Religious pride is the most common sin in the world, and it is also the worst sin.
Prideful religious people try to obey a list of rules in order to try to save themselves.
Prideful religious people try to obey a list of rules in order to try to become "good."
This Hell-bound group includes, in the same way and for the same reason, Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Buddhists, Hindus, Islamic people, Jewish people, New Age people, externally moral Atheists, self-righteous secular people, self-righteous people who claim to be Christians but have never believed in Jesus alone for their salvation, and everyone who thinks they are a "good person" without Jesus as their righteousness.
Sadly, Hell is going to be full, because obeying rules does not save people nor does it make people good.
Obeying external rules does not at all change the motives of a person, which are the origin of his acts.
Obeying rules does not erase the sins you have done in the past.
People who obey rules to get "better than you," to get "good enough for Heaven," always operate from sinful pride, which is the worst sin of all.
Pride was the original sin of Satan, the first sin ever committed.
Pride is the father of all sins.
Religious pride was the sin Jesus condemned the most severely.
Jesus died for the all of the sins of all people, including our religious pride.
Many people think that prideful religious people like this are self-righteous "better-than-thou" people who "got religion."
They're right.
~Only the love of Jesus and the Spirit of God can change the human heart.~
Only believers in Jesus have the Spirit of God in them.
We all need to humble ourselves before God.
We need to see our lost and sinful condition.
We need to change your mind about who Jesus is.
Believe in Jesus, for He is the only hope of salvation from your sins.
Avoid the everlasting torments of Hell, which is otherwise your destiny, the punishment for your sins.
Salvation is a free gift (permanently given in one moment of time) to everyone who believes that:
Jesus is God and man. He died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from death on the third day.
Jesus was put to death in place of you, as your Substitute.
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Becoming good is also a free gift, by God's gracious Spirit.
You cannot become good by obeying rules!
You need the Spirit of Christ Himself inside your soul in order to be truly good.
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You cannot get to Heaven by obeying rules.
You cannot get to Heaven by regretting your sins and turning from them.
You cannot get to Heaven by being baptized in water.
You cannot get to Heaven by believing Jesus existed and that He was a really good teacher of morality and forgiveness and love.
I've seen unbelievers get boiling angry when they are told that something as ultimately important as Heaven or Hell could depend on something so simple as believing in Jesus.
"How stupid!," they exclaim.
They say that if that were true, then people would believe in Jesus and then go out and do all the sinning they want.
But the question is, how much sinning will you want to do if you are filled with the Spirit of God and filled with the love of God?
"What a bunch of crazy people!" they say.
Meanwhile, there are all these decent, moral people all around who the Christians say are going to Hell!
All these decent, moral Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Atheists, Islamic people, Buddhists, Hindus, New Age, Jewish people, and secular people.
[By the way, all of these groups honor Jesus as a good man (even some Atheists), but they do not believe that He is God. They don't believe that He is their Savior from their sins. (Any individual person in any of these churches or groups who comes to believe in the Lord Jesus for salvation, will of course be saved.)]
Prideful religious people scoff at the idea when they are told that they "need Jesus."
"Believing in Jesus" trumps a good, moral life?!" they ask, exasperated.
"Never! You have got to be out of your mind!" they say.
"Believing" saves you?" they ask.
Belief in Jesus, the Bible says, yes.
Look what it cost Jesus, who is God, to forgive your sins: a perfect life, torture, and death.
It's not just "faith" or "belief," it's who the faith is in: Jesus, (God in human flesh), and what He did: suffered and died for your sins, and rose again.
Unbelievers get irritated with Christians, because we obviously still sin.
It is unfortunately true that some believers sin more than some unbelievers.
So how could these people, these believers in Christ, be saved?
They can be saved because salvation is not attained by the "good" works of sinners.
Salvation is the possession of those who have Jesus as their Savior.
Believers have Jesus as their righteousness.
Jesus is the believer's Substitute.
Also, a believer's salvation is not canceled by the sins that are currently done by a believer.
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People think that their "good works" are pretty good.
But the Bible says that our good works apart from a connection to Jesus --are like filthy rags.
And our evil works are, of course, far worse than that.
No one can keep the Ten Commandments perfectly. If they could, they could get into Heaven by their own effort and without Jesus.
Salvation, receiving everlasting life and being guaranteed to go to Heaven, is by God's Grace, in Jesus.
Grace means "gift."
Getting saved and becoming truly good in your motivations is never a matter of obeying rules.
We are cut off from God by nature, only Jesus can connect us to God and give us a new nature, a new self, a new heart, and a spirit that is alive.
Separation or disconnection from God is a bigger problem than individual acts of sin.
Believe in Jesus to be forgiven of your sins.
Believe in Jesus to be given His righteousness.
Believe in Jesus to be saved.
Believe in Jesus to have the emptiness in your heart and the meaninglessness in your mind filled up with God's love for you.
God loves you.
Jesus is the only Way to be saved and the only Way to grow progressively in goodness, by God's grace.
What will you do with Jesus, who claims to be God?
Will you continue rejecting Him?
Or will you believe His claim that He is God in human flesh, that He died for your sins on the cross, that he was buried, that He came back to life on the third day, and be saved forever?
The choice is yours.
Your eternity, Heaven or Hell, hang entirely on your answer.
Receive Jesus right now by simply believing that His claims are true, and right now you will be saved forever.
God is with you, right now, to help you.
Only Jesus saves.
Do you believe in Him?
If you can answer "yes" sincerely, then the Bible says that you are saved, and that you are guaranteed to go to Heaven the minute you die. >>Ephesians 1:13,14.
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