Our Eternal Salvation Part 1

Are you really sure of your eternal salvation? This is a very important question, and one that will have lasting eternal consequences. If you were to die today, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven? This is a question about which we cannot afford to be wrong, because eternity is very permanent. One day each of us will know the true answer to this question,"For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ", Romans 14:10. Every one of us have two appointments that have already been made for us and that we will definitely keep, whether we want to or not. They are, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment", Hebrews 9:27. These two appointments, death and the judgment, cannot be cancelled. The tragedy of what happened in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001 shows the uncertainty and brevity of life. God tells us in James 4:14, "Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even as a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away." We must not make an error concerning our salvation in following what "seems right" to us, or that we "feel in our heart that we are saved". The Bible says in Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death". Our feelings are not a safe guide, but only the Bible is. What prior assumptions have we already made about our salvation? Many of these assumptions, that people make, contradict what God says in his word to us. All we have to do is to look around at all of the many differing doctrines that are being taught, and then compare them to what God says in the Bible, and we can see a great difference. Our Lord says in Mark 7:7,"And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men". Our worship is vain if it comes from the doctrines of men and not from God. Can we say that all these many differing doctrines have come from God? I think not. I Corinthians 14:33 says that, "God is not the author of confusion." Or are they from men? Where else could they have come from, if they did not come from God? This becomes a very serious question. Our worship becomes vain and useless, if our doctrines come from men when they meet in their conventions and conferences to decide what they are to believe and do. As the apostle Peter told the Jewish council in Acts 5:29, "We ought to obey God rather than men". Do not believe anything that I tell you, because we are not going to be judged by what I say. Do not believe anything any other person tells you, because we are not going to be judged by what some other person says. In fact, we are not going to be judged by what we personally believe. On the Day of Judgment we are going to be judged only by what the Lord says in the Bible. That is going to be the only standard for judgment, for our Lord says in John 12:48, "The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day". So, if I or any other person cannot point to it in the Word of God, then please do not believe it, because there is too much at stake – your soul! Our soul is worth more than the whole world and everything in it. Jesus says in Matthew 16:26, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Our soul is the part of us that is going to continue to live on forever throughout all eternity. We cannot afford to lose our soul and be eternally punished. Questions Lesson 1 Our Eternal Salvation (click on the button of the answer of your choice) 1) (Romans 14:10) Who will appear before the judgment seat of Christ? Only the lost. Only the saved. All people. 2) If we are wrong about our salvation we will be lost. 3) (Proverbs 14:12) The way that seems right unto man leads to Eternal life. Spiritual death. Success. 4) Our feelings are a safe guide when it comes to our eternal salvation. 5) (Mark 7:7) If we follow the doctrines of men It is vain. It doesn’t matter. God is still well pleased. 6) It is pleasing to God if we follow the doctrines of men in our worship. 7) (John 12:48) What will be the standard of judgment on judgment day? What we think. The words of Christ. What my preacher says. 8) Just because we feel in our heart we are saved does not mean we are saved. 9) (Hebrews 9:27) What two appointments have already been made for us? Doctor. Dental. Death and Judgment 10) We can cancel our appointments with death and judgment. Lesson 2 God’s Warning Christ, who is all knowing, tells us that many people are going to be lost, but only few are going to be saved. In Matthew 7:13-14 He says, "Enter by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it". Now this gets my attention. According to the Bible the majority of people will be lost. Sadly the majority of people still walk the wide road of sin into eternal damnation. We must take this warning from God at face value. The Lord says only a few people will be saved. How few can few be? In 1 Peter 3:20 (KJV) we read, "When once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls were saved by water." The conservative estimate of the number of people on the face of the earth in the days of Noah is two hundred million (200,000,000) people. But only eight (8) out of the estimated two hundred million (200,000,000) were saved. Not very good odds. Even though the Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 that the Lord is"not willing that any should perish". Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14 concerning eternal life in Heaven that "there are few who find it". The vast majority of people will spend forever and ever in the eternal fires of Hell that will never be extinguished. Why? The vast majority of people are not really interested in going to Heaven, but you are or you wouldn't be studying this course concerning your eternal salvation. There are only two roads to eternity and we are on either one or the other. According to what the Lord says, only few will make it to Heaven, but the vast majority will be lost in eternal punishment. This is both frightening and sad. I don’t consider myself selfish, but I certainly want to be among the few who are saved, don’t you? We make the choice ourselves as to where we will spend eternity. We are free moral agents. This is how we differ from the animals. We have been made in the image of God. Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God said let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness". Also in Genesis 2:7 we read, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul". Yes, we posses a soul that will live forever and ever in either Heaven or Hell. God does not want anyone to be lost, but the choice is ours. In 2 Peter 3:9 we read, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perishbut that all should come to repentance". God does not want us to go into eternal punishment. He is not going to force us to serve Him; otherwise we would be mere robots. 1 Timothy 2:4 says concerning God, "Who desires all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth". It is God’s will that all be saved, but we know that is not going to happen. We have already seen that only few are going to be saved in Heaven and the majority are going to be lost forever in Hell. Also, as the verse says, before we can be saved, we must "come to the knowledge of the truth." Jesus says in John 8:32, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." What is the truth that will make us free? In John 17:17 Jesus says, "Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth." So only the instructions contained in the word of God is the truth that will make us free so that we can go to heaven. What is your eternal destiny? If you miss Heaven, you will be thrown into the eternal fires of Hell. One of the saddest things about going to Hell is the fact that it could have been avoided. The majority of people will be lost in spite of what the Lord has done. A person who goes to Hell is his own worst enemy. Hell is not what God does to us, but Hell is what we do to ourselves. If one ends up in Hell, he only has himself to blame. Questions Lesson 2 God's Warning (click on the button of the answer of your choice) 1) (Matthew 7:13-14) How many people will go to Heaven? Many Few Everyone 2) The majority of people will go into eternal punishment. 3) (2 Peter 3:9) The Lord is not willing that Any should perish. Any should be saved. Any should repent. 4) God does not want anyone to be lost. 5) (1 Timothy 2:4) God desires that All men have a good time. All men be saved. No one be saved. 6) God will force us to be saved. 7) (John 8:32) What will make us free? Ourselves Money Truth 8) Before we can be saved we must know the truth. 9) (John 17:17) What is truth? What we think. God's word. What our preacher says. 10) The word of God is the only truth that will make us free. Copyright © 2000-2001 internetbiblestudy