Fear not; thou shalt not enter into judgment! whispers the devil.

Jer 6:14 

"They have healed also the hurt 

of the daughter of my people slightly, 

saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace."
Repeated verbatim in 8:11

Luke 12
4 ¶And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Ecc 12:13 ¶Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

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I have discovered that many sincere Christians dismiss the relevance of this utmost solemn warning (Luke 12:4-5) to them to fear God (and do his will) rather than fear men (and disobey God's will).

They conveniently dismiss the relevance of the plain warning to them by various means:
- they just blissfully assume that the warning is obviously directed at others, i.e., the non-elect.
- they based on their cherished thought that Christ has most certainly redeemed them from hell, so any warning on hell can't possibly be  intended for them.
- others reduce hell to some kinds of sufferings here in this life;.
- the judgment spoken of is something that occurs daily, there is no more judgment at death.

Heb 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment..."

I fear that through the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, the solemn word of God has been made of none effect. Their mantra, "No hell for believers" is just the lulling lie that the Devil wants the church to embrace despite all the repeated warnings addressed by Christ Himself to His disciples on the reality of hell.

Let's note to whom Christ addressed this solemn warning to fear God and not men.
- verse 1 informs that, "he (the Lord Jesus Christ) began to speak to his disciples."
- verse 4 Christ referred to them as "my friends."
- Read John 15:15 KJT — "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you."

Is the Lord Jesus Christ giving His friends such a grave and solemn warning based on something irrelevant to them, i.e. the impossibility of them to be cast into hell for fearing men and not God? How does such a frivolous idea impugn upon the character and wisdom of Christ?

Concerning the Ecclesiastes 12 passage, who are commanded to fear God and keep His commandments? It is shocking that not a few would even believe that it is addressed to the non-elect, those still dead in trespasses and sins; it's based on the fable that the elect are already judged in Christ and therefore this judgment cannot possibly refer to the elect. They are not the least troubled by the necessary implication that their all-wise God demanding the impossible, fear from those who are by name are hostile and in enmity against Him, and obedience to His commandments from those who know not His commandments. Also, such implies that those dead in trespasses and sins are capable of working good, "... whether good or evil." Read Romans 3:10-18.

The plain sense make good sense; the words are addressed to God's people; they are capable of fearing God and do good. They are capable of great evil too. When their works are judged by God as evil, then what?

I had thought that those who are enlightened to distinguish the eternal salvation from temporal salvation would understand better.

The warning, and many similar ones, gives plain indication that God's children may end up in hell during the intermediate state, i.e. between their death and their resurrection; it requires great effort and drastic actions on their part to avoid it. See My 5:30, 18:8. Hell requires great efforts to be avoided. There is nothing they can, or need to do to avoid the lake of fire. Christ has immutably settled that - fully and perfectly. "It's finished."

NONE of God's children will end up in the lake of fire after general resurrection and great judgment.  On the day resurrection and general judgment, hell must surrender up all its captives; the emptied hell shall be cast into the lake of fire; those whose names are not in the Lamb's Book of Life are cast in the lake of fire. Rev 20:13-15.

Christ saved His people from the lake of fire; He DIDN'T save them from the temporal hell. That explains His repeated and solemn warnings to His disciples on hell; He didn't warn them of the lake of fire, which would be redundant and a waste of His breath.

The Devil rejoices when the churches don't believe in hell for them; he has nullified Christ's solemn and repeated warnings! How very subtle.

Gen 3:1a "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made."

Of Imputation, Representation, Federal Headship, and Original Sin

Of Imputation, Representation, Federal Headship, and Original Sin.

Of Imputation, Representation, Federal Headship, and Original Sin

“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Rom 5:19).

This is the Bible’s shortest and simplest statement of imputation, representation, federal headship, and original sin.

Read it again.

This is the Bible’s clearest and most concise statement of imputation, representation, federal headship, and original sin.

Read it again.

The two legal transactions are one person acting for many. The disobedient man is Adam. The obedient Man is Jesus Christ.

Read it again.

You should not have any problem with God’s choice of the word many in this verse.

The many that were made sinners prove imputation of Adam’s disobedience to all that die, for the wages of sin is death.

Therefore, since all human persons conceived by mankind die, thus all mankind makes up the many made sinners, for all die.

The many that were made righteous prove imputation of Christ’s obedience to all that go to heaven, for they are the righteous.

The gift of righteousness includes the free gift of eternal life by the free grace of God, which is only given to God’s elect.

Therefore, the many made sinners are all mankind, the whole human family of all descendants from Adam.

And the many made righteous are all the elect, the whole family of God and the brethren of Jesus Christ.

Romans 5 is one of the simplest and most powerful presentations of our salvation and present standing in grace.

Here is a simple outline to break the chapter down just a little for better consideration:

Simple Outline:

5:1-5 Five Present Blessings for Believers after Free Justification

5:6-11 Details of Jesus Christ’s Purchase of Salvation and Blessings

5:12-19 Two Adams and Imputation – Similarities and Differences

5:20-21 Sin and Death Reigned, but Grace and Righteousness Won

We have the great privilege to consider Romans 5:12-21 tomorrow in our first service. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Will you eagerly look forward to hearing it, like the entire nation of Israel gathered to hear Ezra in Nehemiah 8?

These inspired and preserved verses confound our ignorant, rebellious, and wicked world in many different ways.

They deny the world’s ideas of … origins, causes of disease and death, basis for longevity, value of exercise, role of nutrition and medicine, character of God, evil of sin, supernatural revelation, decay and entropy of the universe, etc., etc.

Think about what you fill out when you first visit a new doctor … the most important and most revealing information is requested first … your family’s medical history.

If the world’s scientists and doctors had wisdom, they would know that family history of disease and death should not start with parents and grandparents … but rather with Adam!

Then they would know there is a cause of sickness and death far weightier than anything they learned in biology, actuarial sciences, or medical school.

Romans 5:12-19, though focused on man’s condemnation to death and salvation to eternal life, explains the corruption of planet earth and the universe, the violence of animals, rust on tools in your garage, destructive events of nature, thorns in your garden, human cruelty, proliferation of false and fake news of every sort, etc., etc.

Do you understand the comprehensive value of Romans 5:12-19 for understanding the world and the doctrines of sin, hell, incarnation, salvation, etc.?

If you will teach your children these things, they will have a faith-based worldview that trumps all other worldviews. They will be wiser than enemies, teachers, and the ancients.

They will have a foundation for thinking, studying, interpreting, and living that annihilates the world’s best philosophers and scientists.

I thank God for my parents requiring me to memorize Romans 5:12 before any other verse in the Bible.

Romans 5:12-21 is perfect for communion … for it remembers the death of Jesus Christ … which was His greatest act of obedience.

Do we need a funeral to help us catch a vision of the glory of this passage of scripture, since it describes the origin of death and our salvation from it?

Decay, death, destruction, dysfunction, and violence are everywhere. They are the direct result of Adam’s sin by God’s curse on mankind and the universe.

Salvation by justification, adoption, glorification, and other facets is even more true. They are the result of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and perpetual life.

Romans 5:12-21 is perfect for communion … for by remembering Jesus’ death until He comes for us … we say to God, to Jesus, and to each other:

I believe Adam condemned us by his sin in Eden.

I believe the law of Moses further condemned us.

I believe death is the wages of sin, which I deserve.

I remember Jesus dying by this bread and wine.

I rejoice in what He did for me as the Second Adam.

~~ Copied

Apparent contradiction when the biblical distinction is ignored

LBCF — Chapter VII: Of God's Covenant

2. Moreover, (1) man having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord to make a covenant of grace, (2) wherein he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved; (3) and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, his Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.

It appears that there is a glaring contradiction in the above paragraph:

1. Man, having brought himself under the curse of the law by his fall, is dead in trespasses and sins, in enmity against God.

2. In the covenant of grace, God freely offers unto such life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of such faith in Christ that they may be saved.

Statement 2 is popularly understood, by both the Arminians and their cousins Calvinists, as God sincerely offering eternal salvation to those dead in trespasses and sins, and when such respond as required, they will receive eternal life and salvation in Jesus Christ.

What will the sincere offer of eternal salvation to such accomplished, if there is indeed an offer made to SUCH people? A moron may try to offer a big-mac to a dead man; the infinitely wise God does no such moronic thing. The Framers were no such moron to believe such nonsense.

But there is no contradiction. Statement 2 speaks of the temporal salvation conditioned upon the responses of those whom the Holy Spirit has regenerated and given the Holy Spirit of adoption, making them willing and able to believe.

3. In the covenant of grace, God has promised: "to give unto all those that are ordained unto eternal life, his Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe."

- This speaks of the bestowal of eternal salvation to each elect, at God's appointed and approved time, through the free and sovereign activity of the Spirit in regeneration. The Spirit of God who is given dwell within the children of God works faith in them, making them willing and able to believe. The offer of temporal salvation is made to such, for only such are able to respond to the offer.

The 3 statements are in perfect harmony when the biblical distinction between eternal salvation and temporal salvation is observed; the former, which is completely monergistic by the activities of the Triune God ENABLES the latter; the latter is conditioned upon the responses of those whom God had freely bestowed eternal salvation.

The Framers were both sound theologians and logicians; many who own them as their forebears are confused.