What sends you to hell?
Question:
My question is: What sends you to hell? I know that's a dumb question, but I've heard so many different things. I believe in Jesus and that he can save me, but I always have this doubt. I feel Satan has put it there because I've never doubted the Lord before. I can't get rid of it, and I have the horrible feeling that I'm going to hell and nothing can make me feel better. Jesus has healed me and saved me countless times, but I feel that because of the things I've done in my life (sex, drugs, lying, etc.) I'm just going to hell and it's too late for me. I have thoughts every day that I should just drop being a Christian. I don't act on these thoughts but I feel disgusting.
Please help!
Answer:
"He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered" (Proverbs 28:26).
Your conclusion is based on personal feelings which have no value because your feelings can be manipulated.
The people who end up in hell are those who refuse to change or give up on changing their lives away from sin.
"The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. "Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord GOD, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live?" But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die. Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair? "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"" (Ezekiel 18:20-32 NKJV) .
Christianity is based on the fact that people can change: some for the better, though most change for the worse (Matthew 7:13-14). So long as you are alive, there always remains the hope that you can improve. "But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion" (Ecclesiastes 9:4).
Don't just be sorry about what you've done in the past. Work to become a new person. "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter" (II Corinthians 7:10-11).
