Apologetics! Reality not an Illusion!

There are many people who say that God is all, and all is God, which is simply false. There are others who believe that the Good God is all, and death, sin, sickness and disease are just illusions, because death, sin and sickness are 'bad'.

In this post I would like to examine with the Holy Scriptures whether the Bible teaches that the Good God is all, and whether death, sin, sickness and disease are just illusions. I will test this doctrine with the holy scriptures, and see whether it stands or falls.

I will use 'love, truth, and life' to make my argument, and then conclude. In the Bible, the Bible teaches that God is love (1Jn. 4:8), but does the Bible teach that 'love is God?' No. The Bible teaches that God is love—God is the source of true Love, but the Bible never says that 'love' is God, otherwise, you would make my love for God and for my brothers in the Lord, 'actually God'—the reason I love God and my brothers the way I do is because I have a relationship with the One who is the only source of true love, who is God; without God I could not love God nor my brothers in Christ like I do. This love comes from God through the Lord Jesus Christ. The three persons of the Triune God have loved each other perfectly from all eternity.

Next, The Bible teaches that God is truth. The Bible teaches that God is truth (John 14:6, Psalm 117:2 and Duet. 32:4), but again does that mean that 'Truth is God?'—No. The Bible never teaches that 'Truth is God', but God is truth. If you say that 'Truth is God', you would make the Bible, 'God'—the Bible is the 'Word of God' (2Tim. 3:16 and Eph. 6), and God and His Word are inseparable, but the Bible is not 'God.' God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Three Persons, The One true God, the Bible is the God-breathed Word of God that comes from God (2Tim. 3:16), and He used human pen men to write the Words down. God is the source of His Word (the Holy Scriptures). I receive truth from God through His Word by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lastly, There is no argument that God is Life—the Bible teaches that God is Life, He gives everlasting life in Christ (Rom. 6:23, John 17:3 and 1Jn. 5:20), but does that mean that 'Life is God?' No. The Bible never teaches that 'Life is God', but God is Life. If you were to say that 'Life is God' you make all the life in creation, 'actually God', and even the believer's eternal life, 'actually God'. The Bible again teaches that God is the source of Life,  the Creator of heaven and earth, and the source of eternal Life through the Lord Jesus Christ, by His death, burial and resurrection. Eternal Life comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we can see that God is Love, Truth and Life, but Love, Truth and Life is not God, which clearly shows that the Good God is not All.

Now let me illustrate this further. There is a difference between the Creator (God) and the creation—The Creator and the creation are not the same. In the Book of Genesis, the Bible says 'God created the heavens and the earth' Gen. 1:1. They are not one and the same. God created creation (came into existence) by God, the God who has been in existence always. Creation came from God, not God came from creation. Even though man is a unique creation of God, he was only made in His image (Gen. 1:26), but not as God.

Now, what happened to man? Man was separated from God (man's relationship with God was broken) because man sinned against God. The Bible teaches this to be a reality. Some will teach you that sin is just an illusion because the Good God is All, but the Bible tells us the reality what man's sin in the Garden of Eden did, and put the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross to pay for the sins of them who put their faith in Him.

Adam's sin was not an illusion, but very real. Adam's sin infected the whole of creation. What entered into the world because of Adam's sin? Death, for the Bible says, For the wages of sin is death.  The Bible says in Romans 3:23, For all sinned, and fall short of the glory of God. Man is a sinner, but God is not a sinner, but holy and pure—He is the Rock, his work is perfect. For all his ways are just: a God of faithfulness, and without evil, just and upright is He. Deut. 32:4.

We see the reality of sin, which caused man's separation from God—sin is very real, and not an illusion, and because sin (which is evil and wicked) is a reality, we have the reality of death. The Lord God is Good, and because He is Good, He is not all. The Lord God is Good, but man is sinful and not good, and needs the perfect Saviour for salvation (that is the reality the Bible plainly says.)

In Isaiah 53:5, we can see how real sin is—the Bible says, But he was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with his wounds we ourselves are healed. In v.7, He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, but He did not open His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a ewe before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. In v.8, He was taken from prison and from justice; and who shall consider His generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living; from the transgressions of My people, the stroke was to Him. This is a detailed account of the sufferings the Lord Jesus went through when He went to the cross and died for the sins of the world (John 3:16). 

Another scripture about the Lord's perfect sacrifice—In 1Corinthians 15:3-5, For I delivered to you first place what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised the third day, according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 

In Romans 5:12, the Bible says, Because of this, even as sin entered the world through one man, death through sin, so also death passed to all men, inasmuch as all sinned. All are born sinners—we inherit the sinful nature which has been passed down from Adam. This is a reality. The Bible teaches the reality of sin and the consequences of our sin, For the wages of sin is death.

Let us conclude. 

• First of all, the reality of sin is very real, which exposes the lie that God is all. The Bible teaches that God is Good, but does not teach that God is all. The Bible teaches that the God of the Bible is God and nothing else is God.

• Secondly, what does this heretical teaching about God do? They make God impersonal. They take away the Love of God shown on the cross at Calvary; The Father sent His own dear Son to suffer, shed His blood, and die upon the cross to pay for the sin debt in full for them who put their faith in Him for salvation.

Those who believe that the Good God is all, and death, sin, sickness and disease are just illusions, because death, sin, and sickness are 'bad', take away the love, grace and mercy of God shown on the cross toward sinners when He gave His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins if they repent and trust in Him. They take away the whole character of God.

When examined with scripture, this doctrine that God is all, and sin, death, sickness, and disease are an illusion simply falls, and is exposed for what it really is, heresy! Death, sickness, and disease are a reality, caused by the reality of man's sin against God, and whosoever does not repent and put their faith in the Lord Jesus for salvation, will spend eternity in a real place called the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:15 and Rev. 21:8).

*LITV Bible used for scripture verses

Is Repentance and Faith like choosing from a Menu?

I was listening to a preacher and he preached on 1Thessalonians 1:4, where the Bible says, knowing brothers, beloved by God, your election.' It was obvious that this preacher was not reformed because he gave the final decision to man in regards to his salvation.

He gave an illustration to attempt to prove his position that God provides the way for salvation, but man by his autonomous freewill chooses whether God can save them or not.

The illustration when something like this. When you go to a restaurant, you have a menu, the menu is provided, but you by your freewill decide whether to have something from that menu. 

There is a serious problem with this illustration. Let us take a look at that in this post.

First of all, whether you are saved or not saved, you can look at a menu and decide whether to have something from that menu. You do not need to be regenerated to be able to choose to have something from the menu. Just go to a restaurant and you will see many unregenerate people choosing their meals from the menu without any problems.

What about salvation? Can an unregenerate man choose salvation like he is ordering a bowl of soup at a restaurant or five chicken wings with ketchup? 

What does the Bible say. First let us look at what Jesus said in John 3:3 LITV, Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God. 

What is the Lord Jesus saying here? Look at the words, if one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God. Notice, without a spiritual birth, you cannot see the kingdom of God. This speaks of the unregenerate man who has a heart of stone, a heart that hates God. The Lord Jesus Christ says that this man cannot even see the kingdom of God. This man needs to be regenerated before he can see the kingdom of God—this man needs to be born from above before he can see spiritually. How can a person come to the Lord Jesus Christ spiritually blind with a heart of stone that opposes God? The Lord Jesus is clearly telling us they cannot. 

When you go to verse 5, the Lord Jesus talks about being born from above saying, Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth out of water and Spirit, he is not able to enter the kingdom of God (LITV), which contradicts anyone who believes that faith comes before the new birth, believing that a person enters the kingdom of God and then is born from above, which is opposite to what the Lord teaches here in His Word.

So is repentance and faith like choosing from a menu? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

The Judgment, Mercy and Grace of God!

There are some Christians who cannot accept and will not accept that the Bible teaches that God chose only to give His Son for an Elect people and not for all people—that comes from having a view of God that because God is love, God has to give His Son for every individual who has ever lived. But you have to answer the question, why does God have to give His Son for every individual who has ever lived—God is not obliged to give His Son to anyone—if God wants to give His Son for only one person, God is righteous to do so—God has that right to do that. God does not owe anybody anything except judgment and an eternity in hell for the sins we have committed against Him. No one can demand salvation from God—we do not have that right, for the Bible says in Romans 3:23 LITV, for all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That is why it is called grace.  

So you see that salvation is by God’s mercy and grace in and through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ—for His took the judgment of God for those who will put their faith in Him—it is a gift from God’s gracious hand. God has the right to whom He wants to by the good pleasure of His will to provide that gift of His mercy and grace to save them and to bring them into His family and make them sons and daughters of God. 

You might say that is not fair—why do you say that, for those whom Christ did not die for, they will continue to wilfully reject him as Lord and Saviour and they will receive what they deserve as a Christ rejecter, not mercy and grace but judgment and eternity in hell—they are only getting what they deserve—they are receiving their wages for their sin, For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a LITV). God is not be unloving when He passes over someone, no, He is a righteous and holy God who must judge them who reject Christ—God is love, absolutely, which means that God loves that which is right and holy and good, thus he must punish sinners who die in their sins without the Lord Jesus Christ—but for them whom God extended His love to by his mercy and grace through and in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ, are loved by God in His Son, for Christ took their sins for them on the Cross and paid their sin debt in full and was buried and rose from the dead for their justification—they have been clothed in His righteousness.

If you are not a true believer in Christ, God commands you to repent and come to faith in Christ (see Acts 17:30-31)—if you disobey and continue rejecting Him, then there is no mercy or grace after death, only judgment, for the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 LITV, And as it is reserved to men once to die, and after this judgment. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you do, it is because of the mercy and grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, and if you do not, it is because you wilfully reject Him. 

Only Boast in God!

The Lord Jesus Christ says,  "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one coming to Me I will in no way cast out." (John 6:37 LITV)- The Lord Jesus Christ said that. In Ephesians 1:4 LITV the Bible says, "according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, for us to be holy and without blemish before Him in love." The Bible says that Jesus came to save His people from their sins-Matthew 1:21 LITV, "And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins."- Notice what the Bible says, "His people"- that is very specific- "His people." That is why Jesus came, to accomplish the salvation of His people- John 6:39 LITV, "And this is the will of the Father sending Me, that of all that He has given Me, I shall not lose any of it, but shall raise it up in the last day." 

The Lord Jesus Christ says in John 10:26-28, "But you do not believe for you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish to the age, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand."

A man comes to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ because it is the result of the regenerating work of God- The Bible says in John 3:3 LITV, "Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God."- John 3:5 LITV, "Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you if one does not receive birth out of water and Spirit, he is not able to enter the kingdom of God."

God is very clear in His Word, He is in complete control of salvation- Man has nothing to boast about himself- only to boast in God. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8-9 LITV, "For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, that not anyone should boast."

Husband and Wife are One Flesh

“But answering, He said to them, Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning "created them male and female"? And He said, "For this reason a man shall leave father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Mat 19:4-6, LITV)

Marriage is a special relationship from God, which is between one man and one woman. Husband and wife always need each other because they are husband and wife-they are never separate. The Lord Jesus Christ says that husband and wife are one flesh-God sees them as one, not two, but joined together as one flesh. The husband belongs to the wife, and the wife belongs to the husband. The Bible says, “The wife does not have authority of her own body, but the husband. And likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.” (1Cor 7:4, LITV)

Marriage is a unique and special relationship from the Lord. There is no other relationship on this earth where two become one flesh-only the relationship of husband and wife.

Husband and wife are never independent from each other, just like the head is never independent from the body. The head needs the body, and the body needs the head. You can never separate them, they need each other. The same for husband and wife-they always need each other.

Husband and wife are to love each other and cultivate that love for each other, and work together in the roles they have been given by God taught in the Bible- the husband as the head of his wife (Ephesians 5:22-23), and the wife as the helper to her husband (Genesis 2:18). They are to function in a way which pleases God, and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.

Mr. Fearing Comforted (part of the sermon) by C. H. Spurgeon

Prayerful not Fearful

The Bible says in Philippians 4:6 LITV, ‘Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and by petition with thanksgivings, let your requests be made known to God.’

What are we to pray? The Bible says, ‘by prayer and by petition.’  Petition can be defined as praying to God about something specific in Christ Jesus. The Lord God commands His people for their good for specific prayers to be made known to Him. When it says, ‘known to Him’, it does not mean God does not know, and we must inform Him, so He can know—obviously it does not mean that.

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 6:8 LITV, ‘Then do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask Him.’ What the Bible is saying in Philippians, the Father wants to hear these things from His people—He wants to know them from them. God wants us to depend on Him, recognizing He is our God, our Heavenly Father, who provides our every need, every time. Everything we have which is good, has come from the Lord’s hands—We receive nothing good, unless it is by the will of God, and from His good hand. We are to rely on Him. Of course, God uses means, absolutely, but as we live for Him according to the Word of God, we are not to be anxious, but come to our Lord and trust Him, stand on His word, and have peace in Christ.

Notice Paul wrote, ‘Let your requests be made known to God.’ What does Paul the apostle mean? The word, ‘request’, refers to the specific details of the petition. In our prayers, we bring our petitions to God—His people are to pray a specific thing to God, and then pray about the details of that specific thing—the specific details about that petition.

For example, Let us go Ephesians 1:16-23, and we can see Paul do exactly this. Paul the apostle prays, v. 16 LITV, ‘I also do not cease giving thanks on your behalf, making mention of you in my prayers’, then we see his petition, a specific prayer in v. 17,

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him,

Then we see the request, the details of the petition, v. 18, ‘the eyes of your mind having been enlightened, for you to know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints’, and he continues after v. 18. This is how we are to pray—commanded by the Lord in Philippians 4.

Now, there is another aspect of prayer, and that is thanksgivings. Very important aspect of prayer. Notice what Paul wrote, ‘but in everything by prayer and petitions with thanksgivings, let you request be made known to God.’ This is an expression of thanks or gratitude for all the things the Lord has done for us and is doing. It is thankfulness from the heart for His mercy and grace to us in Christ Jesus. The Greek word holds thanksgiving in the upmost importance. This thankfulness will guard our hearts from whining and complaining before the Lord. All that we have comes from the Lord, we do not deserve anything, but because of His love for us, He has given to us the greatest and most precious gift of all, the Lord Jesus Christ. His people would have to admit, there is always something to give thanks to God for, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and all we have received in Him. We are to give thanks to God, because without the mercy and grace of God, we would not have Christ. His people are to be thankful to God in Christ Jesus, for all our spiritual and temporal blessings.

Another scripture, we see that it is God will for us to be thankful to Him in Christ Jesus. 1Thessalonians 5:18 LITV, ‘In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.’ Notice the apostle Paul wrote, ‘in everything give thanks.’ God is always good to His people—in everything in Christ Jesus. God is good to His people not only in good times, but God is good to them in hard times; God is good to them in everything. God is good to His people.

Paul the apostle when he wrote Ephesians was in bonds, but he had a thankful heart and grateful heart. His people are not to forget to be thankful in all things, because our God is always good to us in all things. Every good thing is from God, and without Him, we would not even be here. It is God’s will that we (His people) find joy in prayer in Christ Jesus in every condition of life, with a grateful heart.

Also notice, when Paul wrote, ‘be made known to God.’ We are only to pray to God, and no other. To pray to any other except to God is a despicable sin. If a brother and/or sister is praying for you to God, no problem, because they are still praying to God, and we saw Paul doing that in Ephesians, but we are never to pray to anyone else except God—we are only to pray to the true and living God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Lord is commanding His people here in Philippians 4, to let Him know our petitions and requests, with thanksgivings to Him. This command is in the present tense, which means this command is always present—we are to keep praying to Him and not lose heart, for the Bible says in 1Thessalonians 5:17 LITV, ‘Pray without ceasing.’ Prayer is a conversation, it is how we speak to our God in Christ, who hears us perfectly, knows us perfectly, understands us perfectly, cares for us perfectly, and responds to us perfectly, knowing what is best for us perfectly. If we pray according to His will, He will do it, but if not, we can know, He knows what is best for us perfectly, and He can be fully trusted in all things, for He is perfect—God is always faithful to His Word. God is perfect in all His ways—He is our sovereign God. There is no other like our Lord, for He is the one true living God.

Let us finish these two scriptures about the prayers of His people:

Proverbs 15:8 LITV, ‘The sacrifice of the wicked is a hateful thing to Jehovah, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.’

1Peter 3:12 LITV, ‘because the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against any doing evil things.’