“As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one:” Romans 3:10
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Rom. 3:23
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23
“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.” John 3:16
Picture it. A death row inmate who did God only knows what. A sweet little old homeless lady who all I could imagine the first time I saw her was hugging her. Guess which one was headed to heaven, and which one to hell? Answer’s obvious, eh? Wrong! The lesson from their stories is the most powerful lesson to be learned on this earth. Whether we understand the lesson, and whether we choose to heed it and live by it, will determine whether we will spend eternity in heaven or hell and the lake of fire.
You may be surprised. The man on death row who is a friend of mine is headed for heaven. The sweet little homeless lady as of this writing was headed for hell. Unbelievable, isn’t it? Believe the Truth of God’s Word. How can this be? Because the man on death row humbled himself before God, had genuine remorse over his sins, cried out to God for mercy, believes Jesus is the Son of God and died on the cross to pay the penalty for his sins, placed his trust in Christ as LORD, and TURNED his life over to God and God’s ways. So much so, in fact, he sends me letters from death row encouraging me in my relationship with God and ministry work. The sweet little old homeless lady proudly and self-righteously believed she was going to heaven because she felt she had been a good person, didn’t break some of God’s laws, and believed she was worthy and deserving based on her own merit and “righteousness” of eternal life in heaven with God. She didn’t seem to see a need for God nor any reason to believe in and follow Jesus as LORD. Her trust was in herself.
EVERY HUMAN IS A SINNER. NONE of us can have a relationship with God on earth nor have eternal life with Him in heaven because of our sins. We are FOREVER separated from Him because of our sins. With ONE exception. Jesus Christ. He took OUR SINS on Himself and bore God’s wrath, judgement, condemnation, and death and hell penalty ON HIMSELF so IF we repent and believe in Him, we can be forgiven and have eternal life. True faith and repentance are a WAY OF LIFE. True belief in Christ as Lord is belief in who He is, what He did, is doing, and will do, and in what He says. It is believing the Bible is God’s Word and living by it, turning from wickedness and living for God. True belief is ONGOING.
Repent and believe in Christ as Lord!