What about hell?
Eternal Realities (2nd Co. 4:16-18)
Good morning. Do you believe in a literal hell? An American survey revealed that just one-half of 1% expects to go to Hell upon their death. Try to talk to someone about hell and the reply you get will not be positive. Jesus talked about hell more that heaven.
One person told me that they believed when you die that is it. The world teaches there is no literal hell. That is the message your children are getting out there. Is there an afterlife? Let’s listen to common beliefs in our world.
Everybody wants to know the answer to that question. What happens after I die?
The Bible tells us what we see is not going to last. My body is not going to last. That’s obvious. This building is not going to last, that is obvious. Our cars are rusting out.
The things that are going to last are things we can’t see. We can’t see God, angels, God’s Holy Spirit, heaven. The Bible says those things are going to last forever. The Apostle Paul says ‘fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
Paul’s point is spiritual realities are forever; physical realities are temporary.
What are the realities of life that the Bible teaches?
First I want us to look at five spiritual realities. We’ve covered these in the Purpose Driven Life but they are foundational.
1. The first reality of life is this: God made you to love you.
And He wants you to learn to love Him back.
You were made by God and you were made for God. Until you understand that, life isn’t going to make sense. Life is all about God and His glory. There has never been a person made that God doesn’t love, so show God’s love to everyone you meet. Not only does God love you, He’s given you the capacity to learn to love Him back. That’s the first purpose of life – to learn to love God back.
Jesus summarized all the great commandments “Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.” It’s all about love. So God says I made you to love you and I want you to learn to love Me back.
God says this in the book of Jeremiah 31:3 “I have loved you with an everlasting love. And with unfailing love I have drawn you to Myself.” God loves you. So don’t pull away from God because He wants you to know and love Him back.
2. The second great reality of life is this: you were made to last forever.
One day your heart, my heart is going to stop. But it is certainly not going to be the end of me. The Bible says that God made you. It says this in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “God has planted eternity in the human heart.” That’s why everyone has a spiritual longing, an emptiness inside. Many people think ‘there’s got to be more than this.’
They are right. It is heaven. You’re going to spend far more time on the other side of death than on this side. But life after death is forever.
When you watch the Olympics they have years of preparation for the real event. This life is the warm up act for heaven, the real event. Make things right with every Christian here and now. You’re going to spend all eternity together living in the same house – heaven.
The Bible says that life is preparation for eternity. And He put eternity in your heart. You were made to last forever.
3. The third great reality is that God has prepared two eternal places – heaven and hell.
Heaven is real and hell is real. They are not like the movies – a place to float around in the clouds. That is boring. They are literal places. There’s a real place called heaven and there is a real place called hell.
Jesus said this in John 14:2-3 “I’m going to prepare a place for you.”
Heaven is not an accident. It’s a prepared place. He says “I’m going to prepare a place for you.
And who is heaven prepared for? It says, for you. God prepared it for His family. He says “And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am you may be also.” He says where I’m going I want you to go too. Heaven is a place in the presence of God.
Earth is not your permanent resting spot. Red Lake is not your permanent home. I’m grateful that we don’t live forever on this planet. Why? Because this planet is broken because of sin, suffering, sorrow, sickness, evil.
In my line of work I hear a lot of negativity – I see the brokenness of sin.
You can pretend you have it all together and so can I. But we do not fool God, and really were not fooling others. There’s nothing perfect on this planet except the word of God. No relationship is perfect, no job is perfect, no body works perfectly, and I have news for you – no church works perfectly. Not one, so relax.
Heaven is a real place, without sin and brokenness, and I am going there soon.
But hell is also a real place. Notice what the Bible says, “Jesus said, ‘Then He [God] will say to those on His left ‘Depart from Me you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’”
Satan’s angels are called demons. Satan rebelled against God. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. It wasn’t originally intended for human beings.
I shudder to think of people eternally lost. Does it ever bother you? Are you in prayer for your family, friends, co-workers, and this whole area?
If I choose to rebel against God – just like Satan did – rejecting Jesus and saying “I’m going to be my own god, I’m going to do what I want to do, then I rebel like Satan, I go where Satan goes. There is a real heaven and there is a real hell.
4. Here’s the fourth reality: you get to choose where you’ll spend eternity.
God says this to the people of Israel, “Today, I’m giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse. You’ll be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God. Or you’ll receive a curse if you reject Me and My commands.”
God says “if you walk in my ways then you’ll live and you’ll multiply and I will bless you. But if your heart turns away from Me to worship other things, then disaster will come.”
Why would anybody worship other things besides God? Because we want to, choose to. We can worship our car, boat, camper, career, leisure time, status or sex, or people. Some churches worship pastors; don’t do that.
Here is what some of you do. Some of you worship your salary. Some of you worship possessions. Some of you esteem position or power or prestige or popularity. Don’t do that, because when you do that is your god.
God says… if your heart turns away from Me to worship other things and to serve them, then you will perish. Therefore choose life. Choose life that you may live.”
Let me give you an example of this. Let’s suppose you were an alcoholic (we have many functioning alcoholics in this area). Your life is falling apart. You’re hurting those around you. Let’s imagine that things get so bad you lose your job and you’re on the street. One time I met such a man named Les.
I approached Les and felt pity. I took him home to our house.
I gave him a shower. I bought him some new clothes. I brought him to our church. The communion went by and he just shook. So I asked the elders to serve grape juice instead of wine. They were gracious and agreed. Eventually Les went back to the streets and I never saw him again – but will in heaven one day.
Let’s carry this a little further. I want you to imagine you are Les. Now here is what I am going to do for you.
I’m going to let you live with me at my house. You can become a part of my family. In fact, I’m going to adopt you. You can take the Hamel name. I’m going to pay off all your debts that you owe because you spent all that money on booze. And I’m actually going to give you my credit card and you have access to the entire resources of our family.
I’m doing this simply because I love you. You don’t deserve it, you cannot earn it, and you don’t work for it. I just love you and I want to show you grace.
“However if you live in my house as a part of my family there are some house rules. You’ve got to abide by these rules if you’re going to live in my house and be a part of my family. Rule number one is this: we don’t want alcohol or drugs in our home. We don’t do these things at all. So if you’re going to live here remember we don’t do booze and drugs in our home.”
Let me ask you some questions about that. Is it reasonable for me to expect that person to abide by the family house rules? Yes. I’m just showing them grace. If they’re going to live in my house then they ought to live by the rules that I set up. It’s my house.
If you say, “Thank you for your offer but I’m going to choose to live on the streets because the truth is I love hard liquor and drugs. I’m not willing to give them up to be in your family. Because I love these vices. So I’m going to choose to live on the street in spite of your gracious offer.”
If you turn me down, would that be my fault? No. It would be your fault. Could you blame me for being unloving? No. I have done the loving thing to offer to help you get out of the situation. You couldn’t blame me for being unloving.
Let’s apply that same logic to going to heaven. Because I hear people all the time say “How could a loving God send people to hell?” God doesn’t send people to hell. You choose to go there.
It’s like there’s two doors in eternity. One goes to heaven, one goes to hell. The one that goes to heaven says, “You come to Jesus. This is the house rule. He’s already paid for your way to heaven. He’s already forgiven you. All you’ve got to do is accept Jesus and his work on the cross. It’s a free gift of grace and you go to heaven.” If you want to go to hell, you just do your own thing. You say, “I’m going to be my own god. I’m going to run my own life.”
If I choose to walk out this door I certainly can’t blame God. He’s done everything possible for me to go to heaven. He’s already paid it all on the cross.
If I say “Thank you, no. I’d rather stick with what I love more,” then that’s not God’s fault. That’s my fault. It is a choice.
Does God have a right to make house rules for His house? Yeah. It’s His house. In heaven He has a right to say, if you want to come to heaven here’s how you get here. How do you get here? Not by earning it. Not by working for it. Not by being good. But simply by accepting the grace that His Son did for you by dying on the cross for you.
If I reject His condition for entering heaven, He’s not being unloving. I’m just being foolish, illogical. We cannot blame God. It is our choice.
The reality is there are no second chances after you die. That is why we need to pray and work together as a church. I am not here to play games with you or anyone else. I know why God called me here. Eternity is at stake.
You get to choose where you’re going to spend eternity. But you have to choose now while you’re alive, not after you’re dead. God says, “I gave you an entire lifetime to make the right decision and you didn’t take it. You kept procrastinating.
So there is no halfway house between heaven and hell. There’s no purgatory.
Now I, like some of you, was raised a Catholic. After I became a Christian I found out the word Purgatory is not in the Bible. It’s not something that Jesus or Paul taught. It’s something that was created eight hundred years ago in the middle ages.
Pope John Paul II stated in a very public way that purgatory was not a real place. Why? Because it’s not in the Bible.
When Jesus was crucified the criminal on the cross next to him had a deathbed conversion. While dying he said “Jesus remember me when You come into paradise.” He didn’t know all the doctrines, fancy words. He just said yes, to Jesus. And he is in heaven now.
What does it take to get into heaven? You say Yes to Jesus Christ. He says, today. Not next week. Not next month. Not in three or four years. No, He says today. The moment you die you either go straight to heaven or you go straight to hell. You choose now. God is doing everything to make sure you get into heaven.
The Bible says “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” The Bible says, “They will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous will go into eternal life.” The reality is there are two places.
Friends, this is so important. Your eternal destiny depends on this. I want everybody to be absolutely certain when we finish here today that if you died today you’re going to heaven. You can settle that issue today. So I want you to listen as if your life depends on it, because it does.
I want to ask four questions: why does hell exist? What is it like? How do I avoid it? (That’s the important one.) And what do I do once I know all of this?
1. First, why does hell exist?
There are two fundamental reasons.
The first is because sin and evil exist.
My mother taught me people are basically good. Is that true?
Have you turned on your television? Have you picked up a newspaper? I wish you could see all the broken relationships, broken promises, rape, abuse, murder, child molestation, all kinds of evil, people that I met who have suffered. I count it a privilege to give them the hope of Jesus Christ. The world is filled with evil.
We know that the world is filled with evil. And evil things happen. Young people are paying the price of a godless nation. Also were selfish by nature, not good.
What was true in Noah’s day is still true today. Genesis 8:5-6 “The Lord observed the extent of people’s wickedness and He saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally evil. And God was sorry that He had ever made mankind and it broke His heart.” God said “What a mess they’ve made of this! Look what they do to themselves and one another. What they did to the planet that I gave them. They’ve really made a mess of everything.”
That is the way God feels today and it “breaks His heart.”
When people say to me, “Where is God when people get molested, abused, betrayed, where is God? I’ll tell you what He’s doing. He’s weeping. He’s grieving. He’s brokenhearted. You say, “Why doesn’t He just stop it.” He could. God could eliminate all the evil in the world – just get rid of all of us. Where do you think it comes from? It comes from our poor choices.
Can you say you’ve always made every decision right that’s never hurt anybody else! No and neither can I. We hurt each other.
God gave us a free will. That is our greatest gift. It’s also our worst curse. Because we don’t always make wise choices. Then we get into trouble and seek counsel from people who do not know the Lord.
God gave us a free will – we often choose the wrong thing. As a result people get hurt – intentionally and unintentionally.
God could take away all the sin, all the suffering, all the sickness and all the evil in the world with a blink of an eye. All He has to do is take away your free will. And mine too.
Why does God give us a free will?
I’ll tell you why. Because He wanted you to choose to love Him not be forced to love Him. It’s not real love if you’re forced to do it. If you are forced to love me, it’s not real love. If I’m forced to love you, it’s not real love. Love is only love if you can choose not to love. God gives you the free choice. You don’t have to love God. You don’t have to trust God, obey God, and follow in His ways. You don’t have to fulfill the purpose He created for you.
As I look at you young people my prayer is that you will choose to love God. He wants us to choose to do right. God wanted a family that would choose to live with Him forever.
That can’t be possible unless we’re allowed to do the wrong thing.
So free will is our greatest blessing and our greatest curse. We need to understand that God allows sin on earth simply for this choice; you have a choice. But He does not allow any sin in heaven. Heaven is a perfect place. There are no imperfections, no sins in heaven.
That raises an important problem. Heaven is a perfect place and that means only perfect people get to go there. Otherwise if God let imperfect people into heaven it would be just like earth, evil. It wouldn’t be heaven any more. I don’t want to go to a heaven where someone can light up a joint, get drunk, abuse someone. No, I want to go to heaven where it’s perfect and we’re away from all that. So only perfect people get to go there.
That’s a problem because I’m not perfect and neither are you.
David asked this question in the book of Psalms. Psalm 15:1-2 David says “Lord, who may enter Your holy tent? Lord, who may live on Your holy mountain? Only those who are completely blameless and innocent and those who always do what is right.”
Well were in trouble. I don’t know about you but I am not blameless. I am not innocent. So I’ve got a problem. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of me getting into heaven unless God comes up with Plan B. Because heaven is perfect and I stopped batting a thousand a long time ago. And, by the way, you did too. The Bible says, we’ve all blown it. We’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
So there has to be a place for evil to go in eternity. If I’m made to last forever and I’m not perfect, I’ve got to have another place to go to. There is sin and there is evil in the world.
2. There’s a second reason for hell that’s because God is holy and just.
He is holy – that means He is perfect. He cannot sin Himself. And He’s just – that means He believes in justice. The Bible says that one day God is going to make everything right and just. God is going to right every wrong.
I found out that life is unfair? People get away with all kinds of stuff on earth. Bad stuff. In fact, people get away with murder on earth. Life is not fair. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not but bad things often happen to good people. And good things often happen to bad people. Many seem to get away with cheating, lying, and stealing. While other people who try to do the right thing and live the right way, things don’t work out in their lives all the time. Life is not fair.
David said in the Psalms “I would have despaired if I hadn’t believed in the goodness of God.” Don’t base your faith on what you see but on the unseen.
I have sat in offices with many women crying and in so much pain. Spouses who are unfaithful. Fathers who have sexually abused them at ten year olds. Others who have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. What is wrong with that picture? Then people get mad at them because they have a hard time functioning in society. And they cry asking ‘do I have to attend the family Christmas dinner and sit across from Uncle Billy?
Here on earth you do something bad and you can often get away with it. Crime is not punished quickly enough. A sinner may commit a hundred crimes and still live. That’s just not right.”
What would heaven be like if Bin Laden showed up in heaven after telling everybody to go blow themselves up to help kill other people.
One day God is going to settle the score. The Bible says this “For the Lord is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the nations fairly and with truth. And by the way, He’s the only one who can judge fairly because He’s impartial. The Bible says this in 2 Thessalonians 1 “God will do that is right. God is a righteous God. That means He always does what is right and He will bring suffering on those who make you suffer.
Yeah God! He will bring suffering on those who hurt me, who made me suffer. And He’ll give relief to you who suffer as well. He will do this when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven to punish those who reject God [who say, “I’m going to be my own god. I’m going to run my own life. I don’t need God. I’m going to go my way, not Jesus’ way. To punish those who reject God and…] who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord.”
Notice the last phrase – “separated from the presence of the Lord.” That’s the number one characteristic of hell. Separated from the presence of the Lord. People don’t realize how bad that is because we have the Lord’s presence here. You have no idea how much more wicked this earth would be without the Holy Spirit here.
God says one day I’m going to settle the score. You may be thinking, “That’s great! All the people who hurt me. Go get ‘em, Lord.” There’s only one problem. I’m involved too.
2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “We will all stand before Christ to be judged. [In other words, not just my enemies.] We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or the evil that we have done in our bodies.” Why does hell exist? Because sin and evil exist and because God is holy and just.
What is hell like?
It’s really hard to explain because we don’t have the human experience to explain it. It’s kind of like trying to explain the Internet to an ant. So it’s really kind of hard. Missionaries in equator countries say they cannot describe snow to someone who has never seen it.
Jesus actually talked more about hell than He did about heaven. Hell is horrible. Jesus said ‘there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ That is the number one reason I am a pastor. I want to take anyone I can to heaven. Jesus doesn’t want anybody to go to hell. That’s why He died on the cross. That’s how much He considered it important. But what is hell like?
The Bible describes it as a place of torment. In fact, Matthew 8 “In darkness they will cry out and grit their teeth in pain.”
But do you know what the worst part is? Hell is total separation from God. That’s the worst thing about it. It means I’m totally apart from God’s love, totally apart from God’s grace. Total separation from God.
1 Corinthians 16:22 “If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be separated from God- and lost forever.” Here it is. If I go through my entire life saying, “I don’t want God in my life on earth, then why would I want to spend eternity with Him? Why would I change my mind? That doesn’t make sense. God says, “You get to choose. You want to live with Me or live without Me.” Wherever you choose on earth is where you choose in heaven or hell.
Hell is total separation from God. It is the exact opposite of everything God is. We know that “God is love.” That is His nature. Then hell is hatred and seething.
The Bible says, “There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear.” The opposite of love is fear. You know what it means to live without love in your life? It means you’re scared to death all the time. That’s hell. It means you’re lonely all the time. That’s hell.
Some guy told me ‘I want to be in hell to party with all my friends.’ Friends, no one will see anybody else in hell. It’s total separation from God and everybody else. There are no relationships or friends in hell. It’s total aloneness. You won’t see anybody in hell.
Also Satan will not be in charge of hell. Satan’s not in hell right now. The Bible says he’s on earth. He’s going to be sent to hell. There he will be punished. Nobody else is going to see him; he’s not going to see anybody else.
God is love. So there’s no love in hell. God is light. So hell is complete darkness. God is good. So there’s absolutely nothing good in hell. God is life. So that means hell is eternal death.
Hell is not a joke. I beg you to accept Jesus.
So how do I avoid hell? Is there a way for me to absolutely know for certain I’m going to heaven?
Here’s the good news. Yes. You can absolutely, confidently, know that you’re going to heaven.
The Bible tells us how to do it. How do I settle my destiny? John says this in 1 John 5:13 “I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God [that’s the door – Jesus] so that you may know [not guess, not wonder, not hope] with settled and absolute knowledge that you already have life. Yes, eternal life.” Circle “know.” God says I don’t want you guessing.
I prayed for my extended family for over 30 years. This week my niece’s husband became a Christian. He was a severe alcoholic. He gave his heart to Jesus at 25 and he is in church every week. Gone is the alcohol and smoking.
Only a fool would go all trough life unprepared for what we know is inevitable – death. A recent statistic shows that the mortality rate in the world is one hundred percent! You’re going to die. So am I. Some day. I don’t know when – It might be today.
I talked to four young men this week – they drank alcohol all night. I shared how Jesus changed my life and wants to set them free. I invited them to church. Were praying for revival – those kids need Jesus – they have no hope.
They think they are invincible. But were all going to die.
Friend, you don’t know if you’re going to drop dead tonight. I could walk out of here and have a heart attack in the next hour, and so could you. We need to be right with one another and ready to meet Jesus.
Why would you put off something that you know is inevitable and could come at any time? You need to settle this today.
Jesus says “I want you to trust Me and I want you to know with certainty that you have eternal life.” So how do I settle it?
Your way to heaven is in Jesus Christ. 1 John 5:11-12 “God has ¬¬given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” That’s about as clear as you can get.
If Jesus had not died on the cross for our sins we would all be hopeless. But there is hope through the cross of Calvary.
The cross is the answer all our problems. It says in Colossians 2:21-22 “At one time you were separated from God. You were His enemies in your minds, and the evil things you did were against God.
In other words, God I’m going to run my life. Nobody has the right to tell me what’s right or wrong. Nobody has the right to tell me what to do. He said you rebelled just like Satan did. But now God has made you His friends again. He did this through Christ’s death in the body when He died on the cross so that He might bring you into God’s presence. What’s God’s presence? Heaven. And when He brings you in how are you going to be? It says…] as people who are holy, with no wrong, nothing of which God can judge you.” He said I’m going to wipe the slate clean. This is the etch-a-sketch verse of the Bible. You make all the mess and Jesus shakes you clean.
The most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16. Every Christian should memorize that verse to share it with others. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
It’s the most important verse in the Bible. If you only get one verse, then get this one. Jesus is the way to heaven.
Let me summarize what that verse teaches in four words. A, B, C, D. And again listen as if your life depends on it, because it does. This is how you walk through the door named Jesus to get into heaven, A, B, C, D.
A – Admit
The first thing I do is I admit I need a savior to get to heaven. That means I admit I’m not perfect. I admit. I’ve blown it. I’m flawed. I’ve sinned. Just admit it. Own up to it.
This is a hard one for some people. Why? Because of pride. There’s one thing that will keep you out of heaven – your pride. Your unwillingness to say, “I need Jesus in my life.” I can’t be good enough to get to heaven. I need a savior.”
There was no other way for you to get into heaven. So first I admit that I need a savior, Jesus Christ
B – I Believe that Jesus died for me.
Believe means more than head knowledge. It means I trust in, I rely on, I surrender to, and I commit myself to. Romans 10:9 says this “If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.”
What does it mean to confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord?” We don’t have lords, kings and queens today. We’re a democracy. So what does it mean Jesus is Lord?
“It means I say Jesus you’re the boss. You call the shots. I’m putting a sign over me that says ‘Under new management.’”
That’s what it means to make Jesus the Lord of your life.
So I admit I need a savior to get to heaven. I believe that Jesus died for me, I confess Him as Lord. And…
C – I commit myself completely to Him.
I say “Lord I want to do Your plan for my life. Not my purpose, not my way, but yours. I commit myself to You.”
That commitment, you need to do it publicly. How about if I said to my wife, “Honey, I’m committed to you. So let’s get married but let’s don’t tell anybody about it.” What kind of commitment would that be? She’s say, “Hey Randy! Are you ashamed of me? You won’t tell anybody about me? If you won’t tell anybody about me then you aren’t really committed to me.” A private commitment is no commitment at all. You’ve got to make it public
So I stood up one day in public and I said, “I do,” in front of a bunch of people. And I wear a ring everywhere I go. This says, “I am committed to Evy.” The point is, I wear this because I’m proud of my wife and I love her and I am committed to my wife. Till death do we part?
What is the wedding ring of the Christian life? There are two ways – baptism and joining the church. That’s your coming out party. It’s your saying, “I’m coming out of the closet. I’m committed to Christ.”
Being baptized and joining a church doesn’t make you a believer. It shows that you are. It’s the wedding ring. This ring doesn’t make me married. It just shows that I am.
Are you ashamed of Jesus Christ? Does anybody even know that you’re a believer? Have you been baptized? If not, why not? You publicly say, “I’m not ashamed to say I’m a believer in Christ. It’s my coming out party.”
In our church just pick up the white card in the pew and write baptize on it.
You need to be baptized. Are you ashamed of Jesus? Are you ashamed of getting wet for God? Jesus said, “If you’re ashamed of Me then I’ll be ashamed of you in heaven.” But He said “If you’ll stand up for Me publicly I’ll stand up for you in heaven.”
Another way you can stand up publicly is join the church. You’re going to see that today, two people making a deeper commitment. They are saying “I’m not ashamed to say I’m a part of the body of Christ.” They are making a public stand.
One day you’re going to stand before Jesus Christ, you’re Savior, who died on the cross for you. And there will be nail prints in His wrists. He’s going to say, “What did you do with your life?” He’s not going to be interested in hearing, “I joined the golf club.” “I joined the snowmobile club.” “I joined the scrap book group.” He’s going to say, “Did you join My family? Did you join the body of Christ, My body? Did you join My church, which I died for? You joined everything else and you didn’t join My church? My family that I’m going to take with Me forever? What were you thinking?”
If you have not taken the Membership class here at Calvary you need to take CLASS 101. Just put your name on the white card and write class 101.. Don’t put it off any longer.
I admit, I believe, I commit – my public expression of that commitment is baptism and being a part of the church. That doesn’t save you. It just shows that you are. It’s not the root, it’s the fruit.
D – I depend on God’s promise.
When I depend on God’s promise, what is the promise? That “Whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Will you believe? Will you commit? Don’t procrastinate any longer.
Prayer:
Today is your day. If you’ve never opened your life to Jesus Christ now is your time. I’m going to lead you in a prayer. I’m going to ask everyone here to pray it in their heart. Just say this, “Dear God, You are God and I’m not. I admit it. I’m humbling myself and I’m letting go of my pride and I’m saying I realize, I admit that I need a savior to get into heaven. I know that I could never be good enough. I know that I’ve done wrong. I’m flawed. I’ve sinned. And I need Jesus to get into heaven. Thank You God, that You so loved the world that You gave Your Son, Jesus, for me. That if I would believe in You I could receive eternal life. So Jesus Christ I believe that You died for me. Today I commit myself to You. I want to change. I want to repent. I want to be what You want me to be, not what I want to be. I commit myself completely to You. To follow You, to trust You. To serve You. To know You. To love You. I’m going to depend on Your promise that You’ve said whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Thank You for dying and for loving me. I pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
