"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone."- Isaiah 9:2
How Can I be Saved from my sin and eternal death?
"Truly, truly, I say to you,
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" - John 5:24
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again
he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
- John 3:3
Not everyone gets into Heaven, only those who come through Jesus Christ alone, willing to lose all and forsake your self-righteousness. If you haven't read "The sum of all things: Jesus" please do so!
Jesus explained that His act on the cross can only apply to you and I by using an Old Testament illustration of Faith. In the desert-wilderness the israelites were bitten by poisonous snakes and were dying from the poison (allegory of Sin and Death). Moses was told to put snake on a staff and whoever would look at the snake would be delivered from Death (metaphor of Jesus on the cross and eternal death). Jesus exactly used this illustration to explain how His substituitionary act is applied to us when He said:
"as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up"
and He explains:
"that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.
"For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world
through Him might be saved." -John 3:14-16
So what do we do in response to this? How do we respond?
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Count the cost of following Christ: Be willing to lose your possessions, your relationships, and your reputation, but most of all your 'righteousness'
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."
"Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."
"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’
"Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace."
"So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."- Luke 14:26-33
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Confess to God you are a sinner and deserve and have earned His permanent and just wrath. Confess your sin and wretchedness to God and plead for mercy
"the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that EVERY INTENT of the THOUGHTS of his HEART was ONLY EVIL CONTINUALLY."
-Genesis 6:5 (Caps mine)
"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
"If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."
- 1 John 1:8-10
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Seek God asking Him to give you new life through Jesus. Ask Him to make you a new creature and forgive your sin. Do not give up until you know He has answered your prayer
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
"For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." - Matthew 7:7-8
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Believe and trust in Jesus as your substitute (or payment) for sin; He as God, paid for in full, the wrath that YOU (and I) DESERVE by dying on the cross in YOUR (and my)place
"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." - Romans 5:1
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Commit completely to following Jesus regardless of what it might cost you
"And He said to all, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me."
"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."
"For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?"
"For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels" - Luke 9:23-26
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Confess Jesus openly as your Lord and Savior
"For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." - Romans 10:10
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Respond to God's gracious mercy by turning from all open and private sin
"unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." - Luke 13:3 (Jesus Christ)
"Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out"
-Acts 3:9 (Peter the Apostle)
"testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" - Acts 20:21 (Paul the Apostle)
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Be Baptized as an act of obedience and thankfulness
"And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
- Acts 2:38
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Read, Believe, and obey the Scriptures*
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven."
"On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.’
“Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock."
"And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” - Matthew 7:21-27
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And be Thankful!!!
"Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!" -2 Corinthians 9:15
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— Holy is His name" - Luke 1:46,47
"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" -Acts 16:31
"Everyone who calls on the name of The Lord will be saved" -Romans 10:13
"For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast" - Ephesians 2:8-9
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So remember that God says:
"For the grace of God has appeared,
bringing salvation for all people,
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions,
and to live self-controlled, upright,
and godly lives in the present age,
waiting for our blessed hope,
the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Who gave Himself for us
to redeem us from all lawlessness
and to purify for Himself a people for His own
possession who are zealous for good works"
-Titus 2:11-14
Please remember that salvation from sin is only by faith in Jesus dying for your sin and making you right with God. The only way a person can be born again is to ask God. These are ONLY INTENDED basic instructions of what you should do and be willing to do. Seek and ask God for His mercy, only He can open the door!
*Read the book of Galatians in the New Testament