HOW CAN A
SINFUL MAN GO TO HEAVEN?
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1Ti 1:15
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
Many are
deceived to believe that they are good.
They compare with one another and see that they are not as bad as the
drug addict on the street, or a murderer.
You may say, “I don’t steal, I don’t lie, I don’t cheat I may sin a
little bit here and there but God sees my heart as I am very loving, caring and
I help people and I know when I die, God will consider all the good things I
have done and I believe that I will go to heaven.”
Objection.
If you believe
that God will consider your goodness or your good works into consideration,
then why did Jesus have to come upon this earth and was crucified to a
cross? Jesus just wasted his time; your
good works could have taken you to heaven. Therefore, if righteousness can be
gained by your good works then Christ died for nothing!
If you are
good why Isaiah the prophet say, “Woe is me! for
I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips…” (Isa 6:5)
Why did Peter
tell Jesus, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man,
O Lord.”
Paul said, “Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” (1
WE ARE EXEEDINGLY SINFUL IN THE SIGHT
OF GOD.
King David
said in Psalm 25:11, “O Lord, pardon my iniquity; for is
great.” He did not
say, “Pardon my sins but I have done much good work to counter balance my
sins.” He did not say, “Pardon my sins they are small.” On the contrary, sin is
great against God. The need for pardon was because of sin against God.
1 John
3:4. "Sin is the transgression
of the law."
1 John
5:17. "All unrighteousness is sin."
WE HAVE VIOLATED
GOD’S LAW
God is the supreme ruler of
the universe. All creatures are subject to him. He governs the sun; moon, stars
and we are all dependent on him. The Lawgiver is God, the Creator and Preserver
of all things. He is above the local magistrate, he is above the police
officer on the road, and he is above the President. He is the majestic
and the exalted One, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He gives
life to man and preserves his being. He has the authority to issue laws
without our vote. We are all subject to him in existence and to the
obedience of his law.
Summary of the moral law is found in the 10 Commandments. Apostle Paul said,
“I had not known sin, but by the law.” (Romans 7:7) In the light of the 10
commandments, we have broken God’s law. We become
conscious of sin by the Law. In reality, we have sinned against God in thought,
by our speech, and by actions. Jesus exposed the law and the inability of man
to keep the law when he said, "You have heard that it was said to those
of old, You shall not commit adultery, But I say to
you whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery
with her in his heart." (Mat.5: 27) Man sees the result of sin but God
sees the cause for sin. The Law condemned us and showed us to be guilty before
the Lord.
IN
THE SIGHT OF GOD WE ARE ALL SINNERS
Isa 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I
saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train
filled the temple.
2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had
six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly.
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy,
holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice
of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the
King, the LORD of hosts.
When Isaiah saw the awesome
majesty of God’s holiness, he said, "Woe to me!"
This is the prophet of God, a good man and a righteous man, the servant of God,
but when he saw the holiness of God, he saw his sinful nature, and instead of
saying blessed unto me as I have seen the glory of God, he put a curse upon
himself and said, woe unto me. The word "woe" is mentioned as
a curse in the Bible. Isaiah saw that he was not good in God’s presence. The
word of God says, there is no one righteous…. no one good. (Romans 3:10-12)
Then Isaiah
said, "I am ruined!" The Hebrew root word means, ‘ I am lost.’ It took only one glimpse of the
holiness of God and Isaiah was brought to zero, as he saw how wretched he was
in the presence of God’s holiness. Yes, God is infinitely holy and we are
infinitely un-holy. Peter too when he
realized who Jesus was, he said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man,
O Lord.”
WE
ARE ALL SINNERS WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS
1
John 1:8. “If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
1
John 1:10. “If we say that we have not
sinned we make him a liar, and the truth is not in us.”
Ro
Ro
Jeremiah 17:9. “The heart of man
is deceitful above things and desperately wicked.”
You do not have to teach a child to
sin, instead of saying, “Yes” in obedience they say, “No.” in disobedience. Why? Because the sin nature is
already in us. We are born with sin.
Romans
Ps 51:5 Behold, I was
shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
THERE IS A DAY OF
JUDGEMENT FOR EVERYONE
Ac 17:31 Because he hath appointed a
day, in the which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.
Mt 12:36 But I
say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give
account thereof in the day of judgment.
Ro
1Pe 4:5 Who
shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
Heb
God is going to judge our actions and
conduct according to the Law of God. Every evil thought, every hidden sin, all
the pet sins, all the bad motives and all what we have done in secret will be
brought to open light. Why is it Christ appointed to judge the world instead of
the Father or the Holy Spirit? The great
theologian Jonathan Edwards answers this question by saying, “because he is the
one who clothed human nature, he became a man. He who is in the human nature
should be the Judge of those who are of the human nature.”
Christ Jesus was mocked, spitted upon
and condemned to be crucified. The High
priest, Pilot, Herod and the entire crowd condemned the Lord to the cross. The
crowd kept on shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Now he will be the one who will judge
humanity with his righteousness.
Joh 5:27 And
hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
He is the judge of the Universe and a
good judge will punish the guilty party, a good judge will not compromise
with the lawbreakers. "…The Lord will by no means leave the
guilty unpunished." (Nahum 1:2-3)
ALL SINNERS WILL BE
PUNISHED WITH AN EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT.
2Th 1:7 And to you
who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from
heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of
his power;
Everlasting means without end.
Mt 25:46 And
these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life
eternal.
Once a person is in hell, there is no
escape. Christ has the key of hell; "he shuts and no man opens."
The torment of hell is extreme. There
are no soda fountains or even a drop of water to cool the tongue. For they will
be tormented with fire and brimstone; and will have no rest day nor night
forever and ever. Imagine yourself to be fall into a fiery great furnace.
Imagine also that your body were to lie there for a few minutes, what horror
would you feel in the fiery furnace! And how long would that few minutes seem
to you! Moreover, after you had endured it for few minutes someone comes and
rescues you! What a relief! As you are rushed to the
hospital. However, there is no one to rescue in hell, it is not a few
minutes but for eternity, day and night forever and ever. If there was an evil
judge, he will compromise with sin and there will be less punishment for the
wicked. However, God is infinitely
righteous and the punishment will be infinite.
Many are living a careless life. They hear the dangers of
sin but go on sinning. They are cold to the word of God. Young and old both
live looking for the pleasures of this life. They spend most of the leisure
time on TV, Movies, sports, shopping, traveling, parties, with friends and
relatives but they have no time to study the word of God and to have fellowship
with God. They spend a lot of money for their food, clothes, makeup, and
vitamins but take little care about their salvation. My friend, there is no TV
in hell nor any sports or shopping. Remember the rich man in hell begged of
Abraham to send Lazarus to his brethren to warn them of hell, that they might
take care for their salvation, and escape that place of torment. But Abraham said, “ If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke
The Psalmist said, “Indeed you have made my days as
handbreadths. And my age is nothing before You.
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Surely, every man walks
about like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain.” (Psalm
39:5-6) We need to remember the life on
earth is very short. “One generation passeth away, and another generation
cometh, but the earth abideth for ever.” (Ecc 1:4) Death will come
unexpectedly. But God said unto him, “Thou
fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” (Lu 12:20) After death comes the judgment. Many in hell
in their roasted bodies will remember the sermons of the preacher, and they
will be screaming with agony but it is too late! Heb 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so
great salvation;
HOW TO ESCAPE THE
ETERNAL FIRE
You can effectually escape the eternal
torments of fire by embracing the Lord Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul said:
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of
whom I am chief.” (1Ti
You have to realize, like apostle Paul, you are a sinner, like King David who said, “O
LORD, pardon my iniquity for it is great.” (Ps 25:11)
Realize you are exposed to eternal punishment
as you have violated the law of God and sinned against God. But God being merciful have provided a
Savior, who is able and offers to save you from hell. Christ Jesus came into
the world and fulfilled the law where you have broken. We were indebted to God
in our sins; Christ paid the full price to God by offering himself as a
sacrifice for our sins. The justice of God was poured upon Jesus. If you truly believe in him, commit your
souls to him to be saved by him, in him you shall be saved from the eternal
torments of hell. He
satisfied the anger of God toward the sinners and found peace between God and
men. Oh! The grand discovery of the gospel, the good news is that you can be
saved from hell. Oh! My friend, the justice of God, which was the great barrier
to the salvation of sinners, does not stand as a barrier anymore. Now the
sinner can be pardoned, justified through the blood of Jesus Christ!
Jesus can reconcile you to God.
IN CHRIST SINNERS
CAN BE MADE RIGHTEOUS.
“God made him who had
no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)
"Oh, hear that piercing cry! What
can it is meaning be? 'My God! My God! oh! Why hast thou in wrath forsaken me?' "Oh 'twas
because our sins on him by God were laid; He who himself had never sinned, for
sinners, sin was made." Our hearts should tremble, when, they spit on his
face. It was the cruelest thing to do upon the most holy person. Oh! The love
of Christ to the believer, that we might be made the righteousness of God. Our
sins were charged to Christ and his righteousness was charged to us.
When
God open your eyes to the truth of the gospel, then you will realize how you
have offended God and God will give you the grace to repent.
REPENTANCE IS TO
LEAVE THE SINS YOU LOVED, AND TO HAVE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD.
Many acknowledge of hell but they keep
do not take the word of God seriously. They say, “I believe in Jesus, and I
believe in God. I have a Bible, I go to church sometimes.” The demons also
believe in God and they tremble, but they are not saved.
Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is
one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and
tremble.
The demons believe God, but there is no
repentance. In the same way there are so
many people who believe God, know the Bible, go to church but there is no
repentance. This is what is called the demonic faith.
Repentance
is changing one's mind.
There must be sorrow for sin and hatred for sin in true repentance. The
definition of repentance is found in a children’s hymn:
"Repentance is to
leave
the sins we loved before,
and show that we in earnest grieve,
by doing so no more."
It is like the tax collector
who went to the temple to pray, will beat his chest and will not even look up
to the heavens and said, “God be merciful to me, I am a sinner.” There
is not only sorrow of sin and hatred for sin, now in there is a love for God in
repentance. In repentance, you will see you are a new person in Christ.
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.
SAVED BY
GRACE ALONE
For it is
by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it
is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)
Salvation is
given to us, not earned by us. God does not owe us anything. So salvation is
not a reward but of grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. Grace is free!
Grace is unconditional! Anything earned, merited, or deserved by you s not
grace. The man who thinks he deserves God's salvation does not believe in
grace. The person who believes that his acceptance by
God depends upon his works, does not believe in grace.
Nothing in my
hands I bring,
Simply to
thy cross I cling;
Naked
come to Thee for dress;
Helpless
look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I
to the fountain fly,
Wash me,
Savior, or I die.
(From the
Hymn: "Rock of Ages" by A.M.Toplady 1740-78)
"I am
the bread of life. he who comes to me shall never
hunger, and he who believes on me shall never thirst." John 6:35,36.
"If any
man thirst, let him come to Me and drink - he who
believes on Me - as the Scripture has said, "Out of His innermost being
shall flow rivers of water". John 7:37-38
Read God 's word daily for your spiritual food, pray for
spiritual blessings for your growth in the Lord. If you need more help in
spiritual matters please contact us.
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Pastor Nick Bibile
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Agape Chapel Ministries
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