Can You Know God's Will for Your Life?
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not
wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter
3:9; NIV).
If you were to die right now, do you know for SURE where you would spend eternity?
It's a question many people don't like to think about, but it is the single most important question you will ever face.
Where will you spend eternity?
According
to the Bible, you will spend eternity in one of two places... You will
either be in Heaven in the presence of God, or you will be eternally
separated from God, in Hell... the Lake of Fire, where you will live in
hopeless desperation and misery forever and ever and ever.
Many people believe that if they live a "good" life, or go to church,
or if they have been baptized, that they will probably end up in Heaven
someday. But how can a person ever know if he has been good enough?
There is a big difference between hoping you will go to Heaven, and
knowing with absolute certainty that you will go to Heaven.
People have a tendency to compare themselves to one another. A good
law-abiding citizen who gives to charity and goes to church every
Sunday looks pretty righteous compared to a serial killer. But God
doesn't judge us in comparison to one another...God judges us in
comparison to Himself!
In the Garden of Eden, when Adam disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, SIN
entered the world. From that time onward, every single person ever born
has inherited a "sin nature." It is human nature to sin. As a result,
except for Jesus Christ Himself, every single person who has ever
walked the face of the earth has sinned.
Romans 3:23 says: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
According to this
verse, every one of us has sinned and as a result, we do not meet God's
standard of perfection... the very standard required to enter Heaven.
Isaiah 59:2 says: "But your iniquities" (sins) "have made a separation between you and your God"
God is infinitely holy
and perfect; therefore, sin is so offensive to Him, that even the most
minor sin is enough to separate us from Him for eternity. It only takes
one sin-one time to tarnish our record, making it impossible for us to
ever meet God's standard of perfection by our own merit.
"For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy
garment..." Isaiah 64:6
No matter how good we try to be... No matter if we have been
baptized... No matter how often we go to church, help one another, or
give to the poor... Every one of us has sinned, so in comparison to
Holy God, we are"filthy." If we attempt to earn our way to Heaven by living a "good" life, going to
church, or
doing good deeds, no matter how righteous we may appear in comparison
to other people, we still "fall short of the glory of God."
The first part of Romans 6:23 says: "For the wages of sin is death"
When we go to work, we earn a wage. This wage is payment for the work
we have done. If a dishwasher working in a fancy restaurant were to
break some very expensive china that had a value much greater than the
amount his paycheck, when payday would arrive, the dishwasher would
still be in debt for the damages which exceeded the amount of his
paycheck. Likewise, because each of us has sinned, we owe such a
tremendous debt, that no mater how hard we "work" or attempt to earn
our way to Heaven, it is impossible for us to work off our debt. As a
result, our "wages" or payment isdeath.
"And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment"
Hebrews 9:27
This verse shows that judgment
comes after physical death, so
Romans 6:23
is not speaking of physical death. We also discussed the fact that our
souls are eternal, and can never die. So what does it mean when we read
"the wages of sin is death?"
"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second
death, the lake of fire." Revelation 20:14
The moment we commit a sin (even if it seems like a minor sin), we
instantly earn the penalty of the "second death" which means we are
sentenced to spend eternity separated from God in Hell... the lake of
fire.
Up until this point, this all seems hopeless and depressing. The Bible
seems to be telling us that we are all destined to spend eternity in
Hell; but, there is Good News!
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The Good News!
God loves each and every one of us individually, beyond our ability to
comprehend. Since God knew we were incapable of paying the penalty of
our sins on our own, He saw only one solution... He decided to provide
a substitute... someone who would pay the penalty in our (YOUR) place.
This person would have to meet God's standard of perfection (by living
a completely sinless life)
in order to qualify as our substitute. If the substitute were unable to
meet God's standard of perfection, he wouldn't be able to pay the
penalty for his own sin, much less yours. Since no ordinary man was
capable of meeting this standard, the only solution was for God Himself
to take on human form and become our (YOUR) substitute.
The Godhead consists of three equal, eternally co-existent beings...
God the
Father, God
the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit. You may have heard the
word "trinity" used to describe God. God the Father sent God the Son
(Jesus Christ) to earth as our substitute. Though Christ fully
understood the extent of the agony he would have to endure, He
willingly chose to take on the role of being our substitute. Though
Jesus Christ is God, he was simultaneously fully human in every aspect
with one exception...He did not have a sin nature.
Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life on earth, thereby qualifying to be
our (YOUR) substitute. When the Father's chosen time had arrived,
Christ was sacrificed on the cross in our (YOUR) place, extinguishing
the debt of our (YOUR) sins, PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE!
"...but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." Hebrews 9:12
"For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy,
innocent,
undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who
does not
need daily , like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for
His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did
once for all when He offered up Himself." Hebrews 7:26-27
"By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all." And every priest stands daily
ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for
all time, sat down at the right hand of God" Hebrews 10:10-11
In Old Testament times, when the high priest would go into the Holy of
Holies to present a sacrifice before God, he first had to cleanse
himself numerous times and follow a strict series of instructions in
order for the sacrifice to be considered acceptable to God. If the high
priest did something wrong, and the sacrifice was unacceptable, he
would drop dead in the Holy of Holies, and would have to be drug out by
rope tied around his waist. If the high priest came out of the Holy of
Holies alive, then the people knew that his sacrifice was accepted by
God.
Though Jesus had to die in order to be the sacrifice, He also had to
live in order to prove that his sacrifice was accepted by God. Christ's
resurrection from the dead was proof that God had accepted His
sacrifice on our behalf!
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What must you do in order to go to Heaven?
As you read earlier, you can not do anything to earn acceptance into Heaven... Jesus paid the penalty for your sins IN-FULL when He died on the cross, but that doesn't mean that you are automatically on your way to Heaven.
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How to get to Heaven:
1. Acknowledge that YOU ARE A SINNER. Understand that no matter how good a person you are, you have sinned and deserve to spend eternity separated from
God in Hell - the Lake of Fire.
2. Acknowledge that JESUS CHRIST IS THE SON OF GOD. Jesus Christ is the Holy Second Member of the Godhead.
3. BELIEVE
that Jesus Christ died on the Cross, and that His death sufficiently
paid the penalty for ALL of your sins IN-FULL! Christ's
Death on the cross was God's Perfect Once-For-All Sacrifice which
satisfied the penalty of All your sins - Past, Present & Future!
4. TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVIOR. Simply
believing that Christ is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross
to pay your sin debt is not enough to get you to Heaven... Even Satan
knows this to be true. In order to claim God's free gift of salvation
YOU MUST PLACE COMPLETE FAITH AND RELIANCE IN CHRIST'S PAYMENT OF YOUR
SIN DEBT AS THE ONLY POSSIBLE MEANS OF SALVATION!
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TRUST IN CHRIST ALONE = SALVATION
TRUST IN CHRIST + YOUR GOOD WORKS = HELL
TRUST IN YOUR GOOD WORKS ALONE = HELL
You can receive God's forgiveness!
In order to receive God's forgiveness for your sins and have eternal life in Heaven, you MUST
cease trying to earn your way to Heaven by your own merit, or by trusting
ANY
church (Including Trinity Bible Church), and simply trust in the
finished work of Christ on the cross in paying the penalty for your
sins in-full.
"For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16
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Salvation is a free GIFT!
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no
one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
Have you ever tried to buy someone dinner, and have that person insist
on giving you money for his meal? If you accept that person's money,
then that person paid for his own meal, and it was no longer a gift.
Christ offers salvation ONLY as a free gift... The only way to have
salvation is to accept it as a free gift through faith in Christ. If
someone believes that in order to be saved, he must do anything at all
in addition to placing saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then this
person (though he probably doesn't realize it) is essentially denying
the sufficiency of Christ's work on the cross in paying his sin debt
in-full.
"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." Galatians 3:21
You can know for certain that you will go to Heaven!
According to the Bible, you can know for sure if you will go to
Heaven when you die!
"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know
that you have eternal life". 1 John 5:13
The instant you place saving faith in Christ as your personal Savior,
you become a child of God, and are GUARANTEED eternal life in Heaven!
At this moment, you become Christ's possession, purchased with His
blood which was shed at Calvary.
Ephesians 1:13-14
says: "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the
gospel of your salvation -- having also believed, you were sealed in
Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our
inheritance..."
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Once saved, you can NEVER lose your salvation.
Remember, Christ paid
the penalty for ALL your sins PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE so there is
absolutely no sin that you could possibly commit that could cause you
to lose your salvation. Even in the unlikely event that you should
someday choose to renounce your faith, you couldn't go to Hell if you
wanted to!
"and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand." John 10:28
What are you waiting for?
Please don't delay in making your decision to place saving faith in
Christ. Hell will be full of people who thought they would wait until
the "right time"
to make their decision, then suddenly died in an automobile accident or
were killed by a carjacker's bullet. You never know when your time will
be up... Please don't delay.
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What NOW?
If you are ready to accept God's free gift of salvation, it is wise to
express this trust to Jesus Christ through a prayer like the following:
| "Dear
Jesus, I acknowledge that I am a sinner, and that I deserve to spend
eternity in Hell, separated from you forever. Thank you for loving me
enough to die on the cross in my place. I understand that no matter how
good a life I try to live or how many good works I perform, I could
never even come close to earning my way to Heaven. At this moment, I am
placing my complete reliance and trust in you alone as my personal
Savior. Thank you for saving me. Please work within my heart and mold
me into the person you want me to be." - Amen |
If you
just placed saving faith in Christ, we strongly suggest that you tell
someone whom you believe to be saved... someone who would understand.
It is very important that you begin reading and studying the Bible, and
if at all possible, get involved with a Bible study group for
encouragement and help in spiritual growth. We invite you to contact
Trinity Bible Church (228)392-6202. You can also email us (Contact Us). We would be happy to counsel with you and help you get started in your new life in Christ.
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-- Welcome to the Family of God! --
"©2001 Berean Bible Church, New Orleans, Louisiana. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction prohibited without written permission.
All scripture references taken from the New American Standard Bible,
©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977."
This message was brought to you from our friends at Berean Bible Church in New Orleans, LA.
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