The Pathway of Adam vs. the Pathway of Christ

There was a pathway I was on for many years. It was a pathway with many bright lights and beautiful things. So much technology and media, so many songs, and movies and events, giant arenas and commercials and billions of dollars in industry.

I walked that path day by day, it was at times beautiful, at times vicious and vulgar. I was swept along by that path. I was controlled by it and consumed by it.

Every once in a while there would be a slight twinkle of something else. An old church building that I walked by. Some random mention of God or the Bible. A little card in my Halloween candy.

But, it was hard to notice. South Park, Beavis and butthead, Michael Jackson, Nickelodeon, Backstreet boys, Puff Daddy, Dave Chapelle, new age mysticism, SNL, weed, pills, Foo Fighter concert, Jay Leno, Korn music video, Star Wars, I built my life around these exciting things in media.

I mocked the old faith I was brought up in, the Catholic mass, the old dry religion, the old myths of the past.



I was on the pathway of destruction. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was.

Yet something inside me that was once so entertained with this whole world, began to feel increasingly empty. As I sat for hours playing videogames and watching videos, I felt sad. I longed for meaning. I longed for something more.

And step by step, my life began to fall apart. The debauchery made me feel gross. The drugs and drink made me feel trapped. The sin life was so very cold. And I felt dissatisfied and angry. Oddly angry. I felt I had been tricked. Deceived.

Little did I know, I was living out a scripture from the word of God, from Romans chapter 5.

It says this, “12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”

I was walking in the pathway of Adam, the pathway of rebellion against God. And it was leading toward disaster. Not only that, the entire world system was built around the pathway of Adam. So it naturally drew me in.

I live in Chicago, and I’ve been making the drive back and forth from Chicago, IL to Gary, IN. Every day I drive past a beautiful church called Progressive Baptist church, a powerful and effective ministry from what I can tell. Seated in a key position, biblical and bold.

Yet towering next to it is the 137 million dollar facility called Guaranteed Rate field where the White Sox play.

That I think exemplifies our situation in the world. The church, the body of Jesus Christ has a powerful voice in the world, yet compared to the thundering lights and billion dollar entities among us, from baseball teams to billionaires to mega corporations, the voice of the church is one voice among many competing voices.

Why is that? It’s because of the pathway of Adam. The pathway of Adam is sin, it’s the default setting for planet Earth.

Any change that is affected to that pathway comes at great effort and cost to many. Have you ever seen the movie The Matrix? In that movie, it took great effort to bring one person out of the matrix and into the real world. Similarly, the entire system is set to keep people lost until they die. When anything other than that happens, it's a miracle of God, and it takes great effort to manifest.

It takes dozens of Christians praying, evangelizing, teaching, and discipling, just for one person to be born again, saved, and sanctified. 

A person who desires to escape the pathway of Adam must be born again. They must leave behind their old life and embrace an entirely new life.

As it says in Romans 5:13-14: “Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.”

There’s this great illustration of two pathways. It was making the rounds on social media I’d say about a year ago, you can see it above, but it always stuck with me. We get so swept up by this world. And it pulls us along. Little do we realize, we’re being manipulated and pushed down a pathway that is wrong.

As the scripture says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverb 14:12).

That is so true. We are so sure our way is right, but it isn’t. It seems so right. The lights are so bright. The structures so refined. The tower so high. Yet, it’s pathway leads to destruction.

I think we start to realize that, as we see demons in music videos, mockeries of Christ in the Olympics, bizarre displays at the Gotthard tunnel opening ceremony, demonic imagery in movies, and we start to realize, something is wrong here. Modernism isn't just shiny skyscrapers, advanced medical tech, and convenient consumerism, simmering just beneath the surface is a malevolence that is supernatural in nature. 

A good friend of my dad, named Pauli, he had gotten deep into the death metal scene, and he was on a crew for a major musician. They were at a show in the sound booth, and he realized, they were worshipping Satan. And he turned to another guy there and said, "Hey, we can’t be worshipping Satan.” The guy replied, “Hey man, what’s wrong with worshipping Satan?”

At that moment he realized, he was on the wrong path. He began to seek after God. I randomly met him at a bible study, I knew him from my child hood, and he was there, uncertain, but asking questions, wanting to learn more about who God is. Later he got salvation, just before he died of cancer. God's timing is perfect. 

I saw things in the world, demonic things, that led me toward God. Do you know how I first began to realize that God was real? I had seen demons. So I thought well, if there are demons, there must be angels, and if there are angels, then there must be a God.

They try to hide the spiritual from life, make you think everything is material. But it’s not true. We’ve all had experiences of the supernatural. We know it’s real. And we know there are powerful forces behind the events that are happening in our world. We can sense it, we know it’s true. And again, this points us to God.

Adam’s sin led us down this pathway. And we’re caught on this path. Just like the graphic, it’s hard to see it, to see the pathway, and to see the road out, but it’s there.

We slowly discover that there is a savior out there who can deliver us from this evil pathway that leads to disaster. His name is Jesus Christ. They try so hard to smear that name. They try so hard to make us think there is nothing there. Unfortunately many false teachers have brought the way of truth into disrepute (2 Peter 2:2). And much dry dead religion leads us to think, there is nothing there. Many hypocrites who claim Christ make us think there is nothing there. But beyond all of that there is a pure, loving, living Jesus willing to completely save us. 

Adam's sin led to death. Yet what Jesus did for us is very different.

From Romans 5:15: “But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.”

So, we want to leave the pathway of Adam, and jump onto the new pathway of Christ.

But how can this be done? It’s impossible to simply hop over onto the new path. Why? Because my entire old self is dedicated to the road of Adam.

So God desires that I stop. And turn. Simply turn toward Him. And let Him do something huge in my heart. 

God has an operation he wants to do on you. He wants you, in your sin, on the broken path of Adam, to stop, and turn, and cry out to Jesus, and ask Jesus to change you.

And then your old self dies, and a new self is born in Jesus Christ.

So how do you escape the pathway of Adam? Easy, you just have to die.

That’s how radical it is though. You surrender yourself to God, your old self dies, and a new self is born in Christ Jesus.

Verse 16 says, “And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.”

Despite the fact that we are guilty of so many sins, there is hope. Though we’ve actively participated in the pathway of Adam, total forgiveness is available to us. That’s really amazing and wonderful. We would assume that theres no way we can be saved. We’ve sinned so terribly on the pathway of Adam.

Yet God’s grace, his favor, his forgiveness brings us onto the new pathway of Christ.

Wow!

What’s really shocking is that this stuff is real. It’s not a mythology, it’s not a abstract theology, it’s actual, it’s here right now. These truths affect us every day. Either you know about it, or you walk around wondering why you’re miserable, why you feel yucky, why nothing is going right in your life. Or you know the word of God and through that knowledge you build a victorious life on the foundation of Christ. And when something happens you can point to the word and say "Oh yeah, God's word talks about this."

It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe it, it’s still true. We have to make the right choice and decide we’re going to base our lives around what the Bible says. It’s not good enough to keep it on the side, or tag it along with the rest, God has to be first, above anything else.

That’s repentance. That’s a change of pathway. We all need to make sure we're on that right road. 

The scripture says, “17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

We leave the road of death, the road of destruction and move to the road of life. And if you walk that road, you will live in triumph over sin through Jesus.

How is all this possible? This is a miracle. This is huge. But how could it happen? Was it because we really sat down and figured it out? And we jumped over to the new path? No.

It’s because God sent Jesus and Jesus triumphed over sin and death.

As it says in the word, (18-19) “Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.”

Adam disobeyed God. I wasn’t there. But it affected me. Because I’m a descendant of Adam and Eve. Their sin affected my life. I can’t change that. It’s a simple reality of human history, if my dad and grandpa made a lot of money I inherit lots of nice things. If my dad or granddad was poor and an alcoholic, I inherit nothing. Is it fair? I don’t know, it just is what it is. Same with Adam. Does it seem fair that I inherit Adam’s sin nature? It doesn’t. But it simply is what it is. Is it fair that I was born in the United States and someone else was born in some area of India or China where millions starve to death? It isn’t fair. But in the end it’s the reality. Similarly, if the population of the United States decides to honor God, then things will go well for the country and I'll be blessed. But, if the population of the USA begin to choose evil, then I'll face the consequences right along with them. It's a group responsibility. We're part of the human race, all the way back to Adam. So we face the results of their choices, whether good or bad. We turn up our noses at it because we're so radically individualistic in the west that we think the actions of our ancestors should have no affect on our lives for good or ill, but that isn't how reality works. 

In any case, Jesus made the way for us to escape this broken reality. Jesus lived the holy life we couldn’t live. He setup a new pathway. He created this new road. And now we walk on it. If we want it. But we can also say no.

Here’s the thing too. We can say yes to God, be born again, join the new pathway, but twenty years from now maybe we start to say no to God. And eventually we slowly start to transfer ourselves back to the old road of destruction. I’ve seen it happen. We want to make sure we keep choosing Christ in the future. Through faith we will.

So to sum it all up Romans 5:20-21 says, “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

We keep getting mention of “the law” in these scriptures from Romans 5. Many of you I’m sure were raised that way. Follow the ten commandments and try to be a good person and then you’ll go to heaven instead of hell.

But that is actually wrong. We’ve talked about wrong pathways. That’s just another wrong road that doesn’t lead to heaven. Trying to be a good person is not the answer. The entire purpose of the ten commandments was to draw us toward the cross, so we’d realize, I can’t follow these without Jesus inside my heart.



Admitting you’ve sinned against God is the answer. Admitting you can’t follow the law of yourself is the answer. And humbly accepting Jesus Christ as your savior is the answer. Because Jesus died for your sins. But you have to receive that sacrifice, and let Jesus change you into a new person. The old can’t inherit eternal life, only the new person can.

Let God change you into a new person. Invite Jesus into your heart today. Let go of trying to be good. Admit you can’t. Accept Jesus as your savior. Let Jesus reign in you, change you, and make you born again. Then, with Jesus as your savior, God as your Father, and the Holy Spirit in your heart, you will find new power within to obey the commands of God that once seemed impossible to follow. 

And you’ll come onto the new road. This new road is not like the old. The old was very flashy, very bright, exciting, mysterious. Yet as it went on, increasingly gray and empty. 

This new road with God is beautiful and mysterious yes, but it’s also challenging at times. It becomes more and more glorious as time goes, yet we also face all sort of trials and difficulties along the way.

And it will run contrary to the viewpoints of the world. It’s just so different to be part of God’s kingdom. We want to learn more and more how to walk on this new road because it is very different.

So to understand the new rules that we must live by, we must study God’s word carefully, and know His kingdom system, which is what Jesus taught in the parables. And we’re going to be getting into that more in the future.

We know how life worked on the path of Adam. It was all about pleasure, fun, excitement, money, power, parties, events, and getting more stuff. But it’s so different on the pathway of Christ.

The pathway of Christ is about love, service, humility, faith, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and ministering to the lost world around us.

So, what pathway will you choose? Many choose the pathway of Adam, and they go on into the gray tunnel, until they slowly die inside. Yet there is a great opportunity in that gray death, because out of it God can bring life. Oddly enough, in the deepest emptiness of the gray road of disaster, is paradoxically also the greatest opportunity for us to sense our need for Jesus Christ and a new pathway. 

God will bring you throughout your life around again and again to the open door of Jesus. One day, you can choose to walk through it, or you may choose to reject it. Yet the offer is open, as long as you're breathing. Choose Christ today, because our time is running out on this finite Earth. Soon Jesus will return, and make a new heavens and new Earth. 

Review of Main Points:

1. The pathway of this world seems right, yet it leads to disaster

2. The megaphone of the world is loud, yet the voice of God grows louder when we feel the emptiness of this life

3. Sometimes the best evidence for the reality of God is all the demonic activity in the world & our supernatural experiences

4. To escape the pathway of Adam we repent and die to our old selves

5. Adam’s sin brought condemnation to all, because all have sinned

6. The crucifixion of Jesus brings forgiveness to all who will receive it

7. Saying yes to Jesus starts today, but must continue into the future

8. The ten commandments remind us that we can’t be good without Jesus within us

9. Finding salvation means humbly admitting our sins, admitting we can’t do life with God, and inviting Jesus to be our savior

10. The new pathway of Christ is about love, service, humility, faith, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and ministering to the lost world around us.

What is Biblical Love? How to Walk in the Way of Love

Dave Simmons shared in his book about being a dad a time when he and his two kids went to a mall, and the mall had a petting zoo there. He had given each of his children, Brandon and Helen a quarter to enter, and then went to continue shopping. Soon he saw his daughter hadn’t gone in. He went to ask her why.

She said sadly, "Well, Daddy, it cost fifty cents. So, I gave Brandon my quarter." Then she said the most beautiful thing I ever heard. She repeated the family motto. The family motto is in "Love is Action!"

She had given Brandon her quarter, and no one loves cuddly furry creatures more than Helen.

What do you think I did? Well, not what you might think. As soon as I finished my errands, I took Helen to the petting zoo. We stood by the fence and watched Brandon go crazy petting and feeding the animals. Helen stood with her hands and chin resting on the fence and just watched Brandon. I had fifty cents burning a hole in my pocket; I never offered it to Helen, and she never asked for it.

Because she knew the whole family motto. It's not "Love is Action." It's "Love is SACRIFICIAL Action!" Love always pays a price. Love always costs something. Love is expensive. When you love, benefits accrue to another's account. Love is for you, not for me. Love gives; it doesn't grab. Helen gave her quarter to Brandon and wanted to follow through with her lesson. She knew she had to taste the sacrifice. She wanted to experience that total family motto. Love is sacrificial action.”
-Dave Simmons, Dad, The Family Coach, Victor Books, 1991, pp. 123-124.

Today we’re talking love in the context of the Bible, referred to in the classic chapter from 1st Corinthians 13. But it’s super important that we understand that love is like Dave Simmons indicates, a sacrificial action.

It’s not a feeling. It’s not something we do when we feel like it. It’s a mindset of service to others. And let’s be very clear, we pay a price when we love. We give something. It’s not about receiving. It’s about giving.

The Apostle Paul is writing to a community that has a lot of knowledge. And he is reminding them that love has to be first as a Christian.

But what is love exactly? That’s what we’re going to be examining today. 

But I think as Americans we assume love is “niceness.” The American 1st Corinthians 13 is: "Love is niceness. Love does not make waves. Love does not disagree. Love always affirms. Love goes along to get along. Love accepts everything. Love never judges. Love says anything to make someone feel good. Love never points out a wrong. Love seeks the security of self, rather than the benefit of the other. Niceness never confronts, never disturbs, never speaks a hard truth. Niceness says, "you do you."

But that is not biblical love. That kind of love is not love at all, but niceness. And niceness isn’t actually really loving. Niceness wants to be liked. Niceness doesn’t want to have to call someone out on something bad they’re doing. Niceness is just letting someone float on down the river toward hell without saying a word. Niceness is more about wanting to be liked. It’s selfish. And niceness isn’t what we go for as Christians. We go for sacrificial agape love.

Jesus modeled perfect love for us, by dying for his enemies, dying for people who rejected him, in the hope they would one day receive the forgiveness he offered.

Love says, “Father forgive them they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Love says, “I do not condemn you.”

Yet Love also says, “Go and sin no more.”

And Love also says, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

Love also says, “If your hand causes you to sin cut it off, because it’s better for you to lose your hand than to go with both hands into the everlasting fire.”

Biblical love is willing to say a hard truth to someone in love, knowing that we may lose the friendship, but loving their soul more than their companionship. That’s real love. Niceness is a joke and a sham, compared to the glory of agape love.

It says in 1st Cor 13:1-3, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

We can do a lot of great things with our spiritual gifts, but if we don’t honestly love people, it won’t matter. Our message will be ugly if it doesn’t come with love. Have you ever known a Christian who had a lot of giftings and knowledge but didn’t have love? The message is toxic. It’s dead. It drives people away.

So we come to our structure of faith for today, which is the heart shape. And in the depiction of love in 1st Corinthians 13, we’re going to see categories, first, character traits that are loving. And character traits that are not loving. So we get a list of things to do, and a list of things not to do. Pretty simple.

Let’s dive in. First, in verse 4, “Love is patient.”

Now I know this scripture is often used in association with romantic relationships, but the context is actually speaking about loving your neighbor. I think we can also apply it to loving God as well.

Love is patient. How is your patience? Are you patient with someone who you are trying to win to Christ? Are you patient with friends and family? Patience is waiting on God. Patience is listening to someone when they’re talking.

We want to add this characteristic to ourselves, in the heart. How? Pray and ask God for patience. Then learn to practice patience. Sometimes it’s helpful to speak the word, “I’m going to be patient in this situation.” Just remind yourself of that.

Next, second part of verse 4, “Love is kind.”

What is kindness? I like the 1828 Webster’s dictionary definition for kindness, it says, “Good will; benevolence; that temper or disposition which delights in contributing to the happiness of others, which is exercised cheerfully in gratifying their wishes, supplying their wants or alleviating their distresses.”

Delighting in contributing to the happiness of others. As my grandma Monica always said, “It’s nice to be nice.” Niceness isn’t always bad either, as long as it’s seen as part of a bigger whole of what it means to be loving.

Does it make you glad to contribute to help someone else? I know it does for me. That’s part of love.

Next, third part of verse 4, “It does not envy.”

Envy appears outside the heart shape, to remind us, this is something we want to avoid. What is envy? Being envious is seeing someone who has a nice car, nice house, nice watch, nice smartphone, and instead of being happy for them, we envy them, we want what they have. We get envious, jealous, angry that they have something we don’t.

Envy is a nasty emotion. We want to pray if we struggle with envy, ask God to help us with that. Put off envy. Replace it with gratitude for what we do have.

Many envy the rich in our country, want to get their money for themselves, that’s not wisdom. Be grateful for what you do have.

Next, still verse 4, “it does not boast.”

We also want to avoid bragging. I did this, I did that, I’m so great, look at me.

I remember at my Grandma Bernie’s funeral, all of these people kept coming forward talking about how Grandpa had mentored them, how he had prayed with them, given them something, led them to the Lord, and Grandpa had never told anyone about all those things he did.

That’s how we should be. We should not be bragging, look at what my ministry did. Look at all these people we helped. Look at how close to God I am. That isn’t helpful to anyone. We do want to shine our light. But we don’t want to brag about how great we are. That’s filthy before God.

Next, similar to boasting, “It is not proud.” Pride is thinking highly of ourselves. Pride is thinking how great we are at what we do. Pride is looking at ourselves constantly and being impressed. Lord save us from pride! Pride is what caused the angels to fall and become demons. Pride leads ministers and great Christians astray, thinking they are something, thinking they are great. Replace pride with humility. Stay humble. Know you are merely a servant of God, nothing more.

Next in verse 5, ‘it does not dishonor others.”

In the original Greek of this phrase, aschēmoneō, it means to “prepare disgrace for someone.” It’s like setting someone up to look stupid or setting someone up to be criticized. I see this in social groups all the time, one of the guys tries to make the other guy look stupid, tries to manipulate the conversation to make the other guy look bad, and make himself look good.

Biblical love of course doesn’t set others up for failure or try to push others down to promote ourselves or make ourselves look good. Guard against that.

Next, still verse 5, “it is not self-seeking.” What a great phrase, self seeking is talked about a lot in 12 step fellowship groups. It’s the concept of taking your own selfish desires and pushing your own way in every situation. It’s very ugly. Self-will run riot is a great phrase that describes that.

Being self-seeking is something we want to avoid. We should instead seek God’s will for our lives. Not what we want.

Next, “it is not easily angered.” Love is not easily angered. Do you have a bad temper? Do you get angry too quickly? I know it’s something I had to fight in the past. And a lot of the time it had to be with a deeply rooted insecurity in me. So if you’re struggling with anger, find out what’s underneath the anger.

Is it a bad memory? Is it a way you were mistreated in the past? Sit down and talk about what the feeling is connected to. Let it out. Heal from the pain. And next time, the anger won’t be as strong.

Next, “it keeps no record of wrongs.” How often do we see this in romantic relationships or friendships? One person keeps a record of every wrong thing that was done by the other. Then the other person brings up the record they have of the other person. We’ve got to get rid of these records, forgive each other, and move forward.

Then again, if you do notice a pattern of mistreatment or abuse, you should recognize that and deal with it with the other person. But once it’s been dealt with, let go of the record. Don’t keep bringing it up. We’ve got to forgive those hurts, and move forward.

And then it says, verse 6, part 1, “Love does not delight in evil.” This is one of those aspects of love that distinguish it from niceness.

Niceness says oh I love you just the way you are. Love says, I love you my friend but I notice something in your life isn’t right, God can help you be free from that sin. Niceness just says oh you do you. Do whatever you like. Love says what you’re doing my dear friend isn’t right, God has something better for you then that. Notice niceness just goes along to get along, it just wants to be liked, love brings up a hard truth to help the person, but in so doing, they risk the relationship. It’s sacrificial.

Love doesn’t delight in evil, it can’t.

So we see here the first eight aspects of what it means to not be loving, and the first two aspects of what it means to be loving.

Paul is now going to get into the remaining six characteristics of a loving person.

Next, so love does not delight in evil, but, it rejoices with the truth.

What does it mean to rejoice with the truth? It’s as simple as hearing something at Bible study or at morning church and you say, “Amen!” Because the Holy Spirit in you rejoices and says, “that’s true!” I love the truth so much. And I hate lies. We will rejoice in truth in the way of love. And lies and evil will make us sick.

Next, love always protects. The word here is rendered by some translations as bears. The Greek word gives the picture of someone setting aside slights and disagreements and problems and arguments, covering over those things, and instead focusing on the good.

That’s something I think we’re good at, seeing the good in others, looking for the good things, and papering over the bad.

When I have a disagreement with a loved one, family, with my fiancée, or a friend, I will tend to try and overlook it, ignore it, focus on the things I love about them. Let’s try to do that too, when others hurt us, cover over the bad, focus on the good. Bear up in difficulties. Anyone in a marriage knows that we have to bear up with the faults of our loved ones.

Notice the word “always” is appearing. It gives us a picture of constantly repeatedly over time, repeating the character trait. Repeat it, repeat it again. Repeat the good thing.

“it always trusts.” For our relationship God we want to “always trust.” For our relationship with friends and family, we want to “always trust.” Does that mean that we trust a stranger necessarily? No I don’t think so. But we do trust that God’s word can do something in their lives. Always trust I think primarily is a mindset of being a trusting person who trusts God and trusts others, and isn’t prone to bitter mistrust.

Next, Love always hopes. A characteristic of being a loving person is being hopeful. Hopeful for the other. Hopeful for the future. Hopeful for the promises of God. Hopeful in general.

I know that’s hard for many of us here who have been through many hardships and have mental and physical health issues, but we can obey this to always be hopeful. Don’t be a pessimistic, don’t be a negative person, cultivate hope.

That may take healing for some of us here, to foster. I confess I battle bitterness, negativity. But God is helping me. I pray about it, and he helps.

Next, love always perseveres. Love doesn’t give up. Love keeps going. Love stands the test. Love continues through the difficulties. Don’t give up friends.

And the eighth characteristic of love is that love never fails. Does that mean we never make a mistake? No. Love never fails means that love doesn’t fall to the ground, love doesn’t end up powerless. Love will continue always in our hearts, if we are living out these principles of what it means to be loving. The result will be, love never fails. But it’s also an attribute. It’s believing that love will not die out. Love will continue.

Next in verses 8-12 the Apostle Paul reinterates that love is the most important of all the giftings of the Spirit. It says, “8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

Then in verse 13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

When all the giftings fade in the next life, love remains as the greatest truth.

I think the first part of 1st Corinthians 14:1 tells us what all this means.

It says, “Walk in, or “Follow the way of love.” -1 Cor 14:1

So, if we are in fact putting off the eight negative characteristics that we want to avoid, and putting on the 8 positive characteristics of love, we will then be fulfilling the command in scripture which says to “follow the way of love.”

This is the way of love.

Last slide, the white arrows represent the actions of the Holy Spirit we take in cooperation with the Spirit, we actively put off the old ways, the anti-love ways. And then the Holy Spirit also helps us to put on the new ways of love which come from above, from God.

To Review:

1. Put off pridefulness, bragging, being easily angered, & Envy

2. Put off Dishonoring others & keeping a record of wrongs

3. Put off self seeking, & delighting in evil

4. Put on patience and kindness

5. Put on rejoicing in the truth

6. Put on Protectiveness, Hope, Perseverance, and Trusting

7. Believe that Love Never Fails

8. In all this, believe you can & will walk in the way of love

What is biblical heaven and what is biblical hell?

"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” -
Revelation 22:1-5 ESV 

 
Today we address our final question of our God Questions, Real Answers series. The question was this: “What is biblical heaven and what is biblical hell?”

There are many common misconceptions about heaven and hell in our world today. Many think of hell as some sort of party, where it’s gonna be awesome, and people think of heaven as angels floating on clouds playing harps. People think hell isn’t real. Others think heaven isn’t real. Some think all people will go to heaven no matter what, others believe that there is no heaven or hell and when we die we simply disappear.

Well let’s push past these stereotypes and false conclusions and see if we can understand these issues from an objective biblical perspective.

For us as humans born on the planet Earth, we have two possible destinations after we die. And our lives are very short on this Earth. Most of us will only live 70 or 80 years. But that’s a very short time compared to how long we will spend in the next life.

There are only two destinations available to us. On the one hand, you have paradise, a perfect city of joy, love, and eternal happiness. In communion with God and others, where this is no more death or pain or sorrow. Best possible future imaginable to end up there.

The other option is the worst possible fate. The worst possible place to end up in. Hell, a place described as underneath the Earth, locked away, in pain, sorrow, isolation, and constant pain. No connections with others. No presence of God. Simply flames, and regret, and pain.

I will tell you that both these places are 100% real. You will live in one of them forever. Once you land in one of these places, there is no way to switch between them. Heaven is permanent and hell is permanent.

You will still be you. You’ll be conscious. You’ll have your senses. And you will either experience eternal connection with God in paradise, or eternal disconnection from God in constant suffering. The stakes right now are very high.

The Bible has a lot to say about heaven and hell. Let’s look at heaven first.

Revelation 21:1-5 ESV Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

So when we talk about this idea of quote “heaven” what we’re really talking about is the new heavens and new Earth. This current Earth is a broken mess, God will remove and replace it with the new Earth. And a new city will be there, created by God, called “the new Jerusalem.” It’s a huge city. The bible actually lists the dimensions of the city. It’s about the size of 1/3rd of the united states, if you were to look at a map of the USA, it would be from Florida, up to Ohio, across to Iowa and down to Texas. That’s a pretty big city. And it actually has many levels, because it’s 1,500 miles across, and wide, but also 1500 miles high. Hard to imagine just how amazing this city will be.

If you follow Jesus, have faith in Christ, and have repented and turned away from past sins, you are headed to that city.

But if you don’t believe in Jesus, if you don’t follow Jesus’ lifestyle, and if you are living in your sins, then you are not headed to the new Jerusalem. You are headed to the other place, called hell.

And I would add, if you are a Christian who is living in sin, still getting drunk, using drugs, lying, cheating, stealing, swearing, not tithing, which is stealing from God, etc, you are also not headed to new Jerusalem. You are also headed to hell.

So, let’s take a look at the other place.

And this is what Jesus said about hell, warning all people not to go there, he said, “Mark 9:43-48 “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

Jesus warns us very severely, don’t go to hell, if your are in sin, cut it off, get rid of it.

Now let’s look briefly at a parable Jesus taught. He said this, from Luke 16:19-25 “19 Jesus said, “There was a rich man who always dressed in the finest clothes. 20 There was also a very poor man named Lazarus. Lazarus’ body was covered with sores. He was often put by the rich man’s gate. 21 Lazarus wanted only to eat the scraps of food left on the floor under the rich man’s table.

22 “Later, Lazarus died. The angels took him and placed him in the arms of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 He was sent to the place of death and was in great pain. He saw Abraham far away with Lazarus in his arms. 24 He called, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to me so that he can dip his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am suffering in this fire!’

25 “But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember when you lived? You had all the good things in life. But Lazarus had nothing but problems. Now he is comforted here, and you are suffering. 26 Also, there is a big pit between you and us. No one can cross over to help you, and no one can come here from there.”

So we see that this rich man who cared nothing about poor Lazarus died, and went to hell. And he was in fire, and in torment, and in hell there is no water, yet he still had his senses and desire of thirst. So he’s calling out for just a drop of water, but it’s too late for him. He’s conscious, he’s aware, and he’s in fire, he’s in total suffering. He lived a lavish, rich life, and cared nothing for the poor, or for God, and so he went to the place of outer darkness.

Hell is like a place to quarantine those who refuse faith in Christ. A place to quarantine those who refuse to leave their sins. There is no place for sin in the new heavens and new earth. So those humans who refuse the free offer of salvation found in Jesus, must be quarantined, away from the holy city, in this place of darkness.

In conclusion today, that is a very brief look at biblical heaven and biblical hell. But there are dozens and dozens of scriptures that give us hints and clues about heaven and hell. Do more research on your own.

So today brothers and sisters, please, put your faith in Christ, and set aside your past sins. All you have to do is believe in Jesus, and repent, and you will have eternal life.

Come be part of God’s new heavens and new Earth. In the new city of God. It’s the place I long to be, forever. Consider it’s beauty:

Revelation 21:21-25 ESV And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.

Are we in the end times? When is Jesus coming?

Many of us during the last year were wondering, when Covid-19 began striking down people across the world, we wondered, is this the end of the world?  We began wondering if we were nearing the time when Jesus Christ will return to the Earth. We began to wonder if we would see the rise of the anti-christ and the judgments of God against the Earth.  Many of us started reading or rereading the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible.

So it seems logical that someone asked this question, in our series, God Questions, Real Answers, the question being: “Are we in the end times? When is Jesus coming back?” 

These two questions are linked when considering the fact of the coming end of the story.  Yes, when we look at Christian worldview, we see a beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth. And we see an end in the future, when God will conclude history and bring about destruction, followed by a new paradise.

So let’s address the first question: Are we in the end times?  The short answer to that question is “yes.”  From the times of the early church, two thousand years ago, they always viewed history as something that could conclude at any time.  In many of the ancient letters of the new testament you see that the early church viewed itself as living in the end times.  So we should always have this mindset that we are living in the end times, that Jesus could return in our lifetime, and so we should be ready to receive him. 

But I know that’s not really what the questioner was looking for.  The questioner was really asking, are we close to, or already in the events depicted in the book of Revelation. 

Now it’s important to mention that Jesus said in Matthew 24:36 ESV “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

So no one knows the exact day or hour when the world will find it’s conclusion. But, we can be wise and discern the times we live in. 

Several factors come into play that can indicate that we are indeed very close to the times described in Revelation.  Note several things in the book of Revelation, one, that during the end times, the great tribulation, everyone will be required to take a mark in their right hand or forehead, without which, they will not be able to buy or sell anything.  Second, notice that in the great tribulation, the anti-christ will control the world under a one world government. Third, notice that anti-christ will require all to worship him, and it says there will be displayed an image of the anti-christ that all people across the world will worship at the same time.  Fourthly, notice that Israel is an established nation during the tribulation. Fifthly, notice, the spread of the church across the Earth.  

So, consider this, that the technology to put a “mark” in or on someone’s hand or forehead in relation to buying or selling is a very interesting development. Is it possible that this could be a microchip under the skin? It’s possible.  It could also be more symbolic in it’s meaning.  But the indication of right hand or forehead does make it sound like some sort of specific literal mark. And how long have we had technology to perhaps place a microchip in your hand, and have your credit card information on that chip, and you could simply swipe your hand at the checkout at the store.  The technology possible for that, has only been around for the last ten to twenty years.

Second, the idea of a unified one world government would’ve been virtually unthinkable until modern times, where modern forms of communication and high speed travel have allowed for alliances like the United Nations, the European Union, and so on. As globalization has taken hold in society, it becomes increasingly likely for global alliances between groups of nations to flourish and grow. 

Thirdly, the technology to allow for an image of the anti-Christ to be spread around the world that all would worship him would’ve been impossible over the last two thousand years.  But now today, we have global news stations, television, newspapers, and the internet.  It is now possible, that a live streamed image of the anti-christ could be universally display to billions of people around the world to be worshipped. Such technology did not exist until the last 20 to 30 years.

Fourthly, in ad 70 nation of Israel was destroyed by the roman empire. And the Jews spent the next 1,850 years in exile across Europe and the east.  Yet the book of Revelation said there would be a nation of Israel during the end times.  For all those years there was no such nation any longer. But then world war II happened. And as we know the Nazi’s persecuted and exterminated the Jews. And After the war, the allies created a new state of Israel in the middle east, so the Jews would have a nation of their own once again, in 1948.  That was about 70 years ago. And just like that, the book of Revelation was proved to be true, the nation of Israel once again existed.  And exists right now.  Amazing.

Fifthly, the last command of Jesus before he returned to heaven was the command to win all nations to the gospel.  Today, the church has spread across the known world, to virtually every nation on the planet. Every continent, every nation, every language, for the gospel.  We’re not quite there yet, but very close.  Wouldn’t it be logical to say, that at the conclusion of the spread the end times would occur?

So those are five points that indicate that yes, we should consider ourselves to be living in the end times.  We are close to the tribulation and the return of Jesus.  How close?  It could be a few years.  It could be twenty years.  It could be fifty years or 80 years.  We don’t really know. But we should as Christians, be watchful, watching and observing events on Erath.

Luke 21:36 ESV says, “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Second question, when will Jesus return?  As we mentioned, no one knows the day or the hour. But we can be watchful and discern the times. 

Certain things must take place before Jesus returns.  Here is what Jesus himself had to say about it:

Matthew 24:5-28 ESV  “For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake.”

And I would include the COVID19 pandemic as simply part of the beginning of birth pains.  But no, this is not the terrible time that is called the great tribulation. The great tribulation will make COVID-19 look like a walk in the park. 

So here is what will happen before the return of Jesus.  First of all we have the church age, the time of the spread of the church across the Earth. Then we have the birth pains, where things get worse and worse.  Then we have the great tribulation. This is a time when God judges the Earth. We see all sorts of terrible things happening during the great tribulation, plagues, famines, asteroids hitting the Earth, the oceans being poisoned, lakes and rivers and springs becoming poisoned, hail, and earthquakes, wars, and battles, just all the very worst things you can imagine.

And no I didn’t just list off there the worst things I could think of, everything mentioned in that list is specific to the book of Revelation, mentioned in those pages.

But during the great ribulation we also see “tribulation saints” rise up out of Israel, and they help win millions to Christ during this dark time.  And it also says that those who have the mark of God on them are immune from the various judgments in the tribulation. So while the people of the Earth endure judgment, the tribulation saints are protected from them.  Very interesting stuff. 

The anti-Christ rises up during this time, and defeats the saints, establishing a one world government, and a peace treaty with Israel, but later betrays Israel.  Then the anti-Christ and his kingdom is judged by God, also, “Babylon” in the end times is also judged by God and destroyed. And at the culmination of all these events, finally, Jesus Christ returns, to rule and reign on the Earth. 

So in response to the second question, we don’t know exactly when, but we can watch for certain events to take place, like the spread of the church, a great rise of evil and wickedness before the end, then the great tribulation, the rise of the anti-christ, the defeat of the anti-christ, the judgment of Babylon, and then the return of Jesus. 

In conclusion today, I would encourage you to read the book of revelation, Revelation 1:3 ESV says,” Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”

The time is near, we aren’t there yet, but honestly I expect to see it in my lifetime. 

Why is there such a difference between God in the Old Testament and God in the New Testament?

 

Sometimes when we read through the Old testament, and all the amazing historical records, and then we compare it to the new testament, we see a big difference. Did God really change between the old and new testaments? 

Let’s dig into the question. So we see that in old testament times, several thousand years before Jesus was even born, you had God building a nation that would be his special nation in the world.  God began that process with a man named Abraham.  One man was faithful to God, and God guided him to found a nation.  That nation is called Israel. And even to this very day, Israel exists in the world.  We’re talking history here.

So we see God interacting in history in very intense and severe ways in the Old Testament.  Think about some of the examples…

First of all, we see the fall, where God curses Adam and Eve, and the world becomes fallen. We obviously struggle in sin and death now, the world is fallen and a broken place.

Then we see God bring about the great flood, where millions of people would die, and only Noah’s family would survive to repopulate the Earth.

We see how Israel is taken into slavery in Egypt for four hundred years, and God eventually works through Moses to deliver them from slavery, and he brings about great plagues on the Egyptians as punishment for their disobedience to God.

God eventually works through Joshua, commanding Israel to go to war. To take the promised land from tribes that already live there. 

On and on the list goes.  We see God interacting very directly with the nation of Israel, through people, through his prophets, his leaders, and his kings eventually. 

We see God commanding very direct actions, and very direct punishments, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  And the taking of Israel into the Babylonian captivity.

There are many, many more examples.  But essentially the old testament was a time when God worked through various different people to found a nation called Israel that would be his special nation, and the goal was to spread faith in God from Israel to the whole world.  But Israel unfortunately disobeyed God, and time and again Israel faced judgment and destruction, and exile, and captivity, and invasions from other nations.

Then we see Jesus Christ the son of God come into the world, at a time when Israel was conquered and controlled by the Roman Empire.  And we begin reading the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  And we see that God seems to change how he interacts with people. 

He commands us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us.  He commands us to believe in Jesus Christ for our salvation.  And we no longer see God bringing judgment against nations, or destroying places, at least, not that we know of. 

So the question is what changed? Did God change?  Did God mellow out in the new testament? 

Of course we know from the word of God that God does not change.  He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  But the way that he interacts with us, his creation does seem to progress, to develop over time. 

When you study any book of the old testament, in some way it points us forward to the time when Jesus would be born.  Every prophet, leader, priest, or teacher lived by faith in God, but they were waiting for a time when Jesus Christ would be born, and then sin could finally be completely washed away.

It all pointed forward to Jesus. Before Jesus, God dealt with sin directly, through judgment. He destroyed the evil of the world, to allow the pure to prosper. 

Sin is the big problem of the Bible, of our world, of the past, and of the present. Sin is the problem.  But when Jesus came, and was sacrificed on the cross for our sins.  The sin problem finally had a solution. 

But God still despises sin just as much as he did when he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, or when he flooded the Earth.  And God will deal with sin, on the earth, during a time in history that is coming, called the great tribulation.

This time is depicted vividly in the last book of the bible, the book of Revelation. Anyone who thinks that God mellowed out in the new testament and became all hearts and butterflies should read the book of Revelation. 

Right now we’re in what you might call the church age, this is the time of God’s patience.  The church is spreading out across the Earth, all the way from Israel, to our present day where it’s active in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, the continent of Africa, and yes, even little Owosso Michigan. Even in Shiawassee county, the church spreads.  This is a time when God waits patiently to see what we will choose, Him or the way of selfishness in this world. 

But eventually that window of patience on the part of God will close.  And then the judgments of the book of Revelation will begin.  The church will be set apart, and brought to God, and the world will experience the darkest time imaginable.  And this time will also directly connect with Israel.  Israel will be won to Christ during this time, but also face great turmoil and destruction. 

So to answer the question: We don’t see a big difference between who God is in the old and new testaments, but we do see a difference in regard to what phase of God’s plan we are in.  In the Old Testament times, was the time that God built of Israel, and paved the way for the coming of Jesus, and the new testament times is the church age, where God guides his church to take the gospel to all nations, and this church age concludes with the great tribulation, the end times, and the return of Jesus Christ.

God doesn’t change.  He still hates sin.  And the old testament times of “hellfire and brimstone” we saw in the times of Israel and Noah, and Abraham, those times are going to come again, not against the church, but against the sinful world that has rejected Jesus to the very end, and must now face the penalty for their disobedience. However, during this time of great tribulation, many millions will also be won to Christ. 

To finally answer the question then, God is the same forever, but over history we watch his plan unfold in different ways. Right now we are in the time of God’s patience, and His grace, so we ought to jump into that agreement, and say yes to Jesus, before time runs out.  Because judgment is coming in the future.