If you were to die today, where would you go? This question is something that makes a lot of us think about our choices here on earth and if we are truly living our lives in a right way that is honoring to God. Another way to ask this same question is: If God judged you today, would you be declared 100% righteous? According to God’s Word, nothing unclean can enter into the presence of God. How then can I be declared 100% righteous so that I can enter into the presence of God?
Hebrews 9:27 “For all mankind is appointed to die once and then face judgement.”
We’d better make wise choices during our life in this earth while we still can because our judgement is what immediately comes after our physical death.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Matthew 25:46 “The unrighteous will go to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
We are all sinners and have broken God’s law. Romans 6:23 tells us that our rightful punishment for sinning is spiritual death or separation from God, which is another name for hell. But God loves you so much that he chose to make a way for us to be able to go to heaven and live with him. God chose to come to earth and take the punishment for your sins. That is why he died on the cross. Not only did He take your punishment, but he offers you this amazing gift of grace and forgiveness! Nothing sinful can enter into God’s presence. This means that we need to be 100% righteous and this can only happen if we are 100% forgiven of all our sins. How can we be declared righteous before God so that we can receive eternal life?
Isaiah 64:6 “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;”
If we are trying to prove our righteousness to God by bringing our good works before him, being the holy, sinless and perfect God that He is, he will look upon our righteous deeds like they are filthy rags. Our own righteous deeds have nothing to do with how we can become declared righteous and receive eternal life.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For it is by grace that we are saved through faith. This is not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works so that no man can boast. We are God’s workmanship created to do good works.”
We cannot save ourselves to any degree. This means that we need someone to save us from our sins. If we sincerely put our faith in the one true Jesus, the work that He did on the cross for us, we will be forgiven of our sins.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
All we need to do is have genuine faith in Jesus and ask Him to forgive us of our sins, and He will forgive us. If our faith is sincere and we truly are sorry for our sins, we can approach God with a heart of humility and ask him for forgiveness. And here is the amazing part called grace kicks in: BEFORE doing any works…before doing any righteous deeds…immediately upon responding to the gospel message, admitting you’re a sinner, and accepting all that Jesus did on your behalf, you immediately receive ALL of God’s gifts of grace.
John 5:24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
If you would like to receive the amazing gospel of grace, become justified, and become spiritually alive/born again, here are Biblical instructions to do so:
- Admit to God that you are an ungodly sinner who deserves hell for breaking His law (but thankfully Romans 4:5 says that God justifies the ungodly)
- Believe in Jesus, that he died on the cross for your sins and then rose from the dead 3 days later
- Ask God to forgive your sins
- Make a personal covenant with God, asking Him to change your heart to help you live for him for the rest of your life
- Immediately upon the profession and sincerity of your faith, you have now received God’s gift of grace which includes: full forgiveness of all your sins (past, present and future), being spiritually brought to life/born again, adoption into God’s family and church, declared 100% righteous, and received absolute assurance of eternal life and salvation!
- Live the rest of your life for Him and find a Bible based church that teaches to truth about Jesus. Your works and obedience will demonstrate if your faith in Jesus is real and living…or fake and dead.
- It doesn’t matter WHAT church you are a member of…it only matters WHO you are a follower of. If someone tells you, “You must be a member and get baptized into our specific church organization in order to be on the right path to eternal life,” that is a big red flag. Leave immediately and join a different church. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and test the teachings. Pray for wisdom and study the New Testament so that you can learn to identify these kinds of red flags. People I suggest learning from would be: Mike Winger, Alisa Childers or Allan Parr. Each of these people are very Biblically sound and can be found on their YouTube channel.
John 6:28-29 “Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” - It doesn’t matter how unworthy you might feel. Just turn to God and feel His love and forgiveness wash over you. If you would like to receive God’s forgiveness of you sins and his promise of eternal life, you can just believe and pray to God something like this:
“God, I know that I am a sinner and have broken your law. I know that I am unworthy of heaven and deserving of hell. But you love me so much that you died for me in my place on the cross. I believe that you rose from the dead and that you did all of the righteous works in my place. I ask you to please forgive me of my sins, Jesus. Please come into my life, give me your righteousness and change my heart. I am yours now and forever. Please teach me how to love and honor you all the days of my life. Amen.”
If you have said this prayer and sincerely mean it, welcome to the family Your spiritual journey has just begun! And never forget that everything you will ever need is found in Christ. It is not found in a church nor in ourselves…Jesus all by himself is everything and he will always be with you, even in the worst of times. Please share this with other friends and family members who need to hear the good news of Jesus. - If you would like to dig deeper into this amazing gospel of grace, click on the “related” link below called, “Which Gospel Are You Under?”
JLLDS Ministries 