How do we know if we have been good enough to make it into heaven and avoid hell? You can know that you are not.

How can we know anything about anything

To try to explain truth to him who loves it not is but to give him more plentiful material for misinterpretation. George Macdonald

Do we have to make a choice between science and the Bible?

NO!

That is NOT where the problem is, but that is what everyone seems to want to talk about.

Take science as an example. How can we know anything about the created material world around us?

How can we know anything from what we can see using natural sciences?

We all see the same things in the material world, but we don't come to the same answers.

Why is that?

How can we know anything about the Bible and what it teaches? Every person believes different things about the Bible and how it should be read.

Why is that?

Same scientific facts. Different answers.

Same Bible. Different answers.

Why is that?

The true question is this: How do we come to our answers that we get from what we can see through science or what we can read in the Bible?

How do we think about what we see using science or what we read in the Bible?

How do we analyze what we have seen and read?

How do we interpret what we have seen and read?

We use logic, but logic always has a foundation. Jesus talked about building on the Rock. That Rock is Jesus Christ. He is the true foundation. There are also the false foundations of the ungodly.

An example might help.

Question: Why do believe in evolution?

Answer: Because my science teacher told me that evolution is scientific fact.

Question: Why do you believe your science teacher?

Answer: because he agrees with the textbook he assigned us to read.

Now, we have asked, "Why?" twice.

If we continued to ask, "Why?" we would come down to the foundation of this person's thoughts.

When we get down to the foundations, there are no more questions that can be answered. So where to the foundations come from?

There are three possibilities.

things that we make up, pulled from the air
demonic lies
divine revelation

Question: Why do believe in creation?

Answer: Because God revealed this to me. He spoke to me through the Bible and gave me His faith so that I could believe Him.

See how quickly we got to the foundation. This is a belief that has a foundation that is solid and that cannot be moved.

In reality, the things that we make up, that are pulled from the air, are actually from demons and all the lies of demons spring from the prince of demons, Satan. So these are one and the same.

Divine revelation comes from the Almighty, Creator, God, Jesus Christ. So there are only two choices, but how do we know there are only two choices? Because God has revealed this truth to us.

The question then is how do we tell the difference between the revelation that comes from God and the lies of Satan?

The answer is that everyone who sincerely wants to do the will of God will know.

Jesus said, "If you really want to obey God, you will know if what I teach comes from God or from me"

The rejection of the revelation that comes from God is not an intellectual problem. It is a moral problem.

Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened. *

Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Matthew 7:7-11 *

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. You can set the truth before someone, but you can't make anyone believe those things that they don't want to submit to. They have to want to obey God.

How frequently it is brought to our attention that nothing good can be done if the will is wrong! Reason alone fails to justify itself. Richard M. Weaver

Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32)

"If we are not prepared to buy the truth at the cost of our own humbling we shall not receive it"

Lies appear to have no price upon them. They seem cheap and they abound everywhere. But for the truth there is always an obvious price to pay.

[God] has set a day when He will judge all the world's people with fairness. And He has chosen the man Jesus to do the judging for Him. God has given proof of this to all of us by raising Jesus from death" (Acts 17:31).

"There is a judge for the one who rejects Me [Jesus] and does not accept My words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day" (John 12:48)

That also stands for every person who speaks the utterances of Jesus. When we hear them, we hear Jesus Christ, and we either accept or reject. Every person who follows Jesus Christ is commanded to only speak His utterances and not their own.

"When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God" (1 John 3:19)

Ravi Zacharias did two open forums in a university. On the second night, one man told him that he had brought two Atheists in the night before who said that the arguments presented were so strong that they could not contend with them, but they were going to remain Atheists because that is what they prefer to be true.

In listening to an unbeliever and drawing out his reasoning, the unbeliever finally came to his foundations.

They turned out to be assumptions that were pulled from the air. When asked why he believed his basic assumption, the unbeliever looked startled and blurted out, “I guess I’m making the whole thing up.” It was quite a revelation to him since he hadn't even known that he had any assumptions. However, he decided to remain an Atheist because he didn’t want God to rule over him.

We have not pleased God. God is absolutely holy and just. Justice must judge all that falls short of absolute holiness.

Hebrews 10:28-30 He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

You can see that Hebrews 10:28-30 is written to Christians who have been sanctified. Even after we are born again, it is important that we remember that salvation is about a relationship with God.

1Jo 1:8-10 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Time does not erase sin. Saying you are sorry does not erase sin. If someone else is worse than you, that does not erase your own sin. No human being has the ability to be totally holy—total holiness is what God needs.

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Many unsaved people think that they will not be judged, that they don’t need Jesus, but they are wrong.

Hebrews 2 tells us plainly that we will not escape if we neglect such a wonderful salvation. God is merciful and God is just. Only those who persist in rejecting God will find themselves in hell. Only those who reject the salvation that is available in Jesus Christ will find themselves in hell. Those who reject Jesus are already condemned because they have rejected God’s mercy. They do so because they love darkness rather than light.

Once we have been born again, we have changed family affiliations. Satan had been our master due to our obedience to him. Romans 6:16 As children of God, we are in school. This is not the final exam but rather the exercises of learning to walk in the Spirit.

If we are born again and we sin, we are not lost but can repent sincerely and stop sinning.

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

That’s why the Holy Spirit was given to bring us to the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4

The idea that the Bible has errors is, in fact, the act of trying to make human speculation equal to God’s revelation. It is the sin of rebellion, which is as the sin of witchcraft. In reality, no one has ever found an error in the Bible. If you have ever rebelled in this way, then you need Jesus and the salvation that is only available through Him.

Books like the DaVinci Code are the false hope of unbelievers. The false prophets who present such ideas will share the just rewards for their acts and words.

2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

Have you ever scoffed at the Bible? That is rebellion. God forbids it and judges it. If you have ever scoffed, then you need Jesus and the salvation that is only available through Him.

God commands us to study His word. How are you doing? Have you ever had lapses in this? If you have ever been neglectful, then you need salvation. You need forgiveness, which is only available through Jesus Christ.

Some people may rationalize that they are pleasing God when they are not pleasing God. The Bible tells us that even our righteousness is as filthy rags. Someone may disagree and defend himself or herself. God really doesn’t care about human opinions. He has His own opinion, and He has all power and dominion. God lets us know His opinion in two ways. He does so through our conscience and through the Bible, and those two are never in conflict. We can sear our conscience so it no longer works. Much of what is called psychology consists of methods that are designed to short-circuit the conscience. If we set our mind against giving God any glory and persist in following out own minds, God will turn us over to our own unfruitful minds, but the conscience is still there letting us know that we are not coming up to what God expects of us.

The 10 Commandments are part of God’s law. Do you know the 10 commandments? Test yourself on these basic principles:

Is God first in your life or not? Do you love Him with all of your strength and mind or not? Are you sure that He has no competition for your affection or is there something or someone who competes with God? Is there anything else that you want as much as you want God? Is all your mind to do God’s will in everything or are there areas of your life where you do not want to do God’s will? Do you want, with all your heart, to have a personal relationship with God, to know Him personally or not? In all of that, is there any violation of the first commandment?

Have you ever used God’s name or Jesus’ name as a curse word? That is blasphemy. Have you ever thought that you were a god. The is blasphemy and idolatry. Have you wanted to do your own thing? That is also idolatry.

Have you ever disobeyed or talked back to your parents? Have you ever talked disrespectfully about your parents or those who are set into authority in the church? This is rebellion. The Bible says that the sin of rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

Have you ever worked on Saturday? If you have not received the salvation, you are under obligation to obey the entire law of God.

Have you ever looked at a person to whom you were not married and lusted after them? This is adultery, fornication, or else it’s perversion in God’s eyes.

Have you ever wished that something bad would happen to someone? Have you ever hated someone? Have you ever hurt anyone? These all break the law: "Thou shalt not kill."

Have you ever taken something home from work or used some of your paid time to do personal work? That is stealing? Have you ever shoplifted? That is stealing. Have you ever cheated on your taxes? That is stealing. Have you ever taken anything that belonged to someone else? That is stealing.

Have you ever said anything false about any person? Have you ever repeated gossip? Have you ever accused someone of anything when you really didn’t have first hand knowledge that your accusation was 100% correct? Have you ever accepted the accusations against a person in political office not knowing by your own observation whether or not those accusations were true or not.

Have you ever envied the rich? Have you ever wished you had something that belongs to someone else?

If you have failed in any of the points above, then you are guilty of the entire law of God.

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Of course you failed. Everyone has failed. That is why we all need Jesus Christ. We need to receive His salvation.

How do we know if we have been good enough to make it into heaven and avoid hell? You can know that you are not.

How can we know anything about anything

How to be Born Again

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