BASIC INFORMATION BEFORE LEAVING EARTH
When you die, what do you think is on the other side?
There’s a 100% chance you’ll die, and when you die, you’ll be dead a lot longer than you’ll be alive – and wherever you go, you’ll be there for eternity.
If you died tonight, are you 100% sure you’d go to Heaven?
Would you consider yourself to be a good, moral person?
Proverbs 20:6
Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?
If you were to die tonight and stand in front of God, and He asked “Why should I let you into Heaven?” what would you tell Him?
After death, there is a judgment of each person
Hebrew 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Acts 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; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
There is a real heaven and a real hell.
Job 11:8
It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
God has given us a standard for being good, and it’s called the Ten Commandments. Let’s see how you’re doing. To enter Heaven, you must meet God’s standard.
1. Have you ever told a lie? [yes] So what does that make you? [A liar] that’s right. [#9]
2. Have you ever stolen anything? [Yes] So what does that make you? [a thief] [#8]
3. Have you ever lusted in your heart for someone? [Yes] – In the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus said:
Mathew 5:27
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
So, even looking with lust is the same as committing adultery (or fornication).
Intent matters to God, even though it may not concern us. [#7]
4. Have you ever been angry with someone without reason [Yes]. Jesus says that, in God’s Eyes, that’s the same as committing murder. God looks into a person’s heart. [#6]
Matthew 5:21
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment:
John 3:15
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
5. Have you ever used God’s name in vain? Cussed, using God, or Christ or Jesus as an exclamation? [Yes] That’s called blasphemy [#3]
So by your own admission, you’ve told me that you’re a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterous, (fornicating) murderer – so do you think you would you be guilty or not guilty on judgment day?
Would that mean that you’d go to Heaven or to Hell?
God’s standard is the Ten Commandments. Another bible name for the 10C is “God’s Law”. Breaking God’s Law [the Law] or the 10 Commandments is called “sin”.
1 John 3:4
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
Sin is breaking God’s Law, (the 10C), and in God’s Eyes, even breaking just one of them, is the same as breaking all of them.
James 2:10
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Of course you aren’t the only person who has broken the 10C. (It’s called ‘sin’). I have, and so has every person who ever lived. Even the godliest, most spiritual person has broken all the 10C. Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, Abe Lincoln.
Romans 3:23
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
So if everyone who lived, and that includes you, has broken the Ten Commandments, then what’s the point of having them? Why did God set such an impossible standard? There are two very important reasons:
1. To prove that all our righteousness, (all our good things) are still not good enough for God. As we examine ourselves, our eyes are opened.
Isaiah 64:6
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Matthew 15:19&20
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man:….
2. To point us to the Lord Jesus Christ who was totally sinless, and has provided a way for us to be accepted into Heaven, (and save us from Hell).
Galatians 3:24&25
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Paul would not have understood sin, except for the Law. The 10C shows us that we’re not good at all! All of us have failed to reach God’s standard of holiness.
Romans 7:7
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shaft not covet. (10th Commandment.)
So, as you stand before God, you realize that, in God’s eyes, you’re unclean and guilty. Would that mean that you’d go to Heaven or to Hell? [To Hell]
If you could go from Guilty to Not Guilty on judgment day, would that be good news? [Yes]
God is not willing that any should go to Hell, and He’s promised and provided a way that your sins can be cleansed from you – past, present and even future. That’s a fantastic, great promise.
2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Notice that God does not want you to perish, but He does want you to come to repentance. To ‘repent’ means ‘to think again’, with regret, with sorrow, and with a change of heart towards God. It’s not feeling bad because we got caught doing something wrong, but it means a change of heart because we want to please God. And repentance leads to salvation (= being saved from going to Hell).
2 Corinthians 7:10
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
If there’s no desire to turn away from sin, then there’s not really any true heart commitment, because if God is drawing someone to Him, then He’d also be drawing that person away from sin.
John 6:44
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
God has provided a priceless gift for every person – the gift of eternal life. It is the gift of having that person’s sin taken entirely away, so that he can stand before God, and be declared ‘Not Guilty’, and thus enter into Heaven and into eternal life. The bible says:
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ died on the cross as a substitute death for all those who have put their trust in Him. He actually died, because the wages of (our) sin is death. This is not just physical death for us, but eternal death, which means being doomed to Hell and the Lake of Fire forever. Jesus Christ arose from death, because He Himself was sinless, so death had no hold over Him.
Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God the Father accepted Christ’s death on your behalf, and on my behalf, (if we have truly repented and put our trust in Christ as our personal Saviour), because His sinless life paid the penalty of death demanded from each one of us, as the wages of our sin. Christ paid the debt:
John 1:29
…Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
There is no other way to Heaven. Christ said:
John 14:6
…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
This salvation is entirely the work of God. We have only to repent and in faith believe God, and He will save us:
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
When I repent and put my trust in Christ as my own personal Saviour, a remarkable change occurs in me. I have a spiritual birth and become, in God’s eyes, a totally new person. I become ‘born again’, as the Holy Spirit enters into my very soul and heart.
John 3:3
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
John 3:16-18
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. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
The indwelling Holy Spirit enables the born again believer to become a new person:
2 Corinthians 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.
God the Father accepted the shedding of the precious, sinless blood of Christ His Son, on the cross, as total payment for our sins, and we are cleansed.
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
So, if you were to die tonight and stand in front of God, and He asked “Why should I let you into Heaven?” – what would your reply be? If you have trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, then you can say with confidence –
“I’m cleansed by His precious Blood!”
John 1:7
…the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Additional bible verses
Judgment:
I Corinthians 6:9&10
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, … Nor thieves, nor covetous, …shall inherit the kingdom of God.
Revelation 20:12&15
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Repentance:
Acts 3:19
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, …
Luke 15:7
I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Salvation:
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.
Romans 10:13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
John 5:12&13
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
I Timothy 1:15
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; …
Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The Ten Commandments
1. No other Gods. 2. Graven image (bow down). 3. Name in vain. 4. Sabbath. 5. Honour father & mother. 6. Shall not kill. 7. Adultery. 8. Thou shalt not steal. 9. False witness (thou shalt not lie). 10. Thou shalt not covet.
Dr. Dennls Spackman.
Auckland, New Zealand
Tel: 625-4123.