Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Two Births, two resurrections and two deaths

Jesus Christ announced the necessity of a SECOND BIRTH when He declared, “Ye MUST be born again,”  for “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3-7, and Revelation 20:14 asserts that all who die without having been born again will die a SECOND DEATH, i.e., enter the lake of fire to endure eternal torment.

There are also TWO RESURRECTIONS, Christ declaring, “The hour is coming, in which all in the graves shall come forth; they that have done good, unto THE RESURRECTION OF LIFE; and they that have done evil, unto THE RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION,” John 3:28-29.    

The good that saves is to believe on Christ as Savior, “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him” John 6:29; and the evil that condemns eternally is to die in unbelief.

To be born again, believe (1) that you’re unfit for heaven, (2) that when Christ died, it was in your place, for your sins.  The second birth guarantees that there will be no second death. Believers will rise at the RESURRECTION OF LIFE to enter heaven, but unbelievers will rise at the RESURRECTION OF DAMNATION to die the second death, i.e., enter the lake of fire to endure eternal torment.

by Jim Melough


Friday, May 1, 2015

Lost

D.L. Moody, the famous evangelist, had a way of saying things with a bluntness that couldn't be misunderstood.  Once he said, "A man must believe he is lost before he can be saved.  One reason why many are not saved is because they do not believe they are lost.  They fold their self-righteousness about them, instead of acknowledging that they are sinners."

Many popular religions today don't teach that men are lost (that's why they're popular).  They tell men that they need Jesus Christ, not as a Savior, but as One through Whom they can have a better relationship with God; not to save them from hell, but to enable them to realize their potential, to be successful, to have better family relationships, to enjoy better health, etc., - the list is endless. But the one essential is missing.  Men need Jesus Christ, not to improve their earthly, but their eternal state; to fit them for heaven and save them from hell.  (Hell is another word that has disappeared from the vocabulary of today's popular preacher, but it is Christ Who declares the existence of hell, and Who warns men to save themselves from going there, see, e.g., Matthew 5:27-30, and Matthew 18:8-11, "...it is better for thee to enter into (eternal) life... maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire ... better ... to enter into (eternal) life with one eye ... than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.... The Son of man is come to save those who are lost."

"Sin" is another word avoided by the popular preachers.  They prefer to speak of "affairs" or "mistakes," or "anti-social acts."  They question whether there really is any such thing as sin; but the Bible declares it to be a tragic fact, having terrible results here on earth, and still more terrible consequences in eternity.  For example, the Bible says, "All have sinned," Romans 3:23; "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,"  1 John 1:8.

"So what?" someone responds, "Since all have sinned, I'm no worse than anyone else.  But the Bible warns, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die," Ezekiel 18:4, "For the wages of sin is death,"  Romans 6:23.  And it is a mistake to conclude that "death" is simply the decease of the body, for the Bible also warns that the death referred to is something more terrible: the passing of body, soul, and spirit into a place of eternal torment - the lake of fire, see Revelation 20:11-15.  This is what it means to perish in the Biblical sense - not cessation of existence, but eternal existence in a state of torment.

But, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners," 1 Timothy 1:15; "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.... He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already," John 3:16-18,36.

by Jim Melough


Sunday, March 8, 2015

The Password

40,000 died because they hadn't the password needed to cross the Jordan, Judges 12:5-6.

One day we too must "cross Jordan," - go from time into eternity, but without the password that crossing will be to hell, not heaven.  The password is to be able to say Yes to the question, Have you been born again? for Christ warns, "Ye must be born again," for "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," John 3:7,3.

To be born again admit that you're a sinner without any righteousness, believe that Christ died in your place for your sins, and that in response to that faith God will pardon you, and receive you into heaven, John 3:16.

"Have you been born again?" is a question that evokes the laughter of many today.  There will be no laughter at that instant when it is discovered that the eternal fate of the soul depends on being able to answer YES.  

by Jim Melough

Saturday, January 31, 2015

The Closed Door

In Rev 3:20 Jesus Christ is seen knocking at the door of men's hearts, but Mt 7:14 declares that few open the door, i.e., trust Him as Savior.  In Lk 13:24-29 however the position is reversed: men seek admission at a door which Christ refuses to open, "Many will seek to enter, and not be able, when the Master hath shut the door," resulting in eternal "weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Relative to that fateful day we read, "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" Mt 24:37, and in regard to those days we read, "The earth was corrupt and filled with violence" Gen 6:11.  Only fools will deny that conditions are the same today.  This is only one of many signs that Christ's return is near, and as that corrupt age ended in a sudden catastrophic foretold judgment, so will this one.

For 120 years Noah warned men who mocked him, but suddenly his preaching stopped.  The day of grace had ended.  He was taken into the ark, and God shut the door.  Seven days followed, and then came the foretold flood, but during those seven days the mockers were as surely doomed as if it had come on the first day.  Who can begin to imagine their frantic beating on that closed door as the waters of judgment engulfed them?  There were no mockers, no unbelievers that day.

So will it be relative to this present age.  Believers will be suddenly caught up to heaven, and 2 Thess 2:1-12 warns that in the following seven year Tribulation period, those who had rejected the Gospel will have no opportunity to be saved, but will be banished into hell when Christ returns to end the Tribulation, and inaugurate His Millennial kingdom.

How many times have you ignored His knock?  What if this should be His last?  Remember, to open to Him, is to have Him open heaven's door to you - and vice versa!

by Jim Melough


Saturday, January 24, 2015

A Second Opinion

A young man I know developed a cough for which his doctor  prescribed medicine.  The cough persisted in spite of a second stronger medicine, and eventually an x-ray was done, revealing a shadowy spot on one lung.  And the doctor's diagnosis?  Scar tissue!
The cough, accompanied by night sweats and weakness, persisted, leading him to seek a second opinion. It was cancer.  Now, after a bone marrow transplant, he appears to be cured, after having almost died as a result of the wrong diagnosis of a doctor he trusted implicitly.

Millions have equally firm, but misplaced trust in their spiritual advisors, and tragically, only a very few discover their mistake in time.

A sophisticated society which scrutinizes carefully the qualifications of its doctors, insisting often on a second opinion, relative to a body which one day must die anyway, displays almost total indifference relative to the qualifications of those who minister to the needs of the soul that will exist for ever.

That indifference is the more inexplicable because society possesses the text book upon which the spiritual advisor claims to base his opinion - AND IN MANY CASES IT CONTRADICTS HIM.

For example, does your minister or priest guarantee heaven to all who are church members, moral, kind, generous, his explanation being that God is too loving to send anyone to hell; or that, in fact, there is a heaven, but not a hell?

Then let me quote from the text book, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," John 3:3.  "By grace are ye saved through faith ... not of works, lest any man should boast," Ephesians 2:8-9.  "Fear him (God) who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," Matthew 10:28.

The only way to be saved from hell and fitted for heaven is to
(1) admit that you have no righteousness, and
(2) believe that when Jesus Christ died on the cross it was in your stead, as your Representative, for your sins.

You may be religious, moral, kind, etc., but apart from confession of total unrighteousness, and faith in Christ as your personal Savior, you are on the road to hell, no matter what assurances your spiritual mentor gives to the contrary.

What if like my young friend's doctor, your mentor should be wrong?  It is your soul that will be first in hell, and then eternally in torment in the lake of fire.

by Jim Melough