Lesson 1

Our Eternal Salvation

Are you really sure of your eternal salvation? This is a very important
question, and one that will have lasting eternal consequences. If you were to
die today, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven? This is a
question about which we cannot afford to be wrong, because eternity is very
permanent. One day each of us will know the true answer to this question, "For
we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ", Romans 14:10. Every
one of us have two appointments that have already been made for us and that
we will definitely keep, whether we want to or not. They are, "And as it is
appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment", Hebrews 9:27.
These two appointments, death and the judgment, cannot be cancelled.

The tragedy of what happened in New York City and the Pentagon in
Washington, D.C. on September 11, 2001 shows the uncertainty and brevity of
life. God tells us in James 4:14, "Whereas you do not know what will happen
tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even as a vapor that appears for a little
time and then vanishes away."

We must not make an error concerning our salvation in following what

"seems right" to us, or that we "feel in our heart that we are saved". The Bible
says in Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end
is the way of death". Our feelings are not a safe guide, but only the Bible is.

What prior assumptions have we already made about our salvation? Many
of these assumptions, that people make, contradict what God says in his word
to us. All we have to do is to look around at all of the many differing doctrines
that are being taught, and then compare them to what God says in the Bible,
and we can see a great difference. Our Lord says in Mark 7:7, "And in vain
they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men". Our
worship is vain if it comes from the doctrines of men and not from God. Can
we say that all these many differing doctrines have come from God? I think
not. I Corinthians 14:33 says that, "God is not the author of confusion." Or are
they from men? Where else could they have come from, if they did not come
from God? This becomes a very serious question. Our worship becomes vain
and useless, if our doctrines come from men when they meet in their
conventions and conferences to decide what they are to believe and do.

1
 As the apostle Peter told the Jewish council in Acts 5:29, "We ought to obey
God rather than men". Do not believe anything that I tell you, because we are
not going to be judged by what I say. Do not believe anything any other person
tells you, because we are not going to be judged by what some other person
says. In fact, we are not going to be judged by what we personally believe. On
the Day of Judgment we are going to be judged only by what the Lord says in
the Bible. That is going to be the only standard for judgment, for our Lord says
in John 12:48, "The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last
day". So, if I or any other person cannot point to it in the Word of God, then
please do not believe it, because there is too much at stake – your soul!

Our soul is worth more than the whole world and everything in it. Jesus
says in Matthew 16:26, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole
world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his
soul?" Our soul is the part of us that is going to continue to live on forever
throughout all eternity. We cannot afford to lose our soul and be eternally
punished.

Lesson 2

God’s Warning
Christ, who is all knowing, tells us that many people are going to be lost, but
only few are going to be saved. In Matthew 7:13-14 He says, "Enter by the
narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leads to
destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate
and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it".
Now this gets my attention. According to the Bible the majority of people will
be lost. Sadly the majority of people still walk the wide road of sin into eternal
damnation. We must take this warning from God at face value. The Lord says
only a few people will be saved.

How few can few be? In 1 Peter 3:20 (KJV) we read, "When once the
longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing,
wherein few, that is eight souls were saved by water." The conservative
estimate of the number of people on the face of the earth in the days of Noah is
two hundred million (200,000,000) people. But only eight (8) out of the
estimated two hundred million (200,000,000) were saved. Not very good
odds. Even though the Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 that the Lord is "not willing
that any should perish". Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14 concerning eternal life
in Heaven that "there are few who find it". The vast majority of people will
spend forever and ever in the eternal fires of Hell that will never be
extinguished. Why? The vast majority of people are not really interested in
going to Heaven, but you are or you wouldn't be studying this course
concerning your eternal salvation.

There are only two roads to eternity and we are on either one or the other.
According to what the Lord says, only few will make it to Heaven, but the vast
majority will be lost in eternal punishment. This is both frightening and sad. I
don’t consider myself selfish, but I certainly want to be among the few who are
saved, don’t you? We make the choice ourselves as to where we will spend
eternity. We are free moral agents. This is how we differ from the animals.
We have been made in the image of God. Genesis 1:26 says, "Then God said let
Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness". Also in Genesis 2:7
we read, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul".
Yes, we posses a soul that will live forever and ever in either Heaven or Hell.

God does not want anyone to be lost, but the choice is ours. In 2 Peter 3:9
we read, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count
slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish
but that all should come to repentance". God does not want us to go into
eternal punishment. He is not going to force us to serve Him; otherwise we
would be mere robots. 1 Timothy 2:4 says concerning God, "Who desires all
men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth". It is God’s will
that all be saved, but we know that is not going to happen. We have already
seen that only few are going to be saved in Heaven and the majority are going
to be lost forever in Hell.

Also, as the verse says, before we can be saved, we must "come to the
knowledge of the truth." Jesus says in John 8:32, "And you shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free." What is the truth that will make us
free? In John 17:17 Jesus says, "Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is
truth." So only the instructions contained in the word of God is the truth that
will make us free so that we can go to heaven.

What is your eternal destiny? If you miss Heaven, you will be thrown into
the eternal fires of Hell. One of the saddest things about going to Hell is the
fact that it could have been avoided. The majority of people will be lost in
spite of what the Lord has done. A person who goes to Hell is his own worst
enemy. Hell is not what God does to us, but Hell is what we do to ourselves. If
one ends up in Hell, he only has himself to blame.
 Lesson 3

Eternity
There is only one of two places in eternity that we can go: Heaven or Hell.
Each one of us will be placed in one of these two places on Judgment Day to be
there forever and ever. Our Lord in speaking of eternity in Matthew 25:46
says, "And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life". Notice that the duration of the lost in Hell is exactly the same
as the duration of the saved in Heaven, "forever and ever". It is hard for us as
mortals to grasp how long eternity will be, but after we have been there a
billion years, eternity will have just begun.

Hell

According to the U. S. News & World Report, January 31, 2000, 36% of
people do not believe in Hell. But Hell is a real place. To say there is no Hell
is to make God a liar. “Let God be true and every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).
Satan does not want you to believe in Hell. Satan is accomplishing his purpose
since there is very seldom any teaching on Hell today. It is not a “politically
correct” subject. A person who does not believe Hell is real will most likely go
there. Ignoring or scoffing at Hell will not do away with it.

We do not like to think about eternal punishment. But it evidently must be

very important or God would not have told us about it. Let's first consider what
the Lord says about eternal punishment of Hell and then we will turn our
attention to a more pleasant thought, Heaven. Jesus spoke as much about the
eternal punishment of Hell as He did any other subject. He took our
punishment and gave His life to keep us out of Hell. In His attempt to persuade
us not to go there, He has given us numerous warnings in His word.

Our Lord in describing how horrible that Hell will be for the many who will
end up going there, says in Matthew 13:42, "And will cast them into the
furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth". This definitely
will be a horrible and terrible place beyond description. Jesus says in Mark
9:43-48 concerning those who are lost, that they will be "cast into Hell, into the
fire that shall never be quenched: where their worm does not die, and the fire
is not quenched".

Jesus tells us if there is anything in our life that is going to cause us to be

lost, to correct it or to get rid of it. Notice Jesus says a person is cast or thrown
into Hell. The worm is a flesh-eating maggot that does not die, but will
continuously feed forever and ever on the lost in Hell. In Hell, one is burning
over every square inch of his body and even all on the inside but is never
consumed. The continuous fire and the worms will never accomplish the
annihilation of any of the lost. The lost in Hell will prefer to cease their
existence, but they cannot. Their perpetual nightmare of torment will continue
forever and ever. It will never cease. The lost “shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone…and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they
have no rest day or night” (Revelation 14:10-11). The occupants of Hell will
never know relief or rest from their torment. Hell is such a horrible place. Hell
is not a fictitious place, it is real.

There will be no reprieve or appeal to a higher court, because we will have

been judged by the highest. The Lord is trying to get our attention and to give
us fair warning. He is pleading with us not to go there because He has already
paid our price and taken our punishment. But we make the choice. The choice
is ours. We will bear the responsibility and the consequences.

One of the many warnings Jesus gives us is the true account of the rich man
and Lazarus. “There was a certain rich man” and “there was a certain
beggar named Lazarus”. [The rich man was lost], “And being in torments in
Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom. Then he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I
am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, son remember…and besides all
this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to
pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us” (Luke 16:19-
20, 23-26). Notice it says there was a certain rich man and a certain beggar
named Lazarus. This is not a fictitious fairy tale. In Hell people will be in
continual unceasing torment and pain in which all will be constantly pleading
for mercy. With their unquenchable thirst they will beg for even one drop of
water, but they will not receive it. How much relief and how long would one
drop of water last on the tongue of those who are being eternally tormented in
the burning fires of Hell? It would not last even one second. We must wake up
and heed our Lord’s warning. Their desperate and hopeless state is permanent
where they will remain eternally. They are condemned there forever. In Hell
people are conscious and will see, feel, wail, and remember as they endure the
continual intense pain and suffering.

The many who end up in eternal punishment will not be there alone. They
will have company. Revelation 20:10 says, "The
devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be
tormented day and night forever and ever". Not very good company to be
in. Notice that the torment goes on "day and night
forever and ever".

There are many people who scoff at the idea of

eternal punishment, but they are scoffing at what God
says. The fire will burn forever and those who are
lost will be there in the fire for eternity whether they want to believe it or not.
In eternity their scoffing will quickly change to weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth. We must take what our Lord says in the Bible seriously. Hell
is real! There is no way for the horrors of Hell to be adequately described in
human language. Many people do not realize the danger of eternally losing
their souls. This is very serious!

Those lost in Hell will be those “whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
forever” (2 Peter 2:17). Those in Hell will attempt to find God, “Then they will
call on Me, but I will not answer; they will seek Me diligently, but they will not
find Me” (Proverbs 1:28). They will not be able to forget their rejection of
God. There will be no atheists in Hell. All those in Hell will believe that there
is a God, but it will be too late then.

“The Lord knows how to…reserve the unjust under punishment for the Day
of Judgment” (2 Peter 2:9). Hell must be avoided at all costs. No one can
begin to exaggerate how horrible Hell is going to be. Its misery and anguish is
beyond description. It will never, never, never, ever end.

We are being warned, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God” (Hebrews 10:31) and “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord we
persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:11). We must make sure we don’t end up in
Hell, and we must warn other people who will listen. We “must be even more
diligent to make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). Jesus has
promised, “Be faithful until death and I will give you the crown of life”
(Revelation 2:10). Anyone who ends up in Hell will only have himself to
blame.

In Hell there will be billions of people crying out in indescribable pain and
agony for which there will be no relief or hope that things will ever get better.
There will be haunting memories of all the opportunities of salvation that were
passed up. Eternity is forever and has no end. There will be no opportunity for
second chances. Hell is eternal, final, and irrevocable.
 We read in Revelation 14:11, "And the smoke of their torment ascends
forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night." But reading further we
see in Revelation 20:15, "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life
was cast into the lake of fire". It is imperative that our name be found in the
Book of Life. Is your name in that book? Do you know for sure, or are you
making a wishful assumption? It will be too late on the Day of Judgment to
find out that your name is not there.

Heaven

Now let us turn our attention to something more pleasant, Heaven. Our
Lord says in John 14:2-3, "In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were
not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that
where I am, there you may be also". Heaven will be a very wonderful place.
For the few who go there it will be beyond their wildest dreams and they will
be totally surprised and amazed. As we read in 1 Corinthians 2:9, "Eye has not
seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which
God has prepared for those who love Him." There is no way that the glories of
Heaven can be adequately described to us mortal beings. The only way will be
to see it.

Heaven will be the very opposite of eternal punishment. Revelation 21:4

says, "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no
more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the
former things have passed away". There will be no weeping, and no wailing,
and no gnashing of teeth as will be happening in eternal torment. But there will
forever and ever be nothing but joy, and peace, and happiness, beyond
description. What a wonderful place Heaven will be. But again, the choice is
ours. We cannot escape the consequences if we make the wrong choice. We
will not accidentally end up in Heaven. Heaven is a prepared place for
prepared people. Our Lord says in Matthew 6:33, "But seek first the kingdom
of God, and His righteousness." Going to Heaven has got to be our number one
goal in this life. We must want to go to Heaven more than anything else.
 Lesson 4

Our Sin Problem

Man has a sin problem. Our sins separate us from God. Isaiah 59:2, "But
your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden
His face from you, so that he will not hear". It is our sins that have caused the
separation. In Romans 3:23, we are told, "For all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God". There is not an accountable person living or who has ever
lived (except our Lord), who can say that he has never sinned. We are all in
need of salvation. 1 John 1:8 says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us". The easiest person to deceive is
ourselves. We rationalize away what God says when we say we have not
sinned. God says that man has a sin problem, but man says that he does not.
Who is right and what are we doing to God when we say that we have no sin?
Continuing our reading in 1 John 1:10, "If we say that we have not sinned, we
make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." God is always right when He tells
us that we have all sinned.

In Romans 6:23 we read, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God
is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord". Death is a separation. When we die
physically, our body is placed into the grave, but our spirit is separated from
our dead body and goes back to God, who gave it. We are told in Ecclesiastes
12:7, "Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return
to God who gave it". In physical death, there is a separation between our body
and our soul.

In Romans 6:23, we saw that, "For the wages of sin is death". This is a
spiritual death, which is eternal separation from God for those who are lost.
The majority of people will experience spiritual death and be separated from
God. They cannot go and be with God in Heaven. This leaves only one place
for them to go, Hell. We see Hell spoken of as the second death in Revelation
21:8, "the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second
death". The second death is eternal separation from God.
 Lesson 5

The Nature Of God

Man has a sin problem, but God has the solution and the answer. God is a
loving God. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life". God is truly a loving God to give His only begotten Son to
die for us. That is the ultimate of love. Nothing could be greater.

Not only is the Lord loving, but He is also just. Jesus says in John 5:30
(KJV), "I can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge; and my judgment
is just". Yes, when we stand before the Lord on the Day of Judgment, He will
be just. But justice demands that the guilty be punished. Let me give you an
example. Just suppose I went out and robbed a bank, and was caught. Also
suppose that the judge and I were good friends. So the judge calls me up to his
bench and whispers to me that he doesn’t want to send me to prison for twenty
years. He tells me, that if I will quietly walk out the back door, he will tear up
all the paperwork, nothing will be said, and I can go free. Would he be a just
judge? No way. But God is a just God, and can be no less.

Not only is God a loving and just God, but the Bible speaks of God as a
vengeful God. In Hebrews 10:30-31 we read, "Vengeance is mine, I will
repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God". Most people like to think of
God as only a loving God, and nothing else; but this is not true. On the Day of
Judgment, the majority of people will find out just how fearful it is to fall into
the hands of the living God.

Why did Jesus have to die? Because God is not only a loving God but he is
also just. Justice demands punishment for the guilty. God has specified in the
Bible how He will erase anyone’s guilt. But we must obey God’s instructions.
Those who continue to be guilty are those who have not obeyed what God has
said. At the end of time when Christ comes back 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 says
that He will come “In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know
God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of His power.”

God is also a God of grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. Romans
3:23-24 tells us, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." We
have all sinned. We all deserve to be punished throughout all eternity for our
sins, but Christ Jesus has already taken our punishment. God, by his grace, that
is His unmerited favor toward us, can now be just in saving us, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Our redemption is in Christ Jesus, and not in
ourselves.

It is by the grace of God that one is saved. In Ephesians 2:8-9 we read, "For
by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the
gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." We are saved by the
unmerited favor of God through our "obedience to the faith" (Romans 16:26,
Matthew 7:21). There is no way that anyone could ever be good enough to go
to heaven, because we have all sinned. We all deserve to be punished
eternally. There is no way that anyone could ever earn his way to heaven,
because heaven will be a gift of God for those who go there.

Our Lord says in Luke 17:10, "So likewise you, when you have done all
those things which you are commanded, say, We are unprofitable servants.
We have done what was our duty to do." We cannot do enough to earn our
salvation. We read in Isaiah 64:6, "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all
our righteousnesses are like filthy rags." There is no one of us that deserves
to be saved. It is only by the grace of God that anyone will be saved.

Lesson 6

Christ Has Paid Our Penalty

We have all sinned, and the penalty had to be paid in order for
God to be just. Christ has paid that penalty. Romans 5:6-10 says,
"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died
for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet
perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God
demonstrates His love toward us, in that, while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when
we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son,
much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life". It is such
wonderful love for God and Christ to have paid our penalty.
 Also, we read in I Peter 3:18, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." Yes, Christ is the just, who
had to die for us the unjust, so that it would be possible for us to be brought
back to God. He was the righteous dying for us the wicked. "For He made
Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). He was the innocent taking the
punishment for us the guilty. He accomplished for us what we could never
accomplish for ourselves. He paid the debt for us that we could not pay. If
man had not been guilty of sin, there would have been no need for Christ to
have died on the cross. All accountable people are guilty of sin. But with
Christ dying on the cross, God has a way to forgive man and still preserve His
own justice and righteousness. Because of the death and suffering of Christ for
us, God can now be just in saving us. If our goodness could save us then it
would not have been necessary for Christ to come into this world and die for
our sins.

The only way that man can be saved is through Christ. There is no other
way. John 14:6 says, "Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
No one comes to the Father except through Me." The only way we can get
to God is through Christ. We also read in Acts 4:12, "Nor is there salvation in
any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by
which we must be saved." We cannot be saved by relying on Mohammed,
Buddha, Judaism, Hindu gods, denominationalism, or any other false religion.
Neither can we devise our own system of "Christianity" as is being done today
and expect it to save us. Only Jesus Christ can specify the conditions for our
salvation, because He paid our price and is our only Saviour.

Christ went through much suffering for our sins. It is beyond our
imagination what He endured. Christ came to this earth for the purpose of
dying for our sins. There are many Old Testament prophesies that foretell the
inevitable death of Christ. For example 700 years before it happened we read
in Isaiah 53:5-6, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised
for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His
stripes we are healed....and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Christ’s death was no accident, because this was in God’s eternal plan to
redeem man.

Christ in his omniscience, fully knew what was soon going to happen. In
Matthew 20:17-19 we read, "Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve
disciples aside on the road and said to them, Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and
the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they
will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to
scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again". Christ went
there willingly to die for us.

Christ was both divine and human. The human part of Christ dreaded his
death on the cross as much as we would if we were on death row. He fully
knew what was going to happen. When Christ was in the garden of
Gethsemane with His apostles the night before His crucifixion, we read in Luke
22:41-44, "And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt
down, and prayed, saying, Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from Me;
nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done. Then an angel appeared to Him
from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony He prayed more
earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to
the ground". Yes, Christ was dreading the horrible death that He was about to
endure for you and for me.

Also, we read in I Peter 2:24, "Who Himself bore our sins in His own body
on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness: by whose
stripes you were healed." Jesus has personally paid the price for our sins, so
that we can be made righteous before God. When a person is made righteous,
by obeying God’s plan to save man, God will then save him.

The human side of Christ knows how we feel. He had the same feelings, the
same sorrows, the same fears, and He experienced pain just like we do. He
fully knows what it is to live a human life. On the Day of Judgment, no one
will be able to point a finger at Christ and say, "You just don't know what it is
to live as a human." Yes He does. The dread, the fear, the sorrow, the
mocking, the humiliation, the spitting, the pain of scourging, and the
crucifixion were all dreaded by our Lord. It hurt Him as much as it would us.
Jesus did not deserve such treatment, but He endured it for our sakes, taking
our punishment, in order that God could be just in saving us. He was the
innocent dying for us, the guilty.

Crucifixion on a cross is the cruelest form of torture that has ever been
devised by man. There is nothing worse. Our Lord hung there in pain and
agony for six long hours in a slow death, enduring punishment, so that God
could be just in saving us. What wonderful love beyond description that God
and Christ have for us. Do we have the same love for Them which is shown by
our obedience to Their word?
 Lesson 7

Judgment Day Is Coming

There is a day coming in which we will all stand in judgment before the
Lord. “And as it is appointed for men once to die, but after this the judgment”
(Hebrews 9:27). We have two appointments, which we will definitely keep:
death and judgment. These cannot be cancelled. When we draw our last breath
our eternal destiny is sealed. We don’t know when we will die. We might drop
dead of a heart attack or stroke in the next few minutes or be killed in a car
wreck today. Life is uncertain. Judgment day is certain. There is no way to
escape it. All of us will be there for this final appointment. “For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things
done in the body, according to what he has done in the body, whether good or
bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2
Corinthians 5:10-11). No one will be excluded from the Judgment. Every
person, who has ever lived, that is now living, and who will ever live, will
stand before the Lord and be judged.

We do not know when Judgment Day will come. “But the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a
great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the
works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be
dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and
godliness” (2 Peter 3:10-11). We must be very serious about the Judgment.
When God decides to end time, “the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with
His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know
God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,
and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). “For we shall all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written ‘As I live says the
Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God’. So
then each of us shall give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:10-12).

What will the judgment be like? “Then I saw a great white throne, and Him
who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there
was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing
before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is
the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the
things written in the books…And anyone not found written in the Book of Life
was cast into the lake of fire…The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and false prophet are. And they shall
be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:11-12, 15, 10).
Being cast into the lake of fire with the devil is not very good company to be
with forever and ever. Is your name in the Book of Life? Are you sure? Your
eternal destiny of either Heaven or Hell will be determined by whether it is
there or not.

The Lord is omniscient. He knows all things. “And there is no creature

hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to
whom we must give an account” (Hebrews 4:13). The Lord will make no
mistakes in the Judgment. “For God will bring every work into judgment,
including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14). We
can have no secrets from God. He knows everything about each one of us.

There will be only a few people saved, but the vast majority will be
condemned to the everlasting fires of Hell. Our Lord tells us to “Enter the
narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction,
and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is
the way which leads to life and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
At the Judgment there will be two groups of people, the vast majority who are
lost and the few who are saved. In which group will you be?

In the Judgment it will be determined where we will be spending eternity,

whether in Heaven or Hell. Concerning Judgment Day Jesus says, “Not
everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but
he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in Your
name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them,
I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew
7:21-23). Many will be shocked and terrified to learn that their sincerity, good
works, and prayers will be to no avail if they have left out the essential
component of obedience to God’s will. It is very wise to obey the will of God
and only the will of God. No human creed written by men or convention of
men will do us any good, but will only cause one to be lost. God will not
accept any of our excuses. Being religious is not enough, doing good works is
not enough. We must submit to the obedience of God’s will, and not our will,
or else we will hear the Lord say, “I never knew you, depart from Me”
(Matthew 7:23). The Lord’s judgment will be final. There will be no appeal.

God will not accept anyone who is a member of any of the many
denominational churches established by men. Jesus says, “Every plant which
my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted” (Matthew 15:13). Jesus
has only promised to save His one church (Ephesians 5:23), the only one He
purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28). All the foolish and false doctrines
that men have devised in “handling the word of God deceitfully” (2 Corinthians
4:2) will cause billions of people to be lost forever in the burning fires of Hell.
The only standard of our judgment will be God’s word as found in the Bible.
Jesus says, “the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John
12:48).

There will only be two verdicts: either 1) “I never knew you, depart from
Me”...”you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels”
(Matthew 7:23, 25:41), or 2) “Well done, good and faithful servant…enter into
the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21). Our number one priority in this life is
that we must be prepared to meet the Lord in judgment. If we miss Heaven and
end up in Hell we can only blame ourselves. We chose to be there. There will
not be a second chance. We have got to get it right the first time. The only
thing that matters in this life is obtaining a home in Heaven; nothing else is as
important. “Prepare to meet your God” (Amos 4:12). In the lessons to follow
we will see what the Bible says that we must do to be prepared for Judgment
Day.

Lesson 8

Thinking Back
(This lesson is to help you think back and try to remember the circumstances concerning
your salvation.)

1) Have you ever made a commitment to the Lord?

2) Have you ever been saved?

3) Did you accept Christ as your personal saviour?

4) Were you saved and your sins forgiven when you accepted Christ as your
personal Saviour?

5) Have you been baptized?

6) How long after you accepted Christ as your personal Saviour were you
baptized?

7) Were you saved and your sins forgiven before or after you were baptized?

8) At what age were you baptized?

9) How were you baptized?

Lesson 9

Doing God’s Will

The Bible must be our only authority in religion if we want to please God
and go to Heaven. People must give up all the various false doctrines that
propagate the many different kinds of denominations and go back to only the
Bible. There were no denominations in the New Testament times and there
would be none today if only the Bible was taught and practiced. There would
only be the Lord's one true church, the church of Christ.

How then do we make sure that we are among the few who are saved and
not among the many who are lost? Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23, "Not
everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but
he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and cast out demons in
Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then will I declare to
them, I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness". If
you believe and call Jesus, "Lord, Lord", you are still lost if you do not do what
God says. If we are not obeying God, we are practicing lawlessness. If we
ever hope to go to heaven, we must do the will of the Father. This is the only
way. Not the will of men, but God’s will. Not our own will, but God’s will.
Just because we call Jesus our Lord, this will not save us.

We cannot go to Heaven by just calling Jesus, "Lord, Lord". Jesus says in

the above scripture, on the Day of Judgment, many will be pleading with him,
calling him Lord, Lord, and reminding him of the many wonderful works they
had done in His name, but He will say unto them, "I never knew you, depart
from Me you who practice lawlessness". Why? Why? Because they had not
done the will of the Father in heaven. Oh, they thought they had, but they
hadn’t. They had done their own will or the will of some other man. This will
be the worst thing that will ever be said to an individual, when the Lord on
Judgment Day says to the majority of people, "I never knew you; depart from
Me". The majority of people will be told this and be punished forever in Hell.
There will be no appeal to this decision. There will be no second chance. We
have to get it right the first time.

These people in the above scripture seemed to be honest, but they were
honestly mistaken as the majority of people are today. The people seemed to be
sincere. There will be many surprised but lost people on the Day of Judgment
who thought that it doesn't really matter what you believe as long as you are
sincere. To believe this is to believe a lie of Satan. If it doesn't matter what
you believe, then it doesn't matter if you believe at all. Apparently many were
good people, because they had "done many wonderful works". But they had
not done the will of the Father who is in heaven. Man generally wants to do
things his way and he doesn't really care what God thinks. We cannot obey
God without doing what God says to do, when God says to do it, how God says
to do it, and for the reason God says to do it. Nothing is more important than
pleasing God by doing His will so that we can go to Heaven.

We learn from the above scripture, that we don't go to Heaven by doing the
will of men, or by doing what we think is right. The only way we can go to
Heaven is by doing the will of the Father, and that will is found right in our
Bibles. Do we really know what the will of the Father is so that we can be sure
of going to Heaven? This is too important a matter to assume we do know or to
take someone else’s word for it. One must know what the will of God is before
he can obey it. Do we really know what the Bible says that God wants us to do
in order to be saved?

What must I do to be saved? This is a very important question. Many

people would answer this question in many different ways. The many different
denominations give many different and conflicting answers. Only God's way is
correct. The Bible is the only reliable source we can go to for our answer, since
it is our soul that will be lost if we follow man's advice. Our obedience to
Christ is a very serious decision and must not be taken lightly. It must be on
the Lord's terms as laid out in the scriptures and not on our terms.

We have already seen in Matthew 7:13-14, 21, only few will be saved, and
many will be lost, and only those who do the will of the Father can go to
Heaven. We read in 1 John 2:4, "He who says, I know Him, and does not keep
His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." "A liar" is pretty
strong language. A person is lying to himself and everyone else who says he
knows and loves God, but does not keep God's commandments. We know that
a liar cannot go to Heaven (Revelation 21:8).

We must do all of God's will, so that we can go to Heaven. There is no other

way. We must do all of what God has commanded us. Our Lord says in
Matthew 28:20, “Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded
you.” We must do all things God has commanded us. We cannot pick and
choose and take a verse out of context but we must take all of what the Bible
says. We cannot be pleasing to God by dreaming up our own plan of how God
is going to save us. We must follow His plan and only His plan if we expect
Him to save us. Our salvation in Heaven is too great to lose, because if we
don’t go to Heaven we will spend forever and ever in a burning Hell. Many
people don’t really believe this, but they all will one day.

No single condition, that God imposes, can be ignored. God has no non-
essential commands. When we don't obey a command of God, we have just
broken it. Many people think that God will save them, no matter if they follow
God's specific instructions on what they must do to be saved or not. We must
obey God by doing what God says to do, when God says to do it, how God says
to do it, and for the reason God says to do it. What then is God's will, so that
we can go to Heaven and not have to endure eternal punishment forever and
ever? We will find the answer in the Bible in the following lessons.

Lesson 10

Believe in God and in Christ

Jesus says in John 8:24, "For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die
in your sins." In order to do the will of the Father, we must believe in God and
in Christ, otherwise we will die in our sins and be lost. If we don't believe in
God and in Christ, we will certainly not do what They tell us we must do. If
God is to be believed at all, He must be believed fully. Hebrews 11:6 says,
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God
must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently
seek Him." We must diligently seek to know all that God wants us to do and
then gladly do it.

Do you believe in God and Christ with all your heart? Do you believe in
Them to the point that you have all the confidence in the world in Them and
you will do anything and everything They tell you to do? Not what we choose
to do, but what God tells us to do. If we will not, then we are no different than
those people that we read about in John 12:42-43, "Nevertheless even among
the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not
confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the
praise of men more than the praise of God." These people believed Jesus,
but they were not saved, because they would not confess and obey Him.

Many people believe that redemptive faith is merely a willing disposition to

trust in Christ as their personal savior, independent of any further acts of
obedience. This notion is completely alien from the truth found in the Bible. A
belief that will not accept and do all God tells us to do is not enough. If this is
the case, then we are no better than the devils in James 2:19, "You believe that
there is one God. You do well. Even the devils believe and tremble!" The
devils believe in God and they tremble, but this does not save them. So "faith
only" does not save anyone, or otherwise the devils would also be saved. God's
word says, "You see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only"
(James 2:24). Man's doctrine of "faith only" is foreign to the Bible.
 Our belief is a work of God that God requires of us. John 6:29, "Jesus
answered and said unto them, this is the work of God, that you believe in Him
whom He sent." Our belief must be an obedient belief in all the things that God
tells us to do. When our faith in God and in Christ has caused us to do what
they tell us only then can we be saved. We do not earn our salvation but we
qualify for it only when we have done what God has told us we must do.

Satan is trying to tell people today they do not have to do anything to qualify
for God's gift of eternal life. Satan is successful with many people. We cannot
have selective obedience and be pleasing to God. Our obedience is how we
show our love to God and Christ. John 14:21, "He that has My commandments
and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved of
My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." If we love Christ
we will abandon all we do religiously that is not found in the Bible and then do
all things that Christ wants us to do.

Just before Jesus ascended back into Heaven, He commanded His apostles
in Matthew 28:19-20 to "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." Our faith in
Him must lead us to observe all things the Lord has commanded us to do in
order to be pleasing to Him. We cannot select just certain commands of God to
obey. We cannot ignore or rationalize away any of His commands we don’t
like and expect to be saved. To believe in Him is to obey Him fully.

In speaking of Christ, Hebrews 5:9 says, "And having been perfected, He

became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him." If Christ is to be
the author of our eternal salvation, He must be obeyed with an obedient faith.
Respect for Jesus as our Lord means doing all He says and for the reason He
says. In Luke 6:46 Jesus says, "But why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do
the things which I say?" Jesus is not our Lord if we do not do what He says.
Are you willing for Jesus to be your Lord?

Lesson 11

Repentance
What else is the will of the Father that we may please Him so that we can go
to Heaven? Jesus says in Luke 13:3, "I tell you, no; but unless you repent, you
will all likewise perish." It is either repent or perish; the choice is ours. But
Satan does not want us to repent. Acts 17:30, "Truly these times of ignorance
God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent." All
people everywhere, and that includes you and me, are commanded of God to
repent. Repent of what? Repent of our sins. "If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves; and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). Repent of not fully
serving and following all that God says.

God is pleading with us to repent. He greatly desires that we turn to him.

He tells us in 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as
some men count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance." God wants us to repent
so we can be saved. He is patiently waiting on us. But eventually our time will
run out. The longer we put off repentance, the harder our heart gets.

Repentance is not just being sorry. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, "For Godly
sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the
sorrow of the world produces death." If one is only sorry he got caught, then
this will not lead to repentance. Godly sorrow helps bring on repentance.
Repentance is not sorrow for sin, but one cannot repent without being sorry he
has sinned. “Let the wicked forsake his way…let him return to the Lord, and
He will have mercy on him…for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7). In
repentance, one must first understand he has sinned, feel sorrow for the sin, and
then stop and turn away from that sin. Repentance is a change of heart and a
change of mind. We must make up our mind to stop living life our way and
start living it God’s way. It is making up our mind that henceforth we are going
to serve God with all our might and do everything He says. Matthew 22:37,
"Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your mind." In other words, we must do it with
all of our being.

Paul says, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!”
(Romans 6:1-2). To show our repentance we are to “Therefore bear fruits
worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3:8). Why should we repent of sins? “For the
wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Spiritual death is separation from God
in eternity. Unless one repents he cannot go to Heaven, but will eternally suffer
the torments of Hell. We must give up our sin and “Therefore do not let sin
reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6:12). “He who covers his sins will not
prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes his sin shall have mercy”
(Proverbs 28:13).
 Repentance is a change of heart, which results in a change of actions for
the better. Without repentance we cannot receive forgiveness and be saved.
Where we spend eternity, in Heaven or Hell, is determined by our repentance.
All of Heaven is anxious for us to repent. Jesus says, “Likewise, I say to you,
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”
(Luke 15:10).

Romans 2:4 says, "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness,
forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing the goodness of God leads you to
repentance." God has been so good to us, and this should cause us to want to
please Him in every way. God, because of His love for us, has done so much
for us, and because of this we read in I John 4:19, "We love Him, because He
first loved us." This should cause us to want to repent and do all the things that
He has asked us to do, otherwise we do not love God. Jesus said in John 14:24,
"He who does not love Me, does not keep my words." 1 John 2:4 says, "He
who says 'I know Him', and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the
truth is not in him." Do you know and love God and Christ? If you do, you
will want to do everything that He says. In John 14:15 Jesus says, "If you love
Me keep My commandments." Are you willing to show your love to God by
repenting?

Lesson 12

Confessing Christ
Jesus wants us to confess Him before men. In Matthew 10:32-33 He says,
"Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before
My Father who is in Heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will
also deny before my Father who is in Heaven." If we deny Christ we are going
to be lost. We must not be ashamed to confess to other people that we believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Jesus says in Mark 8:38, "For whoever is
ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him
the Son of Man also will be ashamed when he comes in the glory of His Father
with the holy angels." If He is ashamed of us, this means we are going to be
lost.

There are several examples of people confessing their faith in Christ in the
Bible. One is found in Matthew 16:16-17, "Simon Peter answered and said,
'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God Jesus answered and said to
him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this
to you, but My Father who is in Heaven.'" Christ was well pleased with Peter's
confession and He will be with ours also.

In Acts 8:36-37 a man asked the question, "'See here is water. What hinders
me from being baptized?' Then Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart
you may'. And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God.'" Here we see we must believe with all our heart that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God and not be ashamed to make that confession to others before we
are baptized. Would you be willing to confess to others that you believe that
Jesus is the Christ the Son of the living God?

Lesson 13

Must We Be Baptized To Be Saved?

The will of the Father also includes our being baptized for the forgiveness of
our sins, so we can be saved and go to heaven. In Mark 16:16 Jesus says, "He
who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will
be condemned." Who shall be saved? "He who believes and is baptized." This
is such a simple command to obey in the way the Lord says to do it. Notice the
divine order: Believe + Baptism = Saved. Jesus placed both belief and
baptism before salvation. But men, at the prompting of Satan, are trying to tell
us many other different things that are contrary to what Jesus says. Men have
taken what the Lord said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved," and
have changed it in every way possible to suit themselves. The following is
what Jesus says and also the many ways in which man has tried to change what
the Lord has said.

1) As we have just seen Jesus says in Mark 16:16, "He who believes
and is baptized will be saved." Jesus says that both belief and baptism
are required to be saved.

2) There are those who in reality say that, "He that does not believe and
is not baptized will be saved," because they say God is going to save
everyone. This is the Universalist who says everyone is going to be
saved and no one is going to be lost. This may sound good, but we
know this is not true because of what our Lord said in Matthew 7:13-14,
that many are going to be lost and only few are going to be saved.

3) Then there are others who essentially say, "He who believes and is
 baptized will not be saved." They say that no one is going to be saved.
This is the Atheist who says there is not going to be an eternity and
when you are dead, you are like the dog Rover, you are dead all over.
But again we know that this is false. We have already seen few will be
saved, but the majority will be lost.

4) Still others imply that, "He who does not believe but is baptized will
be saved." These are those who practice infant baptism, but an infant
certainly cannot believe. Of course an infant is not accountable but is
innocent and is not lost.

5) Then there are also those who say, "He who believes and is not
baptized will be saved." They are trying to tell us we are saved by faith
only and that baptism is not necessary to be saved, but all you have to
do is believe. Again, like the other three, this is contrary to what the
Lord has said in Mark 16:16, "He who believes and is baptized shall be
saved." On the day of judgment we are only going to be judged by
what the Lord says and not by what we think or by what others say.

Who are you following? Are you following 1) Jesus, 2) the Universalist, 3)
the Atheist, 4) those promoting infant baptism, or 5) those promoting faith
only? We can go to heaven only by following what Jesus says and not what
man says. The following chart shows what the Lord has said and also the many
ways that men have tried to change it. They have changed it every way
possible to suit themselves.

1) Jesus in Mark 16:16 says: Believe + Baptized = Saved

2) Universalist says: Not Believe + Not Baptized = Saved

3) Atheist says: Believe + Baptized = Not Saved

4) Infant Baptism says: Not Believe + Baptized = Saved

5) Faith Only says: Believe + Not Baptized = Saved

Most of the denominational world laughs at God's word when it says that
baptism is for the remission of one's sins so he can be saved and go to Heaven.
They are contradicting what the Lord says. Our Lord says in Mark 16:16, "He
who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be
condemned." But there are those who want to try to justify their disobedience
by ignoring what Jesus said in the first half of the verse and only look at the
latter half. They do this in an attempt to try to manufacture a loophole in what
the Lord has said. They are not willing to accept that Jesus says we must
believe and be baptized to be saved. After the Lord has suffered and died for us
they are still rejecting what the Lord has commanded us to do. Jesus could not
make it any clearer what one has to do to be saved.

The later half of the verse says, "but he who does not believe will be
condemned." They say in the second part Jesus does not say people are
condemned because they are not baptized, but only because they didn’t believe.
People who say this are grasping at straws in trying to avoid what the Lord
requires for one to be saved. But why would anyone who does not believe
want to be baptized? They wouldn’t. It is impossible for any disbeliever to be
scripturally baptized for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38) so they can be
saved (Mark 16:16). In Mark 16:16 we only have two choices: either we obey
it and be saved or we do not obey and be eternally lost.

When one refuses to believe and obey the first part of what Jesus says in
Mark 16:16 then the second part of the verse applies to him, "he who does not
believe will be condemned." When one does not obey the Lord's command to
be baptized in order to be saved, this shows he does not believe the Lord. A
lack of belief is enough to condemn a person and damn his soul. A person who
does not believe the Lord does not have to be told he/she will be condemned
without baptism because they are already condemned because of a lack of faith
in what the Lord says.

A person who does not believe Jesus will certainly not be baptized. One
who does not believe could go through the motions and get dunked under the
water, but he would not be scripturally baptized. He would only get wet. Since
one who does not believe could not be scripturally baptized, it would have been
useless for the Lord to have mentioned baptism in the latter half of the verse.
People may argue against the Lord's requirement of being baptized in order to
be saved, but they will not be able to argue with the Lord when they stand
before Him on the Day of Judgment. It will be too late when they begin crying
for just one drop of water to cool their tongue (Luke 16:24).

The sad thing is there are also many people who try to use "the thief on the
cross" as their justification for not obeying the clear and plain command of
Jesus to be baptized in order to be saved. On the Day of Judgment it will not
be the case of "what about the thief on the cross". The thief on the cross was
before the death of Christ and before the New Testament took effect. The Old
Testament was still in effect then. We read in Hebrews 9:16-17, "For where
there is a testament there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For
a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the
testator lives". The New Testament took effect after the death of Christ. We
are now under the New Testament. Anyone refusing to obey Jesus on His terms
in the New Testament has no legitimate claim on the salvation Jesus offers.
One will certainly be held accountable for his disobedience by the eternal loss
of his soul. Either we obey what Jesus says or we will be cast into Hell. If we
end up in Hell, we will only have ourselves to blame.

People need to stop spending their time in trying to figure out a way to get
around doing what the Lord said, but rather they need be willing to submit to
the final authority of our Lord. When we stand before the Lord on the Day of
Judgment to be judged by Him, there are going to be many who have chosen
not to do what the Lord has said. Rather they have chosen to do what man has
said to do. Romans 10:3 tells us people are "Seeking to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God." The choice is
ours. Either we have tried to establish our own righteousness or we have
submitted to the righteousness of God. Unless we are forgiven the way that
Jesus Christ has specified in the Bible then we will die in our sins and be
forever lost and forever separated from God in eternal punishment. We make
the decision; but we will reap the eternal consequences. Are you ready for
those consequences?

The Lord says in John 12:48, "The word that I have spoken will judge him
in the last day." We are not going to be judged by what man says or by what
we think, but by what our Lord says. This is going to be the standard for our
judgment.

For the majority of people, the judgment will be a horrible day, and a day of
many terrible surprises. Obedience to our Lord will save any lost person, no
matter how evil his past has been, but obedience to a mere human doctrine will
not save anyone, no matter how good they have been. It will only cause them
to be lost. Speaking of Christ, Hebrews 5:9 says, "And having been perfected,
He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him." Yes,
we must obey our Lord, if we expect Him to save us.

Baptism is not a work of merit that man does. We do nothing for God when
we are baptized, except obey Him; but God does something for us. Baptism is
God’s chosen way of imparting His saving grace. Baptism is the submission to
the command of God that saves. As we read in Acts 10:48, "And He
commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord." God offers
salvation to all men, but He conditions that offer with obeying the requirements
which He has set out in His word. The Lord has commanded us to be
baptized. The Lord has no nonessential commands. In Hebrews 5:9 we saw
that no man can be saved by the grace of God without being obedient to the
will of God.

Believing and being baptized to be saved, as Mark 16:16 says, does not
nullify the grace of God, but it activates it. The fact that baptism is essential to
our salvation in no way reflects upon the wonderful grace offered to all; but
rather it honors Christ who commanded it. Baptism is a very serious matter.
According to the Bible, baptism is for the purpose of our salvation.

In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. God said in Genesis 2:17, "For in the day that you
eat of it you shall surely die." But later in Genesis 3:4 Satan told Eve, "You
will not surely die." Satan just added the one word "not" and perverted what
God had said. This is what men are doing today. Jesus said in Mark 16:16,
"He who believes and is baptized will be saved." Men today erroneously teach
"He that believes and is not baptized shall be saved." By adding the word
"not" men today are perverting the word of God just as Satan did. Notice the
Lord clearly states that baptism precedes being saved, and all of the theological
quibbling in the world will not change that order.

Even Satan knows that God has chosen to save people at the point of
baptism, not before. Satan does not want anyone to be baptized for the purpose
of being saved. Satan tells people all you need to do to be saved is to "accept
Jesus as your personal Saviour" and say "the sinner's prayer". This is nowhere
found in the Bible. The lie of Satan says baptism is not necessary for the
forgiveness of sins and to be saved. Satan then tells people after you are saved
and your sins are forgiven then you can be baptized but not for the forgiveness
of your sins and to be saved because you are already saved and your sins are
forgiven. This lie of Satan will cause many people to be lost. But Jesus
promised salvation only to those who believe and are baptized (Mark 16:16).
We cannot afford to be wrong on this vital point. Our eternal destiny depends
on our being right with God. If you have not been baptized for the forgiveness
of your sins so you can be saved, there needs to be a deep concern and urgency
about your obedience.

Lesson 14
 Must We Be Baptized For The Forgiveness Of Our
Sins?
Man has a sin problem. God says in Isaiah 59:2 "But your iniquities have
separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so
that He will not hear." It is our sins that separate us from God. In the second
chapter of Acts, Peter had convicted the people there of having killed the Son
of God. In verse 37 their question was, "Men and brethren what shall we do?"
In Acts 2:38 (KJV), "Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized
everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins."
Here people were told to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins.
Note that baptism comes before the remission of sins.

We are to repent and be baptized for the remission of our sins. This is God's
instruction on how we solve our sin problem. In the above verse, when Peter
told them to "Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins", whatever
repentance is for in that verse, baptism is for the same reason. Repent and be
baptized are joined by the coordinating conjunction and, which joins words of
equal grammatical importance.

Certainly Acts 2:38 does not teach that lost people are to repent because
their sins are already forgiven. Neither does it teach that lost people are to be
baptized because their sins are already forgiven. Only when we submit to
baptism as the Lord has commanded, that is for the remission of sins to be
saved, do we show our faith in the Lord. Only then will He forgive and save
us. Satan would like you to believe that baptism has nothing to do with the
forgiveness of your sins. Have you been baptized for the remission of your
sins? Again, the choice is yours; either you believe what God has said and be
saved, or you believe what men say and you will continue to be lost. We only
have two choices, and the choice we make will have eternal consequences. But
please make the right choice so you can go to Heaven and not Hell.

In the book of Acts we have the account of the conversion of the apostle
Paul. In Acts chapter 9, Paul is traveling on the road to Damascus to persecute
Christians. The Lord appears to Paul on the road and strikes him blind. In
verse 5 He tells Paul, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." In verse 6 Paul
asks, "Lord what do you want me to do? Then the Lord said to him, 'Arise and
go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'" The Lord did not tell
Paul what he must do, but that someone in the city would tell him what he
must do. In Acts 9:9, after Paul went into the city, "And he was three days
without sight, and neither ate nor drank." Paul was worried sick and very
upset. He had just found out that all the years in his zeal, while persecuting the
Lord's church, he had actually been persecuting the Lord. Paul was devastated
and broken-hearted in finding out that he had been religiously wrong all these
years.

Let's see now what Paul was told he must do. In Acts chapter 22, a man
named Ananias, who was sent by the Lord, came to Paul and miraculously
restored Paul's eyesight. Notice what Paul was told by Ananias what he must
do. "And now why are you waiting? Arise, and be baptized and wash away
your sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16). Paul was not saved
three days earlier while on the road to Damascus, as some people would like
for us to believe. Paul up to this point was still lost, because he still had all his
sins that needed to be washed away. Paul still had a sin problem. Paul's
baptism was for the reason of washing his sins away. Obedience to the Lord's
command to be baptized was necessary to wash away Paul's sins.

Paul was not told "to pray the sinners prayer and ask Jesus to come into his
heart in order to be saved." This is completely foreign to the scripture. You
cannot find anywhere in the Bible where anyone was ever told to do this. Since
God in the Bible has never told anyone "To pray and ask Jesus to come into
your heart in order to be saved", who else but men could have come up with
such an idea? Forgiveness occurs in the mind of God and not on the basis of
man's feeling in his heart. Only when we have done what God has said we
MUST do, will God forgive our sins. We cannot devise our own plan as to
how our sins are to be forgiven. To be baptized for any reason other than for
the remission of sins so one can be saved is to reject Christ.

Today many people espouse the false doctrine, that in order to be saved, one
must “accept Jesus as your personal Saviour” and say “the sinners prayer”.
This teaching contradicts the Bible’s clear instruction as to what an alien sinner
must do to obtain forgiveness and salvation. Nowhere in the New Testament is
the alien sinner ever authorized to ask Jesus to come into his heart and to pray
for forgiveness in order to be saved. I have yet to find anyone who can provide
even one Biblical reference to substantiate this false claim. Many good honest
people have been deluded by this false doctrine. Today just as it was in the
apostle Paul’s day, “there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the
gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:7).

At the point of baptism every sin that we have ever committed will be taken
away, if it is done for that purpose. Most denominational churches encourage
people to be baptized BECAUSE they have ALREADY been saved from sins. I
cannot think of a more flagrant crime against both God and Man than to teach
lost sinners, who want to be saved, something different than what God says in
the Bible. To make an impression on them that they are already saved when
God has not promised it is grievously wrong. Many people today have been
baptized in order to be added to some denomination, but not for the remission
of their sins. They still have every sin they have ever committed. Have you
been baptized for the purpose of having your sins washed away? If you have
not, then you still have a sin problem. You are still lost.

Satan wants people to “accept Jesus as their personal Saviour”, but he does
not want them to be baptized (immersed Romans 6:4) for the forgiveness of
their sins (Acts 2:38) so they can be saved (Mark 16:16). Satan knows that
people are still lost until they are baptized for the forgiveness of their sins.
Satan uses “accepting Jesus as your personal Saviour” to give people a false
hope of salvation. Many people after they “accept Jesus as their personal
Saviour” are usually baptized a week or two later to join that particular
denomination, but not for the forgiveness of their sins so they can be saved
because they think they are already saved. Since their baptism was not for the
forgiveness of their sins in order to be saved, they still have every sin they have
ever committed and are still lost. They have not done what God says, the way
God says and for the reason God says for one to be saved. Satan has just won
another soul to be with him in the eternal torments of Hell.

Do not misunderstand. We do not "earn" our salvation by being baptized.

Salvation is a gift from God. Even though salvation is a free gift from God,
God has laid down certain conditions upon which He will give it. One
condition to receive His gift is faith: Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is
impossible to please Him." Another condition of His free gift is repentance:
Luke 13:3, "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish." Another condition
is baptism: Mark 16:16, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." Still
another condition is living a faithful Christian life: Revelation 2:10, "Be
faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." The conditions
include doing all "the will of the Father," Matthew 7:21. These are God's
conditions. Believing in God and Christ with all our heart, repenting of all our
sins, confessing Christ and being baptized are all equally important to our
salvation. If any one of these is lacking, then we will not be saved. You can't
have one without the others.

There is nothing that we can do to merit our salvation. Whether it be

believing in Jesus or being baptized, we can never "earn our salvation". Our
salvation is free, but it is not cheap. It cost the very own life of God's Son. The
only way we can show our faith in Christ is if we are willing to accept and obey
all of what He says. We are only saved through faith when our faith has
produced the works of obedience. If we really have faith in Christ, then we
will do anything and everything He tells us. But if our faith is lacking we will
balk at Christ's commands such as being baptized for the forgiveness of our
sins to be saved. Since we have sinned against God, it is for God to dictate the
terms of our pardon. It is when one is baptized that God has chosen to impart
His wonderful grace of salvation to us as a willing obedient believer, not
before. God's gift of salvation must be accepted on His terms, not ours.

According to the Bible, it is at the point of baptism, that we pass from an

unsaved state into a saved state. In other words, at the time of baptism, we go
from being unsaved to being saved. We read in I Peter 3:21 (KJV), "The like
figure whereunto even baptism does also now save us." The Bible says that
"baptism does now also save us," but men say "baptism does not save us."
Who are you going to accept, the word of men or the Word of God? We are
told in Acts 5:29, "We ought to obey God rather than men." On the Day of
Judgment, the Bible will still say that "baptism does also now save us." Again
the choice is yours, but it is very serious. We dare not make the wrong choice
which will have eternal consequences.

Lesson 15

The Cleansing Blood of Christ

Hebrews 9:22 says, "Without shedding of blood there is no remission." I
John 1:7 tells us that "The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all
sin." God, in choosing the cleansing agent for our sins, chose the very best
that He had, the blood of His own Son. It is by the precious blood of our
Lord, that we are cleansed from all of our sins. Revelation 1:5 says, "To Him
who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." Yes, it is only
by the blood of our Lord, that we get our sins washed away. John 19:34 says,
"But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood
and water came out." Jesus shed His blood for us, in His death, when He died
on the cruel cross of Calvary.

How do we come into contact with that cleansing blood, which our Lord
shed in his death, in order to have our sins washed away? Romans 6:3 tells us
how. "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into His death?" Since Christ shed His blood in His
death, when a person is baptized into our Lord's death, it is there that he
spiritually comes into contact with the blood of Christ and his sins are then
washed away. Baptism is the only means of reaching His death by being
"baptized into His death", where His blood was shed, so we can have
forgiveness of our sins. So, when Ananias told Paul in Acts 22:16, "And now
why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins," it was
the blood of Christ that washed away Paul's sins when he was baptized.

There are many differing humanly devised plans of salvation with their
flowery theological phrases. One of these says all you have to do is "accept
Jesus as your personal saviour" and then "say the sinner's prayer" to be saved.
Others say you must be sprinkled, or touch the radio, or speak in an unknown
tongue in order to be saved. There is not a verse in the Bible that teaches any
of this. All of these are false and become a mockery of God and what He says
in the Bible. But as we are told in Galatians 1:7, "But there are some who
trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." These perverted humanly
invented plans of salvation will result in many good people being lost. If
people would only read the Bible for themselves to see what God requires to be
saved so they can go to Heaven.

Salvation does not originate with men but with God. The Lord's salvation is
offered on His terms, not ours. To refuse the Lord's terms of salvation and
pardon is to forfeit eternal life in Heaven.

Have you been baptized to have your sins washed away by the blood of
Christ? If you haven't, then you still have every sin that you have ever
committed. Your sins have separated you from God. With your sins you can't
go to Heaven to be with God when you die, but you will have to go to the
eternal punishment of Hell where there will be weeping and wailing and
gnashing of teeth forever and ever. You may have been baptized into a
denominational church, but not for remission of your sins so you can be saved.
If you have not been baptized for the remission of your sins, so that you can be
saved, then the blood of Christ will be of no benefit to you, and Christ’s death
for you was in vain. But please take advantage of Christ having died for you.
Only you can do this for yourself.

Lesson 16

Becoming a Child of God

 Galatians 3:26-27 (KJV) says, "For you are all children of God by faith in
Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put
on Christ." All of us want to be children of God, but it is our faith in Christ that
leads us to become children of God. This verse also tells us how our faith leads
us to be children of God. It says, "For as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ." The word for as used in this scripture is a
preposition, which means for the purpose of or in order to be. Therefore, we
are baptized for the purpose of or in order to be God's children.

To be a child of God and part of His family, we must be born into His
family. Our Lord said in John 3:3, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of heaven." Then He tells us how being born again takes place in
John 3:5, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God." When one is "born again" by being baptized into Christ he
becomes a child of God. The blood of Christ will only forgive the sins of those
who are "born of water and the Spirit" when they are baptized for that reason.

We might ask the question, "If I had to prove that I was a child of God in
order to get into Heaven, could I do it?" Only those who are God's children
will inherit Heaven. In 1 Peter 1:4 we read "To an inheritance incorruptible and
undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in Heaven for you." Are you
eligible for that inheritance? Have you become a child of God by being
baptized into Christ? If you haven't then you have no inheritance in Heaven.
You will inherit eternal punishment. Why would anyone in their right mind not
want to be a child of God?

Has your faith led you to be baptized, so that you can become a child of
God? If not then you are not a child of God; you belong to Satan. To be a child
of God, our faith must be a faith that will accept and do all that the Lord tells us
to do. It must be an obedient faith, because God says in James 2:17,20 & 24,
"Thus also faith, by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." "But do you want
to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?" "You see then that a
man is justified by works, and not by faith only." We are not saved by the
salvation-robbing doctrine of "faith only". If our faith is not one of action, it is
a dead faith. A dead faith will do you no good on the Day of Judgment. This is
the only place in the Bible that speaks of "faith only" and here the false doctrine
of "faith only" is condemned. It also refers to one who believes in "faith only"
as "O foolish man" because he will lose his soul in eternity.

Are you a child of God? Have you been baptized into Christ so you can be a
child of God? As Hebrews 2:3 says, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so
great salvation?" We know there is no escape. Please don't neglect your
salvation.

Lesson 17

Baptized Into Christ

Notice that it is baptism that puts us into Christ so we can be saved.
Galatians 3:27, "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on
Christ." Baptism is the only way a person can get into Christ. The
preposition into indicates a change of relationship. You can search from the
front to the back of your Bible, and you will find no other way to get into
Christ except by being baptized into Christ. Also Romans 6:3 says the same
thing, "Or do you not know, that as many of us as were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into his death?" These are the only two passages in the
entire New Testament that tell us how we get into Christ. So the only way we
can get into Christ is to be baptized into Christ. Either a person has been
baptized into Christ, or he is still outside of Christ. We are either in or we are
out. Our hope is based on our being in Christ. Have you been baptized into
Christ in order to be saved and have your sins forgiven? If you haven’t been,
let us notice some of the things that you are missing.

1) Ephesians 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in
Christ." This verse tells us that every spiritual blessing is located in Christ.
Only those who are in Christ can enjoy these spiritual blessings. Since this
verse says every spiritual blessing is in Christ, then there can be no spiritual
blessings for those who are outside of Christ. If you have not been baptized
into Christ, you are still outside of Christ, and you are not entitled to any
spiritual blessings. The Lord arranged it that way and no man has the right to
change it.

2) Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those

who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according
to the Spirit." On the Day of Judgment those who are in Christ will not be
condemned; but those who are outside of Christ will be condemned. We go
from being condemned to being forgiven when we are baptized into Christ. If
you have not been baptized into Christ, then you will suffer eternal
condemnation.
 3 & 4) Only those who are in Christ have been redeemed and forgiven of
their sins. Ephesians 1:7 says, "In Him we have redemption, through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Since
redemption and forgiveness of sins are located in Christ, those who have not
been baptized into Christ have not been redeemed and still have every sin they
have ever committed. The scriptures are so clear that a person needs help to
misunderstand it. Are you still outside of Christ? You do not have to stay
outside of Christ.

5) Next we read 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is

a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new." If one is in Christ, he has become a new creation. This is how one is
born again. He has a new beginning in life, and his "slate has been wiped
clean" since he has been forgiven of all his sins and has become a new saved
person. Although, if you are outside of Christ, you are still an old sinful
creature. You still have all of your sins and are without hope. When is it that
one becomes a new creation? Romans 6:3-4 says, "Or do you not know, that as
many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death: that just as
Christ Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life." When is one raised to walk in newness
of life? This scripture says that it is when we are raised out of the waters of
baptism. At that point we begin our walk in newness of life. Newness of life
does not begin until after one is baptized into Christ.

In John 3:3 Jesus told Nicodemus, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God." Then two verses later in John 3:5, Jesus tells how being
born again takes place: "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God." Our Lord is very emphatic in what he says.
No man has the power or authority to repeal what our Lord has said. Nor does
anyone have the authority to rationalize it away and teach otherwise. Jesus said
that we must be born of water and the Spirit. Jesus said that being born again
must not only include the Spirit, but it must include water. Here we see that
when one is baptized in water, he is raised to walk in newness of life, becoming
a new creation, and thus he has been born again. Are you still an old sinful
creation or have you become a new creation by being baptized into Christ?

6) The Apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:10, "Therefore I endure all things
for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in
Christ Jesus, with eternal glory." Here we see that salvation is located in
Christ, and for one to be eligible for salvation, he must be in Christ. We
cannot have salvation until we are in Christ. Until one is baptized into Christ
he is not in Christ and is not saved. It will be a horrible thing for a person, who
thinks he is saved, when he stands before the Lord on the Day of Judgment, if
he is still outside of Christ. He will have no salvation. He will be lost eternally
in Hell. Please don't let this happen to you.

7) In 1 John 5:11 we read, "And this is the testimony, that God has given us
eternal life, and this life is in His Son." So according to the inspired word of
God, eternal life is located in His Son, Jesus Christ. Only those who are in
Christ have been promised eternal life. But the only way to get into Christ is to
be baptized into Christ. Those who are outside of Christ have no promise of
eternal life. So what does that leave them? It leaves them only eternal
punishment, which is a sad condition. My heart bleeds for them, because I
don’t want to see anyone lost. But how can you get people to wake up to the
truth of God’s word?

The following chart sums up what we have been discussing concerning the
advantages of being in Christ. As we have seen, it is baptism that puts us into
Christ (Rm. 6:3, Gal. 3:27) so that we can enjoy all of these spiritual blessings
which are in Christ.

Where on the chart are you actually located? Are you outside of Christ or
inside of Christ? Not where you would like to be located, but where are you
actually located at this time, depending on whether you have been baptized into
Christ or not. If you were baptized for the remission of sins in order to be
saved then you were baptized into Christ. But if your baptism was not for the
remission of sins and not to be saved, then you are still outside of Christ. If
you are outside of Christ, you have no spiritual blessings, no redemption, no
forgiveness of sins; you will be condemned on the Day of Judgment; you are
still an old sinful creature; you have no hope of salvation and no hope of eternal
life.

As Ephesians 2:12 says, "That at the time you were without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of
promise, having no hope and without God in the world." Could a situation
get any more desperate than having no hope and being without God? This is
the situation of those who are outside of Christ.

If you thought you were saved when you accepted Christ as you personal
savior, and then later you were baptized, then your baptism was not to save
you. You thought you were already saved before baptism, but you are still lost
because the baptism that puts us into Christ also saves us. If you thought that
your sins were taken away before baptism, when you accepted Christ as your
personal savior, then your baptism was not for the purpose of forgiveness of
sins. You still have every sin you have ever committed and are still separated
from God. Many people fail to recognize the urgency of the Lord's invitation.

Lesson 18

Obedience To The Gospel

After Jesus had died for our sins, was resurrected and just before He
ascended into heaven, He commanded his apostles in Mark 16:15-16, "And He
said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He
who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be
condemned." Our Lord wanted the gospel preached to everyone. The word
"gospel" literally means good news or good tidings.

In Romans 1:16 the apostle Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who
believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek." So we see that the gospel of
Christ is God’s only power unto salvation. It is by the gospel or good news that
God saves us.
 What does the Bible say that the gospel is that saves us? In 1 Corinthians
15:1-4, Paul is reminding the church at Corinth about the gospel when he says,
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached to you,
which also you received, and in which you stand; by which also you are saved,
if you hold fast that word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I
delivered to you first of all that which I also received; that Christ died for our
sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose
again the third day according to the scriptures." Here we see that Paul was
reminding them of the gospel in which Christ died, and was buried, and was
raised again on the third day. Also notice, they were saved by the gospel. So
the good news of the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord,
as the following chart illustrates.

Illustration by Robert Swain

Why then is the death of Christ good news? The good news of the death of
Christ is that Christ has died for us, taking our punishment, and now God can
be just in saving us. Without his death we would all be doomed for eternal
punishment and no one could be saved. Even though the death of Christ is a
terrible thing to have to happen, it is good news to us. We read in 1 John 4:10,
"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to
be the propitiation for our sins."

Christ had to be buried since he died. Then after three days, Christ was
raised up from the dead. We read in 1 Corinthians 6:14, "And God both raised
up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power." So why is the
resurrection of Christ, the gospel or good news? The good news of the
resurrection of Christ is that since God was able to raise up Christ, He will also
raise us up from the dead. Jesus says in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection, and
the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." So the
gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is certainly
good news.

In 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 we read, "When the Lord Jesus is revealed from

heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who
do not know God, and on those who do not obey not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." Here we see that
vengeance will be taken on those who obey not the gospel of Christ. The
gospel as we have seen is the death, burial, and, resurrection of our Lord.
How do we obey the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord so that
vengeance will not be taken on us?

We are given the answer of how to obey the gospel in Romans 6:3-5 which
says, "Or do you not know, that as many of us as were baptized into Christ
Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him
through baptism into death: that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we
have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also
shall be in the likeness of His resurrection." So here we see that we are
baptized into His death, we are buried with Him through baptism, and then
just as Christ was raised up from the dead, we also are raised to walk in
newness of life after baptism. Only after baptism are we born again and our
new life in Christ begins. There must be a death, burial, and resurrection before
this new life is possible. Only in baptism does our old sinful person die, is
buried, and rises as a new person free from sin. We are transformed from death
to life. We become a new creation.

Illustration by Robert Swain

The chart above illustrates how that in baptism we obey the gospel. That is
we obey a form of His death, burial, and resurrection when we are baptized,
so that vengeance will not be taken on us. Continuing in this sixth chapter of
Romans we read in verses 17-18 (KJV), "But God be thanked, that you were
the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine
which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, you became the
servants of righteousness." So, we see when people obey that form of
doctrine that is a form of the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection when they
are baptized, they at that point are then made free from sin and become the
servants of righteousness.
 Have you obeyed the gospel by being baptized into His death, being buried
in baptism with him and then being raised with Him up out of the watery grave
of baptism to walk in newness of life? If your baptism was not for the purpose
of making you free from sin so that you can be saved, then you haven’t obeyed
the gospel of Christ. You haven’t been made free from sin. As we have already
seen, the Lord will take vengeance on all those who obey not the gospel of
Christ. If you haven't why don’t you correct your situation and make things
right? Don’t put it off. Satan wants you to put off making it right.

The reason so much time and detail has been spent on pointing out what the
Bible says about baptism is because of all the different perversions and
distortions of baptism that men have come up with which are different from
what God has said in the Bible. The tragedy is these distortions and
perversions will cause many people to be eternally lost. The gospel is being
perverted today just as it was perverted in the first century. Paul says in
Galatians 1:6-8, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who
called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel: which is not another; but
there be some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But
even if we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what
we have preached to you, let him be accursed." Christ will not tolerate another
gospel.

People pervert the gospel of Christ today when they attempt to make
changes in God’s plan to save man to suit themselves. We have been
discussing these perversions throughout this course. It is a serious matter with
God to have his gospel perverted and it will not go unnoticed. That person will
be accursed by God. The person who perverts the gospel of Christ will be
eternally lost and also cause others to be lost by believing and obeying a
perverted gospel (Galatians 1:6-9).

Lesson 19

Baptism Is Immersion
Our word "baptize" is translated from the original Greek word "baptizo
means to immerse. All Greek Bible dictionaries define the word "baptizo
immerse, dip or plunge. "Baptizo" does not mean sprinkle or pour. If our Lord had
wanted people to be sprinkled, he would have inspired the New Testament writers to
use the Greek word "rhantizo". If our Lord wanted people to be poured He would have
inspired New Testament writers to use the Greek word "katacheo". But he didn’t, so
"baptizo" was used, which can only mean to immerse.

Let’s look in the Bible to see how people were baptized. In John 3:23 we
read, "Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was
much water there." Why was John baptizing near Salim? "Because there
was much water there." Scriptural baptism, which is immersion, according to
the Bible requires much water.

In Mark 1:5 we read, "Then all the land of Judea, and those from
Jerusalem, went out to Him, and were all baptized by him in the Jordan
River." Why was John baptizing in the Jordan River? Could it be "because
there was much water there" in a river?

In Mark 1:9-10, we continue to read, "And it came to pass in those days

that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the
Jordan. And immediately, coming up out of the water, He saw the
heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove." When
Jesus was baptized, he was baptized in the Jordan River. Why? Again,
because there is much water in a river which is required for scriptural
baptism, which is immersion. Also notice after Jesus was baptized, he came
"up out of the water." So scriptural baptism not only requires much water,
but it also requires "coming up out of the water." This cannot be said of
sprinkling or pouring.

Next we turn to Acts 8:36-39. The evangelist, Philip, had been teaching
the gospel or good news of Christ to an Ethiopian eunuch while they were
riding along in a chariot. Then in verses 36-39 we read: "Now as they went
down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, See here is
water, what hinders me from being baptized? And Philip said, If you believe
with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And
both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized
him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord
caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his
way rejoicing." Here we see the baptism God has authorized in the Bible
requires the "coming to some water", "going down into the water," and after a
person is immersed it requires "coming up out of the water." How much
clearer could the Bible be on the mode of baptism? Also notice after the
eunuch was baptized, "he went on his way rejoicing." Why? Because he
was now saved and all of his sins had been taken away. This is certainly
something for one to rejoice.

Romans 6:4 says, "Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into
death." Here we see that baptism is a burial, which is what is done when one
is immersed. Sprinkling is not a burial; it is only sprinkling. Neither is
pouring a burial. Both are unlawful substitutions made by man which will
cause many people to be lost.

Colossians 2:12 says we are "buried with him in baptism, in which you
also were raised with Him." Here again God requires the one being baptized,
to be buried and raised when he is baptized. When we bury a dead person in
the cemetery, we do not lay him out on the grass and sprinkle a little dirt on
him. No, that would be absurd, and it is just as absurd in trying to substitute
sprinkling for baptism. Sprinkling for baptism is foreign to the scriptures.
God did not authorize it. There is not one instance anywhere in the Bible
where anyone was sprinkled for baptism.

But we then ask the question, from where then did sprinkling or pouring
come? The first recorded case in all of early church history was that of
Novatian in 251 AD, who lay sick on his bed and water was poured on him.
Who made this first exception, man or God? Man did without the
authorization of God. God has not approved of it. Sprinkling is just as vain
as if it had never been done. This man made exception over the centuries
became the man made accepted practice until at the Council of Ravenna in
1311 AD, man legalized sprinkling for baptism, but without God’s authority.

The person who insists on following this man made teaching of sprinkling
or pouring has refused to obey God. Sprinkling is without God’s authority.
There is no baptism in the absence of immersion. If you were sprinkled or
poured, then you have not been scripturally baptized. You still have every sin
that you have ever committed and are still lost. If you refuse to admit that
your sprinkling is wrong, you will go to your grave refusing to do God's will.
On the Day of Judgment you will be eternally condemned to the fires of
Hell. Such a tragedy.
 Lesson 20

Infants Are Not Lost

We now turn our attention to another perversion of God’s word and that is
infants are born sinners and must be baptized in order to be saved. This
contradicts God’s word. God says in Ezekiel 18:20, "The soul who sins shall
die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor shall the father bear
the guilt of the son." Here God is telling us that children do not inherit sin from
their parents, grandparents, or any of their forefathers, all the way back to
Adam. God says "The son shall not bear the guilt of the father." Each
person is responsible for his own sins. According to this verse, it is "The soul
who sins shall die." Does it say the soul that inherits sin, it shall die? No. It
says the soul who sins.

What is sin? 1 John 3:4 says, "Whoever commits sin also commits
lawlessness: and sin is lawlessness." We do not inherit sin; we commit sin;
and we commit sin when we commit lawlessness. An infant has not broken any
law of God and thus has not committed any sin.

How is sin committed? In James 1:14-15 we read, "Every man is tempted

when he is drawn away of his OWN lust and enticed, then when lust has
conceived, it brings forth sin and sin when it is finished brings forth death."
Before one can commit sin he must be drawn away of his OWN lust and
enticed. A baby cannot be drawn away and enticed into lustful sin. This is
absurd. This is total ignorance of God's word. James 4:17 also says,
"Therefore to him who knows to do good, and does not do it, to him it is sin."
This is the sin of omission. An infant does not know to do good and thus
cannot sin. There are only two ways that man sins: by committing sin or we sin
by omission. An infant cannot sin in either way and has no sin.

A little child is innocent and pure, as our Lord says in Matthew 18:3,
"Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means
enter the kingdom of heaven." And we also read in Matthew 19:14, "But Jesus
said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is
the kingdom of heaven'". Little children are of the kingdom of heaven. Little
children are not lost, but are safe until they become accountable.

One error leads to another. Men say since infants have inherited the sin of
Adam, they must be baptized or they will be lost. This is also false. Infants are
not suitable candidates for baptism, since they cannot believe. Our Lord says
in Mark 16:16, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." Here one of
the prerequisites of being saved when one is baptized is to believe, which is
impossible for an infant to do.

Also in Acts 8:36-37 the question was asked, "See here is water; what
hinders me from being baptized?" And the answer is given in the next verse:
"And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart you may." Here we see
the condition that must be met before a person can be baptized is he must
believe with all his heart. Can an infant do this? No.

Also one of the prerequisites of being baptized is one must repent. In Acts
2:38 (KJV) the apostle Peter told a group of people, who had asked what they
should do, to "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of your sins." What is the requirement found here that
we must do before we can be baptized? Repent. Can an infant repent? It
would be absurd to think that an infant could believe or repent, but it is just as
absurd to think that an innocent infant, who is without sin, must be baptized for
the forgiveness of sins, which he does not have.

Parents who have their infants "christened" are being deceived by the false
doctrines of men. Satan has many ways in fooling people into being lost. The
lie Satan tells here to people who have become accountable is since you were
baptized as an infant, you do not need to be baptized for the remission of your
sins now that you have become accountable and responsible. Satan knows
infant baptism accomplishes nothing. Satan also knows, when people who
were baptized as an infant become accountable, at that time they are lost and
will be with him through out eternity in the burning fires of Hell if he can keep
them from obeying the Lord. So who do you want to follow: God, or men who
are being led by Satan? Every person will follow one or the other. Again we
have to make the choice as to who we follow. If you were baptized as an
infant, then your baptism did you no good. You are still lost. Now that you are
able to believe you must "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:38), so you can be saved and
go to Heaven. If a person misses Heaven by believing the lies of Satan, he will
only have himself to blame.

Lesson 21

Man Is Not To Change What God Says

 Man does not have the authority to change the will of God on any subject.
There are a lot of false teachings that are being passed off as the truth. We have
been given severe warnings in the Bible concerning any changes we try to
make to God’s word. As we have already seen in Galatians 1:6-9, if we pervert
the gospel by changing it, we will be accursed.

Another such warning comes in the closing verses of the Bible. Revelation
22:18-19 says, "For I testify unto everyone who hears the words of the
prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the
plagues that are written in this book; And if anyone takes away from the words
of this book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of
Life, and from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this
book." Additions, subtractions, and substitutions to what God has commanded
is disobedient and sinful. We have a standard today, and we are warned not to
add to or take away from it. These are very stern warnings that should get our
undivided attention.

How much stronger warnings could God give to those who try to make
changes to His will when they change immersion into sprinkling, or to change
the necessity of baptism for one to receive forgiveness of sins and be saved to
their saying that baptism is not necessary for salvation. God has said plainly
that it is necessary. We do not have the right to dismiss what we do not like. I
cannot think of a more flagrant crime against both God and man than to teach
lost sinners, who are wanting to be saved, something different than what God
says in the Bible. To make an impression on them that they are already saved,
when God has not promised it, is grievously wrong.

They also say one’s sins are forgiven and one is saved when he accepts
Christ as his personal savior. They say he can then be baptized later if he wants
to in order to join that particular denomination; but as we have already seen,
this contradicts what God has said and will cause many people to be lost
eternally. Since many people will not accept what God says, notice what 2
Thessalonians 2:10-12 says, "Because they did not receive the love of the truth,
that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong
delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who
believed not the truth." Do you have enough love for the genuine truth of
God's word that you will obey it instead of the counterfeit doctrines of men? If
you do not then God has promised to send you a strong delusion that you
should believe a lie and be damned. The false doctrines of men will cause
many good people to be eternally lost. There is nothing worse than causing a
person to pass from this life with the false hope of going to Heaven. Anything
that differs from what God says in the Bible is false doctrine which is designed
by Satan to cause people to be eternally lost in Hell.

If you were baptized for some reason other than for forgiveness of sins in
order to be saved then you do not have salvation and you are still lost. Who are
you going to follow: God or man? As our Lord warns us in Matthew 15:14,
"And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a ditch." Don’t allow
someone, who has added to and taken away from God’s word, to lead you.
Open your eyes and read God’s word for yourself. Those who have added to
and taken away from God’s word will be lost. If you continue to follow them,
then you too will be lost.

What You Need to Do

In Acts 19:1-5 we have an example of twelve men the apostle Paul met at
Ephesus. They had something wrong with their baptism. In verses 3-5 we
read, "And he said to them, into what then were you baptized? So they said,
into John’s baptism. Then Paul said, John indeed baptized with a baptism of
repentance, saying to the people, that they should believe on Him who would
come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." These twelve men had been taught
wrong and thus they could not have been baptized right. When they found out
there was something wrong with their baptism, they made it right. They were
then baptized for the right purpose.

Please refer back to how you answered the questions in Lesson 8

concerning your prior conversion. If you thought you were saved and your sins
forgiven when you accepted Christ as your personal savior and you were
baptized a week or so later, then the purpose of your baptism was not for the
forgiveness of your sins so you could be saved. But now you have learned the
truth about the purpose of baptism from the scriptures that have been pointed
out. Please don't rationalize away what you actually did to be saved and now
say that you were actually baptized for the forgiveness of sins in order to be
saved. Many people end up doing this. Please do not be misled by false man-
made doctrines. Your soul's salvation depends on your being right with God.

Is there something wrong with your baptism? You may say no, but if there
is, we cannot fool God. He knows for sure and you will suffer the eternal
consequences. It will be a sad day when you stand before the Lord on the Day
of Judgment if you find out there is something wrong with your baptism. Have
you been baptized for the right purpose and in the right way? Baptism, that is
done according to scripture, for the right reason and purpose, is such an easy
thing to do. It is not difficult, at all, to make sure it is done right.

Lesson 22

The Lord’s Church

(Part A)
There is one other thing that concerns our salvation I would like for us to
look at in the Bible. In response to Peter’s confession to Jesus in Matthew
16:16 that, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God". Jesus then says in
Matthew 16:18, "On this rock I will build My church." To whom was this
church to belong? "My" is possessive, which shows the church belongs to
Jesus. How many churches did Jesus say He was going to build? He said He
was going to build "My church", which is singular not plural. There is only one
true church because the Lord only promised to build His one church. In the
Bible the word "church" never refers to a material building, but to the people.

In Ephesians 4:4-6 there are seven ones listed: "There is one body, and one
Spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all, and through all, and
in you all." Just as there is only one God and only one Lord we also see there
is only one body. The Bible says there is only one body; so what is this one
body? In Ephesians 1:21-22 we find out what this one body is, "And He put
all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the
church, which is His body." Here we see the Bible says the church is the
body. So if there is only one body and the one body is the church, then there
can only be one church that belongs to the Lord. There is only one church in
God's plan for saving man. One might as well believe in more than one God as
to believe the Lord has more than one church. The one body, the one church, is
not composed of any of the many differing denominations of our day.

In Colossians 1:18 in speaking of Christ, we read, "And He is the head of

the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in
all things He may have the preeminence." Here again we see the body
(singular) is the church (singular). Again the Bible tells us the Lord has only
one church. We also see that in all things Christ is to have the preeminence.
For Christ to have the preeminence in all things, we must follow Christ in all
things and not follow man. If we follow men in some things then Christ does
not have the preeminence in all things.
 Since Christ only built His one church, we need to ask from where did all
these other churches come? The only answer is they were built by men, so men
could "attend the church of their choice", and not God’s choice. We read in
Ephesians 5:23, "Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the
body." Christ is only the saviour of His one body, His one church. He is going
to only save His one church, the only one for which He died. One cannot be
saved outside of the Lord's one church. If one is not in the Lord's one true
church, he is lost.

We have seen in the Bible that the one body is the one church, which the
Lord built. We have also seen that Christ has only promised to save His one
body, His one church. What then is going to happen to the hundreds of
different kinds of denominational churches we see in existence today? Again
let us let God answer this question. In Matthew 15:13 Jesus said, "Every plant,
which my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted." What will happen
to all those churches God did not plant? They will be rooted up. This is what
God has said He will do. This is frightening. I want to make sure I am in the
Lord’s church, the only one He is going to save.

In Psalms 127:1 we read, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in
vain that build it." No one has the right to start a church or religious
organization that is different from the one Jesus built. But we see hundreds of
different kinds of churches men have built, each with a different creed. Man
did not build the Lord's church. We must recognize the difference between the
church the Lord built and the many counterfeit churches men have built. What
will happen to the people who are in the many different denominational
churches? They will all be lost. If you are a member of a denomination then
you are not in the saving body of Christ, and you will be lost. Why not be a
member of the church that Jesus built, the church of Christ so you can go to
heaven? This is a sad but serious situation; one that concerns me greatly and
causes me much grief and sorrow to see honest people, who are honestly
mistaken, laboring in vain. This is a supreme tragedy.

Lesson 23

The Lord's Church

(Part B)
The one church Christ purchased with His own blood belongs to Him and
the name it wears must honor Him. We read in Romans 16:16, "The churches
of Christ greet you." This name glorifies and honors Christ, the one who built
it. Other names honor and glorify John the Baptist, Martin Luther, the day of
Penticost, the apostles, Rome, Antioch, Nazareth, the Greeks, the Russians, the
methodical way of doing things, Christians, the free will, being primitive,
southern, missionary, general, the seventh day, science, catholic, the advent,
and the list goes on and on. Even by their names they do not claim to be
Christ's one church. Why can’t we give the glory and honor to God and Christ
where the honor belongs? You cannot read about these churches in the Bible
because they are foreign to the Bible. Denominations are worthless religious
organizations started by men.

Satan is telling us there are many ways to Heaven. Today we hear the
sincere but mistaken plea to "attend the church of your choice." Why not
attend the church of God’s choice, the church of Christ; the only one that Jesus
"purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). The church of Christ is not a
denomination. It was not started by man but by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
shed His blood for it alone. Christ did not shed His blood to purchase any
denomination nor did He purchase a group of denominations. Christ did not
establish any of the many different denominational churches we see today.
Men established them. The word denomination means a fraction or part of a
whole. The Lord's church is not a fraction or a part of anything. It is complete
within itself.

None of the more than 600 different denominational churches we see today
existed in the days of the apostles. They have come into existence during the
past 500 years. Since the Lord has only one church then all of the other
different churches are counterfeits. They are all fakes. In 1 John 4:1 we are
warned, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are
of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Today just
as it was in the first century "many false prophets have gone out into the
world". We cannot be too careful with our soul.

To identify the Lord's church, the Bible gives us the specifications to go by.
Any church claiming to be the only church Jesus bought with His own blood
should be able to prove from the Bible they are that church of the Bible. Can
the church which you are a member prove that it is the one and only church the
Lord built? If it can’t then you will be laboring in vain if you stay in it. If it
can't, you need to get out of it for the eternal sake of your soul. You need to be
a member of the Lord's church, the church of Christ, the only church Christ is
going to save. This may sound harsh. I say this with sincerity and sadness, but
it will really be harsh if you are lost in eternity. We must wake up because this
concerns the welfare of our souls and where we will spend eternity. People too
long have ignored what the Lord has said in the Bible and have blindly
followed men in their establishment of their many churches.

Jesus only promised to build His one church (Matthew 16:18) “upon this
rock I will build My church”. Jesus only gave Himself for His one church
(Ephesians 5:25) “and gave Himself for her”. Jesus only purchased His one
church (Acts 20:28) “which He purchased with His own blood”. Jesus is the
head of only His one church (Ephesians 1:22-23) “head over all things to the
church, which is His body”.

In order to be in the one church the Lord established, those added to it by the
Lord must be saved according to His requirements. In Acts 2:47 we read, "And
the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." The Lord
only adds the saved to His church. There are no unsaved people in His church.
We are not saved just because we think or feel in our hearts we are. We are
saved only when we have done what God has said we must do. Jesus says in
Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to Me Lord, Lord shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father which is in
heaven." We must do God’s will, not man’s will, to go to heaven.

According to the Bible, who are the saved? Jesus is quite clear as to who the
saved are. Jesus says in Mark l6:16, "He that believes and is baptized shall be
saved." A person has to have help to misunderstand what the Lord says here.
Here we see the Bible says we must believe and be baptized in order to be
saved. This is what Jesus says. But men have tried to change what the Lord
has said. Men say that one does not have to be baptized, to be saved. Men also
say you can be sprinkled as an infant; and there are many other perversions of
God's word. Who are you going to follow men or Christ? Jesus says in John
12:48, "The word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." We are not
going to be judged by what our preacher says.

And also Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:21, "The like figure baptism does now
save us." Only when we have obeyed the Lord’s command to be baptized will
we be saved. The Bible will be the only standard of judgment on Judgment
Day, and not what we think or what men say. Are you putting your trust and
confidence in what men say or what God has said in the Bible? You are
making this choice everyday as to who you are following.

Also in order to be the church which Jesus built, the church must worship
God and Christ according to the way They have specified. We are told in
Ephesians 5:17, "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of
the Lord is." It is very unwise not to find out and understand what the will of
the Lord is from the Bible. Many people are not finding out for themselves but
are relying on someone else to tell them. All you have to do is look around and
see all of the differing doctrines that are being taught in all the different
denominational churches. Are they understanding and following the will of
God? Absolutely not. If they were there would only be the one church, which
Christ established, the church of Christ. What a pitiful condition the religious
world is in, one of which people should be ashamed, but they are not.

If you are not worshipping God and Christ the way They have specified in
the Bible then your worship is vain. Our Lord says in Mark 7:7, "And in vain
they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." Have you
been following the commandments of men and only some of what God says in
the Bible? If you have then your worship is vain. Jesus says in Matthew 28:20,
"Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." We must
observe all things and only the things the Lord has commanded us. Is your
worship vain? If it is then it will do you no good and you will be lost eternally.
Please follow God and not men.

Lesson 24

The Lord's Church

(Part C)
Each congregation of the Lord’s church is to be overseen by a group of
elders. In Acts 14:23 we read, "So when they had appointed elders in every
church." Notice there is to be a plurality of elders in every church or
congregation. This is the way the Lord set up His church.

But what does the Lord intend for the elders to do in His church? In Acts
20:28 the apostle Paul was talking to the elders from the church at Ephesus and
told them, "Therefore take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock, among
which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." The church of Christ, which
the Lord built, is to be overseen by a plurality of elders. The qualifications of
elders who are to oversee each congregation of the Lord's church are given in 1
Timothy 3:1-7 and in Titus 1:3-9. There are some small congregations of the
Lord's church that do not have a plurality of men who meet these qualifications
and thus cannot have elders until men become qualified. Is each congregation
of the church you belong to overseen by a plurality of elders? If not, why not?
If it is to be the Lord’s church and has men who qualify, each congregation is to
be overseen by a plurality of elders.

If we really accept the Bible as our only authority, we will want to worship
God only as He has specified. We must reject human traditions and doctrines
that members are required to follow such as creed books, catechisms, manuals,
articles of faith, the book of Mormon, the Koran, constitutions, disciplines and
other guidelines of men, all of which produce different and new religious
doctrines. If a creed contains less than the Bible, it contains too little. If it
contains more than the Bible, it contains too much. The purpose of creeds,
which are formulated by men, is to express beliefs that are different from what
is taught in the Bible. There is no authority for any of these various doctrines
of men. Anything taught or practiced by man in the field of religion, which
does not come from the Bible, is false doctrine.

We are warned in Colossians 2:8, "Beware lest anyone cheat you through
philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to
the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ." It would be a
tragedy to find out on Judgment Day we have been cheated of our eternal
reward in Heaven because we followed the doctrines of men; but then it will be
too late.

The followers of Christ are called Christians in the Bible. This "new name"
was prophesied in Isaiah 62:2, "The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and
all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of
the Lord shall name." This "new name" was given by the Lord in Acts 11:26,
"And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch." It is a privilege to
wear the name, "Christian", because the Lord gave it.

2 Thessalonians 1:12 tells us "That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God
and the Lord Jesus Christ." Jesus Christ is to be glorified and honored in us.
Besides doing all that he tells us to do, we glorify the name of Christ by
wearing the name "Christian". 1 Peter 4:16 says, "Yet if anyone suffers as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter." It is
an honor to wear the name "Christian." In wearing this name we are glorifying
God and Christ.

We should not be ashamed to wear the name "Christian", yet many are.
Men want to wear other names that give honor and glory to someone or
something other than Christ. For example honor and glory are given to Martin
Luther by wearing the name Lutheran, the methodical way of doing things by
the name Methodist, the town of Nazareth by the name Nazarene, John the
Baptist by the name Baptist, the city of Rome by the name Roman Catholic, the
seventh day of the week by the name Seventh Day Adventist, the day of
Pentecost by the name Pentecostal, and the list goes on and on. Can it be said
that Jesus has authorized any of these different names? No. None of these
names give any glory or honor whatsoever to God or Christ to whom the honor
is due. How do you think God feels about this situation? Do you actually think
He is pleased with it? We must be Christians and Christians only. Do you
wear only the name Christian? Or do you wear some other name?

When people wear the religious names of men and the religious names of
man-made organizations, this shows they are following men and not Christ.
When a husband and wife are married, the wife honors her husband by wearing
his name. If his last name is Jones, she is no longer Miss Smith but her name is
now Mrs. Jones. What if Miss Smith did not want to take the name Jones, but
the name of some other man? What if she wanted to take the name of one of
her old boy friends? Do you think this would be alright with Mr. Jones, her
new husband? I think not. The same is true with wearing all of these other
names of someone or something else other than "Christian".

Although by referring to one as a Christian, does not make him a Christian.

If one is not a Christian according to the New Testament, then he is not a
Christian at all. The Bible makes it clear that being baptized (immersed) in
water is part of becoming a Christian, not something to be done afterward. The
Bible makes it clear that the Lord adds to His "church daily those who were
being saved" (Acts 2:47). There are no unsaved people in the church of Christ.

God tells us in Jeremiah 10:23, "It is not in man who walks to direct his own
steps." Man has tried but has always made a miserable failure of it. In
Colossians 3:17 we read, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the
name of the Lord Jesus." We are to do all in the name of or by the authority
of the Lord Jesus. We must have the Lord's authority for everything we do in
religion, and this includes the name we wear.

Lesson 25

Summary
 Let us go back to the Bible. As God tells us in 1 Peter 4:11, "If anyone
speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God." In other words, we are to speak
where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent. We must call
Bible things by Bible names and do Bible things in Bible ways. We will not be
wrong in doing this. To do this we must get rid of all the manuals, creeds,
disciplines, and confessions men have written and follow only what we can
read in the Bible, because the Bible is our only guidebook to Heaven. The
doctrines of men will keep us out of Heaven.

We must dust our Bibles off and start studying them for ourselves. We must
stop taking someone else’s word for what it says and find out for ourselves
what God is trying to tell us; if we will only listen to God. This
is very important, for God says in Hosea 4:6, "My people are
destroyed for a lack of knowledge: because you have rejected
knowledge, I also will reject you." It is a very serious matter
to be rejected of God because we did not care enough about
what God is saying to us in His Word to read and study it for
ourselves so we can obey it. When we don't know God's will, false doctrines
will arise. Instead, people have taken someone else's word for it. This is the
reason there are so many different kinds of churches today. The
commandments of men have the power to turn people away from the truth of
God's word (Titus 1:14).

It is not good enough to be religious, but we must be right religiously.

Everything we do must be according to God's word in the Bible. We will not
make it to Heaven by following guidebooks which men have written. Please
don't think less of me for trying to point you to what the scriptures say
concerning our salvation. As the apostle Paul says in Galatians 4:16, "Have I
therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" I am only wishing
the best for you. I want you to go to Heaven.

In closing, we ask the question again. Are You Really Sure Of Your
Eternal Salvation? As you think of death and eternity, how can you not obey
the gospel? If you have seen from the scriptures that have been pointed out in
this course or from your further study of the Bible that you have not done all
the will of God and only the will of God, so that you can be saved and go to
Heaven, then please make those changes now so that your salvation can be
assured. We are told in Amos 4:12, "Prepare to meet your God." On the Day
of Judgment we will be either prepared or unprepared. Heaven is a prepared
place for a prepared people. What are your plans for eternity? Are you going
to be spending eternity in Heaven or in Hell? Are you really concerned about
the salvation of your soul? The choice is yours. Remember that only a few
will go to Heaven but the majority will go to Hell because they chose to go
there. Are you going to be among the few or the many? This great
responsibility rests upon each of us.

If you are not prepared to go to Heaven, then make things "right" now.
Don’t put it off. Satan wants you to put it off. Satan works on all of us all of
the time. He does not want us to change for the better. He wants our company
in Hell. He will do anything and everything to get us there. One of Satan's
greatest triumphs and falsehoods is that men can be saved before and without
obeying Christ in baptism. Do not allow anyone to explain away what you can
read in the Bible that God wants you to do. We must take God seriously,
because God is serious in what He is telling us in His word. Ecclesiastes 12:13
(KJV) sums up everything quite well when it says: "Let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the
whole duty of man."

I have tried to be open and honest with you. If you have any questions
concerning the things discussed in this course or any other Bible questions
please let me know by E-mail using the address below. I would also like your
input as to what you think of this course.

If you were to die today, do you know for sure, without a doubt, that you
would go to Heaven? We do not know the day nor the hour of our death. It can
come unexpectedly and without warning. It can come before we are ready. Are
you ready for that day to come. Remember the majority of people will not go
to Heaven, only a few will (Matthew 7:13-14).

Do you believe in God and Christ? I am sure you do. Are you willing to
repent of your sins and confess that you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God? Jesus says in Mark 16:16, "He that believes and is baptized will be
saved." Tragically many refuse to hear the voice of Jesus. Will you be
baptized (immersed) for the remission of your sins so you can be saved? Then
the Lord will add you to His church, the church of Christ, where we can
worship Him faithfully until death when we will receive the crown of life in
Heaven. Jesus says, "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of
life" (Revelation 2:10).

If you would like to locate true Christians who follow only what God says in
the Bible and who will help you in your being baptized for the forgiveness of
your sins so you can be saved, then locate a congregation of the church of
Christ in your community. Or you can E-mail me at ron@netbiblestudy.net and
I will help you locate a congregation of the church of Christ near you.

Links To Other Sites

Study Resources
Are You Worshipping God In Spirit And In Truth?
http://www.netbiblestudy.net/worship

How To Do Personal Evangelism http://www.netbiblestudy.net/evangelism

Biblical Church Bulletin Articles http://www.netbiblestudy.net/bulletin

Bible Class Lessons http://www.netbiblestudy.net/lessons

Who Are The Churches Of Christ And What Do They Believe In?
http://www.church-of-christ.org/who.html

12 Different Bible Translations http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?

Study The Bible On-Line http://www.churchofchristoroville.com/lessons/online.htm

Church Of Christ Links http://cconline.faithsite.com/content.asp?cid=53122

The Interactive Bible http://www.bible.ca/

Christian Library http://www.christianlibrary.org/christianlibrary.htm

Preach Today http://www.preachtoday.com/

Truth For Today http://www.biblecourses.com/

Old Paths Archive http://www.oldpaths.com/

 Lessons By Roy Davison http://www.oldpaths.com/RD

On-Line Bible Study http://www.ds-churchofchrist.org/bible_resources.html

BibleStudyGuide.org http://www.biblestudyguide.org/

T V Bible Study http://www.tvbiblestudy.com/

Gospel Gazette http://www.gospelgazette.com/

Christian Courier http://www.christiancourier.com/

Apologetics Press http://www.apologeticspress.org/

Compare A Verse On Multiple Bible Versions http://www.olivetree.com/bible

Leon's Short Answers To Tough Questions

http://www.goodfight.com/leon/index.php

Seek The Old Paths http://www.seektheoldpaths.com/

Pioneer Preachers http://www.pioneerpreachers.com/

Christianity Then And Now http://www.christianity-then-and-now.com/

History of the early churches of Christ in England & Europe

http://www.traces-of-the-kingdom.org/

Tradition And History Of The Early Churches Of Christ In Central

Europe (By Hans Grimm) http://www.netbiblestudy.net/history

North Charlottesville Church Of Christ Web Site http://www.cvillechurch.com/

Religious Resources by Mark Copeland

http://www.ccel.org/contrib/exec_outlines/links.htm

Free Books And Charts http://padfield.com/downloads/index.html

Restoring of Christian Marriage http://marriagedivorce.com/mdscriptures.htm

Divorce And Remarriage http://www.biblestudylessons.com/cgi-

bin/gospel_way/divorce_remarriage.php

A Study Of Denominations http://www.deusvitae.com/faith/denominations/index.html

Directories Of The Churches Of Christ
Churches Of Christ On The Web http://www.cocn.org/congreg.html

Tazewell's Churches Of Christ On The Web

http://www.tcofchrist.org/linkcongregations.htm

World Wide Directory Of The Churches Of Christ

http://www.church-of-christ.org/churches

Highland Park World Wide Directory Of The Churches Of Christ

http://www.churches-of-christ.net/