Question: Hope for what?
Answer: SALVATION –
forgiveness of sins, to be made right with God,
receive eternal life, and enter the
Kingdom of Heaven.
"Without God, destruction is sure.
Those who have not personally accepted
God's love and forgiveness
will stand before him with no appeal.
Be sure to avail yourself to
God's love and mercy
while you have the opportunity."
Footnote from Joel 1:15-19, New Living Translation Life Application Study Bible,
Copyright © 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL. 60189.
All rights reserved.
Jesus took the punishment of God's wrath
on sin that our sins deserve.
"He was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God's paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all."
Isaiah 53:5-6 (NLT)
WE are the reason that Jesus Christ,
the one and only Son of God,
suffered and died on the cross at Calvary
– so that WE could be made right with God
and receive eternal life.
Most people are aware of John 3:16 as
you've undoubtedly seen signs stating "JOHN 3:16"
held up by people at sporting and other public events:
"For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life."
However, verses 18-20 provide the full context
which are skipped over by many:
"He who believes in Him is not condemned;
but he who does not believe is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the
name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation,
that the light has come into the world,
and men loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil.
For everyone practicing evil hates the light
and does not come to the light,
lest his deeds should be exposed."
John 3:16-19 (NKJV)
Question: So what does that mean?
Answer: After Adam chose to ignore God's warning
and disobeyed Him,
– This is referred to as the fall of man, Adam's original sin.
Read or view Disp2-Conscience for the full story here, MP4
or PDF –
the following resulted:
~ Sin entered into God's perfect world
~ Perfect communion & fellowship with God was broken
~ Mankind lost sight of its purpose – to glorify God
and enjoy Him forever
~ The seed of mankind was corrupted
~ Mankind inherited a sin nature
~ Minds became spiritually darkened and bent
against God and produced a state of depravity
~ Innocence was lost
~ Death entered the world
~ Mankind incurred the penalty of physical death and
spiritual death, i.e., your soul is separated from God
and cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity.
The book of Romans informs us:
"For as by one man's disobedience many
were made sinners, so also by one Man's
obedience many will be made righteous."
Romans 5:19 (NKJV)
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us."
Romans 5:8 (NKJV)
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the New Living Translation Life Application Study Bible.
Copyright ® 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, IL. 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version.®
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Accessed from BibleGateway.com
Jesus paid a sin debt He did not owe
because we owe a sin debt we cannot pay.
It is through Jesus Christ that God,
in His grace and mercy, provided us with the
ONLY way to be made right with Him.
GOD DOES NOT send anyone to Hell –
people actually CHOOSE to go there,
stubbornly refusing to believe in the only Truth
that wants to save them.
Your eternal destination – Heaven or Hell –
is solely the consequence of the choice YOU make
either to accept or reject the gift of salvation
through God's One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.
Very sadly, the majority of people will choose to
remain in darkness determined to do what they want
blinded by their pride and in rebellion against God.
They refuse to embrace the Light that came
into the world to save them, which will result
in the second death – being cast into the
Lake of Fire eternally separated from God
and condemned for eternity.
There is no annihilation.
And why?
Because they stubbornly refuse to believe
in the only Truth that wants to save them.
Amplified Bible (AMP). Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations were accessed from BibleGateway.com
Jesus sacrificing His life on the cross at Calvary
clearly shows us how serious God views sin.
Sin separates us from God – sin cannot be
in His Holy Presence.
It also reveals to us how much God loves us
by providing the way to become right with Him
through His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.
Consider that God did not have to extend His grace
and mercy to us. He could have just let us be
condemned to an eternity in the Lake of Fire with
no choice in the matter – burning and burning
but never burning up. But God IS love and love always
gives a choice, it does not force getting its way,
and God DOES NOT want anyone to face His judgment
and perish, as Ezekiel 33:11 (NKJV) informs us –
'As I live,' says the Lord God,
'I have no pleasure in the death of
the wicked, but that the wicked turn
from his way and live.
Turn, turn from your evil ways!'
And Hebrews 10:30-31 (NKJV):
For we know Him who said,
"Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,"
says the Lord. And again,
"The Lord will judge His people."
It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God."
God wants us to repent and live.
Repent means to change your mind, to turn away
from the world's way of doing things –
self-centeredness, evil deeds of darkness,
wickedness – and believe by faith
in Jesus Christ and accept His gracious
gift of salvation and be redeemed,
be made right with God, and saved from
eternal condemnation.
Jesus rose from the grave on the third day
after the crucifixion just as He said He would in
Matthew 12:39-40 (NKJV),
But He answered and said to them,
"An evil and adulterous generation seeks
after a sign, and no sign will be given to it
except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
For as Jonah was three days and three
nights in the belly of the great fish,
so will the Son of Man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth."
Jesus Christ conquered spiritual death
and now offers you the gift of salvation
and eternal life.
This gift has to be accepted BY FAITH,
it cannot be earned.
The man-made religions of the world falsely believe
they can earn their way to Heaven through
"good works" or by keeping the law – WRONG!
Don't let anyone capture you with empty
philosophies and high-sounding nonsense
that come from human thinking and from the
spiritual powers of this world,
rather than from Christ.
Colossians 2:8 (NLT)
Scripture marked (NLT) are taken from Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations were accessed from BibleGateway.com
"The law was not meant to give believers
a list for every occasion but to show
unbelievers their sin and bring them to God."
Footnote from 1 Timothy 1:7-11, New Living Translation Life Application Study Bible.
Copyright © 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL. 60189.
All rights reserved.
God hates man-made religions and empty rituals.
"Quit your worship charades.
I can't stand your trivial religious games:
Monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special
meetings– meetings, meetings, meetings –
I can't stand one more!
Meetings for this, meetings for that.
I hate them! You've worn me out!
I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion, while
you go right on sinning. When you put on your next
prayer-performance, I'll be looking the other way.
No matter how long or loud or often you pray,
I'll not be listening. And do you know why?
Because you've been tearing people to pieces,
and your hands are bloody.
Go home and wash up. Clean up your act.
Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings
so I don't have to look at them any longer.
Say no to wrong. Learn to do good.
Work for justice. Help the down-and-out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless.
Isaiah 1:13-17 (MSG)
Scripture marked (MSG) are taken from The Message, Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson.
Scripture quotations were accessed from BibleGateway.com
God wants a RELATIONSHIP with you
through His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.
He does NOT want you to perform empty rituals
or to go through the motions of some man-made
religion and/or traditions thereby deceiving yourself
into thinking you're "good to go."
Without a contrite spirit/repentance of your sin
and believing by faith and accepting the
gift of salvation through Jesus Christ,
you're not good to go, you're actually heading
toward eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire.
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who
does the will of My Father in heaven.
Many will say to Me in that day,
'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name,
cast out demons in Your name, and done many
wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare
to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me,
you who practice lawlessness!'"
Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV)
Scripture marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version.®
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations were accessed from BibleGateway.com
BELIEVING BY FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST
IS THE ONLY WAY
TO BE MADE RIGHT WITH GOD.
HOPE IS FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST ALONE.
THANK YOU, JESUS!