You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

You are the light of the world. ...let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:13-16).

Susan came to me with multiple complaints. Although her physical aliments were real, it seemed clear that there was an underlying spiritual problem. After addressing the specific complaints over a couple of visits, Susan began to reveal the real bane of her existence. Her marriage was failing. Despite the happy façade she created at work and church, she felt isolated and of no value.

When I suggested that God could help restore her marriage, she confessed that she had never felt that she really knew God. She knew about him, but she did not know him. She did not have the assurance that she was “part of the family.”

After counseling with her pastor and me, Susan made a knowledgeable and intentional decision to accept Christ as her Savior and Lord. The change in her life was real. The subsequent joy she reflected so affected her husband that he too accepted Christ. As they matured, they became counselors to other struggling couples.

A marriage ministry was born in their church that was conceived in an exam room.

- Dr. Gene Rudd

We who are Christians are witnesses, whether we choose to be or not. As his followers, our choice, therefore, is either to be good witnesses or bad witnesses. Jesus chose salt and light as metaphors for who we are in relation to the world around us. It is not a question of “if,” it is a question of “what kind” of salt or light we will be. Good salt adds taste and preserves. Salt that has lost its saltiness is worthless – to be thrown out. Light that is hidden serves no purpose, either. But good salt accentuates the taste of godly things and makes people thirst for righteousness. And bright light illuminates his presence and work in our world.

The apostle Paul wrote: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col. 4:5, 6). Paul is suggesting that our words and deeds be tasty and winsome to those around us. To be tasty, they must be full of grace, pleasant, and “seasoned with salt.” Have you ever had fries or mashed potatoes without salt? Blah! Too much salt also spoils the flavor (as well as one’s health), making both fries and our witness unappealing. But, salt in the right proportion makes potatoes irresistible–you eat some and want some more.

Our witness should be like that: tasty to a world that is hungry for flavor – a world in great need of the Bread of Life. Just as we seek proper salt balance in our patients, God calls us to be salt and light in just the right dosage.

Dear Father,
Help me to know the longing you feel for your lost children to come home. Give me the will and the words to share your truth with those I encounter. Help me to be both kind and bold such that these people are drawn toward your love.

Amen

*Adapted from Practice by the Book

One of the most damnable heresies you’ll ever hear is that if you ask God to come into your heart and save you, He definitely will. Let me repeat myself: that God will save you just because you say the sinner’s prayer is a lie.

Do I have your attention now? Good. Now please, bear with me as I explain myself.

The teaching of heresy is a problem that is becoming more and more prevalent in Christianity (or what calls itself Christianity) today, both here in America and also throughout the rest of the world. A heretical teaching is basically anything proclaimed that directly contradicts what God’s word teaches. This is not to be confused with opinion. An example of opinion would be whether or not to use pews or chairs, or whether or not to wear a suit to church. To preach these things is to preach one’s opinion, as the Bible does not directly address these issues. Conversely, teaching that Jesus didn’t die on the cross is heresy, as the Bible very clearly states that He did indeed die there.

Biblical doctrine can be classified into two categories: essentials and non-essentials. By essential, it’s generally understood to be essential to the doctrine of salvation. Essential-attacking heresies include the teaching of multiple gods (Mormonism), that baptism is a requirement for salvation (Church of Christ), that salvation is not through faith alone (Roman Catholicism), or that salvation is available apart from Jesus Christ (Islam).

Heresy of non-essential Biblical doctrines would include whether or not to allow women to hold positions as pastors or deacons, infant baptism, the use of charismatic gifts, etc. These doctrines have no bearing on a person’s salvation; they are more a matter of poor or faulty interpretation. Therefore, while certainly questionable, I don’t think that to teach these things are heretical in the sense that it affects one’s salvation.

Please bear in mind that I’m not defining “heresy” to be set in stone. Protestantism views Catholicism as heretical, and vice-verse. Heresy in and of itself is “going contrary to teaching”. Thus, every denomination is “heretical” in the eyes of another. I’m merely trying to give heresy a working definition in light of what the Bible teaches regarding this issue. For the purpose of this article, we’ll define heresy as being any teaching that goes against the doctrine of salvation as taught in the Bible. I’ve already given several examples of various groups that hold beliefs that directly contradict what is clearly taught in God’s Word concerning salvation.

I want to talk today about one of the biggest heresies that has ever been taught, one that is found common in evangelical Christianity, sadly enough. That heresy is this:

“If you pray a prayer and ask God to come into your heart, He will definitely save you.”

You may be asking yourself why I keep calling this teaching heresy. Well, simple….it’s not true.

I was writing my last blog and finally got around to the part where you “pray the sinner’s prayer” and seal the deal. The funny thing was…I just couldn’t find it in my Bible. This shocked me. I mean, after all…isn’t that what we all hear in church? “Repeat these simple words. Dear God, I realize that I’m a sinner, etc. etc.”

Well, naturally I wanted to include it in my blog, that way if someone was convicted of their need for salvation they would know what to do. As I said, though…you’ll not find any of the apostles, other Christians, or Christ Himself telling anyone to pray a prayer and accept Him into their heart. Right now I imagine some of you might be itching to look up Romans 10:13 and smack me over the head with it. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

To that, I ask that you read also the next sentence: “how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?” In other words, if you were saved when you said the sinner’s prayer (and there’s a good chance you were not), it was because you believed the Gospel, not because you said the magic words. Think about it this way…if you were talking to your friends about their salvation, and one of them said “I know I’m going to Heaven because I got baptized”, you’d look at them oddly. Your look would further intensify as another friend said “I know I’m going to Heaven because I joined a church”, or “I’m going because I pay my tithe!”, or “I keep the sacraments”.

See, you know how mistaken they are in their beliefs that getting wet, tossing money in the plate, or joining a church will save their soul…yet when they ask us how we know we’re saved, too many of us evangelical believers reply with: “Oh, I’m going to Heaven because I prayed a prayer!”

See the silliness? Your utterance of a sentence or two has no more saving power than hopping in the baptistry or chucking quarters in the plate. Your profession of faith is meaningless without an underlying faith to give it any credence with the Father. It’s not in what you say; it’s about why you said it in the first place. Let me illustrate: let’s say that you know of a prominent atheist in the area, and you con him into repeating the sinner’s prayer. For the sake of the argument, let’s say that you offer to pay him $1000 to repeat your every word. After he agrees to do so, you have him say “dear God, I know I’m a sinner. Please forgive me of my sins and come into my heart. In Jesus’ name, amen.” You should know as well as I do that the mere repetition of this prayer will in no way alter the condition of this man’s soul if he has no belief behind it. Do you understand what I’m saying? Prayer doesn’t save: faith in God saves.

We see in Acts 10:44 that the Holy Spirit indwelt those that believed, right smack in the middle of Peter’s sermon. There was no sinner’s prayer, there was no baptism (of any type), and there was nothing but the simple hearing and believing of the Gospel.

Some Calvinist friends of mine have said that the cognitive act of believing and accepting also requires work on behalf of the sinner and therefore you’re not truly saved. Not so. Think of it this way: if you walk outside and its 10 degrees below zero, your body will shiver, your teeth will chatter, you’ll no doubt be miserable. Does this happen only because you believe it’s cold? Does this require action on your part? No! The truth is, it’s cold and it takes no effort or decision to respond to it. Likewise, the truth is, we’re all sinners and we’re all deserving of Hell. The truth is that Jesus died in our place, that He suffered the wrath of God so that we wouldn’t have to. It requires no cognitive action on our part to make this true; it’s true regardless of what we think. In fact, it’s the active denial of this truth that condemns a person to Hell. So no…no action is involved with salvation. Salvation comes from faith, and faith requires no action.

I was talking to a friend who shared her salvation experience with me. She was at church, convicted by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel, and went to the front of the church during the invitation. However, she knows that she was saved right there in her seat before she ever walked to talk with the pastor in the front. Likewise, all salvation is granted at the moment of belief. The sinner’s prayer in and of itself is harmless if said with a convicted heart, but it’s essential to know that the prayer is meaningless without that conviction. I would go as far as to state it like this: You’re not saved because you say the sinner’s prayer…if anything, you say the sinner’s prayer because you’re saved.

I realize that I’m repetitiously beating a dead horse, and for that I apologize. However, there’s a pandemic of weak theology floating around this country that has probably millions of people wrongly believing that they’re saved because they said the magic prayer. For proof of this, one has but to turn to www.barna.org. I gave some stats a few months ago; let me recap.

Barna, through self-reports and questionnaires, defines a born-again Christian as a person answering ‘yes’ to the following two questions: “have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?” and “when I die, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior.”

On the surface, these questions and answers certainly seem to be valid criterion on which to base the authenticity of a person’s confession of faith. However, of the 101 million Americans that are identified as being born-again Christians, there are 33% that believe that if a person is good enough, they can earn a place in Heaven. Surveys show that 28% of born-again Christians believe that while Jesus lived on this earth, He committed sins just like everyone else.

I believe that a belief in either of these two statements is indicative of a false-conversion. The Bible clearly teaches that salvation is through faith and faith only. To put trust in works is to say that Jesus’ death was not enough to satisfy God. To put faith in our works is to believe that if we do enough, God will be indebted to us and must therefore allow us into Heaven.

Likewise, to believe that Jesus was a sinner is to show a lack of understanding (or a lack of acceptance) of the true gospel. Our sin separated us from God, and therefore God demanded the sacrifice of a sinless human. The only way in which this was possible was for God Himself to satisfy this requirement and therefore sent His own Son to live that sinless life, to be that perfect sacrifice. This was the only way in which our sins could be forgiven. The perfection of Jesus Christ was essential to the plan of God. To believe that Jesus was a sinner reveals, in my opinion, that the person holding this belief doesn’t

truly understand their need for salvation or how Christ’s death would have made it possible.

These 33-odd millions of Americans professing to be saved are anything but. I believe them to be representative of the ‘believers’ described by Jesus in Matthew 7: 21-23: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Yes, that’s right. There will be people on the Day of Judgment arguing with God, professing to be saved. And they will be told “No…you’re not. I never knew you.” Do you not realize the significance of this? And these are people that cast out demons and worked miracles! If they’re not saved, who is?? “Not everyone that says ‘Lord, Lord’…” Or perhaps, “Not everyone that said ‘Dear God, I know I’m a sinner’…” I wonder how many of you might fall into this group of people believing yourselves saved because of a prayer you said once in your life. Do you know that you’re truly saved? How do you know you’re not one of those Matthew 7 people that are damned, even though you believe that you believe? How do you know???

“Well Rick, I know in my heart of hearts that”- stop right there. Jeremiah 17:9 teaches us that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. You ought not trust your heart for the basis of your salvation. “Well Rick, I asked God into my heart”…my friend, we have already covered this one. “I know I’m saved because the pastor told me!” And since when does a person have the authority to declare you saved? The question remains…How do you know that you’re really saved? How do you know that you got saved when you think you did? Can we know?

Yes…we can. And that is the point of this blog. I’m going to tell you how the Bible says we can know we’re saved, and it has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not we said a prayer sometime. I apologize for the length of this article, as well as for the circles I’m running. I felt it necessary though, to lay out the fact that praying a prayer, knowing in your heart, or being told that you’re saved really has no credibility as far as assurance of salvation goes. You can’t know that you’re truly a child of God merely because you prayed a prayer. Everyone prays a prayer. You can’t know that you’re saved because you wrote a date down in the back of your Bible. How do you know if you were really saved that day? You can’t know you’re saved because you know that you know that you know in your heart that you’re saved. The heart is wicked, remember? So how do you know you really believe? Everyone believes. Remember Barna?

Let me draw you to a comment that Paul makes in his second recorded epistle to the church at Corinth. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, he makes a seemingly offhanded suggestion: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” Or, as the HCSB translates it, “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you not recognize for yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you? –unless you fail the test.”

To get a better understanding of the tests that we can take to see if we truly know Him, let me direct you to the book of I John. This book of the Bible wasn’t directed to a particular person or church; it was intended to be read and followed by all believers. Within its five short chapters are multiple indicators by which a believer can determine whether or not they are truly saved. Each one is in itself a sermon, but I’ll do what I can for the sake of brevity to present each test in a clear and concise manner.

Before I start, I want to point out something. So many times throughout this letter we see the words “if we say”. Think about it. This is John’s way of saying, “Alright, for all of you that claim to be Christians”…John really doesn’t care that the reader thinks they’re saved. He puts no stock in their profession of faith. As I said, the entire point of these tests is to reveal to the reader whether or not they’re truly saved, irregardless of “if we say”. Bear that in mind as we continue. I would also like to add that I may change the capitalization and punctuation of the KJV in order to facilitate easier comprehension.

Test #1 (I John 1:6-7): “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”

Do you, as a way of life, walk around in darkness, or are you walking in the light? Does your lifestyle consistently contradict what the Bible teaches about God’s desire for our lives? When peoples see you, to they see a constant reflection of Christ, or do they see a reflection of the un-saved? Is your life any different from your un-saved friends.

Test #2 (I John 1:8-10): “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. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

True Christians will be aware of and convicted of their sin. How’s your sensitivity to sin? Is your heart responsive to it? Has it ever been? Let me ask you a scary question…when is the last time you cried over your sin? Have you ever in your life been acutely aware of the sinfulness of your life and been broken over it?

Test #3 (I John 2:3-4): “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith ‘I know Him’, and keepeth not His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

Let me ask you, how much do you care about the commandments of God? As a style of life, do you keep them? I’m not talking about going out of your way trying to figure out the right thing to do. What I mean is, do you naturally follow the instructions of God, or is your life consumed by doing what you want, rather than what He wants? Who do your actions reflect? God…or yourself?

Test #4 (I John 2:6): “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.”

Again, how much does your life reflect Christ? Do you look like Him, or do you act, walk, and talk like the un-saved world around you? I realize that none of us are perfect, and there are certainly times in each of our lives where we reflect not God. But as a way of life, do you resemble Him or Satan?

Test #5 (I John 2:9-11): “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goes because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.”

The word “brother” here is taken to mean a fellow Christian. How much do you love the brethren? How much do you enjoy fellowshipping with other Believers, being in a group of Christians? Granted, there will always be people we might not necessarily get along with well, but do you overall enjoy being with Christians? Or do you find them to be annoying, over-bearing, goody-goodys that need to lighten up and get off your back? Do you love the brethren?

Test #6 (I John 2:15): “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Do you love and embrace the things of the world, more so than the things of God? Do you consistently feed your worldly desires, or is your focus on that which God would have of you? Yes, we all at times will struggle with yielding to our fleshly temptations, but are you constantly bogged down and controlled by them? Is your heart here on Earth, or do you live for the Kingdom?

Test #7 (I John 2:19): “They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have no doubt continued with us. But they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

Do you seek the body of Christ? Do you find enjoyment in going to church, to gathering together with other Christians? Or is there no desire on your part to find a church to be in? Is church something you look forward to, or is it something you dread, an obligatory bi-yearly event? Is your church your family, or is it your Sunday morning party-pooper?

Test #8 (I John 2:22): “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.”

This one speaks for itself. Do you believe that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Son of God, God himself? Or do you think that Jesus was just a good man, a prophet, or a healer? True salvation is impossible apart from recognizing that Jesus Christ was the Son of God.

Test #9 (I John 2:29): “If you know that He is righteous, ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him.”

Again, this is not reflective of a legalistic “what can I do to appear righteous” mentality. This means that you, as a style of life, will reflect righteous behavior. It goes back to the idea of a vine that bears good fruit. A true Christian will produce good works. An absence of these is indicative of a non-believer’s vain attempt at Christianity. How much do your actions glorify God? Does your lifestyle overall meet His approval, or does it merit His disappointment? Does your life reflect righteousness or unrighteousness?

Test #10 (I John 5:11-12): “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”

This one is simple, guys. Salvation is impossible without Jesus. If you’re trusting in any other person, object, or ideology to save your soul, you are wrong. Confucius cannot save you, Buddha cannot save you, and Muhammad cannot save you. The only way by which we can be reconciled to the Father is by placing our trust in Jesus Christ. We cannot work our way to Heaven, we cannot sneak in through the back, and we cannot expect God to cut us slack because we thought there was another way. Jesus said in John 14:6 that no one comes to the Father but through Him. Are you trusting in Christ for your salvation? If not, you are wrong, my friend.

* * *

I hope that through these tests you have come to understand that the only assurance a person can have of their salvation is in their lifestyle. Jesus said in Matthew 7:20 that people will be known by their fruits, by their actions. Is your lifestyle indicative of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit? Has it ever been? Did your life ever change once you thought yourself to be a Christian? If not, be very afraid. God’s word very, very clearly teaches that a Christian’s life will change. Consider 2 Corinthians 5:17- “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

I ask you again, when you believed that you got saved, did your life change? There are only three answers to this question. “Yes, it changed and it is still changed”, “Yes, it changed, but since then I have backslidden in a sinful lifestyle”, and “No…it never changed”. If it is still changed, praise God. If it’s not like it was, why not? Repent, and turn back to God. He’ll always be there, and He wants nothing more than for you to turn back to Him.

But if there’s never been a change in your life...do you really know Him? I cannot tell you that you’re saved or not saved; I can only tell you how to be saved, and God’s word reveals through your life whether or not you are saved. If you’re wondering how to get saved, that part is simple: believe that Gospel. Know that Jesus died to satisfy His Father’s requirement for a sinless sacrifice. Know that he was buried and rose again. Incredibly simple, I know. But God loves us too much to make us jump through hoops to be saved. If you have questions about this, I encourage you to read my previous blog, or talk to a pastor or a Christian.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

- John 3:16

What are you going to do?

In Mark 16:15-16, Jesus says to his apostles "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." *

Allow me to begin by clearly defining, from the Greek, a couple of phrases within this verse. Our word 'believeth' is taken from the Greek word 'pisteuo', which means "to have faith in, upon, or with respect to a person or thing, to entrust."

'Shall be saved' is used in place of the Greek 'sozo' and means 'to save, deliver, protect (literally or figuratively). 'Shall be damned' is used for 'katakrino' and means "To judge against, to sentence". **

So in other words, Jesus has told his apostles that everyone that places their complete faith and trust in the gospel will be delivered and protected. Those that do not will be judged and sentenced. This raises a couple questions, such as: "what does it mean to be damned, judged, sentenced...what will the saved people be saved from? What’s going on?"

The answer to this can be found in Revelation 20:15, where the apostle John writes "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." This, my friends, is that "eternity in hell" that is heard from believers like myself. This leaves us with the most important question: What is the gospel? Well, the word Jesus used in the Greek is from 'euaggelion' and means "a good message, or good news."

Ok, so apparently there is a bit of good news that, if trusted and believed in, will lead either to an eternity in Heaven or an eternity in Hell. So what's the good news? Well, the answer to that question begins in Genesis 1:1 and encompasses the entire Bible.

Most stories begin with the words "once upon a time." God's story begins with the words "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." Unlike fairytales, this story is true. We see the literal account of creation taking place in the book of Genesis. We also see the fall of man. Within the Garden of Eden there was one particular tree that Adam and Eve, the first two humans to ever live, were forbidden to eat from. This tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God’s instructions were simple: "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17).

Fairly simple, right? Adam and Eve had it made. They communed with God, they had the serenity of a more beautiful garden than the world has known, and life was good. Shouldn't be too hard to obey one simple instruction, right? Wrong. At this point in the story we have three characters- God, Adam, and Eve. Here is the forth: the serpent. Identified as Satan in the book of Revelation, the serpent goes to Eve and tells her that, contrary to what God has said, she should go ahead and eat some fruit. He says in Genesis 3:5 "for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

In other words, Satan led Eve to believe that God didn’t want her and Adam to eat that particular fruit merely because God didn't want them to become God-like, as He was. Well, Eve fell for it and ate the fruit. We see in the same verse (6) that Adam, who was with her, also ate it. The rest of Genesis chapter 3 details God’s confrontation with Adam and Eve, their weak attempts to excuse their sin, the curses that God placed on both of them (as well as Satan), and then their exile from the Garden of Eden. Now sin has entered into the world, and with it death- both spiritually and physically.

I'd like to stop here and try my best to answer a question that has entertained scholars and theologians for quite possibly thousands of years, and it's a question that I believe most of us have asked within ourselves. The question is: "Why?"

Why would God create mankind, knowing we would fail? Why did God create Satan? If God is perfect, how could He create a less-than-perfect being? Why did God create people, knowing they would go to Hell? Why, why, why?

I’ll tell you why. It's because He loved us. Now let me explain, because I know that on the surface this explanation sounds bizarre. My reasoning is simple, though. We must first realize that God truly does love us all. John 3:16 tells us that God loves the entire world. Indeed, 1 John 4:8 tells us that God IS love. What does this have to do with our inevitable sin? Everything.

See, God absolutely will not force anyone to love Him. He will not force anyone to obey Him. He will not make us do things we refuse to do. Will He chastise and correct us? Of course. But does He force us to love Him? No, He doesn't. God created the angels, and He created man, but He also created them with free will, or the ability to choose whether or not to serve and accept Him. Satan chose to rebel against God. We can read this in Isaiah 14. Because of his sin, God cast him and his followers out from Heaven. Revelation 12:4 tells us that 1/3 of the angels in Heaven also exercised their will and chose to side with Satan. Likewise, Adam and Eve chose to sin. God could have made the angels incapable of sin. He could have made Adam and Eve incapable of sin...but had He done this, He would have removed their freedom of choice from the equation. He would have had nothing more than robots designed and built exclusively to serve Him without thought or question, and there is no love in that. True love demands a choice, without it you have a dictatorship.

So now we have sin, and with it separation from a righteous, holy God. How do we fix this chasm that has occurred between us and our creator? How do we as sinners convince a God of pure Holiness to let us back into His presence? Well...we can’t. Not without a sacrifice, anyways. See, God demands sheer perfection. And because He knew we were unable to live perfect lives, He devised a way for His followers to have their sins forgiven. This method is found in Exodus 29:36 as God tells Moses that "thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement." In other words, a bull free of blemish was to be sacrificed daily as atonement for the sins of God’s followers. The price of their sins was death, and they appeased this punishment by way of a sacrifice.

This is a process seen throughout the Old Testament as the Israelite tribe of Levi carried out the duties of the priests and interceded for the people. Then, various prophets began to speak of a Messiah, one who would once and for all become a sacrifice for the people, one that would pay for their sins and reconcile them to God. Isaiah 53 speaks in great detail of this. Earlier in that book, Isaiah prophecies about a sign concerning the coming Messiah. He says in chapter 7, verse 14 "therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

A little more than 400 years pass by with silence from Heaven, as far as the Bible goes. We have no inspired books of the Bible written during these four centuries. We find now in Matthew chapter one that a young woman named Mary, a virgin, finds herself pregnant. Her soon to be husband Joseph, while in the very thought of what to do about his now-pregnant fiancé (bear in mind he knows that the child is not his. He and Mary had not been intimate yet), is visited by an angel.

Matthew 1:20-23 says: "But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.' Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

The Messiah had arrived.

Jesus of Nazareth was an amazing man. 100% man, yet 100% God, he lived about 30 years before beginning his ministry. His first recorded words in the book of Mark are "the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye, and believe the gospel."

There's that word again, 'gospel.' Even then, Jesus was preparing people for it. There are so many roads I could hop on with this, so many ways to summarize the next three years of Jesus' life. Please bear in mind as you read this that I am presenting a bare-bones summarization of the Bible. I'm condensing into a few pages what my Bible says in 2500 pages.

Jesus lived a flawless, sinless, perfect life. He spent the last three years of it teaching and loving those around him. He taught about Hell and eternal life. He taught how we're to behave towards each other. He taught repentance, and to be born again spiritually. A huge part of his ministry was working miracles to demonstrate his love and power. The first four books of the New Testament record over 35 miracles that Jesus performed. This was just a small fraction of the works that He did. In fact, the last verse in the book of John says "And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen."

These miracles included healing the deaf and blind, feeding thousands of people from a small amount of food, healing lepers and paralyzed people, and even raising the dead. There was no doubt that He was indeed the son of God. Jesus told us in John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 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."

Jesus told us that He came to earth so that we could be saved from God's punishment of our sins. There was only one way this could be accomplished; through the shedding of His blood. Hebrews 9:22 teaches us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, or forgiveness, of our sins. The validity of His words and teachings would be proven through His death, burial, and resurrection.

Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19 detail the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Betrayed by Judas, one of his disciples, found 'guilty' in a bogus, illegal trail, Jesus was sentenced to die by crucifixion, deemed to be one of the most excruciatingly painful ways to die. But He did it. He hung on that cross for hours, bearing the punishment for every sin that has ever been or ever will be committed. He suffers the separation from God, His own father. He cries out in Matthew 27:46 "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He finally died after uttering the words "It is finished." It doesn't end there, though. Those same books continue to show that on the morning of the third day after His death, Jesus was resurrected. Before His ascension back to Heaven, He was seen by over 500 people, thus proving His deity and ability to defeat death.

This, my friends, is the Gospel. The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of God, defines the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."

Does this mean that everyone is saved? No, it doesn't. Salvation is indeed offered to all, but not all will accept it. Jesus himself told us this in Matthew 7:14. In fact, the majority of people that has ever lived or ever will live will reject this gift of salvation. They do this because they refuse to acknowledge several Biblical truths. These truths have to be believed in order to truly accept what Christ did. These truths are these:

1. You are a sinner. Romans 3:23 tells us "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." You, me, everyone alive past or present has missed the mark. We have all sinned.

2. Punishment for this sin is death, both physical and spiritual. There's simply no getting around this on our own. Romans 5:12 says "for as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all had sinned." Romans 6:23a says "for the wages of sin is death...."

3. You do not have to go to hell. Romans 6:23b continues on "...but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Christ died so that you wouldn't have to.

4. You must choose whether or not to place your trust in Christ to save you from hell. There isn't a thing you can do for yourself; it is already done by Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 declares "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast."

That's the gospel, guys. Christ shed His own blood and died so that we could have eternal life if we truly believe on Him. The choice is yours. Salvation or damnation is entirely up to you. What's it going to be? If you're reading this article and you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, there’s a good chance that the even now the Holy Spirit is telling you in your heart that what you've read is true. God is knocking on the door of your heart. Will you let Him in, or will choose to reject the Truth? Will you by faith accept this gift and spend an eternity in Heaven, or throw it away and suffer an eternity burning in Hell?

If any of you at all have further questions about salvation or would like clarity on any of the aforementioned issues, I encourage you to confer with your pastor, myself, or another Christian. Those of you reading this that have already accepted the gift of salvation, I ask that you might pray for the un-saved readers that are reading this.

*The words "and is baptized" were relatively ignored in this blog because true Christianity is based on faith, not works. It is easy to take the entire verse and think that baptism is a necessary ingredient to salvation, but an overview of the Gospel shows that baptism is a sign of obedience to Jesus Christ and of identification of the new Believer. As explained, faith and faith alone is what saves us. For more information on this, see http://www.carm.org/questions/baptnec.htm

** I would like to acknowledge that the Greek words that I've presented are in their root forms and may not appear in the actual Greek New Testament. My software defines the word by its root and not by the root + tense. Irregardless, to my knowledge the definition remains the same.

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