How to Be Truly Wise?
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse; and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run back and forth, and knowledge shall be increased.”” (Daniel 12:2-4 WEB)
The Bible is clear that there is resurrection from the dead. Those who are born twice will only die once, whereas those who are only born once will die twice.
The righteous will be raised to enjoy eternal life in glorified bodies, whereas the wicked who reject Jesus Christ will be raised back from Hell at the end of time to receive a sentence of condemnation, before being cast into the lake of fire.
“Those who turn many to righteousness” refers to those who win souls for God’s kingdom through sharing the Gospel. Upon believing and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord, a person receives the righteousness of God, becoming as righteous as Jesus is.
Soul winners will shine (in honor and glory) as brightly as the firmament and as the stars within it. They are doing the most important work, for the salvation of mankind and the unification of God and man is God’s greatest desire!
Wisdom here is directly linked to winning souls, just as we see a similar idea in the Book of Proverbs:
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.” (Proverbs 11:30 WEB)
It is wise to win souls because you will receive eternal rewards in return. There is no better use of your precious time than to share the Gospel, resulting in the salvation of souls. This activity has the largest return on investment for your time, benefiting God, others, and yourself.
The archangel Gabriel told Daniel that in the end times, “knowledge will be increased”. However, knowledge does not necessarily translate into wisdom.
The problem today is that there is so much knowledge available—both true and false. We are inundated with fake news, false doctrines, and so many distracting resources of knowledge that clamor for our attention.
The knowledge we must equip ourselves with is the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ.
“Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,” (2 Peter 1:2 WEB)
As we grow in these, grace and shalom peace are multiplied unto us. There is no better use of your time, especially if you want to be used by God as a soul winner. Get into the Word every day. Through it, God will shape and train you to be effective at soul winning.
“Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 WEB)
Want to be wise? The Scriptures are the key to becoming wise in the godly way. The wise will shine brightly forever, and there is nothing more precious than godly wisdom. It makes Abba God so pleased to see you treasuring His wisdom!
What are eternal rewards? I don’t know of any other resource that talks about this topic, except for my book “Sandcastles Don’t Last Forever”. It was the first book I ever wrote, and it holds a special place in my heart. In these last days, the messages in this book are more relevant than ever, so I recommend that you read it: http://bit.ly/sandcastlesdontlastforever
「a sentence with the word condemnation」的推薦目錄:
a sentence with the word condemnation 在 Milton Goh Blog and Sermon Notes Facebook 的最佳貼文
Sheep or Goat?
““But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger, and take you in; or naked, and clothe you? When did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ “The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’ “Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, because you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”” (Matthew 25:31-46 WEB)
Those who are believers are sheep.
Sheep are sheep not because of their good works, but by birth.
They are born of the the Spirit of the Lamb of God, so of course they grow up and mature into sheep!
To serve Jesus is to love His people. When we walk in love, we are heaping up glorious eternal rewards for ourselves.
When faith in Jesus reaches maturity, it produces the fruit of good works—that’s love in action.
To feed the hungry, satiate the thirst of the thirsty (not just with normal water but with the water of God’s word and the manifested power of the Holy Spirit too) clothe the naked, be hospitable to strangers, visit the sick and visit prisoners—these are all ways of walking in love, fulfilling Jesus’ commandment to love one another as He has loved us.
Sometimes goats do good works too, such as giving to charity and showing hospitality, but their assessment before Jesus is firstly by the type of creature they are.
They are goats (unbelievers—sinners still dead in sin) and so are destined for eternal torment in the lake of fire.
The type of creature one is determines the eternal destination, and one’s works determines the quality of life in that destination.
Both sheep and goats will be judged by their works, but for a different purpose.
Sheep will only receive rewards for their good works (the product of walking in love) since Jesus already paid the price for all their sins at the cross, while goats will receive a sentence of condemnation according to their sins.
Because goats spurned Jesus’ payment for their sins, they will have to pay their own sin debt in full.
It is so grievous that they will be paying for it forever.
There is no end to one’s punishment when he subjected the Son of God to suffer his punishment and then acted like he didn’t need Jesus to do that anyway.
Little sheep, in my book “Sandcastles Don’t Last Forever” you will learn more about the great eternal rewards that await you in the Millennium, the judgment process, how you can fulfill your calling in life and maximize your rewards. I can’t wait for you to be so blessed by the revelations within ===>
https://smart.bio/miltongohblog
#SandcastlesDontLastForever #SheepandGoats
a sentence with the word condemnation 在 Milton Goh Blog and Sermon Notes Facebook 的最佳貼文
When you believed in Jesus, you shared in His death and resurrection.
You have already stepped into your eternal life — death and judgment (for sins) are behind you:
““Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24 WEB)
When a believer’s mortal body expires, he doesn’t die. He falls asleep.
“But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 WEB)
When Jesus returns for us during the Rapture, that mortal body will be transformed into a new glorified body.
That’s why it’s called falling asleep: it’s temporary. He will wake up again.
There is a “second death” for those who don’t overcome:
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.” (Revelation 2:11 WEB)
How does one overcome? Simply by believing that Jesus is the Son of God:
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5 WEB)
Those who are only born once, will die twice.
People who don’t believe in Jesus will be resurrected back to life during the Great White Throne Judgment, and after receiving their sentence of condemnation, they will be cast alive into the lake of fire, causing them to die again:
“Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14-15 WEB)
After their mortal bodies perish instantly, their spirits will continue to be tormented in the flames forever.
God didn’t put them there. They used their own free will to choose an eternity of separation from God.
Jesus had paid for their lifetime of sins at the cross, and they made Him suffer needlessly by scorning what He did for them.
Imagine how severe their trespass is for causing God to suffer unthinkable punishment in vain.
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:2 WEB)
If you’ve been born-again, Death has no power or dominion over you, and that includes sickness, aging, weakness, forgetfulness, etc. — you have been redeemed from Death and all its symptoms!
Moral of the story: Be born twice so that you only die once!
Partner with this ministry! Receive all my sermon notes ebooks, original devotionals every weekday to your email inbox and be added to our Bible Study WhatsApp Chat Group for daily chapter-by-chapter takeaways when you become a “God Every Morning” Tier or above patron on Patreon: http://Patreon.com/Miltongohblog