ABOUT SALVATION
If you want to know exactly how to become a Christian, read the following Scriptures. Our prayer is that our wonderful, loving, and amazing God will cause you to see His love for you, and that you will experience His grace through salvation.
Statements 1 - 4 are supported by the Scripture verses which follow. Read the verses carefully -- praying that God will allow you to see the truth of each one. Pray also that He will do His work of salvation in your heart and life. The fourth statement written below will serve as a guide for you to understand just how to approach the Lord as you deal with these important matters.
God's Word is powerful and sufficient to enlighten the mind of man, His Spirit is powerful and sufficient to change the heart of man, and His grace is powerful and sufficient to save the soul of man.
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
1. God created the heavens and earth, and everything therein. As Creator, He has the absolute right to be the Law Giver. However, beginning with the very first man and woman, human beings rebelled against the God who gave them their very existence. Every human born is born a sinner and has disobeyed, and thus offended his creator, God, who is all powerful, perfect, good, and worthy of being glorified by all that He has created.
"Just as sin entered into the world through one man (i.e. Adam, who chose to disobey God by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, became the gateway for sin to enter the human race), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all have sinned." Romans 5:12
"Surely I have been a sinner from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Psalm 51:5
"The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God." Romans 8:7-8
"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8
"There is none righteous, no not one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." Romans 3:11-12
"There is no difference (i.e. between any race or religion of man), for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags ..." Isaiah 64:6
2. Obeying the Ten Commandments or other religious laws does not lead to salvation.
"All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.'" Galations 3:10
"What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the law, for I would not have known what it is to covet". Romans 7:7
3. Salvation is provided by God ONLY through Christ Jesus, who died in the place of sinful humans, and paid the penalty for sin. When Jesus rose from the dead, He overcame the punishment for sin -- death and Hell. Because of this, those who trust in Him can have eternal life in Heaven, with God.
"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23
"It is by grace you have been saved, through faith (and this is not from yourselves), it is a gift of God (not by works), so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
"God demonstrated his own love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
"This is how God showed his love among us; He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love; not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10
"Now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:21-24
"Christ died for sins, once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body, but made alive by the Spirit." 1 Peter 3:18
"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24
"How much more, then, will the blood of Christ ,who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts which lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" Hebrews 9:14
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes on him may have eternal life." John 3:16
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21
4. It is God's grace (unearned favor) that saves us. God permits us to understand and acknowledge that we sin against Him, and that there is nothing we can do ourselves to satisfy this charge against us. We are genuinely sorry for sinning against God and desire to stop sinning and to love Him more than we love ourselves. We acknowledge that Jesus Christ is our only hope, and, by faith, receive His gift of salvation. We accept His position as Lord of our lives, and, enabled by His Spirit, our desires and efforts are put into obeying and glorifying God.
"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 you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." Romans 10:9-10
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me, I will never drive away." John 6:37
"To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." John 1:12
"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon." Isaiah 55:6-7
"If you love me, you will obey what I command." John 14:15
"My sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." John 10:27-28
"And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but (live) for Him who died for them, and was raised again." 2 Corinthians 5:15.
If you understand and have accepted these truths from Scripture, and have, as a result of the Holy Spirit's work in you heart and soul, confessed your sin before God, and have asked Christ to become your Lord and your Savior, we encourage you to begin attending a church which holds the Word of God in high esteem. Some of the ministries we recommend (see "Recommended Resources") have a list of churches which state they are of the same mind. You might want to check these lists to see if a strong Biblical church is near you.
Together for the Master
