Hi, how ya doin'? Pastor Steve Anderson, just wanted to invite you to Faith Forward Baptist Church. Do you go to church anywhere, or?
Uh, yeah, I go to Grace Community Church.
Oh, okay, yeah, right here on Southern Avenue? Well, listen, more important than going to church, though, if you were to die today, are you 100% sure that you're going to heaven?
Uh, well, I think so. I'm a pretty good person.
Okay, well, could I just take a couple minutes and show you how you can know that 100% for sure?
Sure.
Okay, well, let me just show you this real quick. It's only going to take a few minutes, but the Bible says right here in Romans 3.23, it says,
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So we all have sinned.
Right, of course.
I've sinned, you've sinned. Okay, and not only that, but the Bible says we come short. So do we measure up to what God expects? No, I mean, we come short, and we've all sinned.
Well, there's a punishment for our sin. The Bible says right here in Romans 6.23, it says, For the wages of sin is death. So what's God's punishment for our sin?
Death.
Okay, well, look, after we die, though, that's not the end, okay? After we die, there's what the Bible talks about, the second death. I'm going to show you that right here in Revelation 20, verse 14.
It says, And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. So after you die, there's a second death of going to a place called hell, which is the lake of fire, where you're basically punished and tortured for your sin.
I mean, you have to pay for all your sins you've done your whole life. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Then right over here, it says, Look, all liars. Now, have you ever told a lie before?
Yeah, I think everybody has.
Everybody has. I mean, every single person. But it says, All liars shall have their part. It lists all these other sins. But then it says, Even all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
So according to this verse, where are all liars going?
According to that verse, it says they're going to hell.
Okay, but look, God loves us, right?
Yeah.
Do you think if God loves us, does he want us to go to hell?
No.
So because God loves us, but do you think that he just said that and he didn't mean it?
I mean, obviously, if it's in the Bible, he meant that. That's the punishment that we deserve for our sins.
But because God loves us, he doesn't want us to have to pay that punishment.
So here's what God did for us. It says in Romans 5-8, But God commended his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Okay, so what that basically is talking about, you know, God himself became a human being.
Jesus Christ, you know, he was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, never sinned.
He lived a perfect life none of us could live, okay?
And of course, you know the story, they lied about him, they arrested him, they beat him, they spit on him, nailed him to the cross, okay?
Well, when he was nailed to the cross, the Bible says he, who himself bear our sins in his own body on the tree.
So what it means when it says he bear our sins in his own body, every sin you've ever done in your whole life, every sin I've ever done,
when Jesus was on that cross, it was as if he had done it, okay?
And so he was being punished for murder, for stealing, for lying, all the sins that we and everyone else in the whole world committed,
he never sinned, but he bore our sins in his own body.
Well, when he died on the cross, he was being punished for our sins, okay?
They took his body, they buried it in a tomb, his soul went down to hell for three days and three nights, he was punished for our sins.
What happened three days later?
He rose again.
He rose again from the dead, exactly.
So, now look, do you believe that Jesus died for everybody?
Yeah.
Okay, well you're right, because the Bible says that he died not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
But do you think everybody's going to heaven though?
No.
Probably not, right?
Okay, well look, I'm going to show you what the difference is, because obviously everybody's not going to heaven.
What is it that determines who goes and who doesn't?
I'm going to show you right now.
It says right here in Acts 16, verse 30, it says,
And brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Pretty good question, right?
Yeah.
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
Now, what does that say that you have to do in order to be saved?
It says, uh, believe.
Believe on the Lord Jesus?
Yeah.
Does that say that you have to go to church?
No.
Does it say that you have to be baptized?
No.
Does it say that you have to give up any of your sins or be willing to give up sin?
Turn your life around.
Turn over a new leaf.
Does it say anything like that?
What does it say you have to do?
It says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
Now look, I'm going to show you the most famous verse in the whole Bible.
John 3 16.
The Bible says right here,
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever,
that means whoever,
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
And look at verse 18.
He that believeth on Him is not condemned,
but he that believeth not is condemned already.
Why?
Because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Now look, we see this from those three verses.
I mean, I could show you hundreds,
but the point is that it says that everyone who believes on Jesus Christ will be saved.
I mean, it says here, whosoever believeth.
He that believeth is not condemned.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
Now, does that say whosoever is good enough?
Whosoever lives a good life?
Joins the church?
No.
It says whosoever believeth in Him.
Now, did you notice how it,
well, let me show you one more verse,
but did you notice how it says believe on?
He that believeth on Him is not condemned?
And it said in Acts 16 31,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We would normally think of believe in.
Believe in would be,
well, I believe that Jesus is real,
you know, He died on the cross, and so forth.
When you're saying you believe on Him,
it means you're putting your faith on Him to get you to Heaven.
You don't think you're going to Heaven because of anything that you're doing.
You're a sinner.
You're putting your faith on Him to save you.
But I'm going to show you one last verse that kind of ties the whole thing together.
And this will wrap up the whole thing.
It says right here,
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now, is a gift something you have to earn or is it free?
A gift is free.
Exactly.
Now, look, who pays for a gift?
The giver or the receiver?
The person giving the gift.
Who's giving us eternal life?
God is.
So who's got to pay for it?
God does.
He already paid for it.
When He shed His blood on the cross,
Jesus Christ paid for our salvation.
He paid for our eternal life.
Now, look, if I were to give you the gift,
What's your name, by the way?
Dave.
Okay, if I said, Dave, I'm going to give you this Bible as a gift,
but I need you to give me $5.
Is that a gift?
No.
Okay, what if I said,
Okay, Dave, I'm going to give it to you for free,
but I need you to wash my car?
It's still a gift.
If you have to do any work for it, it's not a gift.
Okay.
But what if I said, I'm giving this to you for free?
Just take it.
Now, look, who does that Bible belong to now that I gave it to you?
It's yours now.
Now, can I come back anytime I want and just take it away from me?
No.
No?
If I come back like a few months from now and you've done something wrong to me,
could I just come in your house and just take this and take it away?
No.
No, it belongs to you.
That would make me what?
A thief.
A thief and a liar.
Well, look, the Bible says right here that God has given to us eternal life.
It says in 1 John 5, 10 Acts,
that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son.
Now, if God gave it to us, then it belongs to us, okay?
He's not going to take it away from you.
What I'm trying to say is you can't lose your salvation.
I mean, once you're saved, it's eternal life.
Do you know what eternal means?
Forever.
So, if you get it and it lasts forever, how many times do you think you have to get that?
Once.
One time.
Could you ever lose it?
No.
I mean, think about it.
If I said, Dave, I'm giving you this Bible forever,
and then I took it back for any reason,
was I telling the truth when I said I was giving it to you forever?
No.
So, if I say I'm giving it to you forever, it better last forever, okay?
So, God has given to us eternal life, that's going to last forever.
You can't lose it.
Jesus said it this way, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee, okay?
So, no matter if you quit church, even if you did something awful, like kill somebody or even kill yourself, okay?
God will not take away your salvation.
Because look, you weren't good enough to get saved anyway.
We come short.
We're sinners.
The only reason that we're going to heaven is through the blood of Jesus.
And so, you can't be good enough to get saved.
You don't have to be good to stay saved.
I mean, it's by grace through faith, okay?
So, once you're saved, you're always saved.
It's eternal life.
It's a gift, okay?
And as soon as God took it back, he's a liar.
And God, the Bible says, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie, promised before the world began.
So, you can't lose it.
So, let me ask you this, Dave.
Do you believe you've sinned?
Yes.
Okay.
Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins?
Yes.
And you believe he rose again from the dead?
Uh-huh.
Okay.
Now, according to what I showed you in the Bible right here,
if you were to ask Jesus to save you right now, would he do it?
Yeah.
And how long would you be saved?
Forever.
No matter.
What if you do something terrible?
It's eternal.
You can't lose it.
It's a gift, okay?
So, look.
What I want to do, Dave, you said you believe that if you were to pray and ask Jesus to save you right now, he'd do it.
You'd be saved forever.
I want to help you pray that right now, okay?
I just want to help you tell God that that's what you believe so that you'll know that you're going to heaven.
You can just ask to be saved right now.
Let's bow our heads right now.
Just repeat this after me, okay?
Okay.
And pray this to God.
Go ahead and bow your head and just pray this with me.
Dear Jesus.
I know I'm a sinner.
I know I deserve to go to hell.
But I believe that you died on the cross for me.
And rose again.
Please save me right now.
And give me eternal life.
I'm only trusting you, Jesus.
Amen.
All right.
Now, you meant that, right?
That's all the Bible says that you have to do to be saved.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, let me ask you this.
Do you have a Bible?
Um...
No.