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Have faith in God; God has faith in you. Edwin Louis Cole

Just in case you accidently found this book in your friend’s apartment, under a bridge, in a trash can, on a park bench, in a taxi, in a palace, underneath your tip, in jail, at the doctor’s office or in some other random place––and you aren’t 100% sure you’re saved, let’s take a moment to review the gospel and make sure you are a Christian!

GOD HAS A GREAT PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE

First, you need to know that God has a great plan for your life. He’s a good God and He loves you. All along it’s been God’s plan to bless you and give you a joyful, peace-filled, satisfying, fulfilling and abundant life. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly,” John 10:10, NKJV.

Unfortunately, many people are not living in God’s highest and best. They are not enjoying God’s great plans and they are not experiencing the abundant life. There is a really good reason for that. Sin.

THE S WORD

We have a big problem! Sin. We’ve all blown it. Our sin has separated us from the God who loves us. It all started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve ate that piece of fruit. You know the story.

After Creation, God made man and formed woman and then He gave them instructions on enjoying and guarding the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were filled with life, freedom, joy and abundance! There was only one restriction; they were not allowed to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they did so, God said they would die.

Meanwhile, before the Creation of man, one of God’s heavenly angels had gone rogue and was cast out of heaven to earth. This fallen angel known as: the devil, Satan, Lucifer and the adversary came along in the form of a serpent to tempt Adam and Eve and turn their loyalties from God to his own voice. The devil wanted to be the boss. He wanted the allegiance of God’s creation. So, he lied. He duped Adam and Eve with temptation and a lust for worldly, fleshly things and the promise of pride and glory. Sadly, they followed his direction and rebelled against God’s words. They sinned by eating the fruit God had strictly forbidden.

Little did they know the price their sin would require; that act of betrayal and rebellion towards God resulted in death––just like the Lord had said. They died spiritually that day and were separated from God––their physical death manifested some 900 years later. When Adam and Eve sinned, death entered earth and all of humanity. It was the most tragic day. Spiritual death and an eternal separation from God came upon the human race––mankind died.

That’s what the Bible is talking about when it says, “The wages of sin is death,” Romans 3:23, NKJV. Where life resounded, now death reigned. Mankind was lost. Cursed.

The fall of man was the biggest kidnapping event in history. Humanity was duped, hijacked, kidnapped and trafficked by following the deceiver’s lies. Satan’s goal has always been to steal, kill and destroy the very ones God had created. Through sin and the fall of man in the Garden, the enemy was successful in keeping mankind––including you and I–– trapped in a life of perpetual sin and death that resulted in darkness, destruction, defeat and an eternal separation from God.

For thousands of years, humanity was lost and without hope in this world. There was a giant God-shaped hole within all of us. A great gulf separated us from the very One who created us. For thousands of years man tried to resolve this void and earn right standing with God through doing good deeds, establishing religious traditions or embracing philosophical theories. But at the end of the day, our best human efforts could not bridge the great eternal divide. We could not pay the ransom price to cover our sin and death. We could not earn God’s forgiveness or favor. We could not fill the gap. We could not rescue ourselves. We were truly dead in our trespasses and sins and eternally separated from God.

JESUS TO THE RESCUE

God didn’t leave us in that fallen condition. He wanted a relationship with us. When sin separated us from God and the enemy locked us up in his prison of death and darkness, the Lord did something to fix the problem–– He sent Jesus to the rescue! The Bible spells it out, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life,” John 3:16, NLT.

Maybe you don’t know much about Jesus––who He is and why He came. Perhaps, you’ve never known why you could or should believe in Him. Let me take a moment to introduce you to Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the greatest Person who has ever lived in all of Creation and in all of eternity. For those who look at historical evidence and the testimonies of eyewitnesses, the verdict is obvious. Jesus was and is God. He is the beginning and the end, the first and last, the Alpha and Omega, and the Author and Finisher of everything! Jesus is the eternal God and yet, He humbled Himself by stepping out of heaven to become a man and live on earth for thirty-three years. God put on human flesh and came to the planet He created.

While on earth, Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God. He loved people. He preached the truth. He went all over teaching, preaching and healing, to show people what God was like. He said that when people saw Him, they had seen the Father. He showed compassion. He did miracles. He raised the dead. He loved sinners. He healed the sick. He blessed children. He cared for the poor. He taught the Scriptures. He preached salvation. He cared about honesty, integrity and justice. He didn’t like religious phonies. He called out hypocrites. He revealed the true nature of God. He went about doing good things and teaching people about the Father God.

Jesus was a good man and a great Teacher, but the primary reason Jesus came to earth wasn’t to add His name to the list of well-known, religious leaders. The main reason Jesus came to earth was to rescue mankind and restore us back to God. He literally came to be our Savior––our Redeemer. He came to perform the most important and far-reaching search and rescue operation known to man.

Jesus was––and is––the only one qualified to fulfill such a mission. He is God––and man. As God, He humbled Himself and became a man. He was born as a baby in the Manger, so He could die as our Redeemer on the cross. He exchanged His sinless life for our sin-stained lives when He paid the ransom sin demanded with His spotless blood. He shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sin. “For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness,” Hebrews 9:22, NLT.

Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He paid the wage our sins demanded, but He didn’t stay dead. Three days after His death on the cross, God raised Him from the dead. He is alive and seated in heaven. Jesus is not a dead religious leader; He is the living Savior of the world! It’s no wonder Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” John 14:6, NKJV.

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MAKE IT PERSONAL

Are you beginning to get a glimpse of how great God is? Can you see how much He loves you? Jesus is God’s answer to the sin problem that plagued mankind. He is God’s only provision for our sin. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He came to forgive all our sins. He came to set us free. Jesus came so we could pass from death to life. He came to give us life more abundantly.

That’s all great, right? Here’s where it gets personal. God doesn’t want Jesus to be an interesting biographical study, the subject of a lofty theological debate or an historical figure in a heady thesis on western civilization. God went to these great lengths because He wants to have a personal relationship with you.

This requires a decision on your part. It’s not enough to know about Jesus, the gospel or Bible stories; you must make a personal decision to receive Jesus. God will never force Himself into your life; He gives you the choice to accept or reject His Son. He gives you the choice to turn from trusting in yourself––your own good works, religion and self-righteous acts––to trusting in Jesus.

Trusting Jesus and becoming a Christ-follower––a Christian––is not difficult. You simply put all of your trust in Jesus by believing, receiving, and inviting Him into your heart. Declare Jesus as the Lord of your life. The result of trusting, believing, receiving and declaring Jesus as your Lord, is that you become a true-blue Christian!

If you have never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life––please, take time to do so right now. Let’s pray:

“Dear God, I want to become a Christian. I do believe and trust in Jesus. I believe He came to this earth to live a sinless life and to shed His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of my sin. I believe You raised Jesus from the dead and He is alive today. Jesus, I receive You into my life. Thank You for forgiving me of all of my sins. Today, I declare that Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life. I am saved. I am born again. I am a Christian! Amen.”

DID I MENTION THE BIG JUDGMENT?

If you prayed this prayer, congratulations! It’s a good thing, because I forgot to tell you about the judgment to come. While God is loving and full of mercy, He is also a God of justice and judgment and one day every person will stand before Him to give an account of their lives and choices.

The Apostle Paul said this, “On that day when, as my Gospel proclaims, God by Jesus Christ will judge men in regard to the things which they conceal (their hidden thoughts),” Romans 2:16, AMP. At the judgment, those who have rejected Jesus will find that their biggest sin and most notable deed is their choice to not trust, believe, receive or declare Jesus as Lord. Unfortunately, this choice will have grave eternal consequences.

The book of Revelation makes it clear, “And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire,” Revelation 20:11-15, NLT.

Thankfully, because of your decision to welcome Jesus into your life, when you stand before the Lord, you don’t have to be afraid. With Jesus as your Lord, the Father will see you in Him and all of your sins washed in His blood. When you arrive at the Pearly Gates, there is just one pass- word: Jesus!

Your entrance into heaven might sound something like this: “Thank You Heavenly Father for allowing me to enter Your eternal kingdom. I am so glad my name was written in Your Book of Life. I know that in and of my self, I have nothing to boast about. I don’t deserve to be here, but Jesus is the Lord of my life. My trust is in Him and not in myself. On the cross Jesus took all my sins and He gave me His righteousness. He rose from the dead and is my Lord and Savior.” At about that time, God will smile at you and nod to a nearby angel who will take you to see your loved ones and give you a grand tour of heaven. Something like that.

SCRIPTURES TO READ

___ John 10:10

___ Romans 3:23, 6:23

___ Ephesians 2:1-4

___ John 14:6

___ John 1:12

___ Romans 10:9-10

___ 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

___ Revelation 20