Gods Plan of Salvation

Christ on the CrossHave you ever felt like there is something missing in your life? Have you ever felt like there is an emptyness inside you that you can't seem to fill? Do the things in this world that should make you happy and leave you with a sense of fullfillment leave you feeling empty and sad? No matter what you try to include in your life nothing seems to fill that emptiness. Money, cars, houses, girlfriends, boyfriends, that big screen TV, after the newness of whatever it is wears off you are left feeling empty and unfulfilled. Could it be that what you are missing is a relationship?

I believe that inside each of us is a God shaped empty place that only a relationship with a loving creator God can fill. People try to fill this space with the things of this world but those things only result in a emptyness, strife, and discontent. These isn't anything in this world that can fill that God shaped empty space except God.

There is a bigger issue to consider as well. Most major religions in the world believe that there is some form of afterlife once our earthly journey is completed. The question is, where will you spend eternity? Will you spend all of eternity in heaven? Will you? How do you know for sure? Are you depending on the fact that you have been good enough to get into heaven? How good is good enough?

Christians believe that life’s most important question is “Will you go to Heaven when you die?” This is not a question of how good you are, if you attend church, or how much money you give to charity. The question is, “Have you have been saved. In the Holy Bible in John 3:3, God says you must be born again [saved] in order to go to heaven.


What does being saved mean? How are we saved? God gives us a very simple and clear plan in the Holy Bible.

  1. REALIZE YOU ARE A SINNER. “ For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sin creates a gap between God and us.

    What is sin? "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins" (James 4:17). Sin is not only the act of doing something wrong. Not believing in God and Jesus is also a sin.

    Because we are sinners, we must pay a penalty. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The death referenced here is not the end of an earthly life but is an eternal separation from God in a tortuous place called Hell.

  2. BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED FOR YOU. Even though we do wrong in God’s sight, He still loves us and wants to erase our sin. God felt so strongly about this that He sent Jesus (his son) from Heaven to the earth to be punished as a substitute for us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (John 3:16-17).

    In the Bible, a jailer asked two early preachers who were his prisoners, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:30-31).

  3. The Bible is very clear that our sins were transferred to Jesus while he was being executed on the cross. After three days he was resurrected from the grave and later returned to Heaven. Jesus now waits in Heaven to bridge the gap between sinners and God.

  4. ACCEPT FORGIVENESS AND LIVE A NEW LIFE. Trust God by accepting His free forgiveness of your past wrongs. “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Grace and salvation are free gifts from God. No benefit comes from any gift unless it is accepted, opened, and used.

  5. REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED. In the first sermon after Jesus went back to Heaven, Peter the Apostle said, “Repent AND be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven” (Acts 2:38). Peter is clear here that repentance and baptism are a part of salvation.

    In Luke 5:32 Jesus says, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." and Luke 13:2-3 says, 2 And Jesus said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? 3 "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish". In the Acts passage above, Peter starts by saying "Repent and be baptized...". Repentance is defined as "deep sorrow, compunction, or contrition for a past sin or wrongdoing". In the New Testament, the word translated as 'repentance' is the Greek word µet????a (metanoia) and roughly means "a change of mind accompanied by regret and change of conduct or a change of mind and heart". True salvation will be accompanied with a turning away from previous ways of sin and traveling a new path of righteousness.

    Baptism represents the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  Baptism is necessary to bury the sinful person you once were and to resurrect a new person to walk with Christ for eternity (Romans 6:1-5).

The plan has only FOUR steps. The final question is:  Are you ready to implement the plan? If you would like to become a Christian today please contact me and let me know. I would like to help you on your journey with Christ.

If you do not own a Bible and would like to read and study the verses referenced above, an online Bible is available at The Bible Gateway.

 

If you have any questions or interest in learning more about a relationship with God and the saving grace he offers through his son Jesus, please email me.

 


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