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No matter how good any of us are; no matter how religious we are; no matter what we do for God, none of us can ever be good enough, or holy enough to earn salvation.
Any plan of salvation that is based on mans efforts is doomed to failure. But the Bible tells us that salvation has been made available to us because Jesus came to earth and died on the cross for our sins. Jesus was the only man who could do this because He was sinless. John 3:16 (New International Version) tells us "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life".
God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind so that we may live through salvation.
Some arguments that I have heard over the years are;
1. Why does God let good people suffer? The Bible tells us in Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. But you say that does not answer the question as to why we are allowed to suffer.
There was a time when suffering and sorrow did not exist on earth. When God created man upon the earth, everything was perfect. There was no sickness, no pain, no sorrow of any kind. It was always God's plan for man to live on earth in peace and harmony never having to experience sorrow. Genesis chapter three tells us that, it wasn't until man chose sin (the way of Satan), rather than the way of God, that sorrow entered the world. Then again we see mans sins against God in Genesis 3:6-7, and God reveals to Adam and Eve the consequences of sin in Genesis 3:16-19. God told Adam and Eve because of sin they would now experience SORROW and DEATH. Suffering and sorrow that you and I face today is not the work of an unjust God; it's the consequences of sin. We suffer because we are sinners. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
We suffer and die because of SIN not because of an unjust God. Keep reading, God has a plan, you see God is a loving and caring God and He does not want any of us to suffer.
You say, “Why am I a sinner?, I did not do anything wrong!" We are all born into sin, it is by nature we are sinners. We inherited our sinful nature from Adam and Eve. Romans 5:12 says, "Wherefore, as by one mans sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" We read in Romans 3:23 that ALL HAVE SINNED and fall short of the glory of God. Why do we suffer? We suffer because we are sinners by nature. There is nothing we can do to prevent this sinful nature. We cannot buy salvation nor can we balance sin by good works to earn salvation. Without Jesus we can do nothing to save ourselves.
You say “I am saved and God still makes us suffer. Here we have a few answers;
1. As I mentioned above God did not cause man to suffer and die, sin caused man to suffer and die.
2. You say well I am saved yet I still suffer, is that a “Just God who loves us?” the answer in short is “YES”. There are many reasons why people suffer. Sickness, sin, disobedience to God, just to name a few. Plain and simple not all illnesses are going to be cured and yes people everyday die from sickness and disease, even the most faithful person to God will still die at some point in his or her life, however the Spirit will never die.
Here are a few examples of why Christians suffer;
1. Not every Christian who is born again lives a life that is pleasing to God. What I mean is that some Christians only seek God’s help when they are in trouble, sick, or in need. These Christians have not given God control of their entire life, they only gave God control of portions of it. I hear all too often Christian brothers and sisters call me and say, Pastor I need help. Upon further questioning I find that a loved one or the person has fallen ill or has some major crisis going on, drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, abusive relationships and the list goes on and on.
At the moment of “CRISIS” they want to be as close to God as they can and want God to “FIX” the problem. I tell them God does not “fix” all problems just by asking. Some sickness is the direct result of sin and until there is repentance from the sin 1 Corinthians 11: 30, there may be no cure for it.
2. God desires a close relationship with each of us. He loves us and wants to be a part of our entire life and not just portions of it. Sometimes people are sick (good people) and they are always close to God during these times of sickness. Once they are feeling better and life is back to normal they go on living as if nothing happened. They are not close to God in the areas of their life that they want to control. Again sickness is a result of sin and not of God, however having said that. If a person is only close to God when they are sick and no other time. They may continue to get sick until they give their entire life to God, you have to understand God wants to be here with us even in the good times. He wants us to give Him control over all our lives and not just the portions we are willing to give to Him.
3. Some will tell you that Salvation is full of rich rewards and you will have no more sorrow in your life and that life from now on is going to be good! I will tell you strait forward do not believe what you hear when people tell you these things. You must remember your riches are stored in Heaven and not here on earth. Once saved you enter into a spiritual WAR of good and evil. This war will take place your entire life. I will speak in another section on spiritual warfare and the Armor of God but, for now you need to know that yes life is good in that you are saved and are now a child of God. However, God requires each of his children to live by His Laws that can be found in the Bible.
4. Being a Christian is not an easy life but it is a rewarding life. You will be tried and tested more often than not and you will be watched constantly for any stumble, so that fingers can be pointed at you from the worldly people. I want you to know these things before you accept Christ as your personal Savior because you need to know that is it not just empty words you speak when you confess your sins to Jesus and accept Him as Lord and Savior of your life. Once you invite Jesus into your heart you are filled with the Holy Spirit forevermore.
To conclude Heaven and Hell are very real! Salvation is very real, with it comes some very real changes in your life. You need to understand these changes will happen and you will be a part of it all. Churches today to save attendance numbers, preach a cozy type of salvation and promise all sorts of wonderful things; riches, health, peace and joy. They steer far away from the Spiritual Wars and the testing, and tempting from every walk of your life. God gives you the strength to endure all of this as He is with you always.
If you are tired of your life going nowhere and always seem to have a void in your life that just cannot be filled. Perhaps Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart today! Perhaps He has been knocking for quite some time. Crisis is the best time to witness to someone since there mind is in the right frame for hearing the Word of God.
On 08/21/2013 I witnessed and accident. I of course pulled over to make sure everyone was OK and not injured. After securing the scene and calling 911 I spoke to one young man who was driving the car that was hit. Heart still racing, he said thank God I was not injured. After he said that I asked him “If you had just died in your car where would you be right now? He said what am I talking about? I told him you just thanked God you were not injured. I am curious if you would have gone to Heaven or Hell? His reply was well I think I would go to Heaven because I have lived a good life. I told him he would have actually gone to hell. I then proceeded to tell him about Salvation and how Jesus died on the cross for our sins. After speaking for a while once the officer finished his report the young man accepted Jesus into his heart to be his Lord and Savior. As a side note the officer had a gold cross pinned on his uniform and I asked what it meant. He responded that Jesus is my Lord and Savior! There is NEVER a wrong time to witness to anyone!
Here's a simple prayer:
"Dear God I know I'm a sinner, I know I am not where I want to be, and I want your forgiveness! I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for my sins.
Please wash me clean from all sin, shame, and guilt, come into my life Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. I ask this in your name Jesus.
Amen!"
Any plan of salvation that is based on mans efforts is doomed to failure. But the Bible tells us that salvation has been made available to us because Jesus came to earth and died on the cross for our sins. Jesus was the only man who could do this because He was sinless. John 3:16 (New International Version) tells us "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life".
God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind so that we may live through salvation.
Some arguments that I have heard over the years are;
1. Why does God let good people suffer? The Bible tells us in Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. But you say that does not answer the question as to why we are allowed to suffer.
There was a time when suffering and sorrow did not exist on earth. When God created man upon the earth, everything was perfect. There was no sickness, no pain, no sorrow of any kind. It was always God's plan for man to live on earth in peace and harmony never having to experience sorrow. Genesis chapter three tells us that, it wasn't until man chose sin (the way of Satan), rather than the way of God, that sorrow entered the world. Then again we see mans sins against God in Genesis 3:6-7, and God reveals to Adam and Eve the consequences of sin in Genesis 3:16-19. God told Adam and Eve because of sin they would now experience SORROW and DEATH. Suffering and sorrow that you and I face today is not the work of an unjust God; it's the consequences of sin. We suffer because we are sinners. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
We suffer and die because of SIN not because of an unjust God. Keep reading, God has a plan, you see God is a loving and caring God and He does not want any of us to suffer.
You say, “Why am I a sinner?, I did not do anything wrong!" We are all born into sin, it is by nature we are sinners. We inherited our sinful nature from Adam and Eve. Romans 5:12 says, "Wherefore, as by one mans sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:" We read in Romans 3:23 that ALL HAVE SINNED and fall short of the glory of God. Why do we suffer? We suffer because we are sinners by nature. There is nothing we can do to prevent this sinful nature. We cannot buy salvation nor can we balance sin by good works to earn salvation. Without Jesus we can do nothing to save ourselves.
You say “I am saved and God still makes us suffer. Here we have a few answers;
1. As I mentioned above God did not cause man to suffer and die, sin caused man to suffer and die.
2. You say well I am saved yet I still suffer, is that a “Just God who loves us?” the answer in short is “YES”. There are many reasons why people suffer. Sickness, sin, disobedience to God, just to name a few. Plain and simple not all illnesses are going to be cured and yes people everyday die from sickness and disease, even the most faithful person to God will still die at some point in his or her life, however the Spirit will never die.
Here are a few examples of why Christians suffer;
1. Not every Christian who is born again lives a life that is pleasing to God. What I mean is that some Christians only seek God’s help when they are in trouble, sick, or in need. These Christians have not given God control of their entire life, they only gave God control of portions of it. I hear all too often Christian brothers and sisters call me and say, Pastor I need help. Upon further questioning I find that a loved one or the person has fallen ill or has some major crisis going on, drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, abusive relationships and the list goes on and on.
At the moment of “CRISIS” they want to be as close to God as they can and want God to “FIX” the problem. I tell them God does not “fix” all problems just by asking. Some sickness is the direct result of sin and until there is repentance from the sin 1 Corinthians 11: 30, there may be no cure for it.
2. God desires a close relationship with each of us. He loves us and wants to be a part of our entire life and not just portions of it. Sometimes people are sick (good people) and they are always close to God during these times of sickness. Once they are feeling better and life is back to normal they go on living as if nothing happened. They are not close to God in the areas of their life that they want to control. Again sickness is a result of sin and not of God, however having said that. If a person is only close to God when they are sick and no other time. They may continue to get sick until they give their entire life to God, you have to understand God wants to be here with us even in the good times. He wants us to give Him control over all our lives and not just the portions we are willing to give to Him.
3. Some will tell you that Salvation is full of rich rewards and you will have no more sorrow in your life and that life from now on is going to be good! I will tell you strait forward do not believe what you hear when people tell you these things. You must remember your riches are stored in Heaven and not here on earth. Once saved you enter into a spiritual WAR of good and evil. This war will take place your entire life. I will speak in another section on spiritual warfare and the Armor of God but, for now you need to know that yes life is good in that you are saved and are now a child of God. However, God requires each of his children to live by His Laws that can be found in the Bible.
4. Being a Christian is not an easy life but it is a rewarding life. You will be tried and tested more often than not and you will be watched constantly for any stumble, so that fingers can be pointed at you from the worldly people. I want you to know these things before you accept Christ as your personal Savior because you need to know that is it not just empty words you speak when you confess your sins to Jesus and accept Him as Lord and Savior of your life. Once you invite Jesus into your heart you are filled with the Holy Spirit forevermore.
To conclude Heaven and Hell are very real! Salvation is very real, with it comes some very real changes in your life. You need to understand these changes will happen and you will be a part of it all. Churches today to save attendance numbers, preach a cozy type of salvation and promise all sorts of wonderful things; riches, health, peace and joy. They steer far away from the Spiritual Wars and the testing, and tempting from every walk of your life. God gives you the strength to endure all of this as He is with you always.
If you are tired of your life going nowhere and always seem to have a void in your life that just cannot be filled. Perhaps Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart today! Perhaps He has been knocking for quite some time. Crisis is the best time to witness to someone since there mind is in the right frame for hearing the Word of God.
On 08/21/2013 I witnessed and accident. I of course pulled over to make sure everyone was OK and not injured. After securing the scene and calling 911 I spoke to one young man who was driving the car that was hit. Heart still racing, he said thank God I was not injured. After he said that I asked him “If you had just died in your car where would you be right now? He said what am I talking about? I told him you just thanked God you were not injured. I am curious if you would have gone to Heaven or Hell? His reply was well I think I would go to Heaven because I have lived a good life. I told him he would have actually gone to hell. I then proceeded to tell him about Salvation and how Jesus died on the cross for our sins. After speaking for a while once the officer finished his report the young man accepted Jesus into his heart to be his Lord and Savior. As a side note the officer had a gold cross pinned on his uniform and I asked what it meant. He responded that Jesus is my Lord and Savior! There is NEVER a wrong time to witness to anyone!
Here's a simple prayer:
"Dear God I know I'm a sinner, I know I am not where I want to be, and I want your forgiveness! I believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for my sins.
Please wash me clean from all sin, shame, and guilt, come into my life Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. I ask this in your name Jesus.
Amen!"