The basics I wish someone explained to me so many years ago...
God gives us free will. If we reject Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then we choose a life separate from God and therefore we choose hell.
1 Timothy 2:4 “who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”
This means not all will be saved, because many reject Christ.
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is “patient” with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Matthew 25:31-46 - Read this passage is where Jesus warns against unbelief.
John 12:44-49 Those who have accepted Jesus and lived his way will be raised to eternal life
(1 Corinthians 15:51-57, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, Revelation 21:1-7) and those who have rejected Jesus and lived any way they pleased will face eternal punishment (Revelation 20:11-5).
Hebrews 10:26-29 When people deliberately reject Christ’s offer of salvation, they reject God’s most precious gift.
NOTHING in the Bible has ever been proven false — people, places, historical events, or prophecies.
Be wise and take the Bible at its word.
Jesus said:
“where the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.” Mark 9:48
a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” Matthew 13:42 & Matthew 25:30
a place of “darkness” Matthew 25:30
a place of “agony” Luke 16:24
a place of “eternal punishment” Matthew 25:46
Paul said:
Punishment with “everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” 2 Thessalonians 1:9
“For those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Romans 2:8
John said
“And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. There will be no rest day or night” Revelation 14:11
So many people do not want to believe that God sends people to hell for rejecting him. But scripture clearly teaches that He does. Those who do not seek forgiveness from God will face eternal separation from Him. We are surrounded by so much beauty on earth. Imagine a day without a sunrise, sunset, laughter, joy, sleep, the taste of good food, never feeling the warmth of the summer breeze or being with your loved ones. Because in hell, His beauty will not be seen or known. His companionship will not be enjoyed in hell. His relief and his mercy will not be available.
2 Thessalonians 1:9: “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”
Satan was once a glorious angel, but in pride, he rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. He tempts us to try and get us to give into his kind of life and give up on God’s kind of life.
His main purpose is to
1) make you doubt God’s Word and his goodness,
2) focus on your problems rather than on God,
3) makes the wrong things seem attractive so that you will want them more than the right things
4) make you feel like a failure so that you don’t even try,
5) and make you put off doing something so that it never gets done.
2 Corinthians 11:14-15: "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve."
Revelation 12:9 “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.”
Satan is not like God, he is not omnipotent but can only exist in one place at a time, therefore he controls the evil spiritual forces that inhabit the region between earth and sky.
Ephesians 2:2 “when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.”
Demons are fallen angels who joined Satan in his rebellions against God. Although they can be very powerful, they are not able to read our minds and cannot be everywhere at once. Jesus had complete authority over them, and he gave his authority to his followers. Although Satan is allowed to work in our world, God is in complete control.
Mark 1:23-24 “Be quiet!” Said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” the impure spirits shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.”
The spiritual realm is so serious and so real, that God forbids us to interact with it. So often these practices are hidden amongst us everywhere and are socially acceptable. These practices include horoscopes, fortune telling, psychics, or mediums who consult with the dead.
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritus or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord.”
The reason we desire to engage with these practices is because we have this desire to know and control the future. The Bible tells us all we need to know about what is going to happen. The information Satan offers through these practices mentioned above is likely to be distorted or completely false. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, put aside all of these desires to know or control our future, he gives us his Holy Spirit and that is the trustworthy guide.
If we resist the devil and his influences, he will flee from us.
James 4:7-8 “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.”
2 Thessalonians 1:9: “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”
God created the world and therefore created the laws of the world. The law He created is a reflection of His heart and His character. We live under the authority of a holy and righteous God, and to break his law offends Him. It's only fair that a lawbreaker should be punished for their crime. Such as a murderer or a rapist being sent to jail for their felony.
Romans 7:12: “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.”
Romans 4:15: “. . . because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.”
God says that the wage of sin is death, meaning the entire reason we die is because we are sinners. This means any sin is an infinite offense. We desire to escape this judgment from God or we face damnation. For us to please God we must follow his law, which is the standard of God’s righteous character.
Ezekiel 18:4: “For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.”
Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
But we cannot uphold the law, because we live in this fallen world, it means that only God can do this for us. This is because he loves us so much and he desires us to be saved from our sin.
Galatians 2:16: “Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”
Galatians 2:21: “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
So God sent his son to come live on the earth with us.
Jesus was God in the flesh.
John 1:1, 14: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Colossians 2:9: “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
2 Corinthians 5:21: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Meaning he became a sin for us, bore our sins, and died in our place. He paid our court fine. He went to jail for our crime. It's no different than committing a crime, the judge says, “You are getting the death penalty”, then in walks a completely innocent person saying “I’ll go on your behalf” - meaning they are going to die for your crime. Who deserves this? No one! If we did the crime, we deserve to serve our punishment.
Therefore, our salvation is purely because of grace.
1 Corinthians 15: 3 and 4: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures"
1 Peter 2:24: “‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; ‘by his wounds you have been healed.’”
Romans 8:3–4: “For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
God then asks us to believe in his son, Jesus, for us to spend eternity in heaven with Him.
Jeremiah 31 :3 "The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."
John 3:16 “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.”
Ephesians 2:8–9: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’”
Ephesians 5:2: “. . . and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Accept that you are a sinner and that you need a savior.
Recognize that Christ has done all the work for you.
Repent of your sins.
Ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart.
John 14:6-7 "Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
We still count time by Jesus's birth.
Jesus existence, his death, his burial and eye witnesses accounts of his resurrection completely rerouted the course of history.
The Bible is the most widely circulated book in history.
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