A Letter from A Friend

Dear Friend,

I am writing you today as one who cares deeply. My reason for writing is to bring to your attention the matter of eternity. You see, the word of God tells us that all men (in their natural states) must die and then be condemned (Hebrews 9:27,28)

In fact, the Bible speaks, as well, of a final judgment for men. As I understand, it seems that this day will be a day when all the secrets of a man’s heart and life will be revealed, and he will be judged according to what he has done (Ecclesiastes 12:13). At that time, they are condemned to an eternity without God; an eternity of suffering in a lake of fire. This is said to be a condemnation of those whose names are not found written in the book of life (Revelation 20:11-15).

I might add, before I go further, that, all of us were, at sometime or another, subject to this same condemnation (Romans 5:12,18,19). We were all facing the same sad and horrible fate because we all have sinned in not loving and honouring God as we should (Romans 3:23). “It is written, there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10). So, the greatest of all mortals are but sinners before God but, there’s good news too!

I’m glad that, in spite of all the bad news about man, there is good news, too. Although we were all destined to die and be condemned, Jesus Christ was offered to God as a substitute for many (Hebrews 9:27,28). Jesus, the eternal God (John 1:1-4,14), was made a man, lived without sin (Hebrews 4:15;1Peter 2:21-25), and became sin that we might be made righteous (2Corinthians 5:21). Not only did Jesus die as a substitute for us, he also rose from the dead and showed himself alive to his people (1Corinthians 15:1-8;Romans 4:24,25). All this was done that we might have life eternal and not be condemned (John 3:14-18).

You may ask me, “How does all this apply to me, and how do I gain the benefits spoken of?” Two things are spoken of as man’s responsibility in regards to this matter: repentance and faith (Mark 1:14,15). I’m afraid, however, that repentance has been grievously misunderstood. Many people have decided that, to repent, one must perform some kind of work. The word of God does not view repentance in such a light, though. God’s word speaks of repentance as a man seeing his sin as repulsive to God and changing his mind about his love for sin (2Corinthians 7:8-11). It is a change of mind toward God that causes a man to despise his wrongs and desire to be right with God.

Faith is directly connected to repentance. Repentance is spoken of as an attitude toward God, and faith as being toward Jesus (Acts 20:31). In my way of saying it, it would mean that the one who repents then believes in Jesus and what he has done for them by being their substitute. The Bible speaks of faith as depending (or trusting) in God, and not our own good deeds (Ephesians 1:13;2:8-10:Romans 4:1-5) This salvation is offered to “whosoever will” believe (John 3:16)

Please repent and trust Jesus today.

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