Dear friends, today we will talk to you about a direction of life. Have you ever thought that when our lives end, we can go to eternal life? Or do you think like life is a lighted candle. “once we die, we die.” When a candle is is blown, the fire is extinguished. But what if after one dies instead of the lights going out, theres still something after we die? What if it’s too late when we understand this? Who doesn’t want to go to a beautiful place in eternal life? I believe everyone wants to go!
Now, we have two key questions to ask:
1. If you had to leave the world tonight, would you surely have a place in eternal heaven?
2. At the gate of heaven, God asked you why you could come in. What should you answer?
First, we can give you the answer to question number one.
The Bible says: “I write these things to you… so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)
The Bible is letting us know that you and I have eternal life!3
So, how do you grasp this eternal life? How can you get in?
Now let’s learn about the good news of the gospel. We will explain using pictures:
The eternal life just mentioned, comes from the eternal sovereign God, who created the heavens and the earth(Genesis 1:1), made the first humans with his own image, and placed them in the Garden of Eden, let them manage all things in the world, God and man were supposed to have a very harmonious relationship, but who knew that because Adam and Eve violated God’s command, committed sin, they were driven out of the Garden of Eden, so now there was an unpleasant gap in the relationship between God and man!
It’s easier to understand using a picture. You can see the land divided into the left piece of land and right piece of land – the people’s land and God’s land!
Because of the crime of Adam and Eve, each of us today carries sin that has been passed down. First look at the figure on the left – the Earth, and you’ll see what the bad news is:
- Sin—
The Bible says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
Every person in the world has committed a sin that does not meet God’s complete requirements, and missing the mark is the meaning of sin! No matter how hard we try, because of the sinfulness within us, we cannot meet God’s complete requirements!
The Bible says: “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” (James 4:17)
Let’s do a math problem: If we do only three things wrong every day, in our 80s, we’ll commit almost 100,000crimes in our lifetimes!
So, we humans should be guilty of our sins! - Death—
The Bible says: “Because the wages of sin is death”(Romans 6:23)
The price of sin here is death, and man is forever separated from the eternal God. Many people think that when you die, you just die, and there’s nothing after that. But actually there are worse news! - Judgment—
The Bible says: “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment”(Hebrews 9:27)! Even after death, people still have to go through judgement! When the body dies, the soul is still there and on trial! Let’s stop right there. Some people may say: as long as there are more good people, people can solve the problem… Well, let’s see what number four has to say: - Absolutely –
This means that a person absolutely cannot restore the relationship between man and God through self-help or self-effort!
The Bible says: “as it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; … no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10,12)
So there are many people who want to have salvation by being good people, doing good things, practicing religions, and even philosophy, but in fact, these methods cannot meet God’s standards!
Look at another math problem below:
A limited number, no matter how many times is multiplied or added to other limited number, cannot become an infinite number!
Just like limited guilty men, no added effort can let him reach the infinite God!
Therefore, man will be powerless to face the judgment of God’s righteousness in the future:
The Bible says: “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15)
The lake of fire means the second death, which is hell – man will suffer forever in hell!
Ok, now that we learned the bad news containing these four points, let us remember these key words: Sin, Death, Judgement, and Absolutely.
Now let’s look at the figure on the right – God’s piece of land. God has mercy and love! We’ll look at the good news of a new direction and a way out for humans — based on three facts:
- Jesus came to the world – to love us!
“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”(John 3:16)
God gave his only son to be human, born on earth, and even though He was the only one who didn’t sin, Jesus was sacrificed to pay the punishment for us, which was death.
The dilemma between righteousness and love is, how does the righteous God express His love?
There were two good friends, grew up to adulthood. One became a justifying judge, the other became a prisoner for huge theft. According to local law, this prisoner had a chance to go to court, and as long as he could pay the equivalent of a hundred times the price he stole, he could be acquitted in court. But he stole because he was poor and used money for food, so now how could he pay the price if he didn’t have that much money? The two friends met, and the judge recognized the friend. Although he wanted to save him, but before the law, everyone is equal! What is good about a judge who is both righteous and loving? Look down at the second fact: - Jesus was nailed on the cross – to die for us!
The Bible says: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”(Romans 5:8)
Let’s continue with the story: the judge suddenly warned the prisoner in the prisoner’s courtroom and said loudly with authority,
“If you have hundred times the amount of compensation to be paid, you will be released in court.”
Just as the prisoner was in tears, suddenly, the judge took off his official robe and hat and walked to the
prisoner’s side, and in a low voice, said:
“Friend, do you still remember me? Even though you may have forgotten me, I haven’t forgotten you!”
Then he handed a check to the prisoner’s hand. Immediately, the judge wore his official robe and hat again, sat in the high position, said powerfully to the prisoner:
“Do you have compensation?”
The Prisoner replied “Yes!”
Judge: Release this man! In the future, you cannot commit crimes again.” All of the judge’s money was in that check.
Perhaps this metaphor will give us a slight understanding of God’s righteousness and love – with His sinless son, Jesus Christ, crucified for our sins, the price of redemption was paid so that we can be acquitted! - Jesus’ resurrection —— is our justification!
The Bible says: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
Here’s another scripture:
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
Justification refers to the meaning of acquittal, but legally. Whoever believes in the resurrection of Jesus will be justified, and it will give us the life that makes us justified and will be resurrected by the Lord!
And the already resurrected Jesus has ascended to heaven will come back and take us up to heaven in the future! The 3 points of the good news, we can Use “down, achieve, up ” these three words to remember – the Lord came down to the world, the Lord achieved salvation, the Lord’s resurrection ascension!
Because God loves each of us, He gave us his only son Jesus Christ.
Jesus goes down to the world, died on the cross to let us have salvation, and rises again! So, the 3 words “down achieve up” is to help us remember. Redemption on the cross of Jesus Christ connects man with God!
Now let’s look at another math problem: When the finite number is very limited and helpless, and when an infinite number comes and is connected with the finite number, the limited number can enter the infinite result, which perfectly solves the previous bad news (judgment of sin).
that the person can enter the infinite, complete, eternal, holy, God’s kingdom through Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ is the bridge between God and man!
Jesus says: I am the way, the truth, the life, and no one can go to the Father without me. (John 14:6)
Man cannot save himself; however, our loving God gives us grace so that we can be saved! How can we get this grace? We should believe in Jesus Christ, the true and living way out, from the three levels: intellectually, emotionally and action!
First of all, based on clearness, we need to believe that Jesus will live forever! The Bible says: “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 5:24)
After listening to the good news, we will need believe! When we say that faith in Jesus for eternal life means that we are not convicted and become children of God, and can enter the holy, complete, eternal kingdom of God!
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—(Ephesians 2:8)
Faith can be specific. For example, when you sit in a chair, you have faith that the chair will not fall down and hurt you!
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)
This is clear confidence! The second aspect is emotional faith – opening hearts to Jesus Christ as the Savior and the Lord of Life.
Let’s read the Bible. (Read Matthew 7:7 and john 1:12) This means that “to believe” is equal to accepting Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord of our Life! When we have true faith in the Lord, the Lord gives strength. and we become a child of God– become a part of the spiritual family who has the right and duty of Heaven!
The third point is to act and let the Holy Spirit manage our lives.
“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,” (Ephesians 1:13)-
The seal is used for marking letters, indicating that we belong to God!
If we live by the Holy Spirit, we should act on the Holy Spirit! (Galatians 5:25)
We use the 3 words “believe Jesus Holy Spirit” to summarize the three points we have just said – to believe clearly, to emotionally accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior and the Lord of Life, and to act to let the Holy Spirit manage our lives!
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
We will live forever in Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ is the only path to eternal life and the bridge of the gospel that turns bad news into good news!
The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15
In this way, we can answer the two questions that were mentioned at the beginning: 1. If we leave the world tonight, can we have a place of eternal life? The answer is yes, yes, yes! 2. What if we are asked at the gate of heaven why can we enter the kingdom of eternal God?
In John 5:13, the Bible helps us answer this question. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Those who believe in Jesus can enter the kingdom of eternal God! Well, let us move our lives all the way to eternal life!
Please pray with us: Dear Father, thank you for giving Jesus Christ the redemption of our unworthy sinners. I admit that I am a sinner and am willing to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and the Lord of Life! May your Holy Spirit lead me, manage me, walk on the path that is in your heart, and be blessed with your conservatism, but also for your use, and to honor God for life. Pray in the name of Jesus! amen!
If you prayed in good faith, congratulations! You have become a Christian. Becoming a Christian in spiritual life is like a baby, there are four aspects to pay attention to, so you can grow up healthy:
1. A Baby needs to breathe, breathing means prayer – like we often breathe to operate, we also often pray: to be able to speak to God.
2. Babies need nutrition, nutrition represents reading – we also have to read the Bible every day: to listen to God! (Do you have a Bible?)
3. Babies need families, families represent the church – families often gather, we also often meet together: to care for each other! The church includes fellowship and worship.
4. Babies need exercise. Exercise represents the preaching of the gospel – we often move to stay in shape, we also have to practice the preaching of the gospel: to be able to carry out a great mission! May God bless you!