Monthly Archives: April 2017

Is Salvation for You?

Is Salvation for You?

Have you ever wondered what will happen to you when you die? Will you simply go into oblivion and cease to exist? Will you experience eternal bliss in heaven? Or will you suffer unimaginable anguish forever in hell?

Most people have wondered about these questions, and great thinkers have tried to discover the answers. But frankly, no one can know the answers unless they are given or revealed to him. And the only One who can reveal them is God. He has determined the answers from eternity.

While the Creation makes known that there is a God, the Bible is God’s complete and only revelation to man in this age concerning those things necessary for glorifying God in worship and for man’s salvation and faith. Although He used many people to write it, it is all the Word of God. The Bible reveals what will happen to you when you die. But it also reveals some other things you should understand first.

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Q. In what way did Jesus fulfill the law?

A. Jesus’ last words on the Cross were, “It is finished” (see John 19:30). He had done everything His Father had sent Him to do (see John 17:4). One of things He had come to do is found in Matthew: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). So, one of the things Jesus had come to do was to fulfill—not destroy, but fulfill—the law. Obviously, then, by the time He said, “It is finished,” He had done this. But the question is, in what way did He “fulfill” the law? What did He mean by “fulfill”?

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What Is the Christian Sabbath?

Have you ever wondered what day Christians are to keep? Saturday? Sunday? Are we to keep the day as a Sabbath or as a Lord’s Day? Or maybe there is no day for Christians to keep. This might sound like a relatively minor issue. But this question, simple as it sounds, has divided Christianity into four camps, each supporting its own view.

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Shaking of Things Made, And Firmness of Things Given

J. C. Philpot
Preached at Eden Street Chapel, Hampstead Road, London,
July 24, 1853.

And this word. Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. –Hebrews 12:27-28.

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Q. What Bible translation or version do you use? What Bible help do you recommend?

This article is now outdated and is retained only for archival purposes. The up-to-date article is here: “Why I Have Stopped Using the King James Version as the Default Bible on this Site.”

A. The Bible version I use most commonly in our publications and on this website is the King James Version (also called the Authorized Version).

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Sorting Out the Two Kingdoms

Depending on what authority you ask, our planet contains from 190 to 206 sovereign states. But there are really only two kingdoms: the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God (also called the kingdom of heaven in the Gospel of Matthew; the Kingdom of Christ and God in Ephesians 5:5; the Kingdom of the Son of his love in Colossians 1:13; and the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ in 2 Peter 1:11). At the end of this article, I have a chart showing the differences between the two kingdoms. You will see that they are so different that they should never be confused.

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A Defense of Calvinism

It is a great thing to begin the Christian life by believing good solid doctrine. Some people have received twenty different “gospels” in as many years; how many more they will accept before they get to their journey’s end, it would be difficult to predict. I thank God that He early taught me the gospel, and I have been so perfectly satisfied with it, that I do not want to know any other. Charles Haddon SpurgeonConstant change of creed is sure loss. If a tree has to be taken up two or three times a year, you will not need to build a very large loft in which to store the apples. When people are always shifting their doctrinal principles, they are not likely to bring forth much fruit to the glory of God. It is good for young believers to begin with a firm hold upon those great fundamental doctrines which the Lord has taught in His Word. Why, if I believed what some preach about the temporary, trumpery salvation which only lasts for a time, I would scarcely be at all grateful for it; but when I know that those whom God saves He saves with an everlasting salvation, when I know that He gives to them an everlasting righteousness, when I know that He settles them on an everlasting foundation of everlasting love, and that He will bring them to His everlasting kingdom, oh, then I do wonder, and I am astonished that such a blessing as this should ever have been given to me!

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Repentance Part 2

This is the final part of an article adapted and revised from The Word of His Grace radio program, "Repentance" that originally aired in 2005. (Click here to read part 1.)

We Have Brought Our Sufferings on Ourselves

A U-Turn sign saying, Godly repentance is an about face from unbelief to belief.
Repentance is translated from the Greek word metanoeō. It literally means “a change of mind.” We turn from trying to establish our own righteousness to trusting in the completed work of Jesus Christ as our Savior.

So we see that we as a race are the direct cause of many of our own miseries. Ever since the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden, we are sinful by nature, and this causes us to be greedy,
covetous, murderous, adulterous, warlike, and generally lawless. I am not saying that we all have all of these tendencies to the fullest degree possible. But we all naturally have them to one degree or another, and, of course, we affect each other. I may never have stolen anything, but if someone steals my car, I am affected by someone else’s sin. And other people are affected by my sins.

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Repentance Part 1

This article is adapted and revised from The Word of His Grace radio program, "Repentance" that originally aired in 2005.

St. Paul Preaching in Athens by Raphael (1515).
St. Paul Preaching in Athens by Raphael (1515). Paul boldly told the Athenians that God now commands all people everywhere to repent.

There is Paul, facing the great minds of his day—the pagan philosophers of Greece. He is standing in one of the very centers of pagan thought, Athens. He is speaking to people who have never heard of Jesus Christ and know nothing of the true God. Greater skeptics one could hardly imagine. Does Paul weaken his message in order to reach these people? Does he say that we really all worship the same god, just with different names? Does he debate with them over their points of philosophy? Does he hire temple prostitutes to dance and sing (with Christian words, of course) to bring in the crowds? No. Emphatically, no! Oh, he uses an anecdote and a stunning opening statement to get their attention. But he never gets down on their level. He held the banner of Jesus Christ high.

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The Parables of Jesus> The Kingdom Parables> The Parable of the Unjust Steward

Many people find the Parable of the Unjust Steward in Luke 16 the most difficult of all parables to understand. Why would the steward’s master commend him for stealing money from him? Why would Jesus use the dishonest manager as a positive example? Is the parable saying that we can use unrighteous mammon to do good works so that we can be received into heaven? In this article, I’m going to try to shed some light on this story so that we can see the lesson that Jesus was teaching.

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