A. Gaining life after death is a “Do-it-yourself” Program

DO this, DO that, pray these prayers, keep certain days holy, receive certain sacraments, be a good person, be baptized, confess your sins, do unto others, offer up your sufferings, et cetera.

It doesn’t matter which religion you pick, they all have a list:

• Catholicism has its DOs.
• Protestantism has its DOs.
• Eastern Orthodoxy has its DOs.
• Jehovah’s Witnessism has its DOs.
• Mormonism has its DOs.
• Judaism has its DOs.
• Islam has its DOs.
• Hinduism has its DOs.
• Buddhism has its DOs.

They all tell you what you have to DO (or must not do) in order to qualify for life after death.

What’s ironic is that not one of them will ever tell you…

When you’ve DONE enough.

But the Bible is different. According to the Holy Bible…

Eternal Life Is a Free Gift

You can’t:

Earn it.

Merit it.

Buy it.

It’s a free gift.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

I’ll bet no one ever told you that eternal life was a gift. For 28 years no one ever told me. As a Roman Catholic, I was taught that you had to DO certain things to get it.

And yet eternal life is a free gift according to the Scripture—not something I was required to merit or earn by a combination of faith plus good works, like I was taught.

Eternal life is promised to anyone who comes to Jesus Christ.

Think about it, how can any gift be earned?

If you have to work for it at all, it’s no longer a gift. Imagine how insulted you would be if you gave a gift to someone and they turned around and asked you how much they owed you or what they had to DO in order to receive it.

That’s exactly what happens with God.

He offers eternal life as a free gift to any sinner who repents and trusts Christ as his or her Savior.

Don’t get me wrong, “good works” are commendable, and the Lord is pleased when anybody does them. It’s just that they are not conditional to getting eternal life. Clearly, it’s a gift. You end up doing “good works” out of a grateful heart––not as a prerequisite to earning what is offered freely.

Want to stop trying to earn your way to heaven? It’s easy. Receive the free gift that has been freely given to you…

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves:  it is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

Like the Scripture says…

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Only the Lord could do what all
religions never thought of.

As it turns out, the Lord Jesus Christ came here to deliver you from the very fear that’s causing you to read this post. Look at this verse:

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he [Jesus] also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Hebrews 2:15)

He came to free you from the bondage and fear of death you’ve been suffering with your whole life.

Want to lose your fear of death? It’s easy. Come to Jesus. And he’s even given you an invitation…

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

If you do, then the Scripture promises that as soon as you die you will be absent from the body and present with the Lord.

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)

Once you receive the Lord Jesus, you will never fear the prospect of death again. Instead of being in the bondage of fear, you’ll see death as an opportunity to go to him.

He that hath the Son hath life;
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. (1 John 5:12)

Sounds like a pretty strange statement, doesn’t it?

How can all the religions of the world be not only cruel but heartless?

If you compare them to each other, you’ll find similarities and differences.

The bottom line is that all religions have two things in common. First, they are man’s creation. Second, and more importantly, they all prescribe works and/or rituals by which you are promised some sort of an existence after death.

Contrast this with what the Bible teaches––that eternal life is a free gift that is conferred upon you by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. According to Scripture…

“… God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself…” (2 Corinthians 5:19)

All that is necessary to give you peace with God and life after death has been DONE by the Lord Jesus Christ.

God laid all our sins upon the Lord Jesus Christ and punished him in our place. And since the wages of our sins were paid to him (i.e., he got what we earned), God is able to forgive us.

Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture and rose again the third day, and he’s alive for evermore. More importantly, he is able to give life to any and all that believe on him.

Some folks once asked Jesus, “what must we do to do the works of God?”

“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God,
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” (John 6:29)

Doesn’t sound like hard “work,” does it?

But here’s why Bible-believing Christianity makes more sense than any of the religions of the world and why it is not cruel or heartless. It is…

Do-able by anyone.

That’s what sets the religion of the Bible or the religion of faith in Jesus Christ apart from all the other religions on earth. It’s Do-able.

It’s Do-able for a child. It’s Do-able for someone breathing his last breath. It’s Do-able for a quadriplegic who can’t do any works. It’s Do-able for smart people. It’s Do-able for dumb people. It’s Do-able for anybody because it doesn’t take anything except “belief.”

All the rest of the religions are cold and heartless because they are exclusive. Only certain classes of people can qualify. The man breathing his last breath hasn’t got time to DO any “good work.” A quad can hardly move. What religious or good works do you want them to be required to DO? A child can love the Lord but can’t DO a whole lot more.

Oh, there is one thing you or anyone else HAS to DO…

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)