It is vain for us to expect not to be held accountable for our sins or that they are insignificant in comparison to the sins of criminals who make the news. People are not God's standard for righteousness ... Jesus is.

God knows all our sins

What does our sin bring?

If someone has the cure for cancer and keeps it to them self, the world would call them cruel. But humanity has a greater and more universal problem than cancer. It is sin. And sin is what keeps us out of God's sinless heaven and condemns us to sinful hell. But unlike cancer, the remedy for sin is accessible to all and is free.

Many people think we get into heaven by being a good person. But how good is good enough? If someone were to compare us to repeat offenders in prison, we would compare favorably. But if our works were to be compared to Sister Theresa of Calcutta, we would fall far short. And is Sister Theresa good enough to stand before a perfect and Holy God and proudly state I am so good that I deserve heaven for eternity? At what point does God say, "You did enough, you no longer need to worry about your eternal destiny?" The fact is, if being good is the criteria for making it into heaven, nobody can know before they die how much good is good enough to make it. The following Bible verses make it clear that salvation is not earned by doing good works, but is a free gift of God.

To break the law and stand before a judge you need to break only one law to be found guilty, suffer the penalty and be labeled a convict ... right? It is the same with God's laws. Just because we don't regularly commit the worst sins, we are not innocent.

We don't need to go too far down the list of the Ten Commandments to learn we are in trouble. E.g. Thou shalt not use the Lord's name in vain, honor your mother and father, thou shalt not commit adultery/fornication, thou shalt not steal and the one about lying is universally convicting. Our sin separates us from a perfect and Holy God. Lying to God about our innocence is not an option to get into heaven. :-)

If you stand before a judge who knows you, you get a pass [assuming he/she doesn't disqualify himself]. He/she will not judge you and convict you. It is the same with Jesus. He is our Judge and He passes on condemning His own.

Twenty-five+ years ago I realized that I didn't know where I was going to spend eternity. Because life is short and eternity is long, there is nothing more important than making sure we get it into heaven. I then realized that if this is true, then God must have a way laid out for us to know before we die where we will spend eternity. It is not wise to let our eternal destiny be left to blind chance. I began to try to figure it out on my own, but couldn't. So I prayed to God that He would show me before I die, where I will spend eternity and I sure hoped it would be in heaven.

I learned everyone is born physically alive, but spiritually dead. From birth we are selfish and focus on the physical. God commands us to have a spiritual birth (the second birth) and to begin focusing on spiritual and eternal matters.

Some people trivialize what often is referred to as the Good News of the Gospel. Many think they know what it is, yet they can't explain it. Moreover they have not personalized it.

Most people think nobody can know before they die whether they will be sent to heaven or hell. I thought the same until I realized that is far too important of a matter to be left to chance. Once you arrive at your eternal destiny it is too late to change course. One hundred years from now we will be dead. One million years from now our bodies will still be dead, but our spirits will be alive ... somewhere! What could possibly be more important, than to know where you will spend all of eternity? God is too loving to keep that a secret until it's too late to change course.

So how can we transition from insecurity to eternal security? We do this by telling God:

1.) I acknowledge that I am a sinner and my sin separates me from You.

2.) I truly repent of my sins and ask You to forgive me of my sins.

3.) I confess Jesus is Lord and that You raised Him from the dead. I receive Jesus' shed blood and resurrection as His payment for my sins.

4.) I ask for your Holy Spirit to come into my heart to help me walk the straight and narrow path that leads to life.

What I am communicating to you is not new or unique. This is the simple Gospel message that has been preached for 2000 years all over the world. This is the message people lived for and died for. This is the message that has been banned by many government officials and promoted by a few government officials. This is the message that stopped people in the midst of suicide and divorce. This is the message that put families together and tore them apart. This is the message that converted people from all sorts of backgrounds: rich, poor, fools, wise, slaves, kings, queens, prostitutes, alcoholics, drug addicts, religious fanatics, atheists, but mostly common people.

1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

The first few times I read the Bible, I couldn't understand it. As the above verse indicates, we need to pray to God and ask Him to give us understanding. I encourage you to take a moment now to simply ask God for His help in understanding His words and His ways.

You probably watched Charlton Heston play Moses in the movie The 10 Commandments. In that movie there is a true scene where the streets are dark and quiet as the angel of death moves down the street killing all first born males in homes that do not have the blood of a lamb sprinkled on the door posts. That was the first Passover for the Jewish people. The angel did not inquire about who lived there or about good deeds or bad deeds. He just looked for the blood of the lamb. Those with the blood of a lamb covering the door posts were passed over and got to live. Households with no blood covering suffered death.

God has emotions too. We all heard the saying, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. If you stand before a judge who loves you and you return that love, that judge will forgive you or pay your penalty and let you go free. But if this Judge learns His love for you is scorned, watch out!

Jesus willingly dying on the cross in payment for your sins, was the absolute highest price anyone ever paid for anything! And ... that was for the salvation of your soul! What can you offer to God in payment for your sins? Can you think of anything more precious than an only born child? But children are tainted with sin and are in need of a Savior just like you do. Jesus is sinless, thus only He is eligible to be our Savior. To reject this ultimate sacrifice, brings His fury.

But God loves you so much that He didn't hold back His precious Son, but allowed Him to be our sacrificial Lamb, so that we could get back on track with His original plan for our lives (paradise with Him for eternity).

Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Romans 10:9-13 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

I hope you pray the following prayer with deep sincerity. If you do, you too can have the confidence that you are in right standing with your Creator. No matter what happens to you from then on, you will spend eternity in heaven.

1 John 5:13 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.

Dear Father in heaven, I confess that I am a sinner and my sins have separated us. I want to be reconciled to You. I ask You to bring my sins to remembrance so that I may repent of them and come clean. I sincerely repent of my sins and ask for Your mercy to forgive me of my sins. I accept Jesus' crucifixion, His shed blood and resurrection as His payment for my sins. Now I ask for Your Holy Spirit to come into my heart to help me walk the straight and narrow path that leads to life. Thank You in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!

Now what?

Read the Bible often, pray to God daily and find a good Bible believing church. Feel free to print this page, mark it up and call or e_mail me with whatever questions you want to ask. You also can get more information by listening to a quality radio station with good music and good news.

With the love of Christ,

Ron Jasnovv.ski

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