Three Things You Should Know About Hevaen

   Last week we considered the reality of hell.  If you have yet to read the post on hell, I would encourage you to do so.  The subject of our thoughts today, however, are on the opposite end of the spectrum, I want us to consider some truths about heaven.  When someone hears the word “heaven” there is no telling what mental picture might appear?  Maybe an angel in a long white robe, sitting on a cloud, and playing a harp?  Maybe Peter standing at the pearly gates ushering people in?  Still others have no idea what heaven is like and they just think of it as a place to be preferred over hell.  As always, if we want the truth about a matter we need to look into God’s Word, the Bible.  Of all the things the Bible tells us about heaven, there are three that I want to share with you here.

   First, just as hell is a literal place, so is heaven.  When we see the word heaven in the Bible it can speak contextually of one of three places.  It can mean the space in our atmosphere, it can mean outer space where the stars and planets are, or it can mean the place of God’s throne.  The place where God’s throne resides is a literal place, just as inner and outer space are a literal part of what we can see.  One day Jesus told His disciples that He was going away.  He was speaking of His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension back to heaven.  The idea of Jesus leaving troubled His disciples greatly.  In response, Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. ² 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. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14.1-3).  Jesus has prepared a literal dwelling place for all those who are saved by faith in Him.  Heaven is a literal place where the redeemed of Christ will abide with Him.

Three Things You Should Know About Hell

   I recently read a definition of hell that said, “A place of perpetual fire and loathsomeness” (Wycliffe Dictionary of Theology, pg 266).  That definition conjures up all sorts of ugly mental pictures that most of us would rather not think about.  The problem is, Wycliffe’s definition is spot on.  Hell is a terrible place, the horror of which exceeds anything man can comprehend in this life.  Hell is a place to be avoided at all costs.  Most of the world today never thinks of hell in those terms.  It is with that in mind that I want to share with you three realities about the place we call hell.

   First, hell is a literal place.  Hell is not the figment of some writer’s imagination.  Hell is not some mystical place or the result of some religious system’s creativity.  Hell is a literal place that is as real as the world you and I live in right now.  The Bible tells us that at the end of the tribulation, the beast and the false prophet will be cast into a “lake of fire” (Revelation 19.20).  Jesus described hell as a place where there is, “Weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8.12).  Jesus later described hell as a, “furnace of fire” where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13.50).  Hell is a literal place where God’s judgment is administered upon lost men and women for their sin.  Some of the biblical descriptions of hell include a place of total darkness, a place of perpetual suffering, a place of eternal fire, a place of unquenchable fire, and a place of perpetual unrest.  The worst part of hell is that it is a place of perpetual separation from God.  You can be sure hell is a literal place.

Same Sex Marriage - Part Three

   The last thing I want to consider in this brief series on same sex marriage has to do with rebellion.  Mr. Webster defined rebellion as, “Open resistance to authority.”  All sin is a form of rebellion against God.  The prophet Samuel said to King Saul, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Samuel 15.23a).  It is a very serious matter indeed to rebel against God and His righteous commands. Refusing to believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is in essence rebellion against God’s anointed King.

Same Sex Marriage - Part Two

   We continue here with some further thoughts and truths concerning what is called same sex marriage.  Homosexuals and those who are sympathetic to their position see the homosexual lifestyle as an acceptable way of life.  They are militant in their efforts to force everyone else to see it in the same way or at a minimum to have to acknowledge legally that it is an appropriate lifestyle.  However, there is a fundamental flaw in the homosexual relationship and it is called sin.  God did not create men to be with men or women to be with women.  Anatomically, emotionally, and relationally, men and women were created to complement one another in a life-long marriage relationship.  It is a perversion of God’s created and ordered design to engage in same sex unions.  Homosexuality is not an issue of equal rights, it is an issue of sin.  A man or women who chooses to sin by way of homosexuality certainly has the freedom in this country to do so, but they do not have the right to force the rest of society to acknowledge their sinful lifestyle as equal with God’s ordained way of life.  A homosexual relationship between two men or two women is most certainly not the same as the relationship I have with my wife of over thirty years.

Same Sex Marriage - Part One

   I was reading a recent Gallup poll that reports for the first time a majority of Americans think same sex marriage is acceptable.  The report said, “For the first time in Gallup's tracking of the issue, a majority of Americans (53%) believe same-sex marriage should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages.  The increase since last year came exclusively among political independents and Democrats. Republicans' views did not change.”  If you want to read the article for yourself you can find it at, http://www.gallup.com/poll/147662/first-time-majority-americans-favor-legal-gay-marriage.aspx. 

   I will give more than one post to this issue for there are several things we need to consider concerning what is called same sex marriage.  This first post will deal with the institution of marriage and how true marriage relates to the idea of same sex marriage.  The first question we might want to consider is where did the social practice of marriage come from?  Did some long ago generation just decide one day that it would be a good idea to pair up for life?  Did some long ago civilization invent marriage and the following generations just thought it was a good idea so they followed along?  The answer is marriage is a God given, God ordained institution.  Marriage was not created by man, it was given to man by God for man’s benefit.  Let’s consider for a moment God’s revelation of where marriage came from.  When we go to the Bible, Genesis 2.18, we find one of the reasons God created us as male and female.  God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2.18b).  God stated clearly here that it was not good for Adam to be alone.  God created the woman, Eve, to be a “help meet” for him (King James version).  The literal rendering means a helper suitable for him.  God made a women who was the perfect complement of Adam, a man.  The two of them were made fully complete as man and women for the purposes for which God created them.  May we all agree that had there been two men or two women in the beginning, they would not have been the perfect compliment for one another and none of us would be here.

Four Freedoms We Have In Christ

One – Freedom from the bondage of sin.  The apostle Paul said, “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6.22).  Before we were saved we were the servants of sin.  The sinful desires of our fallen humanity dominated our lives in thought, word, and deed.  But when by faith we confessed our sin and asked God to forgive us, we were born again spiritually and set free from the dominion of sin.  In Jesus we no longer have to serve sin.  Sin is no longer the master of my life, Jesus is now my Lord.

Two – Freedom from the eternal penalty of sin.  Paul said in the same verse that we are set free from sin to serve Jesus which in the end brings everlasting life.  The service to Jesus does not bring everlasting life, it is the relationship with Him by faith that brings everlasting life.  At the moment I trusted Jesus by faith as my personal Lord and Savior, He forgave my sin and gave me His righteousness.  He removed my sin guilt and replaced it with His perfect holiness.  The reality of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ is that we have passed from death unto life (see John 5.24).  The man or women who dies in their sin will have to pay for their sin eternally in a place of punishment called the eternal lake of fire.  But for those who respond to God’s loving offer of grace by confessing their sin, repenting of their sin, and asking Jesus to forgive their sin, they receive eternal life to be realized in a place called heaven.

Can We Really Name It And Claim It In Prayer?

            One of the things I like to do is listen to preaching.  I guess it’s kind of like a baseball player who likes to watch baseball.  I am a preacher who likes to listen to preaching.  Sometimes when I’m listening to the radio, T.V., or internet I hear something said by a preacher that grabs my attention.  It either grabs my attention because it is a tremendous blessing or it grabs my attention because it is wrong.  Such is the latter case concerning a recent message I heard from a preacher on T.V. 

            This particular preacher was talking about prayer and the power of prayer.  Then he began to make statements of a nature that insinuated God has promised to give us whatever we ask for.  Verses of support for this position include Matthew 21.22 where Jesus said, “And all things, whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”  This is one of those favorite verses for the “name and claim it” preachers.  The reasoning goes something like this, if I have enough faith (believing), then God will do whatever I ask Him.  That interpretation usually fleshes out into things like God will always heal the sick if we have enough faith when we pray or God will always deliver me from difficulty if I have enough faith when I pray.  If a person prays and God does not give them what they asked for, they automatically assume they did not have enough faith.  Is that really what the Bible teaches?  The answer is no.  Let’s consider this verse with a little dose of reality based on the preponderance of scripture.