Salvation
in Christ alone
This message is dedicated to anyone here without hope, without eternal life, without an assurance of salvation.
Every human being needs to be saved. All of us enter this world in a state of total separation from God, hopelessly lost from God, and helpless to do anything about it. But God in His infinite love and grace designed a plan to bring us back to Himself. God freely provides everything for our eternal relationship with Him, because we can never, on our own, earn or deserve anything from God.
God's plan of "grace and truth is realized through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17), the uniquely born Son of God. Jesus Christ became true humanity to be our substitute and pay the penalty for our sins. When He was on the cross, Jesus Christ was judged for the sins of the entire world. Every sin ever committed in the history of the human race was imputed to Him and judged.
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross.
— 1 Peter 2:24a
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf [as our substitute], that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
— 2 Corinthians 5:21
Because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, salvation is available to everyone.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten [uniquely born] Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
— John 3:16
And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved."
— Acts 16:31a
Eternal life is available to you, right now. In the privacy and freedom of your soul, you can tell God the Father that you are believing in Jesus Christ, and that is the moment of eternal life. God has done His part of salvation—the Father sent the Son; the Son went to the cross. Now you appropriate the grace of God for salvation through faith alone in Christ alone.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that [salvation] not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
— Ephesians 2:8-9
Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind on the basis of the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Faith is a nonmeritorious system of perception based on confidence in the authority, veracity, and ability of God to provide salvation. Grace is the gift of salvation; faith is the means. The object of faith, our Lord Jesus Christ, has all the merit.
Believing in Christ means you accept as true the fact that He died as your personal substitute. In the moment you believe, God gives you eternal life and guarantees your salvation. Instantly, you are brought into an unbreakable relationship with God forever. That is the magnificent grace gift from God, received by faith alone in Christ alone.
Your attitude toward Jesus Christ determines your eternal future.
You can either believe in Christ for eternal life
or reject Him for eternal condemnation.
He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey [believe] the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.
— John 3:36