Fact - Faith - Feelings - You Want A Sign?

 

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“And the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.  But He answered and said to them, ‘When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’  And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ 

 

“Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?  An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah; and He left them, and went away.” Matthew 16:1-4

 

Philip Yancey began his book, Disappointment With God[1] with this statement: 

 

“I found that for many people there is a large gap between what they expect from their Christian faith and what they experience.  

 

From a steady diet of books, sermons, and personal testimonies, all promising triumph and success, they learn to expect dramatic evidence of God working in their lives.  If they do not see such evidence, they feel disappointment, betrayal, and often guilt.”

 

Most of us come to a personal relationship with Christ seeking answers, help, comfort, compassion, mercy, understanding – we may be at the end of our ‘rope’.  We learn of Jesus, the Son of God. 

 

Once we place our trust in His saving plan, there is naturally a temptation to be driven by our emotions, rather than the Truth and facts of His love for us. 

 

Many imagine there will be feelings of relief or comfort...or something extraordinary that will assure them it has happened.  They search for a personal miracle, sign, dream or wonder to substantiate their stepping out in faith.  

 

Campus Crusade for Christ (now called CRU) used an insightful and easy-to-remember illustration to help explain this truth using a train illustration with three cars:

• Engine - car 1 = the Truth/ facts of salvation power the train

• Coal car – car 2 = we place our trust/ faith in the Truth

• Caboose - car 3 =  our feelings and emotions follow behind

These three represent different ‘parts’ of our salvation that work together in our decision to follow Christ.  However, the train will move very well no matter how we feel.  

The train illustration helps to clearly remind us that you can’t pull the ‘train’ with your feelings. 

 

There is nothing wrong with feelings and they may certainly follow your decision to place the coal (your trust) in the Truth of the Gospel. However, it is important to understand that oftentimes there are no unusual feelings that follow a decision to follow Christ.  Feelings alone can and should not be trusted to pull the train! 

 

Why you ask?  The reason starts in Genesis 3 when Eve trusted her opinion over God's and is mentioned or eluded to throughout Scripture. For example, Jeremiah says it well:    

 

“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it.” Jeremiah 17:9

 

Some days we wake up and don’t feel God loves us anymore or is mad at us or is distant.  There are even times when we purpose to try to put distance between us and God.  Yet, once we placed our trust in His Truth, nothing can change our standing with Christ

 

[Jesus speaking] “’My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 

 

“’My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.  I and the Father are one.’” John 10:27-30). 

 

Sometimes, in our human eagerness to restore good feelings, we may resort to all kinds of works to ‘feel His closeness’ again.  However, works and feelings are never the answer and soon disappoint. 

 

Only Jesus offers all we need.

 

---

[1] Copyright © 1988 by Philip Yancey, published by Zondervan Publishing House.

Am I Going to Heaven?

 NOTE:  Updated text from a tract written by William MacDonald, published by the Good News Publishers in Westchester, Illinois USA which is no longer being printed.

Instructions

Check the statements upon which you are basing your hopes for reaching Heaven after you die.

	Statement or action	Yes
1	I try to keep the Ten Commandments
2	I give gifts to charity.
3	I do my best in all things.
4	I lead a good life.
5	I do good works.
6	I try to obey the Golden Rule.
7	I tithe and/ or give money to the church.
8	I’m a member of a church.
9	I attend church regularly.
10	I pray regularly.
11	I fast regularly.
12	I’ve been baptised.
13	I always take holy communion.
14	My parents were Christian.
Total number of statements above I’m counting on to get to Heaven

Check your answers with the Truth

For Statement 1

No.  You are not on the way to Heaven.  The Bible states unmistakably:

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20

“For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them.’  Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, ‘The righteous man shall live by faith.’ 

“However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, ‘He who practices them shall live by them.’  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us -0-0 for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree – in order than in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Galatians 3:10-14

For statements 2, 3 and 4

No.  You are basing your hopes on something that, according to God’s Word, will never save you. 

“But when the kindness of God our Saviour and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out up on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:5

For statements 5, 6, 7

No.  You will never see Heaven’s golden streets, for the emphatic declaration of God is: 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

For statements 8, 9, 10 and 11

No.  You are bound for Hell, not Heaven.  Although these things are all good in themselves, and although they might seem to you to be sufficient to save you, yet God declares in His sacred Word:  

“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and all our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.  There is no one who calls on Your name, who arouses himself to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us and have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.”  Isaiah 64:6

For statements 12 and 13

No.  You are utterly mistaken and deluded.  Baptism and communion are for those who are already saved, for those who are true believers. 

“So then, those who had received his word were baptised; and that day there Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brethren, what shall we do?’ 

Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.’ 

And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation!’ were added about three thousand souls.” Acts 2:41

And: I Corinthians 11:2, 23-32. 

These ordinances cannot save anyone and were never intended to do so.

For statement 14

No. You are resting your soul on a false hope.  Children born into Christian homes need to be saved like anyone else.  This is stated plainly in

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13

Conclusion

Therefore, the inescapable conclusion is that the way to Heaven is not found in any one or in any combination of the items listed above. 

Even if you did all these things, you would still fail in your attempt to enter Heaven’s gates at the last.

What then is the divinely ordained way of salvation?  The Bible gives a very definite answer.  The one and only means of spending eternity with the Bible gives a very definite answer.  The one and only means of spending eternity with God in Heaven is: 

FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ALONE.

It was because man could not save himself by any means that God sent His only begotten Son to die as a substitute for sinners.  If man could have achieved righteousness in some other way, then obviously the Saviour did not have to die.

When the Lord Jesus died on Calvary and rose again on the third day, He finished the work necessary for salvation - He paid the price for our sins.  Now all that God requires is that we should feel our need of Him and receive Him as our Lord and Saviour.

Thus, we read repeatedly in the Bible that the way to Heaven is by believing on the Son of God. Acts 16:31

·       [John the Baptiser speaking] “’He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.’” John 3:36

·       [Jesus speaking] “’For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.’” John 3:17-18

In short, man is a sinner and cannot reach Heaven by so-called good works, good character, personal effort or merit of any kind.  His only hope of salvation rests upon the finished work of Christ upon Calvary’s cross.  Only when the sinner trusts the Saviour, is he saved, and on the authority of God’s Word alone he is bound for the promised land – Heaven.

Now the question is:  

‘Will you accept God’s way of salvation?  Will you renounce the ‘dead works’ in which you are now trusting, and base your hopes for Heaven henceforth upon the finished work of Christ?’

The choice is yours. You may continue to trust in those statements you ticked above, but if so, you will go to a Christ-less grave and wake up in a lost for eternity.  Or you may believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

Be wise!  Choose Christ!  Then indicate your choice by writing the statement below in your Bible with today’s date:

‘My hopes for Heaven are based upon the Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Saviour alone.’

Do Not Be Distracted or Fooled

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Creature so Unpredictable That Even Other Angels Won't Rebuke him

Let's get our facts straight when it comes to the 'chief deceiver'.  We must not ignore the evil one, but we must never put him in the centre of our thinking.  God is sovereign over all -- even the evil one.

Pentecost

The reason for Pentecost was to reverse the result at the Tower of Bable!  This 39 minute view is too important not to share because it clarifies so many misunderstandings about the purpose of Pentecost.  I pray each of you who finds this, will take the time to listen to every word of this precious sermon by Alasdair Begg on 3 June 2020.  

Recorded, in a surprising way, only God knew we would need today!  Thank you Father, for loving us THIS much!  

How can I be assured that I am saved?

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How can I be assured that I am among the chosen?

Ligonier Ministries

Every Christian I've ever known sometimes wonders and struggles with questions:  

HOW do I know that I'm truly saved?  

Have I done all that I'm supposed to do to BE saved?  

Why do I struggle with this?  Does this mean that I'm not saved?  

Why do I still keep sinning?  

If you are longing for the answer, take time to watch the short video and rest in the strength of His power to save you and hold onto your hand, even when you want to shake Him lose so He doesn't see your choices.  What a wonderful and gracious Father we have!

Why Worry? God’s in Charge!

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Why Worry?  God's in Charge

When the windscreens of our lives ice up, we need to have prepared by knowing that God has prepared us with a methodology to deal with the worst of the worst.  

By using the 'solvent' of God's Word in our lives ... and in this way we will be prepared to share the hope that is in our life.

Never pretend to be free from worry.  Life does impact every Christian.

Key, helpful 'solvent' verses to keep in your heart:

" ... but He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, My lovingkindness and My mercy are more than enough -- always available regardless of the situation; for My power is being perfected and is completed and shows itself most effectively in your weakness.'  

"Therefore, I will all the more gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may completely enfold me and may dwell in me.  So I am well pleased with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, and with difficulties, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak in human strength, then I am strong, truly able, truly powerful, truly drawing from God's strength." 

II Corinthians 12:9-10

"So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; it will not return to Me void, useless, without result, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

Romans 14

Romans 8

"I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will continue to perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus -- the time of His return." 

Philippians 1:6

"Do not be afraid and anxious, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 

Luke 12:32

A Failed Solution

Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:6-13

Hard lesson that should touch us all.  Prepare your heart! 

Just say 'No!'  

The faithfulness of God overcomes the arrogant unfaithfulness of David, made king by His very hand.  How sad and sinful we are!  

Help us tremble at the door to sin!

Thank the Lord for His gracious forgiveness and hope in our development and understanding of His Word and will for us.