God Wants You Dead!

GOD WANTS YOU DEAD!

Last night I had a dream that I was preaching in a prison to a sea of orange men with faces charreand darkened by sin. I began with the title of this article, “God wants you dead.” In the dream, their faces became angry and twisted almost violently by my statement. When I awoke I had retained the knowledge of this brief dream — not that the dream had weight, but the statement “God wants you dead” began a process of musing on the subject of the judgment of death. The most quoted Bible verse is John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It is a verse that the evangelical left have worn out. I say this because the love of God is conditional. Just as man is under the judgment of sin, it is the condition set by God that a man must trust Christ in order to live in Him. God is not in favor of a man who sins, in fact, God hates sin and hates the sinner as well — it is only the love of Christ that separates mankind from the world unto a righteous God. By that, I mean that a man must be born-again.  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3) If you want eternal life it must be through the Lord Jesus Christ. But what about the penalty of death? Man was not created out of thin air, but from the dust of the ground. God set a condition with Adam, that everything in the garden was for his food, and his enjoyment, and God gave Eve to Adam as a help-mate. He commanded man that he should not partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and by doing so would bring judgment upon man. The judgment for disobedience would be death. The condition was set, obey and live, disobey and die. The choice was Adam’s.  For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)

God’s Parameters for Salvation

Living in Florida provides me with a bit of knowledge regarding the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, in that, during 1513 and in latter years, this renown explorer not only named this territory La Florida, but he also traversed throughout the massive sweltering stretches of deadly swamps and forests in search of gold and the rumored fountain of youth. No one has, or will ever find a solution that will give life eternal to the natural man. Man’s search for that fountain of youth, or life eternal is unobtainable. What Adam willingly gave up, mankind desires to achieve on man’s terms, but not on God’s terms. Just as all die in Adam, so those who trust in Jesus Christ are made alive in Him. Do those who trust in Christ die naturally? Yes! This flesh and all flesh can not inherit the kingdom of God. There has to be a transaction — the Bible teaches that we are dead in Adam. The sin of Adam brought forth the judgment of death upon all mankind —  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23) For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22)Then what is eternal life? The Bible declares that you and I can partake of the grand hope of eternal life. It is not a figment of anyone’s imagination — it’s a fact of God’s love to us; in that, the sin of the whole world was laid upon His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Many preach “love” as a doctrine unto itself. They expect God to save anyone and everyone unconditionally — and yet, God has given specific parameters of salvation. These specifications raise man out of the dust and into a relationship with the Eternal God. Salvation begins with genuine repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and therein, by giving up one’s self we are replaced with the life of Christ. Paul declares in Galations 2:20, I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Paul understood that he died with Christ, and it is a fact of the crucifixion that those who die in Christ are eternally joined to the judgment that was shed on Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. All men have a part in Calvary — for all the sin of the world was placed on Jesus Christ. This is the love of God, in that, mercy came through Jesus Christ. There is nothing light or shallow about this great love of God. For when one trusts Christ, he dies. God wants you dead — so that you might live in Jesus Christ! Romans 5:12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Is death the only subject? 

And like all men, I can identify with the fact that I must die and this flesh must return to dust. Then if I am dead, and God wants me dead, how can I have eternal life? What a paradox, I will die — yet I will live. I will live unto Jesus Christ as the new man created in Christ. No one can change this — not even God Himself, because He has declared in His Eternal Word that if I trust Christ with my total being I will have life and have it more abundantly in Jesus Christ. The world of religion tries to wrap a false euphoric sense around faith in Christ, and yet, God in His Word calls us out of the world to suffer for Christ. Could this mean the possibility of loss of possessions? Could this mean the possibility of standing alone for the Word of God? Could this mean the loss of health? Could this mean the loss of everything that we call dear and the things that the world cherishes? All of these are possibilities if it is in God’s will, and therefore, we should accept this as part of the process of dying in Christ. Philippians 3:7, But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. He desires that we stop substituting our concept of religion for truth. For true religion is stated in James 1:27, Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. We are to die. Empty ourselves at the cross of Christ. Imagine standing before a Savior dying on the cross, imagine one’s sin as a stone, then lay all your sins as stones at the cross. You’re only one person, but see how great the pile of stones would be, imagine the sin of the whole world laid upon one man, a God-man, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Sin is the most wicked thing in this world. We have identified with it in such a way that all sin has become light in thought and unrepentant in heart. God wants you dead because of sin, but also, God wants you dead because of His love through Jesus Christ. The Bible declares that those who die in Adam because of sin without Christ, will suffer the eternal judgment of God without His love. The Bible states, that as man dies in Adam, man can be made alive by one man, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. (Romans 5:18) For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)  Therein, is the judgment of God terminated against the one who trusts Christ. This is an eternal condition, for once a man is born- again, he becomes a child of God, and in this relationship God has freed him from all of God’s judgment against his sin, and replaced His judgment with eternal life. The love of God, which is in Jesus Christ, wants you dead, so that you might live in His Son, Jesus Christ. Muse on this, think about your state, try these words, examine yourself, mourn over your sin, and consider that God wants you dead! Then make a decision, either go your own way and die without hope in this world, or trust Christ and become a new creature, a new creation, a new child with a new hope in the Eternal Being of God Himself. I pray that these words will not be taken lightly. Amen.

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. ( Colossians 3:1-4)

 Jesus said, And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:28)

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: (John 11:25)

For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; (Titus 1:2)

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1 John 5:11)

 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. ( 1 John 5:13)

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

© Copyright 2015, Michael Haigh

Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.

All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)