- You know, but you might say, "Bill, this loving God,
how can a loving God like that send a good person to hell?"
Well, God doesn't send anybody to hell.
I'll get to that in a minute but two reasons good does not work.
Number one, your standard of good and God's are two different things.
See, God's standards is perfect. James 2:10 says,
if we offend His law in one point, we are guilty of all.
If we lie once, Revelation 21:8 says,
"All liars shall have their part in the lake of fire."
If we steal one thing, 1 Corinthians 6:9 says,
no thief will inherit heaven.
If we have one lustful thought, Jesus says that's the same as
committing adultery and no adulterer will inherit heaven.
Well, that's just three of the 10 commandments.
So if we are going to be judged by that standard,
will we be guilty or innocent?
We all be guilty.
I mean every single person has lied or --there's even a Scripture
in Proverbs 24:9 that says even the thought of foolishness is a sin.
If you have one foolish thought your entire life,
that will exclude you from heaven.
Imagine, one foolish thought, that's how strong God's standard is.
That's how high it is.
So none of us can stand before a Holy God and say,
"Hey, I'm pretty good. Let me in."
He's going to say, "No, not according to My standards. You are not.
Matter of fact, Job 15:16 says, man is so filthy
he drinks iniquity like water.
And Isaiah 64:6 says your good works are filthy rags to God.
So thank God it's not based on being good
but on the relationship with Jesus Christ.
Amen.
[applause]
That's right.
[applause]
Praise God.
But you might not be convinced yet.
You might be like a secular radio talk show host I was on with.
This was syndicated across America and they said,
"Bill, watch your back with this guy. He's a tough New Jersey guy
and he will tear you to shreds on the air."
I felt, "Great, why am I going in the air with this guy?"
And so, I went on the air and the first thing he said was,
"Don't you quote me one Bible verse over my airwaves.
"You got that, Christian?
I don't want to hear none of that Bible on my airwaves."
I said, "okay."
He said, "I submit to you that you Christians are unreasonable
"because you don't consider my viewpoint.
My viewpoint is just as valid as yours, and I'm a good person."
He said, "So, I should be let in heaven because I'm a good person.
"And if your God doesn't let me in,
"He's actually guilty of a hate crime.
So what have you got to say for yourself Christian?"
What do you say? You are live on the air.
Well, God gave me an analogy. Thank God.
I said, "Okay, you think you are a good person
you should be let into heaven?"
He goes, "That's right."
I said, "Okay, say you went and found the most expensive home
"in the country, you knocked on their door and you said,
'Excuse me but I'm moving in with you because I'm a good person.'
"What do you think the people would say?
No, right? You don't know them. You wouldn't expect them let you in
you have no relationship with them."
I said, "But you, you go through your whole life
"you have nothing to do with God, you deny Jesus as the son of God
"which He said is the only way to His house,
"then at the end of your life you have the nerve to come knock
"on His door, demand to live there because you are a good person?
What does good have to do with it? You don't know Him."
[applause]
I said, "See, God offered to be your father,
I said to him "He offered to be your father
but you pushed Him away."
You said, "No, I don't want you as my father.
I'm not interested." You pushed Him away.
See God is your creator, He's not your father.
Do invite in Jesus as your savior, then He becomes your father.
Galatians 3:26, John 1:12, John 8:44, Romans 9:7-8,
John 17:9, all explain that He's your creator.
He's not your father till you invite Him in.
So I said, "That's unreasonable to expect to live
in someone's house you don't even know."
He says, "Wow, you can fight back."
I think he actually liked it because he was a tough guy
and I was standing up. Not in a condescending way
but just I was standing up to the truth.
And he said, "Well, you Christians are narrow-minded
because you think you are the only ones that's right."
And he said, "I think all roads lead to heaven. That's what I think."
I said, "Well, let me give you another analogy" -
which God gave me.Thank God.
I said, "Okay, narrow-minded."
I said, "Say you invited me over to your home for dinner
and you said, 'Bill, I want you to go south on highway 95,
"turn right at main street, go up the hill, you come to my house.
But that's the only way to get to my house.'"
And I say to you, 'You know what, I'm going to go north on 95.
"I'm going to get off at Mac Arthur Boulevard
because I think all roads lead to your house. That's what I think.'
"What are you going to tell me?
'Bill, you are not going to get to my house.
I'm trying to give you clear directions to my house.'
The same thing. God has given us clear directions to His house.
I think God knows where He lives
all we have to do is to follow His clear directions
and we will get there.
That's not narrow-minded, that's specific.
He's trying to give us specific directions to get to His house
He's not trying to keep us out.
See people think God's up there arbitrarily saying
this one goes to heaven, this one goes to hell.
It's not that way. All of us above the age of accountability
are automatically on the road to hell.
John 3:17-18 says we are condemned already
because we are born in sin. Psalms 51:2
So that's different to being sent there.
We are already going there.
We are all on that wide road going to hell
because we are all born in sin.
So that's different than being sent there.
So God's not sending anyone to hell
and all we have to do is look up to the cross
and He will take us off that road.
That's it.
And anyway he says, "Well, can't God overlook my sins?
I mean, you know, I don't kill anybody."
That's the other misconception. That if you don't kill someone,
then you are good enough for heaven.
I said, "No, God can't overlook our sins for two reasons.
Number one, He's a just judge.
And a good judge in our land won't be considered good
if he let the criminal go free, right? The crime has to be punished.
Well, the same thing. Our sin has to be punished
but Jesus took that punishment for us.
So you can either let Him take it, or you can take it.
It's up to you.
But the second reason God cannot overlook our sins
is because He's a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:29 and Nahum 1:5 explain that He's a consuming fire
and that all of us would be consumed at His presence, Nahum 1:5 says.
So see, His nature is different than ours.
Now if I stuck my hand into the fire and retrieve something
and the fire burned me, I would say, "Why did that fire burn me?"
That was mean of that fire." I wouldn't say that, would I?
No, because the nature of the fire is to burn.
My hand and fire are not compatible.
Well, neither is a Holy God and sinful man compatible.
He has to give us a new nature to be compatible with His.
How does that happen? Only one way.
If someone came and lived the perfect life and never sinned,
that someone is Jesus Christ,
and He stands before the Father and says, "I've never sinned
"I'm going to exchange my right standing with You Lord, for their sin.
"I will take on their sin, wash it away with My blood.
If they will trust in My work, not in their own works,"
Titus 3:5 says, not in the righteous works that we have done
but according to His mercy He saved us.
So if we would trust in what Jesus did, not in our own works,
but in what Jesus did on the cross,
then He considers our trust as if we are righteous.
That's amazing that He can do that.
He considers our trust in Him as if we are righteous.
So now we can stand before a Holy God as if we never sinned
because our sins are done with, Jesus paid for them
and now we have a new nature because we are trusting in the cross.
So He gives us His nature - a new heart, a new spirit
that's compatible with His.
Can you see that?
Ain't that an amazing plan that God came up with?
You know, people complain and say,
"I don't like this one way business that you Christians have."
You have got to be grateful there is a way.
That He made a way where there was none.
[applause]
Right
[applause]
That's right. Praise the Lord.
Anyway, this went on for a whole hour with this man on the radio
I had to give him more analogies
and he had told me not to give any Scripture
but after time he asked me to give Scripture
and he invited me to come back on the show.
So I made some headway with the guy that was tough.
Anyway, that's a whole another story.
You know, this is the clear direction to heaven.
John 3:36 says, "He that believes in the Son has everlasting life
"but he that believes not on the Son shall not see life
but the wrath of God abides on Him."
Did you hear that? The wrath of God abides on you
if you don't believe in the son. How do you believe in the son?
Two verses. Luke 13:3 Jesus said, "Unless a man repent,
you shall all likewise perish."
Now, it's not enough to mentally ascend to the fact and say,
"Yeah, I can believe Jesus is God. I believe that."
And just go live your own life. Do your own thing.
That's not repentance.
Repentance is having a humble heart
and admitting and saying, "Man, I'm a sinner. I can't save myself.
"I can't get to heaven and I'm tired of sinning.
I want to turn away from sin and I want to follow Jesus."
Now, on your own you can't resist sin but when you get born again,
God gives you a new nature. He gives you the ability or the grace
to be able to resist sin.
But right now, you just have to be willing to turn away from sin
and follow Jesus. That's number one.
Number two, Romans 10:9-10 says,
if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in our heart
that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved.
We have to believe in our own heart
and confess Him with our own mouth.
Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man comes unto the Father but by Me."
He said there was only one way.
You want to live in His house, you do it His way.
There is only one way.
Now if you say, "Bill, I just don't believe that."
Well, then I have a verse for you.
Revelation 21:8 says,
"All unbelievers shall have their part in the lake of fire."
So there's the warning.
He just told you, if you don't believe Jesus is the only way,
then your part will be in the lake of fire.
So that's a warning. That's a message of love.
Now you can see why Jesus said in Matthew 12:37
your own words will condemn you because you said
I don't believe Jesus is the only way. I don't believe that.
He is trying to tell you, this is what you have to believe
to escape hell.
[music]
It's your choice.
He's given you a free will to choose.
You know, Revelation 20:15 says,
"Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life
was cast into the lake of fire."
God actually has a Book and He is going to look to see
if our names are in His Book.
This is really serious.
You've got to know that your name is in His Book.
You know, when the Titanic set sail,
there were all different religions,
all different people, all different beliefs,
all different types of religions.
And they say there were three classes of people on that ship.
The lower, the middle and the upper class.
But when the ship went down at the star line office
in Liverpool, England, there were two signs posted
and the relatives would wait for a man to come out each day
to write their relatives name down on one of the signs.
One sign said, known to be saved,
the other one said, known to be lost.
Now, when the ship left, there were all different beliefs,
all different religions, and three classes of people.
But in the end, there is only two.
You are either saved, or you are lost.
And it's your choice.
So my question for you today is,
do you know if your name is written in His Book?
You have got to be certain of this one.
You know, we've all made mistakes in life,
but you don't want to make this mistake
because it's eternal.
One second after you die, it's too late.
You do not get a second chance
and you'll have an eternity to regret
[music]
your procrastination.
You have an opportunity right now
and you know, whether you believe it or not, your soul is eternal.
You will spend it in one place or the other
and heaven is not our default destination.
There needs to be a purposeful act on our part.
[music]
Please don't think, "You know, I can leave here
and think about this later."
Because once you leave here, your heart actually grows harder.
You don't realize that, but it grows harder
and it's more difficult to reach you
and you don't know that you'll have tomorrow.
[music]
With every head bowed and every eye closed,
If you're here today and you say,
"Bill, I don't know if my name is in His Book.
"I'm not certain.
"And I don't know if I've ever really repented.
"I mean, I've been living compromised.
"I haven't been living right for God and I know better.
"But I'm tired of this, I want to get my life right
with God today."
[music]
Or you might be saying, "Lord, I can't come yet.
I've got to clean up my life first."
No, you don't have to clean up your life first.
You just come as you are.
God will clean you up.
[music]
Your soul is precious to God.
It's the most valuable thing you have.
So I'm going to ask you at the count of three,
if that's you, if you want to have assurance
that your name's in His Book,
or if you want to get your life right,
you want to repent and get things right with God,
I'm going to ask you at the count of three to slip up your hand.
[music]
One, two, three.
Raise your hand, raise your hand. I see your hand. I see your hand.
I see your hands, I see your hand.
Thank you for your honesty.
We want to make sure God sees that hand because He said
"If you confess me before men,
I'll confess you before My Father in heaven."
We are going to pray a prayer and it's going to change
your whole eternity.
It's going to come from your heart
but you are going to repeat after me this prayer.
You might not feel anything at the moment, or you might.
It doesn't matter. Your words will change your whole life
if you mean it from your heart.
Say, dear God in heaven,
I know that I've sinned
and I cannot save myself.
I believe you sent Your Son Jesus
to die on the cross for me.
That He was crucified,
died and was buried,
but rose again and lives forever more.
I ask You to forgive me of my sins,
come into my heart,
I receive You as my Lord and Savior.
You are the Son of God.
You shed Your blood on the cross
for me.
I ask You,
fill me with Your Holy Spirit,
empower me with the Holy Spirit.
I want to serve You all the days of my life.
And I now confess,
I'm a born again Christian,
going to heaven,
in Jesus' Name.
Amen.
Praise the Lord.
[applause]
Yes.
[applause]
Yes.