You must be saved because
you can't save yourself. The Bible tells us that we are all
sinners. You've heard the expression, "nobody's perfect."
Well, the Bible puts it this way, "For all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God" Romans 3:23. There is sin present in all
our lives. This means we have all broken God's law. No
one has the ability to live a life free of sin. "If we claim
to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
1 John 1:8. God's standard is perfection. "Be perfect,
therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48.
The sin in our lives separates us from Him. "But your iniquities
have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from
you, so that he will not hear." Isaiah 59:2. The seemingly most
insignificant sin is enough to seperate us from God. "For whoever
keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of
breaking all of it." James 2:10.
This
sin also comes with a very high price. "For the wages of sin
is death" Romans 6:23. If we are not saved, the sin that separates
us from God now will condemn us to an eternity of separation from
our Heavenly Father. This place of eternal separation from God
is what the Bible calls Hell. Jesus described Hell in many ways.
It is a place of, "Eternal punishment" Matthew 25:46, "Outer darkness" Matthew 25:30, "The fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." Matthew 13:42. Hell is a place, "Where the
fire never goes out." Mark 9:44. Definitely a place no one would
wish to spend all of eternity!
Many
people make the mistake of believing that if they are good enough
or do enough good deeds or if they simply go to church and are religious
enough they will be with God in Heaven. They believe that somehow
they can "make up" for the sin in their lives. This is not what
the Bible teaches. "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." Ephesians 2:8-9. There is nothing you can ever do to earn your way into Heaven!
Many people also make the mistake of believing that a loving God would
not send anyone to Hell. God is a loving God. In fact,
the Bible teaches us that God is love! "And so we know and rely
on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives
in love lives in God, and God in him." 1 John 4:16. God is also
just. "He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways
are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just
is he." Dueteronomy 32:4. Since God is just, He must and will
punish sin. "Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished" Exodus
34:7. "He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting
destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord" 2 Thessalonians
1:8-9.
God is perfect, completely righteous
and holy. Nothing that is sinful, unrighteous or unholy can
exist with God in Heaven. "This is the message we have heard
from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no
darkness at all." 1 John 1:5. Our desire to spend eternity with
God is hindered by the fact that we are all sinners. It is because
of this sin we are already under condemnation.
