Grace is God's unmerited favor towards us. In order for us to be saved by our works or good behavior, we would have to live a perfect life from the moment of conception until death without committing one single sin in thought, word, or deed! But according to the Bible, o one but Jesus has ever done that!

If it were possible for us to save ourselves by perfectly obeying the Ten Commandments, then Jesus died on the cross for nothing! But it is BECAUSE we cannot perfectly obey the law i our unconverted state that Jesus came! He lived a perfect, sinless if that will e credited to our account IF we accept Him as our Savior and Substitute

There is no sin that we can commit that is not in some way transgression of one of the Ten Commandments! They are God's guidelines for successful living. Yet without the Spirit of Christ living in us, we are powerless to truly obey His laws.

We are all sinners, and as sinners, we fall short of what God requires for eternal life. But Jesus did not fall short! His obedience can be credited to our account through faith!

We all have earned the death penalty. We can die for our sins and forfeit eternal life, or we can accept by faith Jesus' death in our behalf. At Calvary, Jess suffered capital punishment in our place as our substitute! God's gift to us is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord! We cannot "earn" a gift. It must be given to us freely to be a gift. If we paid for it, it would no longer be a gift, but rather our "wages". The wages we have earned is death, but through Jesus, we can have God's "gift" of eternal life!

Jesus said we MUST be born again. We need a change of heart!

The gospel has two parts: forgiveness and cleansing. Not only does Jesus forgive us of our sins, but He BEGINS a process of SANCTIFICATION in us by which we are cleansed fro our sins, and we no longer wallow in the slough of despondency. The gospel will effect the whole of our life. It will clean our clothes, wash our face, comb out hair, straighten up our life, and put us on the straight and narrow path that leads to the kingdom of God!

In the Old Testament sanctuary service (which pointed forward to Jesus' sacrifice on Calvary's cross), a person who sinned was instructed to take an unblemished lamb or other animal to the sanctuary where the priest offered the animal as a substitute sacrifice that died in the sinner's place. The sinner confessed his sins while holding his hands upon the head of the innocent animal. This was done to show that symbolically, his sins were transferred to the innocent one who died in the sinner's place. This is what Calvary was all about! Jesus, the unblemished Son of God died the death that the sinner deserved, so that the sinner can be forgiven and walk away free from eternal death!

John knew that all the Old Testament sacrifices pointed forward to Jesus. He was the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world"! Our heavenly Father gave the sanctuary service to ancient Israel to help them understand the substitutionary death of the Messiah to come. They were saved by faith in the Messiah that was to come just as we today are saved by faith in the Messiah who HAS come! All who will ever be saved, of all ages, will be saved by faith in what Jesus has done! Now faith has TWO parts. Those two parts are BELIEF and TRUST. For example, I my believe that a chair on the other side of the room is capable of supporting my weight, but I will never know for sure until I go and sit in the chair. In much the same way, we might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He can give us rest from the burden o sins, but we will never experience this until we are willing to put ourselves totally in His care! We must be willing to surrender ourselves to Him!

What happens to a person when he or she accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Savior?

If you have Jesus, the Son of God as your Lord and Savior, then you have eternal life! As long as you maintain that connection with Him, then you have life eternal! You need not guess about your destiny. Give yourself to Jesus and you will KNOW that your sins are forgiven, and that you have eternal life!

We live in a world where people are desperately seeking for peace. They are looking everywhere for inner peace. But the only way we can find true lasting peace is when we are in harmony with our God! Jesus Christ can give us peace with God because of his death for us on Calvary's cross!

How does a person go about asking Jesus to be their personal Lord and Savior? Right now, while Jess is knocking on the door of your heart, why not say this simple prayer of faith to make sure of your standing with God? He will accept you just the way you are, and He will change your life for the bettter! Even if you have given your life to Christ in the past, why not renew your commitment again just now? Let's pray: Dear Father in heaven, forgive me of my sins I accept your Son Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross for me. I receive the free gift of eternal life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen PRAISE THE LORD!! If you have prayed the prayer of faith and accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you are now a part of His spiritual family! You have the assurance of eternal life as long as you maintain your relationship with Him! He will NEVER leave your forsake, and now, through the Holy Spirit, He lives in you!

As a Christian, what does the Lord want you to do?

How do we grow spiritually?... Continue to study... Good News about the Word of God #2