You may not be interested in such a question at all. Perhaps you consider it irrelevant and outdated. Perhaps the above title moves you to an attitude of ridicule or contempt. But God's Word says that salvation is the one thing you need above all else. Jesus says, "for what shall it profit a man if He gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) Please take a few moments to consider the message that is before your eyes. It is a message to you personally based upon the word of the living and true God.

First, consider God Himself. Who is He? He is the one and only true and living God. He exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). He is the Creator of all the universe. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). He is the Sustainer, Ruler, Owner and Sovereign Lord over all creation and all creatures. "The earth is the Lord's and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1). The Bible says, "He gives to all life, breath, and all things" (Acts 17:25). Furthermore, God is holy. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" (Isaiah 6:3) God's word describes Him as dwelling in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16), that He is absolutely pure and righteous. "He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He" (Deuteronomy 32:4). He is perfect. The holy nature of God is reflected in His law. God hates sin. For example, He prohibits any kind of idolatry, He warns against using His name in vain, and He says that disrespect for parents, murder, adultery, stealing, falsehood and coveting after another's possessions are sin and worthy of punishment.

But the Bible makes it clear that sin is more than outward acts of wrongdoing. Sin is fundamentally a wrong attitude toward God. Sin is a condition of rebellion in the heart against God. Sin is a failure to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).

Who are you in God's world? God's word says that man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). But this image has been greatly marred and corrupted. We are not holy. What has happened to the human race? What has happened to you?

Your first parents, Adam and Eve, rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden. God had said to Adam, "of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17). But Adam willfully disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden. "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desireable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate" (Genesis 3:6).

This rebellion brought judgment and death into the world. God counts the whole human race guilty by the sin of our father Adam. The proof of this is that all people die. "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). The Bible also says that, "by one man's disobedience many were made sinners (Romans 5:19).

All people, including you, are by nature under the curse of God. That means you are going to die. But the curse does not stop with physical death. You are also cursed with spiritual death. This means alienation and separation from God in this life and in the life to come judgment in hell forever. We are all sinners by nature and by practice. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We all inherit the curse of Adam, and no one is able to deliver himself from this awful curse. We have not kept God's law and are utterly incapable of doing so. Spiritually we are all failures. "By nature" we are all "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3). Read Romans 3:10-18 for a description of your spiritual condition in God's eyes. God says that if you do not keep His law perfectly and entirely, then you are to be damned. "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things written in the book of the law, to do them" (Galatians 3:10). God cannot and will not overlook or ignore rebellion in any of His creatures. God must punish sin.

But friend, God is merciful and gracious and full of pity. He has given mankind the way of escape, the way of salvation. He has sent His Son into this world, the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is God the Son. The Scriptures are clear that Jesus Christ is God. In 1 John 5:20 Jesus Christ is called, "the true God and eternal life." Many other passages in the Bible teach that Jesus is God (for example, John 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:16; Romans 9:5; Hebrews 1:8; Titus 2:13; Isaiah 9:6).

About 2,000 years ago He came into this world and took to Himself human nature. He took, "the form of a servant and came in the likeness of sinful men" (Philippians 2:7). The Bible says that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin named Mary and that He was brought forth in Bethlehem (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:35; Matthew 2:1). Although He became man, He did not cease to be God. Jesus Christ lived a perfectly sinless life. "He knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Bible also says, "in Him there is no sin" (1 John 3:5). This one is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Hebrews 7:26). He kept God's law completely. He went to the cross, "without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:19).

But it was His death on the cross that purchased salvation for sinners. There on the cross Jesus bled and died and took upon Himself the deserved punishment of guilty sinners. God poured out His holy wrath upon Jesus at the cross--wrath we deserve. God was judging Jesus in our place at Calvary. He Himself, "bore our sins in His own body on the tree..." (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus Christ died in the place of sinners, "the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). On the cross Jesus became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). On the cross the Lord gave Himself for us. "Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her" (Ephesians 5:25). "The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep" (John 10:11).

God demonstrated that He was satisfied with Christ's sacrifice upon the cross by raising Him from the dead on the third day (Luke 24:1-12). He appeared to His apostles many times during the forty days following His resurrection (Acts 1:2-3). At one point He was seen by "over five hundred brethren at once" (1 Corinthians 15:6). His resurrection from the dead proved that God was completely satisfied (propitiated) with His Son's penal and substitutionary death on the cross. The Bible says that Christ, "was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification" (Romans 4:25).

Christ is now ascended into heaven as Lord over all, ruling and reigning as God's mediatorial King. A day has been appointed, known only to God, when Christ will return and judge the world in righteousness and bring to completion His eternal plan. He will cast all unbelievers into the lake of fire and all believers will enter the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells (Acts 17:31; Revelation 20:11-15; 2 Peter 3:3-13 ) to live with God and His people forever and ever (Revelation 21-22).

How can Christ's death on the cross save you from your sins? Jesus Christ says that you must "repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). The apostle Paul said, "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). The two key words are "repent" and "believe". These two words must not be thought of as two entirely separate and unrelated steps. They are in reality two aspects of the same reality of conversion. They are gifts of God (Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25; Philippians 1:29). Repentance and faith are the fruit of the regenerating (life-giving) work of the Holy Spirit. Repentance and faith always accompany true salvation.

God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). What is repentance? Repentance is a change of heart and mind about your sin and rebellion against God. It includes a certain measure of sorrow and regret because you have lived your life estranged from God.

Repentance also includes a change of mind toward Jesus Christ--accepting what the Bible says about Him and His death on the cross as the only remedy for the forgiveness of sins. "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).

Repentance also will include a new determination to turn from sin and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ according to His will as revealed in the Scriptures. This new determination is due to God's regenerating grace.

What is faith? Or, to put it another way, what does it mean to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? It simply means this: you must whole-heartedly put your trust (faith) in Jesus Christ alone to save you from your sins. The Bible says that it is "by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). Your own works are totally inadequate to save you. You must trust in Jesus and His shed blood alone for the forgiveness of sins. By believing in Jesus Christ to save you from your sin and the penalty of sin, you are casting yourself entirely upon Jesus Christ alone to save you. God forgives you completely and cleanses you from your sins when you repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31).

God also credits you with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, looking upon you as if you had never sinned. This is called imputed righteousness (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). "But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justisfies (declares righteous) the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5). God gives you a new life now (John 7:38; 10:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17) and an eternal inheritance in the world to come (Acts 26:18; Ephesians 1:11-14; 1 Peter 1:3-4).

Perhaps you are convinced that you need this salvation from sin and judgment and want to have it. Simply call out to the Lord in sincere, humble repentance and place your trust in Jesus Christ alone. "Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13).

Here's a typical prayer for salvation: "Lord, I know I am a sinner and need forgiveness. I am sorry for my sins and rebellion. I now put my trust in Jesus your Son, the only Savior. I believe that His death on the cross is fully sufficient to take away my sin. I place my complete trust in Him. I ask you Lord Jesus to forgive me and to put to my account your perfect righteousness. I believe you have heard me. Thank you Lord. Amen.

To reject this message is to be cast one day into hell forever. "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15). To receive the Lord Jesus Christ is to become a child of God and to enjoy Him now and forever. If you have put your trust in Jesus you need to grow in the grace and knowledge of Him. Please let us know if you have believed in Christ so that we may have the privilege of directing you into a Bible-believing church.