September 27th 2020
The Good News For Christians Is That Death Is Not A Curse, But The Release From This Cursed World!
Matthew 5:20 (NIV)
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is telling His disciples that following the teaching of the greatest Biblical scholars of the day in which you live will NOT gain you admittance into heaven! Only following Him will earn you the righteousness required for having a place prepared for you in heaven. Only salvation offered by Jesus Christ can gain you acceptance into heaven, there is no other Way by which anyone can enter heaven, when they die in this cursed world! There are many Christians (especially among intellectuals) who say they believe the Bible but are nevertheless quick to adapt their interpretations of Scripture to the latest speculations of scientists or to current fads of world living. This is insulting to God, who surely can say what He means! In Romans Paul wrote, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.”
Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote about the fact that all members of mankind have a sinful nature that interferes with our immortal soul’s acceptance of God’s truth. Therefore, some teachers are not teaching God’s truth, but instead they teach the lies mankind wants to believe. What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." (Romans 3:3-4). One of the greatest lie’s mankind wants to believe is the teaching about evolution, because it allows for mankind to be dominant and ever improving! This of course, is not borne out by the evidence, as we are witnessing in the current world events of violent rejection of anyone who is currently holding a powerful position in society today!
Many people today want to destroy the true history of this world which shows that mankind was created by Jesus as extremely intelligent beings just a few thousand years ago, and genetically we are losing both our physical and mental abilities. We are certainly not becoming more intelligent and physically stronger. However, there is Good News for all of us, as this world is cursed and thus, temporary, and will be replaced by a new and perfect world, like it was before mankind sinned and started its destruction. The shortened lifespans are a blessing from God not a curse as some want to think! We are all given the opportunity in this cursed world to find the truth about Jesus Christ offering us all the ability to follow Him directly from this temporary life into the eternal life, which He has promised. Now that is an offer you cannot refuse! Can you?
Most people on this earth today do not believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the Son of God. A lot of such people profess to be Christians, but that cannot truly be, as belief in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is absolutely the only reason to call yourself to be His follower, and thus, being called a Christian. Some people who claim they have studied the Bible will tell you that Jesus never claimed to be the Savior of this cursed world. Let me just share one of the times He did claim to be the Christ. The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." (John 4:25-26). Here Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman and openly claims to be our Messiah AKA the Christ. You MUST believe this admission from Jesus Christ; else you cannot profess that you are a Christian!
If you are still reading this commentary, I will assume you agree with this assessment of the minimum requirement for a profession of faith in Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ came to this earth to be the perfect sacrifice required by God the Father to allow the forgiveness of the sins being committed by mankind. The Messiah was to die and shed His blood as a covering to pay the full price for all the sins of all those who would claim Him to be their Lord and Savior. From the cross His final word was apolutrosis, “to ransom in full.” He has paid the full penalty! Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.(John 19:30). He said as He died. In Him alone “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” And as Paul would later write, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding”. (Ephesians 1:7-8).
If everyone on this earth today believed that Jesus Christ is the Savior of this world, then there would be a lot more peace in this world. However, we know that most people do not accept this belief system. Therefore, as Jesus has told us, His coming into this world did not bring peace, but it resulted in more strife. Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." (Luke 12:51-53). Jesus AKA God was not surprised that most people will not believe He is who He says He is. Jesus knew that His coming into this cursed world would result in great disruption, because most of the people on this earth will NOT accept Him as their Lord and Savior, and thus, those who are committed to a worldly religion find His coming as a disruption of their chosen belief system!
The rest of the non-Christian people do not really believe there is a God (atheists) or they do not want there to be an understandable God (agnostics). To reemphasize there are many who profess to be a Christian, but they do not believe Jesus Christ is THE Lord and Savior of this cursed world! What do you believe? This is the most important question that needs to be answered by everyone living in this world today! Everything you do is done in a today, and in a tomorrow you will die. No one is guaranteed tomorrow! The Good News for Christians is that death is not a curse, but the release from this cursed world! This is God’s plan for mankind, and Jesus is the ONLY answer! It is our responsibility to live for Christ until He calls us Home to be with Him forever.
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
Matthew 5:20 (NIV)
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is telling His disciples that following the teaching of the greatest Biblical scholars of the day in which you live will NOT gain you admittance into heaven! Only following Him will earn you the righteousness required for having a place prepared for you in heaven. Only salvation offered by Jesus Christ can gain you acceptance into heaven, there is no other Way by which anyone can enter heaven, when they die in this cursed world! There are many Christians (especially among intellectuals) who say they believe the Bible but are nevertheless quick to adapt their interpretations of Scripture to the latest speculations of scientists or to current fads of world living. This is insulting to God, who surely can say what He means! In Romans Paul wrote, “Let God be true, and every man a liar.”
Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote about the fact that all members of mankind have a sinful nature that interferes with our immortal soul’s acceptance of God’s truth. Therefore, some teachers are not teaching God’s truth, but instead they teach the lies mankind wants to believe. What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." (Romans 3:3-4). One of the greatest lie’s mankind wants to believe is the teaching about evolution, because it allows for mankind to be dominant and ever improving! This of course, is not borne out by the evidence, as we are witnessing in the current world events of violent rejection of anyone who is currently holding a powerful position in society today!
Many people today want to destroy the true history of this world which shows that mankind was created by Jesus as extremely intelligent beings just a few thousand years ago, and genetically we are losing both our physical and mental abilities. We are certainly not becoming more intelligent and physically stronger. However, there is Good News for all of us, as this world is cursed and thus, temporary, and will be replaced by a new and perfect world, like it was before mankind sinned and started its destruction. The shortened lifespans are a blessing from God not a curse as some want to think! We are all given the opportunity in this cursed world to find the truth about Jesus Christ offering us all the ability to follow Him directly from this temporary life into the eternal life, which He has promised. Now that is an offer you cannot refuse! Can you?
Most people on this earth today do not believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah and the Son of God. A lot of such people profess to be Christians, but that cannot truly be, as belief in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is absolutely the only reason to call yourself to be His follower, and thus, being called a Christian. Some people who claim they have studied the Bible will tell you that Jesus never claimed to be the Savior of this cursed world. Let me just share one of the times He did claim to be the Christ. The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I who speak to you am he." (John 4:25-26). Here Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman and openly claims to be our Messiah AKA the Christ. You MUST believe this admission from Jesus Christ; else you cannot profess that you are a Christian!
If you are still reading this commentary, I will assume you agree with this assessment of the minimum requirement for a profession of faith in Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ came to this earth to be the perfect sacrifice required by God the Father to allow the forgiveness of the sins being committed by mankind. The Messiah was to die and shed His blood as a covering to pay the full price for all the sins of all those who would claim Him to be their Lord and Savior. From the cross His final word was apolutrosis, “to ransom in full.” He has paid the full penalty! Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.(John 19:30). He said as He died. In Him alone “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” And as Paul would later write, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding”. (Ephesians 1:7-8).
If everyone on this earth today believed that Jesus Christ is the Savior of this world, then there would be a lot more peace in this world. However, we know that most people do not accept this belief system. Therefore, as Jesus has told us, His coming into this world did not bring peace, but it resulted in more strife. Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." (Luke 12:51-53). Jesus AKA God was not surprised that most people will not believe He is who He says He is. Jesus knew that His coming into this cursed world would result in great disruption, because most of the people on this earth will NOT accept Him as their Lord and Savior, and thus, those who are committed to a worldly religion find His coming as a disruption of their chosen belief system!
The rest of the non-Christian people do not really believe there is a God (atheists) or they do not want there to be an understandable God (agnostics). To reemphasize there are many who profess to be a Christian, but they do not believe Jesus Christ is THE Lord and Savior of this cursed world! What do you believe? This is the most important question that needs to be answered by everyone living in this world today! Everything you do is done in a today, and in a tomorrow you will die. No one is guaranteed tomorrow! The Good News for Christians is that death is not a curse, but the release from this cursed world! This is God’s plan for mankind, and Jesus is the ONLY answer! It is our responsibility to live for Christ until He calls us Home to be with Him forever.
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak