What is Christianity? How does a person get “saved”? This is where it all begins. This is what it is all about. In order to be a Christian, we have to have some knowledge of what that is all about. So … here is my input on this all important subject.
If you have ever seen Campus Crusade for Christ’s tract call The Four Spiritual Laws this will look very familiar to you.
First, it is important to understand that God loves you. No matter who you are, what you have done, or where you have been … God loves you. Read the following verses:
John 3:16 (NLT)
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Answer this question after every verse you read –> “What is this saying to me?”
John 10:10 (NLT)
The thief’s [satan] purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My [Jesus] purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
Romans 5:8 (NLT)
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
My take: God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to live as a human – perfect … without sin – and to die on a cross as a permanent sacrifice for us. Jesus’ purpose for coming was to save us from the effects of sin and to give meaning to our lives. And He did all of this without requiring us to become good or get better or fix the bad things in our lives. He did this for us BECAUSE we are sinners and have bad things in our lives.
Second, we have to understand WHY we needed Jesus to do this for us. The quick and easy answer is because we are all sinners. We have done bad things. Check out these verses.
Romans 3:23 (NLT)
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Romans 6:23a (NLT)
For the wages of sin is death…
My take: If you think you haven’t sinned … you are lying to yourself. Ever told a lie or disobeyed your parents? We all have. We are all sinners. And because of this sin, we have to pay the “wage”. And the “wage” for our sin is death. Death – as in Romans 6:23a – is referring to spiritual death. While it is true that physical death is the result of sin (Adam & Eve’s original sin) … our sin results in our spiritual death. Spiritual death is better stated as an eternal separation from God. After we experiencing physical death, we will either be with God in Heaven forever … or we will not (better known as spending forever in Hell).
Third, we have to ask “So, what can we do about this? It seems that we are condemned already? How can we avoid this spiritual death?” In order to answer this, we have to look at what Jesus had to say … and then, we’ll look at some more verses in Romans.
John 14:6 (NLT)
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
Romans 6:23b (NLT)
but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 10:9 – 10 (NLT)
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.
My take: Jesus is the only answer to our sin problem. Any thing else that any one offers you is false hope … a lie. Jesus is the only way to an eternal life with God (in Heaven) rather than without God (in Hell). While the wages of our sin is death, the alternative is eternal life through Jesus Christ. And Romans 6:23 tells us that this is a FREE GIFT!! This is important. Understanding Romans 5:8 and Romans 6:23 together, we see that we DO NOT DO anything to receive this gift. We simply just receive it. Romans 10:9 – 10 tells us HOW to receive it. Believe and Confess! Believe it in your heart and say it with your mouth (to God).
To help understand the free gift part a little better … check out these verses:
Ephesians 2:8 – 9 (NLT)
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
It is an absolutely FREE GIFT. It’s called grace. Someone gave us this acrostic for GRACE. God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. While simple … it’s true. We get God and all that He has to offer simply by saying YES to His FREE GIFT!
Now … it’s up to you. What will you choose? No one can force you. You have to choose.
The prayer offered below means nothing if you don’t believe it. It is also not a magical incantation for how to be saved. My prayer of salvation was “God … I’m afraid of Hell. Save me.” But I believed God was who He claimed to be. And I confessed I needed Him to save me. Here’s the prayer (a little more eloquent than the one I prayed).
Prayer
Jesus Christ … I believe You are God and that You became human and that You died on the cross to pay for my sins. I thank You for Your sacrifice. I am a sinner. Forgive my sins. Save me from myself. Save me from Hell. Come into my life and be my Savior. I willingly accept your FREE GIFT! Thank You for saving me. Teach me how to be a Christian and how to let you be LORD of my life. Amen!
If you prayed this … and you believed it … then, you have received God’s FREE GIFT! There is nothing you can do to ever lose this gift. You will still sin. You will still have bad things happen to you. But you are still (and will forever be) a child of God. 1 John 5:13 (NLT) says “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.” In the first four chapters, John told us what a Christian should look like. But then he tells us that we can KNOW that we have eternal life.
So … no matter how bad things become … always hold on to this moment and remember that you ARE a child of God – and forever will be one.
Now, it is important for you to learn what it means to be a Christian. It is very important for you to find a local church where you can learn about the Bible and grow in your faith by hearing and serving.
If you have questions, I will GLADLY answer them. I will always be available to any one who desires to grow in their relationship with God.
Go with God,
Donald B
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