Are YOU Lost?

Do you know for a fact that you are going to the Kingdom of Heaven?

This is a question of ultimate importance, because you will indeed be going somewhere: either to the Kingdom of Heaven, or to hell.

In the New Testament of the Holy Bible, you will find the following passage:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

You may say in response something along the following lines: “I don’t need Jesus Christ… I’m a good person: I live a quiet life, I mind my own business, I treat my spouse well, I treat my family, friends and even people I don’t know with love and respect, I hold a job, pay my taxes, support my family, give freely to many charitable causes, and I just don’t feel the need for anything more…”

Really??

That’s a pretty neat view of yourself that you have; those impressive credentials will get you anywhere you want to go, including the Kingdom of Heaven. You have it all figured out, right?

Here is the view that God has of you:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:24-32)

As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”

“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”

“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.”

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18)

So what does this mean? The answer is pretty simple, really…

ALL PEOPLE ARE SINNERS

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Insofar as being a ‘good person’ is concerned, that does not impress God, as Scripture attests to:

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

It does not impress God because He is just, pure, holy, righteous, majestic and powerful… He is sinless, possessing perfection in all His attributes, and as a perfect God, He cannot and will not tolerate sin. ALL sin, no matter small or large, mild or heinous, WILL be punished by God. Since human beings are not sinless (no intellectually honest person would dare make that claim even in jest), just how do you think that positions you in the eyes of a sinless God?

It is certain that you will die… and it is just as certain that you… a sinner… will face a sinless God to be judged.

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, (Hebrews 9:27)

At this point, I could continue to show you numerous passages of Scripture, from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, to further convince you of the truth: that you are a rotten-to-the-core sinner in whom there is nothing good to enable you to even be able to pretend that you could stand before a sinless God and make a case of being able to be blameless before Him.

If you have been honest with yourself throughout reading this page to this point, you know what you are, and you know equally well that you richly deserve an eternity in hell.

Join the club, my friend… along with me and everyone else.

Now that we know what we are… what can we do about it? We are blessed that we can indeed do something about it.

Confess Your Sin and Repent

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31)

Luke records the following words of Jesus Christ, when informed regarding Galileans who were slain by the soldiers of Pontius Pilate while offering sacrifices at the Temple, so that their blood and the blood of their sacrifices were mixed together:

“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:2-5)

What Jesus Christ was saying was that one’s manner of death is insignificant: being killed or not killed while performing a sacrifice or simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time has nothing whatever to do with one’s righteousness or unrighteousness. Death is a common denominator for all, and only God’s grace will cause anyone to live. Confession of, and repentance of, one’s sin is critical.

St. Paul states the penalty that awaits all men, but displays within the same passage God’s mercy:

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

St. Paul tells us what God has done for sinful men through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ:

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)

But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

Confess Jesus Christ as Lord and be Saved

That if you confess 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 confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”. (Romans 10:9-13)

When you confess Jesus Christ is Lord as described above, you are ‘born again’… sealed with the Holy Spirit against the Day of Judgment:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

I am going to assume that by this point, the Holy Spirit has convicted your heart that you need Jesus Christ. That is as it should be, but understand that the free gift of God’s grace to you may be free… but it is not cheap: and it is not to be treated cheaply. Understanding this, please also understand that Scripture makes this point very clear:

If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:26-31)

Read the Bible

All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Tell Others of Jesus Christ

As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near’. (Matthew 10:7)

Show the Example of Christian Life

But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for  for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth”. (1 Peter 2:20-22)

If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and have confessed Him as your Lord and Savior, you are saved. 

It is that simple.

No matter what may happen to you in this world, Jesus Christ will never forsake you. If after reading these words you have come to believe in Jesus Christ, a multitude of God’s saints, and the angels in heaven, I rejoice with you.