SimpleFolk

Just for You!

I’m a good person. I’m very spiritual. I’m a catholic. I was baptized as a child. These are the types of responses that you get from people when you ask them about their relationship with God, but none of those responses answer the question adequately. Moreover, neither of them alone are a biblical justification for salvation.

Society’s and religion’s traditions has made having a relationship with God legalistic, ritualistic, and flat out complex. Jesus taught salvation as the result of one simple act and the consequence of one simple experience. The act is, simply believing that Jesus is LORD and accepting Him as such in your heart. The experience is a literal one; it is the experience of being born-again (2Corinthians 5:17).

Read here how Jesus taught it.

In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ (John 3:3-7 NIV)

You see, it is not as much an issue of being saved as it is being born again, and consequently you are saved. You are freed from the power that sin has over your life, and rescued from having to pay the price of sin. Simply put, Christ pays the debt that you can’t afford to pay yourself. Just in case you haven’t realized it yet, let us say, “That is a good thing!”

Most people are thinking that when they die God is going to weigh their good deeds and their bad deeds. Whichever out weighs the other determines where they will go. What many fail to realize is God’s standards are far above ours (Isaiah 55:8-9, Isaiah 64:6, Luke 16:15). The best of us fall far below His standards, and He doesn’t grade on a curve. He has already declared everybody guilty as charged. You will not and cannot be justified by your own actions and merit. That’s why Jesus died for the world.

So where does that leave us? According to Christ it leaves us with only one of two options and none in between. Either we accept Jesus as our Savior or we dismiss His claims of being the Son of God. The Word states, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18 NKJV).

You know, we do not doubt people when they say, “I am a good person”, “I am a Catholic”, “I am very spiritual”, or “I have been baptized”, or any other such statements. Those all can be good qualities and characteristics for a person to have, but they don’t amount to anything if you have not first received Christ as Master, Savior, and Lord, consequently becoming born-again (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Romans 10:9-10 & 13 says, “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. V. 13 For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”

Simply say this to God or anything you want to say from the heart that conveys these same ideas. Say, “Lord, I know that I have no righteousness without you. I need you in my life. I understand that I am not prepared for this life or the next life in eternity unless I have accepted you as Savior of my life. You promised me and all people that if we would ask, then you will come into our heart and lives. You promised that you would make us new and save us from a nature of sin. I’m telling you now that I want you in my life. I am willing to learn your ways and follow them, but I admit that I need your help to do it. I believe that you died for my sins and I believe that you are alive today. Lord, please take me and save me. My life belongs to you! Thank you! Amen!

Congratulations! You have just made the best decision that you will ever make. Now, it is time to start your journey. You need to find a church that teaches from the Bible. Ask them to water baptize you. Start nurturing your personal relationship with God by praying (talking to Him), and reading the Bible. We will have more videos and blogs on SimpleFolk.Net for you, so continue to check in regularly. You never know what you may find. SimpleFolk.Net keeps it real, but even more we keep it simple.