Post by NeedGoddotcom on Jun 25, 2007 8:30:22 GMT -5
You have to face God Almighty on Judgment Day. He sees lust as adultery (Matt. 5:28) and hatred as murder (1 John 3:15). Will you be guilty? Have you ever lusted after another person? If so, you’re an adulterer at heart Ever hated anyone? If so, you’re a murderer at heart. Have you ever told a lie(including fibs and white lies)? If so, then you’re a liar. Ever stolen(regardless of the value of the item)? Then you’re a thief. Ever jealously desired something that belonged to someone else(that is called covetousness)? If so, then you are a covetous idolater, as the Bible says in Colossians 3:5 that covetousness is Idolatry. Have you ever used God’s name in vain? That’s called blasphemy, which is serious in God’s sight, and God warns that he won’t hold those guiltless who use His name in vain(Exodus 20:7). Have you kept the First Commandment, to love God above all else and keep Him first in your life? Psalm 14:2-3 that all have turned aside and become corrupt, which means that NO ONE has kept God first, so it was already determined from the beginning that you would be guilty. Jesus took the punishment for your sins on the cross, and rose again defeating death, so that the demand for punishment by God’s Law could be satisfied while you could still be saved from everlasting suffering and torment in the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire exists because God is a Holy God, who cannot and will not allow sin to go unpunished, and if you don’t repent of your sins and accept His offer of mercy and forgiveness by trusting in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior while you are living on this earth, that’s where you’ll go, because ALL sin(even stealing 1 penny or telling a white lie) in God’s eyes is exceedingly sinful and wicked. You don’t get a second chance to repent after you die. Repent(turn from and forsake) of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today, because you may not have tomorrow. You’re not even guaranteed 2 more minutes. In fact, you’re not guaranteed 1 more second, and if you die without repenting of your sins and trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior, then the Lake of Fire will be your eternal home. Also, the Bible says that our good deeds won’t get us to Heaven(Ephesians 2:8-10), so just going to church, giving money to the poor, being nice to other people and all that, although it is good, it won’t get you into heaven. Only by repenting of your sins and accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior will get you to Heaven. Trying to get to Heaven by any other way will land you in the Lake of Fire. So, repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior now, while you still have the chance! Pray this prayer: “God, I admit that I am a sinner and that I need you. I realize that my good works will not save me. Right now, I turn from my sins, and I put my 100% trust in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Please forgive me of all my sins and cleanse me from them. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.” If you just prayed that prayer, and sincerely meant it, then you’ve been made whiter than snow and forgiven of your sins. To start out your Christian life, you need to pray to God everyday, read your bible every day, get into a good Bible-teaching Church, and then tell other people about Judgment Day and how Jesus Christ died on the cross to save them from their sins and from eternal torment in the Lake of Fire, and that if they turn from their sins and put their trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savoir, they can avoid going to the Lake of Fire.
Now, God's grace isn't so that you can just turn around and do your old sins with a blanket slip license to just indulge in sin all you want and go to Heaven, because that isn't the case.
Proverbs 28:13 says "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and FORSAKETH them shall have mercy."
So it isn't enough to just confess your sin and ask God to forgive you. You have to forsake that sin and try sincerely not to do it anymore. God can tell if you're sincere in asking for forgiveness, or if you're just looking for a way by which you can sin and get by with it. There's no such way, and if you keep indulging in sin, thinking that you can keep asking God to forgive you while you keep wallowing in the mud of sin, you're only fooling yourself. However, if you ask God to forgive you of that sin and are serious about turning from it, then you will receive God's mercy.
God doesn't leave Christians to fend for themselves and find out for themselves if they've sinned, as He sends the Holy Spirit to live in them, who will in turn sting their conscience(you can call it "feeling bad", if you will) when they have sinned(kind of like a "sin detector", if you will, to let them know that they have sinned and need to repent of it), to let them know that they have sinned, and if they turn from it and ask God's forgiveness, God forgives them. If the Christian decides He's going to live in sin, God will discipline the Christian at first and do things to get his attention, but if the Christian decides he wants nothing more to do with Jesus Christ and is going to love in sin, in spite of God's goodness and mercy, and in spite of God's discipline, then God turns them over to their sin, and they lose their salvation because Ezekiel 3:20 says
"Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand."
So, that means that a Christian can lose his righteous standing before God if he turns his back on God to seek him no more and insists on sinning after God disciplines him(note the stumbling block). I'm not saying that salvation is maintained by good works, because it's not. It's not gained by good works, and not maintained by good works. It's maintained by continuing to follow Jesus Christ and when you sin, you repent of it, turn from it, and ask God to forgive you and give you the strength to resist the temptation the next time you're tempted to do it.
Now, God's grace isn't so that you can just turn around and do your old sins with a blanket slip license to just indulge in sin all you want and go to Heaven, because that isn't the case.
Proverbs 28:13 says "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and FORSAKETH them shall have mercy."
So it isn't enough to just confess your sin and ask God to forgive you. You have to forsake that sin and try sincerely not to do it anymore. God can tell if you're sincere in asking for forgiveness, or if you're just looking for a way by which you can sin and get by with it. There's no such way, and if you keep indulging in sin, thinking that you can keep asking God to forgive you while you keep wallowing in the mud of sin, you're only fooling yourself. However, if you ask God to forgive you of that sin and are serious about turning from it, then you will receive God's mercy.
God doesn't leave Christians to fend for themselves and find out for themselves if they've sinned, as He sends the Holy Spirit to live in them, who will in turn sting their conscience(you can call it "feeling bad", if you will) when they have sinned(kind of like a "sin detector", if you will, to let them know that they have sinned and need to repent of it), to let them know that they have sinned, and if they turn from it and ask God's forgiveness, God forgives them. If the Christian decides He's going to live in sin, God will discipline the Christian at first and do things to get his attention, but if the Christian decides he wants nothing more to do with Jesus Christ and is going to love in sin, in spite of God's goodness and mercy, and in spite of God's discipline, then God turns them over to their sin, and they lose their salvation because Ezekiel 3:20 says
"Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand."
So, that means that a Christian can lose his righteous standing before God if he turns his back on God to seek him no more and insists on sinning after God disciplines him(note the stumbling block). I'm not saying that salvation is maintained by good works, because it's not. It's not gained by good works, and not maintained by good works. It's maintained by continuing to follow Jesus Christ and when you sin, you repent of it, turn from it, and ask God to forgive you and give you the strength to resist the temptation the next time you're tempted to do it.