First, we need to recognize that we are all sinners. The one word that defines all sin is the Greek word harmatia, which means, "to miss the mark." What is God's mark? Christ said, "Be perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) Unless a person is perfect, he has missed the mark; therefore, he is a sinner and God’s word tells us, " For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

Every one of us has missed God's mark. Every one of us falls short of being perfect and the price for falling short is death. "For the wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23) We are getting only what we deserve, and we are bringing judgment upon ourselves. One thing we need to remember is that God never sends anyone to hell. We send ourselves there by rejecting His truth.

Since we are incapable of achieving God’s standard of perfection, God has provided Himself a means for us to be saved.

We cannot solve the problem of sin, but God, who is perfect, can and has. He has spanned the gap between sin and His Holy perfection. How did He do that? By sending His only Son, Christ Jesus, into the world to die for us.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16-17)

"But God demonstrates his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)



How can I be saved?

Once we acknowledge that we are sinners and comprehend the truth that Christ died for our sins, we must now make a decision whether we will accept or reject God’s free gift of salvation.

By accepting God’s gift of salvation we are guaranteed everlasting life. Romans 6:23 tells us, "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Our names are written in God’s "Book of Life" and we will spend eternity with Him in Heaven.

The alternative is eternal separation from God. "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:15) "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:41)

The invitation is clear. We must make a choice. We must come to Him. All that remains is a response.

"Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:28-29)

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." (John 1:12)  Do not wait until tomorrow! Tomorrow may never come! 2 Corinthians 6:2 tells us "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

If you would like to receive Christ Jesus into your life right now as your Lord and Savior, pray the following prayer from the sincerity of your heart...

Dear Father in Heaven, I confess to you that I am a sinner and I am sorry for my sins. I believe that you sent your only son Christ Jesus to earth as a man and he died on the cross at Calvary for my sins. I believe he was buried and three days later you raised Him from the dead. I ask that you would forgive me of my sins and teach me your will for my life. I now turn from my sins and turn to you by faith. Thank you for your forgiveness in the name of my Lord, Christ Jesus. Amen.

Congratulations and welcome my brother or sister into the joy of the Lord! God’s Holy Spirit now indwells you and your spirit has been given life. All your sin have been forgiven. Hence, you are "born again" and now you are a new creation.

"Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:3-6)

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Now you need to begin growing spiritually. Get yourself a copy of the Holy Bible and study it. I prefer the King James Version, but there are many other good versions. Find a good Bible based church in your area and start attending regularly. You can find many of them listed on my "Links" page. Most important, pray! Our Father in Heaven longs to fellowship with us. We can do that through prayer in the name of Christ Jesus.

A friend of mine who was recently saved asked me some very good questions about salvation that I feel I should address as I myself asked these same questions when I first accepted God’s salvation.

"Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 1:6-8)

Just as in the assurance that you where saved the moment you acknowledged and accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He will also "confirm" us or "make us sure" until the end of time so that we can stand blameless before the Lord when He returns.

"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30)

We are "sealed" by God’s Holy Spirit means we are "set aside" or "separated" to God "unto" or "for the purpose of" the day of redemption which is the day of Christ’s return.

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." (John 10:27&28)

To us who have chosen Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we now belong to Him. We are His "property", His "sheep" and through Him we live forever. No man can remove us from His hand. This means us also, being men ourselves can not remove each other or ourselves from God’s hand.

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

I think the apostle Paul really nails the question here. THERE IS NOTHING that can separate us from God’s love, which is our salvation through Christ Jesus. Remember what John 3:16 tells us?

The promise of God is eternal life to all that believe in Christ Jesus. Of course our physical bodies will die. God’s promise is for our spiritual bodies, the real us! Our physical bodies are the vehicles for our spirit and the temple of the Holy Spirit for as long as we are here.

2 Peter 3:9 tells us, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promises." Because God is eternal and He does not change, when He makes a promise we can be assured, He will follow through and make good His word.

We need to ask ourselves one more question. How many of our sins did Christ die for? The answer is ALL OF THEM! Not just the sins we have committed up to the point where we accepted Christ as our Savior, but also the sins we will commit tomorrow, next month, next year, the rest of our lives here on earth. Anything less than that would require a salvation by "works" on our part. We can do nothing to merit God’s grace. Christ has already paid the price in full on Calvary’s cross and He gives His grace to us freely. No charge! No strings attached!

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" (Romans 6:3)

Paul is referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit into which we where baptized when we accepted Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not something we need to be searching for after we are saved! We already have it! Please read on.

"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin." (Romans 6:4-7)

Paul is speaking of a Truth when he says, "our old man is crucified with Christ". Our old sin nature is dead! We are a new creation! Whether we can comprehend this or not, whether we can accept this or not, does not change the Truth of God’s word. WE ARE DEAD TO SIN!

We must reckon ourselves this way. If we have made Christ our Lord and Savior by accepting His free gift of salvation, if we believe that Christ died for our sins, then we are saved for all eternity and free from the bondage of sin.

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." (Colossians 2:13&14)

Does this mean that we can not sin any more? Of course not. It means that now we are saved eternally and sin can no longer separate us from God. We now have an "attorney" who will plead our case before God.

1 John 2:1 tells us "And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

When we sin, the Holy Spirit who now dwells inside of us will convict us of our sin. God’s word teaches us that we are to confess our sins and ask God to forgive us our sins. Confess to God if we have sinned against God, to the man if we have sinned against any man and to the public if we have sinned publicly.

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:8&9)

We must be attentive to that "still small voice" of the Holy Spirits conviction. We must pray always for our Father in Heaven to reveal our sins to us so we can confess them and turn from them because, any sin not confessed and renounced leaves ground for Satan to work in our lives. Especially sins of ignorance or any sins we refuse to give up to the Lord.



But what about works? Isn’t works the "proof" that I am saved?

Works are often confused with the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Holy Spirit being manifested through us is evidence of the Holy Spirit indwelling us. We, in and of ourselves can not produce any fruit that is meet for the Lord. By our willful cooperation with the Holy Spirit, the fruits of our labors are outwardly manifested in our works.

Galatians 5:22&23 tells us: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance."

Ephesians 5:9 tells us: "The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth."

We should be examining every work to make sure it is of the Holy Spirit, because every work will be tested by God to determine whether it issues from His Holy Spirit or not.

"Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is." (1 Corinthians 3:13)

When Christ said "By their fruits you shall know them." (Matthew 7:20) He is telling us to inspect the fruit or "works", including our own, to discover the source or motivation behind it. Is the work truly of the Holy Spirit or is it the product of pride, greed, revenge, etc.?



What if I willfully choose to sin and ignore God’s will for my life after I am saved?

As I said before, we can "backslide" for whatever reason. We can choose to ignore God’s will for our lives, but when we do, we run the risk of paying the price in our flesh for our sins even to the extreme of our physical death if God so chooses.

"To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." (1 Corinthians 5:5)

"But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own power? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether you sold the land for so much? And she said, Yes, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of them which have buried your husband are at the door, and shall carry you out. Then she fell down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband." (Acts 5:3-10)

"For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many have died. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. " (1 Corinthians 11:29-32)

The laws of cause and effect still apply to us as believers. God does not place a blanket of protection over us to keep us from the ramifications of our sins. In fact, God often uses our sins as chastisement to bring us back into obedience to His will.

"For whom the LORD loves he corrects; even as a father the son in whom he delights." (Proverbs 3:12)

"For whom the Lord loves he also chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If ye endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not?" (Hebrews 12:6&7)

Though we may willfully sin and disobey our Father in Heaven, our salvation remains intact. If we choose to remain disobedient to God and refuse His chastening, we may leave God no other choice than to destroy our physical bodies so that our spirits may be saved.

"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Corinthians 3:11-17)

Whether it be alcohol abuse, drug abuse, pornography, homosexuality, adultery, lying, stealing, coveting, occult practices, idolatry, (by no means is this list all inclusive) Let it be far from us, because God’s Holy Spirit is now within us! AMEN?

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