If you ask most people this question, they will say something like, "If you do more good things than bad things, God will probably let you into heaven." The above thinking will reserve your place in hell. You need FAITH IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS. There are no good deeds that you can do on your own that will erase the sins that you have committed. Jesus SHED BLOOD for you sins. He came to save you from the GUILT of past sins and the POWER of sin over your life. You are about to read the most important information that you will ever read. It is called the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The word "gospel" means "message"*. The gospel is God's message to mankind. If you will yield to the gospel, you will be reconciled to God and you will escape eternal damnation in hell and the lake of fire. Besides all of this, you will have abudant life right now as you walk with the Creator of the universe--in spite of all the woes the world will throw at you. If you are full of doubts, ask Jesus to help you to understand and to be willing to be saved.
*many say the word gospel means, "good news" but in actuality it is only good news for those who receive it with singleness of heart. To others it is the stench of death...eternal death. Revelation 14:6-7 tells us the message of the everlasting gospel--"Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and WORSHIP HIM that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." There is only one way to do this--through the blood of Jesus Christ. REPENT ye and BELIEVE the gospel!
The Bible says that nobody is good enough to get into heaven. Each one of us has broken God's commandments--not one person is excepted. You have personally lied and committed other sins.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
Let God be true, but every man a liar...( Romans 3:4)
I don't care how much "good" stuff you do, you still can't go to heaven. You are dead in tresspasses and sins. Your good deeds do not commend you to God in any way. You've ignored Him chosing to live life the way YOU see fit. But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
According to the above verse, we still come up short even when we try to do good deeds BECAUSE we are not doing them under God's authority. We do them cause WE think they are good. We ignore what God says.
"But I never killed anybody and I'm not a dope addict!" You're still a spiritual crook. You have broken the GREATEST COMMANDMENT IN THE BIBLE and you are as guilty as a harlot, a whoremonger, a killer, a thief and a liar. What is the greatest commandment?
Matthew 22:36-38 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and with ALL thy mind. THIS is the first and great commandment.
It doesn't take much thinking to know that the unregenerate man has broken this commandment every day of his miserable life. Ungrateful, unthankful to the God that hath provided life to his carcass.
For those stuck on their "good" deeds like hellbound papists (who go about to establish their OWN righteousness instead of hearkening to the Bible,) if we could earn our way into heaven, Jesus died for nothing!
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:21)
God is Holy. We are sinful. By His very nature, God cannot have fellowship with us sinners. There is no amount of "good" that we can do to make up for our crimes against God. They must be punished. And the wages are DEATH. Somebody has to DIE. Oh, you'll die physically, sin requires that. But you've got a choice about dying spiritually...
We deserve the death penalty. This includes both physical death (the casket) and spiritual death (when the soul is separated from God and cast into hell).
The wages of sin is death...(Romans 6:23)
God doesn't want to remain your enemy and He does not want you to go to hell. As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die... (Ezekiel 33:11)
The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (II Peter 3:9)
In spite of your wickedness and rebellion, God loved you enough to send His ONLY BEGOTTEN Son to die for your sins. The Bible says, "... thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people FROM their sins." (Matt 1:21). Jesus did not die so that you could keep sinning and go to heaven. He came to save you from the GUILT and the POWER of sin. Jesus DESTROYED the works of the devil on calvary (I John 3:8). When you are unsaved, sin hath dominion over you. Sin is your boss and you can't do anything BUT sin. You are under the wrath of a holy and just God. Murderers, thieves, fornicators, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, rebels, and all other spiritual lepers will not inherit the kingdom. The blood of Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. That means the blood took away the guilt of the sins we've committed AND it has ushered us into a Father child relationship with the Lord. Through the blood of Jesus, we are to serve sin no more.
Again, the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus who is God, to die in your place. Remember that the wages of sin is death--that is why He died, to pay YOUR wages. The Lord Jesus Christ was your substitutionary sacrifice. The world's greatest love story is summed up in the following verse--
For God so loved the world, that he gave his ONLY BEGOTTEN Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) How can you show more love than giving your very life for someone else's life? You can't. What is more amazing is that Jesus died for us WHEN WE WERE HIS ENEMIES! I mean vile, wicked, pitiful, wretched, unclean, unholy, ungodly, prideful, spiritually leperous.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
...Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)
The love of God for you was demonstrated on that cross 2,000 years ago! God ain't hateful, He is loving. He gave His Son for you even though you are dead in tresspasses and sins.
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
2:3 Among whom also we ALL had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)
2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth to (1) save you from the GUILT and POWER of your sins and (2) RECONCILE you unto God. Through faith in the blood of Jesus you will escape the wrath to come and joyfully look forward to heaven--and you'll live an overcoming life. God will be your Father instead of your enemy--but only through the blood of Jesus. ..the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (I John 1:7)
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
After His death, the Lord's body laid in the grave three days, but praise be to God, it did not remain there. On the third day Jesus arose from the dead and was seen by over 500 people (I Corin 15:6) before He went back to heaven.
Please remember that Jesus was not some victim or just a baby in a manger--He was and is the eternal God and Savior who came to earth and gave His own blood for your sins. After He accomplished this tremendous feat, He rose from the dead like He said He would:
"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again..." (John 10:17-18)
...Christ died for our sins...and he was buried, and...he rose again the third day... (I Corinthians 15:3-4)
Are you ready to repent of your sins? To repent means to forsake your evil ways and listen to God. All your life you've been your own authority concerning what is right and what is wrong. You've made your own decisions while ignoring what the Lord says in His holy word, the Bible. You've served yourself and not God. To repent means that you turn to GOD AND THE BIBLE AS YOUR AUTHORITY. It means you can say, "Lord everything you say in the Bible is right. If my feelings contradict the Bible I AM WRONG. Lord I want to live under YOUR AUTHORITY, not my own."
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to REPENT. (Acts 17:30)
...TURN TO GOD, AND DO WORKS MEET FOR REPENTANCE. (Acts 26:20)
Repentance ain't lip service. Are you prepared to live for the Lord? Jesus said this--
"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:27)
Determine that you are sick of living under your own authority. You've lived the way YOU wanted to. You lived without regard for God's precepts. Understand in your mind that you've lived in sin and in the ways of death. Think it through. Determine that you want God to be your Father and not your enemy. Decide that you WANT the Lord and His ways. Satan ain't doing nothing but kicking your hind parts up and down the street. He will leave you destroyed. God will lift you up if you submit yourself to Him.
Friend, you have a choice to make, keep on pursuing Satan and the fleeting pleasures of sin; or, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Further the kingdom of God with power from above. In due time, He will lift you up to places you never experienced--much less knew they existed.
The Holy Bible is the word of God. It is the only way that we know about the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Bible, God testifies that Jesus Christ died for your sins and was buried; and that He rose from the dead on the third day. You must believe and confess this in order to be saved.
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. (Romans 10:9)
Jesus waits with open arms for those that want life. The choice is yours. If you're sick of being alienated from God, if you're tired of what this wicked and perverse world has to offer, if you want Jesus Christ as Lord of your life, if you want to be reconciled unto your Creator, if you want to go to heaven, if you want to escape hell -- put your faith in the One who can do something about it! Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for you? Do you believe that He rose from the dead? Do you repent of your sins? Do you want to follow Jesus?
If so, REPENT and talk to the Lord in prayer in your own words right now. Don't put off making a decision for Jesus, tomorrow may be too late. Some people don't know how to pray. Praying is just talking to the Lord. If you want to be saved, repent and pray--you can say something like, "Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I want to be saved. I repent of my sins, every one. I don't want to do evil anymore, I want to do righteousness through the blood of Jesus. I'm asking you to please forgive me of my sins against you. I want a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be everything that You created me to be. I believe that Jesus shed His blood and died for me so that I could be saved from my sins. I believe that He rose from the dead on the third day. I want to be your child. Thank you for being merciful to me, a sinner. Thank you Lord Jesus for saving my soul from sin. Please fill me with your precious, Holy Spirit so that I can live a righteous, self-denying life for you. I'm giving you myself. Please show me what you want me to do. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen."
If you have placed your faith in Jesus, praise God, you are a Christian. Now begins your new life of freedom and obedience to the Lord. Now you need to (1) start reading the Bible (Authorized King James Version of 1611--begin with the gospels) and (2) you need to get yourself into a Bible-believing church that uses the King James Bible so you can get baptized and discipled in the way of Christ.
Warning!!!
Once you get saved, the devil will try to make sure that you encounter false doctrine. Your faith is tender and you will be prone to believe anything people tell you about the Bible (that's why you need to read it for yourself everyday). If you have any questions, please write me and I will direct you to the appropriate scriptures. Please heed these warnings:
1. Don't let anyone tell you that water baptism saves you. If you are saved, you WILL get baptized out of obedience. Saved people are children of obedience (Heb 5:9). The gospel and baptism are separate--I Cor 1:17. You are baptized in order to outwardly identify with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ and to symbolically show the washing away of sins. So if you are trusting in your baptism to save you, you are wrong. An unrepentant sinner will go down a dry sinner and come out a wet sinner.
1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
3. Don't let anybody tell you that you're going to hell if you don't go to church on Saturday--Colossians 2:16, Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.
If you have not trusted Christ, I hope that you won't continue to reject His offer of life. You are in a dangerous position. John 3:36 says, "...he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." You will not make it into heaven on your own "good merits" or by your own conception of Who and What God should be like. He always has His way--the choice is yours to accept or reject.
From one of my files.
GB/PoP
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When we die we will be asleep awaiting His coming... That sleep will be over in the twinkling of an eye. GB/PoP
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
