Salvation Through Faith in Jesus Christ Alone
We at Proverbs Three Nine Foundation have a goal of spreading the Gospel. The following is the basics of what you need to know to be saved.Basics
There is a God who made everything and that includes you and me (Is 52:5). He has some basic rules of conduct for the people He has created and they are called The 10 Commandments (Ex 20:1-17). We all die and He will hold us accountable for the way we have lived our lives (Heb 9:27). If we are found faithful, we will be with Him in heaven forever. If we are not faithful we will end up in terrible agony, burning in hell forever (Matt 25:41). There isn't any point in arguing the basics because that's the way it is whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not.
Our Problem
There isn't a single person in this world who can keep The 10 Commandments without breaking one of them at least once (Rom 3:23). Have you ever told a lie? If so, then you are a liar and have broken one of the commandments. Have you ever taken anything that didn't belong to you? If so, then you are a thief. Have you ever lusted for another person that wasn't your spouse? Jesus said that is the same as adultery and that make you an adulterer if you have (Matt 5:28). Have you ever hated someone? Jesus said that if you have, you are under the same condemnation as if you had murdered that person (Matt 5:22).
I've done all these things and that makes me a lying thieving murdering adulterer. What are you? If you are honest you will have to admit to some fault in your life.
On top of all that, there isn’t anything we can do to make up for it (Is 64:6, Eph 2:8-9). On God’s scales all our good behavior doesn’t balance out even one error on our part. God has made this clear so don’t argue with me about it.
The Consequences
God will not overlook our defects on judgment day. Hell is what we deserve. That is also referred to as eternal death.
God's Dilemma
He is a loving God who wants everyone to go to heaven and be with Him forever (1 Tim 2:3-4). He also doesn’t tolerate the fact that we have all broken His commandments (James 2:10).
God’s Solution
A traffic court judge will let someone off the hook if another person pays for a traffic fine. God will do the same thing. All we need is someone to pay the penalty that we deserve for breaking even one of The 10 Commandments. We need a Savior.
Our Savior
God became a man and came to the earth about 2000 years ago. His name is Jesus. He lived a perfect life so He didn’t deserve to die. He was crucified – a horrible death – and that death is acceptable as the penalty or fine for us. He died in our place. That is God’s gift to us (2 Cor 5:15-21).
He came back to life to prove that His death was sufficient for our sins and to prove that He is God as He claimed.
Now don’t get all weirded out on me and wonder how God could become a man, die and then come back to life. God is God and nothing is too hard for Him. If He couldn’t do all that, then He wouldn’t be God.
Acceptance
A gift is something we need to receive before it belongs to us. You can’t leave a gift in someone’s hands and walk away thinking that it belongs to you. No, you need to take it before it is yours. If you didn’t take the money from the person who was paying your traffic fine and give it to the court, you would end up in jail.
Jesus died to give the gift of eternal life so that we could be with God forever in heaven. If we believe that but don’t act upon it we will not have the gift (Rev 3:20).
Taking the gift requires that we first admit we need to be saved from the consequences of our failure to live a perfect life in light of The 10 Commandments. This is agreeing with God that we are bad. Second, we need to admit we can’t do anything to rectify our problem. We have to believe and trust that Jesus’ death on the cross is the only solution for our problem. Third, we need to ask for His forgiveness and turn our lives over to Jesus so that He is in control and not us (Acts 3:19). We need to demonstrate that we have done this by being obedient to Jesus (Luke 6:46). That is when He becomes our Lord or Sovereign. Just tell Him this right now.
I’ve done this and I know without a shadow of doubt that I will be with God in heaven forever after I die. Even though I’m a lying thieving murdering adulterer He sees me as His child, forgiven and cleansed from of my evil (1 John 5:13).
What’s Next
The Christian life isn’t easy. You’ll want to do the things you know are not pleasing to God. Follow this link for more information about knowing how to live for Him.
http://www.30daynextsteps.com
Share Your Faith
Follow this link to find resources to share your faith. You may download and print all these tracts and hand them out. The Smiles tract has been translated into many languages.
http://www.tracts.com/
