I know the title of this blog caught your attention, so I want to say Thank You for taking the time to read this blog and see how you are being deceived. I honestly believe that this blog can be applied to people who don't know Jesus, Baby Christians (people who have bits and pieces of Jesus), Mature Christians, and people who want to strengthen their faith walk and grow. The devil entangles us with his lies and deceit, so it is up to us to do our research and study the Word and find out his tricks. There are several tricks that I will name that he has people deceived by:
- That he doesn't exist
- That "Hell" is not a real place
- Since God is SOOOO Good and Just, then he won't send anyone to Hell
- That the Bible is just a story and misinterpreted
- That there are MANY ways to Heaven
- That if you do enough "Good" then you can earn your way into Heaven
- That there is NO afterlife or Eternity
It would take me a long time to go into all of these that are listed here so I wanted to focus on one of them that I feel traps people the most. The one that I am going to cover in this blog is: That if you do enough "Good" then you can earn your way into Heaven. In our society today we like to classify ourselves into two categories: Good People and Bad People. We actually believe there are certain barriers between the two. For an example if you commit a crime then you are a "bad" person and if you struggle with addiction then you are a "bad" person. Now another example of the other category would be: "I gave $20.00 to a homeless person today, I am such a good person." "I go to church every Sunday, I am a good person." "I only bend the truth just a little bit, so I am doing much better than the "bad" people, so I am still a good person." If I did a survey and asked people to categorize themselves into one of the categories I would bet that I would hear that everyone would put themselves in a "good person" category. We can honestly try so hard in our heart to do the right thing, and to have the right intention but to be honest NONE OF US OUR GOOD. Did you hear what I just said? I will repeat it again so it soaks in for a little bit "NONE OF US OUR GOOD!!!!" In Gods eyes there is only ONE level and that level is "Bad People." We are so sinful and we mess up DAILY that we can't even stand on our own two feet and boast of our good works or intentions. In Isaiah 64:6 it says- ALL of us have become like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags, we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Do you see that in the first line of that scripture it says "ALL?" The scripture did not say "Some of us." On our very best days that we try to do good, we still fall short. The best example is trying to throw a rock to the moon. I can only throw my rock so far, and you might be stronger and able to throw father than me but the bottom line is that we both have missed the mark and we are nowhere near the target. Our God is so loving and knew this already in advance so out of his love for us he went to his plan. He knew we needed a perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins and it needed to be an unblemished lamb. It would be His Only Son that is sinless and perfect. He would become human and humble himself by coming down to live with mankind and live a perfect life to where he would be punished for no crime but take OUR crime and take OUR sins and die for US!! He would be the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. I am just getting to the point where the devil comes into play and deceives people. Now Jesus died for EVERYONE on the cross but not EVERYONE accepts him as their Savior. Some people are deceived by saying "I am good because I went to church when I was younger, so I am covered" Some people even say "I have picked up the Bible a few times and I know that there is a God out there" Some even say that they have heard that Jesus died for their sins and that it is enough to just know that. The devil puts SOO many methods out there and practices to where it makes people believe that there are MANY options to becoming Saved. Jesus is very clear on that, in John 14:6 Jesus says "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus makes it very clear that we aren't good enough to come on our own, so the only way is through him. So the purpose of this blog is to understand that NOBODY is good and we are all in the same boat. There are just some that have Jesus and some that don't. There are some people going to Heaven and some people going to Hell. I am going to put a category below to break it down just in case you are still thinking that you are a "good" person. Take this survey and see how you do:
Have you ever told a lie? If you have told ONE lie then that makes you a LIAR
Have you ever stole anything? If you have stolen one thing then that makes you a THIEF
Have you ever taken Gods name in Vain? If you have then you are a BLASPHEMER
Have you ever looked at someone from the opposite
sex and had lust toward them and sexual thoughts? If you have then you have
COMMITTED ADULTERY in your heart.
Now once you have your answers you now have a "TITLE" that goes before you. Whenever you stand before God during judgement he will see the title "Liar, Thief, Blasphemer, Adulterer, etc" Since God is a righteous God and a Fair Judge he has no choice but to sentence you to the crime that you have committed against him. The sentence is Romans 6:23- For the wages of sin is death. So if you go by your own standards you aren't going to be good enough and you are destined for Hell. Now since God loves us so much he sent his Son Jesus Christ to sacrifice his life for us so that if we have him as our Savior we can stand before him in right standing with God. When God looks at us he will see his Son Jesus Christ and the sins have already been paid for so we now can come boldly to Gods throne!!!! Do you understand now? Jesus is the ONLY way and HIS way is the ONLY RIGHT WAY!!! I am praying that the Holy Spirit made this message come alive to you to where you repent for your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today. You can have a CLEAN slate today!!! You can be a new creation in Christ Today!!! Your name can be engraved on his Hand today!!!
