Know Your Bible
November 2000

Is Everyone Going To Be Saved?

The idea of judging others is not very receptive to the mind of man. The basis of judging can many times be very harsh and unwarranted. Judging can be from motives of prejudice, ignorance and hatred. Jesus warned His disciples, "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." (Luke 6:37). From this passage many find solace in not having to pass judgment upon others. The basis of religious tolerance is founded upon this principle. However, the teaching of Jesus in this passage does not hold for religious tolerance of all beliefs and practice.

The type of judging forbidden by Christ is that which is based upon rash, unkind and unloving dispositions of condemnation based upon preconceived notions or ideals. He commends His disciples to "not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."(John 7:24). How can we judge with righteous judgment? Righteous judgment is judgment which is based upon the righteousness of God and His will. Jesus teaches His disciples in Matthew 7:15-20 to judge men by their fruits. Men who were false teachers would be judged by their fruits in accordance with the word of God.

Judging others is to be based upon a comparison of God's word and their lives. This will help us understand the answer to the question, "Is everyone going to be saved?" People feel uncomfortable in seeking an answer to this question yet the Lord tells us very plainly that most people will be lost. "Then one said to Him, 'Lord, are there few who are saved?' And He said to them, 'Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.'" (Luke 13:23,24). Jesus said that many will seek to be saved but will be lost. His judgment was based upon the righteous judgment of His Father.

Can judgments be made about different beliefs and systems of faith? Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." If I believe this statement to be truth, I must believe that anyone who does not believe that Jesus is the Son of God will be lost. Does a Buddhist believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do those of the Islamic faith proclaim Jesus to be the Son of God? What view does a Jew have of Jesus? What is the view of Jesus from the standpoint of the Hindu or the Confucianist? Can a judgment be made of these faiths?

None of these religions teach that Jesus is the only way to the Father. A judgment can then be made that anyone who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God - cannot be saved! Paul wrote in Romans 10:9 - "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." An agnostic will not confess this no more than an atheist. Will everyone be saved? No!

If a judgment can be made of those who reject Jesus as being the Son of God, what will become of those who do not abide in His word? Again, Jesus makes this statement: "But why do you call Me `Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). There are many faiths and beliefs that say they follow Christ. Jesus said that many religious people will be lost! (Matthew 7:21-23) Not everyone will be saved, even of those who profess Jesus to be the Christ. Only those who obey the will of the Father - not the will of Conventions, Papal decrees, Synods, Temples or such like - will be saved. It makes a difference and judgment must be made in accordance with the will and the word of God.

---Kent E. Heaton Sr.

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The Saddest Path

The saddest path to hell is the one that looks so much like the right one as to appear safe, but it is yet wrong. It leads one on in happy anticipation of heavenly rest and joy, only to dash him upon the rocks of disappointment just beyond the precipice of realization. It is sad because people, good people, spend so much time, energy and work on the way, thinking of heaven and hoping to go there, only to be disappointed at the end. Our hearts ache when we see so many people like those of whom Paul spoke. "I bear them witness, that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." Rom. 10:2,3. It is pathetic that so many, many people who are good citizens, excellent neighbors, just fine people in nearly every way you can think of, but have never seriously compared what they believe, how they worship, what church they support, and what name they wear, with the Bible.

It is hard to see a person go on into eternity who has never made any effort to go to heaven and to regret to see him go, because he never awoke to the need of the Savior and the means of being saved. Good men work and worship in human churches and are supporting human doctrines they think are divine, and it all seems right. "But there is a way that seemeth right to man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." (Proverbs 14:12).
We plead with men not to gullibly believe what we say or what anyone else might say about religious matters, but to "Search the Scriptures, whether these things are so." Acts 17:11. If it be Bible teaching, accept it, regardless of who might have it; if it is not...reject it! "The simple believeth every word; but the prudent man looketh well to his going." Prov. 14:15. "Stand ye in the way and see; ask for the old paths, where is the good way; and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls; but they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying hearken to the sound of the trumpet; but they said we will not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregations, what is among them. Hear O earth; behold I will bring evil upon this people, even fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words." Jer. 6:16-20.

---Jim Sasser

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A Hole In Your Soul Shaped Like God

There is hole inside of you. Money won't fill it. A successful career won't fill it. Pleasure will not even begin to fill it. Nothing else but God will fit in that hole.

Though you may ignore it, there is something inside you that longs for God. You have a natural curiosity for Him. You possess a nagging emptiness that only He can satisfy.

The Psalms of the Old Testament speak of this hole in your soul: Ps 42:1-2 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, 0 God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

In spite of human advancements in communication, transportation, education, and medicine, that hole is still there. You would think that we would be so self-sufficient by now that we would not need anything except our own wit and ingenuity. Yet, we still need God, we always have and we always will.

Men and women are created by God in His image. We cannot find adequate answers to the questions of where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going apart from God. We cannot make any progress in solving our greatest problems apart from His guidance. We will never outgrow our need for Him, that's just the way we are made.

However, too many do not recognize this hunger for what it is. They attribute the emptiness to a lack of money or things. They think they are empty only because of unfulfilling relationships in marriage and in their families. In most cases, the emptiness is there because the Creator is not.

Look at yourself. Look on the inside. Do you see the hole?

---Phillip Mullins

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