Zbawienie - Kościół Chrześcijan Baptystów

How can we be saved?

Can we be sure of our salvation while still on earth? How can we find out?

1. Can we get to know God personally?

God loves you and made you to know Him personally.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

God has a plan for you.

"And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3).

2. What prevents us from getting to know him personally?

People are sinful. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

We were created to live in friendship with God, but we willfully chose an independent way of life. In this way, our friendship with God was destroyed. This willfulness, expressed in rebellion or indifference to God, is a manifestation of what the Bible calls "sin."

People are separated from God. "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23) — spiritual separation from God. "In flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9).

Sin, which can be found in every one of us, separates us from God's love and from a close relationship with Him. This separation brings both earthly turmoil and eternal consequences.

3. God has provided a way to overcome this separation.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, is the only solution to the problem of human sin. Only through him can we get to know God personally and experience his love.

Christ died in our place: "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

Christ rose from the dead: "Christ died for our sins...he was buried...he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures...he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time (1 Corinthians 15:3-6).

Christ is the only way to God: "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

But…

4. It's not enough to simply know these facts.

We must personally accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord; then we can get to know God personally and experience his love. "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

We accept Christ by faith, placing our trust in Him, His power, and His authority. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

We accept Christ by personally inviting him in. Christ says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him" (Revelation 3:20).

And...

5. When we receive Christ...

We receive Him by faith, by an act of our will, and we experience a new birth (see John 3:1-8). Receiving Christ involves turning to God, and turning away from ourselves and trusting Christ to come into our lives, forgive our sins, and make us into the people He wants us to become. It is not enough to mentally assent to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and died on the cross for our sins. It is also not enough to have an emotional experience.

6. The Scriptures promise eternal life to everyone who will accept Christ ...

When we accept Him, we are assured that we have eternal life in heaven and abundant, meaningful life here on earth. "And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:11-13). So…

…there is hope!

At this very moment, you can accept Christ and entrust your life to Jesus by faith, expressed by prayer. The words below are not magical; they are simply a suggestion of how to express through prayer a sincere desire to turn away from yourself and turn to God:

Lord Jesus, I believe You are who You claimed You are, and I want to know You personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and accept you as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and for the gift of eternal life. Direct my life and make me into the person you want me to be.

If you have prayed the words of the above prayer with a true desire to receive Christ, thank Christ often for being at work in your life, for never forsaking you (see Hebrews 13:5), for having called you to go with Him in the exciting journey of life, and for having given you the true answer to all your searching.

If you are not baptized, get baptized and start your life in the Church—in the community of God's children, disciples of Jesus.

If you are already baptized, then live by faith in the risen Jesus, and live out what baptism means: to be born again—death to sin and life unto God in the community of believers.

Lord Jesus, we thank you!!!

Kościół Chrześcijan Baptystów

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