How to not end up in hell forever. (whatever)
submitted by 1point21jiggawatts to whatever 8 months ago
82 comments
Salvation
1. Recognize that you have sinned.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”
“There is none righteous, no, not one.”
2. Understand that sin carries a penalty.
“For the wages of sin is death”
…and not just physical death, but eternal death:
“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” “This is the second death.”
3. But God, in His love and mercy, knowing that there’s no way we could ever earn forgiveness, paid our penalty and offers us forgiveness as a free gift.
“...the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”
And it truly is a free gift, not something we have to try to earn: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us"
4. All we have to do is trust God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved...”
“That 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.”
Common Questions:
A. Having a hard time believing God? The ability to even believe God is a gift from God!
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Be like this man asking Jesus to heal his child. Ask God to give you faith!
“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
He was trying to trust God, he wanted to Trust God, but he knew he still had unbelief. He wisely asked for help from the same loving God who said: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
B. “But it can’t be that simple!”
He WANTS it to be simple! The scripture says that God is "...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
And God knows we can’t be righteous, Remember He said: “There is none righteous, no, not one."
So instead of righteousness, He requires that we simply believe Him and trust in the finished work of salvation that Jesus achieved on the cross.
“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
He requires only faith, just as He always has, even before Jesus came and died on the cross:
“For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
But we have an advantage over Abraham. He didn’t know HOW God was going to save Him, but we now know that the sinless God was made flesh and paid the penalty for the sinful world.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
C. Well-meaning people will tell you that you need to “repent of your sins” or “give your life to Christ” to be saved, but the Bible disagrees. “Repent” as used in scripture does NOT generally mean "Repent of your sins" it means to change your mind, or have a change of heart.
In many of the places where the word “repent” is used in the Bible, it’s God Himself doing the repenting:
“And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
“Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night.”
So there we see a couple the times God Himself repented, and we know God has no sin to repent of.
D. "So I can sin all I want and still go to heaven?"
Not exactly. First, when you truly believe God and put your trust in Christ alone, you are changed: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." This is the event Jesus was talking about when He said "Ye must be born again." It's spiritual rebirth.
And second, God is a strict father and will punish His children for their disobedience: "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?"
E. "Oh so if I am a 'new creature' God will magically cure me of all my desire to sin!"
Again no, the "greatest" of the Apostles never could fully conquer sin in their lives. Paul the Apostle wrote "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."
And Jesus Himself warned us: "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Further, the scripture tells us some of what judgement day will look like for those that have been saved, when rewards are being given to those believers who served God in their earthly lives: "If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."
So we see people who believed God, but did not "give their lives" to Him or "stop sinning" yet are still saved.
Know you're a sinner.
Understand that the penalty for sin is death and hell.
Believe that God paid your way out of that penalty.
Trust Him alone to save you!
