Text: “Marvel not at this:
for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His
Voice, and 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 5:28-29.
Good morning, righteous
Christian! Like the author, of yourself
you have absolutely no righteousness of your own; you merit nothing but a
Christ-rejecter’s Hell - and in your heart and
mine we are fully aware of this fact.
Yet, praise God, by God’s free grace, through God-given faith in the Sacrifice
of Christ on the Cross - we are, ’…MADE the righteousness
of God in Him.’
Wonder of wonders! Natural born Hell-deserving sinners are
Supernaturally redeemed by Christ’s Blood, and
recreated, ‘…new creatures in Christ Jesus…’; and are now on our way to Heaven. Hallelujah!
What a Saviour!
“The Lord looked
down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did
understand, and seek God. They are ALL
gone aside, they are ALL together become filthy; there is NONE that doeth good,
no, NOT ONE.” (Psalm 14:2-3)
“As it is written,
There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God. They are
ALL gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is NONE
that doeth good, no, NOT ONE.” (Romans 3:10-12)
If this be the case, and all
Bible-believing Christians know that this is the case - and there is no one
righteous; none good; no one that can merit Heaven. Therefore, like the Philippian jailor we must
surely cry, “…What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)
This Eternally vital question
is answered under the full inspiration of God the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter
16, and verse 31: “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
and thy house.” (Acts 16:31)
You and I are Eternally saved
- from our sin, and the just penalties of a Lord God of wrath against sin - by
the Atonement Sacrifice of God’s Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, on Calvary ’s Cross. There
is no other way of Salvation! Salvation
is exclusively found only in the Person and the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus, the
Lamb of God. That’s a fact! We
disbelieve this fact at our peril.
“Jesus saith unto
him (Thomas), I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man (or woman) cometh
unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)
“Neither is there
Salvation in any other; for there is none other Name under Heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
With this fact in mind
therefore, we return to our Bible Reading and Bible Text for this lesson
knowing that the only ‘…good…’ that we can do in the sense of taking part in ‘…the resurrection of the just…’ is believing the Gospel and receiving Christ Jesus as
our own and personal Saviour and Lord.
We hear the Word of God; we
receive faith to believe the Word of God; we then have God-given faith to trust
in Christ and His Sacrifice for us on the Cross - and, according to the will of
God as Sovereign over all things, we are made fit by Him to take part in ‘…the resurrection of the just…’ and go be with Him in Heaven. Wow!
What a gracious Lord God we have!
On the other hand, the
greatest ‘…evil…’ committed by those who will take part in ‘…the resurrection of damnation…’ will be the continual rejection of Salvation offered
universally in the Word of God, by the Spirit of God, to Hell-deserving
sinners.
Not having saving faith - ‘…the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should
boast.’ - they are double-damned to a
Christ-rejecter’s Hell. They have been rejected by God as reprobate,
and they consciously reject God and want nothing to do with His universal offer
of Eternal Salvation.
“For by grace are ye
saved though faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of
works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“(For the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth;)…as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I
hated…I will have mercy on whom I
will have mercy…and whom He will He hardened.” (Romans
9:11-23) Salvation is of our Sovereign
Lord God!
I believe that there will be a
literal thousand years - the millennial period -between ’…the resurrection of the just…’ at the Rapture of the Church, and ‘…the resurrection of damnation…‘ which will take place at the end of the thousand year
reign of Christ on earth. (Revelation 20:5-6)(Romans 14:9-12)
Those taking part in ‘…the resurrection of the just…’ - Christ’s ’born again’ church, will
continue on to the ‘…judgement seat of
Christ…’ to receive our due rewards
for faithful service; according to the teachings of Scripture.
“ And, behold, I
(Christ Jesus) come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man
according as his work shall be.” (Rev. 22:12) (1
Corinthians 3:8-15)
Those taking part in ‘…the resurrection of damnation…’ will appear at the ‘…great white throne…’; be judged by the
Lord God, and ‘…cast into the lake of fire.’ What a tragedy
to be Eternally lost in this manner!
“And I (John) saw a
great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them (the unbelieving souls)…And whosoever was not found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:1-15)
Praise God that He has seen
fit in His Sovereign will to save us, ’…His people…’, in time, and for Eternity! (Matthew 1:21) (John 6:37)
What a privilege it will be to
take part in ‘…the resurrection of the just…’, and all because of God’s grace in sending His Son, Christ Jesus, to save us. Hallelujah!
What a Saviour!
Thought: What resurrection will YOU take part in,
precious soul?
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