planofsalvation

The Apostle Paul and Silas were thrown in jail in the city of Philippi for preaching the gospel. At midnight they sang and prayed until God broke down all the doors and broke the stocks which held their feet with a great earthquake. The poor jailer, frightened and convicted of his sins, came to these two preachers and asked this question.

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

To which the preachers said:

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
(Acts 16:31)

This is God's plan of salvation, which is the only plan He has given so that we, who are sinners, can be saved. This is the most important question we will ever ask., "What must I do to be saved?" When we have received the answer then we are responsible for our choice.. The choices we determine will make the difference between being lost and eternally separated from God, or having eternal life and fellowship with God. Fortunately, this question is asked and answered in the Word of God, the Bible.

There was hope for this jailer because he was convicted in his heart of his sinfulness. He saw himself as he really was: a lost sinner in need of the saving power of Jesus Christ. Like the jailer, you are a sinner. The Bible emphasizes that fact in Isaiah 53:6:

"All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way;"

Romans 3:23 tells us again "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." We have all sinned, we have all missed the mark.   We have all done things that are displeasing to God. There is no one who is innocent, only Christ Himself...that is why He became our sacrifice.

Romans 6:23, teaches us about the consequences of sin - "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The punishment that we have earned for our sin is death. Not just physical death, but eternal death! As was mentioned earlier the choice is ours, we can have an eternal life seperated from God or live with Him eternally. It is a conscious choice we make.
"The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." This tells us that this salvation or eternal life through Jesus Christ is a gift of God. It is free...we can do nothing to earn it.

Romans 5:8 declares, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus Christ died for us! Jesus' death paid for the price of all our sins. Jesus' resurrection proves that God accepted Jesus' death as the payment for our sins.

There is nothing that you can do to earn this salvation in fact Jesus speaks very clearly to this issue when his disciples see others preaching and teaching and yet Jesus said He did not know them. They thought their works would save them, because they did the things they had seen Jesus do.

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matthew 7:21-23 Doing the works did not save them...in fact Jesus said He never even knew them.

So how do we recieve this great salvation?

Romans 10:9, "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Because of Jesus' death on our behalf, all we have to do is believe in Him, trusting His death as the payment for our sins - and we will be saved! Romans 10:13 says it again, "for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins and rescue us from eternal death. Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, is available to anyone who will trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

So we see that trusting in His death as payment for our sin is what saves us. We must do exactly what was said in the beginning...we must believe on Jesus Christ We must also make a confession of our faith and believe that God raised Christ from the dead.

Do you believe these things? Then we have wonderful news for you. You can to be saved...the choice is yours! Just pray a short prayer of faith with me right now.

Father God, I thank You that You have made a way for me to be saved eternally and live with You in heaven. I know that I am a sinner and that I need the forgiveness that only Jesus can give, because He paid the price for my sin. I know that Jesus was raised from the dead so that I might live and that His blood was shed to cover all my sins. I am trusting that his death was the payment for my sin and I desire now to make Him the Lord of my life. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Congratulations you have just recieved Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Let me say here that some people cry. Some people get a sense of peace in them and some people feel nothing. It does not matter how you feel about this experience, it is what you know by faith that counts. You have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and YOU ARE SAVED! That is your confession of faith. You were not saved by your feelings but by faith in the Son of God

Now what just happened?

Romans 5:1 has this wonderful message, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Through Jesus Christ we can have a relationship of peace with God. Romans 8:1 teaches us, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." What a precious promise has been made to us...we now have PEACE with God. The Bible says that Jesus is our PEACE. We have peace because we no longer stand condemned for our sin, but Jesus has taken it from us. We no longer need to feel the weight of our sins, they are gone as far as the east is from the west, that is what the Word says. God remembers them no more.

And with this salvation comes this promise from God, the Father, He will never leave us or forsake us. Wherever you are from now on, God is with you.

In Romans 8:38-39 we read, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Nothing can ever seperate us from the love of God. Nothing. Our salveation can never be taken from us we have been born into a new family...the family of God!

Welcome and I pray that you will email us and tell us if you have accepted the Lord. I have some other scriptures I would like to share with you. And it is always good to fellowship with other Christians.    Again, welcome into the family of God.

To know and be known of God is the greatest treasure of life now and in the eternities.