Bob Cassell, Messenger, RFTC
“He that believes on the Son has everlasting life; and he that believes not on the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
Carefully consider the following scriptures:
“He that believes on Him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven Given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“What must I DO to be saved?” (Acts 16:30).
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31).
“I am THE way, THE truth and THE life; no man comes unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
“There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 14:12).
“A man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses” (Luke 12:15).
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).
“For it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment” (Hebrews 9:27)
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 6:23).
“And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his son” He that has the son has life: and he that has not the Son of God has not life. These things have I written unto YOU that believe on the name of the Son of God; that YOU may know that YOU have eternal life, and that YOU may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:11-13).
“But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that in believing you have life through His name” (John 20:31).
“This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, who thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
If you have never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are Lost and will spend an everlasting eternity in the burning, unforgiving lake of fire. You will always be tormented and throughout eternity you will never see the light of truth or any way of escape. This will be your eternal future because you did not see truth, nor did you seek it. You only saw darkness, blindness, and error. You loved what you were doing and were proud of it. You took unwise chances and made damnable and unwise decisions that led to nowhere. You paid the price for some of them, but for others you did not. You believed in you or in a false concept of surrendering the eternal destiny of your soul to the false belief that truth was far beyond you or perhaps in you.
You were convinced that truth was out there somewhere, but you scoffed that it was contained only in the living and infallible word of God.
That wasn’t good enough for you. You thought that eternity was so far away that you wouldn’t suddenly be taken from your place and time on earth and then deposited in a casket that was to be covered with dirt. You didn’t take a moment of time to seek the truth. Yet, it was on full display in the word of truth, the Bible. The word of God was not respected, valued, or needed by you. You thought you had it all figured out; you rationalized, but rationalization brought you only to meaningless human babble. It did not provide one single modicum of truth that would provide light and direction for you so that you could consider truth beyond yourself. You never stopped to realize that God has freely given spiritual gifts that can only be used in time. These gifts were provided for each believer at the moment of salvation and are be exercised during the entirety of the Christian way of life.
These gifts are provided to the believer on the basis of the merits of the Person and finished work of Jesus Christ alone. These effectual gifts result from the working of grace from His powerful divine attributes.
You never paused to consider that you were the object of God’s eternal love, which He manifested to you when He sent His only Son into the world to die for your sins so that you might live with Him throughout a never-ending eternity. Did you ever pause to consider that to believe in Christ is to be the object of the immutable, eternal, unconditional self-sacrificial love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? The word of God expresses this great eternal love to the believer by teaching Him that he possesses an imputed divine righteousness, which makes the believer perfectly righteous throughout time and eternity.
This amazing imputed divine righteousness and eternal life enable the believer to enjoy and experience fellowship with God subsequent to salvation.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2: 4-7).
The primary purpose for which a believer has been purchased out from the slave market of sin is to serve our great God and other members of His body and not exclusively self. Our great God extended His amazing grace to His family members by redeeming them. We then as His purchased possession have been given the opportunity and the distinct privilege of serving Him who is our deliverer. The believer in Christ is admonished to function according to the love of God in order for his production in service to be acceptable to God.
“For you were called to freedom, brethren: only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:13,14). This is an impossible command. Notice it is not an option… YOU SHALL love your neighbor as yourself. How many believers have stopped criticizing, backbiting, maligning, and judging other believers long enough to truly love and serve one another. Not many and I am as guilty as anyone. I doubt that you are alone in the absence of your full and consistent love for the brethren. Many are without a doubt unlovable. So then, how do we tighten our belts and love as God commands?
The answer is you can’t do it all by yourself. This is a supernatural command that requires a supernatural means of execution. The supernatural means of execution is not you; it is the Holy Spirit in you. All that comes from you in service or love must be accomplished by means of the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit.
This cannot be accomplished in the energy of the flesh! It is clear from scripture, the flesh profits nothing. Obedience to the will of God is necessary in order to effectively serve God. The servant who obeys the Lord’s will is serving his Lord.
“Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God and whatsoever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ” (Col. 3:22-24).
The believer in Christ is privileged to learn and apply divine viewpoint which is acquired by learning and applying the word on a consistent daily basis. You may be concerned that you are unprepared to serve effectively since you do not know all of the spiritual gifts or the full will of God for your life.
Every believer in Christ is given at least one spiritual gift at the moment of salvation. These gifts equip the believer to effectively serve others and specifically members of the body of Christ. The ministry of the Holy Spirit provides believers with divine operating assets from which the indwelling power of the Spirit controls and not the energy of the flesh.
“For it is God which works in you, both to do of His good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputing’s” (Phil. 2:13,14).
The believer’s service toward God and man is displayed in at least two directions: (1) Vertical service expresses love toward God. (2) Horizontal service expresses love toward humanity.
Service directed toward God is beautifully expressed as follows:
“What does the Lord require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 10:12).
“Neither call yourself leaders because Christ is your one Leader. In fact, the greatest among you shall be your servant and whoever will promote himself shall be humbled” (Matt. 23:10-12).
The believer’s production is never for men but is rather to be performed, regardless of how great or small, as unto the Lord.
“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Whatever you do, do heartily, as unto the Lord and not unto men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve” (Col. 3:17, 24).
Imputation of eternal life
At the instance of salvation, God provides a human spirit in the believer and imputes eternal life. The believer now possesses eternal life, and this life is the actual life of God which did not begin in time and never ends. The life of or from God (which is eternal) is required. This everlasting life emanates from His essence. He gives the believer eternal life, and it can never be lost anymore than the life that he has always possessed can be diminished by time or circumstances.
“And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have eternal life. These things have I written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you my know that you have eternal life and that you may believe in the name of the only begotten son of God” (1 John 5: 11-13).
Perhaps you have been told that no one can truly know of a certainty they possess eternal life. This is categorically an untrue statement.
Even a casual reading of these scriptures makes it clear that every believer can know they possess eternal life by believing on the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Imputed Righteousness: Upon belief in the Son of God, God the Father imputes His perfect righteousness to the believer as well as the righteousness of the Son.
“For He (God the Father) hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
“Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe” (Romans 3:22).
Are you justified? Justification is the judicial act of complete vindication that occurs at the moment of salvation when God, the righteous judge, sees in the redeemed His own perfect righteousness.
The believer’s justification occurs instantaneously and has nothing to do with a lifestyle of enduring to the end in order to know he is perfected forever by means of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ?
Reconciliation is the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross that permanently removes the barrier between God and man. The barrier is comprised of sin, the penalty of sin, spiritual death, man’s imperfect righteousness, God’s holy character, and a condemned position in Adam. In reconciling the believer in Christ, God provided a means of perfect and eternal peace for the entire human race, and this is appropriated by a non-meritorious decision to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Removal of the barrier: Redemption removes this impregnable barrier. Unlimited atonement addresses the problem regarding sin,
and its associated penalty by means of the atoning work of Christ.
Spiritual Death: This problem is resolved by regeneration. Imputation results in justification and addressed man’s problem of limited relative righteousness. Propitiation resolves the problem of satisfying the character of God. Propitiation is the Godward side of salvation. God is satisfied or propitiated with the finished work of Christ on the Cross. God is propitiated (satisfied) but certainly does not need to be reconciled. Man must be reconciled; God must be propitiated.
Our damned position in Adam is resolved by a new position in Christ which is acquired by belief in the person of Christ who accomplished all of the work that was necessary to purchase our redemption.
Propitiation: God is propitiated by means of the finished work of Christ. As believers in Christ, we are beneficiaries of His propitiatory sacrifice. This means the work of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the perfect justice of God. God the Father is totally satisfied with the finished work of His Son on the cross and His full payment for the penalty of Sin.
“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26).
“And He Himself (Jesus Christ) is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
“And this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
Expiation: This word is clearly defined in the following scripture:
“Having cancelled out the certificate of debt consisting of ordinances against us, He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians 2:14).
The sins of the world have been totally paid for by the finished cross work of Jesus Christ. Our sins have been atoned for and reconciliation has been made to a Holy and righteous God for all human offences. None are left to be paid or atoned for by sinful humanity. No human could ever repay this weighty sin debt, but the Lord Jesus Christ eliminated the entire debt with His victorious death on the cross.
To satisfy God’s holy demands a perfect redemption from the slave market of sin is required. To be redeemed is to be purchased out from the slave market of sin and is accomplished by means of the finished work of Christ on the cross.
Instantaneously by redemption, the one who believes in Christ is reconciled before a Holy God who is propitiated (satisfied) by all that has been accomplished by this finished work. Because of sin man cannot enter into eternal bliss and live in the presence of a holy God. Man must be redeemed from this condemned condition and the purchase price was fully paid by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. No sins were left unpaid, if any remained, Jesus Christ was premature in declaring “IT IS FINISHED.” The believer is sinless because his righteousness resides in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who is in the believer.
“At that day you shall know that I am in my Father and you in me, and I in you” (John 14: 20), “Hereby we know that we dwell IN HIM, and HE IN US, because He has given us of His Spirit” (1 John 4:13).
Reconciliation is directed toward man and propitiation comes from God. Redemption is toward sin.
“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
Upon belief in Jesus Christ the new nature makes the believer perfected in Christ and from that position in the righteous one the believer is positionally perfected forever. From this perfected position in Christ the believer is guaranteed a resurrection body. Without this forever body the believer could not exist eternally. This new nature enables the believer to manifest the holiness and perfection of the great character of God in a human body. Ultimately, the new nature from Christ and the resurrection body will enable the believer to live forever in the eternal state and reside in the new heavens and the new earth.
While every believer has a certain future that is incomprehensibly wonderful, the unbeliever has a certain future that is incomprehensibly hopeless and ends in eternal torture in a forever, and forever burning, never ending lake of fire. The unbeliever cannot say he has been delivered from the Kingdom of Darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of God. Why? It is because his eternal future is sealed and is inescapable. He is not waiting before the Great White Throne Judgment bar to be condemned, he is condemned already! Why? It is not because he has sinned. Every sin has been paid for by the covering of the shed blood of Christ and by his complete and finished work on the cross. The condemnation is because of unbelief.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).
“He that believes on Him is not condemned; but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).
“He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36).
How can a future be any worse or more fatal and final. The warnings are sure and serve as a final call to look unto Jesus and not to self as self has an eternal need that is outside of self and comes only from the source of eternal life.
This eternal life is offered by the one who created the heavens and the earth. His offer is real and may be obtained by a simple act of faith in the giver of life, even Jesus Christ, the exclusive Savior.
The believer in Jesus Christ has an eternal future and has every right to rejoice. Believers should be happy and enthused because they know God loves with a love that is immutable, unconditional, gracious, compassionate, merciful, forgiving, and eternal.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; and again, I say rejoice” (Philippians 4: 4).
“I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High” (Psalm 7:17).
“O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will give thanks to your name; for you have worked wonders, from long ago, with perfect faithfulness” (Isaiah 25:1).
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusts in thee, Trust in the lord forever; for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength” (Isaiah 26:3-4).
No one can know true peace until they have rested in the prince of peace, Jesus Christ. He gives this peace when the believer trusts in Him as His only hope of eternal life.
“My Peace I give unto you…. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
