God's Gift to You

Do you know for certain if you died today that you would go to heaven?????

The Bible was written so people could know their eternal destiny (1 John 5:13).  Here is how you can be certain that Christ is your Lord and heaven is your home:

1.  Recognize that without Christ you are in a state of sin called spiritual death, which means separation from God for eternity . .

“. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“. . . there is none righteous, no, not one…” Romans 3:10

2.  Everyone who has ever lived has sinned except Jesus.  There are no other exceptions.  The Apostle John taught . . .
       
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”  1 John 1:8

3.  Realize that God loves you anyway and that Christ died for sinful humanity in order to remove the penalty of sin and to reconcile man to God:

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

It is a marvelous thing to know that God loves us in spite of our sins.  There is nothing we can do that would cause God to love us any less, or any more than He already does.

4.  Realize that the result of sin is death, eternal separation from God in a place the Bible calls hell, but God offers you eternal life as a free gift . . .

“For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Romans 6:23

Wages are what we earn.  If we get what we earn or deserve we will get death – physically and spiritually.  A gift is not something you earn or deserve.  It is given freely out of love and compassion.  Jesus paid the penalty for your sin and now offers you eternal life as a free gift and all you have to do is receive it!  The last thing Jesus said on the cross was . . . “It is finished.”  (John 19:30).  The original Greek word is tetélestai - a commercial word that means complete, conclude or discharge a debt.  Essentially, this means your sin debt has been paid in full by Jesus!

5.  Recognize there is nothing you can do to save yourself from the penalty of sin.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8 & 9

6.  Repent of your sin by changing your mind about your behavior, stop living to please self and start living to trust and follow Christ.

. . . “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;   Acts 2:38

To repent means that we must turn from our evil ways and pursue God.  Repent means to think differently.  Like a soldier who does an about face, we must do an about face by no longer walking toward the flesh, the world, and our lusts.  We must turn away from those things and turn to Jesus.

7.  Receive Christ as your personal Lord and Savior

”… if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  Romans 10:9-10

Salvation means that you have to confess something with your mouth.  When we confess we agree with God that His view of our sinfulness is correct and that His way of salvation, through the loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is indeed the only way.  Salvation also means that you have to believe something in your heart.  You have to believe that Jesus died for your sins, was buried, and that He rose on the third day for your justification.

8.  Call on the Lord to save you

“For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Romans 10:13

To be saved you must call upon the name of the Lord.  For He is the only one who can save, but what does it mean to call?  Locked clearly within the idea of calling upon God is the idea of man’s recognition of his hopeless state.  Although the word “repent” is not literally written down in this verse it is certainly taught in the whole counsel of God and pictured clearly in this scripture, as being necessary to come to God. 

9. Now that you have heard God’s Word you are ready to exercise faith in God for His salvation.

”So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”  Romans 10:17

Jesus is knocking at your heart’s door!  Will you let Him in?  Jesus is a gentleman, He will not force Himself into your life.  Only you can open the door and invite Him in . . .

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me.”  Revelation 3:20

You may take these steps by praying a simple, but sincere, prayer of commitment to God:

“Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner and don’t deserve heaven as my home.  But, I believe You died and rose from the grave to purchase a place in heaven for me.  Lord, come into my life and take control; forgive my  sins and save me.  I repent of my sins and place my  trust in You for my salvation.  I accept your free gift of eternal life.  In Jesus Name, Amen.”

​If this is the decision you have made, we want to rejoice in what God has done in your life and help you grow spiritually.  Please complete the Contact Us form and we will be glad to send you some helpful information.

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