Regifting

Yes, it’s true. I’m regifting this year. In the current economy, it seems that regifting is more common than ever, but it is by no means new. The Christ of Christmas said, “You received without paying; give without pay.” So with the vast number of friends and family to whom I would like to give a gift, I’ve decided to join trend of regifting. The gift I have received is the gift of God – eternal life. It is the perfect gift for regifting. It is the gift that once you’ve received it you can regift it over and over again and still keep it for yourself. (Of course God, the original giver, continues to be the source of the gift.)

I love Christmas. But celebrating the birth of the Christ child apart from the reality of why He was born is empty and meaningless. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born in order that He might live as a man the perfect sinless life that no one else could ever live. And having lived that life, He was to die in the place of sinners. God, the universal Lawgiver and Judge, is holy and just. His justice demands that He punish lawbreakers, and all of mankind is guilty before the God to whom we must give account.. Yet He is merciful, and in His mercy he has determined to provide salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ.

When Jesus died on the cross, he died as a substitute for sinners. God, the Judge of all, transferred the penalty for sin to His sinless Son and punished Him. “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” The penalty for sin, if exacted upon sinners, would consign each and every one of us to eternal conscious punishment in hell. Yet the sinless God-Man suffered the full wrath of a holy God in one day on a Roman cross in Jerusalem, just six miles away and 33 years after His birth in Bethlehem. And three days later, as if to say, “I am satisfied with the death of My Son on behalf of sinners,” God raised Jesus from the dead. Now, because God has poured out all of His wrath for sinners on the Savior, all those who receive Christ have their sins forgiven and live forever with God.

This Christmas season receive the gift of eternal life. Stop trusting in your own goodness (you have none). Put your faith in the sinless Son of God instead. Repent and turn from your life of sinning against the Lawgiver and His law. Receive this greatest of gifts. And then you can regift it over and over again and still keep it for yourself.

Now tell me, doth this offend you?

Merry Christmas,

Craig Akin

P.S. Feel free to regift this post.

Thoughts On Hell (part 3)

Hell is a place of eternal conscious punishment. Unredeemed sinners, Satan and the fallen angels will forever experience the tormenting wrath of a holy God there. There will be no relief, no break, no end, and no hope. There are those who would say that sinners are cast into hell and experience its torments, but only temporarily. Either they will be annihilated or they will be paroled after serving a finite sentence. But the punishment of hell is not corrective purgative or rehabilitative.

Hear what Jesus said.

(Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46 ESV) 31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world... 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels... 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Jesus used the same word - “eternal” - to describe the punishment of the wicked as He used to describe the “eternal life” of the righteous. The punishment of the wicked is as “eternal” as the “life” of the righteous.


Now tell me, doth this offend you?

Thoughts On Hell (part 2)

Somehow Christians have gotten the idea that the fear of hell is an illegitimate motive for fleeing to the Savior. It is not. It is to save us from hell that the Savior has come.

QUOTE: Arthur W. Pink

Concerning the eternal punishment of the wicked there are few, it seems, who realize the vital importance of a ringing testimony to this truth, and fewer still who apprehend the deep seriousness of what is involved in a denial of it. The importance of a clear witness to this doctrine may be seen by noting what a prominent place it holds in the Word; and contrariwise, the seriousness of denying it is evidenced by the fact that such denial is a rejection of God’s truth. The need of giving this solemn subject a prominent place in our witness is apparent, for it is our bounden duty to warn sinners of their fearful peril and bid them flee from the wrath to come. To remain silent is criminal; to substitute anything for it is to set before the wicked a false hope. The great importance of expounding this doctrine, freely and frequently, also appears in that, excepting the Cross of Christ, nothing else so manifests the heinousness of sin, whereas every modification of eternal punishment, only serves to minimize the evil of it. (Arthur W. Pink, Eternal Punishment)

My Dream Question and a Seeker Sensitive Pastor

In Acts 16 we read about the ministry of Paul in Philippi.

While in Philippi a demon possessed slave girl became a hindrance to the ministry. Finally, “...Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour” (Acts 16:18 ESV).

This was a great blessing for the slave girl, but “her owners” were not pleased because the demon was a “spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling” (Acts 16:16 ESV). “They seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers” (Acts 16:19 ESV). They falsely accused Paul and Sillas before the magistrates who had them beaten with rods and thrown in prison. After Paul and Silas were beaten they were placed in stocks in the deepest part of the prison.

(Acts 16:25-29 ESV) 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.

The next verse records, in the words of the Philippian jailer, my dream question.

(Acts 16:30 ESV) 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

In all my years as a Christian I have never had anyone ask me a question like that. (Just as an aside, I think most Christians are waiting for such a question before they will ever proclaim the gospel.) But I can tell you this. If someone ever asks me that question I will have an answer for them. I say that with confidence because I do not wait for someone to ask may dream question before I proclaim to them the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Having said all that, let me tell you a story.

A few days ago I was with my family at a farmer’s market/street fair passing out tracts and talking to people about the gospel. Occupying one of the booths at the street fair was a church that is a new plant from a local seeker sensitive mega church. So I decided to see what they were all about. I asked them what kind of church they were. They said, “We are a Christian church...evangelical Christian. Our pastor preaches messages that are relevant to life and they come from the Bible. We are not a seeker church.”

As we talked they introduced themselves. One of them was the children’s ministry director, one was the worship pastor, and the other two were also involved in the ministry. They said that they were half of the leadership of the church.

That’s when I decided to ask my dream question. What must I do to be saved? Only I wanted to ask it in a way that was still a question about their church.

So I looked at the worship pastor (after all he’s a pastor) and said, “What does your church teach about the nature of the gospel?”

His mouth opened as he visibly inhaled. He looked at the children’s ministry director and said, “Uh.” He looked back at me and said, “Uh, the nature of the gospel? Jesus died for our sins.”

Okay, that’s true. That Jesus died in the place of sinners is essential to the gospel message. But half the unbelievers I talk to tell me that Jesus died for our sins. I gave a pastor the opportunity to expound the gospel of Jesus Christ and that was all he could come up with.

For all he knew I could have been a Mormon, a JW, or an irreligious pagan asking him to explain the gospel.

He continued, “We preach the whole gospel, not a watered down message. Uh, I’m new at the church. I’m still learning.” Then the others chimed in to tell me about the great programs they had at the church.

As we were walking away my wife heard the worship pastor say, “Well, that was a really broad question.” I said, “That’s my dream question.”

The Bible commands Christians to be prepared to answer that question:

(First Peter 3:15 ESV) 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

Below I have linked to a couple ministries that help Christians to be prepared to proclaim the gospel.

The Way of the Master

Evangelism Explosion

Now tell me, doth this offend you?

A Witness at the Door

My wife told me about something that happened today while I was at work. I wanted her to tell you about it:

Today a van pulled up in front of our house and parked. Two Jehovah’s Witness men got out and approached our door. When I saw them I quickly ran to the back door and called our five year old son, Creed, in from playing.

When we returned to the front door the two men were waiting. I said, “Hello.”

They started saying that they were “telling people about our creator.”

I said, “Creed, who is our creator?”

He said, “God!”

“Wow, that’s good!” the men said.

I said, “Creed, who is Jesus?”

Creed said, “Jesus is God. He came from heaven to earth; lived a perfect life. He died on the Cross to pay for our sins. And He rose again!

One of the Jehovah’s Witnesses said, “Wow, you know, people four times your age don’t know that much.”

“Creed, where is Jesus now?” I said.

“In heaven,” he began, “offering us the free gift of eternal life.”

They said they had two booklets that talked about God...

I said, “I think we differ on who Jesus is.”

“Well, we try not to argue or discuss too much on differences,” they said.

I continued, “It’s a big difference. We stand firm on our belief that Jesus is God; it’s a very important difference!”

“Okay,” they said as they were backing away from the door, “Have a good day.”

I turned to Creed, took his face in my hands and said, “Son, do you know what you just did? You just witnessed for Jesus! You just told some people who did not believe that Jesus is God that He is God! You see, they believe in God the Father, but they don’t believe in God the Son. They don’t believe that Jesus is our Creator.”

Creed ran back outside where Cameron and Haley were playing (Caleb had been in the corner the whole time). Creed said, “Woo hoo! I just witnessed for God! I just told someone who didn’t know Jesus about God...that He created us! I was a create? I was crea...? What was I Cam?”

Cameron said, “Creator?”

He said, “No... I... I was a witness!...for Jesus! Yeah! Woo hoo!”

I was crying, wishing his daddy could hear. And I was praying that he would continue to the glory of his Heavenly Father.

Amen!

Check out this related article.

Now tell me, doth this offend you?