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Someone Cares about Your Forever

Someone cares about you enough to give you this note about God’s wonderful provision for you and your future. It is summed up in this Bible verse:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Let’s go through these magnificent words of hope.

For God

God’s plan for your life is God’s message of “good news” that “…is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16). But who, precisely, is God?

God is the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe, including your ancestors Adam and Eve who, in the beginning, lived in a perfect world. But, because they thought they knew best, they sinned against God by disobeying simple instructions about a tree in the Garden of Eden. Their sin was an offense against God so they became spiritually dead, separated from God and under a death penalty.

The Bible declares that Adam’s sin has been passed down to all of mankind (1 Corinthians 15:22a) and you, too, sin and are spiritually dead, separated from God and under a death penalty. On your own, you cannot in any way bridge the separation between God and yourself. Without God’s intervention, you are doomed to an eternity in hell. While this is very bad news, there is good news ahead.

so loved the world

Even though God had the right to punish all of mankind for Adam’s sin, out of His love God choose to provide a solution for your sin by sending His only begotten Son Jesus Christ so that, “… the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17b). It is God’s merciful solution to mankind’s sin problem.

that He gave His only begotten Son

The word “gave” means that God’s solution for your sin is His gift by grace as Ephesians 2:8-9 teaches: “For 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.” You can never earn God’s gift by being good, attending church, giving money, loving your neighbor, or any other “work” you might try. Gifts are not earned; they are simply received.

God’s gift to us was His “only begotten Son [Jesus Christ].” Jesus is the Son of God, i.e., deity, (John 1:1-2) and because He took on human flesh He is also human (John 1:14). Jesus is the infinite God-man (1 Timothy 2:5) who lived a sinless (perfect) life during His time on earth about 2,000 years ago (Hebrews 4:15).

Out of His incomprehensible love for you personally (Galatians 2:20), Jesus Christ voluntarily took your sins upon Himself (Isaiah 53:6), and willingly died a physical death on the cross (Isaiah 53:12) as your Substitute (2 Corinthians 5:21) for the forgiveness of all your sins (Matthew 26:28). After His physical death, Jesus Christ rose from the grave in His physical body (Jesus’ resurrection) thereby proving that His death alone was satisfactory payment to His Father for your sins. But, is God’s gift available to a spiritually dead sinner? Yes, it is.

whoever

John 14:6 teaches: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” Even though Jesus is the only way to eternal life, the word “whoever” in John 3:16 means that God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ is available to everyone (Mark 13:10). And it is available to you today no matter what your life has looked like in the past or looks like today. But, must something occur for you to obtain the benefit of what Jesus did? Yes, you must exercise biblical saving faith.

believes in Him

The phrase “believes in Him” refers to exercising biblical saving faith which has two basic parts.

First, to exercise biblical saving faith, you must acknowledge the following facts are true:

1. You are a sinner and there is nothing you can do to save yourself from the consequences of your sin.
2. Out of His love, God has provided the one and only way of salvation through Jesus Christ.
3. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human and lived a sinless life on earth so He is perfect.
4. Jesus took your sins upon Himself so when He died on the cross He was the perfect sacrifice as full payment to God the Father for all of your sins.
5. He bodily rose from the grave (resurrection from death to life) showing that His death on the cross was sufficient payment for your sins so that you can have eternal life in Heaven.

Second, to exercise biblical saving faith, you must ask God for the forgiveness of your sins, placing your total trust in the Person of Jesus Christ that His death and bodily resurrection comprise the totally sufficient payment for the forgiveness of your sins. At the same time, you must repent of your sin which means you have a heartfelt sorrow for your sin, you renounce your sin, and you make a sincere and genuine commitment to forsake your sin as best you know how surrendering your life in obedience to Christ. In this way, you receive Him into your heart as your Lord and Savior (John 1:12).

Invariably, exercising biblical saving faith is a life-changing event (John 3:1-7). But what happens if someone doesn’t exercise biblical saving faith?

should not perish

Hebrews 9:27 teaches that, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” Judgment will result in you spending eternity in either Heaven or hell. If you continue to passively ignore or actively reject Christ, you are guaranteed that upon your physical death you will spend eternity in hell which is an unimaginably terrible place of torment, suffering, and separation from God. But, hell doesn’t have to be your eternal destiny because you can exercise biblical saving faith!

but have everlasting life.

Right now, if you sense your need for Christ as your Lord and Savior, then God is drawing you to respond to the Gospel “good news” message. Your only sensible option is to exercise biblical saving faith so “…that you may know that you have eternal life…” (1 John 5:13). You can be saved by sincerely praying to God from the bottom of your heart a prayer consistent with what has been described above as biblical saving faith.

If you have exercised biblical saving faith, you do not have to do anything else to be saved. While we strongly recommend that you be baptized (Matthew 28:18-20) to show the world you are a Christ-follower, please understand that baptism is not necessary for your salvation. Also, if your biblical saving faith is genuine, and not merely some type of shallow “lip service,” you do not have to do anything to “keep” your salvation because you cannot “lose” a gift of God after He has given it to you (John 6:38-40; 10:27-29).

Now what after I exercise biblical saving faith?

Because this decision is so important, we want to talk with you about your exercise of biblical saving faith. We want you to understand what you have done and its impact on the rest of your life on earth and for eternity. We would like to help you find a church home in a Bible-believing community.

Contact us at:

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