Virtual Bible Study

Revelation 22 - New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Recapping The Book Of Revelation

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.

7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”

8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things.9 But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.”

The Final Message

10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.11 Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.”

12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.”Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Revelation 22 - Lesson

A SUMMARY OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION

In the final book of the New Testament, God reveals His plan (through an angel) for John to share with the world.

Through John’s writing, we get a preview of what Heaven will be like for those who are saved.

HEAVEN

As you read the following four verses about Heaven, allow yourself to get excited about what it will mean to spend eternity with God, Jesus, and all the saints!

It is this excitement that gives us hope and allows us to persevere during times of adversity.

1) “He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” - Revelation 21:4,

2) “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” - John 14:2,

3) “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” -1 Corinthians 2:9,

4) “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” – Romans 8:18.

THE GREAT TRIBULATION

The Book of Revelation also provides a dark picture of what the last days on Earth will be like for those who choose not to follow Jesus and instead follow the sinful ways of the world. These days are referred to as, “The Great Tribulation.”

The word tribulation is defined as, “A state of great trouble or suffering.” (Source: Google Dictionary)

During the Great Tribulation, those on Earth will experience catastrophic events, the likes of which the Earth has never seen!

According to Revelation 8:5, these events will include:

1) A huge fireball hurled to the Earth,

2) Thunder,

3) Lightning,

4) Earthquakes.

The Bible tells us that there will be seven angels standing before God who will sound their trumpets one at a time. As each one sounds off, those on earth will be subjected to tremendous suffering!

There will be a prolonged battle between good and evil where good prevails.

In Revelation Chapter 21, we read the following words of encouragement about what life will be like after The Great Tribulation when Jesus returns:

"Then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth; for the first Heaven and the first Earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” – Revelation 21:1-4.

CONCLUSION

The Book of Revelation highlights the dramatic differences between Heaven and Hell.

Those who are saved will be with God and Jesus forever in paradise!

Those who are condemned will experience the horrors of Hell for all eternity!

This needs to be a wake-up call for all of us to make sure that we are right with God before it is too late! In order to do this, each of us must evaluate ourselves against these five matters of salvation outlined in the Bible:

1) Believe in Jesus. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” – Acts 16:31,

2) Confess our belief in Him. “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” – Romans 10:10,

3) Repent (turn away from) of our sins. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” – Luke 13:3,

4) Be baptized. “ Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ .” – 1 Peter 3:21 and “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16,

5) Obey God’s commandments. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in Heaven will enter.” – Mathew 7:21.
If we do these five things, we will be saved.

We will end today’s study with the following quote from the Apostle Paul. These are the same days that we hope to be able to say when our time on Earth is done:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” – 2 Timothy 4:7-8.

Revelation 20 - New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.

4 Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

Satan Freed, Doomed

7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9 And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Judgment at the Throne of God

11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20 - Lesson

FIVE MATTERS OF SALVATION

JUDGMENT DAY

When we die, all of us are going to be judged relative to the deeds that we did while we were alive. That is what the following two scriptures teach us:

1) “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” – Hebrews 9:27,

2) “(God) will repay each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life; but to those who are self-serving and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give wrath and indignation.” - Romans 2:6-8.

After the judgment, one of two things is going to happen:

1) We will be given eternal life and invited to be with God, Jesus, and all the saints in Heaven,

2) We will suffer the wrath of God and be sent to Hell forever.

That is it! These are the only two outcomes mentioned in the Bible.

This should give us pause to think.

Eternity is forever, and once we are judged, it will be too late to make any changes to our lifestyle or our priorities.

FIVE MATTERS OF SALVATION

Different denominations have differing opinions about what is necessary to go to Heaven. In the end, the only thing that matters is what God says on the subject.

For today’s lesson, we are going to look at five things that the Bible teaches us are necessary for salvation along with the corresponding scriptures.

1) Believe in Jesus. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” – Acts 16:31,

2) Confess our belief in Him. “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” – Romans 10:10,

3) Repent (turn away from) of our sins. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” – Luke 13:3,

4) Be baptized. “ Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ .” – 1 Peter 3:21 and “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16,

5) Obey God’s commandments. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” – Mathew 7:21.

BELIEVING IN JESUS AND CONFESSING OUR BELIEF IN HIM

These are the things that the Bible teaches us are necessary for salvation. Believing in Jesus is not enough, we also must confess our belief in Jesus to others. Jesus spoke about this in what is commonly referred to as “The Great Commission.”

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” - Mathew 28:19-20.

When we believe in Jesus, and confess that belief, we are heading in the right direction relative to our salvation.

But there is still work to be done!

REPENTING OF OUR SINS

The Bible also teaches us that we also need to repent of our sins.

Repentance means, “To turn away.” For Christians, repentance means turning away from sinful, self-serving behavior, and turning toward God. This means that we are going to need to make some changes in our lives. If the people that we associate with, or the places that we frequent are causing us to sin, we need to turn away from these things so that we can focus on glorifying God and serving others. Consider the following warning spoken by Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount:

“If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.” – Mathew 5:29-30.

When we believe in Jesus, confess our belief in Him, and repent of our sins, we are close to salvation, but there is still more to be done!

BAPTISM

To be saved, we need to obey the Gospel in baptism. The following two scriptures tell us that baptism is a matter of salvation:

1) “Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 3:21,

2) “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16.

OBEYING GOD’S COMMANDMENTS

The fifth matter of salvation is obeying God’s commandments. Obeying God's commandments is something that we need to work on our entire lives. And while none of us will be able to do that perfectly (Romans 3:23), we must try every day to obey them the best that we can. The character is in the trying! Our ability to obey God’s commandments starts with incorporating regular Bible study into our lives. After all, how can we keep His commandments if we do not know what they are?

CONCLUSION

To prepare ourselves for the Day of Judgment, there are five matters of salvation that we must adhere to:

1) Believing in Jesus,

2) Confessing our belief in Jesus,

3) Repenting of our sins,

4) Being baptized,

5) Obeying God’s commandments.

Once we understand what God wants us to do, we need to act without delay!

We should never put off until tomorrow what we can do today when it comes to our salvation, for none of us is promised another day (Proverbs 27:1).

We will conclude today’s lesson with the following passage from the Book of James. It warns us that there will be consequences for those who understand what the right thing to do is and choose not to do it.

“Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” – James 4:17.

Revelation 16 - New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.

3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.

4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; 6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.”7 And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.

10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.

12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.

Armageddon

13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”) 16 And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.

Seventh Bowl of Wrath

17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.”18 And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.

Revelation 16 - Lesson

THE WRATH OF GOD

Revelation 16 is a chapter about the awesome wrath of God!

In the final days, God's wrath will be unleashed on the ungodly. In their suffering, they will experience:

1) Malignant sores,

2) The turning of the sea, rivers, and springs into blood,

3) The sun scorching men with fire,

4) The Euphrates River drying up,

5) Lightning,

6) Earthquakes,

7) Destruction of mountains and islands,

8 And one-hundred-pound hailstorms.

BIBLE VERSES ABOUT GOD’S WRATH

The Bible has a lot to say about God’s wrath. For today’s lesson, we have highlighted the following five verses:

1) “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” -Romans 1:18,

2) “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” -John 3:36,

3) “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” -Romans 12:19,

4) “I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they will know that I am the Lord, when I inflict My vengeance on them Ezekiel.” - Ezekiel 25:17,

5) “Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath.” -Romans 2:5.

GOD’S INDIGNATION

The Psalmist describes God as a:

“Righteous judge, and a God who shows indignation every day.” – (Psalm 7:11).

The definition of indignation is:

“Anger aroused by something unjust, unworthy, or mean.” (source:Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

We anger God when we are:

1) Unjust,

2) Unworthy,

3) Mean.

And since all of us our sinners (Romans 3:23), we all need to repent before it is too late!

REPENTANCE

The word repentance means, “To turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life.” (source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

One of the best examples of repentance and forgiveness occurs in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).

In this parable, the younger son asks for blessings from his father and receives them. Instead of honoring his father with what he has been given, he goes off to a far country and squanders everything living a sinful and indulgent lifestyle.

When adversity struck in the form of famine, the Prodigal Son became poor and desperate. Luke writes that he finally came to his senses and decided to return to his father.

He humbly approached his father and asked him if he could return home and be his servant.

The son believed that he had sinned so badly, that the only way his father would accept him back was in a working capacity. He had accepted responsibility for his actions, turned away from his sins, and returned to his father.

That is the example God wants us to follow!

1) To accept responsibility for our actions,

2) To turn away from our sins,

3) To return to our Father determined and committed to do better.

Later in the parable, we see the joy that the father had when his son returned:

“So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.” – Luke 15:20-24.

CONCLUSION

All of us are aware of the sins that we commit. When we sin, we have two choices:

1) We can repent of our sins and please God,

2) We can continue in our sins and suffer God’s wrath.

God understands that we are going to sin. That is why we all need to repent.

When we repent, we acknowledge God’s authority and demonstrate that we are sorry for what we have done. Consider the following two scriptures:

1) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.” – Romans 3:23-25,

2) “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” - 2 Peter 3:9.

Just like the father of the Prodigal Son, we please God when we turn away from our sins and return to Him.

We will end today's lesson with the following two scriptures that show us the great mercy that God has for those who repent:

1) “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:8-9,

2) “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” – Hebrews 8:12.

Revelation 15 - New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.

2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. 3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

“Great and marvelous are Your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For all the nations will come and worship before You ,
For Your righteous acts have been revealed .”

5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

Revelation 15 - Lesson

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

As we near the end of the Book of Revelation, we are also nearing the end of the seven-year period known as The Great Tribulation.

In Chapter 15, we see two remarkable events taking place:

1) God’s wrath is carried out by seven angels over all those who are going to Hell,

2) God’s grace and mercy are poured out over those who are going to Heaven.

Given the choice, all of us would hope to be in the group that is going to Heaven.

But what do we need to do to be placed in that group?

What must we do to be saved?

That is a question that has been discussed and debated for more than two thousand years! As always, our perfect source to learn the truth is the Bible.

FIVE MATTERS OF SALVATION

Different denominations have differing opinions about what is necessary to go to Heaven.

In the end, what matters is what God says is important through His inspired Word. In today’s lesson, we will highlight five things the Bible teaches us that are necessary for salvation.

1) Believe in Jesus. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” – Acts 16:31,

2) Confess our belief in Him. “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” – Romans 10:10,

3) Repent (turn away from) of our sins. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” – Luke 13:3,

4) Be baptized. “Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ .” – 1 Peter 3:21 and “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16,

5) Obey God’s commandments. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” – Mathew 7:21.

A CALL TO ACTION!

None of us are promised another day. Therefore, the time to act is now! If there are any items in the above list that we have not completed, we must act with a sense of urgency!

Jesus warned us not to delay getting right with God in the following scripture:

“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” – Mathew 24:42-44.

TAKING A SPIRITUAL INVENTORY

Once we have satisfied these requirements, the next thing we need to do is to take a spiritual inventory.

Self-examination is an important step that each of us must take to determine if we are right with God. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he wrote:

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! - 2 Corinthians 13:5.

One of the ways that we can do this is to evaluate our lives with respect to the nine fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians about The Fruit of the Spirit. In his letter, he outlined nine “fruits” that one should produce if the Spirit is active in their life.

1) Love,

2) Joy,

3) Peace,

4) Patience,

5) Kindness,

6) Goodness,

7) Faithfulness,

8 Gentleness,

9) And self-control.

Taking a spiritual inventory is a productive exercise. It is perfectly acceptable, for example, to recognize that we have not been very patient lately. It is only through self-examination that we can identify which areas of our spiritual life need attention.

There is a wise saying, “You cannot manage a secret.”

Once we identify the area or areas that need some work, we should ask ourselves how we can improve. Whatever areas we are struggling with, Jesus can help us!

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” – Philippians 4:13.

CONCLUSION

The Hebrew writer tells us that:

“It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” - Hebrews 9:27.

Knowing that the Day of Judgment is coming at a time that we do not expect (Mathew 25:13) we need to make sure that we are doing everything the Bible tells us to do to be saved. According to the Bible, there are five things that we must do to be saved:

1) Believe in Jesus. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” – Acts 16:31,

2) Confess our belief in Him. “For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” – Romans 10:10,

3) Repent (turn away from) of our sins. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” – Luke 13:3,

4) Be baptized. “Baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ .” – 1 Peter 3:21 and “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” – Mark 16:16,

5) Obey God’s commandments. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” – Mathew 7:21.

In addition to these five things, we also need to take our spiritual inventory to identify areas of deficiency that need our attention.

We will conclude today’s lesson with the following scripture from The Apostle Paul. These are the same words that we hope to be able to say at the end of our lives:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.” – 2 Timothy 4:7-8.