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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Laying Hold on Eternal Life, continued
But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. (Mark 10:30)
The following is a continuation of the list of the elements of eternal life.
Energy and strength.
Health.
Joy.
Peace.
Desire and fulfillment.
Pleasant prospects.
Accomplishment.
Happy memories.
The redemption of the mortal body.
Being clothed with the body from Heaven.
Many of these blessings will be ours to enjoy today, although in limited measure, if we put to death through the Spirit the deeds of our flesh and patiently follow the Lord in all aspects of our life.
We can understand readily from the above that to present the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as a ticket out of Hell and a pass into Heaven misses the point almost entirely.
The Lord told us that if our hand causes us to sin to cut it off and throw it away. Better this than that our whole body go into Gehenna.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:30—NIV)
How our whole physical body could go into the spiritual Gehenna remains to be seen. It must be that when the Kingdom of God comes to the earth there will be a convergence of the physical and spiritual realms so that the physical can experience spiritual torment.
But it may be noticed that whether in the case of the selfish rich man or in the above instance, the cause of entering torment is not that of rejecting Christ but of sinful behavior. The Lake of Fire retains authority over certain behaviors. Accepting Christ suspends the execution of sentence in the hope of a change in the personality. But if the personality is not changed through the transforming virtue in Jesus Christ, then the Lake of Fire certainly shall claim its own.
Today we are presenting faith in Jesus Christ as a way of continuing to sin and yet avoid being cast into the fire. But there is no scriptural support for this. The purpose of receiving Christ is first, that we might be forgiven our past sins, and second, that we might gain the grace to cease acting in such a manner that we will be thrown into the Lake of Fire in the Day of Judgment.
There is no greater error in Evangelical thinking than the concept that the purpose of the Christian salvation is to excuse the wicked so they are not sent where the wicked belong.
Jesus Christ came to bring us eternal life. That life gives us the authority and power to overcome the acts of wickedness that now and for eternity assign the individual to the Divine fire.
We would like to possess all of these elements of eternal life in the fullness of power and glory for eternity. We will if we seek the Lord throughout our lifetime on the earth, setting aside all else as He leads, and giving our life for Christ's sake and the Gospel's. (from Laying Hold on Eternal Life)