It is a question that every human being must ask themselves. You must choose to deal with it before you leave this earth. Your decision to do so, or not to do so, will be the greatest determining factor in your eternal destiny. The choice is yours!
MAYBE YOU HAVE ASKED THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
What is God's plan & purpose for man?
What is sin?
Can sin be forgiven?
I'm a good person. If my good deeds out weigh my bad deeds won't I go to heaven?
Aren't there many ways to God?
When I die, what will happen when I stand before God?
Are there any second chances after death?
How can I know where I will spend eternity?
These are some of the questions we will seek to answer. By the time you are finished reading this webpage, YOU CAN KNOW where you will spend your eternity.
To find out God's plan for mankind we must start in the begining. In the bible in the book of Genesis (The book of Beginnings), chapter 1, we read how God created everything.
In verses 26-28- We are told God created man in his own image & likeness, and gave him dominion over all the earth. God created male & female, he blessed them, and told them to be fruitful & multiply.
verse 31 - God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was VERY GOOD.
God created a perfect world. God created everything in the earth for the use of mankind. So what happened?? What is sin? And why do we have so much evil in the world today?
Again, we must go to the book of Genesis to get the answer.
In Genesis Chapter 2 we read the story of Adam & Eve being placed in a beautiful garden. God made provision for their every need in the Garden of Eden. We read in verse 9 that there was even a tree of life, in the midst of the garden.
God told them they could eat of every tree of the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good & evil.
Genesis 2:16-17 - And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,"Of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil; thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die".
You see, The God of the bible is a God of great liberty. He only gave the man & woman one command, one law. God created man with the ability to choose whether he would obey him or not.
In Genesis Chapter 3:1-5 the devil comes to tempt Eve in the form of a serpent, and entices her to take the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good & evil, and to eat it.
You see Eve was able to rationalize sin by seeing the fruit as good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to make one wise. She allowed her lust to over rule the command of God. After she partook of the fruit, then she took some to her husband, and he ate also (Genesis 3:6).
Prior to this time, they had only known good, and they enjoyed a sweet & loving relationship with their creator. However, after eating the forbidden fruit, they were now exposed to the knowledge of evil.
Adam & Eve were guilty of sin before God, for they had broken his command. Their lives were no longer innocent, they became afraid, and realized they were naked. They tried to cover themselves, with fig leaves, and they hid from the presence of God. God knew where they were all the time. But now because of their sin, there was a breach in their relationship with the Lord, and they began dying from that very moment.
Adam & Eve were our first parents, therefore all their traits, & attributes were passed down to us genetically. When Adam fell, the entire human race, none of which had yet been born, were damned to an eternity of separation from God. What a powerful demonstration of how our sin affects the lives of others. Keep reading there is hope!
God created a perfect world. God created man to be like himself, perfect in every way. However God gave man a free will, and when man departed from the ways of God, and fell into sin, the entire state of all creation began to change, and fall into a downward spiral. Man as well as the creation, began to die, as soon as sin was allowed in the earth.
God had created man as an eternal being, even as he is an eternal being, but now man had sinned, and would remain in that sinful state throughout all eternity, UNLESS God did something. And God did do something!
The answer to this question is a resounding YES! We can be completely forgiven of all our sins, and have our relationship with God restored to us, as it was in the beginning.
1 John 1:8-9 tells us, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he (Father God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I'm a good person. If my good deeds out weigh my bad deeds won't I go to heaven?
Contrary to popular opinion, the answer to this question is, NO! YOUR good deeds can never get you into heaven!
In Isaiah 64:6- The prophet says, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags..."
In Isaiah 59:2- ...your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
Ask your self these question, and answer them honestly...
Have you ever lied?
Have you ever stolen, even the smallest thing?
Have you ever lusted after someone?
Have you ever hated anybody?
In Exodus 20:1-17 God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
God said, "Thou shalt not bear false witness..." false witness is telling a lie.
God said, "Thou shal not steal."
God said, "Thou shat not commit adultery..." To lust is to commit adultery.
God said, "Thou shalt not kill." Jesus said if we hate our brother, we have committed murder in our heart.
So if someone has only broken these four of Gods' Ten commandments, that would make them a lying, thieving, aduterous, murderer before the Lord. That doesn't sound too good does it?!
God gave the Ten commandments to act as a schoolmaster, to show us that in our own strength, we cannot keep the simplest of commands, because we are dead in our trespasses and sins.
The wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).
JESUS IS THE ANSWER TO THE SIN PROBLEM!!
Jesus was the physical manifestation of God in the flesh. (Luke 22:70, John 1:1-5,14 John 10:30, 37-38, John 12;45, John 14:7-10, I Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 1:1-3)
In John 3:16-17 - Jesus said, "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. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved."
I Timothy 2:5- For there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
John 14:6- Jesus saith unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
JESUS IS THE ONLY WAY TO THE FATHER!
Because the wages for sin is death, somebody had to pay. God the Father, sent God the Son, as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.
I Peter 3:18 says, For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just (Jesus had no sin) for the unjust, THAT HE MIGHT BRING US TO GOD, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
Romans 5:8-12- But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled, to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God, by our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement (forgiveness of sins). Wherefore, by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned.
GOD IS SO GOOD! EVEN THOUGH MANKIND HAS RUINED THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, THE CREATOR, JESUS CAME AND FIXED IT ALL, TAKING ALL OUR SIN UPON HIS OWN BODY, AND PAYING THE PRICE OF DEATH SO THAT WE MIGHT BE RESTORED TO A LOVING RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR HEAVENLY FATHER. PRAISE HIS GLORIOUS NAME FOREVER.
But that was not the end of the story! In all four of the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, you can read about how after Jesus had paid the price for our sins, through the terrible whippings, and his crucifiction upon the cross, he died, was buried, and on the third day, he rose again from the grave.
Jesus is alive and well to day, and is seated in heavenly places, and he makes intercession for us.
When I die, what will happen when I stand before God?
Well, that depends on what you do, concerning this free gift of salvation, that Jesus has paid the price for you to obtain.
It is the blood of Jesus, and his blood alone that will wash away you sins. You see Father God has done everything that needs to be done, for us to stand clean before him.
Even though Jesus paid the price for every sin, past, present & future, that mankind would ever commit. And even though this precious gift of salvation is free, we as individuals, must accept that:
We are sinners, in need of a Saviour.
We must be willing to change our thinking, and our ways, in other words repent, of all our wickedness. We must be truly sorry for our sins.
We must ask the Lord to forgive us of our sins, and to be our Lord and Savior.
We must receive his gift of salvation by faith.
We must allow him, by the power of his Holy Spirit to take control of our lives.
We must learn to live as he would have us to. God's word, THE HOLY BIBLE, is our instruction manual.
If we are willing to recieve Jesus as our Lord & Savior, and accept his work upon the cross as payment for our sins, then we are justified by faith, and can be in right standing with God. When we stand before him, we need not fear, because he will recieve us as a loving Father.
Jesus said, in John 3:15 the scriptures tells us, That whosoever believeth in him (Jesus) should not perish, but have everlasting life.
In John 3:36 we read, He that believeth on the Son (Jesus) hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son (Jesus) shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
In John 3:3 Jesus said, ...Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
To be born again, means that we admit we are sinner, and in need of a Savior, we accept the atoning work that Jesus did for us through the shedding of his blood, and through his death on the cross, his burial and his resurrection from the dead, thus washing away our sins, if we would just believe in him.
Romans 10:9-11 ...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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scriptures saith, Whosoever believeth on him, shall not be ashamed.
However, if we reject this great gift of salvation, through the blood of Jesus, when we stand before the Father God, we will be as Adam & Eve in the Garden, naked, ashamed, and trying to hide from his holy presence.
To those who have received Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, Father God will invite us to enter into his eternal joy. For those who have rejected God's gift of salvation, they will enter into eternal fire, and torment.
God never sends anybody to hell. They send themselves by rejecting his way of redemption. All through the ages, men have tried to worship God as they saw fit. But the fact of the matter is, we must worship God according to his standard, or our worship is profane, and in vain.
Now if you have made it this far, it is our greatest hope and desire, that you have realized you need to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Jesus said:
Revelation 3:20- Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Open the door of your heart to Jesus. Invite him to come into your heart and life. Through repentance you can have a living relationship with the God that created you.
John 1:12- But as many as received him (Jesus), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 we are told
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
AMEN! Those who are born again, become new creatures in Christ, our old life and sins are gone, and all becomes new. Life begins afresh.
If after reading through this, you realize that you are a sinner in need of the Savior, and you are willing to repent, and you want to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, and you are willing to let the Lord of Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, take complete control of your life, than just open up your heart to him, and tell him what you want, in your own words and from a sincere heart.
If you don't know how to pray, you can repeat the following prayer. The prayer itself has no power to save anybody, but it you mean it from your heart, the Lord will hear your cry and he will answer you.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I realized that I have sinned against you. I have broken your laws, and am worthy of death. I have no righteousness in me, but Father in Jesus Name, I believe that Jesus came to the earth, born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-23), sinless, and paid the price for all my sins. By his blood I am redeemed from the curse of the law, and I ask you now Father in Jesus Name, to forgive me of all my sins, make me clean, make me your child, change me, fill me with your Holy Spirit, make me a new creature. I give my life to you completely. Have your way in me Father in Jesus Name. Amen.
If you have meant this prayer from you heart, you can be assurred that you have been forgiven, and Jesus has come into your life. You will begin to experience his peace and presence, and you can know that because you belong to him, you will spend eternity with him forever.
If you have prayed this prayer we would love to hear from you.
We also want to encourage you to get a bible, and read it daily. God's Word will teach you how to live the Christian life, and it will feed your spirit. Find a Christian Church where you can worship with other believers of like precious faith. There is so much to learn, and we cannot possibly post it all on a website.
If you have just received Jesus, your life will never be the same. We welcome you to the family of God.
Please fill out the form below, and let us know what God has done for you. God bless you.
