My friends, one day, whenever God determines, we shall all draw our last breath. But death is not the end. Death is simply the beginning of eternity. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27, “just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”.
A day comes, and it is quickly approaching, more quickly than you can possibly imagine, that you will die, and then you shall stand before God for judgment, and like death, judgment before God is inescapable. And on that day there are one of two places you will spend your eternity – heaven or hell. As it is, ladies and gentlemen, when we come into this world, we come already condemned. We come into the world as lawbreakers. That is to say, we come into the world a sinner and bound for hell. If that is true, how do we go to heaven?
There is but one way to go to heaven and that is through Jesus Christ.
The Bible says in John 3:16 & 17, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Jesus, the Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah, is your only chance at having eternal life. Jesus is your only means of being saved. Jesus is your only means of having your sins atoned for. Jesus is the only means for having the penalty of your sins paid for. Jesus is the only means of being reconciled unto Almighty God. Jesus is your only means of standing before God on that Day of Judgment as one who is innocent of all wrongdoing. Why is Jesus our only means of being saved?
It’s because God sent Jesus into the world for one purpose – to save sinners.
Muhammad didn’t come to save you. Buddha didn’t come to save you. There is no one else, apart from Jesus, that came to save you from your sin. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 1:15, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” God sent Jesus, his only begotten Son, into the world to save the liar, the idolator, the sexual immoral, the murderer, the homosexual, the transgender, the gossiper, the glutton, the drunkard, the child moletstor, the thief, the covetor, and the adulterer, which is what we all are. How did Jesus do that?
Jesus saved us by the shedding of his blood.
Romans 4:25 says that Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses.” That means Jesus was handed over by God to die because of our sin. Jesus came into the world to die the death that we deserve. In the Old Testament, men and women would appear at the holy temple to offer an animal to be sacrificed for their sins to be forgiven. The problem was the blood of animals could never fully take away the sins of man.
Therefore, God sent Jesus, His only Son to do what the blood of animals could not do. Jesus was God’s offering for the sins of the world. Jesus was sacrificed like a Lamb, on the altar of the cross, so that by the shedding of his blood, our sins could be atoned for.
The Bible says in Romans 3:25 that Jesus’ death satisfied the wrath of God against our sins. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:12 that the blood of Jesus secures our eternal redemption. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:26 that Jesus came to once and for all put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The Bible says in Hebrews 10:12 that Jesus offered himself as a single sacrifice for sins. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1:18-22 that Jesus ransomed sinners and purified their souls, not by silver or gold, but by the shedding of his precious blood. The Bible says in Isaiah 53:5 that his body was pierced for our transgressions and was crushed for our iniquities, that because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can have peace from our wrongdoing rather than guilt.
But furthermore, Jesus saved us by his resurrection.
The Bible tells us in Romans 4:25 that Jesus was “raised for our justification.” In other words, God raised Jesus from the dead so that we could be made right with Him. God raised Jesus from the dead so that we could stand innocent before God. God raised Jesus from the dead so that we would not longer be a slave to sin. God raised Jesus from the dead so that we will not perish in hell. God raised Jesus from the dead so that we can have the hope of eternal life.
Without Jesus’ resurrection nothing that I am talking about would be possible. According to 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, if God did not raise Jesus from the dead preaching is vain. If God did not raise Jesus from the dead your faith is meaningless. If God did not raise Jesus from the dead then everyone who has ever preached the resurrection of Jesus has misrepresented God. If God did not raise Jesus from the dead then we are still dead in our sin. If God did not raise Jesus from the dead then we are without the hope of eternal life. But one thing we can all be sure of is this: Christ is risen. For that reason alone, we can have hope!