What better way to start off the New Year,than to be completely forgiven of your sins and receive the gift of eternal life!
May I ask you a question?
Has anyone ever taken a Bible and shown you how you can know for sure that you're going to heaven?
The Bible contains both bad news and good news.
The bad news is something about You.
The good news is something about God.
Let's look at the bad news first...
Bad News 1
We are sinners.
Romans 3:23 says,"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
"Sinned"means that we have missed the mark. When we lie,hate,lust,or gossip,we have missed the standard God has set.
Suppose you and I were each to throw a rock and try to hit the North Pole. You might throw farther than I,but neither of us would hit it.
When the Bible says "All have sinned and fall short,"it means that we have all come short of God's standard of perfection.
In thoughts,words,and deeds,we have not been perfect.
But the bad news gets worse...
Bad News 2
The penalty for sin is death.
Romans 6:23 says,"For the wages of sin is death."
Suppose you worked for me and I paid you $50. That $50 was your wages. That's what you earned.
The Bible says by sinning we have earned death. That means we deserve to die and be separated from God forever.
Since there was no way we could come to God,the Bible says that God came to us!
Good News 1
Christ died for you.
Romans 5:8 says,"But God demonstrates His own love toward us,in that while we were stll sinners,Christ died for us."
Suppose you are in a hospital dying of cancer. I come to you and say,"let's take the cancer cells from your body and put them into my body."
If that were possible,
What would happen to me?
What would happen to you?
I would die and you would live. I would die in your place.
The Bible says Christ took the penalty that we deserved for sin,placed it upon Himself,and died in our place. Three days later Christ came back to life to prove that sin and death had been conquered and that His claims to be God were true.
Just as the bad news got worse,the good news gets better!
Good News 2
You can be saved through faith in Christ.
Ephesions 2:8-9 says,"For by grace(undeserved favor)you have been saved(delivered from sin's penalty)through faith,and that not of yourselves;it is the gift of God,not of works,lest anyone should boast."
Faith means trust.
Q. What must you trust Christ for?
A. You must depend on Him alone to forgive you and to give you eternal life.
Just as you trust a chair to hold you through no effort of your own,so you must trust Jesus Christ to get you to heaven through no effort of your own.
But you may say,
"I'm religious."
"I go to church."
"I'm a good person."
"I help the poor."
"I don't do anything that's really bad."
These are all good,but good living,going to church,helping the poor,or any other good thing you might do cannot get you to heaven. You must trust in Jesus Christ alone,and God will give you eternal life as a gift.
Is there anything keeping you from trusting in Christ right now?
Think carefully. There is nothing more important than your need to trust Christ. Would you like to tell God you are trusting Jesus Christ as your Savior? If you would,why not pray right now and tell God you are trusting His Son?
Remember! It is not a prayer that saves you,it is trusting Jesus Christ that saves you. Prayer is simply how you tell God what you are doing. Let this prayer be a simple expression of the faith that's in your heart:
Dear God,I know I'm a sinner. I know my sin deserves to be punished. I believe Christ died for me and rose from the grave. I trust Jesus Christ alone as my Savior. Thank you for the forgiveness and everlasting life I now have. In Jesus name,amen.
God bless everyone! Happy New Year!
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