John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.

God has really impressed on my heart that so many people are missing out on fully understanding that He truly loves them as an individual not just as a part of a group. He sees YOU, and He Loves YOU! He wants each of us to have a full understanding of His love because without that we will miss so much of understanding who He is and His plan for our lives and the lives of those around us! And what better time could there be to share His love with others! Salvation is so simple that I think some people think it is too simple and too good to be true, so there must be “work” that needs to be done to be forgiven. I have even heard some of the most ridiculous ideas given out like the idea of needing a certain translation of the Bible in order to be saved. Seriously? That would mean Jesus lied to the thief on the cross when He told Him “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” Let’s not make salvation something that it isn’t. God made the world and Satan has done everything He can to destroy it and the people God created in His own image. Satan is the father of lies and will do whatever He can to keep people from believing, right down to making salvation and belief in God seem too simple!

I remember accepting Jesus as my Savior when I was really little. I remember it like it was yesterday! If you have never taken the time to do that I would encourage you not to wait another moment! Don’t allow pride or anything else to stand in your way! Maybe everyone around you thinks you are already saved and yet you know that there never was a time when you gave your life to God, you have just behaved the way you were raised and used all the key phrases that Christians use because they are so common to you. Would you really want to allow your pride to keep you out of heaven? Is your pride worth eternity? We so often forget how short life here on earth is and yet we are created to live for eternity! Where are you going to choose to spend it?

What about the people you love? Can you bear the thought of their going through life never accepting Christ as their Savior and knowing for all of eternity they missed heaven? I had a relative say one time to me, “Do you really think a loving God would create a hell for people? If your child were bad would you throw them into a fire?” The answer to that is: God created Hell for Satan and his angels that chose to follow him and as far as throwing a child into a fire? No, of course, we wouldn’t do that any more than God would, but if you told your child to stay away from the fire and you showed them the way out of a burning building and they chose to go their own way which led them straight into the fire, what then? God has made His way very clear, Hell is a choice made by individuals!

The Answer:

1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.

This passage tells us that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son, Jesus Christ. In other words, the way to possess eternal life is to possess God’s Son. The question is, how can a person have the Son of God?

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

According to Romans 5:8, God demonstrated His love for us through the death of His Son. Why did Christ have to die for us? Because Scripture declares all men to be sinful. To “sin” means to disobey God. The Bible declares “All have sinned and fall short of the glory (the perfect holiness) of God” (Rom. 3:23). In other words, our sin separates us from God who is perfect holiness (righteousness and justice) and God must therefore judge us and our sin.

Scripture also teaches that no amount of human goodness, human works, human morality, or religious activity can gain acceptance with God or get anyone into heaven. Romans 3:10, tells us “there is none righteous, not even one”. Added to this are the declarations of the following verses of Scripture:

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not of works so that no one can boast.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This is the good news of the Bible, the message of the gospel. It’s the message of the gift of God’s own Son who became man (the God-man), lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sin, and was raised from the grave proving both the fact He is God’s Son and the value of His death for us as our substitute.

How Do We Receive God’s Son as our Savior? Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the cross, the Bible states “He that has the Son has life.” We can receive the Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior by personal faith, by trusting in the person of Christ and His death for our sins.

John 1:12 But to all who have received him–those who believe in his name–he has given the right to become God’s children

This means we must each come to God the same way: (1) as a sinner who recognizes his sinfulness, (2) realizes no human works can result in salvation, and (3) relies totally on Christ alone by faith alone for our salvation.

If you would like to receive and trust Christ as your personal Savior, take the time for a simple prayer acknowledging your sinfulness, accepting His forgiveness, and putting your faith in Christ for your salvation.  If you have done that, tell someone who can also help guide you into a close relationship with God.  If you aren’t sure who to tell please either message me on my blog or email me at [email protected], I would love to know!  I would also encourage you to find a good local, Bible-believing church where you can get plugged in and develop your walk with God!

We can never share His love and His plan for salvation too much, there are so many people dying every day without knowing. Please take the time to share His plan with someone else today!