Mark 3:31 ¶ There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. 32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. 33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
First, this shows that the Vatican is wrong. Jesus did have brothers and sisters. The brothers are named here;
Matthew 13:55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
As the Son of God with a capital “S”, God the Son, or God in the flesh, only those people who do God’s will are the family of Jesus. What does it mean to do God’s will?
2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us–ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
1Timothy 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Matthew 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
God’s will is for every single person to be saved by Him. There is not a New Guinea tribesman, a citizen of the Eurozone, or an African farmer that God doesn’t want to be delivered from bondage to Satan and the natural fate of Satan’s people, to be perpetually destroyed in a lake of unquenchable fire for eternity (Isaiah 66:24.)
He wants to save you. That salvation is predicated upon belief; you changing your mind, repenting; about your sin, what justifies you, your purpose for being here, and what you are, a sinner; and turning to Christ, God in human form, who died for your sins and rose for your justification, if you believe.
Who is Jesus Christ? He is the image of the invisible God, the angel or appearance of God, the Son of God, which is God in the flesh. We were made to look like him as opposed to the beasts of the earth that were made to look like the cherubim, the living creatures around the throne of God(Genesis 3:24; Ezekiel 1, 10, 28:14; Revelation 4.)
First, understand that “image” is the appearance or likeness of something.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Here is Christ;
Exodus 24:10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. 11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
Judges 2:1 And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
2Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Hebrews 1:1 ¶ God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
We were created in that image.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
But with the first man’s sin, we lost that and each generation afterwards was made in the image of Adam, the preceding generation.
Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
When you are saved then it is God’s will that we be restored to that image. The things you have been predestinated to after salvation will inevitably happen and the word and its derivatives, predestination, only refers to what happens to you after you are saved. By way of analogy, you have the choice to get on the ship or not but once on the ship you will sail with it even if you are the most obnoxious, unruly passenger on board. You may wind up sleeping in the boiler room but you are going to get there nonetheless. Predestination only refers to things that happen after you are saved.
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption*.
*[ Redemption is your resurrection, the Adoption (Romans 8:23.) This takes place at the Translation of the Church, popularly called the Rapture (1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 11:5.)]
Salvation is predicated upon belief;
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house*.
*[House in context is family as in “he made them houses,” (Exodus 1:21), “the house of David” (1 Samuel 20:16), and the “house of God” (1 Peter 4:17.) The reason “house” is used in such a way is obvious as in the Old Testament under the Law, the “house of God” was where God dwelt with men (2 Chronicles 5:14) but under Grace, in the New Testament that dwelling place is inside each individual believer (1 Corinthians 6:19.) It’s part of the genius of the Bible in spite of modern preachers talking about the church building as if it’s the “house of God” as in a temple, which it is not. WE are the “house of God.” Pray that when you preach you do not show contempt for God’s words and that your speech is impeccable and easy to understand. God is not looking down from heaven at believers. He sees us from the inside out (Proverbs 20:27) and if He can be called down on a congregation then they weren’t saved in the first place (John 14:23.) Now, look up those verses and tell me I’m wrong. Go ahead.]
So, ultimately, it is not God’s will for you to go to Hell. It is His will for you to believe, to trust, to repent of everything that you’ve been depending on to justify you including your sin and the fact that you, being a descendant of Adam, are a sinner, lost and undone.
Romans 10:8……The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. 12 ¶ For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek [Greek = Gentile, a non-Jew]: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Believe. Be saved. Now is the time.
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