{"id":2650,"date":"2016-10-27T03:44:29","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T08:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=2650"},"modified":"2016-10-27T03:44:29","modified_gmt":"2016-10-27T08:44:29","slug":"really-right-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/10\/27\/really-right-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You REALLY Right With God?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Anybody who acknowledges the reality of hell &#8211; even those who only think there <i>might<\/i> be a hell &#8211; knows that nobody would want to go there. It\u2019s a terrifying place. For that very reason, most people who consider hell a possibility want to convince themselves that they won\u2019t end up there when they die. We hear a number of common phrases that people use to confirm their place in heaven\u2026 but do those phrases have any value? <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Being right with God means different things to a lot of different people, which means there are many people who have false views because they can\u2019t all be right. Let\u2019s look at five common misconceptions of what it means to be right with God along with the truth about how we can undoubtedly know where we stand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Because \u201cGod loves you too much to send you to hell.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The person who says this isn\u2019t even concerned with being right with God. They\u2019re concerned with merely being <i>okay<\/i> with God. 2 Peter 3:9 directly contradicts this line of thinking. God doesn\u2019t <i>want<\/i> anybody to perish, and He\u2019s patient for our repentance (i.e. not striking us down where we stand as we deserve), but that doesn\u2019t mean He will ever abandon His perfect sense of justice. Hell isn\u2019t just for the people we think are the \u201creally bad\u201d ones. It\u2019s for everybody who isn\u2019t in Christ. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">If you\u2019ve \u201cmade peace\u201d with God.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">There is nothing sadder than hearing this phrase at a funeral &#8211; \u201cShe made peace with God before she died.\u201d Sorry, but He\u2019s God and we\u2019re not. We\u2019re the sinful humans with no ability to save ourselves. Ephesians 2 tells us that while we are in our sins we are dead, and the dead don\u2019t do much negotiating. Jesus is the one who makes peace, and He makes it on His terms. You don\u2019t get to decide if you\u2019re right with God. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Because you\u2019re a \u201cgood person.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Romans 3:20-23 tells us that no one is going to be justified by works of law because we\u2019ve all sinned and no amount of good is going to outweigh that bad, save for Jesus death and resurrection. But so many times we hear people claiming this \u201cgood person\u201d status to convince themselves that they are right with God. A variant version is \u201cI try to make my good outweigh my bad.\u201d Well, your bad was putting the sinless Son of God on the cross. How are you ever going to tip the scaled against that? Imagine trying that one out with God when He reads the charges against us &#8211; tens of thousands of sins accrued in a lifetime, enough to fill volumes\u2026 and we\u2019re going to tell God that we\u2019re okay with Him because we were good enough. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">If you\u2019ve said the sinner\u2019s prayer.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">For decades televangelists and preachers all over the world have been calling millions of people to simply repeat a prayer in order to be saved. Two problems: one, that prayer is nowhere to be found in Scripture. No one in the new covenant prayed themselves into a right relationship with God. Two, being right with God is a walk. It\u2019s not a one time moment. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong><span class=\"s1\">Just because you\u2019ve been baptized.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Just as with the point above, we must keep in mind that being right with God is not a one time moment. Baptism is an indispensable part of God\u2019s plan for the redemption of His people (1 Peter 3:21, Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-4, etc.), but the process doesn\u2019t end there. Just being baptized doesn\u2019t make one right with God, and yet so many of our church efforts can be aimed at that one singular moment, particularly with the youth. Beyond that, just being baptized and being present in a church building every week doesn\u2019t make one right with God. Just being baptized, attending worship, and reading the Bible fairly regularly doesn\u2019t make one right with God, either. Like the rich young ruler in Luke 18, we have to guard against thinking ourselves safe by keeping a few key tenants of God\u2019s law. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The good news is that we <i>can<\/i> know if we\u2019re right with God. 1 John 5:13 tells us that we can <i>know <\/i>that we have eternal life. 1 John 1:7 guarantees us that \u201cif we walk in the <\/span><span class=\"s3\">Light<\/span><span class=\"s1\"> as He Himself is in the <\/span><span class=\"s3\">Light,<\/span><span class=\"s1\"> we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.\u201d If we confess and repent of our sins, get washed in the blood of Christ through baptism, and live our lives by faith in Jesus Christ and His commandments, our sins will be taken away. That\u2019s the only way you\u2019re going to be right with God. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We\u2019re all going to die someday, unless Christ returns before we make it there. Either way, we\u2019re going to have to make sure we\u2019re ready for what happens at that point. You know you want to be right with God for when that time comes, but the only way to be right with a sovereign, uncompromising God is to be right on His terms. Don\u2019t let settle for shortcuts or the easy way out. Make sure you\u2019re <i>truly<\/i> right with God.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><strong>By Jack Wilkie<\/strong><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anybody who acknowledges the reality of hell &#8211; even those who only think there might be a hell &#8211; knows that nobody would want to go there. It\u2019s a terrifying place. For that very reason, most people who consider hell a possibility want to convince themselves that they won\u2019t end up there when they die. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,45,59],"tags":[263,44,265,370,23,48,803],"class_list":["post-2650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-bible-study","category-christian-living","tag-afterlife","tag-baptism","tag-heaven","tag-hell","tag-jack","tag-salvation","tag-sinners-prayer","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Are You REALLY Right With God? - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2016\/10\/27\/really-right-god\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are You REALLY Right With God? - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anybody who acknowledges the reality of hell &#8211; even those who only think there might be a hell &#8211; knows that nobody would want to go there. 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