narrow road to salvation? The Bible says, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” Amos 3:3. If there is a point on which we and God do not agree, whose mind should be changed?

The Bible tells us of Jacob who came to the great crisis in his life and turned aside to pray. He was filled with one overmastering purpose—he wanted to be transformed in character. He knew that he had lived a very sinful life, and we can read about many of these sins in the Bible. We are told that while he was pleading with God, it seemed to him that an enemy came, placed his hand upon him, and all night he wrestled and fought with what he thought was an enemy who he believed intended to take his life. When his strength was nearly spent, just before the dawn of the day, it was revealed that he had been fighting “the Angel of the covenant.” The Angel put forth His divine power and, at one touch, Jacob was disabled. He was wounded and helpless, but he fell upon the breast of the Angel, pleading for a blessing. He said, “… I will not let You go unless You bless me!” Genesis 32:26, last part. He received the answer to his prayer because he was persistent and determined. He was willing to give up everything so that his prayer could be answered. The Bible says, “Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.” Isaiah 27:5

We must be determined and commit our whole heart if we are going to be saved in the kingdom of heaven. We must pray, “Lord, I choose to surrender myself to You, and to follow You all the way.” God will answer your prayer just as He did Jacob’s. God will provide you with the power needed to enter at the narrow gate and walk the narrow road all the way to eternity. Decide now.

“Lord, whatever happens, I surrender my will to You. I choose to follow You all the way, and seek always to do Your will.” [Emphasis supplied.]

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Do Unto Others

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He who is guilty of wrong is the first person to suspect wrong in someone else. When human beings start accusing, they are not satisfied with simply pointing out the supposed defect in somebody else, but will resort to coercion to force others to comply with their ideas about what is right. This is what the Jews did in the time of Christ.

In Matthew 7:1, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” When men try to earn salvation by their own works, they inevitably are led to pile up human exactions as a barrier against sin. When they see that they fail to keep the law, they devise all manner of rules and regulations of their own to obey and they esteem these higher than the law or even in place of the law. All this turns the mind from God and toward self, and as a result the love of God dies out in the heart, and with it perishes love for our fellow men. This system of human intervention, with its multitudinous exactions, meant to make people good, will always lead its advocates to judge those who come short of the prescribed human standard. This develops an atmosphere of selfish and narrow criticism, stifling noble and generous emotions, and leading men to become self-centered and judgmental.

The Pharisees were of this class. Ungrateful for the great privileges that God had given them, they left their religious services without any sense of their own weaknesses. Instead, they were filled with spiritual pride, believing their thoughts, feelings, and knowledge made them better than others. Their own attainments became the standard by which they judged everyone else. Putting on a garment of self-dignity and self-righteousness, they mounted the judgment seat to criticize and condemn others.  Jesus referred to the prayer of the Pharisee found in Luke 18:11, where he said, “God, I thank You that I am not like other men.” The people partook of this very same spirit. It intruded upon the conscience and they began to judge one another in matters that should have been kept between the soul and God alone.

It was in reference to this spirit and practice of judging in matters of conscience that Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” There is no true standard or ideal except that of God’s law and standard of perfection. It is man’s distortion of God’s standard that results in man setting himself up as the standard, putting forth his opinions, view of duty, and interpretation of scripture as the criteria for everyone else in the world. Man condemns others because they do not come up to his standard of ideals. And he criticizes them, presuming to know their motives, which he cannot truly know, and passes judgment on them.

The apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:5, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” Paul also says there is coming a time when everyone in the world will be judged: “We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ … to receive a reward for deeds done in the body.” 2 Corinthians 5:10

Jesus said that there is coming a time, according to God’s providence, when everything that has ever been done in this world will be known (Matthew 10). He knows the hearts of mankind, the secret motives that drive them to do what they do, and say what they say. But as human beings, we cannot read the heart. We ourselves are faulty and unqualified to sit in judgment over others because we can only judge by the outward appearance.

God knows the secret springs of action, and He will judge righteously and compassionately. Paul again brings a rebuke to those who are entering upon the judgment seat in Romans 2:1: “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”

Notice, those who condemn or criticize others are also guilty themselves because they do the same things. In condemning others, we pass sentence upon ourselves, and God declares that this is a just sentence, accepting our own verdict. The sin that leads to the most unhappiness is the cold, unforgiving, critical spirit that characterized the Pharisees. When the religious experience has no love in it, the sunshine of Jesus’ presence is not there. No matter how active we may be in the service of Christ, that zeal cannot supply the lack of love.

We may have a wonderful keenness of perception to discover the defects of others, but anyone who seeks to discover these and expose them is a hypocrite. We must first cast out the log in our own eye (Matthew 7:5). When men indulge in this accusing spirit, they will not be satisfied with pointing out what they suppose is the defect in another. If milder means fail to make someone what they think he or she ought to be, they will, as far as lies in their power, force others to comply with their ideas of what is right.

This is exactly what the Jews were doing in the days of Christ and the apostles, and it is what the Christian church throughout history, whenever she has turned away from Christ to follow her own way, has done. When the church has found itself destitute of the power of love, it has relied on the strong arm of the state to enforce its dogmas and execute its decrees. Understand that, and you will understand the secret behind all the religious laws and legislation that have ever been enacted; you also will know the secret of all persecution from the days of Abel to our own time.

Jesus Christ does not use these methods. He does not drive men to be righteous; instead He seeks to draw all men to Himself. Only by love does He compel us to do what is right. Paul says, “The love of Christ constrains us.” It is love that persuades us, causes us to act. But when the church seeks the support of a secular power, it is plainly evident that the church is devoid of the power of Christ, the constraint of divine love.

Today, in the whole world, Christianity must be constrained by the love of Christ to have His character inside. This alone drives us to do that which is right for Christ. When we take upon ourselves His yoke of obedience and service, no one will have to crack the whip over us to make us do what is right. Jesus says that if we need anything, we need only come to Him and ask for it.

In Matthew 7:7–11, Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

Jesus does not specify conditions. If we feel our need enough to ask, the Lord promises to hear. Are we hungry for His mercy, do we desire His counsel, long for His love? If we ask in faith and contrition, we will receive. The Lord has pledged His word and it cannot fail. When we ask for the blessings we need so that we might perfect a Christlike character, the Lord assures us that we are asking according to a promise that will be verified. No matter that we may be terrible sinners, we can cry out to Him asking for His mercy and compassion and He will answer.

We do not have to be holy or fulfill some condition before we can come to God because the Bible says there is no one like this. We come as we are, but we must understand that God does not intend to leave us as we are. If we desire Him to cleanse and purify us from our sin, recognizing the utter helplessness that makes His redeeming power a necessity, then we present our need, and our need will be fulfilled.

Job 22:21, first part, says, “Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace.” In 1 Chronicles 28:9, last part, when David was talking to Solomon just before his death, he said, “If you seek Him, He will be found by you.”

The Holy Spirit is the greatest gift that God can give us. All good things are contained in this gift. In fact, the Creator Himself cannot give us anything greater or any better. When we ask the Lord to send the Holy Spirit to dwell in our lives, we are asking Him for a gift that will bring with it every other gift we need. When we ask the Lord to pity us in our distress and to guide us by His Holy Spirit, He will never turn away our prayer.

The Bible asks the question that if a child comes to his or her parent for food, would a parent turn the child away? The question is asked with the belief that the parent would not turn them away, because in this world, there are exceptions. But it is true that some human parents know how to give love and good gifts to their children. So then we can believe that God knows how to, and will, provide the needs of His children. God will never turn away from a longing and needy heart. To people who have felt in their distress that God was not mindful of their need, the Lord has told them, “Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.’ ‘Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.’ ” Isaiah 49:14–16. When Jesus was nailed to the cross, we were inscribed on the palms of His hands. The Lord says, even though a human parent may forget, I will never forget.

Every promise in the word of God, therefore, brings us subject matter for prayer. They show us what we may pray for. It is our privilege to claim these promises through Jesus. We need only come to Him in faith, confession, and repentance, asking for our sins to be forgiven, and He has promised to forgive (1 John 1:9). We may not only acknowledge our need for forgiveness of sins, but our need for spiritual help, strength, and salvation.

We are perfectly free to come to Him with any temporal concern—financial difficulties, need for food and clothing, shelter—whatever our need is, we are invited to come and ask for it. However, we must remember that in claiming these promises, we also claim God as our Father, acknowledging that we are His children, and have given ourselves to His work. It is to these that Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness …” that He gave the promise, “Ask, and you will receive.”

Jesus said, “… [W]hatever you desire that men should do to you, you do even so to them.” Matthew 7:12. This is known as the Golden Rule. In this text Jesus teaches us that we should not be concerned with what we receive, but rather with what we give. The standard of our obligation to others is found in what we ourselves would regard as their obligation to us were our situation reversed. In our association with others, we need to put ourselves in their place, to enter into their feelings, difficulties, and disappointments, their joys and sorrows—identify with them, and then treat them in the same way we would want them to treat us.

This is the true rule of honesty and courtesy, the genuine expression of the law. Jesus says in Matthew 22:39, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the substance of the teaching of the prophets, a principle of heaven, and everyone who is fitted for the holy companionship of heaven will have developed it in their life before they are allowed to go there. The truest illustration of the Golden Rule is seen in the life and character of Jesus Christ. When we study His life, we see not only softness and firmness, but beauty and sweetness flowing from His very presence.

This same spirit is to be seen in His children. If Jesus is dwelling in the heart, then we will be surrounded with a divine atmosphere, a fragrance of purity. No one who genuinely understands what constitutes true Christian character will fail to manifest the sympathy and tenderness of Jesus Christ. The influence of His grace softens our hard hearts and gives us a heaven-born sense of delicacy, a true sense of propriety. As with all gifts and blessings of this life, whatever we have that our fellows do not have obligates us to those that are less favored. Are there people around us who are sick, widowed, orphaned, fatherless? Are we treating them in the same way that we would want them to treat us?

The Golden Rule teaches, by way of implication, the very same truth that Jesus taught in Luke 6:38, last part, where He said, “For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Whatever we do to others, whether it is good or evil, will surely react upon ourselves, whether in blessing or in cursing. Whatever we give, we will receive again.

The earthly blessings that we give to others are often repaid in kind. What we give often does come back to us, even in this world. All gifts are repaid in God’s eternal time of reckoning, both good and evil. Any person who has been free to condemn or discourage or bring hardship upon others, will, sooner or later in his own experience, be brought over the same ground where he has caused others to pass. He will feel what he has caused others to feel.

The Golden Rule is the standard of Christianity. Any religion that leads men to place a low estimate upon those whom Jesus estimated to be of sufficient value to surrender His life on the cross is not a Christian religion. Any person who expresses a careless disregard of the needs, sufferings, and rights of his fellow man is not a Christian and is proving themselves to be a traitor to Jesus Christ. It is because men call themselves Christians while denying His character in their life, that Christianity today has so little power in the world and the name of the Lord is blasphemed.

Friends, we need to ask ourselves, especially if we call ourselves Christians: Is my religion real? If our Christianity is real, we will manifest and practice the principle of the Golden Rule in our lives.[All emphasis supplied.]

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Seek Ye First

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Some people believe that their prayers have merit. If this is so, then it could easily be concluded that the longer the prayer, the greater the merit. But is it true that if a person prays long enough, their prayer will have enough merit to atone for sin, or are eloquent prayers just idle words?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Matthew 6:5, 6

In these two verses, the Lord is not telling us that we should not pray in public. Jesus Himself prayed in public many times. Rather, He is teaching that a private prayer should not be made public. In our private devotions, our prayers are to reach the ears of no one except a prayer-hearing God. No curious ear is to hear the burden of our private petitions.

Jesus said, when you pray, go into your room, have a place for secret prayer. He had select places for communion with God. In fact, it was because He so often went to Gethsemane in the evening to pray that Judas Iscariot knew where to lead the soldiers when he betrayed Him.

We also need to have a private place, however humble, where we can be alone with God. Jesus said, “Pray to your Father who sees in secret.” In the name of Jesus, we may come into God’s presence with the same confidence that a small child comes to a parent. We do not need a man, a priest, or pastor as a mediator. Through Jesus, we may open our hearts to God as One who knows, loves, and hears us.

In the secret place of prayer, where no one but God sees or hears, we are free to pour out to Him the most secret and hidden desires of the heart, and the Father has promised that He will hear. Remember, He is a Father of infinite love and pity and He never fails to answer the cry of human need. He will speak to us when we take time to talk to Him. In James 5:11, last part, it says, “ [T]he Lord is very compassionate and merciful.” He waits with unwearied love and pity to hear the confessions of the wayward and to accept their penitence.

In the same way as a mother watches for a smile of recognition from her beloved child, He wants us to understand how earnestly and tenderly His heart yearns over us. He wants us to bring to Him our trials, our sorrows, our troubles, our wounds, our weaknesses, and our emptiness, and He will supply all of our needs (Steps to Christ, 100). The Bible teaches that no one who comes to Him will be disappointed.

Psalm 34:5–10 tells us how the Lord answers the prayers of even the humblest of His children: “They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. [T]hose who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”

When we come to the Lord in secret and tell Him our needs, and plead with Him for help, we will not plead in vain, because Jesus said, “… your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” If we make Jesus our daily companion and friend, we will realize, that although we cannot see it, the powers of the unseen world are all around us. By looking to Jesus, we will become assimilated to His image and the result will be an increase in piety, purity, and fervor.

In Matthew 6:7, Jesus said, “And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.” The heathen, then and now, look upon their prayers as having merit in and of themselves to atone for sin. If they could become holy by their own efforts, they would have something in themselves for which to rejoice, some ground for the boasting. This idea of prayer is the outworking of the principle of self-expiation, which actually lies at the foundation of false religion. The Pharisees adopted this pagan idea of prayer, and it is by no means extinct, even in our time, even among some who profess to be Christians.

When we pray using set, customary phrases, and the heart feels no need of God, we are just offering up words of the same character as the vain repetitions of the heathen. Nobody wants to talk to a friend who is just mumbling set words and phrases in their mind, but their heart is not in it, and this type of prayer is not acceptable to the Lord either.

Prayer does not atone for sin. It has no virtue or merit of itself. All the eloquent words that we might command are not equivalent to even one holy desire. So the most eloquent prayers can be worthless, idle words if they do not express the true sentiments of the heart. Praying from an earnest heart, expressing the real wants of our soul, the same way that we would ask an earthly friend for a favor and expect that it would be received, we have then prayed a prayer of faith, and we trust that prayer will be answered.

God does not need our ceremonial compliments. But the unspoken cry of a heart that is broken and subdued with a sense of sin and utter weakness and helplessness, will find its way to the Father of all mercy.

As He continued to talk about the Christian life, Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24

Notice, He did not say you should not serve God and mammon. He says, you cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is a Greek word that simply means real estate, money, property, wealth, material possessions. Jesus is saying you cannot serve God and material things. In other words, no one can occupy a neutral position. There is no middle class who neither loves God nor serves the enemy of righteousness. If we do not give ourselves completely to God, the facts of the matter are, we are completely under the control of another power, listening in our minds to another voice whose suggestions are of an entirely different character.

If we attempt to give God only half service, we are actually placing ourselves on the side of the enemy as a successful ally of the hosts of darkness. When men claim to be Christians, soldiers of Christ, but then engage with the confederacy of Satan, they actually prove themselves to be enemies of Christ instead of His friends as they profess to be.

We are talking about a battle for the mind and heart, not just about outward words or behavior. The strongest bulwark of vice in our world is not the terrible life of some abandoned sinner or degraded outcast, but the life which appears virtuous, honorable, and noble, fostering one sin, indulging one vice. When there is someone struggling with a terrible temptation, the example of such a person is one of the most powerful enticements to sin. Thus, a person who claims to be a Christian but indulges one sin, is used by Satan to be a stumbling block to others so that they not only stumble in this life, but may even forfeit eternal life.

The apostle John talks about this problem in 1 John 2:15, 16, saying, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.”

Jesus says that we should not allow ourselves to be caught up in the sum and substance of our lives—making a living, making sure we have food to eat and water to drink, a home and clothing to wear—but instead we must be careful to seek first the kingdom of God. This is a better, higher way to live, so that we are not pressed down all the time, just trying to survive. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:31–33, “[D]o not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Jesus was opening to them the treasures of heaven, but the people who were listening to these words were still anxiously waiting for Him to announce that He would set up an earthly kingdom. Uppermost in their minds was how a connection with Him would best advance their prospects in this new kingdom. Interestingly, that is the same question many people ask today. What church can I go to that will best advance my worldly interests, my professional or business interests?

Jesus is trying to show us that in making the things of this world our supreme anxiety, we will become like the worldly people around us, living as if there were no God whose tender care is over all His creatures. Jesus said, the nations seek after these things, but your heavenly Father knows what we need (Luke 12:30) and He tells us instead to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

In other words, Jesus is telling us that He has come to open to us a kingdom of love, righteousness, and peace. We must open our hearts to receive this kingdom and make its service our highest interest. Even though it is a spiritual kingdom that He offers us, we are not to fear that the needs of this life will be uncared for. If we give ourselves to God’s service, the One who has all power in heaven and earth will provide for our needs.

This does not, however, release us from the necessity of effort. Jesus does not say we have nothing to do, that God just hands us whatever we need. He said, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Matthew 6:26. How does the heavenly Father feed the birds? Does He put the food in their mouth? Absolutely not. He provides the food, but they have to go and find it.

In the same way, God provides for the needs of all of His children in this world, but that does not release us from the necessity of effort. When Adam and Eve sinned, God said to Adam that he would eat bread, the product of his personal effort from that day forward. As Christians, Jesus teaches us that we are to make Him first, and last, and best in everything. We are not to engage in any business, or follow any pursuit, or seek any pleasure that would hinder the outworking of His righteous character in our lives. Everything we do is to be done with this as our uppermost and first interest.

Friend, God’s everlasting arm encircles every soul who turns to Him for aid, however feeble that soul may be. Poverty or wealth, sickness or health, whether educated or uneducated, simple or wise, all are provided for in the treasures and promises of His grace.

The Bible tell us that the precious things of this world are going to pass away, but the soul that lives for God will abide with Him. The apostle John says, “The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:17. If we learn to lean on God for wisdom, seeking Him for direction, if we commit our lives to Him, He will not only be our comfort and hope in this world, even amid loss and affliction, but in the world to come He will welcome us to an everlasting home. “ ‘For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed.’ says the Lord, who has mercy on you.” Isaiah 54:10

For this reason, because God cares for everyone who turns to Him for help and shields them and protects them, we do not need to live a life of worry. One of the biggest health problems in the western nations today is depression brought on by continual anxiety and worry. When on this earth, Jesus lived a dignified life in all its details by keeping before men the glory of God and subordinating everything else to the will of His Father. If we follow His example, He gives us the assurance that all things needful for this life will be added.

He does not promise that we will have the luxuries of life, but He does promise that what we will have in the future world will far exceed anything we could have here. For now, what is promised is what you need, not necessarily what you want. Since we are assured of this promise, if we commit our lives to Him, we will have no need to worry. Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34

If you have given yourself to God to do His work, you do not need to worry or be anxious about what is going to happen tomorrow, because the One whose servant you are knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). The events of tomorrow, which are hidden from our view today, are open to the eyes of Him who is omnipotent. If we decide we want to manage our own life without His aid, to take matters into our own hands, if we want to depend on our own wisdom for success, then we are taking upon ourselves a responsibility that belongs to God, and thus are really putting ourselves in His place. As a consequence, we may well experience anxiety and apprehend danger and loss.

But, if we really believe that God loves us and means to do us good, we will be able to cease worrying about the future because we will have placed out trust in God as a small child trusts a loving parent. Our troubles and torments will then disappear, for our will is swallowed up in His will.

While Jesus is promising us this kind of help for today, He does not promise us that He would bear the worry, or anxiety, or burdens of tomorrow. Instead He said to Paul, and to us, in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you … .” Like the manna that He gave the children of Israel in the wilderness, His grace is bestowed each day for that day’s need. One day alone is ours and during this day we are to live for God.

Just this one day, we must put our hand in the hand of Christ, and trust Him with everything in our life—our purposes, our plans—casting all our care upon Him. He says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11. “In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15

Dear friend, if you seek the Lord and are converted every day, if you will of your own spiritual choice be free and joyous in God, you will find peace and joy in His service, and an eternal home with Him.

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.