Too many want to embrace God's promises after death without obeying him in this life.
1 John 3:4-8 Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is
contrary to the law of God.
5 And you know that Jesus came
to take away our sins, and there is no sin in him.
6 Anyone who continues to live
in him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or
understand who he is.
7 Dear children, don’t let
anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that
they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.
8 But when people keep on
sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since
the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil.
American citizens are prone to think of themselves as God's people and future
residents of Heaven but way too many of us are not basing their beliefs on
what God and Jesus said about the people that will be in Heaven.
The idea that you can know about Jesus and what he did without allowing it to
have an affect on how you live is a very American way of viewing the gospel
but it is not the gospel that the Bible tells us about. It doesn't take a
Bible degree to see the truth that so many are missing.
The fact that so many believe the wrong thing about their eternal future
proves that way to many of us haven't examined the Bible to see that their
thinking is obviously wrong. The Bible never teaches us to believe without
being changed into someone new that looks obviously different from the rest of the world.
Jesus Tells Us:
Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?Matthew 18:3 Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.Luke 6:46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?John 14:15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.John 14:23-24 Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn’t love me will not obey me. And remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
The First Church Leaders Tell Us:
Romans 12:1-2 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.2 Corinthians 5:14-15 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.2 Corinthians 5:17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!1 Peter 1:13-15 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.James 4:8 Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.Titus 1:16 Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are detestable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.
Too many people want to embrace God's promises after death without doing what he told us to do in this life. God has made it clear that his people that love him will also want to please him just like we want to please the people around us that we love.
Too many of us are working to gain all of the pleasures and satisfaction that the world has to offer without considering the end result. We can gain the whole world and enjoy every pleasure that it has to offer but what eternal value does it have?
1 John 2:17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
The Bible makes it clear that I am not saved because I live the right way but it is equally clear that if I truly love God and believe in the work of Jesus through his death and resurrection then I will not be able to live a life that displeases God. The character traits of Jesus will gradually become a greater part of who I am.
