Question:
What does God’s first question to man: “Where art thou?” (Genesis 3:8, 9) mean?

Answer:
The first question that God asked man was: “Where art thou?” (Genesis 3:8, 9). God asked this after man had first sinned. What does this question mean? God is asking: “Where are you Adam in relation to Me?” Get this question settled first: Where are you in relation to God, and then you can learn about God.

Question:
Read Mark 16:17. Should each individual believer today do these things?

Answer:
These signs were used before Christianity was established to show that there was a super-natural power in the Lord and His disciples, so that those who were unsaved would be convinced.

Physical healing is not necessarily the best for us. Chastening, or trials are a part of God’s purposes for us and they are of greater benefit to us than any physical healing might be. God is concerned with our spiritual needs which are far more important than our physical needs (Hebrews 12:6). If someone is being tried by the Lord and he goes to a healer, he may short-circuit what God has in mind of using the trial to bring good to him and glory to Himself.
The “signs” mentioned in Mark 16 were used to show God’s power to the lost. In Acts 28 Paul was shipwrecked and he spoke to those who had not heard the Word. God used him as a vehicle to heal them so they could see God’s power and believe the word Paul spoke to be of God. The rich man in Luke 16:27 thought that if Lazarus were raised from the dead, his friends would be saved because of such a miraculous act. But the Lord tells us in that story that a person has to see the truth in the Word before he can be blessed spiritually. The real test of a faith healer would be if he would raise someone from the dead. All healing comes from God, and He heals according to His will.
James 5:14 says that the prayer of faith (not the elders) can heal the sick. We are told to confess our faults one to another and pray one for another to be healed. Some sicknesses are a chastening of the Lord which can be used to heal the spiritual need. All healing comes from God, and He heals according to His will.
Matthew 8:17, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses,” refers to Christ’s life ministry, not His death on the cross. This does not mean that He took our infirmities away, but that He bore them for us in His life and healed many who were sick. This is in contrast to 1 Peter 2:24, where Christ bore away our sins on the tree. Matthew does not refer to the cross, but 1 Peter does. 1 Peter refers to a spiritual healing, “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25). Eventually in the glory all believers will have a total healing, but our infirmities are used of the Lord now to humble us, cause us to trust Him for strength, and thus cause us to serve Him more.Just because prayer may lead to healing does not mean that we should not see a doctor. Luke was a doctor (Colossians 4:14), and the Lord makes reference to physicians when He said, “They that be whole need not a physician; but they that are sick” (Luke 5:31). If we pray about it and seek the Lord’s mind, we will know if He wants us to go to a doctor or not. He will also lead us to the proper physician. Maybe our work is done here and He wants us to come home to be with Himself. We should never demand for the Lord to heal us. We should ask Him to make the decision for us, so that all works out for His glory.

Question:
Read John 14:12. Some people say that when we are saved we should be able to do these great miracles, and if we can’t then it’s our fault.

Answer:
These great works mentioned in this verse are referring to eternal works, not works we do here on earth. Once Christianity was established, these gifts of miracles were not needed (2 Timothy 4:20, Philippians 2:24-30). Tongues were only used for those who were unsaved (1 Corinthians 14:22). Speaking in tongues does not prove that we are moved by the Spirit, but speaking in tongues or speaking in other languages were used to get God’s message to those who cannot understand the language normally spoken (Acts 2:1-14).

Question:
Why doesn’t God desire people to be healed?

Answer:
Read 2 Corinthians 12:2-10. This could be one reason why God does not take sickness away. The Lord told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Paul accepted his infirmity because through weakness he was made strong. When we realize how weak we are, then, and only then, can we be very strong or powerful for God. God used the weakness to show Himself through Paul. Paul relied on the grace of God to see him through.

Question:
Is there a reason why miracles do not take place in churches today?

Answer:
When there were new teachings, God always confirmed it with miraculous miracles, but there have been no new teachings for almost 2000 years: “For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? (Hebrews 2:2-4).

When the Lord did miracles: “They were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority commandeth He even the unclean spirits, and they do obey Him” (Mark 1:27).

Question:
Read Luke 4:1-8. What was the purpose of the Lord being tempted?

Answer:
He was tempted to prove that He was absolutely holy and thus He could not sin, and the way He acted is an example for us on how to handle temptation. He was tempted three times, and each time He answered Satan with Scripture. (See Hebrews 2:18, Hebrews 4:15, 16). Adam and Eve were tested in the Garden of Eden with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were tested under the most ideal circumstances and they failed. Christ was tested under the worst circumstances and He did not fail. By the Lord going through the temptation it gave Him the personal knowledge of what we go through (Hebrews 5:5-9). “Being made perfect” means being made a perfect Saviour by going to the cross. He was obedient to His Father, and thus He became the perfect offering for salvation.

Luke 4:4. The Lord responded, “It is written.” We need to get to know the Word so we can use it when temptation comes our way. It is so important to get something from the Word each day, meditate on it and then the Lord can use it to defeat the enemy. We need to hide the Word in our heart, not just in our head (Psalm 119:11).
Psalm 32:8. If we look to the Lord to see which way His eye is turning, then we will know what step to take next, and it will be His way, not our way. If we want the Lord to guide us, we have to be willing to let Him guide us (John 7:17). We need to be close to Him to see where His eye is guiding. Like Abraham we should be close to the Lord in everything we do. We must yield our bodies a living sacrifice to Him, and be not conformed to this world by having our minds renewed with the Word, and then there will be a change in our outward living (Romans 12:1, 2).

Question:
Revelation 3:16: “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

Does being lukewarm have to do with salvation?

Answer:
Lukewarm is a condition of a person being neither “cold” nor “hot” for the Lord. This condition makes it hard to discern who is a Christian and who is not a Christian.

When the Lord takes the believers home at the rapture of the church 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, there will be a mass of people that will be left behind because they are mere professors.
In John 14:23: “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Spewing out of the mouth is not in reference to true believers, but to mere professors.

 

Question:
Can people lose their salvation?

Answer:
Some people have in an outward way participated in those things that true Christians do, then they decide they don’t want it. They turned away on purpose. But the cable of salvation can never be broken, though we can lose the enjoyment of that salvation. (Psalm 51:12).

 

Scriptures that tell us we cannot lose our salvation:

–John 10:27-30. We can’t even take ourselves out of the Lord’s hand.

–Ephesians 1:13,14, tell us that when we believe, we are given the Holy Spirit which is a seal that says that we are God’s.

–Ephesians 4:30 says not to grieve the Holy Spirit (we grieve Him when we do wrong), but He is never grieved away.

–Romans 8:23 speaks of the redemption of our bodies. If we are saved, our souls are redeemed. But we don’t have the redemption of our bodies yet though we will when the Lord comes again.

–Romans 11:29. Our salvation is a gift from God. We don’t do anything to save ourselves but receive God’s gift by faith. It is all the work of God, and it is forever. Romans 6:28, John 1:12.

Question:
How does this (hopelessness of the apostates) go with the truth that God is longsuffering?

Answer:
This is a “special class” of apostates. It is not the general class of those who have heard. Sometimes in ignorance we turn away from the mark after we’ve heard, but not on purpose. Apostates are taught the truth and willfully say, “I will not believe this.” They willfully turn away.
 

1 Timothy 1:12,13 is not a deliberate turning away. Paul didn’t know the way, but when he did, he confessed the Lord as his Saviour.

 

Even though Christ is longsuffering, He does not tolerate deliberate sin.

Question:
Does 2 Peter 2:20-22 mean that those who are saved will lose some crowns but will still go to heaven?

Answer:
2 Peter 2:20-22 says: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”

                                                                                      

The answer is No. They are the same as those in Hebrews 6:4-6. One that is exposed to the truth is more responsible than those who have not heard. For them, it would have been better not to have heard the truth of God. True believers are called sheep and they might fall into sin, but they don’t wallow in it like a pig. Read Hebrews 10:38, 39 for these verses show the difference between the true and false, between the mere professor and the believer.
Notice what Hebrews 10:26 says: “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” The word “sin” in this verse means to “miss the mark” which is Christ. If I turn away from Christ, what sacrifice do I have for sin? None! After a person has the knowledge of how to be saved and he willfully turns away from the truth, there is no other means of being saved.

Question:
Please explain Hebrews 6:4-6.

Answer:
This is a Scripture that many false prophets use to say that you can lose your salvation. It isn’t speaking of people losing their salvation but of people who never were saved! The verses are talking about people who have “been enlightened, tasted, and have been partakers of the Holy Ghost.” One can be “enlightened” about the Lord’s things in an intellectual way and never receive them in their hearts. A person can “taste” something and never swallow it. There are two Greek words that are translated “partakers” in the New Testament. The Greek word used in 1 Peter 1:4 which speaks of the “divine nature” means: an unlimited inward partnership and every believer has the divine nature in this way. However, the Greek word translated “partakers” in Hebrews 6 is an outward relationship only. The unsaved may be companions of the Holy Ghost if they are in company with believers, for all believers have the Holy Ghost. Outwardly participating in what the Holy Spirit is doing, does not mean there is an inward work. Those mentioned in Hebrews 6 are not saved, though they may act like they are. They are called apostates for they knew the way, but they went back to the Jewish ways and have an attitude of “they did right by crucifying Christ.” These people in Hebrews 6 are apostates. It’s impossible for them to be renewed because they were never saved in the first place. These apostates are spoken of also in Hebrew 10:26-29.

Question:
Read Revelation 2:5. What does it mean by Christ removing the candlestick if thou does not repent?

Answer:
Read Revelation 2:5. The candlestick means testimony. In verse 4 they let something else take the place of Christ in their hearts and lives. Often many Christians lose their desire to have Christ first place in their hearts, and then their testimony will be blurred. This does not mean that one who loses this desire needs to be saved again, but they need Christ back in first place in their lives. “Do the first works,” the works of faith (not for salvation) or He will come and take your testimony (candlestick) out of its place, and there will be a loss of eternal blessings.

Question:
Is there Scripture for the saying, “The Lord blesses in families”?

Answer:
Noah and his house were saved from the flood, but Noah was the only one that is mentioned to have faith. We do read of blessings in households. Read Acts 16:14,15. Lydia, the first convert in Europe, is another instance of one that is saved who wanted her household to be with her outwardly through baptism.

Question:
What does “and thy house” mean in Acts 16:31?

Answer:
They were saying that the same faith that saved the jailor, could save everyone in his house. The jailer’s family was baptized because he wanted to bring his household unto the same ground that he was on himself. But this doesn’t mean that it is a guarantee that his children would be saved.

Some people think that being children of Christian parents is the reason why they were saved, but that’s not always true. Each person is responsible individually before the Lord, no matter what our environment is like. The Lord can save anyone in either a good or bad environment.

Question:
How can we work out our salvation? Read Philippians 2:12: “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

Answer:

The answer is in the next verse, Philippians 2:13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

There has to be a work done in us by God, before we can work out our salvation. This doesn’t mean we have to work for our salvation. It actually has to do with working out in a practical way with God being in us. He gives us the power to work it out. He uses His power to manifest Himself in our practical lives. I cannot do it, but He can. Fear in this verse means reverence for God, and we show this by depending on Him.