The Lord's Church - Salvation Message

THE PATHWAY TO A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

1. Have you ever wondered who created the world? Or have you ever wondered who created you and why?

The answer to both these questions is God. God desires that we have a close personal relationship with Him. Just as you have close personal relationships with your mother, father, sister or brother and other friends, you can have that kind of relationship with God. Take a minute and reflect on what was involved in the development of those relationships, because you develop the relationship with God in the same manner. You may being saying, “but there is a difference” and that is understandable. There are steps to a relationship with God and following is the way we come to know God.

2. Have you ever had someone place reasonable expectations on you and you missed the mark and did not live up to those expectations?

In other words, you understand that you are not perfect and come short from time to time. Now the one who is disappointed with you maybe angry with you and may not be involved with you any longer. This is what sin does; it separates from God and the loving relationship He desires to have with us. The Bible tells in Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Because all of us have sinned, we are separated from God. We all have personal weaknesses and personal guilt. Even though we do good things, we all have done our share of wrong. For example, take target shooting; the goal is to hit the bulls eye, but there are times we miss the mark and there are times we hit the mark. Because of the times we miss the mark, we stand guilty before God.

3. Have you ever disobeyed someone in authority such as your father, mother teacher, etc. and because you disobeyed there was a penalty?

In the same manner, there is a price we have to pay for our sins and the penalty is spiritual death (separation from God). Romans 6:23 tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The consequence of our sin is death. This verse explains one of the most important concepts of the Bible in one simple statement. Because we have all sinned, we are all separated from God. This is like a limb being cut from a tree; it has been removed from its source of life! We cannot have spiritual life because we have been removed from God because of sin. So if we have all sinned, and the consequence for sin is death, how can we be saved from eternal spiritual death?

4. Can you remember a time when you violated a rule at home or school and was expecting punishment, but instead of grounding you, which you deserved, your parents allowed you go to the class dance?

That is what God did for us while we were in our sins; He gave us mercy, which is Him withholding what we deserve and extended to us grace, which is Him giving to us what we do not deserve. He did this through the death of His only Son, Jesus, who paid the penalty for our sins. Romans 5:8 tells us, “But God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” The penalty of our sin was paid by Jesus Christ. God demonstrated his love and was not stressed because we were separated from Him. He did something in history that proved His love; He gave His only begotten Son. Jesus Christ died for us, despite our sinful condition. This is the wonderful and awesome message of the gospel. God loved us so much, that He became a man, Jesus Christ, the perfect, holy and sinless God and died in our stead, taking the penalty of our sins (death) on Himself so that we might live the way He intends us to live, in total dependence on Him.

5. Have you ever received a gift from your parents? Did you have to pay anything for the gift or just receive it?

Probably all that it took was for you to believe that the gift was for you and then receive it. It is the same way with our salvation. All we have to do is to receive the free gift of salvation that God has given us through his Son, Jesus Christ. The way we do this is by confessing and believing in our hearts. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” If we repent of our sinfulness, then confess and trust Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of our lives, we will be saved from the penalty of sin. To be saved from the penalty of sin, we must believe the gospel message. The gospel also offers us a person, Jesus, Christ, who paid our penalty and deserves to be the Lord of our lives. However, we must receive Him.

I would like to invite you right now to pray to God, telling Him you are ready to trust Christ to save you from the penalty of sin and to confess Him as the Lord over your life. There is a prayer you can pray right now, but let the words be your own; do not repeat words as if they were a spiritual chant, but speak them to the personal God who loves you enough to die for you.

Lord I admit that I have sinned and separated myself from you.

God, I understand I deserve death as the penalty of my sins, and

I believe Jesus Christ paid the price with His blood. I repent of

my sin and selfishness. I renounce every habit and hobby and

confess Jesus as my Savior and Lord over my life and I put Him

in control of my life. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.