God calls us to salvation. He will reward those who obey His call and penalize those who do not. This daily devotional looks at those rewards and the penalty.
Nuggets
- Those who do not believe in the Christ of the cross will perish.
- Those that believe in the Christ of the cross will have eternal life.
Devotions in the Love Led to the Cross series
Jesus endured the pain and humiliation of the cross in order to restore our relationships with God. Restoring those relationships bring many rewards. Not restoring that relationship brings a penalty.
Let’s look first at our fate when we continue to refuse God’s love.
Let's Put It into Context
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV)
- God’s character is love.
- God does not discriminate on who He loves.
- Because of His love for us, God gave the best gift He could — part of Himself.
- Because God wanted our relationships restored, He gave Jesus freely and willingly to die to be our Sacrifice.
- We can only gain salvation through God’s gift, secured by Jesus.
- We cannot be in a position to accept Christ of the cross until we recognize we need Him.
- We need to follow the steps of salvation in order for Jesus’s shedding His blood on the cross to cover our sins.
- Only God can regenerate us, which He does through the Holy Spirit.
- God is adamant that we have to come to salvation His way.
- Believing in Jesus means we are confident in our hearts that Jesus offered His life on the cross so that His blood would pay the penalty for our sins.
- Knowing of Christ isn’t enough — we have to believe and be committed to Him.
The Penalty for Unbelief Is High
“… should not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV)
Those who do not believe in the Christ of the cross will perish.
When we think of perishing, we think of dying. But we think of physical dying.
Lewis reminded us that we are talking souls here. Our soul is our spiritual part that is immortal.
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What is meant here is spiritual death. Spiritual death is the separation from God that occurred as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s original sin.
Glossary
Some worldview people may believe perishing is not a big deal. Part of the problem is they are focusing solely on this world.
But perishing has its downside in this world. Spurgeon wrote, “To perish is to lose all hope in Christ, all trust in God, all light in life, all peace in death, all joy.” Bible Notes and Queries added duty to that list.
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As much as not having peace and joy in this life is bad enough, the penalty for not believing in the Christ of the cross has eternal consequences.
Spiritual death is something a lot more serious. That means we will spend eternity in hell.
To read a devotion in the Hell Does Have Fury series, click on the appropriate button below.
For some, it comes down to they do not want to submit to God. Submitting to God is actions by humans that obey God and keep His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, follows His purpose for us, and does not follow Satan’s promptings.
We not only have to ask forgiveness for our sins, but we also turn away from them. We give them up because we know they are breaking God’s laws and commandments.
We can’t just make it a surface religion. Our faith has to lead to a relationship with God. A relationship with God has to lead to a change in our character.
Glossary
Our ability to submit hinges on our ability to humble ourselves. You don’t start with submission and become humble. You start with the humble, that facilitates the submission.
Salvation is given to those who are truly repentant and will submit to God. There may be some who have made a profession of faith but haven’t submitted. They will not enter Heaven and will perish.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Back to perishing.
Brewin whittled it down for us. He said to perish was “… to die in our sins …”
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Jesus’ death on the cross delivered us from that. He sacrificed Himself so that the penalty of our sins would be paid.
Remember how the verse starts? “For God so loved the world …” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV).
This sacrifice occurred because of love. God doesn’t want us to perish.
The Rewards for Believing Are Endless
“… but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 ESV)
Those that believe in the Christ of the cross will have eternal life.
Believing that Jesus, as God’s Son, shed His blood to pay the penalty for our sins brings us redemption. Redemption is where something is used in exchange for something else to gain or regain something.
Jesus is our Redeemer because
- He was born of a virgin, making Him 100% God and 100% man;
- gave His life on the cross for us so that His blood could pay the price for our sins; and
- because of God’s great might and power, rose from the grave, conquering death and paying the price for our sins.
Redemption allows us to receive forgiveness for our sins. Forgiveness is, when we ask, God pardons us because we have broken His laws and commandments and restores our relationship with Him.
How do we access this redemption? Barrows’ wrote, “This deliverance is made ours by a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Redemption is possible through God’s love. He loved mankind — even though we disobeyed Him.
Rogers reminded us that this love was felt even before Christ died for us. “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5: 8 CSB).
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That also proves that we don’t have to clean up our acts before conversion. God sent His Son to die for us when we were still disobeying Him. Talk about mercy!
Then the cleanup comes on the Sanctification Road.
Glossary
Rogers also informed us that a doctrine like this can only be found in the Scriptures. A sacrifice such as this is needed to secure such a great prize.
The prize is eternal life with the Father.
Making the Connections
Think about it.
- A love this forgiving can only be found with God.
- A love this encompassing can only be found with God.
- A love this inclusive can only be found with God.
- A love given this freely to an enemy can only be found with God.
And worldview people want to paint God as a dictator? They want us to see Him as a mean tyrant?
If God was the dictator they want to paint Him, they would not have the free will to reject Him. They would be on their knees before Him now.
Instead, many do not call God Lord. They follow Satan.
One day, worldview people will bow before God. “For the Scriptures say, ‘As surely as I live,’ says the LORD, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will declare allegiance to God’” (Rom. 14: 11 NIV).
I can’t remember which devotion it was, but we talked once about eternity has already started. We don’t have to wait to get to Heaven. That means we do need to strive for purity in this world.
Rogers took the flip side of that. He wrote, “He that believeth not is dead already.”
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So, it sounds like we aren’t really waiting for judgment day. Eternity is now.
I’m going to have to ponder on that.
How Do We Apply This?
Rogers wrote, “God has lavished the love of His heart on us and requires the trust and love of ours.” We have to have faith in Him.
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We need to ABCD to show God we have the faith in Him. Then we need to seek Him.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
When Jesus returns, we want Him to find us faithful.
Father God. Your love is an unfailing love. Because You loved us so much, You sent Your Son to die for us. Lord, we choose to believe He is our Savior. We confess You as Sovereign God. Lord, we look forward to spending eternity worshiping You. Amen.
What do you think?
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