About Eternal Life.
We like to explain the decision to receive eternal life under four headings:
- The Good News.
- The Bad News.
- The Great News.
- The Bottom Line.
The Good News: God loves each of us and wants us all to have eternal life.
God's love is for all mankind. His love for all is shown because He gave His Son for everyone. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son . . ." The fact that He wants us all in heaven is shown in 1 Timothy 3:4, where it states that God wishes for all to be saved. This is important! When people do not end up in heaven, it will not be because God did not want them there!
The Bad News: Our own sins prevent us from having eternal life.
Every person does wrong. The Bible says this over and over again. Beyond that, virtually every person on earth knows that they do wrong. While some people are better than others, no person on earth is good enough to deserve to go to heaven. Romans 3:23 states that "all have sinned and fall short of God's glory."
So, we know that no one is going to heaven based on their own merits, even though God wants everyone there.
The Great News: Jesus Christ has overcome the problem of our sins.
There are three important things to know about Jesus.
1. Jesus is God who became a man.
This is made especially clear in John 1: 1 and 14, where it says, "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was
God. . . And the Word became flesh and lived among us . . . "
2. Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
1 Peter 3:18 says that "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the
unrighteous, in order to bring us to God." The thing that keeps us out of
heaven is our sins. Christ, however, has paid the penalty for our sins so that
we do not have to pay that penalty.
3. Jesus was raised from the grave.
Three days after His death, God resurrected the body of Jesus Christ.
The grave was empty.
Jesus appeared to His disciples and gave proofs that He was truly alive.
The resurrection of Jesus is important, because it shows His victory over sin
and death.
The Bottom Line: We must receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord to receive eternal life.
Receiving Jesus involves three things.
1. Repentance.
The apostles of Jesus clearly taught the necessity for us to turn from our sins in
order to become Christians. Paul said that his preaching of the good news of Jesus
entailed people repenting of sins and showing their repentance by their actions.
(see Acts 26:20)
2. Faith in Jesus.
We must trust in Jesus that He will save us. This is not merely faith that Jesus saves,
but that He save me! I say to Him, "Save me!" And then I trust Him to save me.
Ephesians 2:8-9 states that we are saved through faith.
3. Lordship of Jesus.
This means that we give Jesus our lives. From now on, we won't live for ourselves,
but for Him. If you read Romans 10:9, you will see that the confession that saves is
"Jesus is Lord."
How to pray.
Simply talk to Jesus in your own words. Tell Him that you are sorry for your sins and
that you want to turn away from them. Ask Him to save you and take away your sins.
Tell Him you trust Him to save you. Submit your entire life to Him. Then thank Him
for your salvation!
If you pray to receive Jesus, drop me an email at this website.
(8 minutes long)
