Will My Deceased Loved One Suffer Forever in Hell?

Sometimes our loved ones live their lives in unbelief, and then they die. Did God regenerate their heart and grant them faith before their last breath? Did they confess (perhaps silently in mind or heart) Christ before their heartbeat for the last time? We don’t know. We do know that every unbeliever who dies in their sin and misery apart from Christ will be condemned and suffer forever in hell. However, we also know that God can save and rescue right up to the time of death. We know that...

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J. I. Packer on the Holy Spirit & His Work in the Church

When addressing the question of the signs of the Holy Spirit, J. I. Packer wrote: “What then are the signs that Christ’s self-effacing Spirit is at work? Not mystical raptures, nor visions and supposed revelations, nor even healings, tongues, and apparent miracles; for Satan, playing on our psychosomatic complexity and our fallenness, can produce all these things (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:9ff.; Colossians 2:18). The only sure signs are that the Christ of the Bible is acknowledged...

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How We May Know that the Holy Spirit Dwells in Us – Zacharias Ursinus

11. HOW WE MAY KNOW THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELLS IN US We may know if the Spirit of God dwells in us by his effects, or gifts, which include a correct knowledge of God, regeneration, faith, peace of conscience, and the beginning of new obedience to God. . . . We may also know if the Holy Spirit dwells in us, by the testimony which he bears with our spirit that we are the children of God. So also comfort in the midst of death, joy in afflictions, a firm purpose to persevere in faith...

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How You (Dear Believer) Can Retain the Holy Spirit – Ursinus’ Wisdom

Sometimes believers struggle with the assurance of salvation. They may ask themselves, “Do I truly have the Holy Spirit?” They ask this because they sincerely want to possess the Holy Spirit but are often reminded of their spiritual weakness which can be unsettling. We need the comfort of the gospel of God’s free grace, the gospel that God grants His beloved people His Holy Spirit. Take comfort in the following wisdom from Zacharias Ursinus. It will be well worth...

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The Joy of Being Reformed (4): Talking Out of Both Sides of Your Mouth, Andy Stanley, & the Bible

To talk out of both sides of your mouth is to say something that contradicts what you said before. A person might give one opinion to one person and turn around and give the opposite opinion to another person. That’s talking out of both sides of the mouth, and sometimes preachers do it in their sermons. For example, if a preacher said at the beginning of his sermon, “Jesus is the Son of God,” and then a little later in his sermon added, “Jesus’ miracles are simply myths,” you’d...

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Dispensational Thinkers, God Shows No Partiality

Dispensational theology makes Israel and the church into two distinct peoples of God. This is one of the stark differences between Dispensational theology and Reformed/Covenant theology. As Heidelberg 54 explains, Reformed thinkers believe that “the Son of God, out of the whole human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, defends, and preserves for Himself . . . a Church chosen to everlasting life.” The church began in the Garden of Eden, not at Pentecost. This...

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Louis Berkhof on Christ’s Intercession in Heaven for His Church & How Lutherans Differ from the Reformed

“Moreover, He is ever making intercession for those that are His, pleading for their acceptance on the basis of His completed sacrifice, and for their safe-keeping in the world, and making their prayers and services acceptable to God. The Lutherans stress the fact that the intercession of Christ is vocalis et realis, while the Reformed emphasize the fact that it consists primarily in the presence of Christ in man’s nature with the Father, and that the prayers are to be considered as the...

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Charles Hodge & Zacharias Ursinus on Christ’s Session at God’s Right Hand

“The subject of this exaltation was the Theanthropos; not the Logos specially or distinctively; not the human nature exclusively; but the theanthropic person. When a man is exalted it is not the soul in distinction from the body; nor the body in distinction from the soul, but the whole person.” [1] “Christ was, indeed, always glorious, but was not always exalted in the office of mediator, which is to say, in his kingdom and priesthood. The consummation of his glory, which...

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The Joy of Being Reformed (3): God Is Revealing Himself to You Every Day

About 22 years ago, I took a trip to France. While there, I visited the famed Louvre Museum in Paris, the home of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. I stood before this small but renowned painting housed in bulletproof glass gazing at its mystery, intrigue, innovation, and beauty. It’s not my favorite painting, but it’s remarkable, nonetheless. It’s remarkable because da Vinci was remarkable. Though we haven’t met him, we do know something about da Vinci by seeing his artwork. The Mona...

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The Joy of Being Reformed (2): How Knowing the One True God Fills Your Heart with Happiness & Thankfulness

This past Sunday evening we had two families over. They stayed for hours late into the evening. It was wonderful. Our connection began years ago at Grove City College before any of us were married. We don’t get to see them often, so when we’re together it’s memorable and sweet. Sunday night was just that. My heart was filled with happiness and thankfulness as I enjoyed our friends. Even our children—all twelve of them—who don’t know each other well, really connected and had a...

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