What Did God Do To Rescue Us?

As I promised, here is a more detailed explanation of God's plan to save humanity. Even so, I can't include every single point.

Remember what Genesis 3:15 (BBE) said about Satan? "And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded."

Lineage is important to our heavenly Father. That's why he promised to Abram in Genesis 12:3 (BBE), "To them who are good to you will I give blessing, and on him who does you wrong will I put my curse: and you will become a name of blessing to all the families of the earth."

The entire first chapter of Matthew and Luke 3:30-38 shows how Christ descended from Abram whom God named Abraham. Matthew records his lineage through the male side and Luke from the female side.

But God wasn't making things up as he went along. We read in Ephesians 1:4 (BBE)how he chose his saints before they were even born. "Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love:"

Neither was Christ's choice of disciples haphazard, as he said in John 6:70 (BBE). "Then Jesus said, 'Did I not make a selection of you, the twelve, and one of you is a son of the Evil One?'"

Christ's crucifixion was planned from the beginning of time and the rituals Israel observed were a shadow of the real thing. Hebrews 9:11 and 12 (BBE) explains, "But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things of the future, through this greater and better Tent, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this world, And has gone once and for ever into the holy place, having got eternal salvation, not through the blood of goats and young oxen, but through his blood."

I'm glad God knows the beginning from the end. It's one point I want to stress in my next book, You Think You're Going to Heaven? Errant teachers claim he has no idea of what will happen in the future. Are they ever wrong!

On Saturday, provided Christ doesn't return first, I hope to post about the man who sold the world.

Who Were the Folks in Matthew 7:21-23?

John MacArthur said, and I agree, that this is the most frightening passage in the Bible. A vast number of people today claim to be doing miracles and speaking in "heavenly" languages but they are hellward bound.

Matthew 7:21-23 BBE) reads, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will go into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the pleasure of my Father in heaven. A great number will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, were we not prophets in your name, and did we not by your name send out evil spirits, and by your name do works of power?' And then will I say to them, 'I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.'"


These "Lord! Lord!" people are those who think they serve Christ but they're really serving themselves. As Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 6:46 (BBE) "Why do you say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not the things which I say?"

Remember too that Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve. Before he betrayed Christ, he seemed like a model disciple. But Jesus wasn't fooled by his fakery. John 6:70 (BBE) proves his omniscience. "Then Jesus said, Did I not make a selection of you, the twelve, and one of you is a son of the Evil One?"


We can tell by these verses that Christ isn't fooled by fake praise. Many people act as if the Lord's name is a sort of magical invocation of power. But being in Christ's name and doing things in his name means that we've been adopted into his family. Check out what Galatians 4:4 and 5 (BBE) says. "But when the time had come, God sent out his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, That he might make them free who were under the law, and that we might be given the place of sons."

We also are assured in John 6:37 (BBE) of our acceptance in Christ's family. "Whatever the Father gives to me will come to me; and I will not send away anyone who comes to me." What an assurance that is!

But this adoption is conditional in that we must repent and surrender the running of our lives to Christ. Luke 18:17 (BBE) speaks of this total trust we must place in the Lord. "Truly I say to you, Whoever does not put himself under the kingdom of God like a little child, will not come into it at all."

This will be the main theme in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Far too many people assume they're saved but their deeds and lives betray them.

On Thursday, providing the Lord doesn't return before then, I'll post about five foolish virgins and who they were.

"Why Do You Call Me Good?"

Since Jesus was the Son of God, why did he ask this question of the rich, young ruler? This sounds like a contradiction but it in fact isn't.

In Luke 18:18 and 19 (BBE), we read about this encounter between Christ and a leader from the temple. "And a certain ruler put a question to him, saying, 'Good Master, what have I to do so that I may have eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you say that I am good? No one is good, but only God.'"

Jesus didn't say he was or wasn't God but he doubted the ruler's sincerity. The Pharisees and Sadducees often questioned Christ but it was for a pretence. As Mark 12:13 (BBE) states, "Then they sent to him certain of the Pharisees and the Herodians, so that they might make use of his words to take him by a trick."

Jesus knew who were true believers and who were mere followers of him as long as he said and did what they wanted. As Matthew 2:23 and 24 (BBE) explains, "Now while he was in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, a great number of people came to have faith in his name, after seeing the signs which he did. But Jesus did not have faith in them, because he had knowledge of them all."

Our Lord deliberately spoke "hard sayings" so the fake disciples would turn away from him, as John chapter six says. Jesus even knew that Judas Iscariot would betray him. Check out what John 6:70 (BBE) says.  "Then Jesus said, 'Did I not make a selection of you, the twelve, and one of you is a son of the Evil One?'"

Furthermore, Judas was so clever that none of the disciples realized he was false. But Jesus wasn't fooled. John 13:18 (BBE) proves this. "I am not talking of you all: I have knowledge of my true disciples, but things are as they are, so that the Writings may come true, 'The foot of him who takes bread with me is lifted up against me.'"

Because people have such a hard time understanding that none of us are good, I'll have to repeat that truth ad nauseam in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? People can't seem to grasp that we all are born bad.

Saturday's song post will be about a good companion to many lonely people: radio. I sure needed it in Jericho Hill School.

Can People Lose Their Salvation?

I've pointed out previously how Satan strives to sabotage the trust of believers in God. One of his attacks is on the matter of being truly saved. Some people fall into sin and the Devil convinces them that it means that they aren't really saved.

One verse which many people misuse to supposedly prove that Christians can lose their salvation is in Hebrews 6:4-6  (BBE) which says, "As for those who at one time saw the light, tasting the good things from heaven, and having their part in the Holy Spirit, With knowledge of the good word of God, and of the powers of the coming time, And then let themselves be turned away, it is not possible for their hearts to be made new a second time; because they themselves put the Son of God on the cross again, openly shaming him."

One good example of an unsaved follower, perhaps the best one, is Judas Iscariot. He was chosen by Christ and worked with him and his disciples for three -and-a-half years. But look at what John 6:70 (KJV) says. "Jesus answered them, 'Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?'"

Judas tasted, sampled, the world to come and the power of the Lord but he never gave his life to Christ. Look at what John 12:6 (KJV) says of him and his objection to the woman pouring that expensive perfume on Jesus. "This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein."

Jesus said, regarding those who claim to be Christians, in Matthew 7:21 (KJV)that, "Not every one that saith unto me, 'Lord, Lord,'shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."

And what is that will? We read in 1 John 3:23 (KJV) "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment."

I'll be explaining more about this implicit trust in Christ's atonement in my book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Unless people surrender their wills and lives to Christ's control they will have no part with him. No amount of good works and kind words will ever gain anybody eternal life in heaven; period.