Hey, how's it going ma'am? Hey, how you doing?
Hey, good. We just want to give you an invite to our church. We're from Steadfast Baptist Church.
Okay. Do you go to church anywhere?
Uh, what's your wish? What is it?
What's your wish? Okay.
Hey, more importantly than coming to church, we'd just like to ask everybody a really important question.
And that's God forbid if you were to pass away today, are you 100% sure that you'd be going to heaven?
Or do you think you might have some doubts about it?
I don't got no doubts about it. Okay, I'm glad to hear that.
What do you think that it takes to get there in your view?
Mmm, to be honest.
To be honest? Okay.
So, a lot of people think that salvation is by believing in Christ alone.
Some people think it's by living a good life. Some people think both.
Which one do you think you believe?
Both. Both? Okay.
Now, of course, God cares very much how we live our lives.
But when it comes to getting to heaven, the Bible actually says it's a free gift.
So it's not based on how good you are, because the truth is that all of us are sinners, right?
Exactly. So the Bible actually says it's a free gift.
If you had a couple minutes, I'd love to show you just straight from the Bible.
That way you can know 100% sure that you're going to heaven.
And it's not my opinion, I'll just show you exactly what the Bible says.
You want to see that real quick? Awesome.
So, starting off here, the first thing I'd like to show you is in Romans.
The Bible says here,
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
No one's perfect, right?
Because we've all sinned, because we've all broken God's commandments,
the Bible says that we all have a punishment that we deserve from God.
In Romans chapter 6, it says,
For the wages of sin is death.
So when we die, there's one of two places we can go.
Heaven or where?
Hell.
Hell, exactly. Do you believe hell is a real place?
You don't think it is? Okay.
Oh, you're saying it's hell.
Do you think hell is real? That's what I'm asking.
Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
How would you describe hell? What do you think hell is like?
I don't know.
All I know is that hell is hot.
That's true. That is true.
I just like to ask people that question because sometimes people think hell is just like a state of mental torture or something like that.
But real quick, let me show you. The Bible explains what hell is like.
People that are in hell, it says,
He shall be tormented with fire and brimstones. Like you said, it's hot.
In the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb,
and the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever,
and they have no rest day nor night.
So it's a terrible place. I don't want anyone to go there.
That's why we're out here talking to people.
But the Bible does give us a list of the type of people that will be going to hell someday.
In Revelation 21, it says right here,
But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters.
That's a really bad list, right?
But notice right here. How's it going, sir?
Notice right here, it says,
And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
You know, I know I've told a lie before. Have you ever told a lie before?
Everyone has, right?
And so, like, here's the bad news.
What this verse is teaching us is that every single person, if we got what we deserved, would go to hell.
But, do you think God wants us to go to hell?
Of course not, right? Because God loves us.
The Bible explains that God loved us in a very specific way.
In Romans 5, the Bible says,
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
So, God loves us very much. He doesn't want us to go to hell.
So, the plan that he came up with in order to bring humanity salvation was he gave us his son, Jesus Christ, who was born of the virgin, Mary.
And since his mother was a virgin, he had no earthly father because his real father was God in heaven.
So, the reason why that's important is because that made Jesus very special.
He was 100% human being, just like us, but he was also 100% God in the flesh.
Do you believe Jesus is God? Absolutely. Really important.
And since he is God, of course, he lived his whole life never sinning.
So, you and I and Devin, we probably sin every single day of our life.
We're just, you know, sinners. That's what we are.
But Jesus, he lived his entire life perfectly, never sinning once, completely fulfilling the law,
fulfilling all the prophecies in the Old Testament.
When he was 30, he started his ministry, he did miracles, rose people from the dead,
walked on water, healed people, did all these great things.
And, of course, he preached the Word of God.
And because of what he preached, the Jews hated him.
And they ended up lying about him and putting him on the cross, right?
And they tortured him, they spit on him, they made fun of him.
They pierced his hands and his feet and pierced his side
and basically tortured him to death and killed him on the cross.
Do you know why it is, though, that Jesus had to die on the cross?
No.
The Bible says that he basically died, not for our sins only,
but also for the sins of the whole world.
So, when Jesus was on the cross, he died for every single person's sins,
past, present, and future, for all time, all humanity.
He took all of the sins in his own body.
His body was buried, and he was in the tomb for three days and three nights.
And when his body was buried, the Bible says that his soul went somewhere for three days and three nights.
Do you think it was heaven or hell?
Hell.
I'm sorry?
It's all heaven.
So, he did eventually go to heaven, but I want to show you this right here.
This is very interesting.
It says, He seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption.
Now, you might be thinking, well, why would Jesus have gone to hell if he's God
and if he's perfect, he never sinned, he doesn't deserve to go there.
But remember, where is it that we deserve to go because of our sin?
Heaven.
Well, that's where we want to go.
That's where we want to go, but...
But where do we deserve to go?
Hell.
Exactly, right?
Our sin has caused us to deserve a punishment from God.
That punishment is hell.
But, Jesus loves us so much that he lived the perfect life that you and I couldn't live.
He died on the cross for all of our sins, which we can't do that, right?
Right.
He was buried for three days and three nights, and then his soul descended into hell,
and he paid the punishment that you and I deserve, that way we don't have to go there.
Right.
It's pretty amazing, right?
But he didn't stay dead.
You know what happened to Jesus three days after he died?
He rose again from the dead.
That's why we celebrate Easter, is because we're celebrating the fact that Jesus physically came back from the dead.
You've heard that before, haven't you?
Absolutely, yeah.
So that's really important to believe because that's really the whole crux of our salvation,
is on whether or not we believe that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead,
because if he died and he never rose again, then he's just like any other man, right?
I'm going to die.
We're all going to die.
Right.
But Jesus died and came back to life, and showing himself to be God.
But here's my question.
Just because Jesus died and was buried and rose again,
do you think that means everybody just automatically goes to heaven now, no matter what?
No.
There's only one thing we have to do to get to heaven.
It's right here in Acts 16.
This question is asked.
It says,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Saying, how do I escape hell?
This is the answer.
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Now notice, does that say go to church and you'll be saved?
No.
Live a good life and you'll be saved?
No.
Help old ladies cross the street and you'll be saved?
No, right?
No.
The only thing we have to do to be saved is believe.
But, what does it mean to believe?
It doesn't just mean that you believe he exists, right?
Because let's say that there were some cops over there and I say, hey, I believe those cops exist.
Does that mean that I trust them?
No.
No, right?
So, getting to heaven, of course you have to believe Jesus exists.
Of course you have to believe he's real.
But what it means to believe in him is that you're putting your trust in what he did for salvation.
So, believing in him is trusting that what he did on the cross for you is 100% sufficient to take you to heaven,
not the things that we do.
Because here's what a lot of Christians are doing.
They think, oh, of course I believe in Jesus, but I have to get baptized to get to heaven.
I have to repent of all my sins.
I have to go to church every week.
I have to pay my tithe, otherwise I'm not really saved.
And what they're doing is they're saying, Jesus, your sacrifice wasn't good enough.
I have to help you get myself to heaven by my good works.
But you see how that doesn't work.
Because you and I are still sinners, so we can't bring our works to God and expect that to get us to heaven.
The Bible explains it more in Ephesians 2.
Right here it says,
For by grace, and that's something we don't deserve, grace is something we don't deserve,
are ye saved through faith, that's believing in Christ, trusting in him,
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, notice this, not of works, lest any man should boast.
So the Bible is saying you're not getting to heaven by the good works that you do,
otherwise you'd be able to boast or brag, right?
What if I said to you, hey ma'am, I'm going to heaven because I'm such an awesome guy,
I go to church, I save cats out of trees, I feed the homeless, I do good works,
who am I trusting in, Jesus or myself?
Myself.
Right? Because I'm telling you all the things that I'm doing, right?
What if I said, hey ma'am, I'm not that great of a person, I'm a sinner,
but I believe Jesus died on the cross for my sins, he was buried and rose again,
and I'm only trusting him to get me to heaven, now who am I trusting in? Jesus or myself?
Myself.
Well in that case, I would be trusting in Jesus, right?
Oh, okay, okay, yeah.
Yeah, exactly. Because I'm saying I'm trusting in what he did for me, not the things that I do.
I did, okay.
Yeah, exactly. So look, that's literally all you have to do to be saved,
is change where you're putting your trust.
Some people are putting their trust in their religion,
some people are putting their trust in the fact that their dad was a pastor,
some people are putting their trust in the fact that they think they're a pretty good person.
We have to take all of that off of ourselves, but 100% in Jesus Christ.
You know the most famous verse in the Bible says,
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.
What does it take to get to heaven? Believing in Jesus Christ.
Trusting in Jesus Christ.
So you know, so far I've shown you that we're all sinners,
and because we're all sinners, we deserve to go to hell,
but God doesn't want us to go there, so He gave us His Son,
and He died on the cross, He rose again, and if we believe in Him, we're saved.
But also the Bible explains that this salvation that we're talking about is a gift.
I want to show that to you. It says,
For the wages of sin is death, that's the bad news that we deserve hell.
It says, But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So the Bible says that God wants to give us a gift, it's called eternal life,
and you can only get it through one person, Jesus Christ.
So what if I said, hey ma'am, I want to give you this Bible as a free gift.
All you have to do is pay me $100. Would that be a gift?
No. Of course not, right? Why?
Because you're paying him one dollar for the gift.
Exactly.
Hey, I want to give you this Bible as a totally free gift, but you have to wash my car.
Is that a gift? No. Of course not, because you're working for it, right?
So think about it, same thing with salvation.
God is not saying, here is the free gift of eternal life, going to heaven,
all you have to do is repent of all your sins, follow all the commandments,
live a good life, go to church, that wouldn't be a gift, right?
And also, the Bible says here that that gift is eternal.
How long does eternal last for?
How long? Forever.
Forever. That's what eternal means. Forever.
So let me ask you this question.
Let's say that someone believes in Jesus Christ, but they commit a really big sin, right?
So here's an example of a really big sin. How about adultery?
Cheating on your spouse, that's a big sin in the Bible.
So let's say a man believes in Jesus Christ, and he has put his trust in him for salvation, but he commits adultery.
Do you think that God would then take away his salvation, or do you think he would still be saved?
Let me use a different example.
Let's say someone has put their faith in Christ for salvation.
They believe in him, right?
But something really bad happens in their life, someone does something that really makes them mad,
and in a fit of anger, they kill someone.
That's a big sin, murder, right?
Do you think that God would then take away their salvation and send them to hell,
or do you think that they would still be saved?
They'd still be saved?
Why is that?
I guess because they forgive him for his sins.
Yeah, exactly. You got it exactly right.
So here's the thing.
When Jesus died, do you think that he died for just our little sins, or also for our big sins?
Our big sins.
All sins, right?
And then we already mentioned how when we get saved, it's called eternal life,
and so that means it lasts for forever, right?
So if you were saved, but then you lost your salvation five years from now, then it wasn't really eternal, was it?
And God's not going to lie to you, God's not going to change his mind.
Once he says you're saved, you're saved.
And that's what I want to show you is that Jesus actually said three times in one verse
that you can never lose your salvation, no matter what.
So check this out. He says,
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life.
How long does everlasting last for?
Forever, right? So if I have it today, will I have it ten years from now?
How about a thousand years from now? Absolutely, right?
Not only that, he says, and shall not come into condemnation.
Condemnation just means hell.
So he says, not only, if you believe in me, do you have everlasting life, but you'll also never go to hell.
And it says, but is passed from death unto life.
So the moment you put your faith in Jesus Christ, at that moment, you're passed from death unto life.
It's not a process of cleaning up your life.
It's not a process of doing good works, and hopefully someday you'll be good enough to get to heaven.
All it is, is just one moment in time, trusting him, and you're saved for forever.
It's kind of like this. Do you have kids?
Yes.
How many children do you have?
Four.
Me too, awesome. Right on.
So think about this. When our kids do bad, we correct them because we love them, right?
Right.
We don't want them in the future to have to suffer the consequences from those bad actions.
We want them to learn and become better people.
But, when they do bad, do we still love them?
Yes.
Of course, right?
Now, no matter what my daughters do, I will always love them.
Whether they are good or bad, I will always love them, no matter what.
And I hope that they do good, but even if they do bad, I still love them.
It's the same thing with God.
Once we get saved, the Bible says that we become His children.
In John, right here it says,
But as many as received Him, so whoever believes in Christ, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
So once you believe in Jesus Christ, you are His son or His daughter.
And, as a good loving father, if we sin after we're saved, God's going to spank us on this earth, right?
But He's never going to send us to hell. Why?
Because He forgives our sins.
Exactly right. Because He's forgiven us of our sins and because we're His children and He'll always love us, right?
So, I'll punish my children, but I'll never kick them out of the house.
I want them to do better, but I'll always love them, no matter what.
And that's why, if you sin after you're saved, you'll never lose your salvation.
He could punish you on this earth, but He'll never cause you to lose your salvation.
So I just have one more thing to show you. Let me do a quick recap.
So, in the beginning, I said that we've all sinned, and because we've all sinned, where do we deserve to go?
Not where do we want to go, where do we deserve to go?
Hell.
Hell, exactly. But, God loves us, He doesn't want us to go there.
So what did He do for us, so that way we don't have to go to hell?
He died for our sins.
That's right. Jesus died for our sins, and He didn't stay dead. What happened to Him after He died?
He rose.
He rose again, that's right. And what is it that we have to do to get to heaven?
Do right.
Well, let's think about it. Remember when we talked about how salvation is not of works, otherwise we'd be able to boast, right?
So let me show you this.
If salvation was by doing right, we wouldn't make it to heaven because we can't do right all the time.
Right.
Because we're sinners, right?
So the Bible actually says right here in Romans chapter number 4, excuse us, it says right here in Romans 4, it says,
But to him that worketh not, so this person doesn't do any good works, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.
So he doesn't do good works, but he does believe in Jesus Christ. His faith is counted for righteousness.
So in the eyes of God, if someone believes in Jesus Christ, he views them as being completely righteous, completely holy,
not because of our good works, but because of Jesus' good works.
And when I believe on Jesus Christ, His righteousness is now shared with me.
And God sees me as clean, holy, righteous because of what His Son did.
So I just want to make sure that you understand this.
Do you think that people are saved by grace, by trusting in Jesus, or do you think it's by living a good life?
Trust in Jesus.
Exactly, that's right.
Of course I want you to live a good life, but if you never lived a good life, but you did believe in Jesus, where would you go when you die?
Heaven.
That's right, that's right.
So once someone believes in Jesus Christ, how long are they saved for?
Forever.
Forever. Can you ever lose that?
Nope.
Nope. God will always love us.
He'll chase in us, but He'll always love us, okay?
So here, this whole time I've been telling you that all we have to do to get to Heaven is believe in Jesus Christ.
But the question is, how do we believe in Him?
This is how we believe in Him.
It says, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Right here it says, for whosoever, that's me and you, right?
It says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
All you have to do to make sure for 100% certainty that when you die you'll go to Heaven, is you have to call upon the name of the Lord.
And so what I'd like to do with you real quick, if you believe this, is just ask you to pray with me, and ask Jesus to give you that free gift of eternal life.
And you can just repeat after me, is that okay?
Okay, awesome, just repeat after me.
Dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner.
I know I deserve hell.
But I believe you died.
I believe you died.
On the cross.
For my sins.
That you were buried.
And buried.
And rose again.
I'm only trusting you.
Not myself.
Please save me now.
Amen.