The Good News Of Salvation

Has anyone ever shown you from the Bible how you can be sure you are on your way to heaven? Would you allow me to show you? Has anyone ever told you why you need God’s salvation?

​The first human Adam was created in God's image and likeness. God is a spirit. Adam was connected to God by spirit. God told Adam of every tree in the garden. You are free to eat. But the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you are not to eat of it, for when you do, you will surely die. The serpent (the devil) told them that God had lied and they would not die.

​Well, Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the sin did not result in a physical death right away but a spiritual death. Their connection with God's spirit ended. Sin entered the world, and every man after them was born in sin, rather than in the image of God.

At its core, sin is rebellion against God. Because God is a holy God, He cannot be in the presence of sin, so sin separates us from God, the Creator and Sustainer of life. The Bible teaches that the just punishment of sin is eternal condemnation—separation from God. Because God loves us, He still wanted to have a relationship with His creation-- mankind so He sent Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sin. So that He can once again have a connection with His creation. Hebrews 9:22 tells us, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.” In the Old Testament, many animal sacrifices were made to atone for the sins of mankind, but they were only temporary coverings and foreshadowed what Jesus Christ would do once and for all.

The animals did no wrong, yet they died in the place of the one performing the sacrifice. Jesus Christ took our sins upon Himself and died in our place so that we could have life and connection with God. It’s something we, as sinners, could never earn on our own. Because Jesus gave up His life for us, we can be welcomed into God’s family for eternity. Jesus alone saves us. Through faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross, we can receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

So, you see, every person is a sinner before a Holy God and unable to save themselves. . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God  (Romans 3:23). Every person is under the sentence of death and will be forever separated from God because of their sin. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned (Romans 5:12) 

Through the substitutionary sacrificial death of Christ, God has addressed the sin problem for us. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). God offers a free pardon and eternal life to all who place faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. Salvation is a gift that is made available to those who repent, believe, and confess that Jesus is Lord and that He died and rose from the dead to save mankind. This gift cannot be earned through good deeds or by being "good." It is a matter of faith (acting out on what you believe according to God's Word concerning salvation.

Acts 16:30–31 says to receive eternal life, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” Do you believe in Jesus and what He did? Romans 10:10 tells us, “With the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” How do we confess Jesus? You would simply say something like, “I believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead; I confess with my mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord of my life.”

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