Though the gift of Salvation comes to each of us without charge, and is a free gift to those who are saved; it nevertheless did not come cheap, God the Father gave us His very best when He gave us His only begotten Son; and God the Son, Jesus, gave His All!
God is not willing that ANY should perish and go out into eternity, without a Savior; but that is our decision to make. God has already paid the price to make it possible, and has reserved a place, and prepared a mansion for each one of his lost children; but the question is, how many will heed the call and will accept God’s invitation?
But make no mistake, what follows is God’s will for ALL mankind!
There are many people today who are religious, having had some sort of church background, and having attended Sunday school as a child, they would be quick to say, if asked… of course I am a Christian.
After all, I was baptized as an infant; I went through conformation class, and received my First Communion; or have fulfilled some such church requirement that varies according to what the label is on the church door.
I know because I was once such a “Christian;” and the reason for the quotes is because I later found out that I was only a nominal Christian, meaning in name only.
Having never truly studied the Bible, I had no idea what it had to say about being a Christian; but I was putting my trust in my church denomination.
I even stopped going to church after my First Communion, because I thought I had fulfilled all the requirements… and boy was I wrong!
Today’s religion cheapens Christianity, and has reduced it to following a certain set of man made rules; and having fulfilled any number of man made requirements; but as we read our Bible we get a much different picture of what Christianity is!
In fact, as we look to scripture, we soon find that Christianity is not a religion at all; but it is a relationship, or marriage, between Christ and each individual in His Church; which by the way, is not the building you meet in on Sundays, or on holidays; and nor is it your particular flavor or denomination either; but to be a Christian means that you are a member and a part of the body of Christ.
I don’t know how many of you reading this saw the Passion of the Christ movie; but I can tell you that as hard as that movie was to watch because of its brutal reality and realism; I can tell you this that what Christ suffered was far worst, and far more brutal!
Now does it make sense that He would go through all of that just so we can attend church on Sundays, and the holidays of our choosing, and think by making an appearance every now and again, that we are a Christian? I think not!
So least we miss out and end up departing this life with this sort of delusion; let us just take a moment to listen and see what Jesus had to say on this subject:
Luke 14:15-35
A Story about a Big Banquet
15 One of those at the table with Jesus heard these things and said to him, “Blessed are the people who will share in the meal in God’s kingdom.”
16 Jesus said to him, “A man gave a big banquet and invited many people. 17 When it was time to eat, the man sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come. Everything is ready.’
18 “But all the guests made excuses.
The first one said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go look at it. Please excuse me.’
19 Another said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of oxen; I must go and try them. Please excuse me.’
20 A third person said, ‘I just got married; I can’t come.’
21 So the servant returned and told his master what had happened. Then the master became angry and said, ‘Go at once into the streets and alleys of the town, and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
22 Later the servant said to him, ‘Master, I did what you commanded, but we still have room.’
23 The master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes, and urge the people there to come so my house will be full.
24 I tell you, none of those whom I invited first will eat with me.’ ”
The Cost of Being Jesus’ Follower
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and said to them:
26 “If anyone comes to me but loves his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, or sisters—or even life—more than me, he cannot be my follower.
27 Whoever is not willing to carry his cross and follow me cannot be my follower.
28 If you want to build a tower, you first sit down and decide how much it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job.29 If you don’t, you might lay the foundation, but you would not be able to finish. Then all who would see it would make fun of you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build but was not able to finish.’
31 “If a king is going to fight another king, then first he will sit down and make a plan.
He will decide if he and his ten thousand soldiers can defeat the other king who has twenty thousand soldiers.
32 If he can’t, then while the other king is still far away, he will send some people to speak to him and ask for peace.
3 In the same way, you must give up everything you have to be my follower.”
And here’s another scripture that should give you an idea of what God is looking for:
Matthew 16:24-27
Take Up the Cross and Follow Him
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.”
The paradox of Christianity is that even though it is a free gift, in that you cannot earn it, unless of course you happened to have lived an absolute sinless life, and are prefect; and there is only one who was perfect, and that was Jesus Christ; but nevertheless, the paradox is there is a cost involved!
As we just read in the above Parable, about the wedding banquet; the invitations went out; and yet not every one who was invited came.
They had other more important things (in their mind anyway) to do, like live their lives as they want.
Unfortuately there are many people like that who are in for a rude awakening after they die!
Each one of those people, the Bible says, will have to answer for their own sins, and they won’t have a Saviour.
And that’s regardless of how many Sundays they attended church; or how many holidays; or how many religious rituals and requirements that they fulfilled; or how good they think they were… none of these things will even get them in the front door!
Here’s the deal, and here is the situation, according to what the Bible says, that every individual today finds him/or herself in:
Why We Need Salvation?
Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
We must recognize that we are ALL sinners and that none of us meet God’s perfect standards.
Sin is serious in God’s sight and includes thoughts, words and actions.
All sin (i.e. hatred and lust) makes us sinners not just the big, obvious sins like murder and adultery… (Romans 5:12).
We can’t save ourselves!
Romans 3:10: “As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.”
No one can earn right standing with God. We must understand that our good deeds or religion are unacceptable to God because our good works cannot cancel out our sin. For a view of man’s sinful condition, read Romans 3:10-18.
What is the Penalty for Sin?
Romans 6:23a: “For the wages of sin is death.”
God’s holiness demands a penalty (consequence) for our sin, which is death.
Eternal death is separation from God forever in Hell.
God is a just God, and He demands punishment for every sin.
Justice is getting what we deserve, and because of our sin, we each deserve death.
So what is God’s solution to this dilemma?
Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sin by dying on the cross.
God is a God of mercy and He sent Jesus to take our sin upon Himself and the punishment we deserve.
Mercy is not getting what we deserve, we deserve death, and Jesus took our place.
God’s Promise of Eternal Life
Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Eternal life is a free gift from God, there is nothing we can do to earn eternal life.
Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. Because of God’s amazing grace,
He has given us eternal life through Jesus Christ!
Man’s Responsibility:
Romans 10:9-10: “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”
We must believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God; who died for us on the cross; rose from the dead, and is Lord.
We must put our trust in Jesus alone to make us right with God.
Salvation involves believing in our hearts (inward belief) and an outward confession that Jesus is Lord.
Romans 10:13: “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.“
There is no complicated formula to salvation; Jesus paid the price of our sin for us.
Our response is to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
If we do, we will be saved from eternal death in Hell, to eternal life in Heaven.
Since no man knows the day and time of his departure from this earth; and since tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us; it is most important that, if you haven’t made your peace with God, that you do so!
So if you have more questions, or want more information on this very important subject, please check this website out: http://needhim.org/.
JESUS CHRIST… don’t leave home without Him!
Shalom,
Skip Barland
SB SALT AND LIGHT MINISTRIES 
Awesome !!