Article #394
by Bill Nugent
Some years ago I spoke with a lady about God and she said “I feel that God will just unconditionally forgive my sins because that’s just how He is. I feel that God is not judgmental and that He accepts us all.”
I gently replied to her and said “Feelings are important but feelings can kill if they lead us into doctrinal error!
“It’s great that you have such strong feelings about God’s love and forgiveness. However, have you considered that God hates injustice and He judges sin.? The Bible says: ‘The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men’ (Romans 1:18 NKJV). “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God” (Romans 11:22 NKJV)
“God has revealed how He deals with human sin and wickedness. God has spoken to humanity. God has given revelation in the Bible of how he deals with sin. I know you feel otherwise and I tend to really sympathize with some of your thoughts. I too wish that God would just accept everybody into heaven no matter what kind of life they lived here on this earth. However, I don’t think Hitler and Stalin got away with it all.
“I’m tempted to believe God forgives automatically without preconditions. However, I must deal with reality. Reality is not optional. Our feelings don’t change reality. It’s great to have strong feelings about a god of our own imagination. However, we must deal with and believe in the God who really exists.”
Certainty is of Utmost Importance
The lady was alarmed that I based my beliefs on the Bible. She said “Why should I believe everything in the Bible?”
I said “The Bible is given by revelation from God. The Bible is proven by the many predictive prophecies written in its pages and the prophetic fulfillments in human history.. We really shouldn’t live by our feelings. We should live by rational certainty about hard facts even if some of those facts are hard to accept.’
“The fulfilled prophecies and the miracles are like God’s signature on His holy book. The Bible gives us revelation from God as to how God forgives sins.
“The ancient Hebrew Prophets wrote about the coming Messiah and they wrote many predictive prophecies in the pages of the Old testament. Centuries later, Jesus of Nazareth was born and during his lifetime He walked in fulfillment of over 300 Old Testament Bible prophecies. No other figure in all of world history can make such a claim that they walked in fulfillment of so many prophecies.
“D. James Kennedy, the late pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale Florida has listed 333 prophecies fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth in his first coming.”
“In addition to this Jesus performed many miracles of healing and raising the dead in front of eyewitnesses. Consider this passage in the Gospel of John when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after after Lazarus had been dead for 4 days. It begins with a prayer of Jesus:
“‘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 grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Loose him, and let him go'” (John 11:41-44 NKJV).
Jesus performed miracles to prove He is the Son of God and the promised Messiah of Israel. He then spoke many things about how we must receive forgiveness of sins.
Jesus Spoke More About Hell Than Anyone Else in the Bible
Jesus spoke about heaven and He spoke about hell. Most of what we know about hell is from words spoken by Jesus Christ Himself.
I for one don’t like to think about hell or talk about hell. I hate to think of human beings suffering separation from God in the afterlife. People who end up in hell are those who either ignored God or openly rejected God during their lifetimes. They chose separation from God while they lived. In the afterlife they get separation from God.
The New Testament teaches that Christ died for our sins. In his suffering and death on our behalf He paid the penalty that we owed for our sins. Then he was raised from the dead conquering death and bringing life and immortality to light.
The ancient Jewish people were commanded in the Bible to offer animal sacrifices. Their sins were transferred to the animal and the animal was sacrificed and burned on an altar. The animal sacrifices were a simple prophetic picture of the coming Messiah, Jesus, who would be the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus fulfilled the animal sacrifice system and now no animal sacrifices are commanded in the New Testament.
Sound Doctrine
The fact that God punishes sin is part of what the Bible calls sound doctrine. You might call it an unpleasant part of biblical doctrine about God but nevertheless punishment for sin is something that is clearly taught in the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible says that there would come a time when people would not endure sound doctrine.
“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).
Sound doctrine is so hard to understand and accept that you must endure it. Some people choose not to endure it and make up doctrine of their own imagination which is in contradiction to biblical doctrine.
I would exhort all people to approach the Bible with humility and to read it for what it is, inspired by God and containing God’s verbal Revelation to humankind.
The Epistemology of Christianity
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy which is called the philosophy of knowledge. It is the philosophy that deals with knowledge and of the certainty of what we know. I have mentioned that we can be certain that the Bible is inspired by God because of the fulfilled prophecies and miracles. You can say that fulfilled prophecies and miracles are the epistemological foundation of Christianity.
God gave us the Ten Commandments and God gave us the teachings of Jesus. God commands us to obey his will. The Bible also says that we all fall short of keeping His will perfectly. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NKJV).
God has made a remedy for this by sending his Son Jesus to die for our sins and be raised from the dead. Jesus Christ offers the free gift of salvation to all who believe in him and call on his name and repent of their sins and make Him Lord and obey Him as Lord.
I invite you to turn to Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins!
Steps to salvation:
Jesus said “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).
- 1) Believe that God created you and loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
- 2) Believe that Jesus Christ came in fulfillment of over 300 Bible prophecies to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
- 3) Turn from sin and call on the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
- 4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
- 5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:21).
Prayer to receive salvation:
“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).
To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:
“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!
(C) 2016 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.