How to Be Saved
The
Bible says that nobody is "good" enough to get into heaven. Each one of us
has broken God's commandments--not one person is excepted. You have personally
lied and committed other sins.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
[L]et God be true, but every man a liar...( Romans 3:4)
God
doesn't care how much "good" deeds you do; it will never outweigh the bad.
You can do good works for your entire life, but it won't cover even
ONE of your sins. You are dead in tresspasses and sins. Your good deeds
do not commend you to God in any way. You've ignored Him chosing to live
life the way YOU see fit.
But we are all as an unclean thing, and ALL our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isaiah 64:6)
All your good deeds can't cover your sins because the penalty of sin
is eternal death. It's like you're serving probation for first degree
murder. You haven't completed your sentence.
For the wages of sin is DEATH. . . Romans 6:23
"But
I never killed anybody and I'm not a dope addict!" You're still a spiritual
crook. You have broken the GREATEST COMMANDMENT IN THE BIBLE and you are
as guilty as a harlot, a whoremonger, a killer, a thief and a liar. What
is the greatest commandment?
Matthew 22:36-38 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul, and
with ALL thy mind. THIS is the first and great commandment.
It
doesn't take much thinking to know that the unregenerate man has broken this
commandment every day of his miserable life. Ungrateful, unthankful to the
God that hath provided life to his carcass.
For
those stuck on their "good" deeds like hellbound papists (who go about to
establish their OWN righteousness instead of hearkening to the Bible,) if
we could earn our way into heaven, Jesus died for nothing!
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2:21)
God
is Holy. We are sinful. By His very nature, God cannot have fellowship with
us sinners. There is no amount of "good" that we can do to make up for our
crimes against God. They must be punished. And the wages are DEATH. Somebody
has to DIE. Oh, you'll die physically, sin requires that. But you've got
a choice about dying spiritually...
We
deserve the death penalty. This includes both physical death (the casket)
and spiritual death (when the soul is separated from God and cast into hell).
[T]he wages of sin is death...(Romans 6:23)
God doesn't want to remain your enemy and He does not want you to go to hell.
As
I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked;
but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your
evil ways; for why will ye die... (Ezekiel 33:11)
The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (II Peter 3:9)
In
spite of your wickedness and rebellion, God loved you enough to end His ONLY
BEGOTTEN Son to die for your sins. The Bible says, "... thou shalt call his
name JESUS: for he shall save his people FROM their sins." (Matt 1:21). Jesus
did not die so that you could keep sinning and go to heaven. He came to save
you from the GUILT and the POWER of sin. Jesus DESTROYED the works of the
devil on calvary (I John 3:8). When you are unsaved, sin hath dominion over
you. Sin is your master and you can't do anything BUT sin. You are a slave
to sin. You are under the wrath of a holy and just God. Murderers, thieves,
fornicators, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, rebels, and all
other sinners will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. The blood of Jesus
is the propitiation for our sins. That means the blood took away the guilt
of the sins we've committed AND it has ushered us into a Father-child relationship
with the Lord. Through the blood of Jesus, we are to serve sin no more. We
are freed from sin.
Again, the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus who is God,
to die in your place. Remember that the wages of sin is death--that is why
He died, to pay YOUR wages. The Lord Jesus Christ was your substitutionary
sacrifice. The world's greatest love story is summed up in the following
verse--
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. (John 3:16)
Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13) How
can you show more love than giving your very life for someone else's life?
You can't. What is more amazing is that Jesus died for us WHEN WE WERE HIS
ENEMIES!
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
...Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6)
The
love of God for you was demonstrated on that cross 2,000 years ago! God isn't
hateful, He is loving. He gave His Son for you even though you are dead in
tresspasses and sins.
Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2:2 Wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
2:3 Among
whom also we ALL had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the
children of wrath, even as others.
2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth to (1) save you from the GUILT and
POWER of your sins and (2) RECONCILE you unto God. Through faith in the blood
of Jesus you will escape the wrath to come and joyfully look forward to heaven--and
you'll live an overcoming life. God will be your Father instead of your enemy--but
only through the blood of Jesus.
..the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (I John 1:7)
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
After
His death, the Lord's body laid in the grave three days, but praise be to
God, it did not remain there. On the third day Jesus arose from the dead
and was seen by over 500 people (I Corin 15:6) before He went back to heaven.
Please
remember that Jesus was not some victim or just a baby in a manger--He was
and is the eternal God and Savior who came to earth and gave His own blood
for your sins. After He accomplished this tremendous feat, He rose from the
dead like He said He would:
"Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it
again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again..." (John 10:17-18)
...Christ died for our sins...and he was buried, and...he rose again the third day... (I Corinthians 15:3-4)
Are you ready to repent of your sins? To repent means to forsake your evil ways and listen to God. All your life you've
been your own authority concerning what is right and what is wrong. You've
made your own decisions while ignoring what the Lord says in His holy word,
the Bible. You've served yourself and not God. To repent means that you turn
to GOD AND THE BIBLE AS YOUR AUTHORITY. It means you can say, "Lord everything
you say in the Bible is right. If my feelings contradict the Bible I AM WRONG.
Lord I want to live under YOUR AUTHORITY, not my own."
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to REPENT. (Acts 17:30)
...TURN TO GOD, AND DO WORKS MEET FOR REPENTANCE. (Acts 26:20)
Repentance isn't lip service. Are you prepared to live for the Lord? Jesus said this--
"And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:27)
Determine
that you are sick of living under your own authority. You've lived the way
YOU wanted to. You lived without regard for God's precepts. Understand in
your mind that you've lived in sin and in the ways of death. Think it through.
Determine that you want God to be your Father and not your enemy. Decide
that you WANT the Lord and His ways. Satan isn't doing anything but dragging
you to hell with him. He will leave you destroyed. God will lift you up if
you submit yourself to Him.
Friend, you have a choice to make,
keep on pursuing Satan and the fleeting pleasures of sin; or,
humble
yourself under the mighty hand of God. Further the kingdom of God with power
from above. In due time, He will lift you up to places you never experienced--much
less knew they existed.
The
Holy Bible is the word of God. It is the only way that we know about the
Lord Jesus Christ. In the Bible, God testifies that Jesus Christ died for
your sins and was buried; and that He rose from the dead on the third day.
You must believe and confess this in order to be saved.
[I]f thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED. (Romans 10:9)
Jesus
waits with open arms for those that want life. The choice is yours. If you're
sick of being alienated from God, if you're tired of what this wicked and
perverse world has to offer, if you want Jesus Christ as Lord of your life,
if you want to be reconciled unto your Creator, if you want to go to heaven,
if you want to escape hell -- put your faith in the One who can do something
about it! Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for you? Do you believe that
He rose from the dead? Do you repent of your sins? Do you want to follow
Jesus?
If
so, REPENT and talk to the Lord in prayer in your own words right now. Don't
put off making a decision for Jesus, tomorrow may be too late. Some people
don't know how to pray. Praying is just talking to the Lord. If you want
to be saved, repent and pray--you can say something like, "Dear Jesus, I
know that I am a sinner and I want to be saved. I repent of my sins, every
one. I don't want to do evil anymore, I want to do righteousness through
the blood of Jesus . I'm asking you to please forgive me of my sins against
you. I want a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be everything
that You created me to be. I believe that Jesus shed His blood and died for
me so that I could be saved from my sins. I believe that He rose from the
dead on the third day. I want to be your child. Thank you for being merciful
to me, a sinner. Thank you Lord Jesus for saving my soul from hell. I'll
live for you. I'm giving you myself. Please show me what you want me to do.
In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen."
If
you have placed your faith in Jesus, praise God, you are now a Christian.
Now begins your new life of freedom and obedience to the Lord. Now you need
to (1) start reading the Bible (Authorized King James Version of 1611--begin
with the gospels) and (2) you need to get yourself into a Bible-believing
church that uses the King James Bible so you can get baptized and taught
in the way of Christ.
Alive in Christ
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