"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."

"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick."

     I heard someone the other day who said that they did not think that God would send them to Hell because they always tried to do the right thing and thought there were a lot of people who were worse than them. They also said that God would not really send them to Hell because after all, God is love. 

They are right about God being love. He is love. However, that is only one part of God. God is also Justice. Look at it this way. Do you not love your kids? But if they do wrong isn't it because of that very love that you also punish them? After all, if you did not love them you wouldn't really care what they did. You wouldn't care if they disobeyed you and went out and partied till all hours of the night. You may want to display nothing but love for them but sometimes you find that because of that very love you have to hold them to the rules and laws of the house. A judge sitting on a bench may love everyone but how would it go if that is all he was? He could run on a slogan of ---"Vote for me and all will go free." It wouldn't go very well, would it? People would start breaking all manner of laws because they would know that they could get away with it. At some point, the judge would have to also demonstrate justice to go with the compassion. That is the way it is with God. He has SO much love for you and me that He sent His Son to take our punishment so that we wouldn't have to go to Hell  "Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is never quenched" Now it is up to you to decide whether you are going to accept His sacrifice or keep thinking "I think I am good enough" all the way into Hell.

      Growing up I never knew about God. When I was a kid occasionally I was taken to a church but I spent all of that time collecting new girlfriends. I paid absolutely no attention to what was being said. Later in my life, after the end of my marriage, :-( when I did finally hear about God  I did not believe. I thought "How could there be someone greater than me. (I found out later that this wasn't near as hard as I thought but back then I unrealistically felt that I was near perfect) I laugh and cry about it now. My parents sent me to a pastor who was supposed to convince me that God was real and that I should turn my life over to Him but the pastor could not answer my questions. When he said I should believe because what if it was true then I would be saved and go to Heaven and if it wasn't true then it wouldn't matter. My question to him was. Well then, shouldn't I also believe in Budda and Thor and all of the other thousand of gods out there just in case they are also real? He said no so I asked why not and he had no answer. So, I continued to not believe. At this point (to my eternal regret) I went around convincing other Christians that there was no God. It was surprisingly easy considering that  In 1 Pet. 3:15 the apostle Peter admonished believers to "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,." and only by meeting honest objections with biblical answers can Christians "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." as it says in 2 Cor. 10:5. It wasn't until I was in my late 30's that God decided to reveal Himself to me. I had worked all day and half of the night putting out claw machines in a bunch of different cities in Texas. When I finally got home in Victoria, TX I was exhausted. It seemed that I had just laid down when I got a call from my boss saying one of the machines was down so I needed to take the Uhaul they had rented for me to place the machines back to Beaumont where I would get my car a little Subaru Justy and drive it back to Victoria where I would then pick up the company car they were providing me and go fix the machine. So, I made it to Houston and started towards Beaumont but was still really tired. I had not yet gotten my first paycheck and was broke but I had a Target credit card on me so when I spotted a Target on the other side of the freeway I decided to stop and get me something to drink. When I pulled into the Target parking lot I did not notice the crossbar over the entrance. They do not have one at the Target in Victoria. The bar took off the top couple of inches of the U-haul. I started thinking --- "Well...maybe when I turn it in they won't notice the new sunroof"  but of course that is the first thing they saw. Fortunately, when I had signed the paper while picking up the U-haul I had checked the insurance box so it was covered. I then picked up my Subaru Justy. I set the cruise control at 77 and was heading back along I-10 towards Houston when I fell asleep at the wheel. I ran into the back of a bus that had stopped for road construction. I was lifelighted to a hospital in Houston but, other than some bruises I was fine. My Mom came and picked me up. We headed over to the junkyard to see what was left of my car. The owner of the junkyard was amazed that I was alive and after seeing what was left of my car I was too. We started heading back to Victoria when there was some breaking news on the radio of a guy in a truck who had ran into a bus and died instantly. My Mom turned to me and said God must really have some big plans for you and it was just like a spotlight went on in my head. I cannot describe it any better than that but it does not even begin to do it justice. All of a sudden I saw my life and all of the evil I had done in it. I also just knew that God was very real and that without Jesus I was going to Hell. God in His mercy had chosen to give me another chance. He also gave me two more chances after that but I digress. At this point, I set about researching God and whether He was real or not. After all it was fine that I knew that I knew but I wanted to have answers for when others questioned me. The more I researched the more I was convinced and amazed that I had not seen all of this before. After all, I considered myself a highly intelligent man how could I have missed this but, miss it I did. Besides if I had truly been that intelligent I would still have my ex. 

         I consider myself blessed that I have sinned so much in my life --- that I treated others so horribly. Even those I professed to love like my Ex I did not treat as I should. I consider myself blessed because I KNOW that there is absolutely no way I could get to Heaven without Jesus taking my sins on him. I am not one of those people who can say ---I have lived a pretty sin free life. I think I can make it into Heaven on my own merits. I personally have to throw myself on God's mercy and accept the sacrifice of Jesus in order to avoid Hell. I have no other option. The thing is though neither do any of you. John 14:6 states "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." What this means is it does not matter how good a life you have think you have led. At some point, you have sinned and at The Day of Judgement you will held  accountable for those sins. It is if a murderer was taken to court he may try to tell the judge: Yes, I murdered someone but look how good I have been besides that. The judge is still going to send him to prison. In the same way when you come before God you may try to say yes I broke one of your Commandments but other than that I have led a good life. God will come back with: The word of God says James 2:10
 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws. Someone else might try to say sure I got angry at people and looked at women with lust but I didn't murder anyone and I didn't commit aduldry to which God would say: The word of God says in Matthew 5:21-22: 

21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment. 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. and Matthew 5:27-28 states
27 “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 

        Now at this point, I am hoping that you are beginning to realize that if everyone is going to be judged by these standards on The Day of Judgement then ALL based solely on their own lives will not get into Heaven and will surely be sent to Hell. Because that is true. By yourself and by myself none of us can get to Heaven. Fortunately we have a Savior. Someone willing to take the punishment for all of our sins if we only accept His sacrifice. Someone who died for us so that we may live. My Mom once told me that God doesn't send people to Hell they volunteer and when she first said it I thought that was a weird statement to make. After all who would volunteer to go to Hell but she was right. Every day by not accepting the sacrifice of Jesus people are dying and going to Hell. You do not need to volunteer. Please accept Christ into your life like I did. Accept His sacrifice for your sin so that you do not have to go to Hell "Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is never quenched"That person that said God is Love is right. God is love. He does not want to see ANYONE volunteer to go to Hell. He loved us so much that He allowed his own Son to be the neccessary sacrifice for your sins. Will you accept His sacrifice? Or are you going to keep thinking ---Nah, I'm good enough.