FBCD_FaithEssentials_June_FlipBook

Faith Essentials

the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13); or as the chorus to the old J. Edwin McConnell hymn says “Whosoever meaneth me.” In addition to God’s limited love, John 3:16 describes the following privileges resulting from God’s love. Eternal life —Those who come to Christ, “ Shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Is Jesus saying that Christians will avoid physical death, like Enoch and Elijah of the Old Testament? No, because “Man is destined to die once ” (Hebrews 9:27, emphasis added). Our bodies are in the process of deteriorating, and unless the Lord returns first, we’re headed for an earthly grave. But that doesn’t mean we must die twice. Tragically, the unbelieving who fail to convert will be thrown into the lake of fire following Jesus’ Second Coming and millennial reign (more on these subjects later). God’s Word calls this “the second death” (Revelation 2:14). As the little saying goes, “born twice-die once, born once-die twice.” Imagine the never-ending joy of the presence of the Lord, His saints and angels—no more pain, sin, suffering or death. Nothing in this life can compare. Nothing on this planet remotely equates to the bliss and beauty of the new heaven and new earth that await believers at the end times. Yet, as great as all this will be, please understand that receiving Jesus Christ involves so much more than a rescue from hell. Salvation, which guarantees eternal life, also provides for: Abundant life —I run across far too many anxiety-ridden, doom and gloom Christians who look as though they just took a big swig of pickle juice. They sing of one day crossing Jordan’s stormy banks into the Promised Land, but in the meantime, they’ll grunt and grumble their way through this earthly life, missing out on the best God has to offer. Jesus proclaimed, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10, KJV). On a previous occasion, He said, “Whoever believes in me . . . streams of living water will flow from within him” (John 7:38) Streams of living water refer to the

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