How to Have a Personal Relationship with God and Get to Heaven |
| God's Word, the Bible, teaches that all of us have a serious moral problem-our own sin. We repeatedly break God's moral laws in our thoughts, words, deeds, motives and desires. Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." To sin means that we have "missed the mark" morally speaking, and to fall short of God's glory means that we have not achieved His standard of perfection. |  |
| Our many sins deserve God's just judgment. Just as people deserve to be punished if they break the laws of society, so we deserve to be judged for violating God's righteous laws. The ultimate punishment for sin is death. Romans 6:23a: "For the wages of sin is death." This refers not only to physical death (separation of our spirit from our body) but also to spiritual death (separation of ourselves from God). If we are not children of God, we are already under His judgment and spiritually separated from Him in this life. And if we die in our sin, we will remain separated from Him and under His judgment for all eternity. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9: "He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power." A sobering and terrifying prospect! |
| But God did not leave us in our sin and under His judgment without a solution. He sent His own Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us from our sin. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was miraculously conceived of a virgin and born as a human. Being God, He lived a sinless life. But at the end of His life He died a criminal's death on a cross. Not for His own sin, as He was sinless. Rather, He died to pay the penalty for all the sins of all those who would trust in Him as their personal Savior. He received God's judgment on our sins so that we would not have to be judged ourselves. Romans 5:8-9: "God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified [pronounced morally clean] by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him!" He died for us so that we could live eternally with God in heaven rather than being separated from Him for all eternity. Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Three days after His death, Jesus resurrected back to life, proving He is God the Son who is able to save us from sin and death. |
| Contrary to popular opinion, we cannot earn our salvation by our own good works. Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." Titus 3:5: "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy." |
| Our part in receiving God's gifts of salvation from sin and eternal life is simply to believe in and receive Jesus as our personal Savior and Lord. John 3:16-17: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." John 1:12: "Yet to all who received Him [Christ Jesus], to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." |
| If you have not already done so, would you like to trust in Christ as your Savior from sin? If so, sincerely pray this prayer to the Lord: "Dear God, I know that I have sinned and deserve your just judgment. I realize I cannot earn my salvation through my own good works. I believe what the Bible teaches me about Jesus, Your Son: that He died on the cross to receive the punishment for my sins, then rose again from the dead. I trust in Him alone and His death for me on the cross to save me from my sins. Dear Jesus, please become the Savior and Lord of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me the gift of eternal life. In Jesus name, Amen." |
