Equipping Others to Serve the Savior!
Salvation: God's Free Gift to Everyone...Who Wants It!
The salvation that God freely offers is often misunderstood. In this short presentation, we will show why salvation is necessary, what salvation is and how we can receive it.
John, who was personally trained by Jesus, said this about salvation: "And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (1 John 5:11-12). So we see that eternal life is given to us by God through His Son, Jesus Christ. We must have the Son of God in order to have eternal life. But how can a person have the Son of God?
Throughout history, humanity has tried to close the gap between themselves and God by living the "Good Life", various "Religions" or "Philosophies". All of them fall woefully short. In fact, Isaiah 59:2 says, "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear."
In fact, the Bible tells us that God is too pure and holy to even look upon evil with approval (Habakkuk 1:13a). Because God is 100% holy and humanity's level of holiness is 0%, there is no amount 
of good works, obeying of rules or religious rituals that can close this enormous gap. Paul tells us that no one is righteous-not even one (Romans 3:9-10; 3:23). Not everyone agrees that they are in fact sinners. Take this quick quiz to see if you are indeed a sinner in need of God's salvation.
Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever taken something that wasn't yours? Have you ever had an evil thought towards someone else? Have you ever looked at another man or woman with lust? Have you ever taken God's name in vain? Have you ever worshiped something or someone other than God? If you answered "yes" to any ONE of these questions (and you know everyone has), then you are a sinner in need of salvation. No amount of good works can bridge the gap between our sinfulness and God's holiness, which is why the Bible says that, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).
That's not the end of the story. There's Good News! God has given us a solution to our sin problem. In Romans 5:8, we are told that "…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." Romans 5:6
The wonderful good news, the message of the gospel was summarized in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4: "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." Jesus took the punishment we rightly deserved and has made it possible for all who believe (i.e. trust oneself) in him will receive salvation.
Romans 1:4: "and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our LORD."
Romans 4:25: "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification."
Second Corinthians 5:21: "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
First Peter 3:18: "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit."
Because Jesus did all the work, we have the easy part of taking him at his word-trusting in what he did for us. You can receive God's Son and have eternal life, but it must be on God's terms, not yours. God has provided only one way to receive eternal life and that is through His Son. Jesus makes this clear when he said, "…I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).
John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
We've seen from the Bible that we must recognize that we are sinners and that no amount of human effort can save us; it is only by faith alone in Christ alone that salvation can be ours. If you have recognized this, you may want to express it by saying a simple prayer acknowledging your sinfulness, accepting the forgiveness that God offers and put your trust in Jesus alone for salvation. Below is a short prayer you could say. There's absolutely nothing magical in the words, it's the honesty of your heart.
"Dear God, I now realize and admit that I am a sinner in need of the salvation that you offer in Jesus. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood for my sins, and that he rose from the dead on the third day. I am sorry for the many sins (misdeeds) that I have committed against you. Therefore, I am now willing to repent (change my mind about sin and obey Jesus) and ask that you have mercy on me, a sinner. Teach me your ways Lord. Amen."