The Bible is filled with facts that Jesus died for us, rose again and granted us eternal life through his sacrifice. His death and resurrection brought us reconciliation with God. These Bible facts explain the importance of salvation and taking hold of God’s love for us by believing and accepting Jesus with our whole hearts.

The Heart of the Gospel

Jesus died for us, loves us and that eternal life is a free gift. The heart of the gospel is captured in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus died for us, loves us and He wants us to seek a relationship with him.

There is only one way to eternal life with God and that’s through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said in John 14:6 “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me”

Jesus, in his own words, revealed how essential it is to believe in him. In fact, He said in John 3:3 “…very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Being ‘born again’ is about salvation through faith accepting Christ’s sacrifice and allowing him to transform our lives.

Salvation is not through works

There’s no way we can work our way to salvation and the Bible makes it very clear, salvation only comes through Jesus dying for us. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.”

We are called to be like Christ, but scriptures make it abundantly clear that Jesus gave us the gift of salvation through his sacrifice and not because of any works we have done. It doesn’t matter how many good works you do, if you haven’t accepted Jesus Christ into your life there is no eternal life in heaven with Him. Salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ!

Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Scripture’s say Jesus never sinned despite facing temptations. Jesus died for us, even though He had never sinned, and because of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, righteousness can be ours, which offers us hope with our own struggles with sin in our lives.

The Word of God also says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23. That means every living human being from birth has sin in their life whether they believe it or not. And because of that sin there is a penalty to be paid.

It is clear about the penalty of sin in this verse, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” However, scriptures reveal that because of the sacrifice of Jesus , God has given us a powerful and life-altering gift. All we need to do is accept it, and salvation and eternal life are ours.

Confession of our sins is paramount

Embracing the fact that we are sinners who need him and accepting that Jesus died for us is crucial (Embracing simply means believing in our hearts). In order to receive forgiveness, we must confess our sins and ask God to forgive and “cleanse us.” This Bible verse makes this very clear.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Confession starts with believing in your heart as the following verse states, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation Romans 10:9-10.”

Believing in the Son brings eternal life

Once you have embraced the fact that Jesus died for us and have made your confession, you are saved, you are now in Christ, and as 2 Corinthians says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

We then receive His Holy Spirit into our hearts and the power of Christ through the Holy Spirit can then help us avoid sin and “worldly passions” and aid us with our self-control.

His Holy Spirit helps us overcoming sin as it says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “There has no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.”

Victorious Christian Life

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and Godly in this present world” Titus 2:11-12.

The above verses tell us how to have victory over ungodliness and worldly passions, and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this evil world we now live in.

Consequence for rejecting Jesus

 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” John 3:16. There is a great consequence of rejecting Jesus and it’s not being able to inherit eternal life. Rejecting Christ comes at a cost.

One scripture which warns those who refuse to embrace Christ and lose the opportunity to be with Christ in heaven is John 3:36, “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.”

The wrath of God here is talking about that person being eternally separated from God and placed in the lake of fire with Satan. “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelations 20:14-15

The choice is now yours! You know what you need to do! You can choose eternal life with God or wrath of God in the lake of fire.