Bible Studies

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by Doug Laird

07/10/25
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Our “Own” Cross

Part One

Contrary to God’s 1Tim. 2: 4 desire that all people be saved, Matt. 7: 14 reveals that only a few in each generation of the world’s population (during the Church Age) will choose to take the one and only on-ramp onto the road that leads to eternal life.

Furthermore, not all who are born-again will choose to enter into, or remain on, the road of post salvation Biblical discipleship, denying God the glory and depriving themselves of the heavenly rewards and privileges that are reserved for disciples.

Note that the rewards and privileges that will be given to disciples are in addition to the general environment that will be the experience of all born-again believers (1).

Through the Person and the atoning Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gates to Heaven into an eternal, never-ending, life with God, that He has made available to all. This personal relationship with God begins here on Earth the moment one is born-again, and continues on after his or her departure.

But one must choose the one and only way (2) to receive eternal life, if he or she is going to experience it.

The alternative is to eventually (3) spend all of eternity future in what the Bible calls the lake of fire. This alternative is awaiting every soul that chooses to disbelieve (4). This lake of fire is not a place of extermination, but of ongoing and never-ending torment, eternally separated from God.

In this world, there are some full-blown atheists. This is the result of rejecting the concept of eternity that God plants in the heart of every soul that He creates (5). This is a choice that atheists make, dismissing any interest in God, or in the things of God, since they do not believe that He exists.

They, however, will no longer be atheistic when they depart this world and find themselves in Hell. By then, it will be too late to do anything about it.

The majority of the world’s population, do believe in the existence of “a” god (6), and an accompanying system of requirements and prohibitions that his or her followers must adhere to, in order to secure both earthly and heavenly blessings.

But according to Scripture (7), belief in the existence of any god other than the God of the Bible, or trying to secure a relationship through any other means than His plan of salvation, will NOT provide such religious groups with a future in Heaven.

The unadulterated Gospel Message is the best possible Good News for those who believe, and the worst possible Bad News for those who disbelieve. It assures believers of eternal life, and it assures unbelievers of eternal condemnation.

There is no indication that Adam and Eve had this problem to address. They were created spiritually alive, placed into a harmonious environment, in fellowship with God.

We, on the other hand, come into this world with a dead spirit, coupled with a fallen nature that is inherently hostile towards God, and the things of God. We are in the need of being born-again and to receive a regenerated spirit (8).

The concept of there being no god, or any other god than the God of the Bible, did not come into the picture until after the Fall of Man.

Even Fallen Man could sense the need for reconciliation with God or a relationship with “a” god, opening the door for the creation of all the futile attempts to do so through human effort and Man-made religion.

Needless to say, the devil was, is, and will be, right there to promote all such futile attempts. The hostile (9) fallen nature that Man received as of the Fall, is inherently opposed to plan of God, while open to the (false) means provided by Man-made religion.

Unlike Adam and Eve, their descendants (us) come into this world with this fallen nature that has been passed down (10) to all the generations of Man.

The creation of false gods and false religion was, and is, the human response in an attempt to fill the void that was established when fellowship with God was lost at the Fall.

Since the Fall of Man, to the extent that God allows, Satan does all he can to promote the concepts of atheism, false god(s), and false means of securing a relationship with, and the blessings of, the one true God.

The devil does so, primarily to deny God His glory. The self-condemnation of all the souls that the devil deceives, is a bi-product in the mind of the devil, but should be of utmost concern to us.

In the eyes of Satan, we are merely pawns to be used in his ongoing battle with God in the spiritual realm, denying Him the glory. Once he has used us to accomplish his objectives, the devil thinks nothing of leaving us high and dry to deal with the fallout.

The devil’s destiny (11) in eternity future has already been determined. Note that he makes no promises to anyone beyond the grave; only here on Earth (12).

It matters not to the devil if he accomplishes his objectives through worldly prosperity or adversity, providing he accomplishes his destructive intentions (13).

The extent of his deceptive destruction is considerable since it has earned the devil the Biblical designation of being the “god of this world (2Cor. 4: 4 NASB2020)”, who deceives the whole world (14).

End of Part One

(1) Rom. 8: 1 (2) John 14: 6 (3) Rev. 20 13-15 (4) John 3: 18 (5) Eccl. 3: 11 (6) Psalms 96: 5 (7) John 3: 18/John 14: 6 (8) John 3: 5, 7/Titus 3:5 (9) Rom. 8: 7 (10) Psalms 51: 6 (11) Rev. 20: 10 (12) Luke 4: 6 (13) 1Pet. 5: 8 (14) Rev. 20: 9

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