You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
Job 27:8
8 For what is the hope [tiqvah] of the hypocrite [chaneph],
though he hath gained [batsa`], when God ['elowahh] taketh away [shalah] his
soul [nephesh]? KJV-Interlinear
8 'For what is the hope of the
godless when he is cut off, When God requires his life? NASB
In this world there are two broad categories of people
- unbelievers and believers in Christ.
Within the believer group there are three general
categories of people - those who do not grow up spiritually at all, those who
have varying degrees of spiritual growth, and those who advance to spiritual
maturity.
The first group, the unbeliever group, will have no
blessings whatsoever in eternity. Their
future will be in the Lake of Fire.
The next group, all believers in Christ, will go to
heaven regardless of their spiritual growth.
In eternity, God has waiting for believers, phenomenal
blessing packages. These additional
blessings will be given to believers who have spiritual growth. Review the Parables of Christ studies.
The mature believers will receive all of their
blessings. Those who have some spiritual
growth will receive a prorated share of their blessings. And those who have no spiritual growth, will
not receive any of their extra eternal blessings. Their blessings will be redistributed to
those who have advanced to maturity.
This is the ultimate truth regarding life and the
future for each and every one of us.
Life for us all began when we were born. We have two categories of life - the first is
our physical life here on this earth.
For most of us, this life will last for maybe eighty years on average. The second, is our eternal life which will
occur after we leave this world and enter into the next life. This second life will last forever, for
billions of trillions of gazillions of years and more.
Now here is a test question. Which life span is the longer of the
two? Which of these lives will be the
more significant? If you answered the
second or the eternal one, then you do have a brain after all.
For most of us our first life, comes first.
Don't want to go to fast for anyone here.
The eternal life expectations of the believer are
infinitely better than the expectations of the unbeliever. Heaven verses Lake of Fire.
The eternal blessings of the mature believer are
infinitely greater than the blessings of the negative believer.
The obvious objective of the individual should be to
maximize their future by advancing to spiritual maturity.
In this life, none of us had any say or choice in our
birth or circumstances of life. From the
time of Adam and Eve right down to the time of our parents, we had no say in
our genetic makeup, nor the circumstances of history, or the environment into
which we were born.
But as for our eternal future, we have phenomenal
opportunities in preparing for our next life, in insuring that we will have
blessings above and beyond all that we can even imagine. That is a huge change from our former
situation in which we had no input.
So you can live for this life alone, perhaps a few
decades, and forget your future, eternity, or you can prepare during this life
and have the greatest life beyond imagination in the next life, the one which
will last forever.
Job points out one big truth. We will all leave this life eventually. We
will be cut off. We will die. And then eternity will begin for each one of
us in due course.
One day, God will issue a command and your soul will
leave your body, and gone from this world you will go.
What hope is there for those who reject God? None.
There is no other deity to which they can turn.
What blessing is there for those who ignore God? Zip.
There is no other source of blessings from which they might gain some
advantage.
During this life many will be indifferent toward
God. They will pursue the world, they
will express their opinions, they will presume that they know more than the
average person, they who have not lived but a few years but presume to know
history as though they have been around since time began.
Mk. 8:36-37
'What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his
soul?'
Unbelievers give up their entire eternal future in
heaven for their passions during this short life now, on this earth.
Negative believers forfeit their eternal 'extra'
blessings for their passions during this short life now, on this earth.
Life now is very short in comparison to all of
eternity. And while a person may enjoy
the benefits of this world, from a spiritually negative life now, and God will
allow it, but giving up all of eternity seems like quite a large price to pay
for virtually nothing in return.
Look around you, at all that you have, and all of that
will be lost, for certain the very moment of your eventual death.
You cannot change your future (death and eternity),
but you can change its content. And to
make that change for the better, all it takes is a positive attitude toward
God, Christ, doctrine, your daily study and your spiritual life.
And of course you can ignore all of this, too. But there is a price for that decision.
Now is the time to post a prayer.
End Of Lesson
Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.
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