The Second Death
If you died today are you 100 percent sure that you would go to heaven?
If you died today would you want to go to heaven?
We do not go to heaven because of what we do. We go to heaven because of what we believe and accept from the Word of God. There are four truths you must believe and accept to have eternal life and avoid the second death.
First of all, you must realize that you are a sinner.
In Romans 3:10 the Bible says, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” That word “righteous” means to do right ALL THE TIME. Or to be perfect.
Do you “Do Right ALL THE TIME?” No, of course not. None of us do. No- tice what the Bible says in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
The Bible very clearly tells us that all of us have sinned. We have all done things that the Bible calls “sin.” We have come short of the Glory of God. That means we have fallen short of the standard. We are not perfect.
Let’s suppose that Jesus Christ walked into this room. Could we point our finger at him and say, “Jesus, I am as good as you are?” No way! But that is how good we would have to be to go to heaven because of what we do.
Do you believe that you are a sinner?
The second thing that you must believe and accept is that there is a price for sin.
Notice what the Bible says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We must recognize that God has put a price on sin. That price is death. That means more than just the body dying, it means an eternal death, separated from God for eternity.
We see that in Revelation 21:8, "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.”
In this verse the Bible lists a lot of different kinds of sinners. All of us are in that list somewhere. But notice that it says that those sinners (all sinners) will have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
What place does that sound like to you? If you said “hell,” you are correct. That is THE ONLY place where we can pay for our sins.
Let me illustrate it this way, when you go to the grocery store can you pick up all of the items that you need and then walk out without paying for them? No, of course you could not. Why? Because every item in the store has a price tag on it.
Let’s suppose that we went to the store and you got a Coke and a candy bar and I got a buggy full of groceries. Where would both of us have to go before we could leave the store? We would have to go to the cash register and pay for our items. It would not matter how many things that you have, there is only ONE PLACE where you could pay.
The same is true about sin. It does not matter how much sin we have. We could be a really good person and only have done what we think are little sins and somebody else could be a serial killer and both of us would have to go to the same place to pay for our sins and that place is hell and the payment is death for ever.
Do you believe and accept that you are a sinner?
Do you believe and accept that you owe a payment for your sin and that payment is death in hell forever?
So far, we have heard a lot of bad news, but there is some good news. We read in Romans 6:23 where the Bible says “For the wages of sin is death;” I am glad that verse does not end there. It goes on to say, “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The third thing that we must believe is that Jesus paid our sin debt.
God loves you and does not want you to go to hell. Because of his great love he has made a way for you to have your sins paid for without you going to hell. Notice what the Bible says in Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
You see, God did more that love you. He demonstrated that love by having his perfect, sinless Son, Jesus Christ, come to this earth, live a perfect life, and then died on the cross for your sins. Jesus was buried and then He rose again from the dead.
Jesus paid your sin debt. It is sort of like this. Every time that I stop to fill my car up with gas I have a choice to make. I can pay cash, or I can put in on my charge card. Sin is that way. You and I can pay cash for our sins by dying and going to hell forever OR we can charge that sin to Jesus because he has already paid the price of death for us.
Do you believe and accept that you are a sinner?
Do you believe and accept that you owe a payment for your sin and that payment is death in hell forever?
Do you believe and accept that Jesus paid for your sins when he died on the cross, was buried and then rose again from the dead?
The fourth truth we must believe and accept is that we must receive Christ as our Saviour.
The Bible says in Romans 10:9-10 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
We must believe that Jesus died on the cross, was buried and rose again to pay the price for our sins. The payment for sin was death. Jesus paid the penalty in full! Jesus died for the sins of the whole world but the whole world is not going to heaven. Just knowing that he died for your sins is not enough. We must ask him for the gift of salvation.
Notice what the Bible says in Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Salvation is a gift to be received by asking for it.
The Bible is very clear, salvation is a gift to be received by asking for it. We cannot earn it. We cannot buy it. We must just receive it!
Let’s review:
Do you believe that you are a sinner?
Do you believe that there is a price for your sin?
Do you believe that Jesus has paid for your sins for you?
Would you like to ask Jesus for that gift of eternal life right now?
If you would like to receive the gift of eternal life and avoid the Second Death, pray a prayer like this and believe it in your heart.
Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sin. I know you died on the cross, was buried and rose again to pay for my sin. I do now, receive Jesus as my Saviour Thank you Jesus, for saving me Amen.
It you have just received Jesus as you Saviour we would love to rejoice with you. Fill out the following form and we will send some additional materials to help you in your new life in Christ.
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