Ten Commandments....bad news and good news

 OK, last time we discussed how God gave us the Ten Commandments and how they were for our own good and for our safety. There is another reason, which takes us to the bad news and the good news.
 First the bad news. When we break a single commandment, no matter how big or how small, it separates us from God. Breaking a commandment it is “sin.” God is a holy God and heaven is a holy place. Sin is like a stain.(Isaiah 1:18) Heaven is so clean, that any stain can’t be allowed or it wouldn’t be a clean and holy place. No matter how much good we do, the stain is still there.

 Let’s say that the Ten Commandments are like ten dollars that your mom gave you and your brother to go to the movies. The movie ticket costs ten dollars. On the way to the theater, you see the ice cream truck and buy some ice cream for a dollar. When you get to the ticket window at the theater, the ticket seller says that you can’t buy a ticket with only nine dollars. The movie is ready to start! You offer her your bracelet or the little doll that you have in your pocket. No matter how valuable those things are to you, you still can’t get in. We have to be perfect to get into heaven.

 More bad news.... no one has ever lived the perfect life and not broken a commandment, except Jesus. Have you ever lied, taken anything that wasn’t yours or disobeyed your parents? I have. That means that we are NOT perfect. The bible says that “everyone has sinned and fallen short of heaven.”(Romans 3:23)
 That’s enough bad news. How about some good news? There are four books of the Bible about the life of Jesus. They are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They are called the Gospels. Did you know that gospel means “good news!” Jesus is our good news!  Let’s go back to our movie ticket story. Jesus lived the perfect life. He bought all the movie tickets for everyone in the whole world! Jesus wants to give us a ticket into heaven, but we have to come to Him. What does it mean to come to Him. We have to believe that He is the son of God. That He lived a sinless life. That He died on the cross to pay a price that I could not pay because I have sinned. And that He rose from the dead on the third day.

The Ten Commandments show us how we have failed and how much we need Jesus!

 Without Jesus we are in big trouble when we die. If we think that we can be good enough to get into heaven, we are fooling ourselves. Let’s say that the Ten Commandments are like a chain and each link is one of the commandments. You are hanging onto the chain above a lake of fire. You are not too worried because the chain is strong and it is hoisting you to safety.

But if even one of those links breaks, the whole chain is broken. If you tell a little lie or disobey your parents, the link breaks and you begin to fall. Who can save us from that lake of fire? Only Jesus.

The bible says to “cry out to Jesus!”  He will SAVE us.(Psalm 37:17)  If we choose with our heart to make Jesus our Lord and Savior. He will save us.  What does Lord and Savior mean?  Lord means that we follow Jesus. He is sitting on the throne of our hearts. While we are on this earth, we get to know Him and what He wants us to do. Savior is about when we die. Jesus stands before God and says, “Father, his or her price has been paid.” We are then allowed to spend forever in heaven.
 Do you want to go to heaven when you die? Wouldn’t it be great to know that you will be spending eternity with Jesus? You can be sure. Do you believe that Jesus died for you? Do you believe that He rose from the dead? Do you believe that He is God’s son? Are you ready to follow Jesus? Do you realize that you have sinned and that you need Jesus? The bible says to "confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and you will be saved.”(Romans 10:9) Confess means to say out loud, so if you really, really, really believe this with all your heart, say this prayer.
 God, I admit that I am a sinner. I believe that Jesus came to earth, lived a perfect life and died for my sins. I confess now that Jesus in now the Lord of my life and my Savior. Thank you God for Jesus and thank you for saving me. Amen.

 If you prayed that prayer and meant it with all your heart, guess what? You are going to heaven! The Bible says that every time someone is saved, the angels throw a big party in heaven!