The Holy Bible uses the word “RANSOM” in three New Testament passages
concerning Christ:
Matthew 20:28, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
1st Timothy 2:6, “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”
As a noun, the word “ransom” is defined as:
- Money demanded for the return of a captured person (or, the price of redemption)
- Payment for the release of someone
- The act of freeing from captivity or punishment
When mankind sinned, our just and holy God had to make a way of escape, or else He would have had to cast us into Hell to be punished for our sins forever! I hear a lot of preachers misinterpreting Romans chapter one to condemn the homosexual community. Such misled preachers refer to their heresy as the “Reprobate Doctrine,” teaching people to hate lesbians and sodomites, teaching that they are hardened sinners who have crossed the line, and are beyond the hope of the Gospel. THAT IS NOT FOR YOU OR ANYONE TO DECIDE! What arrogance! Jude 1:22, “And of some have compassion, making a difference.” What saith the Scripture? ...
Romans 2:1-3, “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?”
In other words—Don't judge others because they sin differently than you do! We are ALL woeful sinners, guilty in the sight of God. The unsaved person is still under the LAW of God, condemned to Hell, but the child of God is now and forever under God's GRACE! Which are you under friend—LAW or GRACE? If you understand this great Bible doctrine, then you fully understand that you can never lose God's salvation by your sinning. It is God's salvation to give, not yours! Jonah 2:9b, “Salvation is of the LORD.” It seems that nearly everyone is trying to save themselves, through human works, but that is not the Bible way to get to Heaven. Jesus paid the full ransom to redeem YOU dear reader back to God! 1st Timothy 2:6, “Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” Carefully notice that Jesus “gave Himself a ransom FOR ALL” humanity, which exposes the Calvinist LIE of “Limited Atonement” (i.e., the false teaching that Jesus only died for the saints). The Holy Bible plainly says that Jesus gave Himself as a ransom “FOR ALL”!
Jesus Took the Sting Out of Death for
Believers
I love the following passage of Scripture. If you have received Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full-payment for your sins, then death has no power over you anymore! The Holy Bible says that “the sting of death is sin”! But if you are a born-again believer, then Jesus Christ became your ransom, and He paid your sin debt, so that God's LAW and DEATH are powerless to harm you! ...
1st Corinthians 15:51-57, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
O GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VICTORY? The sting of death is sin. We all have to die once because of sin. Sin brings death. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” If you die in your sins without Jesus as your personal Savior, you will DIE TWICE; that is, you will go to Hell to be tormented day and night forever, without rest nor hope, burning in fire as punishment for all your ungodly sins. This is the “SECOND DEATH” (Revelation 21:8)!!! If you are born ONCE, you die TWICE; but if you are born TWICE, you die ONCE! In other words—“YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN” (John 3:5). The choice is yours alone to make dear reader. 2nd Timothy 2:13, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.” What a great Bible verse! If you refuse to believe the GOOD NEWS (i.e., THE GOSPEL) of Christ crucified on the cross, buried and bodily risen as payment for your sins, then how can you ever blame God? Salvation is being offered to you right now, freely, in this earthly life, and all you have to do is take it by faith!
Because of Christ's sacrifice on Calvary's cross, we don't have to die the second death, because we have ETERNAL LIFE. Revelation 21:8, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Like a bumble bee who dies after stinging a victim, losing its stinger (i.e., its power to hurt); so also did the payment which Christ made for our sins on the cross, forever by faith remove the sting of death and sin. Jesus' took the sting out of dying! God is so good!!!!!!!
The Word of God is such a wonderful Book, full
of power, beauty and sensible counsel. If you sincerely want to become a
good Christian, turn off everything and listen only to the King James Bible
for a couple weeks. I receive quite a few e-mails from miserable people, who
all share the same problem—they don't abide in the Holy Scriptures! Luke
24:32, “And they said one to another, Did not our heart
burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to
us the scriptures?” There is no joy like studying and
understanding the Scriptures. You can't expect to randomly read a little
here, and a little there, and substantially grow in the Lord. When you
“SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES” (John 5:39), you are making an investment in
yourself for eternity!
The Horrible Sting Of Death For the Unsaved
I
sincerely believe that the reason why God allowed such an ungodly reprobate
as Hugh Hefner (1926-2017), to live a full and long life upon earth to age
91, was to establish an solid testimony against him. God showed uncommon
mercy toward Mr. Hefner, by giving him an extra 20 years beyond the normal
threescore and ten years (70 years) to repent and believe the Gospel, but he
refused. There is no evidence whatsoever that Mr. Hefner died in anything
other than his mountain of sins! Hebrews 13:4, “Marriage is honourable in
all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
I remember growing up as a boy, seeing how massively popular Hugh Hefner
and his ungodly Playboy magazines were back then. This is simply true
because Playboy magazine was one of very few places back then where you
could see a naked woman. Sadly, Hugh Hefner felt the awful sting of death on
September 27, 2017 when he plunged into the depths of Hell forever. It is
not too late from you my friend. The choice is
yours.
I like Enoch in the Old Testament, who hated sin. Saint Jude quotes Enoch, mentioning the word “ungodly” four times in one Bible verse in Jude 1:15, “To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” Enoch hated iniquity as a child of God. Psalms 97:10a, “Ye that love the LORD, hate evil.”
I see four aspects of UNGODLINESS in Jude 1:15:
- There is the UNGODLY SINNER (noun - i.e., a homosexual - “ungodly sinners”)
- There is the UNGODLY SINNING (verb - i.e., committing homosexuality - “which they have ungodly committed”)
- There is the UNGODLINESS OF THE SINNER (adjective - i.e., the ungodly homosexual - “all that are ungodly among them”)
- There is the UNGODLINESS OF THE SINNING (adverb - i.e., ungodly sinning - “ungodly deeds”)
In other words, we are all much more ungodly (not perfect like God) than we can imagine. When a woman decides to have an abortion, she is an ungodly sinner. She is consenting for a demon-inspired person (an ungodly doctor) to murder her child. The cruel process of aborting the child's life is ungodly murder. So there is the ungodly sinner (the monster mother and bloodthirsty doctor), and also the ungodliness of the sinner (their rationalization for sinning). There is the ungodly sinning (the abortion), and the ungodliness of the sinning (the legalization of abortion since 1973). We could delve further and indict the ungodly American culture that sanctions ungodliness (by not caring), and the ungodly churches who have become indifferent concerning sinning (by remaining silent).
When a person commits a crime, they are never charged with just that one crime; but rather, they are indicted with a series of related charges. Literally, you can go into a gas station with a gun, rob it, and end up being charged with a dozen crimes! God does the same thing! He must, because more than one crime is ALWAYS committed when ANY crime is committed.
In Criminal Law, there are SEVEN ELEMENTS OF A CRIME that are considered by the courts when a crime is committed. (I am going to apply these to a woman who consents to undergo an abortion, which if tried in a legitimate court of law would send her to the electric chair for first-degree murder):
- MENTAL STATE (Every mother knows exactly what she is doing by having an abortion—committing murder!)
- CONDUCT (Exodus 20:13, “Thou shalt not kill.”)
- CONCURRENCE (Abortions are scheduled—clearly proving that there was an intent to commit murder!)
- CAUSATION (A definite crime has been committed—a human being has been brutally murdered!)
- SEE ALSO (Ecclesiastes 12:13, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”)
- REFERENCES (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
- EXTERNAL LINKS (Ecclesiastes 12:13)
I assure you that God is more righteous than mankind. Be forewarned dear reader—OUR RIGHTEOUS GOD WILL JUDGE UNGODLY SINNERS, FOR THEIR UNGODLY DEEDS, WHICH THEY HAVE UNGODLY COMMITTED, IN THIS UNGODLY NATION!!! Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Listen to what our country's 26th U.S. President said about condemning manipulative criminals (i.e., spiritual wickedness in high places)...
“In times of danger nothing is more common and nothing more dangerous to the Republic than for men to avoid condemning the criminals who are really public enemies by making their assault on the shortcomings of the good citizens who have been the victims or opponents of the criminals.” —U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
For the person who DIES IN THEIR SINS, they will feel the painful sting of death, when they wake up in the fires of Hell. O friend, make sure that you are ready to meet your Maker, because life is short, Hell is hot, and eternity is a long time! You could be dead by the end of the day. You could drop dead for no apparent reason at all! In fact, each year 100,000 perfectly healthy people suddenly drop dead! It is called, what else, “Sudden Death”! You cannot escape death dear reader. Death is coming for you, it is just a matter of WHEN! The Lord Jesus Christ gave His life as a ransom on the cross, to pay for all your horrible sins and mine, so we could have eternal life.
Literally, through faith alone in The Gospel (i.e., the GOOD NEWS of Christ's death on the cross, burial and bodily resurrection three days later - 1st Corinthians 15:1-6), you can have the stinger removed from death! The sting of death is sin! But if you receive Jesus as your personal Savior, receiving His sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins, then you will have eternal life and escape God's wrath in Hell forever! What a great deal! And best of all, it will cost you absolutely NOTHING! Salvation cost God His only begotten Son, it cost Jesus His life; therefore, salvation costs you and me NOTHING, it is a free gift!!! Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
