Two Headed Coin

Have you ever seen a two headed coin? I knew a guy years ago that had one. He used to like to say “I’ll flip you for it” and he would always call heads. He wasn’t malicious with it and he didn’t take your money, he just thought it was fun to mess with people. Most people couldn’t figure out how he always won.

Obviously, there are no real two headed coins. They are not genuine. They are fake. Unfortunately, a lot of people have a two headed coin type of religion. In other words, their religion is fake. Any religion that promotes works based righteousness is a false religion. Some examples of these false religions are Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Buddhism and Hinduism. These are all false religions (2 John 1:9). They are just like a two headed coin. (Atheism and Agnosticism are fake too, they are as fake as three dollar bill.)

In addition to the problem of false religions there is also the problem of professing Christians who are promoting a prosperity gospel (2 Peter 2:1). They are using the correct “coin”, a coin with both heads and tails on it, but they only show you the one side of the coin (and it’s from a distorted angle) – the heads side. When professing Christians tell you that God loves you – this is true. God does love us. But when they tell you that you should be become a Christian because God has a wonderful plan for your life, then they are not telling you the true Gospel (2 Timothy 3:12). If you don’t believe me, ask the family members of the Christians who were recently killed in Nigeria solely because they were Christians? Where is the wonderful plan for their lives?

God is a God of love, grace and forgiveness (Psalm 145:8). These are accurate attributes of God. This is like looking at the heads side of a coin. Now turn the coin over and see the other attributes of God, such as Holy, righteous and just. These are also accurate attributes of God. Just like a real coin has two sides, God’s nature encompasses what we call the loving attributes as well as wrathful attributes. Just like a coin is pressed together and both sides are equal, so are God’s attributes equally pressed together. If you take away the love of God, you are left with only the wrathful nature. If you take away the wrathful nature of God, then you are left with only the loving nature of God. Both are attributes of God, but unless you look at them together, you are only seeing God from one perspective, like looking at only one side of a coin.

The problem is a lot of Christians want to tell you about the love of God, but they don’t want to tell you the whole story. I’d rather tell you what we consider bad news and then tell you the good news. The bad news is that since God is Holy, righteous and just (Isaiah 6:3). He cannot tolerate sin. Our sin is offensive to Him. Our sin is rebellion against God. Holy means to be separate, to be set apart. As much as some people want to make God your best buddy, He is Holy. God is set apart from us. He is also righteous, which means that He always does what is right. God can do nothing that is wrong. God is also just, which means that He judges correctly. He is fair. He can’t go against His nature. If God let wicked people go unpunished, that would make Him unfair. But he is not unfair, He is just (Heb. 10:31).

Because God is just, He has appointed a day in which He will judge people (Heb. 9:27). This day of judgment will happen after we die. We will all stand before God on Judgment Day. How will you do? Let’s take a quick test and find out. How many times have you lied in your life? Have you ever stolen anything in your life? (Even if it was something small or of little value). Jesus said that if you lust after someone you have committed adultery with that person in your heart. Have you ever lusted, thereby committing adultery in your heart? Have you ever wanted something that belonged to someone else? If you have that’s called coveting. These are just some of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).

How did you do? Will God find you innocent or guilty? If you are truthful with yourself, you know that you will be found guilty. So should God send you to Heaven or Hell? God is going to judge you by His standard, not ours. Since He is a good judge, a righteous judge, He will find you guilty. He will send you to a very real place called Hell where the punishment is for eternity. What I’ve just described to you is like looking at the tails side of a coin.

But don’t despair, there is Good News! Now let’s look at the heads side of the coin. Remember, God is loving, forgiving and full of grace. He loves us so much that He provided a way for us so that He won’t have to send us to Hell for breaking His Law, for rebelling against Him. He sent Jesus to walk on this earth 2,000 years ago. Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect life. Jesus never sinned against God (1 Peter 2:22). He never sinned in thought, word or deed (and that is a very high standard). Jesus who knew no sin, carried our sins for us. He was beat beyond recognition and then died a horribly painful death on the cross. Then He was buried and rose again on the third day. Jesus defeated sin, death, Hell and Satan.

God offers us eternal salvation, but you must receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. God will see you as righteous on Judgment Day by seeing you through the righteousness of Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21) if you cry out to God to save you, turn from your sins and surrender your life to Jesus. Salvation is a free gift of God, but it is costly to you. You have to give up your sins. God will meet you where you are at today, but He loves you too much to leave you there. You have to forsake your sins by turning away from them. Then, surrender your life to Jesus. That means you no longer do what you want to do. You no longer live selfishly for yourself. You deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow Jesus from this day forward.

Folks, there is nothing more important than your eternal salvation. Please see your sinful nature (Romans 3:10-12). Realize that your lying, cheating coveting and lusting have separated you from God (Isaiah 59:2). If you die in your sins, you will be separated forever. Please understand your need for a Savior. Then cry out to the only true Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Repent and put your faith in Him (Acts 20:21). Do this today. Don’t be deceived by the two headed coins of false religion anymore. Turn away from your sins and submit to Jesus today. Embrace Jesus, turn from your sins and put your trust in Him. Then God will grant you everlasting life.