Monday, April 29, 2013

Come! Choose Life & Live!

Jesus defined eternal life in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent." John 3:16 says, "Whoever trusts in the Son of God will not perish but have eternal life."

If you do not know God right now you do not have eternal life. And if you never choose to trust Jesus you will never have eternal life.

So sorry folks, I do not believe that "everyone is already born again" or that "everyone is already saved." It is not true. There are people that do not know God & will honestly deny knowing Him or even honestly deny His existence. Those people are not saved, they are not born again. They can be saved at any moment from now until judgment day. Only those who know God, who have met Him & trusted Him in the spirit are born again.

You can pretend that all people are saved, you can pretend that people know God who honestly don't & will tell you to your face that they don't OR you can accept the reality that God is love & love does not demand its own way. Grace is freely available to all through trust in Jesus. Grace is so available that the "Holy Spirit is poured out on all people." The Holy Spirit is ON all people, drawing them & loving them, but the Holy Spirit is not IN all people. He is only IN those who have trusted in Jesus.

God doesn't birth you behind your back. Yes God "took away the sins of the world." But this was never about sin but what sin brings, death. This is about life & death. Jesus is life. Now that our sins are gone we can freely choose life & live!

"I have set before you life and death. Therefore choose life, that you may live!" God EVEN TOLD US WHAT TO CHOOSE but He did not choose for us. God presents us with two options as He did in the garden, sure life & sure death. In the garden God told them to not choose death. Now He tells us to choose life. Though warning against it God allowed Adam to choose death. God allows everyone to choose between life & death. If your doctrine of ultimate reconciliation has a problem with God giving people a choice then it should also have a problem with God giving Adam a choice in the first place. God does not demand His own way. Realize that God's way is life! God wishes that no one would perish. Death is not God's way, but death is an option for the free.

The second death is not a consequence. Death is a choice. Death is God's enemy therefore death is not something God imposes. Death is one of two options. Sin tried to kill us but Jesus took care of sin so we can freely choose between life & death without sin forcing us into death. People will have every opportunity to choose life right up until the day where they stand before God. Romans 14:10-12 reveals that Isaiah 45 foretells what God says to those who stand before Him on judgment day, "I created the heavens, I speak righteousness. Come, draw near. There is no other God besides Me. I am a righteous God & a savior. TURN TO ME AND BE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH; For I am God, and there is no other."

"As I live!" declares the Lord God, "I take no pleasure in the death of any person. I want all people to turn to My Way, Jesus the Savior, and live! I do not want you to die. I want you to live. I am telling you to choose life. Why then would you choose death?" (Ezekiel 33:11, New Covenant paraphrase)

"The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” Whoever hears this, echo, “Come!” Come, whoever is thirsty. Drink freely of the Water of Life if you so desire. It will never cost anything." (Revelation 22:17)

No comments:

Post a Comment