If any will come after me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23
Jesus said: except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. Luke 13:3,5
Those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Gal 5:24
See How to Benefit from the Changing Power of God for more detail.
He wants us to come to him so we can be taught and he can show us our condition; and by us repenting and obeying his commands, he purifies us until he and the Father come to establish their Kingdom in our hearts and translate us to paradise, all by grace; a grace that teaches us to live godly and righteously in this present world. Contrasted with the deficit sects' false, instant grace, Paul describes the true grace in letter to Titus stated below:
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world,
looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Titus 2:11-4
(This is not instant grace; this is a teaching grace, a purifying grace; in this world. This takes time. You must be quiet to listen to be taught by grace, resulting in the appearance of God and Christ and leading you to good works.)
See True Grace vs. False Grace for more.
If you think believing or baptism is all you need, see The Fallacy of John 3:16 Taken out of Context, and the The Missing Cross.
See How to Benefit from the Changing Power of God for how to get started listening.
You might be asking, how could this be true? Everyone believes that there is nothing I have to do but believe in Jesus, and maybe get baptized in water. The answer is in the Bible; countless examples in the history of Israel where they forgot the requirements of righteousness and became comfortable in their flesh. In cycles, a prophet would arise, point out their universal error, and then get persecuted or killed; then the people were punished, they repented and lived correctly until they again drifted back into a false religion. The same thing happened in the early church; Jude wrote in 1:4, For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality. All the deficit sects of today are simply variations on the doctrines established by the Roman emperor, and of course saint, Constantine in 325 AD regarding salvation and Christianity; the doctrines were further standardized by later Roman emperors, including the sainted despot, Justinian. Within sixty-five years the true church, with its correct doctrines, was stamped out by the deceptive lure of their doctrine of instant, ritualized salvation, coupled with the Roman Empire's crushing boot of persecution for any deviation from their authorized, state religion. As predicted in the Bible's Book of Revelation, the church had adulterated with the Kings of the earth. For 1260 years the true church was banished to the wilderness, to appear again in 1650 with the breakthrough of the early Quakers - only to die again by 1880 due to the deception of presumptive salvation. People are eager to embrace the broad, easy way.
Even Adolph Hitler said Jesus was his Lord and Savior; but you saying so, doesn't make him your Lord in control of your words and deeds.
Read George Fox's Journal, and you will know for sure; just as they were surrounded by godless deficit sects, so are we today in an age of universal apostasy: false prophets, wolves in sheep's clothing, blind guides, minster's asking for your money, countless thousands of blind ministers taught by colleges instead of Christ, millions of blind followers in the ditch, still subject to rage, lusts, anger, greed, envy, emotions; with no purity, no peace, false hope, false gospels, false salvation, the missing cross, and no one entering the Kingdom. In response to a question, would many be saved? Christ said, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many will go in there: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few will find it." Paul said, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (quaking)." So salvation is not as easy as you have been led to believe. You have been misled. It is easy to go with the herd; but beware, for Paul said, They that are in the flesh cannot please God. See the Missing Cross for more.
Christ is eager to help you enter by the narrow gate and for you to receive his Kingdom; but you must go to him. To learn to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world. You must go to Him for the purpose of loosing your fleshly life to gain your spiritual Life; to attain purity through his grace and your faith in the power of the true gospel, the power of the cross, and the power of his name, Jesus Christ; all the power of God. Remember, all things work together for good for those who love God, to them who are called according his purpose. You have nothing to worry about. Even the things you did wrong in your life, worked to bring you to God, to be reunited with Him, to learn to love, to learn of God's love for you, to love God, to be loved by God, to become a son of love, to become love too. If you love Him, you will seek Him by going to him and getting quiet to hear his very soft voice. "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10
To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you have to be purified. You can be purified on earth by grace through repentance, or you can be purified in the next life, through Hell to a much lower Heaven. Everyone will be purified eventually and receive right standing with God to live in Heaven; but purification in the next life is far harder and the subsequent life is far less. See Is There Hope for ALL Men and Women for more information. For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe. 1 Timothy 4:9-10
