You May Wish to Read This Before You Die and Go to Hell

God: three eternal Persons — co-equal in substance and hierarchical in functional role — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — decreed a plan from eternity (Acts 2:24). It was their eternal good pleasure to bring glory to themselves. Although they are three Persons in one God, they are not three separate gods (Polytheism), nor are they three manifestations of one person (Modalism). Our God is the epitome of unity in diversity, yes, perfect unity in community.

God created all things with His plan in mind. His is a redemption story, in which the Son of God would be the hero/protagonist. His story (history) would unfold with perfect design and execution. The parts to God’s drama are: creation/fall; redemption; and restoration.

Before creation, God chose a people for Himself (Eph 1:4–5). He gave these elect ones to His Son (Jn 6:37), in whose book their names were written (Rev 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). Their salvation was planned. Many things would happen in history, but the salvation of God’s elect people, from eternity, would be the centerpiece. The person at the center of salvation is Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, the second person of the Trinity (Acts 13:23; 1 Tim 1:1; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6; 1 Thess 2:13).

God’s historical drama, as it was recorded by the prophets and apostles (the Bible), began with the creation of all things (Gen 1), including humanity (Gen 2), which quickly fell into sin and rebellion against God (Gen 3). God’s creation was judged to be “very good” (Gen 1:31), but then, every intention of man’s heart was only evil, all the time (Gen 6:5). Man was deceived by the serpent in the garden paradise (Gen 3:5), in which God had placed him. The fall of man was ruinous to his soul and body (Gen 3:3).

After the fall, as sin and death now reigned (Rom 5:14, 21), man’s focus should have been reconciliation with God, who was now positioned as Judge. What man needs is to be right with God (righteous). God gave man the Law, so that he might discern God’s holiness and see the magnitude of his own sinfulness. Instead, the rebellion that began with Adam and Eve in the garden, continued, as the Law provoked man’s hatred of God (Jn 15:18–19; Rom 1:30; 5:10).

Even before God gave the Law to Moses (Ex 20; Dt 5), He had made promises to Abraham (Gen 12, 15, 17). The promises were believed. He trusted God’s Word (vs. Adam and Eve), and God counted this to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:5; Gal 3:6; Jas 2:23). In this, Abraham performed no work (Rom 4:5), but it was God who established the covenant of grace (Father), executed the required terms (Son), and applied the promised benefits (Spirit).

Whereas, the Law revealed the holy standard of God, the Covenant revealed what God would do, in order to reconcile those elect ones, to a position of righteousness. This is what God purposed for Christ Jesus (Eph 3:11), and what He would impute to those positioned in Christ Jesus, upon His finished work (2 Cor 5:21).

Jesus Christ, the Son of God sent into the world (Jn 3:16), came to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). He was enfleshed in the likeness of men (Jn 1:14), but He was without sin (Heb 4:15). Conceived by the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:20), He was born of the Virgin Mary (Is 7:14; Lk 2:11; Gal 4:4), as the Holy One of God, the God/man, fully God and fully man. He dwelt among us with the title, “Lamb of God” (Jn 1:29), for He was the unblemished sacrifice (Heb 9:14), acceptable to God, for the full payment of sins (Col 2:14), of those He came to redeem from the Law they could not keep (Jas 2:10).

Jesus fulfilled the Law (Mt 5:17; Rom 8:4) and offered Himself on the cross (Heb 7:27), to God (Heb 9:14), for the benefit of His elect, redeemed people (2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24), the Israel of God (Is 49:6; Gal 6:16), from every nation, tribe, and tongue (Rev 5:9;7:9).

The just for the unjust (1 Pet 3:18), Jesus’ precious blood was poured out for many (Is 53:12; Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; 1 Pet 1:19), whose sins are forgiven (Acts 26:18; Col 1:14), entirely (Heb 10:18), by Christ’s one time sacrifice for all of His people (Rom 6:10; Heb 7:27; 9:12; 10:10), who are gathered to Him for salvation, and there is salvation, from God’s wrath against sinners (Rom 1:18; 1 Thess 1:10), in no one else (Acts 4:12). It is God the Father who draws the elect to Christ (Jn 6:44), as the Holy Spirit preaches the Gospel of grace to all people (Mt 24:14; Mk 16:15; Rom 10:14–17), but effectually calls the elect to come (Rom 8:30), by causing them to be born again of God (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3).

Those regenerated by the Holy Spirit are granted repentance and faith (Acts 5:31; 11:18; Phil 1:29; 2 Tim 2:25) which are gifts of God’s grace (Eph 2:8–9) that evidence the new creation (2 Cor 5:17), that is — new (Rom 6:4; 2 Cor 3:6), abundant (Jn 10:10), and eternal life in Christ (Rom 6:23).

It is the Holy Spirit, who now indwells (Rom 8:9, 11), those predestined to adoption before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4–5; Rom 8:15, 23). The Spirit causes the saint to walk in God’s statutes (Ezek 36:27; Gal 5:25), guiding him into all truth (Jn 16:13) — regarding the death, burial, and resurrection of God’s only begotten Son (Jn 3:16; 1 Cor 15:3–4), who has ascended into heaven (Acts 1:2, 11), and who is enthroned at the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33; Heb 8:1), at the center of the throne (Rev 7:17), having been given all authority in heaven and earth (Mt 28:18), to rule and reign in righteousness (Rom 5:17, 21). Jesus Christ is Lord of all (Acts 10:36; 17:24)!

The gathering of God’s chosen people (1 Pet 2:9), Christ’s church (Mt 16:18; Eph 5:23), will continue until every last sheep is brought in to the Great Shepherd’s fold (Ps 23; Jn 10), and then, the end will come on the Day of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor 1:8; 5:5; 2 Cor 1:14).

The consummate day of history, the second advent of King Jesus (Mt 24–25; Mk 13; Lk 21), will include the resurrection of the dead (Jn 5:25–29) — some to glory and eternal life, with imperishable bodies and souls…and some to judgment, with a sentence of punishment in the eternal lake of fire (Rev 20:14–15), in outer darkness (Mt 8:12), where the worm does not die (Is 66:24; Mk 9:44, 46, 48), and the torment does not cease (Lk 16:23, 28), where there is endless weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30).

Friend, it is the work of God for you to believe our report (Jn 6:29; 10:16; 12:38), of this glorious Gospel (1 Tim 1:11), entrusted as a stewardship to faithful men of God (1 Cor 9:17; Eph 3:2; Col 1:25), who bear witness of Christ, in the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). If you belong to Christ (Jn 10:26; 1 Cor 3:23), having been appointed to believe unto eternal life (Acts 13:48), and having the Spirit of God’s Son (Rom 8:9), then the Word of God has been written, so that you may believe you have eternal life (1 Jn 5:13), and the blessed assurance of the promises of God written therein (2 Cor 1:20).

It is a fact, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall be saved (Acts 16:31). For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord (Joel 2:32), having received His Spirit (Jn 7:39; Jn 20:22; Acts 2:33), by the will of God (Jn 1:12–13), shall be saved (Rom 5:9–10).

You have His Word on it, and His Spirit to assure you…unless you have neither, having failed the test (2 Cor 13:5). Therefore, examine yourself to see that you are in the faith, once for all, handed down to the saints (Jude 1:3), who are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe (Rom 1:16–17). It remains foolishness to everyone else (1 Cor 1:18).

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

December 3, 2022