f you have clicked this response then you probably either think you are a bad person, and have committed too much evil to deserve a place in heaven. Or instead, perhaps you believe you will be in hell because you don’t mind going there. Maybe you want to live life your way on this earth, and want to do whatever pleases you even if going to hell is the end result. Maybe you think that hell would be fun and that you might see some of your friends there. Or maybe you simply think that hell doesn’t exist, so there is no need to worry about it.First of all, I want to address the person reading this that thinks they will go to hell as they have done lots of bad things. I want to first encourage you. Why would I want to encourage you if you know you have committed a lot of evil? Well, because you have already taken the first step to approaching God if you know that you are a sinful person and are aware that you are too ‘bad’ for heaven.
God draws near to the humble who know that they are undeserving of His love, yet He resists those who think they are above reproach morally. Indeed, Jesus said that He came for the sin-sick who need a doctor, not those who cannot even acknowledge that they need a soul healer. People who already acknowledge that they are morally bankrupt are in a position to approach God because they realise that they need His mercy and His forgiveness.
Jesus said that people who recognise that they are spiritually and morally poor are blessed. He said, ‘blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.’ You see, Jesus Christ came to rescue the spiritually poor from their sin. He was often criticised for being the friend of sinners by the religious elite of His day. He spent time with corrupt tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers, people from outside His own culture… He drew near to those who others rejected.
But why? Because He had come to rescue sinners from the consequences of their sins, and He had come to give them the opportunity to live a new life of service to God with the empowerment of the the Holy Spirit. God is in the business of regenerating sinful people. Some of the most powerful, committed and loving Christians I know were very different people in their former lives before they became Christians. I know Christians who were formerly involved in various lifestyles such as drug dealers; drug users, violent, prostitutes, alcoholics, fraudsters… The list could go on. These Christians realised that they were morally bankrupt, they repented of their sins and believed in Jesus. They were born again and were transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit. They now live very different lives. Some of these people are now full time pastors, evangelists, charity workers, or are now good parents when before they could not care for themselves, let alone anyone else.
They have been born again. This is what God wants. He wants people to approach Him acknowledging that they are sinners, and turning to Him for mercy. Then at that point, He can begin a work of transformation. It is possible for the worst of sinners to receive Jesus as Saviour, and then be guaranteed not only a place in heaven, but also a transformed life.
God loves to take lives that are broken and mend them. He is the ultimate healer, the ultimate rescuer, the ultimate Saviour. So, if you are aware of your sin, and know you have done many bad things which you know makes you deserving of a place in hell, you are in the perfect position to turn to God and ask for His forgiveness and mercy.
We will face eternal separation from God, because He is holy and perfect, and He cannot allow anything that is not perfect and Holy into His presence in heaven. Separation from God is what will happen to us if we have not accepted the free gift of God; Jesus Christ.
No matter how good a person might seem on the outside, they will still have sins in their lives that displease God and this means that they cannot know Him now, and will not be with Him forever in heaven unless they receive Jesus as their Saviour.
A Saviour is someone who can save us from the punishment we deserve. God always intended for there to be a way to save people who are sinners from their sin and their just punishment of death and hell. So why do we need a Saviour? And where did sin come from in the first place?
The Bible tells us that though we are physical, and made from the dust of the earth to which we return; we are also spiritual. God breathed life into Adam the first human being He created. This life was spiritual life : the capacity to know God, and to live forever.
In the garden of Eden, God made Adam and Eve to live in a state unsevered relationship with Him. It is said in the Bible that Adam walked with God in the cool of the day. Adam and Eve were created to be perfect, as God was perfect and without sin. But this perfection and relationship was broken when Adam and Eve listened to Satan in the form of a serpent, and disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
They rebelled against God and disobeyed His command. He had told them that they could eat from any tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He had given them free will, and free choice to obey Him or disobey Him. They chose the latter and at this point sin came into the world, and so did death. This meant that Adam and Eve were no longer eternal beings, but would face physical death eventually. But this is not all, they also experienced spiritual death because their relationship with God was destroyed and He threw them out of the Garden where they had known perfect relationship with Him.
As human beings we are created to know God; to worship Him, and to live forever. This is wired into the way we have been made.
We will either live forever in heaven after we die, or our spirits will live in a state of eternal torment and separation from the God who made everything good that we have ever known in life. Rejecting God is also a rejection of all His good gifts like love, friendship, pleasure, family, beauty, creativity etc. Hell will have none of these things. Eternal life is available only through faith in Jesus Christ who suffered for our sins, and made a way for us to have peace with God once more. God doesn’t want anyone to be separated from Him forever which is why He planned for a Saviour to rescue us from our sins and to save us from our right and just destination: hell.
This offer of grace and forgiveness is through the Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of all the world. When we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s perfect Son who lived a holy life; died a sacrificial death, and was resurrected to life, we receive forgiveness for our sins because Jesus took on the sins of all the people in the world when He hung on the cross and died for us. This can mean that the sin that separates us from God can be paid for, by the death of Jesus when we believe in Him and in all that He has done for us. We can also trust in Jesus to give us eternal resurrection life because He was raised from the dead and went ahead of us to prepare a place for us in heaven if we believe in Him.
God is loving, but He is also just and Holy. Therefore, hell exists. But the Good News of the Gospel is that He made a way for the people He created to avoid hell and to live with Him forever in a state of spiritual bliss where there is no more sin, no more suffering and no more death!!! If you know you are too bad for heaven, and believe you will be in hell, I would encourage you to call out to God for His mercy in your life. You can say sorry for your sins, ask forgiveness from God and place all your faith, hope and trust in Jesus to save you from the consequences of your sins and give you eternal life in heaven. Maybe you have a different perspective to the one I just described… Maybe you know you are living a sinful life through choice, but you don’t care that you might be in hell. Maybe you enjoy living your life and don’t want to think about the potential consequences of your actions, let alone eternal consequences in hell. Or perhaps you believe that hell cannot be that bad. Or maybe you believe that others from your friendship group or family will also be in hell with you. Perhaps you don’t want to worship God and see the Christian way of life as weak or pathetic. Maybe you don’t want to bow your knee to God and surrender to His will. Perhaps you are too proud to seek forgiveness or you are enjoying your lifestyle too much, and relishing the feeling of ‘being free to do what you want, any old time.’ (as the Rolling Stones sing) Many people say they are not afraid of hell, or that they would be happy to be there because their friends might be there. However, people usually have a distorted perception of hell. In the Bible, Jesus tells us that hell is a place where there will be perpetual darkness, weeping and knashing of teeth, and that it is a place where the fires of destruction never go out. It is a place of perpetual torment, and not somewhere anyone in their right minds would desire to be. We are created to live eternally with God, but if we do not accept His free offer of grace and relationship with Him, we will be in hell forever. The author C.S. Lewis wrote, ‘One day you will either say, “thy will be done God,” or God will say to you, “your will be done.” The door of hell is locked from the inside because people do not want God.’ If you know you are too bad for heaven, you are accurate, so call out to God and ask for His forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ. If you think you will be in hell, and don’t care, please weigh up the reality of hell. Is a lifetime of sinful living worth an eternity of hellish torment?
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