The Good News

Salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone. If you have a desire to have a relationship with God it starts and ends with Jesus Christ His Son. Let’s take a look at the Bible (NKJV) to see how God desires a relationship with us.

John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

The problem we have is that we are born into sin and we choose to sin. Sin means “missing the mark”.

What mark might you ask? The standard set by God Himself. That is we must be sinless to enter into heaven. Now if we are born into sin and we commit sin daily than we certainly are not sinless. So we can not possibly “get to heaven” or “be saved” by our own merit or works. We will never be able to erase our sin no matter how hard we try, we are still sinners.

Isaiah 53:6 tells us
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way”

Romans 3:23 says
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So we have all messed up, missed the mark, sinned. And there is a price to pay for our sin–DEATH! This death means physically and spiritually. You see death is not only our body dying but also our soul and spirit is dead because of our sin.

Romans 6:23 says
“For the wages of sin is death”

So there’s the problem BUT there is Good News!

Jesus said in John 14:6
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

You see God the Father provided for us a way through His Son Jesus Christ and Jesus told us that He is the only way. So how does this all work? Well, we must trust in what Jesus has done, not in what we can do. So what did He do? Something amazing! He died in our place.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says
“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

You see the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ so He willingly gave His life for our’s on a cross. That means He died for us, in our place. You see our wages of sin means we should have been the one on the cross paying the penalty for our sin but Jesus, the Son of God did this for us! Isn’t this amazingly good news! So what does this mean for us? It means that you and I do not have to die for our sins because Jesus did that for us.

1 Peter 3:18 says it like this
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”

I know it’s almost hard to fathom how someone would die for us. But even more so knowing that He died for us sinners. We didn’t deserve this so why did He do this for us?

Romans 5:8 tells us
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

But listen not only did He die for us–After 3 days in the grave, He came back to life to give us life! You see God wants us to live for Him! God wants to give us new life in Jesus!

Jesus said in John 10:10
“I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.”

No sin, no death, only righteousness and life! You could call this “The Great Exchange”. Your death for His life–pretty amazing huh?! Now, how do we respond to such love? Such grace? God simply asks us to give ourselves to Him, in other words, love Him back. How do we love Him back? By simply giving Him our lives. We surrender to His love. Here’s how we do this-this is how we start a relationship with God through Jesus Christ His Son.

1 John 1:9 tells us
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Also,

Romans 10:9-10
“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.”

So here is the Good News…

Confess your sins. Confess you are surrendering to Him as Lord of your life. Believe that Jesus died on the cross for you–in your place. Believe that He was raised to life–He is resurrected. Tell God you want to live for Him and you trust Him with your life

This is calling on the name of the Lord

Romans 10:13
“For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Hey, there’s that “whoever” word again. It was in John 3:16 as well. The “whoever” is you!

God loves you and He wants a personal relationship with you! Will your name be in the “whoever”? You can pray a prayer from your heart similar to this…

God, I know that I am a sinner.
I have seen in your Bible that Jesus, your Son is the Savior.
I give my life to you as I trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection.
I want to live life your way. I surrender all of me to you.
Thank you for loving me and saving me.
~ Amen

If you prayed this prayer and you truly meant it from your heart, please let us know here at FBCW. We want to celebrate this new life with you. You can call us, email us, use our contact page, or the popup when you land on our website.

God bless you,
Pastor Don and the FBCW Family