Plan of Salvation—Introduction to Jesus as Savior and Lord
God wants you to know Him and love Him. We were created for fellowship with Him. If you don’t know if God is real, just ask Him to reveal Himself to you. God has been showing Himself to the world from the beginning of time. We are the ones who have been messing up His plan, starting with Adam and Eve.
Because Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, every person is born spiritually dead and has a “sin nature.” All that means is that we are all born sinful people. Roman 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Because God is perfect and Holy, He cannot tolerate sin in His presence. Because we have sin in our life, we are separated from God. In the Old Testament days, the Jews would offer burnt offerings to cover their sins so they could communicate with God.
Jesus came so that we might know God personally and have a relationship with Him through Jesus. As we read about the life of Jesus in the Bible, we can see the perfect way humans are meant to love and live. And then, amazingly, God’s plan was to offer sinless Jesus to die on the cross to bear the sins of the world—to die for our sins.
1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
There is nothing we can do ourselves to earn our salvation. We can never be good enough or do enough works to earn it. Only Jesus can offer us our salvation as we confess our sins to Him. Only Jesus can forgive because He died for our sins. And only Jesus rose from the grave as He predicted He would to prove He was who He said He was and He is alive today.
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God loved us so much that He sent His only son to die for the sins of all. Jesus loved the Father enough to submit to His will and die for us. Jesus was the blood sacrifice that, once and for all, paid for past, present, and all future sins.
Jesus loves you. He loved you when He died on the cross for you, and He loves you now. The Bible says you are more precious than gold or silver because you were bought with the price of Jesus’s blood.
Jesus offers salvation to each of us as a gift handed to us from His nail-scarred hands. All we have to do is receive it and pray a simple prayer like this:
Jesus, will You forgive me of all my sins? I understand that You died for my many sins. I would like You to be my Lord and Savior. Please fill my heart with Your presence and teach me about Your love. Thank you for forgiving me and for my new life in You. Thank you for eternal life. Will You now teach me how to have an abundant life in You? Amen.