We at Fellowship Bible Church are grateful that you have a desire to know God in a personal way and we sincerely hope what we say here will be helpful.
First of all, let us share with you what it means to be saved. According to the Bible, at the beginning of man's history, he disobeyed the commands of God and lost the close fellowship with Him that he once had. Since that time, the bible tells us that all men (that includes every human being) are "slaves of sin" (Romans 6:17), and spiritually "dead" (Ephesians 2:1).
Ephesians 2:1 says, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins".
Many of us do not consider ourselves to be "dead" in "trespasses and sins" unless we look inside ourselves. Ask yourself, and listen to your conscience, have you ever told a lie? If so, then God sees you as a liar. The Bible says, "all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone" (Revelation 21:8). Ask yourself, have you ever stolen anything, even if the value of the object is small? If so, then God sees you as a thief. Have you ever looked at someone with lust? Jesus said that looking with lust is the same thing as committing adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:21). When we examine ourselves and listen to our conscience, we must conclude that we are lying, thieving, adulterers at heart. And God says he "has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness" (Acts 17:31).
The Bible says that God put his law on our hearts (Romans 1:18), and that's why we all know it is wrong to lie, and we all know it is wrong to steal, and we all know it is wrong to commit adultery. We all know this because God has given us a conscience. When we listen to our conscience, we must conclude that we are guilty of breaking God's law.
What is the response of people to this lost condition? In general, it is to undertake a lifestyle of good works in order to regain God's favor. That's what human religion is trying to bridge the chasm that separates us and God by our own efforts.
Scripture teaches the devastating truth that "no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law" (Romans 3:20 states, "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin"). To put it simply, doing good works to earn one's way to heaven is ineffective.
In spite of all of mans efforts, God has pronounced His verdict on us, "There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God... There is none who does good, there is not even one... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:10 12, 23). And so, because of our sin, God has also pronounced the sentence, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
So what is the solution to our monumental dilemma? The Savior, Jesus Christ alone.
Jesus Christ is the solution to our spiritual problem. Many people know that He claimed to be "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6), but how is Jesus the answer to our separation from God?
The Bible tells us that He is our substitute. Hundreds of years before Jesus was put to death on a cross, the prophet Isaiah wrote, "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried... But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well being fell upon Him... All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him" (Isaiah 53:4 6).
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul declared, "He (God the Father) made Him who knew no sin (Jesus Christ) to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In other words, Jesus Christ died for our sins when He was executed on the cross. That freed us from the obligation to pay that awful price. And in rising from the dead, He showed that God was satisfied, and gave us abundant, eternal life in Jesus Christ. (John 3:16, 10:10).
This is the gospel-the good news that God did what we could never do for ourselves. God (Jesus Christ) came to the earth as a man, lived a sinless life, died as a substitute for us because of our sins, and rose victoriously from the grave, that we might have eternal life in Him.
If Jesus died for sinners, does that mean all men are Christians?
No. Because the gospel demands a response. It is a free gift, in that we can do nothing to earn it or deserve it, but each individual must accept this gift. Ephesians 2:8 9 tells us "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."
There are several biblical truths we must grasp to understand how we may receive the gift of salvation:
- We must acknowledge we are guilty sinners before God. As we said earlier, every man, woman and child is a law breaker and deserves eternal death.
- We must repent of our sins. To see your sin as God sees it and then turn from it; to make the commitment to follow Christ in a holy life. Such a commitment is not an announcement that one will never sin again, but it does mean we come to God on His own terms, acknowledging Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives (see Romans 10:9 10,13).
- We must believe Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be, and that He did in fact die for our sins and rise from the dead. Jesus was fully God in human flesh (see John 8:58 and 10:30), But He was also fully man (1 Timothy 2:6). If we refuse to embrace any of these concerning Christ, then we do not believe in the true Person of Jesus Christ.
God has promised that if we come to Him in prayer, with a humble, repentant heart, believing in the Person and work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, He says, "as many as received Him (Jesus Christ), to them He gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12).
If this is the desire of your heart, you can make this life changing commitment right now. Remember, this is not merely affirming a belief, but receiving a Person Jesus Christ. If you are ready to commit your life to Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you can pray something like this:
Father, I acknowledge to You that I am a law breaker, a sinner who deserves hell. But I thank You that Jesus Christ died for my sins so that I can begin a right relationship with You. I thank You for forgiving my sins in Him, and I trust in Him now for life. I commit to follow Him for the rest of my life in obedience to you. Make me the kind of person who is pleasing to You by faith. Amen.