The Plan of Salvation

God loves you, dear friend, with an incredible love!  He wants to fellowship with you.  He wants to give you eternal life.  Jesus said, for God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).  There is only one problem that prevents this from happening...SIN.

Sin separates us from God.  God is holy and just, and hates sin.  In fact, because He is just He must punish it.  This presents a major problem to all of mankind, because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  To sin means to miss the mark of God’s perfect standard of holiness.  Every one of us has broken God’s laws.

The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  Death means separation from God, and unless the sin problem is taken care of, the sinner will spend eternity in hell.

But there is good news!  God has taken care of the sin problem Himself, through His Son Jesus Christ.  Jesus paid the full penalty for sin with His death on the cross.  The Bible says that, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Jesus lived a perfect and sinless life.  He did not deserve to die.   But because of God’s great love for sinners, He gave His Son to pay our debt.  God was satisfied with His Son’s payment and three days later He raised Him from the dead.

Eternal life is a free gift; we cannot earn it with good works, or church attendance, or with generous gifts.  “It is by grace (unmerited favor) that 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).  This means that we must believe in Christ alone for our salvation.  To believe means to trust completely in Jesus.  Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47).

Dear friend, God is offering you eternal life as a free gift right now, but you must receive it by faith.  Here is what the Bible says to do: “If you declare with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

Would you like to trust Jesus as your Savior today?  If so, here is a suggested prayer:

Dear God, I believe that you are a holy and just God, and that you love me.  I admit that I am a sinner who can never earn my way to heaven with good works. I believe that Jesus is your only Son and that He died for my sins.  I put my faith and trust in Him alone to save me.  I thank you for the free gift of eternal life that is mine through Jesus Christ alone.  In His name I pray.  Amen.

Dear friend, if you just prayed this prayer and placed your faith and trust in Jesus, your sins have been forgiven AND you have been adopted into God’s family! God’s word is true.  As we read in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”