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Lesson 1
Our Eternal Salvation
Are you really sure of your eternal salvation?
 
This is a very importantquestion, and one that will have lasting eternal consequences. If you were todie today, do you know for certain that you would go to heaven? This is aquestion about which we cannot afford to be wrong, because eternity is very permanent. One day each of us will know the true answer to this question,"For we shall
all
stand before the judgment seat of Christ", Romans 14:10. Everyone of us have two appointments that have already been made for us and thatwe will definitely keep, whether we want to or not. They are,"And as it is
appointed
for men to
die
once, but after this the
 judgment
", Hebrews 9:27.These two appointments, death and the judgment, cannot be cancelled.
 
The tragedy of what happened in New York City and the Pentagon inWashington, D.C. on September 11, 2001 shows the uncertainty and brevity of life. God tells us in James 4:14,"Whereas you do not know what will happentomorrow. For what is your life? It is even as a vapor that appears for a littletime and then vanishes away."We must not make an error concerning our salvation in following what"seems right" to us, or that we "feel in our heart that we are saved". The Biblesays in Proverbs 14:12,"There is a way that
seems right to a man
, but its endis the way of death". Our feelings are not a safe guide, but only the Bible is.What prior assumptions have we already made about our salvation? Manyof these assumptions, that people make, contradict what God says in his wordto us. All we have to do is to look around at all of the many differing doctrinesthat are being taught, and then compare them to what God says in the Bible,and we can see a great difference. Our Lord says in Mark 7:7,"And in
vain
they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men". Our worship is
vain
if it comes from the doctrines of men and not from God. Canwe say that all these many differing doctrines have come from God? I think not. I Corinthians 14:33 says that,"God is not the author of confusion."Or arethey from men? Where else could they have come from, if they did not comefrom God? This becomes a very serious question. Our worship becomes vainand useless, if our doctrines come from men when they meet in their conventions and conferences to decide what they are to believe and do.
1
 
As the apostle Peter told the Jewish council in Acts 5:29,"We ought to obeyGod rather than men". Do not believe anything that I tell you, because we arenot going to be judged by what I say. Do not believe anything any other persontells you, because we are not going to be judged by what some other personsays. In fact, we are not going to be judged by what we personally believe. Onthe Day of Judgment we are going to be judged only by what the Lord says inthe Bible. That is going to be the only standard for judgment, for our Lord saysin John 12:48,
"The word that I have spoken will judge him in the lastday".
So, if I or any other person cannot point to it in the Word of God, then please do not believe it, because there is too much at stake – your soul!Our soul is worth more than the whole world and everything in it. Jesussays in Matthew 16:26,"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the wholeworld, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for hissoul?"Our soul is the part of us that is going to continue to live on forever throughout all eternity. We cannot afford to lose our soul and be eternally punished.
Lesson 2
God’s Warning
Christ, who is all knowing, tells us that many people are going to be lost, butonly few are going to be saved. In Matthew 7:13-14 He says,"Enter by thenarrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leads todestruction,
and there are many who go in by it
. Because narrow is the gateand difficult is the way which leads
to life, and there are few who find it
". Now this gets my attention. According to the Bible the majority of people will be lost. Sadly the majority of people still walk the wide road of sin into eternaldamnation. We must take this warning from God at face value. The Lord saysonly a few people will be saved.How few can few be? In 1 Peter 3:20 (KJV) we read,"When once thelongsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing,wherein few, that is eight souls were saved by water."The conservativeestimate of the number of people on the face of the earth in the days of Noah istwo hundred million (200,000,000) people. But only eight (8) out of theestimated two hundred million (200,000,000) were saved. Not very goododds. Even though the Bible says in 2 Peter 3:9 that the Lord is"not willingthat any should perish". Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14 concerning eternal lifein Heaven that"there are few who find it". The vast majority of people will
 
spend forever and ever in the eternal fires of Hell that will never beextinguished. Why? The vast majority of people are not really interested ingoing to Heaven, but you are or you wouldn't be studying this courseconcerning your eternal salvation.There are only two roads to eternity and we are on either one or the other.According to what the Lord says, only few will make it to Heaven, but the vastmajority will be lost in eternal punishment. This is both frightening and sad. Idon’t consider myself selfish, but I certainly want to be among the few who aresaved, don’t you? We make the choice ourselves as to where we will spendeternity. We are free moral agents. This is how we differ from the animals.We have been made in the image of God. Genesis 1:26 says,"Then God said letUs make
man in Our image
, according to Our likeness". Also in Genesis 2:7we read,"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and
man became a living soul
".Yes, we posses a soul that will live forever and ever in either Heaven or Hell.God does not want anyone to be lost, but the choice is ours. In 2 Peter 3:9we read,"The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some countslackness, but is longsuffering toward us,
not willing that any should perish
 but that all should come to repentance". God does not want us to go intoeternal punishment. He is not going to force us to serve Him; otherwise wewould be mere robots. 1 Timothy 2:4 says concerning God,"Who desires
allmen to be saved
and to
come to the knowledge of the truth
". It is God’s willthat all be saved, but we know that is not going to happen. We have alreadyseen that only few are going to be saved in Heaven and the majority are goingto be lost forever in Hell.Also, as the verse says, before we can be saved, we must "come to theknowledge of the truth." Jesus says in John 8:32,"And you shall know thetruth, and the truth shall make you free."What is the truth that will make usfree? In John 17:17 Jesus says,"Sanctify them by your truth.
Your word istruth.
"So only the instructions contained in the word of God is the truth thatwill make us free so that we can go to heaven.What is your eternal destiny? If you miss Heaven, you will be thrown intothe eternal fires of Hell. One of the saddest things about going to Hell is thefact that it could have been avoided. The majority of people will be lost inspite of what the Lord has done. A person who goes to Hell is his own worstenemy. Hell is not what God does to us, but Hell is what we do to ourselves. If one ends up in Hell, he only has himself to blame.
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