I DO NOT WANT WHAT I DESERVE

 I am a sinful man. We all are. We all deserve to go straight to hell. All of us. But some of us are not going to go to hell. Is it because some of us don't deserve to go to hell? No, it's not. We all have sinned and deserve the same punishment from God.

 The people that will be going to heaven have been freely given a gift from God. That gift is God's grace. We don't deserve it. You can't pay for it with money or good deeds. Nobody can do enough good things to make up for all the sins they have committed. Don't think, "I am basically a good person. God will let me in." God doesn't work like that. Being a basically good person will basically get you condemned to hell. The good news is that God requires very little from us in return for His gift of grace. Really, all you have to do is believe the Word of God - the Bible.

Let's say that you were a guy that is in jail, on death row, waiting to die. You are told to go see the judge for your final sentencing.

When you stand before the man who has a really long list of all the crimes you have committed that deserve the death penalty, instead of condemning you, he gives you a loving, and kind look and says, "Come over here my son, and have a seat." You go sit down and he says, "My son, you can have all of these crimes forgiven and your death sentence eternally pardoned." You say, "Yes, that sounds great but what do I have to do to have my crimes forgiven?" His response is, "Nothing my son. I sent my son, Jesus, into the world and He was punished and put to death for your sins. He has already paid the price. He died in your place. He paid the price that you could not pay. All you have to do is believe my son, Jesus."

That is really how salvation works. We are all sinners and deserve eternal death.

God sent his son Jesus into the world and He was put to death on the cross even though He had never done anything wrong or committed any crimes. Then God raised Him from death.  He was punished for our sins, beaten because of the evil things we have done.

We are forgiven because of the punishment He suffered. He paid the death penalty that we deserve. We are saved by our faith in Jesus Christ.

ROMANS 10:9 TEV

    If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; It is by our confession that we are saved.