Attend to the word; be instant in season, out of season.

https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/pfbid02c1jLcgikjrFwWwubDPvHuKS3FJ8LWBk5EeFkyFE2aJR6Cvi5mU3sDqCBgJrtoGBYl

Attend to the word; be instant in season, out of season.

1 Timothy 4:16 KJT
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

2Timothy 4 KJT
1 ¶I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Psalms 23 KJV
1 ¶[[A Psalm of David.]] The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

The ministry of the word faithfully attended* to is your precious soul rightly shepherded by Christ's under-shepherds.

Being physically present at a service is not the same as ATTENDING to the ministry of the word.  That explains the scathing censure: "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." 2 Timothy 3:7 KJT

Few think much of this divine ordinance because it's unspectacular and unglamorous.

*attend -  verb, to pay attention; listen or watch attentively; direct one's thought; pay heed.

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Mark Thomas
For those with seeing eyes it’s the highest office on earth.

Sincere offer to the Dead is Sincerely Misguided

September 27, 2010

https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/pfbid0o3GRDxzEYW8tW3zRyhLf9ixXuAM5DgLG3TTRc7QfgnxL7RUJWS92KfJB15KxcULQl

FB reminds me of this exchange that took place nine years ago. A Professor of Theology asked, somewhat rhetorically, based on his teaching that God sincerely offers eternal salvation to those dead in trespasses and sins.

John 3:10 KJV — Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

Offering salvation - obviously to those without salvation, therefore still in their native state of sin and death - is like offering food to the dead, no matter how sincerely and earnestly and passionately and zealously offered.

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Prof Morrow inquired:
21 But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. Romans 10:18-21 (KJV)

Was God insincere when he stretched forth his hand to this disobedient people? Why would God stretch forth his hand to those he knew would reject him?

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Prof. Morrow, that's an interesting question. What was God sincerely doing?  Was He offering salvation to those who were dead in trespasses and sins, or was He rebuking His stiff-necked and disobedient people?

But I don't know what exactly the difficulty is.

If there is any, I don't see it yet.

Maybe the difficulty arises because we don't rightly divide the word of truth.

I take it as an established truth that God NEVER hold forth eternal salvation conditioned upon man's obedience or acceptance. This fable is plainly contrary to His moral character, contrary to His revelation, contrary to reason and common sense, etc.

I believe what is involved here is the temporal salvation of God's people which demands and requires the obedience of God's people. It has nothing to do with their eternal salvation - being saved from the eternal condemnation due to their sins. It has to do with their deliverance from the judgment threatened against them for their unbelief and disobedience. God is dealing with His people, whom He has made His own by free and sovereign grace, for their unbelief and disobedience.

This is confirmed because, in the previous verses, the Apostle Paul is also speaking of the temporal salvation that comes to those who do believe the gospel. Believing the gospel truth will save GOD'S CHILDREN and will bring them much deliverance, temporal salvation.

Eternal salvation came through Christ's finished work alone, and is applied FREELY by the Spirit alone... all completed by free grace alone. Temporal salvation - related to our well-being as God's children - is conditioned upon our obedience to the gospel. IF YOU APPRECIATE THIS BIT, MUCH CONFUSION WOULD NOT ARISE.

After I have read enough of the Bible for myself, the FALSITY of the new school Calvinistic doctrine of the perseverance of the saints in a life of faith and obedience and holiness to the end of their life becomes SO PLAIN! There is no such thing in the Scriptures.

God, Himself said, "MY PEOPLE ARE BENT ON BACKSLIDING!"

Remember this:

Isaiah 1:18-20 KJV
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

It is all about temporal salvation: eating the good of the land, or suffering temporal judgement of being devoured.

God would be VERY insincere if He is holding forth eternal salvation to those whom He knew very well had absolutely no capability to receive it; in fact, positively hostile towards God in their inward man. In reality, it would amount to a cruel and injurious mocking and taunting them.

But that is not true when God called His people to turn from their evil ways. They are able to, they have an obligation too; in this, they were able to exercise a choice... but they disobeyed. Disobedience would bring severe punishment here in the present life.

God did stretch forth His hand to His people, calling them to turn from their waywardness, sending them prophets after prophets... but they rejected God's Fatherly call to make amends.

They suffered for their disobedience throughout their history! 

"EVEN SO" - Pay close attention to these little words.

#evenso

Pay attention, close attention, to little words.

Romans 5:18 - KJT
"Therefore as
by the offence of one
judgment came upon all men to condemnation;
EVEN SO
by the righteousness of one
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." 

If sincere folks and their intelligent theologians had paid attention to those two small words 'EVEN SO' they wouldn't have ended up believing the fiction or fable of their legal justification by their faith!

Your legal condemnation was brought about by the act of your divinely appointed representative head of the human race, Adam;

EVEN SO,

your legal justification was brought about by the act of your divinely appointed representative head of His people, Christ Jesus.

Your vital/personal condemnation was brought about when you were brought into being through your conception in the womb of your mother;

EVEN SO,

your vital/personal justification is brought about when God effectually called you out of your native state of condemnation and death to that of justification and life.

Your practical/experiential condemnation is brought about by your actual acts of sins; they evidence your state of condemnation, and defile and condemn your conscience;

EVEN SO,

your practical/experiential justification is brought about by your acts of believing, they certify your justified state, your faith vindicates your justified state by God's free and sovereign grace.

EVEN SO, i.e. in the exact parallel manner...

Your justified state by the free grace of God is experienced by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone! It's not by observing the ceremonial laws as the Judaizers insisted; Apostle Paul marshalled Father Abraham to slap the Judaizer kids in their faces for such a silly nonsense..

Your justification by the free grace of God (the MANNER of your justification) is based solely upon Christ's righteousness and blood (the BASIS of your justification), i.e. His faithfulness in executing the work of redeeming all those whom God to Father had given to Him.

"You are justified by faith alone" (the popular sola fideism)
is vastly different from saying
"Your justification by the free grace of God can be experienced by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone!" 

Hell and the Lake of Fire Confounded

 

Rev 20:15 "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

The Scriptures declare the lake of fire but Paul Washer replaces with hell as though they are synnymous.

Mr. Washer fails to distinguish hell from the lake of fire, like multitudes of others.

Hell is ONLY for the intermediate state after death.

The lake of fire is the eternal state after the general resurrection.

Hell is everlasting; it lasts as long as time lasts.

Hell shall be emptied at the end of time.

That which is everlasting lasts to the end of time.

The lake of fire is eternal.

.

Rev 20
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

i. Christ Jesus holds both the keys of hell and of death.
Revelation 1:18 KJV — I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

ii. At the end of time, both death (that holds the bodies of the dead) and hell (that holds the spirits of the dead) shall surrender up all its captives to Him who holds the keys of hell and of death.
- Hell shall be EMPTY,  with no one remaining in it any more. That shall be the end of the purpose and relevance of hell, and death too.
- BOTH death and hell shall be cast Into the lake of fire; they will NEVER trouble God's redeemed ever again.
- The second death is the death of both death and hell.

iii. Death [holding the bodies] and hell [holding the spirits] shall deliver up their captives for the general resurrection and judgement.

- those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life shall be ushered into their eternal inheritance in heaven; those whose names are not written in the book of life, THAT IS, NOT REDEEMED BY CHRIST, shall be cast into the lake of fire.

- YES, there are those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life who ended up in hell BUT such shall not end up in the lake of fire. They shall be surrendered up to Christ and be resurrected to glory. (Read all those solemn warnings by Christ on hell addressed to the disciples: hell can be avoided by taking drastic measures in dealing with sins.
- A man's place in the lake of fire is determined SOLELY by whether his name is written in the Lamb's book of life.

iv. The spirits of the righteous in paradise (distinct from heaven) shall come with Christ at His coming and be united with their resurrected bodies.

Just my minority non-conformist view.
You can have yours.

=========

Roger
Amen

Ann
So, Brother Sing, are you saying that Hell will be the temporary punishment of the elect who never submit their lives to Christ while living here or may be lapsed Christians? Who then will be taken up to glory with Christ at the end of time?

Sing F Lau
Ann: Hell is the intermediate state, thus temporary, between death and resurrection.

In the intermediate state, God's children are either in paradise or in hell; in the eternal state, ALL God children shall be in heaven; those whose names were not written in the book of life, unredeemed, shall be cast into the lake of fire.

Ann
Sing, That's what I got from your post but you also said "hell can be avoided by taking drastic measures in dealing with sins."

Do you mean to say it is like punishment or judgment for sin, that will be conquered upon our final resurrection when those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life (the elect?) are made perfect in eternity with Christ?

Sing
The punishment or judgement for sin - the wages of which is eternal damnation in the lake of fire - has been fully paid by Christ; He saved His people from the lake of fire by His works of redemption.

The temporal hell, the realm of the spirits of the dead during the intermediate state, is not so much punishment/judgement for sin; it's more correctional/chastening.

These words are addressed to God's children.
Hebrews 12
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

For many, the chastening continues beyond death.

Hebrews 10:31 KJV — It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Just my understanding.

Christ solemnly warned His disciples to take drastic measures to avoid hell.

Matthew 5
1 ¶ And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying...
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Mark 9
43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
45 And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
46 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

Why did the Lord so solemnly repeated the warning of hell to His disciples if there is no possibility hell for His OWN disciples. Some think the Lord Jesus Christ is joking or wasting words. 

Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Dr. M Morrow
Sing,  I thank you for your answer to my last question. Here are a couple more... again, I am being honest and wondering how someone who holds your theological position thinks about these things. 

When Paul was on trial and said to Agrippa (Acts 26: 29) that he desired that he (Agrippa) and all that heard Paul speak that day were like him (Paul), that is, Christians, was Paul expressing a fleshly desire?  Also, in Romans 9, when Paul expressed a desire for his brethren (in the flesh), fleshly Israel might be saved...even (were it possible...) the sacrifice of his own soul...for their salvation... was that fleshly and wrong? 
Just wondering how you deal with these passages because they seem at first glance to express a desire in Paul's heart for the salvation of people who obviously were not elect people.

Thanks, your learning brother,
Michael Morrow

================

Brother Morrow,
You ask really good questions. I am always being taught by good questions - they drive me to study the Scriptures.

Let me make sure I get your question correct.
" 27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.
28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.
29 And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.

Was Paul expressing a fleshly desire?

No, not at all, but a true and sincere HUMAN desire, a genuine expression of the great commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." A child of God desires good for his fellow men generally... He desired for them the transformation that he had... once a blasphemous enemy of the gospel, but now a follower of Jesus Christ.

The desire of God is compatible with His will and decree. He WILL NOT desire nor command those for whom He did not give Christ to be their Saviour to believe Christ Jesus to be their Saviour.

The desire of a child of God is compatible with God's will for him... "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself", and that includes desiring the good that one has for the neighbours.

MM @ "Also in Romans 9, when Paul expressed a desire for his brethren (in the flesh), fleshly Israel might be saved...even (were it possible...) the sacrifice of his own soul...for their salvation..was that fleshly and wrong? Just wondering how... you deal with these passages because they seem at first glance to express a desire in Paul's heart for the salvation of people who obviously were not elect people.

The narrative does express Paul's desire for the salvation of the people under consideration... the great heaviness and continual sorrow in his heart are sincere and genuine.

There are several considerations here:
- What is the salvation that the apostle desires for the people under consideration? Was it eternal salvation by God's free grace, or a salvation that is dependent upon Paul's life and ministry?
- Would the apostle Paul be speaking of the salvation that is wholly and entirely by the free grace of God that he has so copiously asserted and demonstrated throughout the whole epistle?

I believe the apostle Paul desired the temporal salvation that comes to the children of God among the Jews ONLY through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

- Who exactly are the people under consideration? Brethren in the flesh. Did he mean 'all the Jews indiscriminately' or God's children who are among the Jews. I believe the context demands the latter.

Apostle Paul was dealing with a very unique problem among the children of God among the Jews - even though they WERE children of God, but BECAUSE of their old covenant background, they found letting go of the old covenant very hard, and enter the kingdom of heaven by believing in Jesus Christ a great stumbling block.

When Apostle Paul stated, "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel" - it is obvious that his concern WAS NOT with the PHYSICAL Israel, but the spiritual Israel among the Jews. They needed to be brought to the faith. The natural Jews WILL NEVER be able to be brought to the Jews.

"8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us."
=======

What do the words "imparted... also our own souls...?"

John Gill said this:
- but also our own souls, or "lives"; which is the highest expression and strongest proof of love that can be given; and respect is still had to the similitude of the nursing mother, who may be said to impart her blood, for such it her milk diversified, for the nourishment of her children: and such was the great concern of the apostles for the interest of Christ, the spread of the Gospel, and the good of souls, that their lives were not dear unto them, so that these ends might he answered: because ye were dear unto us; both because they were loved by God, redeemed by Christ, regenerated by the Spirit of Christ, and had the image of Christ stamped upon them; and also because that they were their spiritual children; and as children are dear to their parents, so were these to them, even to such a degree, as that, were there a necessity for it, they could freely have laid down their lives for them