Take the Test
2. Have you ever stolen anything?
3. Have you ever committed adultery? Jesus said, “everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt 5:28).” This applies to women lusting for men too.
4. Have you ever murdered anyone? The Bible says, “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him (1John 3:15 NKJV).” Man is completely transparent before God. And God equates hatred with murder.
5. Have you always put God first in your life, above anyone or anything? Jesus says, “(37) "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.(38) "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (39) "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it (Mat 10:37-39). "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (Mat 6:24).”
6. Have you ever created your own god, physically or mentally? Have you ever worshipped anything/ one other than God? That’s idolatry. A god is anything/one that takes your time, energy, devotion, mind, soul and strength. Jesus said, “(37) . . . 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' (Mat 22:37)” Anyone can create a god to justify their sinful lifestyle, but there is only one true God.
7. Have you ever used God’s name as a curse word to display disgust? This is called blaspheme.
8. Have you ever thanked God for giving you life?
9. Have you always honored your parents?
10. Have you ever coveted, jealously wanted something that was not yours?
The Bible says, “all [are] under sin; as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE" (Rom 3:9-12 )…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23 ).” God is all good, holy, just and righteous. And in Hab 1:13, “Your eyes [God] are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. . .” Furthermore, Jesus said, “No one is good except God alone (Mar 10:17-18).” God’s definition of good is moral perfection. Sin can be defined as any violation of the perfect holiness of God.1 Sin also means “to miss the mark or goal, to miss the moral standard that’s fixed by God (Rom 3:23).” Therefore, a person sins when they do what God tells them not to do or when they don’t do what He tells them to do. Every human is a sinner by nature (Rom 5:19) and by choice (Eph 2:3; Rom 1:21-32). 2
If God were to judge you by His commandments, His standard, would you be guilty or innocent? What would a good, righteous, just judge do? Would He let thieves, adulterers, murderers go unpunished? The Bible says “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God (Eph 5:5). Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 6:9-10 ).” The book of James says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all (Jam 2:10).” God says that no one is without excuse, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Rom 1:18-20 ).” Because God is just and holy, He deals with sin and sinners as they deserve, condemning them and punishing them. Condemnation is defined as the judicial sentence that declares a person, after examination and affirmation of wrongdoing, guilty of an alleged crime and is subject to punishment.2 God always judges based on what a person does (Rom 2:6).
So, then will you go to heaven or hell? The final destiny of those who have habitually sinned and have not accepted God’s offer of forgiveness through Jesus is judgment—eternal separation from God, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. . .And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:11-13, 15 ).” "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Rev 21:8 ).” So, if you were to die today, would God let you into His heaven based on His requirements for admission?
But, there is good news. Jesus paid our fine so that we could escape eternal punishment and separation from God. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (Joh 3:16 ).” Jesus was the ultimate perfect sacrifice that appeased or satisfied God’s wrath on sin. He alone became our substitute, bearing our sins so that we could have peace with God. The Bible says years before Jesus was born, “. . .He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him (Isa 53:5- 6).” Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus said. . . "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God (Joh 3:3 ). . . I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (Joh 14:6 ).” Jesus was God’s perfect demonstration of His love for mankind and His perfect justice. Jesus alone vicariously bore the exact penalty of man’s sin, thereby appeasing God’s wrath and satisfying His righteousness.
When a person recognizes that they are a sinner who deserves Hell, repents of their sins, turning from them and puts their faith/ trust on what Jesus did for them on the cross, God will declare that person justified or righteous, meaning that person is now in a right relationship with God, God looks at that person just as if they never sinned. An exchange happens, that person’s sin is imputed to Jesus and Jesus’ righteousness is credited to their account and the demands of the law are satisfied. God always judges according to what one does and saves by His grace based on a persons’ faith.
The Bible tells us that, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; (Rom 10:9 ). . . EVERYONE WHO CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED (Act 2:21 ).” To believe in Jesus means to trust in who He is and what He alone has done; it means commitment and placing complete trust in and dependency on Him and His work for the receiving of God’s forgiveness of sin and it’s penalty and for receiving eternal life. Only by Christ’s payment for sin, (1) are sinners released from the penalty of sin, hell (Mark 10:45; Rom 3:24; Eph 1:7), (2) are sinners legally cleared and declared righteous (Rom 3:24, 26; 5:1, 9, 18; 8:30), (3) is peace with God made (Rom 5:10; 1 Cor 5:18, 19; Col 1:20-21), and (4) is one regenerated or born again (Tit 3:15; 1 Pet 1:3; John 3:3-7). Jesus received man’s punishment for sin and satisfied God’s demands against sinners ( 1John 2:2; 4:10). But the value of His sacrifice on the cross is not applied to sinners until they exercises salvational faith in Jesus, until they believe the Gospel (Acts 10:43; 2Cor 5:18-20). So, where do you want to spend eternity—in heaven or hell?
All Scripture quotations taken from the NASB unless otherwise noted.
Adapted from The Way of the Master by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort
1Survey of Bible Doctrine: Man and Sin. Page 31.
2Barackman, Floyd H. Practical Christian Theology. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2001.