Results 1 - 3 of 3
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | people who have never heard the Gospel ? | Heb 7:25 | Aixen7z4 | 149993 | ||
That question has puzzled many people for many years. But now, if you will promise to stop and think on it again, I will suggest to you that God has given us an answer in his word. Now I wish I could say, as Joseph might say, (Genesis 41) that God will give Gina Marie an answer of peace. I suspect that the answer which follows may be disturbing to many, but I trust that in so far as it is documented with passages from the word of God, you will consider it. No one who has left this life will ever be able to say he never heard the Gospel. God will make sure he hears it. God is clear in his declaration (in Romans 10 and elsewhere) that one must hear the Gospel in order to be saved. And I will say to you that ever since Genesis 3, the world has been hearing the Gospel. The news spread that the Lord had said to the serpent, “The seed of the woman shall bruise your head”. That was the event the world had to look to, and Jesus came “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them” (Hebrews 2). That was and is, Good News. We should not take too much time here to show that the Gospel has always been preached. Let us say that God was surely speaking it to the Jews. There were too many statements, and events, and sacrifices, and figures, for them to miss the point. Jesus would one day appear to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Please note, however, that the message was sometimes brought by Jesus Christ himself. The LORD appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day (Genesis 18). The Lord revealed to him that the wicked would be destroyed. And Abraham asked him, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” It is a rhetorical question, and we should always remember the answer implied. The Judge of all the earth will do right by all the earth. He will give every person a chance to be saved. After saying that a person must hear the Gospel to be saved, he will not punish those who have not heard. It will always be the condemnation, that light came, and men preferred darkness. What will happen to those who have not heard, then? The point of this note is that there will be no such situation, because they all will hear. The Lord made a promise to Abraham (Genesis 12) and to Isaac (Genesis 26) and to Jacob (Genesis 28) to each of them, saying, “In you and in your seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. He does not say, “Seeds”, (plural) but “Seed” (singular), referring to Christ (Galatians 3). And he does say that all the families of the earth will be blessed. So people everywhere will be saved through Christ. God is no respecter of persons. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Romans 10). But the question was this: “How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” Also, “How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?” The point is that they must hear of Jesus. And Jesus told us to go into all the world and tell them about him (Matthew 28; Luke 24, etc.). But the follow-up question is this: “What if we do not go?” The answer I give to you is this, that Jesus goes himself. Do not be surprised at this. Jesus told us that he is going anyway. When he sends us, he goes before us (John 10). As we go, Lo, he is with us always (Matthew 28). I wish that I had the time and space now to show this in detail, but I will offer you these references. Jesus is the Light, and he lightens every man (John 1). He draws all men (John 12). He preached to them in Old Testament times (1Peter 3). He preached on earth in the times covered by the gospels (Mark 1, etc.). He appeared to Paul (Acts 9). He appeared to John (Revelation 1). He comes to the church (Revelation 3). He sends us into all the world, and we have that privilege to be coworkers with him. But when we do not go, and where we do not go, he goes himself. In every place, those who seek after him find him (Acts 17) because he is there for them. I hope this is not a comfort to anyone who refuses to go with the Gospel, to consider that Jesus goes himself. We do not refuse to praise him and then rejoice because the stones cry out. We must go, and he, going before us, will prepare their hearts. The Holy Spirit will use the words we speak to convince them. And we will win them. That is how we know our work is not in vain, because God is with us. It is God who works in them, as in us, both to will and to do his good pleasure. But when we disobey, and fail to go, that will not make the word of God of none effect. God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, will shined in their hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He will bring the light of the Gospel to everyone, even if he has to do it himself. |
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2 | Why should we go ?????? | Heb 7:25 | gina marie | 150004 | ||
Aixen7z4, Thank you, I have gone over the scriptures you sent, and have prayed for the Holy Spirit to illuminate each one for me for understanding, please dont't get discouraged with me because I need to understand something you said that seems to be my main struggle in my "mind" (my heart wants everyone saved and can't bear the thought they won't have the opportunity)You said " I hope that this is not a comfort to anyanoe who refuses to go with the gospel, to consider it that Jesus Himself goes, and that even if He has to do it Himself.. If He will do it himself why should we? Please Don't take this as disrespectful on my part I just don't understand Gina Marie |
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3 | Why should we go ?????? | Heb 7:25 | Aixen7z4 | 150040 | ||
I would like to offer you a view from Jesus’ standpoint. He has had to do a lot of the work alone. In the words of Isaiah 63, “I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me… I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation”. This is taken out of context, to simply isolate the sense of aloneness. It is one instance where he works alone, not because he wants to work alone, but because there is none to help. As he faced the cross, he was in agony, alone. He asked them, “Could you not watch with me?” And then the soldiers came, and they all forsook him and fled. Peter stood around and denied that he even knew him. He went through his trial with none to testify on his behalf. He bore the cross to Calvary, and suffered and died, alone. Truly, he had to do that work alone, as no one else was qualified. And yet, in all of this, he was procuring salvation for all of us. Now he wants to get the news to the world, that he is ready to forgive them. Must he also be the newsboy? Must he spread the Good News of the Gospel all alone? He has asked us to help with this. Shall we not do that small part? Now I will speak in human terms to try to get the point across. Imagine you are a little girl. Your parents have worked for the money. They have bought the food. They have cooked the food. You have eaten your fill of the food. Now your mother asks you to help with the dishes. The two of you will do that task together? Will you not do it? “But she is doing the dishes”, you say. “Why do I have to do it?” Do you see a parallel there? Imagine you were the companion of a very brave man. He is on a mission to save people from disaster. He asks you to come along, to simply speak a message while he works. Would you go with him? But I will make an excuse for you. Perhaps you do not feel led, or you are scared, to give out the Gospel. More than that, you do not feel competent. You think that Jesus can do a much better job by himself, and you would only get in the way. In other words, you do not have the gift or the calling of an evangelist. I think of Moses and Jeremiah and Jonah, who were all gifted and called and who had to be urged to do the task. But each of us must decide whether we have been called by God to a task, and whether he is the one encouraging and urging us. You would like to see everyone saved. You know they need to hear the Gospel. You know that some people are preaching the Gospel, and I know that you are glad for that. You worry about the ones that humans cannot reach. You can't bear the thought they won't have the opportunity. And I assure you, with the Scriptures I have quoted before, (John 1:9; John 12:32; etc.), that everyone will have an opportunity. He lightens every man. He draws all men. Every one will see the truth and have an opportunity to accept it. Read the passages again and rest in the fact that the Judge of all the earth will do right. He will not condemn a man to Hell, who has never heard the Gospel. He will wink at the times of ignorance and hold men responsible only after he has shown them the truth. He says if he had not come and spoken to them they would have (been as though they) had no sin. He comes to them, with or without our assistance, and commands all men everywhere to repent. But now you say, since he is doing it we should not have to do it. It may be that you are correct that, with Jesus doing it, we don’t really have to. But I will offer you some reasons why we should. 1. We love him and we want to make him happy (1 John 4:9, etc.). 2. We know he wants people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4, etc.). 3. We think it is not good to withhold good news (2 Kings 7:9, etc.). 4. We have the gift of evangelism and want to use it (1 Corinthians 9:16, etc.). 5. We want to follow his example (Mark 1:14, etc.). 6. Again I say, a person needs to think and judge whether he or she is gifted or called in the area of evangelism. Every believer is a witness, and every believer is called to be ready to give an answer to those who might ask them why they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But I do not think, as some claim, that every believer is called to be an active proactive witness. But we are called to do that task together, and together with God, as his coworkers. Let us bear the yoke together. Let us be as a bride, a help, to our bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ. If he is about the business of enlightening men with the message of the Gospel, then so should we, as a church, in cooperation with him. With all these words, and examples, and scripture references, I have tried to answer your question. I trust you will see that it is our responsibility, and our privilege to do this work along with our Lord Jesus Christ. |
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