BS-13 ‘Is there a Reason – WHY’
Lesson Point – Why did God give us a Rule Book?
Question 1 – Why do some ‘good’ people go to Hell..? [Good – from the world’s point of view]
Question 2 – Why do some ‘bad’ people go to Heaven..? [Bad – from the world view]
- Luke 18:19 READ Who is actually ‘good’? = Only God.
- 2 Peter 1:20 READ ALL scripture in the Christian Bible is inspired from God
- Isaiah 55:8-9 READ God’s thoughts are above the way mankind thinks
The LAW – 10 Commandments – It is the Moral BENCHMARK but mortal man cannot meet it. God presented mankind with a ‘newer’ covenant.
The older covenant, the LAW, was filled with legalism.
The shall and shall nots.
- Romans 3:23 – ALL have sinned. NOT perfect people, are we?
- Romans 6:23 – BUT God provides mankind with a gift IF we are willing to accept it.
- Jeremiah 31:31-34 – A Newer Covenant, the Spirit of God in their heart and mind. Again, the words are in Hebrews chapter 8.
Math 5:17-18 ……Jesus fulfils the LAW.
Free CHOICE = Arminianism; Mankind makes the choice on acceptance of Jesus as Savior & Lord
God predestines all our CHOICES = Calvinism; God makes all the choices on who goes to Heaven
Question 3 – Does God ever choose? IF so, WHY..?
- God did choose Israel, as a small nation, to be his bride. [ 7:6-8 & Ez. 20:5]
- Did God choose David to be King of Israel? [1 Kings 8:16 & 2 Samuel 7:8]
- Was Saul of Tarsus chosen of the Lord? [Acts 9:1-20 15-16] ..Paul was Saved to Serve..!
- Were the Disciples chosen by the Lord? [Luke 6:12-13]
On some things a choice by God is made. Did God choose Moses to lead the Hebrews to Israel?
God is going to allow Satan [evil spirit] to enter the future Anti-christ as part as the overall PLAN, at the END of the age. Since God has provided a PLAN which includes a future dwelling place in heaven; have we made our PLAN for eternally spending time, there, with HIM?
God loves ALL of mankind but the serious challenge with people is that some reject HIS love and HIS plan for mankind.
Question 4 – IF God had made us all puppets and pulled the strings at just the right time, everyone would be Saved. [Saved from what? It is from the wrath to come, which is Hell]. IF so, there wouldn’t be Muslim, Mormon, Jehovah Wit., etc., would there? BUT, since the Lord gives us a Freewill to choose or reject Jesus, then mankind must make the right CHOICE or suffer judgement for eternity. Sounds harsh but All mortals have a mind and a mouth to choose Jesus.
Who is God? = Father – Son – Holy Spirit [Mathew 28:18-19]
When the Lord Jesus was on the Cross; there were two thieves, also on crosses, near him. One made the choice to choose Jesus and the other chose to reject Jesus. Both made a willful CHOICE or might it be said that every person who does not make the choice for Jesus, defaults to rejection of the Lord Jesus.
What does John 3:17 say? _____. [Hebrews 10:12, 7:27 – Romans 10:9-10 – Math 10:32]? _____. Read them..
Question 5 – WHY was or is Blood needed? [Lev. 17:11] ..it was for atonement. What did the Hebrew people do at PASSOVER? Didn’t they put a lamb on the PASSOVER alter, and then offer it as a blood sacrifice? The blood was required for the sins of the nation, each year. God the Son provided the BLOOD for us mortals. The kicker is: It takes the blood of God to actually cleanse me and justify me with a Clean Slate.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 – The Lord provided a newer covenant, which was Christ; it is available for ALL of mankind. The LAW was/is more than mortal man was/is able to follow. BUT the MORAL LAW is still the Benchmark and something to strive for. The Lord [God] has provided a way that ALL peoples can become SAVED. As a matter of FACT, the Lord provides Faith, Hope, and Love to ALL. The Lord also provides we sinners with a substitute; who has died in our place. He provided the redemption we need with HIS own blood. This BLOOD or atonement also purchased our Forgiveness. We are now justified through Jesus, who is Savior and Lord to those of us who has made the CHOICE, which is, to confess with our mouth that HE is Christ the Lord [Review Matthew 10:32 & Romans 10:9-10].
Question 6 – What now? [Hebrews 9:11-22] [Hebrews 10:4] Think about it [Hebrews 10:10] & [1 Peter 3:18]. Since we know [already covered] that Jesus is God the Son; the Blood only needed to be shed one-time for the Sins of ALL humans. Each individual must make the CHOICE. Only the blood of God totally cleanses our sin. Remember, God does not force anyone to go to Heaven. The Lord does invite you and HE offers the free Gift of eternal life in Heaven, but even a gift offered must be accepted before it is ours to keep!
The CHOICE for everyone is, do you have enough Faith in the Lord God to receive that gift or will you leave it; acceptance or rejection of that GIFT is a choice.
Question – WHY, do some ‘good’ people go to Hell? They fail to make the most important CHOICE in life, which is to accept Jesus as their Lord & Savior….. What did John 3:17 tell us earlier?
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Luke 18:19, 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone
2 Peter 1:20, 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
Isaiah 55:8-9, For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Romans 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord
Jeremiah 31:31-34, “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a newer covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.
Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
Deut. 7:6-8, For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
1 Kings 8:16, 16 ‘Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.’
Acts 9:1-20, 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he [Paul] is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.”…. [Will Christians suffer during Tribulation?]
Luke 6:12—13, It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles
John 3:17, For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. [Judgement comes at HIS 2nd coming.]
Romans 10:9-10, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Matthew 10:32-33, 32 “Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. [Verbally before mankind.]
Lev. 17:11, 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’
Hebrews 9:11-22, But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood. 22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. [Only the blood of ‘God the Son’ cleanses our sin.]
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What is required to be SAVED? A person [that is, each individual person] has to:
Be Convicted – We must hear or read the WORD to become convicted with truth….
Confess – You tell the Lord that you have sinned and would like to be forgiven
Repent – As part of your confession, you are going to follow his commands [make a u-turn in life]
Accept – Jesus as your Savior. He provided the blood for your atonement [God’s gift to you]
Trust & Believe – Its necessary B4 confession, repentance, and acceptance happens.
- It takes FAITH to believe in something you don’t have 1st hand knowledge of.
Then, study the Word; 1 – So that you mature in the Faith as a Christ follower.
2 – So that you know Gods expectations.
CONCLUSION – WHY Lord, do only a few get into Heaven?
DG