It was one of those emails that has probably been forwarded halfway around the world and landed in my email box one day. Usually I would just glance quickly at this email and press delete. However this email really made an impression on me. I read it again and again. I would like to read it for you this morning. You can follow along with it. It is printed on the insert in your bulletin this morning. It is titled "If Jesus Came."

This poem pricks our conscience when we think about the idea of Jesus coming and spending a day with us. What would our reaction be? What would we have to change in our lives? Well the facts are that Jesus is with us everyday. He sees everything we do and knows all our thoughts. However there is another fact I would like you to consider. Jesus will come to this earth on Judgment Day. Jesus will not be just coming to spend one day with us and hang out. Rather Jesus will come to judge the world and all who live in it. That includes you and me. Jesus will come. That is a fact.

Now when Jesus comes to judge you, what will you say in defense of your life? Most people believe that they will be in heaven someday. But what reason could you give God as to why you should be in heaven? Our human reason could come up with some great theories as to why we should go to heaven, but like I said, they are only theories. If we want the facts we need to go the Bible and see what God says. God gives us the facts. If you look at the other side of the insert that the poem is written on, you will be able to follow along with the Bible passages and see the facts about eternal life in heaven.

First of all we need to look at what God demands of us in this life. Leviticus 19:2 says, "Be holy because I the Lord your God, am holy." You'll notice that there is not any wiggle room there. There are no loopholes. It is plain and simple. God says be holy or be perfect, without sin. God doesn't ask us to try to be holy or do the best that we can. No it is clear what God demands.

So then what does God see in each us? Romans 3:23 tell us, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Once again, there is nothing vague about this passage. It says that all have sinned. It says that all have fallen short of the mark that God has commanded us to reach, to be holy like him. Every one of us is included in this. Since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, there has been sin in the world. That sin is in all of us. Let us just see how far down the Ten Commandments we can go before we find a sin in our lives. The first commandment says that we should place nothing above God in this life, not sleep, not work, not family, not recreation. Well there we go. No one in this church today even got past the First Commandment. We are all guilty. Then we look down the other commandments and see just how much sin there is in our life, greed, selfishness, hate, and lust. Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, every one of us. Sin is there.

Now we need to go to the book of Romans again and see what God says about sin. In chapter six, verse 23, we are told, "The wages of sin is death." Death is not a pleasant subject to talk about. But what's worse is that this death that is referred to is a death that lasts forever. It is a death that is filled with suffering in the fires of hell. It is death that we deserve because we have sinned. That is a real problem. We all are sinners. We all deserve to spend the afterlife in hell.

As I said before, man will try hard to come up with solutions to this problem. Human reason will attempt to fix this terrible crisis. One way man tries to fix the problem is by trying really hard to be good. It is kind of like struggling to climb the ladder to heaven. Another way that people will try to fix the problem is just point out that they have done more good than bad. If the scale tips to the side of good deeds, then heaven is theirs. The third common way that people try to fix the problem is to look at other people and say, "I may have done some things wrong, but I am not nearly as bad as that guy over there. Surely God wants me in heaven instead of him."

Once again, let us go back to the Bible and see what God says about these solutions. James 2:10 points out to us, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." What is God saying there? He is telling us that even if we could live our lives 99% sin free, that 1% of sin would damn us to hell. So man's solutions do not work.

Praise be to our loving God that he has already fixed the problem! He saw our need and solved the problem. God is a just God and so he demanded life for sin. Yet he didn't take our lives, but he took the life of Jesus, his own son. And since Jesus is the son of God, he is holy and perfect and sinless, just what God demanded. And so God took our sin off of us and placed it squarely on Jesus' shoulders. We are given this news in Isaiah 53:6. "And the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." The "him" is Jesus and the word "iniquity" means sin.

And with our sin heaped upon him, Jesus allowed himself to be crucified and put to death. At his death, Jesus spoke the words of John 19:30, "It is finished." With these simple words sin, death and the devil was defeated for all time. The ultimate victory was won. The price demanded for sin was paid in full. The proof of this is in the words of 2 Corinthians 5:21, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Because of what God did for us, we have been made righteous. God now sees us a holy, perfect, and sinless. You will notice that God never tells us there is anything we do to earn heaven. He did it all for us.

God also tells us how we receive the benefit of this great blessing in the verse I read at the beginning. It is often called the gospel, or good news, in a nutshell. It sums up salvation very clearly. "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 made the sacrifice for us. He gives us the faith in Jesus. We are saved. Heaven is ours for eternity.

This really is good news. It is the greatest news ever told. That is why we want to share it with everyone. Only through faith in Jesus are we saved. So if Jesus really did come today, we have nothing to fear. We will go to heaven because of our faith in the Savior. So prepare yourselves for Christ's return. Hear the Word of God regularly because that is how God gives and strengthens faith in Jesus. Come and hear the Word in church and Bible class. Let God comfort you with the facts in the Bible, the facts that show us how much he really loves us.

Also react to God's love with thanksgiving. If you browse through that poem that I read at the beginning, you may have your conscience pricked. You may see things that you need to change in you life. You may want to consider your lifestyle and determine if you are living the way God wants you to. And because God has moved your hearts with the good news of salvation, you will obey his commands in order to show your love and thanks to God for what he has done for you. How wonderful it is know that we are saved and joyful it is to serve him with our lives.

Here in God's house, where we hear God's Word, we are at peace with our lives. The question, "If Jesus came today," does not cause doubt, worry and fear in our hearts. Rather it moves us to long for that day when Jesus will come to take us to heaven. And we pray joyfully, "Come Lord Jesus." Amen.