Are You Prepared To Pay Your Final Bill?

THE LAST BILL WE PAY WILL BE TO GOD!

And, if you’re like most people, you’re NOT ready to pay your final bill! We were created, by God to do two things: first to love God, and second to love each other. Most of us don't do either one of these things very well! A young man in the Bible asked Jesus which one of the Ten Commandments was the most important. Jesus responded by saying:

Matthew 22:36-40    "The most important one...is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no command- ment greater than these."

But we turn our back on these two commandments and say, ‘NO WAY!’ ‘I want to live my own life the way I want to live it without God telling me what to do. And I’m gonna take care of myself first. My neighbor can worry about himself!’

The resulting lifestyle is described in :

“...People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God...”
2 Timothy 3:1-4

Reading those scripture verses is like reading today’s newspaper headlines! Jesus describes the results of this attitude in Luke 12:15-21

   "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." ' "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

The end result, or wage of sin, according to Romans 6:23 is    DEATH!

According to the Bible it is appointed to man once to die and then to face the judgment. We will all stand before God one day to give account of our lives!

Revelation 20:11-15    “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

When that day comes for you will you be able to pay the final bill? Will your name be found in the book with “PAID IN FULL” next to it? There is only one way that can happen!

A song writer, speaking about Jesus Christ, wrote these words: “He paid a debt He did not owe because I owed a debt I could not pay.” Jesus took all our sins on Himself and paid for them with His death on the cross. God’s love reached down to us in the midst of our horrible rebellion and gave us Jesus.

   “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:6-8

But it isn’t enough to know that intellectually. We have to do something about it. Individually we have to receive Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.

John 1:11-13    “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him [Jesus Christ], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”

We each have to ask for His forgiveness.

I John 1:8-10    “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”

In case you think, “Well, I haven’t been so bad. I’ve lived a pretty good life.” Listen to:

Romans 3:23    “...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...”

And in case you think there is another way to have your debt paid listen to Jesus:

John 14:6    “...I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

In His love God made ONE provision for our debt to Him to be paid in full. That is through Jesus Christ. The big question is what will you do with that provision? If you believe and receive Jesus as your Savior, God will write across your bill PAID IN FULL!

Jesus is standing at the door to your heart.

Revelation 3:20    “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat [have fellowship] with him, and he with me.”

Will you open the door and invite Him into your life? All you have to do is sincerely talk to God and say something like this:

"Jesus I believe in you. I believe you paid my debt by dying for me. I bow my knees before you. I’m sorry for the sinful things I’ve done. Please forgive me and come into my life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be. Please write “PAID IN FULL” across my bill."

Are you prepared to pay your final bill?
Have you ever asked Jesus Christ to come into your heart or life?
If not, would you like to be prepared to pay your final bill by asking Jesus Christ into your heart right now?
If your answer to the previous question was 'Yes', all you have to do is talk to God and say something like I've written below. The attitude of your heart is more important than the exact words.
"Jesus I believe in you. I believe you paid my debt by dying for me. I bow my knees before you. I’m sorry for the sinful things I’ve done. Please forgive me and come into my life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be. Please write “PAID IN FULL” across my bill."
If you prayed this prayer sincerely, then God has forgiven all your past sins!

1 John 1:8-10
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."

And, Jesus Christ has come into your heart because He promised to do just that if we asked Him in.

Revelation 3:20
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him [her], and he [she] with me."