Message for you
INTRODUCTION
IF YOU WOULD DIE TODAY… ARE YOU GOING TO HEAVEN?
A tough question, but read on quickly.
There is good news!
Many people doubt the existence of God or even claim to be sure that God does not exist. Still others believe in a supernatural power, but not in the God of the Bible. And yet the Bible says in Romans 1:20 that we can see from creation that God exists and no one has an excuse to live and serve Him without Him. However, there is a reason why people do not know and experience God in their lives: they are not converted.
This leaflet is to show you what belief in God is really all about. This undoubtedly raises questions for you. Questions like: Why isn't God just easy to see and find? If God exists, why does he let me look for him? And what if I've been looking for a long time, but still haven't found God and the meaning of my life?
We find the answer in the Bible:
“It was God's purpose that they should seek Him and find Him by touching, since He is not far from any of us.” Paul, Apostle, said in a discourse in Athens (Acts 17:27).
We believe that God made the heavens and the earth (See the first book of the Bible; Genesis, chapters 1-3). In the beginning all was well and man could talk directly to God and live (see Genesis 3:8).
This holy God is full of love and justice. He made man to be almost like Him, to work the earth and to be in contact with man. He also made you to have a relationship with you.
Man has been given free will and as you can read in Genesis 3:1-6, man chose not to obey God, but to do his own will. This led to separation between God and man unto this day. Separation between you and God, who made all the heavens and the earth and everything in it.
GOD OF THE BIBLE
In the Bible, Yeshua (=Hebrew name for Jesus) teaches that every person needs repentance; in fact, that every human being must be born again in order to see and enter the Kingdom of God. Many people, on the other hand, think that they don't need repentance, that they are good enough on their own. They think that repentance is only necessary for people who live very badly. The Bible, on the other hand, teaches us that there is no good man, because everyone has sinned against God. Every man has strayed from God, and therefore there is a wall of sin between you and God. Let's see how you are doing:
• Have you ever lied? (Lev. 19:11)
• Have you ever stolen? (Exodus 20:15)
• Have you ever looked at someone with lust? (Mathew 5:27-28)
• Have you ever taken God's name in vain? (Exodus 20:7)
• Did you observe the 7th day Sabbath? (Exodus 20:8-11 + Mathew 12:8-9 + Mark 1:21 + Acts 18:4)
This is only a fraction of God's perfect standards. As you can see, everyone has broken some of those standards in one way or another. In the letter to the Romans chapter 6 verse 23 we read “…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Yeshua the Messiah our Lord.”
So sin leads to death. Fortunately, it doesn't have to stop there. God is merciful, that means He wants to save us when we didn't deserve it. But what about that?
1 Tim. 2:4: "God our Savior desires that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth."
And how can a man be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth? By realizing what happened in the beginning; because the end is declared from the beginning.
AT THE BEGINNING
In the Bible we read that death came through one man (Adam, the ancestor of us all), likewise also the resurrection from the dead came through one man (this is Yeshua/Jesus, see 1 Corinthians 15:21).
We must be well aware of what happened when the first man, the first Adam, sinned. The Bible describes this as follows:
The LORD God commanded the man: Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. And what did man do? The woman was seduced by the serpent because he twisted the words of God, saying that she would certainly not die. Trust was not placed in God, but in the words of Satan (the adversary). Man disobeyed God.
And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes, yea, a tree desirable to make wise; and she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband, who was with her, and he ate (see Genesis 2:17; 3: 4,6).
Then death came through one man, and then death came upon all men and caused us all to sin (see Romans 5:12).
In Exodus 34:7 we read that God certainly does not hold the guilty innocent and in Psalm 7:11 we read, "God is a just judge, and a God who is angry [with the wicked] every day."
What does a judge do? He speaks right.
If you are taken to court for committing murder, there must be a judgment. If you say you're sorry and promise not to do it again, that's fine, but a just judge won't just acquit you. There must be retribution, justice must be done.
Everyone must be accountable for his/her actions in the future. People like Hitler will have to do that, but also you and me. For everyone has sinned, as we have seen before.
SIN = LIFE WITHOUT GOD'S TEACHING/COMMANDMENTS (1 JOHN 3:4)
IMPLICATIONS
Again, death came through one man and has come upon all men and caused us all to sin. So it was an event with very big consequences. It leads to the fact that every person is separated from God's presence and that is why you experience so little of Him. At the same time, we may rejoice that we serve such a gracious God, who is a just and good Judge. Justice must be given its course and that requires someone to be punished for sins.
In Psalm 86 we also read that God is a willingly forgiving God. God Himself has found the solution in giving His only begotten Son, He has taken our guilt upon Himself.
Romans 3:25: “God has presented Messiah Yeshua as a means of atonement through faith in His blood. This was to prove His righteousness, by the forgiveness of sins, which had been done before, under the forbearance of God."
1 John 4:10: "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
And that is why God can forgive sins without compromising His right, because when Yeshua/Jesus was crucified on Calvary, the right of God had its full course. Yeshua/Jesus has been presented as an atonement for the sins we have committed. Therefore, God can forgive sins.
This is the core of faith. Yeshua/Jesus taught us to turn to God; To love Him for what He has done for us. As a result, you want to “put off” your old life without Him and arise in a renewed life with Him, because you come to love Him. Baptism by immersion in water is the sign of this. For more information about this, mail us (see contact information).
FINALLY
The Bible teaches us in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “So then, if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creature; the old has passed away, behold, all things have become new.”
This is rebirth.
Of course, repentance is not just a little prayer you can say just before you die. No, it's a big decision to choose to put God at the center of your life, to serve Him with all your heart, soul, and all that you can. Your old life then dies and you rise in a new life with Yeshua/Jesus.
Suppose I invent a medicine that can completely cure the disease cancer. And suppose I don't publicize this. How would you rate my conduct? So it is with the Biblical Message.
Because of sin, our relationship with God has been broken and we are under His judgment. If you were to die today as an unconverted human being, you would not come to God. But salvation is possible through Yeshua/Jesus.
Should we keep that to ourselves out of respect for other beliefs? The Gospel is really true and therefore out of love and respect for others it should be proclaimed that Yeshua/Jesus is the only way to the Father (see John 14:6).
The time in which we now live is called probationary time. This means that we can still turn to God now. You can live with or without God, but there is no middle ground. Soon Yeshua/Jesus will return to separate the people who want to live with Him and those who want to live without Him. Yeshua/Jesus will establish his Kingdom on this earth and then the Torah will be the constitution for the whole world (Isaiah 2:3).
Are you ready?
Are you going for it? call upon the God of Israel; pray to Him. Thank Him for His gracious nature, ask for forgiveness and turn to Him. Read the Bible and get to know God and His Word even better.