Some two thousand years ago God sent his only Son into the world as the man Jesus to die as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus was miraculously born of a virgin woman, lived a perfect and sinless life, helped a lot of people, and performed many miracles, because God had anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power.
Jesus also challenged the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his day, who hated him and eventually arrested him and charged him with blasphemy. After a show trial, he was handed over to the Roman occupation authorities and executed on a cross, dying an agonizing death. But three days later God raised him from the dead, sat him at his right hand on his throne in heaven, and gave him all authority over the visible and invisible universe.
Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, God now offers an amnesty to all rebels.
All those who repent and believe in Jesus as their Lord, that is, turn from their sins and self-centeredness and accept Jesus’ authority over their lives, will be reconciled with God and adopted as his children, and they will spend eternity with him.
But those who reject Jesus or who continue in their sins and self-centeredness will be lost forever and will spend eternity without him in suffering and regret.
Because of Jesus’ death in our place, God’s justice is fully satisfied. He can now forgive us and remain just, not compromising his authority as the supreme ruler of the universe.
But that’s not all. If we repent and believe in Jesus, God will not only forgive our past sins, but also purify our hearts and send his Holy Spirit to live in us. The Holy Spirit will comfort us, will lead and guide us, and will enable us to do what we couldn’t do before, live a life pleasing to God.
We just need to repent and believe. This is the good news!
[John 3:16-17] God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
No matter how bad you are, no matter how much you’ve sinned, if you are truly sorry and want to get right with God, then put all your trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross. Receive God’s gift for you. This act of faith will purify your heart and make you acceptable before God.
[Romans 6:23] The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[Romans 5:8] God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
If you want to be saved and have eternal life, come to God through his Son Jesus. Come as you are and surrender your life to him. Jesus himself said:
[John 6:37] Whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
[John 5:24] Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
[Matthew 11:28-30] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Receive Jesus as who the Bible says he is: the Son of God, the Messiah, the anointed one, and you will become a child of God.
[John 1:11-13] He came to his own (the Jews), and his own did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Believe with your heart, not only with your mind, that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, confess it with your mouth, and you will be saved.
[Romans 10:9-10] If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Please understand that Jesus is the only way to God. There is no other way. No amount of good works can erase the guilt and debt of your sins. Only the blood Jesus shed on the cross brings forgiveness and reconciliation.
[Acts 4:12] And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
[1 Peter 3:18] Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.
Jesus himself said:
[John 14:16] I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
There is only one way to God: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lord.
Trying to live a moral life from now on will not remove the guilt of your past sins. If you commit a crime, no judge will declare you innocent just because you promise to live a good life in the future. You still have to pay the penalty imposed by the law. Likewise, even if you lived a perfect life from now on, you would still have to pay the penalty for your past sins, which is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire.
The only way to have your sins forgiven is to take advantage of the amnesty God offers in Jesus Christ. You must come to him in his terms, not yours.
[John 3:18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
God gave his only Son to die for you, but if you refuse to believe in him and obey him, the wrath of God will remain on you.
[John 3:36] Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Do you believe in Jesus? Do you obey him?
Jesus is Lord. That means he requires obedience. You can come to him as you are, but you must be willing to obey him and sanctify your life.