Romans 5:6
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
A man once told me he was saved by God's love. I said, "I disagree. God doesn't save by love. Show me one verse in the Bible that says God saves by love." There aren't any. Many of you may be sitting there in shock: "What do you mean, God doesn't save by love? Of course, He does, because God is love." But He is also so much more.
God is Holy, Divine, Righteous, and Just. Therefore, God will not open the doors of heaven to let sinners in, just because He loves us. I heard a mother once said to her son, "Brandon if you keep disobeying me God won't love you." Clearly, this is wrong because God will continue to love Brandon no matter what he does. It just doesn't mean Brandon will gain entrance to heaven because of love only.
This is the love issue so many people don't understand -- the reason: "If God is perfect then His love is perfect -- therefore He will allow everyone into heaven equally." Wrong. The Bible says (Ephesians 2:8): "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." And in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God saves by grace. God demonstrated His love for us by giving His son to die for us. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. God will save us -- only if we come His way -- by belief through His son. Not our way. We are powerless. This isn't our universe -- we didn't create it -- God did. Jesus is God's plan for salvation, not ours. This is one critical area where we don't get to have it our way!
Too many people have reasoned themselves right out of heaven. How? Because we don't make the rules, God does. God says (John 14:6): "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Is there anything unclear in this sentence? "No one" means no one!
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