I would like to ask you a question.
If you had to die today, would you go to heaven?
Maybe you never thought about it, maybe you never asked yourself the question.
But the Bible says that you can be 100% sure that you will have your place in heaven.
According to the Bible, there are certain things that you have to understand in order to obtain salvation.
First of all, no one goes to heaven because he is a good person.
We don't go to heaven thanks to our good works.
Indeed, the Bible says in Romans chapter 3, verse 23,
"For all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God."
In the eyes of God, we are all guilty of breaking His law.
We have all committed sin, you and me.
Every time we have lied, even disobeyed our parents,
or coveted things that do not belong to us,
such as possessions, riches, or a woman who is not ours.
All these things are sins and the Bible says that we are all sinners.
This is why we are all guilty in the eyes of God.
And the Bible says that there is a punishment for sin because God is just.
He cannot leave sin unpunished.
This is why it says in Romans chapter 6, verse 23,
"For the wages of sin are death."
So this is why we die, this is why we have to die.
It is because of sin. It is a punishment.
Because God has to punish sin.
And when the Bible talks about death,
it does not only talk about a physical death,
but it mainly talks about a spiritual death,
the spiritual death that is hell.
Because when we die, we go to heaven, to paradise, or to hell.
And the people who die in their sins without being forgiven go to hell.
The Bible calls this the second death.
In Revelation 21, verse 8, the Bible says,
"But the fearful, and the ungrateful, and the abominable,
and the murderers, and the prostitutes, and the sorcerers,
and the idolaters, and all the liars,
will have their share in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,
which is the second death."
The Bible here gives us a list of sinners and tells us,
all these people will have their share in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur,
which is the second death.
So it talks here about hell, the spiritual death.
And we see here, in this list, several sins.
And God wants to make us understand that we are all in this list,
and that we all belong to this second death.
We all deserve this second death.
Why? We may not all be murderers,
we may not all be sorcerers,
but we all have lied at least once in our lives.
We must admit it.
And many of us do worse than that.
And if you say, "No, I'm not in this list,"
then you are, you have lied,
because we all belong to this list.
It's a terrible place, and you don't want to go there,
because it's forever.
Hell lasts forever, you are dead,
and then it's forever.
It never stops.
But God is a God of love. God loves us.
He doesn't want us to go to this terrible place.
He wants to save us.
That's why he says, in Romans chapter 6, verse 23,
as we have already seen,
"For sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord."
So the first part of the verse is condemnation.
It's a bad news.
"For sin is death," yes,
but God doesn't leave us with a bad news
without giving us an escape.
The second part of the verse says,
"But the gift of God is eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord."
So if we are condemned,
we can escape for free from condemnation.
God wants to give us the gift of eternal life.
It's a gift that God wants to give us,
and it's by Jesus Christ our Lord.
In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9,
the Bible says,
"For you are saved by grace,
by the means of faith,
and it does not come from you.
It is the gift of God.
It is not by the works,
so that no one glorifies himself."
Again, "For you are saved,"
saved from hell, saved from your sins,
which lead you to hell.
"You are saved by grace."
Grace is something that we don't deserve,
but which is given to us anyway,
which is offered to us for free,
just as when the President of the Republic
gives his presidential grace to a condemned person,
he simply says, "I grace you, yes,
so you are no longer condemned,
simply because I want it."
Well, with God, it's the same.
He wants to give us eternal life by His grace,
because we don't deserve it,
but He wants to give it to us anyway.
Because you are saved by grace,
by the means of faith,
so it's in relation to what you believe in your heart,
it's in relation to your beliefs,
and it doesn't come from you,
the access to heaven, to heaven,
it doesn't come from us.
It has nothing to do with what we have done.
It's God's gift.
So it's a gift that God has paid for.
It's God who paid for it.
In verse 9, he says,
"It is nothing but works,
so that no one glorifies himself."
In fact, he says it in four different ways.
In four different ways, he says,
"To be saved is a gift from God.
Eternal life is a gift from God.
Thus, it is God who paid for everything."
In fact, we have nothing to do,
we have no good works to do,
because good works are hard,
it's difficult, it's work,
but salvation is not obtained by good works,
it's God's gift.
That's why it's a good news,
and it has to do with what Jesus did.
Jesus is the Son of God.
The Bible says in Matthew chapter 1, verse 22,
about the birth of Jesus,
the Bible says,
"But all this came to pass,
so that what the Lord had said
in his words by the prophet,
'Here, a virgin will be pregnant,
and she will give birth to a son,
and we will name him Emmanuel,
which means God with us.'"
Because yes, his name is Jesus Christ,
it is the most exalted name of all names,
but we can also name him Emmanuel,
which is simply a Hebrew name
which means God with us,
because Jesus, the Son of God,
is God manifested in the flesh.
The Bible says,
"God was manifested in the flesh."
He lived a perfect life.
The Bible says,
"He was tempted in every way as we are,
but without sin."
Jesus never sinned,
because he is God, he is perfect,
he does not commit sin,
there is no sin in him.
And he preached the kingdom of God,
he preached the gospel,
the word of God, the truth,
and he healed people,
he did miracles,
but many hated him,
and to be crucified on the cross.
But Jesus, nobody forced him
to go on the cross,
nobody forced him to die for us,
he gave himself.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 5,
verse 8,
"But God made his love for us value,
in that when we were still sinners,
Christ died for us."
So it is by love
that Christ gave himself on the cross,
it is by love that Christ went to the cross,
voluntarily to shed his blood for us.
Although we are sinners,
Christ died for us,
thus proving his love for us.
He offered himself voluntarily,
obeying his father,
and fulfilling the Scriptures
of the Old Testament.
In Isaiah 53,
the Bible predicted this,
in verse 5, the Bible says
about Jesus on the cross,
"But he was killed for our sins,
and beaten for our iniquities.
The punishment that brings us peace
is to fall on him,
and by his murder,
we have the healing.
We were all wandering like sheep,
we all followed our own way,
and the eternal brought on him
the iniquity of all of us."
The eternal brought on Jesus
the iniquity, that is the sin of all of us.
When he was on the cross,
Jesus carried the sin of the whole world.
In fact, he was punished in our place.
We deserve to die,
well, he died for us,
in our place,
on the cross.
So he died on the cross,
he was crucified,
and three days later,
the good news is that he was resurrected.
But he didn't die,
because he is God,
he has the power to defeat death.
In Acts 2, verses 31 and 32,
the Bible says,
"Predicting this,
he says of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul would not be left in hell,
and that his flesh would not see corruption.
God resurrected this Jesus,
we are all witnesses."
So they were witnesses,
the apostles were witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus,
and today, you hear this story,
Jesus is resurrected, he is alive,
and he is seated at the right of his Father in heaven.
So,
since Jesus paid for our sins,
and he is resurrected,
he has the power to defeat death.
That's how he paid for the gift of eternal life.
How to obtain this eternal life?
Well, like any gift,
you have the choice.
You can either accept it,
or refuse it.
The Bible says in Romans 6, 23,
"For the gift of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord."
So you can choose to accept this gift
by faith, because you don't see Jesus today,
you don't see, you didn't see him resurrected,
and you hear this Gospel,
and you can decide to believe if you want.
And you accept this gift by faith,
and you accept this gift by faith.
The Bible says in John 3, 16,
"For God loved the world so much
that he gave his only begotten son,
so that whoever believes in him
will not perish,
but that he is eternal life."
Here, it is mentioned,
whoever believes in him.
It is not mentioned at all
to go to church, or to be baptized,
or to do good deeds.
Of course, these things are good,
but when it comes to salvation and eternal life,
it is only mentioned whoever believes in him.
That is to say, whoever has faith in Jesus,
whoever believes that Jesus died on the cross,
that he was crucified,
and that he is resurrected to pay for our sins.
If you believe this,
the Bible says you have eternal life.
So this is how you receive the gift of God,
this is how you receive eternal life.
The Bible says in Romans 10, verse 9,
"That if you confess in your mouth the Lord Jesus,
and that you believe in your heart
that God has resurrected you from the dead,
you will be saved."
If you confess in your mouth the Lord Jesus,
that is to say, if you admit to being a sinner
in danger of hell, condemned to hell,
and that you confess that Jesus
has indeed paid for your sins on the cross,
and that he is resurrected,
of course,
you also have to believe in your heart,
it has to come from the heart.
The Bible says,
"If you confess in your mouth the Lord Jesus,
and that you believe in your heart that God has resurrected you from the dead,
you will be saved."
This is a promise.
It doesn't say, maybe,
"With a little luck, you will be saved."
No, it says, "You will be saved."
This is a promise of God.
This is why it says, in verse 13,
"For whoever invokes the name of the Lord will be saved."
If you ask him,
he promises to save you and give you eternal life.
And in the same way that you have not done anything
to deserve this eternal life,
there is nothing you can do
to lose this gift
that you have received.
Someone who believes in Jesus,
even if he commits sin later,
and he will surely commit it because we sin every day,
God has given this gift.
And we used to say when we were children,
we said,
"Give is given, take is stolen."
And since God has given you eternal life,
if you have asked him,
he cannot take it back because God is just.
Once he has given you a gift,
it is forever.
To assure you of this,
let's read what Jesus said in John chapter 10,
verse 27 to 30,
"But the sheep hear my voice,
and I know them,
and they follow me."
The sheep are the believers.
They are the people who have invoked the name of the Lord,
as the Bible says.
They are the people who believe in Jesus Christ.
"But the sheep hear my voice,
and I know them,
and they follow me.
And I give them eternal life,
and they will never perish.
My Father who gave them to me
is greater than all,
and no one can please them
by the hand of my Father.
Me and my Father, we are one."
So when you believe in Jesus Christ,
when you are a believer,
when you have believed in the Gospel,
the Bible says,
"Jesus holds you in his hand,
and no one can tear you off."
Because it does not depend on you,
but he is the one who holds you.
In the same way, you are in the hand of his Father,
so he holds you,
and there is nothing you can do
to get out of it.
No one can tear you off,
because it depends on him,
and it is he with his power who holds you back.
That is why when you are saved,
you are always saved, and you can have peace.
By the way, God says,
"I will not remember their sins
or their iniquities."
That is why you are saved forever,
and you have peace with Jesus.
All your sins are forgiven and forgotten.
So, if you have believed in these things,
I would like to invite you
to make a prayer.
I can help you make a prayer.
If you believe that Jesus died for you on the cross
and that he is resurrected,
why not pray with me now?
This is what you can say to Jesus.
Dear Jesus,
I recognize being a sinner
and deserve to go to hell.
But I believe that you died for me on the cross
and that you are resurrected.
I ask you, please,
to forgive me
and give me eternal life.
Glory to you. Thank you.
Amen.
If you prayed this prayer
and believed in it in your heart,
you are saved.
Congratulations and glory to God.