To: This article to those who are seeking but don't yet trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Goal: Persuade and convince you that there is something greatly to fear in dying unforgiven (dying in your sin) but that Jesus can rescue you from it.

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Keep reading even if you are offended or think this is silly. You need to read this.

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Let's get straight to the point. Do you really know what will happen when you die? I mean really sure, without doubt. Not what you think or hope will happen, but what will happen. I hope you do, but if you're like most people, you probably don't. Come one, be honest! If you can't be honest with a question like this, what will it take? Logically it is foolish to hope you know and just take your chances. You wouldn't plan a trip like that! You wouldn't hit the road on a long trip and just hope everything works out. That's crazy! You are smarter than that. It's okay to admit you aren't sure. In fact, it's a great start. But let's fill that void with knowledge.

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Ok, I am unashamedly a Christian and want you to be one also. Why? Because I want your sins to be forgiven through faith in Jesus Christ (the Savior). I care about you. I love you without knowing you. I love you because God created you and put a soul in you too. I want you to want to be saved! Saved from what? Sin! Yes, you sin. Deep down I think you know it. I want you to avoid going to Hell. I want you to go to Heaven. God wants that for you because He loves you more than any person can. But you have to make the choice to trust Jesus.

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Now, I know Jesus Christ is the Lord, the Savior, God. He has proven it to me. Yes, He has done great things to prove Himself to me. I know my destination is Heaven because of my faith in Jesus Christ. I know anyone who doesn't have faith in Jesus goes to Hell. It is true. I didn't make the rules - God did. And for good reason. Yes, God is love but He is HOLY also. God loves you, but he cannot contradict Himself. You can't be in His presence unless you are holy. Holy means sinless. Oh, I'm not holy in my own right and neither are you. But God accounts (assigns) holiness to me because of my faith in Jesus. He is that good.

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So, my sins are forgiven because of Jesus' work (His death and resurrection) - not my works. If you think you earn Heaven by being a "good person", you are wrong. Good has nothing to do with it. After all, how good do you have to be? Tell me. You hear people say, "I've never hurt anyone". Yes, you have! You know you have. Stop lying to yourself. Or a person says, "I try to be good to everyone I see". You do? What about that person you flicked off when they cut you off on the highway? What about the person you cussed out? What about that person you gossiped about? What about when you lied to your parents? Stole something? Hated someone? Hurt someone? Insulted someone? Worshiped a different god? I could go on. And so could God. He sees you. He hears you. It's all written down in the book of your life. You aren't as good as you think. You need God!

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Now, don't stop reading. I want to motivate and persuade you to take this seriously. Stop playing around. You're smart enough to reason through this. This is the most important question you will ever deal with. You owe it to yourself to look into this! Most people avoid thinking about their death, but you need be wiser than that. You have maybe 70-80 years to live, right? Maybe 90 or 100, but odds are you won't live that long. Trust me, that's not a whole lot! Get serious about knowing who Jesus Christ is! Be brave and humble. If not now, when?

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So, what do you do? Where do you start? Pick up a Bible. Odds are you already have one, but you never read it. If not, buy a Bible or just search the internet for "Bible". I recommend the New King James Version (NKJV) for a word-for-word (literal) translation and the New Living Translation (NLT) for a thought-for-thought translation. Now, keep this in mind - you are seeking the truth about God. You are admitting you want to know God, and you must approach this with the mindset of "God, show me if this is true!" Ask God to help you! Even if you have never prayed, ask Him. He hears you. Read the Bible with no sarcasm or cynicism. God honors that kind of attitude (a humble contrite spirit). After all, if the Bible is true, you are reading the literal Word of God given to man. Yes, humans wrote the Bible, but the actual Words came through the inspiration of God. How? Well, is anything too hard for God? No. If the first sentence of the Bible is true, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis Chapter 1), then how is it too hard or unrealistic for God to inspire people to write words on a page? If you doubt God can do that, I don't know how to help you.

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With an honest, seeking heart start reading in the Gospels ("Gospel" means "good news"). The gospels are the 4 New Testament books called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I personally tell people to start reading in John, but any of the four Gospels will work. The four Gospels tell the same story from different perspectives. Like four people watching the same car accident at a stoplight, one on each corner; each tells the same story from a little different perspective and different/extra details. All are consistent but reveal details from each angle. There is no contradiction. So read those Gospels with an open heart, asking God to reveal Himself to you. Challenge Him to prove Himself to you. If you do this, He will. He hears you. You will be amazed by what He shows you.

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"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  (Jeremiah 29:13)

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God wants you to seek Him. In many ways, God has already revealed Himself to you. We have no excuse for not believing He is real. The problem is with you. 

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"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" (Romans 1:20)

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But remember, believing in God is not enough. After all, demons believe in God. Belief does not equal faith and trust. 

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"You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!" (James 2:19)

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You have to know God, believe and trust in the Son of God - Jesus Christ. Jesus is the key. Jesus is the solution. Jesus Christ willingly sacrificed Himself for you on the cross, died, took your punishment, paid the infinite price for you, and rose again, all to be your substitute. Jesus provided a way for your sins to be forgiven. He is the only One who could. You can't do it. In God's sight, your sins are blackest black. Your faith in Jesus washes your sin away so God can see you as whitest white.

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""Come now, and let us reason together,"
Says the Lord,
"Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool." (Isaiah 1:18)

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"But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

 

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6)

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You see, God has a right to judge you and me. He is the Judge of All the Earth. He created us. He knit you together in the womb. He put your soul into your body. And He always judges rightly and fairly.

 

By definition, God is always correct in His judgements. He cannot be wrong. What's that? You don't like God judging you? Too bad! He does and will. He must. But if your faith is in Jesus Christ, He judges you based on your faith as righteous, clean, washed, sinless, pure, holy...based on what Jesus did. Not based your own works. But without faith in Jesus, God judges you based on your works. And you will lose. You will be found guilty. Your works cannot make you holy. You will go to Hell, then to the Lake of Fire for eternity. It's worse than you can imagine, but it is fair.

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You only go there if you tell God "I don't want to trust Jesus for my salvation". So God gives you what you want. He honors your choice. He doesn't force you. If you don't want Jesus now, why would you want to spend eternity with Him? You must spend eternity in Hell because to pay for your sins. You aren't holy. God will not allow you into Heaven. Sin is not allowed there. And Hell is eternal is because, since you didn't accept Jesus' perfect sacrifice (your substitute, paid in full), you must eternally pay the price. And the length of time you spend in Hell is irrelevant - your time isn't valuable enough. It's not a worthy enough sacrifice. Remember, Jesus paid the price for you with His blood, but you didn't accept it.

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"...without shedding of blood there is no remission [forgiveness]." (Hebrews 9:22)

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Think of it this way: The higher the being sinned against, the greater the sin. Since we all sin against God (you do), the price is infinite. What do you have to pay an infinite price with? You being "a good person who never hurt anyone" is not enough. You have nothing valuable enough to offer. If you kill a bug (a living being) the price is very small, if you kill an animal in spite (not for food) the price is higher, a person even higher, but a sin against God is an infinite price.

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So in Hell you can never achieve a perfect sacrifice, never pay the full price. I'm sorry, but you can't. Your atonement is never complete because you didn't die as a perfect sacrifice for sins like Jesus did. So you die in your sins. God did not account holiness to you. And remember, you made that choice. You chose eternal Hell over salvation in Jesus Christ. It is a free gift by grace to you, but you must accept that gift.

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"The soul that sins shall die." (Ezekiel 18:20)

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"It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27)

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"For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries." (Hebrews 10:26-18)

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"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews (10:31)

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"Hell from beneath is excited about you, to meet you at your coming; It stirs up the dead for you..." (Isaiah 14:9) <-- think about this one!

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"And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15)

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And if you think annihilation is a thing, forget about it. Some people think God destroys those who do not accept Jesus (annihilating and erasing from existence upon death or after a certain time in Hell). But scripture does not support that.

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"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels..." (Matthew 25:41)

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"...these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46)

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Everlasting means everlasting. Annihilation is not true. 

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Today is the day to change things!

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No other religion offers true salvation. This is it. Other religions say you must earn Heaven way by works, by being good. But Jesus says I did the work for you.

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How to be saved from your sin:

You must repent of your sin and put your faith in Jesus for salvation. Do it now.

Repent of your sinful ways, all the sin that is keeping you from God. Repentance is an active and consistent turning away from your sins and going in a new direction. Put simply, stop sinning willingly! Yes, you will still sin because it's in our nature and Jesus will continually forgive you, but that is not an excuse to keep doing it (see Romans 6). STOP. Grow a desire to WANT to stop. Ask God to help you stop sinning. If you lie, stop lying. If you steal, stop stealing. If you hate, stop hating. If you don't forgive people, forgive them. If you drink to excess, knock it off. If your friends are bad for you, leave them. If you are sexually promiscuous, stop it. You know who you are. God honors the desire to stop sinning. But you have to WANT to stop for God's glory and because He says to repent.

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And faith means belief and trust. Tell God you want to place your faith and trust Jesus as your Savior. Even if you've never prayed before! Praying is just talking to God - no rituals, no special words, just you talking to your Creator. Cry out to God that you believe in the finished work of Jesus, His death on the cross and His resurrection, for forgiveness of your sins. You've waited long enough. The candle is burning down. The sand is falling through the hourglass. You are not promised another day. More time is not an excuse to wait. Ask God to indwell you and renew you with the Spirit of Life, with Jesus Christ. You can do it! If you are sincere and mean business with God, He will hear you and accept your faith in Jesus. Then find a good Bible believing church who will strengthen you in your faith.

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"I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." (Matthew 9:13)

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"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15)

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"...there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." (Luke 15:7)

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"Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."" (John 14:6)

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And lastly:

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"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. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3:16-17)

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And to make it more personal:

God so loved YOU that He gave His only begotten Son, that if YOU BELIEVE in Him YOU should not perish but have everlasting life.

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God's salvation in Jesus Christ is for YOU. But YOU have to repent and accept it.