The So Great Salvation Podcast

Lacy Evans
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Semiweekly

We're just a group of regular guys exploring the deeper doctrines of Christianity, especially those that pertain to the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, Bible preservation, and prophecy.

  1. 1d ago

    The Horrible Truth – Part 6B: MERCY: The Greatest Investment Ever

    The Horrible Truth – Part 6B: MERCY: The Greatest Investment Ever If The Horrible Truth has taught us anything, it is that we should take the warnings of Scripture seriously. The Judgment Seat of Christ is real. The prospect of millennial exclusion is not something we should casually dismiss. But God doesn't warn us simply to frighten us. The warnings are intended to change the way we live. Scripture gives us both sides of the equation—the goodness and severity of God. There is encouragement, and there is warning. There is the carrot, and there is the stick. And both are designed to move us toward the same thing: faithfulness. So where does mercy fit into all of this? It may be one of the greatest investments God has ever made available to us. What does it cost to show mercy? Sometimes, almost nothing. You choose not to retaliate. You forgive an offense. You overlook an insult. You give someone the benefit of the doubt. You refuse to keep score. You respond gently when you could respond harshly. You recognize that you, too, are a recipient of mercy—and then extend that mercy to someone else. And here's the remarkable thing: Opportunities to sow mercy are everywhere. We don't need a pulpit, ministry, or audience. We simply need to humble ourselves enough to recognize the opportunities God has already placed in our path. Pride makes mercy difficult because pride keeps a ledger. They hurt me. They don't deserve it. I'm right. They owe me an apology. Why should I be the one to forgive? But humility asks a different question: How much mercy have I received? Once we remember how much God has forgiven us, how patient He has been with us, and how many times He has withheld what we deserved, showing mercy to someone else doesn't seem so unreasonable. It becomes an investment. Jesus said: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” James tells us: “Mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” That doesn't eliminate God's judgment. It helps us understand something about the heart of the God who judges. His severity is real—but so is His goodness. His warnings are real—but so are His promises. And perhaps one of the greatest mistakes we could make in considering millennial exclusion would be to become so focused on the possibility of loss that we overlook the opportunities for gain God is giving us right now. Every day, we are handed opportunities to sow. And mercy may be the easiest seed to find. Look around. The difficult person at work. The impatient driver. The family member who said the wrong thing. The friend who disappointed you. The stranger who was rude. The person who doesn't even realize they've hurt you. These aren't merely interruptions to your day. From the perspective of eternity, they may be investment opportunities. The next time someone wounds your pride, you may be standing in front of a kingdom investment account. The cost of the investment? Humility. The return? Mercy. And the One keeping the books? God. Perhaps the question isn't merely, “Why does God allow people to treat me this way?” Perhaps sometimes the better question is: “Why has God given me another opportunity to show mercy?” Because if The Horrible Truth is true, then eternity matters. Rewards matter. Loss matters. The coming kingdom matters. And therefore, what we do with the seemingly insignificant moments of this present life matters too. So let's talk about the greatest investment ever. Not an investment that requires money. Not fame. Not extraordinary ability. Just an investment that requires us to humble ourselves, recognize the opportunity, and choose mercy. Because the easiest opportunities to miss may be the ones standing directly in front of us.

    The Horrible Truth – Part 6B: MERCY: The Greatest Investment Ever

  2. 5d ago

    The Horrible Truth – Part 6A: MERCY The X-Factor of Millennial Exclusion

    The Horrible Truth – Part 6A: MERCYThe X-Factor of Millennial ExclusionUp to this point in The Horrible Truth, we have spent a great deal of time in doctrine—examining the warnings of Scripture, the Judgment Seat of Christ, the possibility of millennial exclusion, and the sobering consequences of failing to walk faithfully with Christ.But now, we need to make a turn.Because if what we have been saying is true—if the warnings of Scripture are real, if there really is a coming judgment of believers, and if some who possess eternal life can nevertheless suffer loss and exclusion from Christ's millennial kingdom—then there is a natural reaction.It is the same reaction the disciples had when Jesus confronted them with something that seemed humanly impossible:“Who then can be saved?”And Jesus answered:“With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”That brings us to what may be the greatest practical X-factor in everything we have been discussing:MERCY.Mercy is not merely a comforting side note to the doctrine of exclusion. Mercy is one of the great leveling principles of Scripture.Why?Because mercy is available to everyone.You don't have to be wealthy to show mercy.You don't have to be powerful.You don't need a platform, a title, a degree, or a ministry.You don't even have to wait for some extraordinary opportunity.You can sow mercy today.In fact, you probably already have opportunities sitting right in front of you.Someone irritates you.Someone insults you.Someone overlooks you.Someone takes advantage of you.Someone says something unfair.Someone hurts your feelings.Someone doesn't give you the respect you think you deserve.And right there—in that tiny, ordinary, almost invisible moment—you have an opportunity to make an eternal investment.You can answer injury with injury.Or you can show mercy.You can keep the score.Or you can release the debt.You can demand what you believe you are owed.Or you can give what you did not have to give.And Scripture tells us that God pays attention to those choices.This is what makes mercy so remarkable.It is perhaps the easiest kingdom resource to invest, because opportunities to exercise it surround us every day. And yet, if Scripture is telling us the truth, it may also carry an extraordinary return.Jesus said:“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”James said:“For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.”Think about that.In a doctrine that can leave us asking, “Who then can be saved?” Scripture points us toward something every one of us can begin practicing immediately.Mercy.This doesn't make the warnings less serious.It makes them more personal.Because millennial exclusion isn't merely about some distant prophetic event. It brings the coming kingdom into our ordinary Tuesday afternoon.It asks:What will I do when I'm offended?What will I do when I'm wronged?What will I do when someone doesn't deserve my kindness?What will I do when I have the opportunity to retaliate—but choose mercy instead?Perhaps the greatest irony of The Horrible Truth is that the very doctrine that can initially overwhelm us may also reveal some of the simplest opportunities God has given us to invest in eternity.Every wound can become an opportunity.Every slight can become an investment.Every offense can become a kingdom transaction.And every act of mercy may be laying up something that will matter far beyond this present age.So in this segment, we're going to stop looking primarily at the doctrine from a distance.We're going to talk about MERCY—the X-factor of millennial exclusion.Because if there is a coming judgment, then perhaps one of the most important questions isn't merely:“What will happen to me then?”Perhaps the question is:“What am I doing with the opportunities God is giving me today?”

    The Horrible Truth – Part 6A: MERCY The X-Factor of Millennial Exclusion

  3. Sep 8

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 4 "Israel as a Picture"

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 4"Israel as a Picture" What if one of the clearest pictures of the Christian journey in the Bible was given to us thousands of years before Christ ever walked the earth? Israel’s exodus from Egypt is more than an ancient historical account. The New Testament tells us these things were written for our examples—and the parallels are remarkably difficult to ignore. Israel was redeemed from Egypt. They passed through the blood. They crossed the Red Sea. They were baptized unto Moses. They ate manna from heaven. They drank water from the rock—and Paul tells us plainly: “That Rock was Christ.” They were God’s people. They had been delivered. And yet many of those same people never entered the inheritance God had promised them. Why? Because redemption from Egypt did not guarantee entrance into Canaan. And that is where the picture becomes uncomfortable for the Christian. The blood on the doorposts points toward Christ and His crucifixion. The Red Sea gives us a picture of baptism and identification with God’s deliverance. The manna and water from the rock point toward Christ and the spiritual provision God gives His people. And then comes the rebellion. The golden calf. The murmuring. The testing of God. Finally, the spies return from Canaan with a report about giants—and the people refuse to believe God can give them the inheritance He promised. They had been delivered from Egypt. But they would not enter the land. That distinction is at the heart of this series. Could Israel’s wilderness experience picture the Christian who has genuinely received God’s salvation, yet through rebellion, disobedience, or unbelief suffers loss of inheritance and exclusion from the coming kingdom? Paul certainly thought the story was relevant to Christians. In 1 Corinthians 10, he reminds believers that these things happened to Israel “for ensamples” and warns Christians not to fall after the same example of disobedience. And perhaps the most startling example is Moses. Moses led Israel out of Egypt. He witnessed the Red Sea, received God’s law, spoke with God, and led the people through the wilderness. Yet Moses himself was not permitted to enter the Promised Land. He saw it. He stood upon the mountain. But he did not cross the Jordan. If Moses could experience exclusion from the inheritance while remaining God’s servant, perhaps we need to rethink what Scripture means when it warns God’s people about judgment, discipline, reward, and kingdom entrance. Because the story doesn’t end in the wilderness. The Jordan is still ahead. The wilderness generation provides the negative example—the believer who fails to reach the inheritance because of unbelief and disobedience. But Joshua leads the faithful across the Jordan and into the land. And that gives us the other side of the picture: There is an inheritance. There is a kingdom. There is an entrance. And there is something worth being faithful for. As we bring this four-part examination of Hell to a close, we’ll follow Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Jordan and ask what this picture teaches us about our own journey as believers. The blood. The baptism. The wilderness provision. The Rock. The rebellion. The unbelief. The giants. Moses outside the land. And finally— the faithful entering in. Perhaps the most horrible truth about Hell isn’t that God has made salvation uncertain. Perhaps it is that salvation and inheritance are not the same thing—and that a child of God can be eternally secure while still suffering devastating consequences for unfaithfulness. The wilderness generation stands as God’s warning to us: “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” The journey from Egypt to Canaan was real. The wilderness was real. The consequences were real. And the inheritance was real. The question is: Will we cross the Jordan?

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 4 "Israel as a Picture"

  4. Sep 4

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 3 66-Book Consistency

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 366-Book ConsistencySo far, we've challenged one of the most deeply ingrained assumptions about Hell: that the biblical word hell automatically means the eternal destination of the damned.We've also begun following the warnings of Jesus in Matthew, where servants—servants of the Master—are warned about the consequences of unfaithfulness. Outer darkness. Weeping and gnashing of teeth. A portion with the hypocrites. And even a period of punishment described in terms of a debt being paid.But perhaps someone could object:“That's Matthew. Those are the words of Jesus. Maybe these are merely parables. Maybe we're building an entire doctrine on prophetic imagery and difficult sayings.”That's exactly why we need to go further.In this third episode of The Horrible Truth: Hell, we're going to step outside the parables and prophetic passages and examine the testimony of Scripture as a whole.Sixty-six books. One Bible. One consistent testimony.The question before us is not whether we can find an isolated verse that seems to support an unusual interpretation. The question is whether the broader testimony of Scripture supports the possibility that a believer—one who possesses eternal life—can nevertheless experience divine discipline and exclusion during the coming thousand-year kingdom because of disobedience.And that distinction is absolutely critical.If eternal life is truly eternal, then losing it cannot be the answer.But Scripture repeatedly warns believers about judgment according to their works, loss of reward, exclusion from the kingdom, shame, discipline, and suffering consequences for unfaithfulness.So what exactly are those warnings telling us?As we move beyond Matthew, we'll examine passages from different books and different contexts—passages that aren't dependent upon a single parable or a single prophetic symbol. We'll look for the same basic pattern appearing again and again:Salvation is one thing. Faithfulness is another. Eternal life is one thing. Kingdom inheritance and reward are another.And if that distinction is biblical, then we have to take seriously the possibility that a believer can be secure in eternal life while still facing very real consequences for disobedience.That brings us back to Hell.Not the Lake of Fire.Not the final eternal destiny of the lost.But Hell as the realm of the dead, and the possibility that Scripture associates that realm with temporary judgment and exclusion during the coming kingdom age.This is where the doctrine becomes particularly uncomfortable.Because it means the warnings of Scripture may not primarily be directed toward some hypothetical group of people who were never saved in the first place.Some of those warnings may be directed straight at us—God's people.The Bible doesn't merely say, “Believe, and everything else is irrelevant.”It calls believers to watchfulness.It calls us to obedience.It calls us to faithfulness.And it repeatedly tells us that our conduct will matter when we stand before our Lord.So in this episode, we're going to test the idea against the whole counsel of Scripture.Not one verse.Not one parable.Not one theological tradition.Sixty-six books.And if the same distinction between eternal salvation and temporal kingdom consequences can be found throughout Scripture, then perhaps what we've called a strange or fringe interpretation isn't strange at all.Perhaps it is simply what the Bible has been saying all along.And that leads us one step closer to The Horrible Truth about Hell. Hell: Where in the World is it?

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 3 66-Book Consistency

  5. Sep 1

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 2 "The Journey All Began with the Book of Matthew"

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 2"The Journey All Began with the Book of Matthew"If Hell is not the eternal destination of the damned, then what exactly are we supposed to make of the passages in the New Testament that speak of **outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, and a servant being separated from his master?**This is where our journey really begins.And interestingly enough, it begins in the book of **Matthew**.Matthew contains some of the most sobering warnings in all of Scripture. Jesus repeatedly speaks about servants, stewards, and disciples who are given responsibilities and then warns them about what can happen if they become unfaithful. But there is something in these passages that is easy to overlook:**They are servants.**The issue isn't whether they belong to the Master. The issue is what kind of servant they will be.Consider the contrast Jesus gives us. There is the faithful and wise servant who is found doing what his master commanded. But there is also the **“wicked servant”** who says in his heart that his lord delays his coming and begins to behave accordingly.The remarkable thing is that the warning doesn't say that this servant was never a servant.Rather, Jesus describes the consequences of **unfaithfulness**.The wicked servant is appointed a portion with the hypocrites, and there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Elsewhere Matthew describes the unprofitable servant being cast into **“outer darkness.”**These are not passages we should explain away.They are warnings.But warnings about **what?**Is Jesus teaching that someone who possesses eternal life can lose that eternal life? Or is He warning His servants about something else—**discipline, exclusion, loss of reward, and the consequences of unfaithfulness in His coming kingdom?**And then we encounter an even more intriguing statement concerning **hell**: the servant who refuses to forgive is delivered to the tormentors **“till he should pay all that was due.”**That little word—**“till”**—raises a very important question.If the passage is describing an eternal destination from which there is absolutely no release, why does Jesus describe the punishment in terms of a debt being paid?Could it be that we've been reading these warnings through a theological framework that Matthew himself never intended?There is another possibility we need to consider: that Jesus is describing something far more sobering—and far more relevant to His disciples—than the question, “Are you going to Heaven or Hell when you die?”He is warning His own servants about the consequences of **how they live**.In this episode, we'll begin following Matthew's trail through these difficult passages. We'll examine the faithful servant, the wicked servant, outer darkness, the portion with the hypocrites and unbelievers, and the strange but significant language of punishment **“till” the debt is paid.**We are not going to soften the warnings.We're going to take them seriously.But we're also going to ask whether we've been putting the wrong label on them.Because if Matthew is teaching us something about **servanthood, faithfulness, judgment, and kingdom consequences**, then the traditional picture of Hell may be obscuring the very warning Jesus intended His disciples to hear.The journey began with Matthew.And once we start following where Matthew actually leads, we may discover that **Hell isn't nearly as simple as we've been told. Hell: Where in the World is it?

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 2 "The Journey All Began with the Book of Matthew"

  6. Aug 28

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 1 "Leaving Roman Wives’ Tales"

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 1"Leaving Roman Wives’ Tales"What if much of what you have been taught about “Hell” isn’t actually what the Bible says?That may sound like a shocking question, but before we can honestly examine the biblical doctrine of Hell, we have to separate **Scripture from tradition**. For centuries, the popular Christian imagination has pictured Hell as the eternal home of the damned—a place of everlasting fiery torment where the lost are immediately sent after death. Images of underground caverns, demons, pitchforks, flames, and tortured souls have become so familiar that many people assume they came directly from the pages of Scripture.But did they?In this first episode of our four-part look at **Hell**, we begin by going back to the biblical terminology itself. We are going to leave behind what might be called the **“Roman wives’ tales”**—the accumulated traditions and cultural imagery that have been attached to the subject—and ask a much simpler question:**What does the Bible actually mean when it speaks of Hell?**One of the most important distinctions we will make throughout this series is one that is frequently overlooked: **Hell is not the same thing as the Lake of Fire.**The Scriptures speak of *hell* as the realm of the dead—the underworld, the place associated with the departed. The Lake of Fire, however, is presented in Revelation as the **final destination of judgment**. Those are not merely two different names for the same place. They are distinct concepts within the biblical narrative, and failing to distinguish them can create enormous confusion when we try to understand passages concerning death, judgment, resurrection, and final punishment.That distinction alone changes the conversation.Rather than beginning with medieval paintings, Dante's *Inferno*, popular preaching, or inherited assumptions, we're going to begin where we should have begun all along:**with the Word of God.**What words did the biblical writers actually use? What did those words mean in their historical context? How are they translated in the King James Bible? And perhaps most importantly, what happens when we allow Scripture to define its own terminology instead of forcing our traditional definition into the text?This isn't an attempt to make Hell less serious.Quite the opposite.If the Bible teaches something about judgment, punishment, death, and the destiny of the wicked, then we need to take it seriously enough to discover exactly what it teaches—even when that means abandoning ideas we've heard all our lives.So in this first installment of **The Horrible Truth: Hell**, we're going to start clearing away the fog.It's time to leave the Roman wives' tales behind and let **Scripture speak for itself.** Hell: Where in the World is it?

    The Horrible Truth — Hell: Part 1 "Leaving Roman Wives’ Tales"

  7. Aug 26

    The Horrible Truth – Part 4E: Exclusion Paul's Uncertainty and Concluding Thoughts

    The Horrible Truth – Part 4E: ExclusionPaul's Uncertainty and Concluding ThoughtsAs we conclude this series on Millennial Exclusion, we return to one of the greatest Christians who ever lived—the Apostle Paul.If anyone could have presumed upon future reward, it was Paul. He preached the gospel across the Roman Empire, suffered imprisonment, beatings, shipwrecks, persecution, and ultimately martyrdom. He penned much of the New Testament and could confidently declare that he had not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God.Yet Paul never spoke as though future reward were automatic.Instead, he compared the Christian life to an athletic contest. He spoke of running to obtain, striving lawfully, fighting the good fight, disciplining his body, and pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Most strikingly, he wrote that he kept his body under subjection, "lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."Those are remarkable words.Paul never doubted his eternal salvation. He gloried in justification by faith, rejoiced in the certainty of God's grace, and taught that believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. He knew whom he had believed and was persuaded that Christ was able to keep that which he had committed unto Him.But while Paul never questioned his salvation, he never presumed upon his reward.That distinction lies at the heart of this entire series.Throughout these episodes, we have argued that the New Testament consistently distinguishes between the gift of eternal life and the reward of Kingdom inheritance. We have seen that believers—not merely unbelievers—are the recipients of the warning passages. We have examined the Judgment Seat of Christ, the reality of carnal Christians, the promises made to overcomers, and the repeated exhortations to faithfulness found throughout the Gospels, the Epistles, and Revelation.Whether one ultimately accepts the doctrine of Millennial Exclusion or not, every Christian must honestly wrestle with these passages. They cannot simply be ignored, softened, or reassigned to someone else. The warnings are there. The promises are there. The rewards are there. The accountability is there.Perhaps the greatest tragedy is that so much of modern Christianity has reduced the Christian hope to one question: "Am I going to heaven?" But the New Testament asks another question just as often:"How will you be found when Christ returns?"The apostles lived with that question before them every day. They were motivated not by fear of losing eternal life, but by the anticipation of hearing their Lord say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." They longed not merely to be saved, but to reign with Christ. They sought not only the gift of life but the prize of faithful service.The horrible truth is this: many believers have been taught that because salvation is secure, the warnings of Scripture have little practical significance. Yet the New Testament presents exactly the opposite picture. The certainty of our salvation becomes the foundation upon which God calls us to lives of holiness, perseverance, sacrifice, and faithful obedience as we await the appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.As this series comes to a close, our prayer is not that you would simply agree with our conclusions. Rather, we pray that you will search the Scriptures with an open Bible and an honest heart, comparing Scripture with Scripture, allowing God's Word—not tradition, not theological systems, and not popular opinion—to be your final authority.For one day, every one of us who has trusted in Christ will stand before Him. On that day, the question will not be whether His grace was sufficient. It was. The question will be what we did with the life He graciously gave us, and whether we lived in anticipation of His coming Kingdom.May we all be found watching, faithful, and ready.

    The Horrible Truth – Part 4E: Exclusion Paul's Uncertainty and Concluding Thoughts

  8. Aug 21

    ⁠The Horrible Truth – Part 4D: Exclusion Nailing It Down

    The Horrible Truth – Part 4D: ExclusionNailing It DownBy now, we've laid the foundation. We've distinguished eternal salvation from Kingdom inheritance. We've seen that the warning passages are written to believers, not merely to "false professors." We've examined the reality of carnal Christians and the certainty of the Judgment Seat of Christ. But perhaps one objection remains: "Isn't Millennial Exclusion just a doctrine built on a handful of difficult verses?" That is the question we intend to answer in this episode. The truth is, this doctrine does not rest upon one obscure passage, one controversial interpretation, or one isolated parable. It emerges from the consistent testimony of the New Testament. Once the distinction between the free gift of eternal life and the reward of Kingdom inheritance is recognized, the Scriptures begin to fit together with remarkable consistency. The teaching permeates the ministry of Jesus. It echoes throughout the Sermon on the Mount, where Christ repeatedly distinguishes between salvation and being counted worthy of the coming Kingdom. It appears throughout His parables, where faithful and unfaithful servants receive vastly different treatment at the Master's return. Again and again, our Lord speaks of reward, accountability, faithfulness, ruling, exclusion, joy, loss, and the consequences awaiting His own servants. The same emphasis continues throughout the Epistles. Paul repeatedly urges believers to run the race, fight the good fight, strive lawfully, endure hardship, and press toward the prize. He warns Christians about disqualification, loss of inheritance, missing rewards, and standing approved before Christ. Peter speaks of an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom. John exhorts believers to abide in Christ so they will not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Even James—a letter that has generated centuries of controversy—is transformed when viewed through the lens of Kingdom reward rather than the possession of eternal life. James is not contradicting Paul. He is addressing a different issue: not how sinners receive eternal life, but how believers demonstrate living faith in anticipation of the coming Kingdom. And then there is Revelation. Christ's letters to the seven churches contain promises made specifically "to him that overcometh." These promises concern reigning, authority, white garments, crowns, honor, and participation in the Kingdom. The final book of the Bible ends where the rest of the New Testament has been pointing: Christ is coming, His reward is with Him, and He will render to every man according as his work shall be. This is not a fringe theme hidden in the corners of Scripture. It is woven into the fabric of the New Testament from beginning to end. It is found in Christ's preaching, His parables, the apostolic letters, the General Epistles, and the prophetic books. It is the thread that ties together passages that otherwise seem confusing, contradictory, or impossible to reconcile. The horrible truth is this: many Christians have spent years explaining away passage after passage because they assumed every verse must be talking about eternal salvation. But when the Bible's distinction between salvation by grace and Kingdom reward according to faithfulness is allowed to stand, those passages no longer compete with one another—they complement one another. In this episode, we bring the evidence together. We'll trace this theme across the Gospels, the Sermon on the Mount, the parables, Paul's Epistles, James, Peter, John, Hebrews, and Revelation to demonstrate that Kingdom accountability is not an isolated teaching. It is one of the great unifying themes of the New Testament. The question is no longer whether a few difficult passages can be interpreted this way. The question is whether the New Testament, taken as a whole, is calling believers to live today in light of Christ's coming Kingdom tomorrow.

    ⁠The Horrible Truth – Part 4D: Exclusion Nailing It Down
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We're just a group of regular guys exploring the deeper doctrines of Christianity, especially those that pertain to the Millennial Kingdom of Christ, Bible preservation, and prophecy.

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