Wednesday, March 17, 2010
"To Lay Hold Upon the Hope Set Before Us"
( "For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;"Heb.6:16-19) I can't help but notice the death our loved ones and their response to death. Forgive me if I seem a bit insensitive but, Whats going on with the permission of Satan being allowed to take away our hope from before us? People die and will continue to die until Jesus "subdues all things unto Himself"(Phil.3:21). The Holy Spirit said this concerning this enemy, Death: "For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool"(Acts2:34-35). The Last enemy to be defeated is Death so until that time we've been instructed to "sorrow not as those who have no hope"(1Thess.4:13). We have a hope laid up for us, holy and undefiled in the heavens where moth and dust cannot corrupt it. So brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus what's with all the sorrow and lost hope? What's with these feelings of hoplessness? I only desire to know one thing of you friends; Did you tell your deceased loved ones about Christ? Do you know if they were saved? This hope that we have set before us is only valid and effective when you are born again through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.Were your loved ones born again?If your not sure than sorrow for them for their lot maybe with dead indeed but, understand we who are born of God do not die.We are passed from death unto life.We are translated from this world of darkness into the bosom of Jesus Christ; sleep until the time of reformation. Lay hold on the hope of eternal life in Christ Jesus which was freely given to us by our High Priest,Christ Jesus. Let it be your anchor."But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive [and] remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."(1THESS.4:13-18) Remember these words and save yourselves from this bitter mourning. Your born again loved ones that are asleep shall return but what of your living unsaved loved ones? Weep for them and preach to them the gospel of Christ for they are even dead as I speak.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)

Great blog post, Josh! I'm reminded of the series of teachings Bishop did last summer on death just before my grandmother died. They were a great foundation for our family, and I'm sure this blog post will be of help to someone else who's either recently experienced the death of a loved one or will experience it in the near future.
ReplyDelete