Title: What is the Gospel? Are you Saved?
Meta: What is the Gospel? Are you saved? Do you know what saves a person? It sure is not self, but it is Christ alone! Oh how we must cling to Christ and hope in Christ alone!
Tags: Cross, forgiven, salvation, heaven, hell, Jesus Christ, Gospel

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The Bible says in the book of James, "For what is your life?

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It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then it vanishes" (James 4:14).

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Your life is like a puff of steam.

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Here for a moment, and then it's gone.

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What are you living for? Let me ask you, what is your life?

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You see, Jesus said, "For what will it profit a man

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if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul?

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Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:35-37).(P)

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And most people sell their soul, their eternal soul, so cheaply.

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No sin is worth holding onto to spend an eternity in hell.

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Anything that keeps you from Jesus Christ is not worth holding on to.

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You see, even if someone makes it big in this life -

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a famous sports star for instance who makes the top of his career;

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who has lots of money, fame and fortune -

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in 200 years time when he is dead, who will care that even lived?

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And the answer is, in reality, no one will.

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My point is this: most people are living worthless and pathetic lives.

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Just wasted. (P)

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You see, Jesus offers you a life with a purpose and meaning;

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true life that lasts for eternity.

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We all ask those questions at some point in life.

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"Why are we here? What happens when this life is over?"

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Well, in the book of Colossians, the Bible tells us that you were created by Jesus Christ,

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and for Jesus Christ, to live for Him. (Colossians 1:16).

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Eternal life, Jesus said, is knowing God through the person of Jesus Christ. (John 17:3)

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You see, Jesus, if you look at His sayings, how radical He is,

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many people reject Him today and say, "He is just a good teacher."

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Or, "He is just a prophet."

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But if you look at what He said, I mean, Jesus claimed to be God. (John 8:58).

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He claimed to be the only way to heaven. (John 14:6). (P)

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Now, if I came up to you in the street today and claimed I was God,

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you would either think I was a liar or a lunatic.

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And my point is this: Someone that claimed to be God like Jesus did,

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someone who claimed the things that Jesus did,

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either He is God and He is the only way to heaven,

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or he is a liar and a lunatic.

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And yet, Jesus, there was no deceit in Him (1 Peter 2:22).

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He was love. He told us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).

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On the cross, He prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34).

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He was love itself. (1 John 4:16).

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And Jesus Christ, He came on a cross to die for you.

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Why? Because you are not good enough. (Romans 3:10-12).

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You are not good enough to get into heaven. (P)

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You see, most people wrongly think that they are good enough to get into heaven.

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People are determined to think they are good people (Galatians 2:16),

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and they will end up in hell for it. (P)

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Let me ask you this: If your thought life was put on TV tonight,

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if a scientist came to you

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and told you he had recorded your thought life for the last year,

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how comfortable would you be if that thought life of yours was shown on TV?

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How comfortable would you be if your mother, your friends,

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workmates and neighbors could see your thought life?

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And the answer is, if our thought lives were on TV, you would be ashamed.

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You would be ashamed that other people could see your thought life.

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Why? Not because it would show you were a good person,

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but because, as the Bible says,

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"The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).

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You see, your thought life reveals your heart and God judges our hearts. (P)

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On judgment day when we stand before a holy and righteous God,

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all our secret sins will be made known (1 Corinthians 4:5).

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Every thing done in darkness, Jesus says, will be made light (Luke 12:3).

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And many people wrongly think, "Well, if God is God, if God is love,

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yes I have done lots of bad things, but if He is love, then He will just forgive me."

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But no, it doesn't work like that. (P)

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Let me ask you this:

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If a rapist was before a human judge,

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and the judge says to him, "Hey! I am a loving and merciful judge,

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I am a good judge, you are free to go."

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What would you think of a judge like that,

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who just let off a rapist without the penalty being paid?

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That judge would be corrupt.

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You see, the mystery of the Bible is, if we have all sinned before God;

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if we, as Jesus said, none of us are good enough to get into heaven;

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all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23);

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if this is the case, then how can a good God forgive sinners?

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And the answer is, through Jesus Christ on a cross, paying for our sin (Isaiah 53:5, Galatians 3:13),

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being punished in our place, because He loved us (1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 3:21-26). (P)

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Two thousand years ago, the God who made this universe, He became a Man (John 1:14).

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You see, Jesus is everlasting from everlasting.

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He is without beginning and without end.

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And He so loved us that He entered into His own creation and became one of us.

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He felt as we feel.

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"He was tempted in all things," the Bible says, "but yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15).

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He did miracles.

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Jesus walked on water.

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He made the blind see.

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He made the deaf hear.

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He cured incurable diseases of leprosy.

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And He is able to cure the incurable disease of our desperately wicked hearts.

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Jesus is able to cure the disease of our sin. (P)

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How does He do this?

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Well, on a cross our sin was placed upon Jesus Christ.

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The Bible says, "By His stripes, we are healed." (1 Peter 2:24).

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He was pierced for our transgressions, not His own transgressions.

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He didn't have any transgressions.

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He didn't have any sin. He was perfect.

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And the chastisement, the punishment for our peace - for us to have peace with God -

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was placed upon Jesus Christ.

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On the third day, Jesus rose from the grave.

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Death and the grave could not hold Jesus Christ.

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And if you would come to Him,

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death and the grave would have no hold on you. (P)

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I do not fear death. I do not fear the judgment of God.

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Why? Because Jesus Christ has already paid for my sin 2,000 years ago.

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Have you realized this? Have you come to Jesus Christ?

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Because there are many who say, "O Yes, I believe in Jesus.

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I believe Jesus died for me on the cross." (Matthew 7:21-23).

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But they are just hypocrites. They just willfully carry on in sin.

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There are many hypocrites, false professors today

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who claim to be Christians, but are not.

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If I claim to be a doctor, it does not make me a doctor.

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And you would be foolish to take medicine from me if I did that.

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And you see, just because someone claims to be a Christian does not make them one. (P)

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1 John says, "He that continues in sin is of the devil.

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And, to many, Jesus said, He would say, "Depart from Me,"

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on that day of judgment, "I never knew you."

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And those people in Matthew 7 are professing Christians who,

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if you read on in the context, it says they hear the Word of God

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but they don't do it.

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Now I am not saying we earn our own salvation here. (P)

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Let me give you a simple analogy to try and explain the difference

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between a true Christian who has seen what Jesus has done on the cross,

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and a false Christian who has never really seen what He has done.

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If you went to the beach,

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and you saw a sign that said, "Sharks! Don't swim in the water."

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And you thought, "Who are these guys to put rules on my life?

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That sounds like fun, I like swimming with sharks."

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And so, you dive into that water, and you are swimming away there.

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And then, all of a sudden, you see a fin come towards you

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and this shark is rapidly gaining ground on you.

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And you are trying to swim to the side, but cannot make it.

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That shark is way too fast for you.

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And you're not going to make it,

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but just then, an Olympic swimmer walks by with his wife at the side of him

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and baby in a pram.

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Without hesitation, this guy dives into the water,

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he is so fast and he swims right in between you and the shark.

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So the shark rips this guy to pieces; there's blood everywhere.

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And while this is happening, you get to swim to the side.

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Now as you are climbing out of the water, you look back,

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you see your savior dead in the water.

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You look up, you see his distraught wife looking on,

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baby in the pram without a father. (P)

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Now, and this is my point:

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What would it say about you, if in 2 years time or in 5 years time or in 10 years time,

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you went past that waterfront again,

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and you saw the sign saying, "Sharks! Don't swim in the water."

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And you thought, "Who are these guys to put rules on my life? That sounds like fun."

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And so, you dive back into that water.

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That would say that you'd never truly seen the sacrifice that that guy had made for you.

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And in the same way,

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the person who says, "Yes, I believe Jesus died on a cross for me,"

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but it doesn't affect their life, they have no desire for Him,

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and they are just willfully carrying on in the things that God hates,

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that person has never truly seen the sacrifice that Jesus has made for them. (P)

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Have you seen that sacrifice?

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Jesus says, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden,

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and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28).

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If you want peace with God,

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Jesus Christ died on a cross for the sin of the world,

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and if you would come to Him, He will completely forgive you. (P)

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And notice, He doesn't say, "If you are weighed down with your sin,

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if you are feeling guilty, then go and labor on,

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go and clean up your own life."

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He doesn't day that.

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He says, "Come to Me."

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Come to Me, just as you are, and He will save you.

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But you can't, this is so important,

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you can't go to Jesus Christ, holding on to sin.

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Jesus said, "Unless you repent, you will perish."

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What I mean by this, is not that you clean up your life.

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But you can't go to Jesus Christ, saying,

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"I want eternal life, but I am not willing to let go of these things in my life."

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Like the rich, young ruler, it was his possessions. (Matthew 19:22).

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In his case, that was his idol.

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You cannot go to Christ determined to hold onto your own self.

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But if you come to Him, just surrender your life to Him just as you are,

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believe that He has saved you. Jesus can save you.

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The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:7).

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No matter what you have done in your life,

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whoever you are, whatever you have done,

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if you go to Jesus Christ, He refuses none who come to Him. (John 6:37). (P)

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So I plead with you. I plead with you.

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Life is all about living for Jesus Christ.

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Do not waste any more of your life.

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Do not waste one second.

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The Bible says, "Behold, now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.