Suppose you and I were each to throw a rock
and try to hit the North Pole. You might throw farther
than I, but neither of us would hit it.
When the Bible says, "All have sinned and fall
short", it means that we have all come short of God's standard
of perfection.
In thoughts, words, and deeds, we have not
been perfect.
But the bad
news gets worse...
More Bad News
The penalty
for sin is death.
Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is
death."
Suppose
you worked for me and I paid you $50. That $50 was your
wages. That's what you earned.
The Bible says that by sinning we have earned
death. That means we deserve to die and be separated
from God forever.
Since there was
no way we could come to God, the Bible says that God
came to us!
Good News
Christ died
for you.
Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us."
Suppose
you are in a hospital dying of cancer. I come to you and
say, "Let's take the cancer cells from your body and put
them into my body.
If that were possible,
What would happen to me?
What would happen to you?
I would die and you
would live.
I would die in your
place.
The Bible says Christ took the penalty that we
deserved for sin, placed it upon Himself, and died in
our place.
Three days later Christ came back to life to
prove that sin and death had been conquered and that His
claims to be God were true.
Just as the bad
news got worse, the Good News gets better!
More Good
News
You can be
saved through faith in Christ.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace
[undeserved favor] you have been saved [delivered from sin's
penalty] through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the
gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one
may boast."
Faith
means trust.
Q. What must you trust Christ for?
A. You must depend on Him alone to forgive you
and to give you
Eternal Life.
Just
as you trust a chair to hold you through no effort of your
own, so you must trust Jesus Christ to get you to heaven
through no effort of your own.
But you may say, "I'm religious." "I go to
church." "I'm a good person." "I help the
poor." "I don't do anything that's really bad."
These are all good, but good living, going to
church, helping the poor, or any other good thing you might do
cannot get you to heaven. You must trust in Jesus Christ alone, and
God will give you Eternal Life as a Gift.
Is there anything keeping you from trusting
Christ right now?
Think carefully. There is nothing more
important than your need to trust Christ.
Would you like to
tell God you are trusting
Jesus Christ as your Savior? If you would, why not
pray right now and tell God you are trusting His Son?
Remember!
It is not a prayer that saves you. It is
Jesus Christ that saves you. Prayer is simply how you
tell God what you are doing.
Dear God, I know I am a sinner. I
know my sin deserves to be punished. I believe
Christ died for me and rose from the grave. I
trust Jesus Christ alone as my Savior. Thank you
for the forgiveness and everlasting life I now have.
In Jesus' Name, amen.
What has
just happened?
John 5:24 explains,
"He who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me,
has eternal life, and does not come into
judgement, but has passed out of death into Life."
- Did
you "hear" God's Word?
- Did
you "believe" what God said and trust Christ as your
Savior?
- Does
"has Everlasting Life" mean later or right now?
- Does
it say "shall not come into judgement" or might not?
- Does
it say "has passed from death" or shall pass?
Eternal
Life is based on fact, not
feeling.
Memorize John 5:24
today.