The Flip Side

          I always liked to hear good news rather than bad news. At the end of the school year, we would receive our final report card which was in an envelope that had our name on. I would always slowly pull it out until I could read the line, “passed” or “failed.” In all of my years, it always said, “passed.” We moved into the country in the middle of the school year and so instead of trying to catch up on the local first grade, I started in the first grade the following school year. In some cases, it was like having a head start which helped me in my first several years. I enjoyed seeing the word “passed” at the end of the year. To “fail” meant that you were going to have to do the entire year over again until you got it right. You also would be bigger than the rest of your class mates. In some areas, failing is bad but not the end of the world. It is that way in most things except for one and that has to do with personal salvation. John 5:24 says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” 

           In light of salvation, we go out and tell others about the blessings of heaven and the torments of hell. With Child Evangelism Fellowship, we used the “wordless book.” We started on the “gold” page and described the benefits and blessings of heaven. We mentioned all of the things that would be in heaven and tried to mention all of the things that would not be in heaven. We didn't want to frighten the children too much and so would not go into great deal about hell. Most passages about the blessings of heaven almost always have a flip side such as the one for today. You will have everlasting life “and not come into condemnation...” When I touch a hot pan without a potholder, I immediately pull my hand away. I don't stand there and carry on a conversation while my hand burns to the side of the pot. The Scriptures give us numerous descriptions of what hell is like. The sound of some of them seems to be agreeable to many believers. We say, God will not be there. The lost say, “Good.” We say, Millions are going to hell. The lost say, “Good, I won't be alone.” I had one friends that would often say three simple words to a lost person. “Turn, or burn.” The Scriptures go on to say that hell is not only the absence of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but is also a place of fire, darkness and the sense of being absolutely alone like a wandering star.....forever. It is a place of agony and torment and separation but not destruction. Death is not destruction, but separation. It is the separation of the soul and the spirit from the body. Death is never described as destruction. Our memories of things seem to be only for 70 to 80 years, some more, some less. Eternity is for ever. Even John 3:16 includes the phrase, “should not perish.” It also shows the flip side to “have everlasting life.” We have the tendency to sit at our morning table, reading our Bible, drinking our coffee, watching the neighbors walk their dogs not realizing that any of them or yourself could be ushered into the presence of God in the twinkling of an eye. At that point, the results of your decisions go into effect. What if all of those people who passed by you in your life suddenly were able to stand before you and say, “Why didn't you tell me?” What would you say? “I didn't want to embarrass you.” “I didn't want to force you to believe my way was the only way.” “I didn't want to jeopardize our friendship.” None of us, as far as I know, are great theologians but we do know beyond a shadow of a doubt, what God has done for us. The Apostle Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” We should not be ashamed either. Praise God for the message of the Gospel.