I have good and bad news for you. The bad news is, you are a sinner. The good news is, Jesus can and WILL save you. He will not only save you from eternal suffering but also from YOURSELF. Please consider the truths below.....
Romans
3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
The basis for salvation is first recognizing that you are a sinner, meaning you do bad things. We all do bad things. No one can say they are perfect. Only God is perfect. One of the first steps in the 12 step AA process is to recognize that you are powerless over an addiction. In the same way, we have to begin the steps to salvation by recognizing that we are powerless to control the bondage to sin in our lives. We are all born into the world as slaves to sin. We cannot not sin. It is part of our very nature after the fall. But the good news, is that
God CAN and WILL save us from ourselves.
Romans
6:23a "...The wages of sin is death..."
The second step is to recognize that sin leads to death. God is a just God and he does not forgive sin without a payment of some kind. Jesus paid the payment for our sins once and for all when he died for us. If he did not, we would be destined to go to hell. I know a lot of people do not like to hear about hell, but the fact is, if you try to save yourself by your own "good deeds" and not the blood of Jesus, you will go to hell. God says, "All your righteous deeds are like filthy rags." Meaning no matter what we do and how good we think it is, it is never fully GOOD. Our actions can never be perfect. We will always fall short of perfection. Very, very few people would say they are perfect. Therefore, we all have sin. Even one sin is enough for God to send us to hell.
Romans
6:23b "...But the gift of God is eternal
life
through Jesus Christ our Lord."
However, instead of being destined to hell we have a choice to make. I do believe in free will, not predestination. I believe at some point in every one's life God gives them the choice to choose Him. Jesus said, "Choose life that you might live." Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He was both fully man and fully God meaning he could be the perfect substitute for our sins but he was also perfect so he did not have to die for any of his own sins. Jesus is the son of God. You HAVE to believe that also. He was not JUST some great prophet, a wise man, or some teacher. He is THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD. He WAS AND IS GOD. There is no way to be saved except through Him. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the father except through me." We cannot go around Jesus and into heaven. We have to go THROUGH Him.
Also this is a free gift from God. Paul says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not of yourselves so that no one may boast." We did not earn any part of our acceptance into heaven. It was solely based on the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. Because he rose again he conquered death so that we might have eternal life. And that life begins on this earth in that our life NOW can be filled with love, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control when we walk in the Holy Spirit of God. We are also promised an exceedingly wonderful life in the next life, the after life.
Romans
5:8, "God demonstrates His own love for us, in
that
while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!"
Jesus did not HAVE to die. He said, "No one takes my life, but I lay it down freely." He chose to die because He LOVES us. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son." God did not HAVE to send his son to die for us. But he chose to send him to die because He loves us!
God allowed Jesus to be a sacrifice for us, even though we did nothing to earn it. He did not give us Jesus because we deserved it. We were sinners when he sent Jesus.
Romans
10:13 "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved!"
God does not care who are, what you have done in the past, or how bad you think you are. Scripture says, "whoever will call." That means anyone. God is not a respecter of persons. He is not prejudice in the least. He loves everyone EXACTLY the same. It does not matter what race you are, what religion you currently are, what you do for work, what family you come from, anything. Jesus, God, accepts anyone who calls on his name. He say no to no one, if you are truly repentant.
In this step you have to completely believe that it is possible. You have to believe that Jesus can be a perfect sacrifice for every single sin that you have ever committed and will commit. You have to lay it down at the foot of the cross and let it go. You have to believe that he really can save you!
Romans
10:9,10 "...If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your
heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the
heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,
resulting in salvation."
Finally, you must confess it aloud with your mouth! Satan cannot read minds. He needs to know that he CANNOT have ownership of you anymore. Until you put your faith in God, you are Satan's SLAVE. Do you want to be Satan's slave? I know I sure don't. You have to say it aloud.
"JESUS, I KNOW YOU DIED FOR MY SINS. I BELIEVE THIS WITH ALL MY HEART. I KNOW WITHOUT YOU I AM NOTHING. I ABSOLUTEY CANOT SAVE MYSELF. PLEASE COME INTO MY HEART AND SAVE ME. I AM COMPLETELY DESPERATE FOR YOU. I NEED YOU! AND I WILL DO WHATEVER YOU ASK ME TO DO FROM HERE ON OUT! I AM YOUR SERVANT. I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!"
It is crucial that you believe you can be and are saved in YOUR HEART. I once heard, "Many people miss God by 10 inches, the distance from their head to their heart." If you do not make a conversion of the heart you have not "converted." Many, many people convert in their head and they think they are saved. However they are not. It must be from the heart. These are they whom Jesus will say to them on that day, "Turn away from me, for I never knew you." They THOUGHT they were saved, but they only went half way. They had one foot in and one foot out. Jesus said, "You are either for me or against me." You CANNOT be half ass in this. You cannot do it half way. You have to be all in, 100%.
The parable of the seeds says some seed fell among the thorns and the cares of the world choked it out, meaning they forgot the commitment they made to God once life got hard. Don't let that be you. To prevent this you need to make sure you do not only believe in your mind but also in your heart and let the word go down deep within you and put in deep roots.
If you were at a wedding ceremony and the bride and groom only had a love for each other in their heads, how long would that marriage last? Perhaps one week, until things got rough. Love HAS TO BE in the heart. The love we feel for our spouse or significant other, THAT is the love we need to have for God!
Paul says, "I pray that you may be rooted and grounded in love." May you be rooted! Do not let yourself get sucked into the world again after you have made a decision.
Now, if you genuinely believed in your heart all of that, you are saved, and the angels are having a party in heaven just over YOU! God loves you more then you will ever know, and someday you will get to see him in heaven where "he will wipe away every tear" from your eyes and you will never feel pain again!
Is that good news or what?!
Scripture says, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." If Satan tries to whisper in your ear any of your sins in the past or present you need to tell him, "Get BEHIND ME Satan!" He cannot accuse you anymore to God or yourself. You are SET FREE!
"He whom the son set free is FREE indeed!" Amen? Amen!
Now BE FREE. Do not let yourself be a slave to sin anymore or be mastered by anything in your life.
You have the choice now. You are still totally capable of sinning, but you do not have to. You can pray anytime you are tempted and God can deliver you and continue to set you free day by day.
Growing in Christ is an ongoing process. It never ends. It is a mountain that you will always be climbing. You will never get to the top. But don't give up. Even when you see people at sea level relaxing on the beach and having a big party, keep climbing, keep going. Don't sit down, don't give up. YOU CAN DO IT! Christ in you can do it.
Remember, "I can do all things through CHRIST who strengthens me."
Also, "Behold you are a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!"
Paul says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!"
Now may God bless you abundantly! Grace and peace be with you! :)
(And if you need a church to go to I have a near perfect one to recommend to you! lol Mariners Church in Irvine! I have been going there for about 12 years and absolutely love it! You will be taught extremely well there and find amazing community and classes every day of the week if you want to go to them and phenomenal worship! It's a party every day there. Come to Mariners!) lol
Be blessed! :)
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