The Good And The Bad

Archived on December 26th, 2004

I am sure that all of you have heard of the struggle between Good and Evil. It has been a struggle that has been going on since satan, who was Lucifer, became prideful and wanted the throne for himself. He thought he would be God. But wanting this made him The Bad. So we have God, the Good, and Satan, The Evil or Bad. There is no in between. Some would say claim neutrality, unfortunately inaction is the child of backwards action. In other words: Maybe + Maybe does not equal Yes. If your running a race, your either heading for the goal or losing the race. It's the same way in the struggle for our spiritual well-being. We are either worshipping the true God or we are not. We either love one or the other.

Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other;or else he will hold to the one,and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
You cannot have two masters, you either serve God or you serve mammon. This mammon is ill-gotten monetary wealth, but represents anything that you put before God. There is no middle of the road, you either Love him or not, after all Love is the bottom line.
Love..Good. Hate..Bad.
With God there is either yea or nay, no maybes. Have you accepted Jesus as your savior? Maybe? Your either saved or your not. This brings me to the main reason for this message. Our life on earth is for one reason only, to choose between the Good, or the Bad. We are supposed to choose between God or satan. You say maybe? If you haven't said yes, then you are saying no.

John Chapter 11
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Do you say maybe to this question? It's the same I asked of you earlier. You either have accepted him as your saviour or not. Remember we are saved by grace THROUGH faith in Jesus Christ. If you say maybe, then you don't have the faith and you are not saved. It's a simple matter of confessing your sin to Him and asking Him to come into your life. Repent of your sins and He will forgive you and then you will receive that gift. The gift of what?

John 3:14-18
(14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
(15) That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
(18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
That is the gift.

Romans 6:23
(23) For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Eternal Life. Don't take it lightly. A true gift is given by someone to another person because they love that person and think they are deserving of that gift. God considers us deserving of this gift if we Love him and accept the Son. It is only through Him though.

John 14:6
(6) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
It is only by Him that we can come to the Father. In other places we are told that Jesus has become our advocate. As the lawyer pleads his client's case in court, so does the Lord Jesus Christ plead our case to God.
Now, if we believe in Christ, remember what John 3:15 and 16 says: We Will not perish.
Remember there is either Good or Bad, love or hate, God or the devil. Likewise, there is either Eternal life or Eternal death.
The word 'perish' in that same scripture is present throughout the new testament.
It is the Greek: G622 apollumi apollumi, ap-ol'-loo-mee From G575 and the base of G3639; to destroy fully (reflexively to perish, or lose), literally or figuratively.
Total Annihilation. Remember, no in betweens with God. You accept His son and receive His gift, Eternal Life. Don't accept the Son and the gift, you have Eternal Death.
He doesn't want anyone to perish, he loves us all.

2 Peter 3:9
(9) The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Here is that same word, apollumi. He doesn't want any of us destroyed, he wants to give us eternal life. Those who love will have life, those who hate will have death.
This is really the main reason for this message, I have heard time and again from other preachers that we are created as Eternal creatures. But they say you are either Eternally alive or eternally punished. That those who die non-believers and are thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone will burn forever and ever and weep and be tortured forever. Experiencing Pain for an eternity. Contrary to popular belief this is not so.
Point #1: There will be no sorrow in the eternity.

Revelation 21:4
(4) And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
The former things are gone. This includes the ones who were thrown into the lake. There is no tears, no death, no sorrow, no pain. Doe this sound like a time when people will be tormented throughout eternity? How can this be, if there is an eternal tormenting going on.
Point #2: Jesus said that we should fear Him who can destroy both our body and soul.

Matthew 10:28
(28) And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Guess what? The Greek word here that is translated as 'destroy" is the same Greek word we talked about earlier for perish. The word "hell" is the Greek word Gehenna which is symbolic of the Lake of fire and brimstone. Life or Death, friend, which will you choose?
Point # 3: Hades and Death are destroyed as well.

Revelation 20:14-15
(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.
Everyone here is delivered before the throne to be judged. Those who have not been written into the Lamb's book of life are thrown into the lake of fire as well as death and hell(hades). They are killed, destroyed, this is the second death, the death of the soul and spirit. The first being the death of the flesh. They are destroyed by that fire, which is God. That's why Jesus said to fear him.

(Hebrews 12:29) For our God is a consuming fire.
Ok, you say, so if this is so, why does it say forever and ever?
Good question. There smoke goes up forever and ever. They are tormented forever and ever.
The original words here(G1519 and G165) indicate that this pain would continue day and night from age to age. It has to be speaking of the present and/or past age to the beginning of the eternity. For it is then, as shown before, they are thrown in. Look at another passage where this is used:

Revelation 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Here we are seeing the fall of Babylon, that city of confusion. I encourage you to read the full chapter here of what is happening, but I want to stress some key verses to show you an occurrence of "forever and ever".

Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
She will be utterly burned with fire! Keep that in mind.
Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
They are afraid to get too close, afraid that consuming fire will scorch them.

Rev 18:15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Rev 18:18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
Oh what a great consuming fire!

Rev 19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
Rev 19:2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
Rev 19:3 And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
Her smoke rose up forever and ever. Is the smoke of that burning going to be visibly seen throughout the eternity? God doesn't work that way. Smoke happens during and after a fire, then it dissipates, yet that burning and that smoke is present in our memory. This is what th scripture here and in Revelation Chapter 20, and other places is referring too. It is a thing that happens but is remembered, so it continues forever and ever. We tell our loved ones, "I'll love you forever and ever." Have you ever lost a loved one? You'll love them forever and ever, though they are not there.
The torment, the pain of those thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone is forever and ever, because it happened and will be remembered. They were the enemies of God and are destroyed. That being the case, we have eternal life and won't have to put up with that nonsense anymore. Still not convinced?
Is the Word contradictory? If it is, how can we trust the Word? NO, the Word does not contradict itself. If there is anything contradicting we must realize, it is our understanding, not the Word itself that is contradictory. Can there be eternal punishment, if there is No sorrow, no pain, no tears? I don't think so.

Joh 8:51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
No death when Christ IS Life!

Romans 1:28-32
(28) And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
(29) Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
(30) Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
(31) Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
(32) Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
No life when satan is Death!

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

1 Corinthians 15:26
(26) The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
The last enemy destroyed(that appolumi again) is death. All enemies of God are DESTROYED, but Death is last.
My friend if you are not in Christ at this moment, come to Him, believe on Him and repent of your sins. You will be given that gift of Eternal life. What joyous offering God will freely give to those who come to Him. I would rather see you with me in the Eternity, than to see you destroyed fully in that Lake of Fire.
James 5:20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Amen

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