It would be beneficial for all of us to occasionally consider why we need to be saved. Although there are probably many reasons we could individually come up with as to why we need to be saved: I want to consider five reasons why each of us have a need for salvation.
Until one recognizes, in a very solid way, the truth that there is a God he or she will never recognize their need to be saved. Do you believe there is a God? When asked this question many will answer, “yes” but when asked: “why do you believe there is a God,” they have a problem explaining.
Many times we believe things we have been taught without asking ourselves why we have accepted the belief. God wants us to have faith in Him but He never asked us to have a blind faith, based on nothing.
In Romans 1:20 God gives us the simplest reason we should know by faith that there is a God, He says: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” This world did not get here by accident any more than the house you live in just happened to fall into place over time.
In your house you see organization. This suggests the intelligence of an organizer. You realize it would take power and the presence of an intelligent being to create your house. Does not good sense tell us it would take intelligence, power and a presence to create the world and the universe around us?
What man can make a tree?
Perhaps this is why God declares in Psalms 14:41 “The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God.”
I need to be saved because there is a
God.
Many times we think of God as being a good old grandpa in the sky with a long beard who gives us a smiling frown and maybe a wink when we do something wrong. No reason to worry about being saved from a God like that. Perhaps at the worst you might get a slap on the wrist.
John 4:8 says of God:
“He who does not
love does not know God, for God is
love.”
Because one of
God’s attributes is
“love” many think that
a loving God could not really send a person to hell for an eternity. They
reason that they love their children and would never send them to hell,
so, if there is a
God of love he would never send us to hell.
When we reason like this we bring God down to our level,
thinking He is like us.
What they over look is that God has other attributes that must be equally balanced with love.
Of God, Psalms 89:14 says:
“Righteousness and
justice are the
foundation of Your throne; Mercy
and
truth go before Your
face.”
The
perfect
justice of God
demands that each
wrong be
punished. While justice demands
punishment, love demands
mercy. Because of this God made a great sacrifice for you which is spoken of in
John 3:16 and says: “For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.”
God loved us
enough to allow His Son to pay the price demanded by
justice. The price we cannot pay for our
injustice.
God allowed
His son to die a terrible death on a cross so we could be
saved.
God is love but do
not be mistaken, if we do
not accept this great love and mercy from
God, by rejecting the gift of His
Son, then God will have no
choice but to punish us.
Being who He
is, He can do no
less!!!
The punishment of an all-powerful God is truly to be
feared!
Consider Heb 10:28-31, which says:
“Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The Lord will judge His people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Proverbs 1:7 says:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and
instruction.”
God’s
wish is that we will
fear Him enough to be
motivated to hear and obey
Him. He would rather have a relationship with us built on love than on
justice.
2Peter 3:9-10
says: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness,
but is longsuffering toward
us, not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to
repentance. But the day of
the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away
with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth
and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
God is just a parent who does not want to see His
children hurt and is saying and doing everything He can to help
them!!!
We
need to be saved
because God is a God of justice.
We
can be saved
because God is a God of love and
mercy.
Romans 3:23 says: “for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Sin is transgression of God’s law (1John 3:4).
Romans 6:23 says: “For the wages of sin is death;”
The word death means “separation” As when our spirit is separated from our body at death. Spiritual death is separation from God and refers to our eternal absents from God in hell. One might say that the wages of sin is “hell.”
I need to be saved because I have sinned against my
creator!!!
You do not want hell to be the
wages you have earned in this
life!!!
Let’s take a few minutes and consider what the Bible tells us about hell.
There is such a place and it is the place of damnation for the condemned. This thought is expressed in Matthew 23:33 which says: "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
Hell is not suffered in this life, but rather after this life is over: Matt. 10:28 says: "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”.
When God created the universe he created a bubble in eternity, a place of time and space. Some day we will all walk out of this bubble and into eternity.
After God created all things, Genesis 1:31 records: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
All the good things that we enjoy in this life come from God. The sun, rain, grass,
trees, mountains, etc. all come from God. He shares these good things with us
whether He
approves of us or not.
There will come a time when this life is over that each of us will walk back into eternity and then it will be decided whether God wants to live with us for eternity or not.
Trust me on this:
God will not choose to live an eternity with someone who is offensive to Him any more than you would choose to live with someone who takes a bath once a month whether they need it or not.
If we want to enjoy good things when this life is over we
need to be presentable to God so He will choose to want to live with us!!!
What will hell be like? God has given us five senses allowing us to experience the world that is outside our bodies. These senses are: seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing and touching.
In hell we will see extreme darkness because God will not supply the light. When speaking of false teachers, Jude, in Jude 1:13, says: “Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.” The blackest place in darkness is what we will see in hell and it will be forever. Matthew 22:13 describes hell as “outer darkness.”
Lu 13:28 says: "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out.”
Those who do not make things right with God
in this life will some day see the people who have made things right with God
enter into the kingdom of God and themselves thrown out. Talk about a sad
vision to see, in
your mind, for all eternity!!!
What will you smell for eternity? Revelations 21:8 says: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Brimstone has a strong sulfur smell. That is what you will smell for eternity!!!
What will you taste for eternity? The Bible does not say what you will taste. I believe the torment of the
sense of taste is what you will not taste. Jesus tells us a story about a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus.
The rich man went to hell. Speaking of him, Luke 16:24 says: “And 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.”
You will not
receive water in hell let alone all the good things that taste good to you. You
see, all the good things are blessings that we receive from God and
He will not be
sharing them in eternity with those who do not do his will in this
life.
God will not be there to help!!!
What will you
hear in
hell?
Matthew 24:48-51 says it like this "But if that evil servant says in his heart,
'My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and
to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a
day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and
will cut him in two and appoint him his
portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.
What
you will hear
in hell is weeping and
gnashing of teeth,
forever.
What will you
feel in
hell?
Revelations 20:10 says: “And the
devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of
fire and brimstone, where the beast and
the false prophet are, and shall be
tormented day
and night for ever and ever.” Matthew 25:41
goes on to say: “Then shall he
say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting
fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels.”
From these
passages we see that we will feel the torment of
fire.
One of the not so often spoken benefits of hell is that the false prophets you listened to get you there, beast, worms (Mark 9:43-48) , the devil and his angels will all be present to oppress you forever. You will forever be picked on by evil beings that are bigger than you.
A more complete description of heaven can be found in Revelation, chapters 21 and 22. I would encourage you to read this for yourself.
I would like to leave you with a thought about how heaven will affect us. Re 21:1-4 says:
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I,
John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from
heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell
with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be
their God.”
"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes;
there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more
pain, for the former things have passed
away."
I need to be
saved so I
can live with God for eternity in a place where there will be no more pain or
sorrow. I need to be saved so I can go to heaven!!!
Speaking of God the Son, Hebrews 13:8 says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
God does not change!!!
God cannot change and still be God!!!
God cannot lower His standards to be with you. You must
raise your standards to be with Him.
If you are like me and have come to a realization that you need to be saved then do not wait.
God doesn’t ask you to climb Mount Everest to be saved or to do any other great thing.
He simply ask you to believe that Jesus Christ is God the son, that He came to this earth, died, was resurrected and now reigns in heaven. He asks you to repent of your sins. Repentance means to have a change of mind that results in you becoming godly and stop being ungodly. He asks you to be baptized confessing that Jesus is God the son. At the point of baptism your sins will be washed away so you can stand sinless before God. Lastly He ask you to endure to the end (Matt. 10:22).