Things That Save-2

The Gospel of Christ - TGOC

FREE Media Support Us App

Things That Save-2

SALV-6

May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ

Give

The Bible says that ‘the Lord is not slow concerning His promises as some men count slowness but He's longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.’
We welcome you to our study of the subject of salvation. As you've just heard from the Bible verse that we mentioned, the God of heaven, Jesus Christ, wants every person to be saved. That's the heart and that's the mind of God. God doesn't want nor is it His desire that anybody would be lost. And so today, we're thinking about the second part in a study of the things the Bible says are necessary in man's salvation. In our previous lesson, as we discussed this subject, we noted that God was necessary for salvation, that Jesus Christ made it available, that the Holy Spirit played an integral part in that and that salvation is given to man through the Godhead, that our faith is important, that faith only comes by hearing the Word of God, which is essential to our salvation, and that the preaching of the gospel and God's plan of salvation- all those things are indeed essential.
Today, we're going to notice some other things the Bible says are essential in man's salvation. One of the things that the Bible indeed says is essential to salvation is the grace of our God.
I want you to notice the words of Ephesians 2:8-9 with me. The Bible says, “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” No doubt about the fact that grace is part in man's salvation. Without grace, there'd be no salvation. It's by grace that salvation is available. The word grace is an interesting idea. You look at its root meaning and it carries the idea of undeserved or unmerited favor. God found favor in man although man did nothing to earn or deserve that. God wanted to save man, although man was without hope and lost- Ephesians 2:1, Romans 5:6-8. It's God good pleasure, His desire, to save man. That grace is one of the most beautiful ideas that you find in the Bible. The exhibition of it, the showing of that grace is found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. John 1:17 says ‘the Law came through Moses but grace and truth are in Christ.’ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, ‘though He was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor, that we, through His poverty, might be made rich.’ Our God is the God of all grace and therefore, He has made that salvation available by His grace. We're saved by grace and as we've already mentioned, through faith. Faith is essential as well. Hebrews 11:6 says without faith, it's impossible to please God. Grace, that's God's part. God gave man His unmerited favor when man was completely hopeless and lost in sin. Man responds to that gift of grace in faith. That's man's part. We must obey God, Matthew 7:21 and following.
We want to especially identify and show the richness of God's grace found in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Bible also teaches that another thing that saves us is God's mercy.
Listen to the words of Titus 3:5. The scripture records, ‘it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.’ I haven't earned it. I haven't merited it. I can't look up to heaven and say ‘God, I've done these things, therefore I deserve.’ No, through His mercy He saved us. Someone put a kind of a unique definition on that fits what the scripture teaches about both grace and mercy. They said grace is when God allows us to receive what we don't deserve -that's His unmerited favor and His gift in His Son. Mercy is when God allows us to escape what
we do deserve. How true that is. What am I being allowed to escape that I do deserve? Well, think about it for a moment with me. The Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. The scripture says the soul who sins shall surely die, Ezekiel 18:4. When I think about the idea of mercy and man being allowed to escape what he deserved, I've sinned. You've sinned if you're of an accountable age. The wages of that sin is spiritual death and separation from God.
Where's the mercy of God in salvation? The very fact that through the sacrifice of Jesus and the love of God, I don't have to get what I deserved for my sin. Psalm 103:10-12 I think illustrates the mercy of God as beautifully as any verse in the scripture. The Bible says ‘the Lord's not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.’ What's that verse say? Exactly what mercy says. I didn't get what I deserved for my sins. How thankful I am to God for the fact that mercy is an integral part of God's salvation to mankind.
Let's think about another idea that goes right hand in hand with grace and mercy and is really the motivating factor of God's salvation-it is the love of God that is so essential to my salvation and yours. Again, we remind you of the words of John 3:16. “God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Why did God make salvation available? Friend, because God loves you and God loves me. 1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your care upon Him. He cares for you. While we were still without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man one might die, yet perhaps for a good man, some would even dare to die. God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God loves you and how do you know that? Through the demonstration of His love. What is that? Look at Jesus on the cross. Look at Jesus as He faced the suffering He faced. Look at Jesus as He was buried in the tomb. That's the demonstration of just how much God loves you and just how much God loves me. Were it not for the love of God, there'd be no salvation. I would be hopeless, helpless, lost, and headed down to the road of destruction without the marvelous love of God. I'll
assure you, no one has ever loved you like God loves you. No one has ever done more and given more and sacrificed more for your betterment and your salvation than God has. The fact of that alone, the fact of how much God loves me and how much He loves you ought to motivate us to want to be obedient to the God of Heaven and spend eternity with Him in His salvation.
Let's then turn our attention to another item that the Bible says is essential to salvation-the blood, or the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want you to notice the words of Hebrews 7:27. The Bible says ‘of Jesus who does not daily as those high priests, those under the Old Testament, need to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the peoples.’ Listen to this, ‘for this He did, once for all, when He offered up Himself. Jesus gave His life, His blood once for everybody for sin.’ Hebrews 10:12 puts it this way, ‘and this man, after He made one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.’ What was that sacrifice? It was His own life.
You remember the events surrounding the cross of Jesus, Calvary, and Golgotha. Think about it in your mind for just a moment. Jesus is taken by ungodly men. He's bound by them. He's taken to be questioned in the praetorian. He's laughed at. He's mocked. People spit in His face. They take the hand and they strike Jesus. They beat Him with something like a whip with large metal shards put in it or glass, bone maybe. His back is bloody, and the blood begins to flow from Jesus. Then a purple robe was placed on Him, a crown of thorns piercing into His brow, reopening the wounds that have been beaten. His hands and feet are nailed to a cruel cross. He's suspended in agony between heaven and earth and that blood of Christ that flowed down freely on Calvary is what saves me and you. Jesus said it this way. In Matthew 26:28 Jesus, as He taught His disciples about the Lord's Supper said, “This is My blood of the new covenant shed for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Without the blood of Christ, there is no salvation. It's what paid the price. It's the offering that appeased God's wrath and His hatred for sin. Because of His Son's perfect life and sacrifice, salvation could be available for mankind. Jesus' blood is such an important part of salvation.
As I think about what the Savior did for me, as I think about all the things He gave up, leaving Heaven, coming to this earth, doing all the good that He did, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, helping the poor, casting out demons of those who were possessed, and then I think about that great sacrifice- how moved I am to want to live every day for Jesus Christ and to be thankful for the salvation that God has offered!
Along with the blood of Christ, we also want to realize that the Bible says that the life of Jesus also played an integral part in salvation. I want to direct your attention to the words of Romans 5:10. Listen to these words. Paul says, “For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” It's the death that reconciles us, but notice, he says “we're saved by His life.” But what about the life of Jesus that plays, what part of His life is important to salvation? I understand His death, but how does Jesus' life save us?
Well Friend, that life was a perfect life and that life sets the pattern and I have and you have. Christians have that life to follow, and we're promised if we set the pattern of Jesus' life for us to follow, that's the life that'll get us to heaven. The Bible says in 1 Peter 2:21 ‘for to this were you called, because Christ also suffered and died for us, leaving us an example that we should follow in His footsteps.’ 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul said ‘imitate me as I also imitate Christ.’ If I'll have the mind of Christ, Philippians 2:5, if I will try to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, study the life of Christ, deal with problems and situations and life and the devil and sin the way Jesus did, for in that life will save you. That mindset, that attitude and that caliber of life will ultimately lead to one doing the things that please God.
The encouragement is: let's emulate the life of Jesus! Let's look at it as the premier example of a life that is dedicated in service to God and a life that I need to hold up as a role model and follow every day.
As you think about Jesus and His blood and His life, let's also realize, and I know we've mentioned this as well, but we want to surely make note that another thing the Bible says is so essential in salvation is the death of
Jesus. Listen to Romans chapter 5, and I want you to notice what the Bible says about Christ's death. The Bible says in Romans 5:9, ‘much more than, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.’ What are they talking about when they say the blood of Jesus? The death, the sacrifice, and the offering. We're justified and saved by the blood of the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The fact that He did not love His life more than He loved me, more than He loved you and more than He loved God is a testament to the magnitude and the power of His salvation.
Friend, we then mention this as well as it relates to salvation the Bible teaches that the good news, or the gospel of Jesus Christ saves us. Notice Romans 1:16. Paul says, ‘for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it, the gospel of Christ, is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.’ What is it that's the power of God to salvation? The gospel. Paul says ‘I'm not ashamed of it.’ Why? ‘The gospel is God's power to salvation.’ When we say gospel, that's a word that means really in its basic sense means good news. The good news of Jesus Christ is God's power to salvation. That good news, of course, we mentioned many of the facets of it already- His life, His example, His death, and His sacrifice, the death, the burial and the resurrection of Christ-1 Corinthians 15:1-3. Friend, that's God's power to salvation. We don't want to underestimate the gospel of Christ. We read about it in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and the good news of the life of Christ. You can't have salvation without that good news. And aren't you thankful there's good news today?
There's so much negative in the world. There's so much negative on the internet. There's so much negative in television. You watch the news, whether it be international or national news and the majority of that news, like it or not, is going to be negative. It's not good news. It's not something you turn on and are glad to hear. The gospel is good news.
Now Friend, sometimes people will understand these ideas that grace and mercy and the gospel and those things are essential in salvation, but they fail to realize the Bible also teaches that doing the will of God and
obedience to God are also essential to salvation. How do we know that? Look in your Bible or notice Matthew 7:21 with us. The Bible says Jesus speaking, “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.” Is doing the will of God essential? Is it an item the Bible says is essential to salvation? Yeah, Jesus said ‘it's not everybody that just looks look looks up and says Lord Lord.’ No, that's not enough. I've got to do the will of my Father in heaven.
Here's a question Jesus asked in Luke 6:46. He said this to the hypocritical people of His day who probably recognized He was a great teacher, maybe even Savior, but weren't willing to follow Him. Jesus said, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do the things which I say?” I want you to think about Jesus' words in John 14:15 for a moment. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Friend, let's realize Jesus is the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, Hebrews 5:8-9. In doing the will of God, in keeping the commands of God, which Jesus has taught us are clearly essential to salvation can I then somehow reach the conclusion I've earned it? Of course not. We recognize salvation is by grace.
Friend, do I not have to do what God says? Do I not have to obey God's terms? Do I not have to submit to God's will to receive the salvation that He's freely offering to mankind? Well, absolutely I do and thus obedience to the will of God is essential to salvation as well. You know, in line with that idea, Christians, the Bible teaches that Christians must live a righteous life to continue in the salvation God wants them to have. Listen to Matthew 5:20. Jesus said, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Can somebody be saved who's not living a righteous life? Can somebody be saved who's not walking in the light? 1 John 1:7. Who doesn't have the mind of Christ? Philippians 2:5. And who is not following in the footsteps of Jesus? 1 Peter 1, 2 verses 21-22. Well, of course not.
Jesus taught us, if our righteousness is just out there for people to see and we really don't mean it like the hypocrites and the Pharisees of His day, you'll not enter the kingdom of heaven. Friend, again, we're not saying any of us are perfect. We're not saying that it is our righteousness that earns us salvation. That is absolutely not true. We are saying the Bible says we've got to live like God wants us to. The Bible says that we must walk in the light and the Bible says we must live holy lives. 1 Peter 1:15, ‘Be holy, as He who called you is holy.’ Hebrews 12:14, ‘without holiness no one can see God.’ I want to live my life in harmony with the will of God to the best of my ability and strive every day to be pleasing unto the Lord.
Another thing the Bible says is essential to salvation is being faithful unto the end, or enduring to the end. Listen to the words of Matthew 10:22. Jesus said, “And you will be hated by all for My namesake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” “Be faithful unto death and I'll give you the crown of life,” Revelation 2:10. If I quit halfway through, am I going to be saved? If I throw the towel in and give up, am I going to be saved? No, ‘he who endures to the end.’ “Be faithful until death.” To the very last breath I take, I've got to live up to the best of my ability and strive to do God's will.
Again, we're not putting our salvation on ourself, but we do want to follow the will of God. We do want to live the best life we can and we do want to strive to do those things which are pleasing unto our God.
As you think about salvation and as I think about salvation, and God's plan of salvation, we realize that to be saved, we've got to put our trust and our hope in God who is the source of that salvation. I've got to turn from sin, from the error of my way, James 5:20. I've got to put my trust and hope in the power and the authority of Jesus Christ, Acts 4:12. It is His doctrine or His teaching that saves, 1 Timothy 4:16. I've got to be willing to look to God and to call on Him for salvation, Acts 2:21. The Bible says this, ‘And it shall come to pass whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ I've got to reach out to God. I've got to call out to God. I've got to put my trust in God to be saved.
Now, how does the Bible teach, how does the Bible tell us to call on the name of the Lord to be saved?
Now here's what the world says. The world says to call on the name of the Lord just means that you look up in heaven and say I believe in God or maybe you say the sinner's prayer. ‘Lord Jesus, I recognize You as Savior and Master. I now ask You to come in my heart and save me.’ Do you find those in the Bible? Is that what it means to call on the name of the Lord, to be saved? No.
Let's let the Bible define its own terms. I want to direct your attention to a passage with me. Would you get your Bible and look in Acts 22:16 for a moment? Let's see an example of an individual who was told how to call on the name of the Lord, Acts 22:16. This is Saul of Tarsus and he's recounting his conversion. It was the Lord who told him, ‘you go in the city and be told you what you must do.’ Here is what God told him. And now, Ananias says to Saul, ‘and now, while you are waiting? Arise and be baptized.’ Don't miss this, ‘And wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’ How do you call on the name of the Lord? We'll answer it this way. If I'm in sin, if I'm in a predicament, if I've been a problem, if I've got trouble and there's somebody out there and I call out to them for salvation and they do things to offer, make that salvation available, then I've got to do what God says. I've got to do things also. I've got to follow what's said to be saved and to do what God wants me to.
Think about it this way. God's made salvation available. Man doesn't have to live in the muck and mire of sin. He can be saved. But to call on the name of the Lord properly, I've got to ‘arise and be baptized and wash away my sins.’ Baptism is essential in calling on the name of the Lord. That's how the Bible defines the term, ‘call on the name of the Lord’ by getting up and doing what God says to be saved. God's made it available, He's made it for everybody, but I've got to follow His will. This is no different than what Jesus said in Mark 16:16. “He that believes and is baptized will be saved. He that does not believe shall be condemned.” It’s no different than what Peter said. “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins,” Acts 2:38.
We encourage you today to consider your own salvation.
If you've not obeyed the gospel and done the things God wants, won't you do those and be saved so you can one day go to Heaven?
Study Questions for:
“Salvation: Lesson 6”
1. According to Ephesians 2:8-9, how are we saved?
2. According to John 1:17, what are in Christ?
3. According to Romans 3:23, who has sinned?
4. How does Psalm 103:10-12 say God has dealt with us?
5. According to John 3:16, what did God give for us? Why?
6. Where is Jesus according to Hebrews 10:12?
7. According to Matthew 26:28, why was His blood shed?
8. According to Romans 5:10, how shall we be saved?
9. According to 1 Peter 2:21, whose footsteps should we follow in?
10. According to Romans 1:16, what has the power of God?

God's Eternal Plan

May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ

The Bible says “God wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth,” 1 Timothy 2:4. We welcome you today to The Gospel of Christ program. In this series of lessons, we're going to be discussing the great subject of salvation. And friend, how good it is to know that the God of heaven wants all men to be saved! 2 Peter 3:9 the Bible says that ‘The Lord is not slow concerning His promises, as some men count slowness, but He's long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but all should come to a knowledge of the truth.’ God wants everybody to be saved. Jesus has delayed or is slow in His coming in that God wants to give all men time to repent. (The full transcript is available in the "Download Document" button above.)

Jesus is the Only Way

May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ

The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me." John 14:6 We welcome you today to our study of Jesus as the way of salvation. You know, in the world we live in today there seem to be in a lot of peoples' minds a variety of different ways that you can be saved. Some would say that you can be saved under the Hindu religion or by being a Buddhist. Others would say that you could be saved by Allah or Muhammed under Islam. Whether it be Judaism, whether it be some kind of spiritual "-ism" today or something like that, there's just a whole host of different religions and people claim that all these and all the followers of and leaders of can save you. Well friend, is that true? (The full transcript is available in the "Download Document" button above.)

I Need Salvation

May 24, 2022 • The Gospel of Christ

The word of God says, "It is appointed to man once to die and then the judgment." 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, ‘We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may give an account for the things done in the body whether good or evil.’ One day all of us will leave this life, and one day we all stand before the almighty throne of God. In view of that, I need and you need salvation from God. Welcome to our study of the subject of salvation. Today we're going to be thinking about the fact that I need, that every individual needs salvation, and what it is we're saved to, and what it is we're saved from in eternity. The fact that heaven is going to be wonderful, and the fact that we're going to be saved to heaven, and the fact that hell is going to be horrible, and that we're saved from a sinner's hell. We welcome you today to our study of this wonderful subject relating to salvation. Let's then begin to think about our soul in view of eternity. Let's think about the fact that I need salvation from a sinner's hell and to the beautiful place we call heaven. I want you to think with me in this first part of our lesson about how that nobody would ever in their right mind want to be lost in hell. You know, when we think about hell, what's it going to be like? What is hell, what does the Bible teach about that subject of hell? You know, we don't hear much today on the subject of hell and probably in most places it's been a long time since we heard a sermon on what hell is going to be like-but friend there's a value to that. As I think about what is hell, and as I think about the subject of hell, this motivates and this challenges a person to be saved in view of that. I don't want to go to hell. I want to live in such a way that I'm right in the sight of God, and it is a preventative to make sure that I remain true to God's teaching. I want to invite you to open your Bible with me to Luke the 16th chapter, and let's think about a man who went to hell. Let's think about this man's journey through torment. Let's see just how horrible it was for this man and see what lessons we can learn that'll promote and prevent us from being lost for all eternity. Open your Bible if you would to Luke 16:19. The Bible says, "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate desiring to be fed with the crumbs which feel from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried." Now notice this, "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom." Friend, as you think about this man's journey to torment, what is torment going to be like, what's hell going to be like? Friend, it's a place of horrible, horrible torment. If you can imagine being in such agony, being in such pain and torment that you would almost hope to die, you would beg to die-and you would live forever. You know, as you think about the idea of torment think about maybe when you felt sick in your life. Think about maybe when you felt really, really bad. You were so sick and you felt so bad that you'd probably say to yourself, death would almost be better than this. If you've ever been in that kind of torment, whether it is mental or whether it be emotional torment, you know how bad that is. Can you imagine living forever in a state where you would almost wish for death and yet living in that moment of time for all eternity, being in that kind of torment for the rest of your life. Can you imagine that? Well look a little further as you think about the rich man and what he had to face. We also learn that hell is a place of fire. Notice in your Bible in Luke 16:24. The scripture says, "Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’" What's going to be so horrible, why do I need salvation from hell? For in hell it's going to be a place of unquenchable fire. Listen to the words of Jesus in Mark 9:44. Hell is a place, Jesus said, "where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." When you think about the rich man's words here, ‘have mercy on me, send Lazarus, I just need one drop of water, for I'm tormented in this flame.’ Have you ever had to deal with a burn? Everybody in their life at one point or another has maybe burned themselves. Maybe you were in the kitchen and you accidentally touched a hot pan and it burned you. Maybe you've played with fireworks and got burned, maybe in your work you somehow got burned, or maybe even worse, you were in some type of fire and you got burned by that fire. You know how bad a burn hurts and how it makes your skin boil up. When you pop it and touch it, it just hurts so much- the pain and the anguish. In fact I once heard a story of a preacher who went into a hospital and he was in the burn wing. He said you just cannot imagine how horrible that part of the hospital was. He said from the moment you walked through those double doors, the screams and the anguish and the pain of those people with those burns on their bodies as they're tending the wounds, as they're dressing them, as they're taking care of them- the agony and the pain that they're writhing in can't be rivaled with anything. Truly nothing hurts nearly as bad as a burn. Now why do we say those things, why do we make you think about that? Friend, the Bible describes hell as a place of fire. 'The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever,’ Revelation 14:11 says. ‘It's a place of burning brimstone, of fire and brimstone,’ as described in Revelation chapter 20. Imagine now living in a place of eternal fire forever. Nobody'd want to do that. Let's say, would you do this, you think about this, if you had a cigarette lighter would you light that lighter and hold your finger over it and burn yourself? Well of course not. If you were at the house and your oven was cranked up to 500 degrees, would you stick your hand in there and hold it in for a good while? No. Why? It'd burn you. You'd do whatever you could to prevent being burned. You're not going to burn yourself. You're not going to stick your hand in a hot oven. You're not going to jump in a fire. Why not? I don't want to be burned. I'm going to do whatever it takes to prevent that. And yet now is the opportunity, now is the time, to prevent living forever in torment. Many people are living as though they have no fear of the eternal torment in the fire of hell. What else do we know about this man's journey to hell? This is probably the worst thing. It's not necessarily the physical torment. It's not necessarily the pain and the torture of the fire. Friend, probably one of the worst things about hell is that there's going to be mental recognition in hell. Listen to Luke 16:25. "But Abraham said," now listen to this, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented." What's going to be horrible about hell? Your memory will not be erased. You will remember in hell. God said to the rich man, ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember now you had it pretty good back on earth. You had all the fine things, all the luxuries; Lazarus not so.’ Now the roles are kind of reversed, aren't they? This man squandered his opportunity. He didn't use what he had to glorify God. He didn't help Lazarus. He wasn't a very good man, and he's going to remember that for all eternity. Friend, what's going to be horrible about hell is the fact that I will remember. Think about this for a moment- can you imagine sitting in the halls of hell thinking about what you should have done, thinking about the opportunities that you overlooked, thinking about the time that you almost changed your life and obeyed the gospel? You think about ‘I almost became a Christian. I almost gave up this sin,’ whatever it may be. ‘I almost.’ Almost is going to be one of those haunting words in hell. Don't let that be in your heart, and your life for all eternity. Instead of thinking ‘if I should have or would have or could have,’- make changes now because your memory and mind will not be erased in eternity. We will be able to remember some of those things. Then of course the Bible teaches another horrible thing about hell is that hell is a place of eternal separation. Listen to Luke 16:26. This man's journey then goes further when the Bible tells us "And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us." What do we know about hell? It's a place of eternal separation. There is no crossing over. The rich man says ‘just send Abraham to get one drop of water to cool my tongue, I'm tormented in this flame.’ Son, remember you had it good on life. He's got it good now. He says ‘well let me go back and,’ no- no crossing over. There's a great gulf. The word gulf means a ‘wide, deep chasm that nobody could get across.’ You just can't get across it. No going back and forth. The idea is that of separation. There's no going back and forth. If one is lost, it's eternal. The separation will be eternal. Friend, hell is going to be horrible because if I don't live right and obey the gospel and become a Christian no- it's too late on the other side. You're not going to buy anybody out of there, that's not taught in the Bible. You can't do enough good works to get somebody out of, that's not taught in the scripture. Now is the opportunity. This is my one chance to get right with God or I'm going to be separated for all eternity. Think about that- I'm going to be separated from God. I'm going to be separated from Jesus Christ. I'm going to be separated from all good, righteous, and holy people. I am going to not only be separated from God and all that's good, I'm going to be with, without the possibility of getting away, I'm going to be with the devil and his angels, and evil ungodly immoral people without the possibility of ever being separated from them either. Think about how horrible that would be on the other side. When you think about this separation you also have to think about how good it's going to be to go to heaven. I need salvation not only because I don't want to go to hell and be lost for eternity, but I need salvation because I want to be saved and I want to go to heaven. I want you to think about the beauty and the splendor of that place called heaven. You know, Christians often sing the song “How Beautiful Heaven Must Be.” How true that is, we sing songs like the “Paradise Valley” and we think about how wonderful it's going to be. Friend, heaven really is a beautiful place of rest. I want you to look in the Bible in Hebrews chapter four, and I want you to notice, now let's think about some passages that relate to heaven. Hebrews 4:9 listen to what the word of God says about the beautiful rest of heaven. Scripture says, "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God." Think about how beautiful heaven's going to be. Think about how wonderful that place called heaven is and don't you want to go there? It's a place of rest. You know, when you think about rest, imagine it this way. Let's say that you've gone out and you've worked harder than you have ever worked before. You have been involved in some type of strenuous manual labor from sunup to sundown, whatever that may be. You're tired, your body aches, and the one thing you want is rest for the old weary body. When you think about that, think about it in a spiritual sense. The soul and the spirit, which has fought with sin, which has struggled every day with the world, which has done battle against Satan, which is worn out and tired from all that- it's a place of rest for the spirit and the soul. There'll be no more sorrow, death, pain, or crying. All the sin, all those former things will have passed away. Don't you want to go to that beautiful place of rest where God himself is? I need salvation, and I want to go to heaven because evil is going to be absent in heaven. I want you to notice next Revelation 21:4.The Bible says, "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there'll be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." The things that bring us so much heartache in this life don't exist on the other side. There'll be no death. Won't it be wonderful that when you get to heaven you'll never hear the news, you'll never read the obituary in the paper, and you’ll never have somebody call you and say, did you hear so and so died? No more death. There'll be no more crying. I won't have to shed tears on the other side. There'll be no more sorrow. There'll be no more pain. You won't hurt. We won't have to deal with disease, sickness, cancer, heart attacks, and strokes. All those former things will have passed away. Isn't it a beautiful picture of God in Revelation 21:4? God is pictured as wiping away every tear from their eyes. When I think about this I think about an illustration. When I was a young kid sometimes we would stay at my grandmother's house, and I remember specifically we would play. We'd sometimes get rambunctious and as kids do sometime- you'd fall down and scrape your knee or sometime you'd hurt your elbow or you'd get hurt sometime. You go to your grandmother crying maybe. I remember every time, grandmother would take us up, and she'd take that apron that people in that day and age wore, and she'd take that apron, bring us up in her arms and she'd just wipe away every tear and before you knew it you didn't even know why you were crying. You didn't even know what was wrong. All you knew was that you were in that place of safety and grandma had wiped away every tear. Friend I want you to think about God like that. What's heaven going to be like? It's a place of safety. There isn't the heartache and the pain that we face now. God is going to bring us up and wipe away every tear from our eye. We won't feel the things that we feel in this life. Heaven's going to be wonderful because God is going to be there. When I was a young person and I used to hear things about heaven, and I used to read the Bible as it spoke about heaven, I would often think that the things that are going to make heaven great are the jewels and the diamonds and the pearly gate, and the river, all those physical touchable images that we think about. I don't really think now that's the main thing that's going to make heaven great. What is the number one thing that makes heaven great? I think Jesus mentioned it in Matthew 6:9. Jesus said, "In this manner, therefore pray Our Father who is in heaven." What makes heaven great? If God is in heaven that's what'll make heaven great-the God of love, I John 4:8, and the God of light, John 8:12. If Jesus Christ, the great sacrifice is there, that'll make heaven, heaven. Being in the presence of God for all eternity is Heaven. Living with the saints of old, being with loved ones who've passed on- that's heaven. That's what makes it wonderful! It's not necessarily the jewels or the pearly gates or the river- no, all those images are wonderful things, don't get me wrong, but if God's there, that's what makes heaven heaven. Don't you want to go to heaven? I'll assure you of this today, heaven, no matter what you face, no matter what you have to go through, no matter what things you have to give up… heaven will be worth it all. There's a final Bible passage that I want you to think about with me that really illustrates how heaven is worth whatever you've got to face and whatever you've got to give up to go there… heaven's worth it. Listen to what Paul said in Romans 8:18. "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." What'd Paul say? Heaven's going to be worth it all. The sufferings you face now and the difficulties that you incur will all be worth it. People may laugh at you. People may mock you. You may have to face difficulties and challenges in this life. You may have to give up, and you may have to suffer to be a Christian. Heaven's going to be worth it. The glory that's one day going to be revealed in us- it doesn't even compare. Those things don't even compare to what heaven's going to be like. Paul could definitely say that, could he not? He'd done a lot of things that were not pleasing to God. When he changed his life he truly gave up, didn't he? He spent his life spreading the gospel. Paul was stoned at certain times in Lystra and other areas, Iconium, Acts 14. He was beaten. He was stranded out in the sea. He faced shipwreck. He was put in prison. All that, Paul said, isn't even worthy to be compared with what we'll one day receive. Friend, I hope today that you'll think seriously about why we need salvation. I hope that you'll think with a view toward eternity. Are you thinking seriously about your soul? Are you thinking about the judgment day? Remember, Hebrews 9:27 says, “It’s appointed to man once to die and then the judgment.” There are two things, only two that you can be sure of. We will all one day leave this life, no getting around that, and we'll all one day stand before the judgment seat of God. Now in view of that, we've got to think seriously about our soul. This life is not what's important. The things of this life, the stuff, the pleasures, the junk that often gets in the way of people putting God first-that's not what's important. What's important is my soul and yours. Are you really thinking about eternity? Have you really thought about how horrible hell's going to be? Can you imagine, just think seriously in your own mind, if I die outside of Christ, and I go to hell. Have I really thought about what that's going to be like? Friend, we're saying this because God doesn't want anybody to go there. We don't want anybody to go there. We love your eternal soul, and we want you to be saved. You've got to think seriously. The reality is, I will die, and I will be judged. The reality is, if I haven't obeyed the gospel and lived right, or I live and die in sin, I will be lost in hell. Hell is a place of torment, fire, and a place of mental recognition. It’s a place of separation and a place where you'll be with the devil and his angels for all eternity. Are you thinking seriously about your soul in view of heaven, a beautiful place of rest? Heaven is a place where God is, a place where evil and all the things of this life do not haunt us, and a place where you can spend eternity with loved ones who've gone on before you, who are also saved. Now friend, if you're thinking about these things seriously today, the question you need to be asking is, am I right with God? Have I obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ? Am I a Christian and have I obeyed God's will? Now here's what we'd ask you to consider. Some people think they are a Christian, think they've obeyed the gospel, and they've not really been taught the truth on salvation. What does the Bible say you've got to do to be saved? Friend, you must hear the word of God to be saved. “Faith comes be hearing, hearing by the word of God.” Are you willing to listen to what God and God alone says in the Bible? If you are, do you believe that Jesus is the savior of the world? Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will surely die in your sins,” John 8:24. Would you be willing to repent and turn to God? Luke 13:3 and 13:5, Jesus said, "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish." Are you willing to change your way of thinking and change your way of acting? Would you turn from sin and turn to God? Would you confess in the name of Jesus before men? Romans 10:10 says, "With the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." And friend would you, to have every sin washed away, to become a Christian, be baptized in water for the forgiveness of your sins? Here's what the Bible teaches. Jesus said in Mark 16:16, "He that believes and is baptized will be saved." Peter said in Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins.” Saul was told, "Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins," Acts 22:16. Baptism is that which puts us into Christ, Galatians 3:27. Peter so clearly said, “Baptism does now also save us.” More than anything we want you to be saved. We want people to go to heaven and to miss out on hell. We urge you today; we're begging you, if you've never obeyed the gospel, if you are not a Christian or you've got sin in your life, please make that right. More than anything we want to see you one day in heaven with all the saved. Study Questions for: “Salvation: Lesson 3” 1. According to 2 Corinthians 5:10, what will we all do? 2. In Luke 16:24, why did the rich man want relief? 3. What does Jesus say about hell in Mark 9:44? 4. What does Revelation 14 say about hell? 5. According to Luke 16:25, is there mental recognition in hell? 6. According to Luke 16:26, is there eternal separation in hell? 7. According to Hebrews 4:9, what will the people of Heaven receive? 8. According to Revelation 21:4, what will Heaven be like? 9. What will be absent in Heaven according to Revelation 21:4? 10. According to Hebrews 9:27, what will we all experience?