April 2000
Do you believe in God: yes or no?
You may have seen this headline in the paper earlier this year, following a survey of Christian belief carried out by the Today programme. Questions on the resurrection of Christ; His second coming; The literal existence of Adam and Eve and the act of Creation, were sent to Church leaders, politicians, teachers, writers and scientists with the aim of gauging "the general level of belief in a number of fundamental concepts."
The responses were wide ranging and highlighted a surprising lack of commitment to the basic truths contained in the Bible. Very few were able to give a definite yes or no answer.
Having read this article I sat and wondered what the results would be like if we were to ask everyone from Crawley to answer the same set of questions? Many of the answers would require Faith if we were to answer a resounding 'yes', because of the lack of physical evidence to back them up. This Faith must be placed in the God who has given us all of the answers in His book, the Bible. And so we must start with faith in God. David in Psalm 14 wrote "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God"; and in Psalm 10 said that there are some people that "...will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." Finally, we find in Hebrews ch 11 v 6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."
4 Great Facts of Faith
Easter is almost upon us once again, with its celebrations and remembrances of what happened all those years ago. From His entrance into Jerusalem on the colt of an ass, when they cried Hosanna to the Son of David, to the betrayal by His friend Judas; His crucifixion upon the cross to His resurrection from among the dead, all of these events are remembered across the world as facts of history.
However, it is not enough to simply remember them as events of a past millennium, but they should be truths which we believe took place for our benefit, and so I want to share with you, from the Bible, four great facts of faith from the Easter events.
1. "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures"
Many people will accept the fact that Jesus died upon a cross at Calvary, some will even agree that He was actually innocent, but what was the purpose in His dying? The bible says that "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you."
When the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world He knew that He had come to take away the Sin of the world and this would mean that He would need to die upon the cross as the only acceptable sacrifice to God. This would the provide the opportunity for anyone to have a personal relationship with God; because through faith, we believe that Jesus took our sins and nailed them to His cross.
2. "And that He was buried"
Some people try to tell us that Jesus only fainted upon the cross, but the Bible records that the soldiers came and found that "He was dead already" and as a result the body was taken down and laid in a tomb.
3. "And that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures"
In the survey mention above, 240 people said they believed in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He had died, been buried and left in the tomb for three days. There was a seal on the entrance, soldiers were set to keep watch and yet when the women came to the sepulchre they found the stone rolled away, the body was not there, and an angel said to them "Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen."
4. "And that He was seen"
The Bible records various times and situations where the Lord Jesus showed Himself to many people to prove that He had risen in bodily form. When the apostle Paul wrote these things in the Bible he said "For I delivered unto you that which I also received." Have you, by faith, received these facts for yourself?
Many people today are very interested in knowing what the future holds for them, beyond death. What does the bible teach about LIFE AFTER DEATH?
We live in an age where the emphasis is placed upon the enjoyment of life while we have it, with no thought of what may lie beyond it. With the increase in natural disasters and life threatening diseases life has become uncertain and we need to be sure of what the future holds while there is still time.
We are given an illustration in the Bible of a rich young ruler who asked the Lord Jesus how he might obtain eternal life. The response of the Saviour was to tell him to give up the riches that he had on earth and follow Him, that one day he would have riches in heaven (Matt 19:19-26). How many of us are like this man who think we have everything we need in life without any thought for an eternal future.
The Bible states very clearly, "Prepare to meet thy God" (Amos 4:12). Whilst the writer of Ecclesiastes says, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God, who gave it" (ch 12:7). We need to understand clearly that according to Hebrew 9:15, "It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgement." It is also very clear in the BIble that there is a literal, physical Heaven and a literal, physical Hell. Our never dying souls will enter one of those places one day. It was the reason that the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross and rose again the third day: to keep us out of Hell and remove the only thing barring us from heaven, our sin.
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