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If you didn't see the question
you're looking for, check the
"Answers to 100 Questions from
the Evidence Bible" section of
our website; it contains
questions and answers on more
than 150 topics. Additionally,
some of the topics in this
"Frequently Asked Questions"
area are covered there in
greater detail.
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I have just read
The Way of the Master --
and I am scared that I'm
not saved.
It is healthy to examine
yourself and see if you
are in the faith. Once
you have repented of all
sin (see Psalm 51, 1John
1:9), don't doubt God's
promises. Doubt produces
fear. It is also a great
insult to God--if I
don't trust you, it
means I think you are a
liar.
Here's a recipe for
success:
-
Read your Bible
every day . . .
without fail. Every
day. Value the Word
more important than
your food (see Psalm
One).
-
Obey what you read.
-
Develop a tender
conscience.
-
Never doubt any of
God's promises.
-
Obey the Great
Commission by
sharing your faith
(see John 14:21).
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Why not tell a
sinner of God's love
rather than of His
Judgment?
Here's a question: How
do we know of God's love
for the sinner? Only
through the Cross. If
you study the NT you
will see that God's love
is almost always in
direct connection to the
Cross. Herein is love,
For God so loved, God
commended His love, etc.
Prosperity, blessings,
etc., are not a sign of
His love. If that is so,
He loves the rich far
more than He loves the
poor. So, the Cross is
what we should point to
to express God's love to
a sinner. How can we
point to the Cross
without making reference
to sin? How can we refer
to sin, without the Law?
The correct/biblical way
to express God's love to
a sinner, is to show him
how much he has sinned,
how wretched he is (to
see himself in truth so
he or she understands
their desperate need of
God’s forgiveness) . . .
(the Law/God’s
wrath/God’s judgment) .
. . then give the grace
of God. That will reveal
the depth of God’s love
for the sinner.
Second. When a criminal
stands guilty--on
trial--it would be a
mistake to speak to him
of how the judge loves
him and how
compassionate the judge
is. Better for a
criminal to see the
frown of the judge, so
that he will see the
seriousness of his
crime, and find a place
of true sorrow and grief
for what he has done. It
is then that the mercy
of the judge should be
revealed, no sooner.
This is very
important/biblical and
we hope this makes
sense.
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I am struggling
with feelings of being
unsaved.
There is a wonderful
little verse in First
John. It says "Hereby we
know that we know Him .
. . if we keep His
commandments." I don't
"feel" God's presence.
If I lived by feelings,
I would conclude that
God wasn't with me.
This, then is how I know
that I know Him--because
there is something in me
that wants to keep His
Commandments. I have a
new heart with new
desires. Before I was
saved, I couldn't care
less about loving and
obeying God.
Do you believe that
whoever calls on the
name of the Lord shall
be saved? Do you believe
that if you confess your
sins, He is faithful and
just to forgive you and
cleanse you from ALL
unrighteousness? Do you
believe that you are a
saint (by the grace of
God)?
If you don't believe His
promises, then you are
calling God a liar . . .
and there is no greater
insult to God than not
to believe His promises.
See First John.
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I have a lust
problem.
The Bible says to "guard
your heart with all
diligence . . . " That
means the area of your
thought life. If we have
a problem with lust, we
should be quick to
remember that we share
that thought with God.
That's scary. He is
perfect, pure, holy . .
. and just. If He
considers lust to be
adultery of the heart,
we are in BIG trouble.
That knowledge should
send us back to the
Cross, where we should
confess and forsake our
sins.
We all have similar
battles with unclean
thoughts. Be careful
what you look at, and
what you think about. If
you begin to lose the
battle in your mind, go
somewhere and pray.
Confess your sins the
moment you become aware
of them, and don't let
the enemy get a double
victory by not sharing
your faith or by
allowing sin to keep you
out of fellowship. Make
sure you read the Word
every day without fail.
That old saying is true:
"This Book will keep me
from sin (and Hell), and
sin will keep me from
this Book." Also, be
very careful of
idolatry. It is easy to
change our concept of
God so that He conforms
to our sins (a god who
doesn't mind lust).
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What is the
place of good works?
Remember that Jesus said
that there was no one
born of women greater
than John the Baptist .
. . "But he that is
least in the Kingdom of
Heaven is greater than
he." In Christ, your
works are pleasing to
God. They can't and
don't justify you, but
you can now make God
smile when you do good
works, evangelize, love
your husband/wife, etc .
. . because you are in
Christ. The motive for
what you do as a
Christian isn't tainted
by guilt. Love and
gratitude motivate your
life of godliness. It's
like a criminal trying
to do something good for
the judge before
sentence is given.
That's an attempt to
bribe the judge and
pervert justice. But if
the judge pays the
criminal's fine himself
out of his own
hard-earned money and
the criminal is released
on the basis of his fine
being paid, he is free
to show the judge how
much he appreciates
kindness. One is an
attempt to pervert
justice, the other is
gratitude in action. One
makes the judge frown
with displeasure, the
other makes him smile.
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I love your
teaching about sin and
repentance, but doesn’t
this fail to exalt the
cross?
A man committed what he
believed was a petty
crime. He didn’t have
any money to pay his
fine, so the judge
kindly paid it for him.
Another man committed
what he understood to be
a very serious
crime and didn’t have
any money to pay his
fine, so the judge
kindly paid it for him.
Which criminal do you
suppose was more
grateful to the
judge--the one who
thought that his crime
was no big deal, or the
one that saw how
serious his crime
was? It was more than
likely the latter.
So it is that those who
think lightly of sin,
think lightly of the
Savior. That’s why it is
most important to show
sin in its true
light—that it is
“exceedingly sinful.”
When a sinner
understands that his sin
is a very
serious crime against
God, His mercy in Christ
is seen as an
unspeakable act of
kindness. The more he
understands his sin, the
more he appreciates the
cross, and the way to
make a sinner understand
how sinful sin is, is to
take him through the
Moral Law (the Ten
Commandments) because
it’s the Law that makes
the offence abound.
That’s the meaning of
Romans 5:10:20:
“Moreover the law
entered, that the
offence might abound . .
. ”
Every preacher should
have one resolute eye on
Calvary as he speaks of
the serious nature of
sin. He is the kindly
doctor, talking with
the patient about the
seriousness of
his disease. He must
convince him of
the terminal nature of
the disease, so that he
will appreciate and
appropriate the cure. So
he thoroughly speaks of
the disease, with one
eye on the cure he is
about to reveal.
The cure of the cross is
the centrality of the
preacher's message. He
must exalt the love of
God in Christ, and the
way to do that is to do
what Jesus did, to do
what Paul did, what
Spurgeon, Wesley and
Whitefield did. He must
thoroughly expose the
blackness of sin so that
the light of the
glorious Gospel will
shine in all its
splendor. To fail to
speak about sin in
depth, is to demean the
grace of God in Christ.
It is to fail to exalt
the cross.
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How can I
witness to the unsaved
when I am depressed?
I would witness anyway.
Think of it this way. I
have a cure to cancer.
How can I give the cure
to dying people, when I
am feeling down myself?
The answer is -- my
feelings are secondary.
If you have that
attitude, I am sure your
joy (the "joy of the
Lord") will flood back.
That joy will then be
your strength and
sustain you in your
trials.
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Do you sin as a
Christian?
I have sinned since I
became a Christian --
but it is against my
will. I may take the
largest piece of
chocolate cake, or let a
impure thought enter my
mind, but I hate it.
However, if I sin
willfully, then I am a
hypocrite and not a
Christian at all. The
first Epistle of John
makes that very clear.
When I am aware that I
have done something
wrong, I ask for God's
forgiveness, and
immediately turn from
that behavior.
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What about those
who haven't heard the
gospel?
Those who have never
heard the gospel will be
given justice. People
don't go to hell
primarily "because they
don't believe in Jesus"
but rather because they
have sinned against God.
If they have lied,
stolen, murdered,
committed adultery,
etc., God will punish
them -- not because of
their ignorance, but
because they have sinned
despite the light God
gave them via their
conscience. If you
really care about those
who haven’t heard about
Jesus, take the Gospel
to them and tell them
how they may be forgiven
and be saved from Hell.
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I have my own
thoughts on what god is
like.
This is transgression of
the First and Second of
the Ten Commandments: "I
am the Lord your God,
you shall have no other
gods before Me . . . You
shall not make to
yourself a graven image
of any likeness." You
are creating a god in
your mind that you are
more comfortable with—a
god to suit your sins.
Man has always made gods
to suit himself. My
opinion doesn't matter
when it comes to God's
character. What matters
is the truth--and He has
revealed what He is like
through the Bible.
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I am afraid of
witnessing because I
have a fear of not being
able to answer
questions.
If you learn to use the
Moral Law (Ten
Commandments) in
evangelism, you will
find that there won't be
too many questions
because you will be
dealing with the
conscience, rather than
the intellect. By that I
mean, if you get a man
to admit that he is a
liar, a thief, a
blasphemer and an
adulterer at heart,
"hypocrites in the
church," Darwin's
theory-tale, etc.,
become non-issues. Study
how Jesus dealt with
questions in Luke 13. He
didn't spend much time
at all on them, but took
the sinner back to the
fact that he has to face
God on Judgment Day.
To learn how to use the
Law in Evangelism, go to
our
free audio lessons page,
where you can listen
online to several of the
messages out of the
16 message audio set
(available on CDs).
We have created
The Evidence Bible
specifically to answer
this fear. The Evidence
Bible has answers to
over 100 of the most
common questions and
objections about
Christianity. You can
see these answers in our
free online resource
called
"Answers to 100
Questions from the
Evidence Bible” To
build up your courage,
you may also want to
consider reading
God Doesn't Believe in
Atheists.
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Do you believe
in "Once saved always
saved?"
Unfortuantely, when
commenting on the
subject of eternal
security, many books and
sermons from respectable
men and women of God,
seem to be evidently
silent on the subject of
true and false
conversion. This is in
spite the fact that it
is incredibly relevant
to the topic of eternal
security. The New
Testament deals with
this in great depth. It
tells of Judas'
profession of faith (he
was in truth a thief,
and was referred to by
Jesus as a "devil"), and
relates the parables of
Jesus about the true and
false "believers"
sitting alongside one
another. It speaks of
Demas, who forsook Paul
because he "loved this
present world." As such,
he revealed himself to
be an enemy of
God--"Whoever is a
friend of the world is
an enemy of God.”
In one book, the author
referred to a
pastor/friend who was
found to be
"romantically" involved
with another woman. The
pastor had made his mind
up to divorce his wife
and marry the woman. I
presume he means that he
had been committing
adultery. Instead of
challenging the man as
to the validity of his
faith, and therefore
warning him that
"adulterers will not
inherit the kingdom of
God," he spoke of the
man's "loss of rewards."
We do believe in eternal
security for a true
convert. He puts his
hand to the plow and
doesn't look back,
because he is "fit" for
the kingdom (Luke 9:62).
Those who are fit for
the Kingdom are not
hypocrites as was Judas.
The true convert is
eternally secure in his
faith, because his faith
in Jesus is genuine
rather than false.
However, if a man
steals, lies, kills,
rapes, hates, lusts,
covets, commits
adultery, etc., and
calls himself a
Christian, he would be
very wise to examine
himself and see if he is
"in the faith." The
Bible makes it very
clear that hypocrites
will not inherit the
Kingdom of Heaven.
If a man has no
understanding of true
and false conversion (in
his ignorance), he may
make a calculated
decision to forsake a
few future eternal
rewards and trade them
for the immediate and
temporary pleasures of
sin. His confidence is
in an interpretation of
scripture that may have
eternally tragic
repercussions.
We think that teaching
on true and false
conversion would clear
the air when it comes to
the contentions between
two opinions that so
often divide the Church.
It would bring closer
together those who say
you can lose your
salvation at the drop of
a sinful hat, and others
who think that
Christians can get away
with murder and still be
assured that they are
saved, because they once
professed faith in the
Savior.
For more information,
freely listen online to
"True and False
Conversion" from the
16 message audio set
(available on CDs).
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I was just
wondering what the best
way to witness to
someone is who doesn't
believe that the Bible
is the Word of God.
It really doesn't matter
if someone says that he
doesn't believe that the
Bible is the Word of God
(or that they don't
believe in Hell or
Judgment Day). If we
have rightly used the
Law (the Ten
Commandments -- to bring
"the knowledge of sin"),
we merely say, "It
doesn't matter that you
don't believe the Bible.
You still have to face
God on Judgment Day, and
you've admitted that you
are a liar, a thief and
that you have committed
adultery in your heart."
His conscience will
affirm the truth of the
Commandments, and the
Word of God (regardless
of his or her lack of
belief in it) is
faithful to bring
conviction through the
power of the Holy
Spirit.
We then, gently (in
love), explain to him
that if he walked on a
freeway, saying that he
didn't believe in
trucks, his unbelief
wouldn't change reality.
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