The Way of Salvation
I want to personally thank you for coming to this page because it contains the most important message you will ever read. I would like to pose to you a question. If you were to die today are you 100% sure that you are on your way to heaven, or are you still working on it? The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8&9 " 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." You cannot get to heaven by your works. You say, "Well, I'm a good person, surely I can go to heaven." My friend, being a good person has no merit to salvation at all. Romans 3:10-12 says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." No matter how great we may think we are or how many works we have done, we cannot get to heaven on our own merit. God considers our righteousness to be as disgusting as filthy rags. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64:6) There is absolutely no way possible for us to get to heaven on our own.
There is hope for us though. My friend, there is a way to heaven. That way is through Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ said in John 14:6 "…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." Christ is the only way by which we can go to heaven. Well, you may say, ok, that is good, but how can I do this. There are some facts that we must understand regarding our salvation.
#1 Realize we are sinners. The first fact we must understand is that we are all sinners. The Bible says in Romans 3:10 "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" In Romans 3:23 the Bible says "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
God established some guidelines for us that we must follow. These guidelines are called the 10 commandments. These commandments are the laws we can live by to be godly. Due to our sin nature we have failed to keep these commandments. Let me ask you a few questions. Have you ever told a lie? The Bible says in Exodus 20:16 "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor" Have you ever stolen whether it be something huge or small such as a piece of candy from the candy store. The Bible says, "Thou shalt not steal." How about murder, have you ever murdered anyone? You say well, of coarse not, but notice what the bible says in Matthew 5: 21-22 "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." So have you ever been angry with someone without any reason and lashed out in anger. According to the teaching of Christ in this passage that makes you a murderer. How about adultery, have you ever committed adultery? Again you may say, "Well, of coarse not." But in that same passage Christ speaks again and says "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28) By looking at the 10 commandments we realize that we are all sinners. But why, why are we sinners?
The Bible says in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Adam took that one bite of the forbidden fruit and this death and sin passed upon all mankind. According to Genesis 1:27, Adam was made in the image of God. But because of his sin that image became marred. God made man after his likeness. Adam was this man that was in God's likeness. But after the fall of Adam that likeness was distorted. Adam sinned and caused that sin curse to fall on all mankind. All of Adam's descendants, including us, are made in the image of God, but also in the image of man, in that we have inherited this sin nature. Starting with Adam, every person that is born of man is likewise under that curse of sin. So therefore we are all sinners.
#2 Realize that God is Holy and prepared a terrible place to punish sin. The Bible says in Romans 6:23a "For the wages of sin is death…" What are wages? We here on earth have what is called an occupation. We go to work each day and we receive something occasionally called a pay check or our wages. So therefore we can realize that the payment or wages of sin is death. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin so therefore He has no choice but to punish sin. That word death represents eternal separation from God in a terrible place called hell. God is holy and prepared a terrible place to punish sin. That place is called hell.
#3 Realize that we don't have to go to that terrible place called hell. Thank God that Romans 6:23 does not end were it did in the previous point. Romans 6:23 in its entirety says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." God loves us so much that he provided a special gift for us. This is the gift of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. John 3:16 says, "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." Romans 5:8 says, "But God commendeth (demonstrated) his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Christ took the punishment for our sins. Romans 5:19 says "For as by one man's disobedience [Adam] many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one [Christ] shall many be made righteous." Christ provided the way for us to escape the damnation of hell.
#4 Place your faith and trust in Christ and accept Him as your personal Savior. You may say, that is great, everything we have talked about is fine and good, but what must I do to be saved? My friend, all you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Romans 10:9-10 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Will you call on Him today? You can do it this very moment. Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." You can trust Jesus Christ and accept Him right now as your Savior. Will you do it? I hope you will.
If by reading this message you have put you faith and trust in Christ, we would love to hear from you. If you have accepted Christ today, please e-mail us at pastorpatrick@mail.com and let us know of your profession.
May God Bless You,
Patrick Neiswinger (Founder)