Chapter 30 / Invite Christ Into Your Life
In the quiet moments of life, when honest feelings of the heart speak their loudest, do you know without a shadow of a doubt, that you have peace with God?
If there is any doubt—any doubt at all—consider what is written below. Take an honest look at yourself in view of what God says in His Word. Please don’t let pride dictate where you are going to spend eternity. Receive Jesus’ offer of salvation.
The Bible says in 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” We have a direct promise from God that we can know we have eternal life.
To be absolutely certain that Heaven is your final destination, you need to answer several questions honestly:
#1 – Do you see anything in yourself that would keep you out of Heaven?
Most people know they are sinful, but perhaps your answer is no. If so, Romans 3:23 means you are wrong about that unless you have already accepted God’s forgiveness for your sin: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. If your answer is yes, you’re in agreement with Romans 3:23 that your relationship with God is broken because of sin.
So, what does a broken relationship with God mean? For God, it means grief that He will be separated from His creation for eternity. For us, it means the consequence of being separated from God for eternity because of our sin. Romans 6:23a is unequivocally clear on that point: “For the wages of sin is death.” The word death in this verse means a punishment of spiritual separation of your soul from God in Hell.
#2 – How can man’s problem of separation from God due to sin be rectified?
God’s grief that His creation was separated from Him by sin put into action His grace towards us. God sums up His grace towards us in Ephesians 2:8–9, which says: “For by grace are you saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves—it is the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one can boast.” And how did God accomplish this? By sending His Son Jesus to the cross to take the punishment we deserve, then offering that substitution of the guiltless for the guilty. 1 Peter 3:18 says. “For Christ died for sin once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God,” then offered His payment of that sin debt as a gift to us. This is the good news of Romans 6:23b: “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So, though we are eternally separated from God by sin, we are offered a simple solution: receive the gift of salvation God offers by receiving Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
#3 – To receive Jesus Christ, understand and acknowledge:
- The separation between us and God can be repaired only by believing in Jesus Christ. “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” (Galatians 2:21).
- Christ didn’t stay dead. Jesus was resurrected from the grave on the third day, and now sits at the right hand of God. “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25).
- The justification in Romans 4:25 means the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God. God makes us righteous in His sight by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, and that justification is available to any who receive Christ’s gift of salvation. Upon receiving Christ, God removes the sin from the sinner’s account and moves it to Jesus’ account, clearing the sinner’s debt. “God made him who had no sin (Jesus) to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- We receive God’s forgiveness by believing in Jesus. “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved”(Acts 16:31). And John 1:12 assures us, “To all who received Him, to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God.” Then, one of the greatest promises God ever made was from Jesus in John 14:3: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am.”
- Receiving Christ means having a personal relationship with Jesus, and it’s a gift that must be accepted personally. No one can accept the gift of salvation for you by proxy. You are not born into the gift because of family ties, and you are not baptized into Heaven—for baptism has no redemptive qualities, no matter at what age the sacrament is completed. The purpose of baptism is to make a profession of faith to others that we have already believed in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, accepted His gift of salvation, and received Him into our hearts. No church affiliation is going to get you into Heaven either.
- Salvation is a free gift given to us by God on a personal level. That is why the acceptance of this gift is done personally, by believing in what Jesus Christ did on the cross by faith. The gift is very personal because if you were the only one in the whole wide world, Christ still would have gone to the cross on your behalf. Since the gift is that personal, it’s only fitting that the gift must be accepted personally. That, my friends, is the demonstration of God’s personal love for us in epic proportions.
- If a condemned sinner receives Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice personally, by faith, they become justified before God. The act of justification is God’s righteous act of removing the condemnation, guilt, and penalty of sin by grace. Through this act of faith, God proclaims the ungodly to be righteous, giving hope, peace, and an inheritance to the once condemned. Amen.
Receive Jesus Christ as Your Saviour
If this is the desire of your heart, and the prayer below is in agreement with what you believe—use the prayer as a guideline to ask God to forgive you.
Lord, I know that being judged by Your laws, I have come up short and am guilty and sinful in your sight. My sinfulness has created a separation between You and me that I cannot fix. I ask humbly for your forgiveness, by placing my faith only in what Jesus did by taking the punishment I deserved on the cross. Please allow me to accept Jesus’ offer of salvation, so I can be forgiven and adopted into Your family and have Heaven’s doors opened to me. Lord, I place my total trust in Jesus for my salvation. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, your newfound relationship with Jesus Christ means that you are now free from judgement and condemnation. You are Heaven-bound. You are a new person in Christ, thanks be to God’s amazing Grace.
Now, tell someone about your decision to place your faith in Jesus Christ.
“For if you tell others with your own mouth that Jesus Christ is your Lord and believe in your own heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9
“And I assure you of this; I, (Jesus) the Messiah, will publicly honour you in the presence of God’s angels if you publicly acknowledge me here on earth as your Friend.” – Luke 12:8
Once you trust Christ as your Saviour, your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. And Scripture gives us this wonderful promise from God.
“The one who is victorious (who received Jesus) will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and His angels.” – Revelation 3:5
Welcome into the family of God!