What is “Christianity?
If you haven’t yet define what you believe, or if you don’t know specifically what it means to be a Christian-you may be tempted to base it on what other people think, or what there definitions are.
“A Christian is someone who believes in God”
“A Christian is someone who goes to church”
“A Christian is someone who obeys the Ten Commandments”
While there is truth in these statements, it is not the entire picture of what it means to be a Christian.
Here we are going to talk about 3 things
Why should you become a Christian.
How exactly do you do it.
What happens when you do.
If you were to tell a friend or family member that you had become a Christian the first question they would likely ask is “Why”?
1st Peter 3:15
.............And if you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.
This is a legitimate question. Do you know or understand why yourself?
The most common answer is that you realized you were a sinner and did not want to go to hell. What? If God loves everybody why would you go to hell? You realized your need for salvation. To understand salvation we must begin with God. Everything about salvation and Christianity starts with God. Heres why it’s necessary for a person to become a Christian and have salvation.
God is Holy
Holy is not just a word. It describes exactly who and what God is. Since God is holy he can have nothing to do with sin. This means complete separation from it.
God and sin are mutually exclusive. Where God is, there can be no sin. Where sin is, God cannot be. Just as you cannot have darkness where there is light, God cannot exist where there is sin. God cannot have a personal relationship with you if yo are sinful. This is where the need for salvation begins.
God created humans with free will
Why did God give us free will which gives us the potential for sin and the potential to ignore or deny that he even exists? God wanted us to choose to love and except him. He wanted people who could think and decide for themselves to have a relationship with him. That makes the relationship more meaningful to both parties involved. The downside was that this free will gives the potential for disobedience and sin.
God had a perfect plan for us
If you want to read about his plan, you can read about it in his word.
Genesis 1:27-2:25
You’ve got a a paradise called “Eden”. You’ve got beautiful trees, rivers and animals all living together in perfect harmony. You even have God himself coming to visit(Genesis 3:8). by giving us this paradise, God made sure we would have no reason to disobey him.
But something happened to affect this perfect plan. It happened by our own nature as humans.
Humans are sinful creatures
Gods original plan had just one rule for Adam and Eve.
Genesis 2:15-7
15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. 16 But the Lord God gave him this warning: “You may freely eat any fruit in the garden 17 except fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of its fruit, you will surely die.”
So what went wrong? How were able to ruin Gods perfect plan with only 1 simple rule to follow? Disguised as a serpent, Satan slithered into the garden and put doubts and questions in Eve’s mind about God plan. He talked here into disobeying God and eating an apple from the tree. She also talked Adam into taking a bite. With that one decision, Adam and Eve put an end to God’s perfect plan. Using there free will, given to them by the creator of the universe, they disobeyed the one thing he told them not to do. In the process they brought sin and death into the world. Remember that God’s original plan was for sinless people to live forever. This legacy of sin was passed down to their children, grandchildren, and onto us. How could something they did at the beginning of time affect us today?
Romans 5:12
12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.
Adam and Eve didn’t do anything that we wouldn’t do or have done. All of us have done something sinful or turned away from God.
Romans3:12
12 All have turned away from God;all have gone wrong. No one does good,not even one.”
Romans3:23
23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
We are all tainted by sin, not only as descendants of Adams and Eve, but by our very own actions. This fact has consequences for us
Sin separates you from God
Remember, because God is holy, He can have nothing to do with sin-period.
To do so would be against his nature. Because of our sins God must distance himself from us. Imagine yourself standing on one side of the Grand Canyon and God is on the other. The deep valley below you is your sin. Your sin has separated you from God. You cannot cross over to God and he cannot cross over to you. To be able to cross over to God you need to build a bridge, but no matter how much construction you do, the bridge would never be good enough or big enough to span the distance. So then how can the bridge be built for you? I will tell you how and who will build this bridge in just a few moments.
The punishment for sin is spiritual and physical death
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Everybody know thats people eventually die so the fact of death for sin is not exactly a feared punishment. So there’s not much reason for us to care about our sin. There’s one problem. Physical death is not the end of the story. When God created us , he gave every human being a soul. Our bodies are physical things, our souls are not. Your soul will go on forever even after your physical body is gone. Since your soul is part of you it is also tainted by your sin. When you die your soul would have to be separated form God also.
This is called “spiritual death”. It is also called “hell. It is a place of eternal separation from God. Since God is the source of love and joy it means you would never feel happy or loved again-ever. Are you beginning to understand you don’t want to go there?
We can do nothing to save ourselves
Remember when we talked about building the bridge to reach God? No matter how much work you put into it, it would still never be able to reach God?
The tendency is to believe that if you do enough good things on Earth while you are alive God will overlook your sin. You could give all your money to the church. You can go to church every Sunday and twice on Tuesday. It still doesn’t matter. God will not overlook your sin. Doing things is what the Bible calls “works”. The Bible tells us that works will not get us into heaven. So what hope do we have?
God loves us
No matter what you’ve done in your life. No matter how low you have gone. No matter how many terrible things you’ve done in your life, God still loves you.
Since God loves us, he didn’t want to be separated from us. But his love cannot “overrule” his other characteristics. He simply could not just forget about our sin. So he came up with a plan that would satisfy his justness and his holiness. The carrying out of this plan shows just how much God loves us. You can read about in the most famous verse of the Bible.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not die but have eternal life.
The Son he gave was Jesus Christ. If you have now realized that you are a sinner, you may think you have done something so terrible that God cannot ever forgive you and that you are not worthy to be forgiven. This gift was for everybody no matter they had done.
Romans 5:8
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
No matter what you have done you are worthy of this gift. Jesus was God’s ultimate gift of love for us.
Jesus defeated sin
The only hope we have of escaping God’s punishment is to be saved by someone who has not been tainted by sin. Only someone perfect could be the bridge between God and us. This someone was Jesus Christ. During his time on earth, Jesus faced the same temptations that you and I do everyday. Unlike us, he resisted these temptations and lived a perfect, sinless life. Since he lived a perfect life he could be the only person able to be the bridge for us.
Jesus paid the price for our sins
God’s requirement of justice required that we die for our sins. Instead of us dying, God sent Jesus to die the death that was meant for us. It’s the same thing as if you were convicted of a crime and sentenced to the death penalty. Jesus stepped in and said “I will go in their place”.
2 Corinthians 5:21
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
The entire wrath of God was placed on Jesus during his arrest, trial, and crucifixion.
He was beaten, He was flogged, Then he was nailed to a cross with spikes driven into his hands and feet. He was left to hang there until the weight of his body suffocated him.
God demanded the ultimate punishment for sin and Jesus paid it in our place.
Jesus defeated death
Jesus’ death was not the end of the story. Three days after Jesus died, God brought him back to life. That changed everything for us. We no longer had to fear death and sin if we believed in his sacrifice. He gave us a chance to be right with God. By accepting his sacrifice and believing in it we are SAVED.
How do I get saved?
Confess, Ask, Repent, and Start over. It’ s as simple as that. For some people the “repent” part is the hardest. Let’s explore these steps a bit further.
Confess you are a sinner.
You’ve heard the saying that”The first step in getting help is admitting you have a problem”. This is how salvation begins. You must confess to God that you have sin in your life. This confession must come from the bottom of your heart otherwise it is meaningless to God.
Ask God for forgiveness
Ask God to forgive you for what you’ve done. Understand that you don’t deserve God’s forgiveness but because he loves you he will forgive you. Never take God’s forgiveness for granted.
Repent
This means to turn away from your sin. Stop doing what it is that you just confessed. For some, this is the most difficult. It is a necessary part of salvation. What good is forgiveness if you are going to keep on doing the same thing? This is a process. By repenting you are changing direction in you life. God understands that this may take time. He will be with you every step of the way as you change your direction.
Start over
Your slate has been wiped clean. You are beginning a new life. God will not remember your past sins anymore. You are brand new to him. Don’t let your past haunt you. You have begun to walk down the road that leads to true happiness, peace, love, and in the end Heaven! This is what Jesus called being “born again”.
John 3:3
3 Jesus replied, “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.”
What comes next?
You have a new future
Gone is the prospect of you going to hell. Gone is the misery and unhappiness of your old life. You are headed towards heaven. The moment you die you will awaken in heaven in God’s presence. No waiting period, no stops along the way. Your future reservation in heaven is guaranteed. Nothing now can separate you from God. His presence will always be with yo from now on.
Romans 8:38-39
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. 39 Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord..
You are now in God’s hands and nothing can ever break his grasp or make him let go.
You are now part of God’s family.
You have a new leader
Your life will begin to change for the better. You will give up old ways that you realize now are bad for you. Your mine will begin to focus on God and what he has in store for you.
Romans 8:5
5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
You will begin to notice a change in yourself. The way you talk, act, and treat other people will begin to change. This is Jesus Christ beginning to shine through you.
You have a new responsibility
Jesus expects you to share your faith with other people. He want you to share your good news with others so that they might be saved as well. He wants you to help lead others to him.
Matthew 28:19-20
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
You have a new enemy
His name is Satan, The Devil, Lucifer, or whatever else you have heard him called.
He is opposed to everything related to God and his work. He will do everything he can to mess up God’s plan. That includes affecting your life by putting doubts and fears in you about God, Jesus, and your decision to follow them. You need to understand that is opposition is real and that he can only affect you and influence you as much as you let him. Make no mistake that God will be with you in every step of you battle with the Devil.
Christianity is for everybody. Black, White, Young or Old. It is never too early or too late to come to know Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter where you come from or what you have done. We have an open invitation to come to God through Jesus Christ. It is the only hope we have of being right with God and going to heaven when we die. If you want to begin your walk with Jesus today come to him now.
