Please take a few minutes to read this, it can change you life, if you let it.

The biggest question anyone will be faced with answering is "who is Jesus?". To most of the world, Jesus is just a figment of someone' s imagination, an interesting story, but not to be believed, not really. But in the history of mankind, no single person has affected our lives more than Jesus has. He is not just some story passed down from generation to generation, he's not just someone who lived a long time ago and did interesting things, but in God 's word, God himself proclaims Jesus is the Son of God, the one sent to offer the gift of forgiveness of sin.

I'm sure most of you who are reading this, have been to church sometime in your life. Some of you may be regular attenders and support your church wholeheartedly, and that's good. But quite often, in an effort not to offend anyone, some churches fail to teach the most important part of the Bible.

I'd like to ask you a question. Take a minute to think about it and answer it to yourself. "Have you come to a place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you died today you would go to heaven?" Most people aren't really sure how to answer that question. But the Bible says we can know that we have eternal life.

I'd like to ask you another question. Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and God were to ask you, "why should I let you into my heaven?", what would you say?. Some say that their church attendence is what they are leaning on, others say they don't really do anything bad enough to get on God's bad side. Others will say that they have done certain ceremonies that have made them acceptable to God.

I'd like to share with you what God's word says about getting into heaven, about how to be acceptable to God. God has not left it up to us to flounder around here on earth trying to "get it right". God has made it very clear on how to attain eternal life.

The Bible says Heaven is a free gift. "The gift of God is eternal life". It is not earned or deserved. "It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast".
It is the same as when someone gives you a gift. If you decide it was too expensive for them, and try to pay them for it, it's not a gift anymore.

What does the Bible say about us?
Do we really need to worry about our spiritual condition. Do we really need any help in making ourselves ok with God?

In the Bible, God says that since the beginning of time, man has been a sinner. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God". But what exactally is sin?. Sin is doing something that you know is wrong. It's also not doing something that you know is the right thing to do. Sin is also in some of the things we think about.
Lets say you only commited 3 sins a day. Doesn't sound to bad, but after a year, thats over a thousand sins, and if you had a thousand speeding tickets, I doubt the judge will just let it go. Actually, the Bible says "Therefore, be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect."

The Bible also says that we cannot save ourselves. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Are you beginning to see that it's impossible to save yourself? No matter how hard we try, we cannot make ourselves "acceptable" to God.

But what does the bible say about God?
Some churches teach that God loves everyone no matter what, that everything is ok, or is it??

The Bible says that God is merciful, therefore he doesn't want to punish us. "God is love". But the Bible also says that God is just and must punish sin. "He will in no means clear the guilty".

God solved our sin problem in the person of Jesus Christ. We need to know who Jesus is and what he did for us. Jesus is the infinite God-Man. The Bible says "In the beginning was the word, ( Jesus ) and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us..".
He is as much God as though He were not man at all, and as much man as though He were not God at all, God's perfect man, and man's perfect God. The apostle Thomas said this, after seeing Jesus after he had been crucified and had risen from the grave, "My Lord and my God". He knew exactally who Jesus was.
So what exactally did Jesus do for us? He died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay the penality for our sins and to purchase a place in heaven for us which He offers as a free gift.
It's the same as if your whole life was a book, with your birth certificate on the first page and your death certificate on the last page, and your entire life recorded in the middle. God wants to have a relationship with you but everything in the middle of the book is in the way, it's all tainted with things you've done wrong, ( sin ). But what Jesus wants to do is remove the book so you can have a relationship with God. It's called grace,, God's Riches At Christs Expense.

By now, you might ask, "So how do I receive the gift of eternal life"?

The Bible says we receive eternal life by having faith in what Jesus did for us. "For by grace you are saved, through faith". But what exactally is faith? Its not just some intellectual assent. In the Bible it says "You believe there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe,, and tremble". The demons know who God is, and know who Jesus is, but their fate was sealed long ago when they rebelled against God.
Faith is not how we make it through a tough time, like traveling, or financial problems.. "I hope we do ok". "I hope we make it."
Real faith, bibical faith is trusting in Christ alone for eternal life. Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved". Trusting in your good works, church attendence, or special ceremonies is not going to make it with God. If we could save ourselves, Jesus died in vain.

By now I'm sure you're thinking, " If there is nothing I can do on my own to get on God's good side, doesn't this just give me a license to sin"? Hopefully, that won't be your attitude considering what Jesus did. Hopefully your motives will be towards Godly living.

Does this make sense to you?

I pray this does make sense to you, that now you know what God accepts from us, in order to have eternal life. The next question is would you like to recieve the gift of eternal life? What exactally does that mean?? It means you transfer your trust to what Jesus did on the cross and stop trying to "earn" your salvation. It means receiving the resurrected and living Christ as your payment for sin. "To as many as received him, to them he gave the right to be called the children of God"...."Whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved".
Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and have fellowship with him, and he with me". The bottom line is that you change your mind on who you really think Jesus is, a fable from long ago, or God in the flesh making a way for us to spend eternity with him.

So what's stopping you?

If you really want to accept what Jesus did for you as your payment for sin, there is nothing stopping you. As I stated above, the Bible says "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" Accepting what Jesus did and receiving eternal life means you simply ask God to forgive your sins, and accept what Jesus did for you on the cross, as your payment for sin. You don't need to light any candles, or particapate in any fancy "rituals" or ceremonies. God comes to where we are, silently waiting for us to ask. God knows your heart at this point, some will laugh and leave, hopefully you aren't one of those. Simply asking God to forgive your sins, and accepting what Jesus did on the cross is all God needs to give you eternal life."If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that He rose from the dead, thou shalt be saved".
Right now you can change your eternal destiny. Right now, you can silently pray and ask Jesus to forgive your sins. If this is what you want to do, a simple prayer like this can make the difference between eternal life and eternal seperation from God.

" Dear Jesus, I now understand that I'm a sinner and cannot save myself. I now understand why you did what you did, to pay the price for my sin. I now accept what you did on the cross as full payment for my sins. Come into my life and save me and forgive me of my sins".

If you prayed and asked Jesus to forgive your sins, this is what He says in the bible. "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me has everlasting life".

If you prayed and asked Jesus to forgive your sins, he did. Its in his word, and he cannot lie. If you did pray to ask Jesus to forgive you, welcome to the family of God!!.

I'd like to encourage you to find a good, Bible believing church, and also to start reading God's word. In it is what He wants to say to YOU. You can start reading in the New Testament. Pray and ask God to lead you to others who teach Gods word, people to talk to and help you learn more about God. And please drop me a note if you found this helpfull or if you have any questions. Thanks for taking a few minutes to read this, God has planned an eternity for this moment.

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