Four sophmore students at a state university were taking chemistry, and all of them had an A grade so far. These four firends were so confident that the weekend before finals, they decided to visit some out-of-town friends and have an end-of-the-school-year party.
After too much partying, they slept all day Sunday and did not make it back to their university until Monday morning. Rather than taking the final at the scheduled time, they decided they would explain to their professor why they missed it. They would say that they had visited freinds but on the way back, they had a flat tire, and as a result, they missed the final, and could they make it up?
The professor agreed they could make up the final the next day. The guys were excited and relieved. They studied all night for the exam.
The next day the professor placed them in separate rooms and gave them a test booklet. They quickly anwered the first problem worth five pints.
Cool, each one thought! This is going to be easy! Then they turned the page. There was one question on it. Each one flippped through the rest of the test booklet only to find blank sheets of paper.
On the second page was written: “For 95 points, which tire?”
The Bible says, “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.” Proverbs 12:22 Revelation 21:8 declares it in no-nonsense words where it says, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Strong language, I know, but that is what God thinks about liars. And guess what? We all fit into that cateory because we have all lied at one time or another, and if anyone says he has never lied, he’s lying. We could never be perfect or even good enough for God to accept us in our sinful state.
We were helpless and lost. God knows this. But because God loved us with an everlasting love and abounds in grace and mercy, He sent His only Son, to die in our place. The underserving for the deserving, the perfect One for sinners.
If we recognize that we have sinned, turn away from sin, and trust in Jesus for what He accomplished on the cross, our sins will be erased from our account. God will look at us through His perfect Son, and declare we are forgiven. The alternative is the lake of fire. Forever!
When you think about it, this should be an easy choice.
Forgiveness and peace with God forever or fire and brimstone and separated from God for eternity. This is going to be easy, right? Why then, I wonder, is it so difficult for some to choose life?