Suppose you were standing before God rignt now, and He asked you, "Why should I let you into My Heaven?" What do you think you would say? Well, if you are like most people your answer would be something along the lines of, "Well, I am a good person" or "I try to do good things, and I treat other people well." Those are good answers, however, there is only one answer that God wants to hear us say and that is, "Because I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior."
You see, that is the only way that you and I can recieve the Kingdom of Heaven. The Bible says that all of us, no matter how good we are or how many good things we do, are sinners and fall short of the Glory of God. In Romans 3:23, the Bible tells us, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Simply put, none of us has the ability to save ourselves.
The Bible goes on to say that if we remain unsaved, then we will pay for our sins. In Romans 6:23 the bible says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Jesus paid the price for our sins when he died on the cross of Calvary. This is hard for us to understand. How could Jesus pay the price for our sins? Even more difficult to understand is, why he would do such a thing. The Bible tells us in John 3:16, "For God so love the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
God loved you so much, that He was willing to send his own Son to die in your place, to pay the price for your sins. So how do we receive this eternal life through Jesus Christ? Remember Romans 6:23? It said, "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Salvation is a free gift. It does not cost us anything, and there is nothing we can do to ever repay God for that gift. It is by His grace that he gives us this gift. And what is grace? Grace is when we are given something that we did not deserve. We deserve death and hell as a penelty for our sins. But God, in his infinite grace, gave us His Son Jesus to pay our debt through His death on the Cross.
As with any gift, we are not forced to receive it. We must reach out and receive it from Christ. How do we do that? Well, it is really very simple.
- First, we must repent of our sins. Acts 3:19 - Repent then, and turn to God that your sins may be wiped away"
- Second, we must place our faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9-10 - "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 your believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
You can pray right now, right where you are to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. If you would like to ask Jesus to be your Savior, you can say a similar prayer as the one below. If you truly mean it, then God will save you right now.
Sample Pray: Lord, I realize I am a sinner, and I know I need to turn from the sinfulness in my life and begin to live as you would have me to live. Please forgive me of my sins. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and that he rose again on the third day after his death. I ask you into my heart, and accept you as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you God for loving me so much, that you would send your Son to die for me. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.
If you have prayed for Christ to come and be Lord and Savior in your life, please contact the church. We would love to rejoice with you about your decision. We also would love to help you in the next steps of finding a church, getting you a Bible if you do not have one, and help you as you grow in your relationship with Christ through discipleship, baptism, plus any other needs you may have in your walk with Christ.
