You are saved by accepting the free gift of salvation God's love and
grace have provided for us. The word grace means "undeserved
favor". God is offering you something you could never achieve
for yourself: the forgiveness of all your sins and eternal life.
This gift is absolutely free! You don't have to work for
it or pay for it. All you have to do is honestly accept it.
This gift is God's perfect Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12. Jesus
said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes
to the Father except through me." John 14:6.
All we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and
it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." Romans 10:9-10. We accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior by believing the message
of the Gospel. "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel
I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken
your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly
to the word I preached to you. Otherwise you believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he
was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures"
1 Corinthians 15:1-4. This is the good news of the Bible, the
message of the gospel. The word gospel means "good news".
The Bible teaches how Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the
world as a human being, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for
our sin and was raised from the grave. Since Jesus was perfect
and sinless, when He died as a sacrifice for our sins, we became free
from our sins. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians
5:21. Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross proves how much
God loves us in spite of our sin. "But God demonstrates his
own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ
Jesus died for us." Romans 5:8. When Jesus rose from the grave,
He conquered death and proved God's power to give us eternal life. "But it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior,
Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel." 2 Timothy 1:10.
"If Jesus were not fully God, He could not be our Savior. But
if He were God and yet did nothing on our behalf - that is, did not
do something to bring us to God - He would not be our Savior.
Being God qualified Jesus Christ to be Savior, but His atoning death
for us made Him our Savior. Jesus not only could save men; He
did." Paul E. Little.
The salvation
that Jesus Christ provides is available to anyone who believes.
Jesus said, "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. For God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever
believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands
condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's
one and only Son." John 3:16-18. "Everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13.
To illustrate that you truly want Jesus to be the Lord of your life
you must admit you are a sinner and repent. In fact, God commands
us to do this. "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but
now he commands all people everywhere to repent." Acts 17:30. Jesus said, "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Luke
13:5. Jesus also said, "I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:32. The word repent means
"to turn around and go in the opposite direction." When you
repent, you turn from your sinful past and focus your life on Jesus
Christ and His teachings. When you sincerely ask God to forgive
you of your sins, He will. The Bible says, "Repent, then, and
turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out" Acts 3:19.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.
God truly does love you. He not only wants you to spend eternity
with Him but He provides a way for you to have a new, loving and personal
relationship with Him right now, one that will bring more peace and
joy to your life than you have ever known! Jesus said, "I have
come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10. You must believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for your
sins, was buried and rose again. You must be willing to confess
your sin, repent and allow Jesus Christ to become the Lord of your
life. This is the gift of salvation. This is the gift
God is offering you right now, because He loves you. All you
have to do is reach out and receive it in faith.
If you want to receive and trust Jesus Christ as your personal Savior,
you can do it, right now, right where you are. Jesus said, "Here
I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will come in" Revelation 3:20. All
you have to do is open the door to your heart and Jesus will come
in. Simply pray to God and express your belief in His
Son Jesus Christ and that He died on the cross for your sins
and rose again. Acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of
forgiveness and are willing to repent and put your faith in Jesus
for your salvation and make Him the Lord of your life. If you
sincerely pray a prayer like this, you can be absolutely sure that
you are saved!
"And this is the testimony:
God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does
not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the
name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal
life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God:
that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." 1 John
5:11-14.
