Jacob Ninan
Listen to this message on YouTube The problem with most religions (including a large part of Christianity) is that whatever promise they make of heaven or after-death blessings, people are not sure while they are alive whether they will actually obtain it. They hope they will, because they have been told so by their leaders, but honestly there is no way to be sure till they actually die! The horror of getting a shock after they die, when they find out that they have been mistaken all along, is unthinkable! While they are alive they hope they are right, and keeping putting aside all questions that come up in their mind. What a huge risk!
The Christian faith is genuine. It is not just that the Biblical explanation about God, man, the past, the present and the future is the most cohesive and comprehensive one compared to other religious ideas, but also, it works in practice even while we are on earth! The one who believes in Christ and chooses to follow Him can experience a real relationship with God. He can talk to God, hear Him speaking to him, experience answers to prayer, receive guidance from God in life, etc. He can know for sure that his sins have been forgiven, and that he has been made a child of God. Christians experience an 'assurance of salvation'. So, it is not something one keeps hoping is true, without any way of knowing for sure.
But here is a problem. Not everyone who thinks he is a Christian is really one – in God's eyes. Name, family, church attendance, baptism, or even saying, "I believe in Jesus," is not enough to make one a Christian. Unfortunately, there are also churches which give the impression that their members are all Christian. But check it out this way. Do you have an assurance of your salvation? Is your life changing in a practical way because of a supernatural work of God? Now I hope to show you, as clearly as possible, depending on the Holy Spirit to reveal the truths to you as you read or listen to this message, how you can experience salvation through Jesus Christ and how you can know in your heart that you have been saved for eternity.
Jesus was not just a religious leader, as many think, but was God Himslf who had come down in the form of a man to bear the sins of mankind. He not only taught the way of God, but He lived such a sinless life as a man that not even His enemies could find fault with Him. When He was put to death on the cross (for our sins), He returned to life after three days in the tomb, proving that He was indeed who He had claimed to be, the eternal Son of God! The other claim He had made was that there was no other way to God the Father except through Him (Jn.14:6).
One truth that we find from the Bible is that sin is the root cause of all the problems on the earth. This explanation began in the narration of God's creation of man and man's disobedience of God's commandment. Though sin came into mankind first through Adam and Eve, the fact is that every single one of us has sinned in a similar way – by disobeying God and doing our own thing. So, what we all deserve from God is punishment for our sins. Even if some of us try to appear good by claiming that we have not personally committed serious sins like murder or adultery, all of us will have to admit that irrespective of the forms of our sins, we have all committed many sins, the essence of which is disobedience to God's laws, knowingly or unknowingly.
Many have heard about the love of God, and this is one major emphasis in Christians telling others about God. The love of God is seen in that He came looking for sinful people who had turned away from Him, offering them free salvation. This is relevant especially because other religions talk about gods who are to be kept appeased in order to prevent them from doing harm or to get some blessings from them. Therefore, to such people, it is a novel thing to hear about God who loves them and who made a great sacrifice to show that love to them (Jn.3:16). But we must not forget that God is not only loving, but also righteous (who cannot do anything wrong), just, and without partiality. He is the Creator of the universe including all people, and He is also the One who has laid down laws for people to live by. This God holds us responsible for our actions and warns us of severe punishment if we choose to disobey Him. In fact, He tells us that what we open ourselves to when we sin is death – not just the physical death but mainly the spiritual death of getting separated eternally from God (Rom.6:23).
Here is how the love of God and the justice of God work together. We have to bear the punishment for our sins. But as those whom God has created, His love does not want to punish us. His solution was to take the punishment on Himself instead of us, by letting His Son Jesus die in our place, and then offer us a free salvation instead of the punishment. All other religions tell us that we should do something from our side – attain to a life of total discipline or do penance or sacrifice of different types – hoping to satisfy God. But our Creator God knows that we cannot ever come to qualify ourselves before Him because of the utter sinfulness of our nature. He knows that the only way He can get us to be with Him is if He offered us free salvation.
God is offering this salvation on a free basis; we cannot earn it, try as we might. The way to receive it is to go to God in honesty and humility, admit our sinful acts and our sinful nature and ask for forgiveness on the basis of Jesus having been punished on the cross already, in our place.
When we approach God like this, He accepts us, forgives and washes away the record of our sins, declares us as being right in His sight, gives us a new heart and mind with the Holy Spirit living in us, and then He helps us to learn to obey Him. This is a supernatural work God does in a repentant sinner, and this forgiven sinner can now see that he has received an inner assurance that his sins have been forgiven and that he is now a child of God (Rom.8:15). Such a person becomes a 'new' creation, inside him, in his spirit (2Cor.5:17). He gets a new nature from God, and now his whole attitute towards God and sin changes. He no longer wants to sin in any way, but He only wants to live his whole life from now onwards in a way that pleases God.
This offer of free salvation is open to anyone who admits his sinfulness and turns to God through Jesus. In these days of turmoil and uncertainty, don't you want to be sure of your future? Come to God through Jesus. All your sins will be forgiven, and you can know that you have eternal life (1Jn.5:13). Please write to me at jninan@c-n-c.org if you would like to have more clarification.
I would welcome opinions and comments from you! Write here