God Answers Your Questions.

  Q. I am young yet, and likely to live for a long time. Why should I think of eternal things now?

God says: “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring” and “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (Proverbs 27:1; James 4:14).

  Q. When I do die, won’t that be the end of me?

“The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up” (Luke 16:22,23).

  Q. Must we not wait until the judgment day to see who goes to hell?

“Whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).

  Q. I have lived a fairly good life; am I condemned?

God says: “There is no one righteous, not even one …There is no one who does good, not even one … the whole world [is] accountable to God” (Romans 3:10,12,19).

  Q. God is a loving, merciful God. Won’t He pass over my sins?

“The LORD … does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus 34:6,7). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

  Q. But I say my prayers, and have given money to the church. Won’t that count in my favor?

“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not … in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:22,23).

  Q. Why would God judge me the same as somebody who is grossly immoral, or a murderer?

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “We all, like sheep, have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10).

  Q. If that be the case, I must plead guilty. I have sinned. What must I do to be saved?

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

  Q. Tell me exactly what I need to believe.

“The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). “The Son of God … loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

  Q. But must I do nothing to gain salvation?

“A person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16). “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith … not by works” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

  Q. To be saved just by believing seems too simple.

“If the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” (2 Kings 5:13). Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47).

  Q. Did God really love me before I was saved?

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

  Q. I often think I am too great a sinner to be saved.

“‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool’” (Isaiah 1:18). “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

  Q. Won’t my life change if I become a Christian?

“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’—the things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).