The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him. But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name —he has given the right to become God’s children – children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.

John 1:9-13

I have often heard from religious people that we are all God’s children. Not all humans are God’s children, but only those who have received the true light, that is, Jesus Christ. He is the true light spoken of by the Apostle John in the verses above. When we receive Him, believe in His name, then we are born of God or born again. All this means is that in the moment we repent and believe in Jesus, we become born from above, born of God. This and only this, makes us a child of God.

Your Commitment

I started this series of posts about my own confrontation with the gospel from a friend who explained it all to me. After he walked me through the essentials as I have done in this series of posts, he asked me a few more questions:

1. Do you now understand what the bible teaches about eternal life? Yes, I said.
2. Would you like to receive the free gift of eternal life right now? Yes, I said.

As I have tried to convey, the bible says multiple times in multiple ways that eternal life is a gift. We cannot work for and earn a gift. All we can do is receive it with gratitude. We receive it through repentance and by faith. If you believe, you must receive.

Let’s summarize the essentials of the gospel:

• Do you believe there is one true eternal, all powerful God who is the Holy One of Israel, the God of Heaven, the Lord of Hosts, the Creator of the heavens and the earth?
• Do you believe that God has revealed Himself as one God manifested in three separate persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?
• Do you believe that Jesus is the unique, eternal Son of God and is Himself fully God?
• Do you believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah who came down from heaven, was born of a virgin, and in addition to being fully divine also became fully human?
• Do you believe Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the full penalty for your sins, was in the grave for 3 days and then was raised bodily from the dead?
• Do you also believe Jesus is alive right now and seated on the throne of heaven at the right hand of God the Father?
• Do you believe you are a sinner who can only be saved from judgement by repenting of your sin and placing your complete trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
• Are you willing to transfer your complete trust for salvation to Jesus Christ alone?
• Are you willing to repent, to turn away from the path of the wicked and follow Christ on the path of righteousness from this day forward for the rest of your life?

If you said yes to all of the above questions, including the requirement to repent, then your moment of decision is right now. Not an hour from now, not tomorrow, not next week or some other time after you think about it. Are you struggling this very moment? That’s the battle going on inside you right now because you know this is true. If you delay, it is possible you may not get another chance. There is no reason to delay. Don’t let anything hold you back from receiving the gift of eternal life, forgiveness, God’s Kingdom right now.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we preach), because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.

Romans 10:8-10

You can receive Jesus and be saved by simply telling Him you trust in Him, that you repent of your sin, that you accept His death upon the cross as payment for your sin, that you believe he was raised bodily from the grave and is alive today, and that you will follow Him all the days of your life. (Romans 10:9-10).

Telling him these things is called prayer – talking to God. If this is the intent of your heart then tell him. Right now. Here is an example of how you can pray to the Lord for salvation. The prayer itself is not magic or some formula – its simply provided to help you. The important thing is this: God sees the intent of your heart.

“Lord Jesus, I am deeply sorry for my sin and I repent of my sinful life. I believe you died on the cross to pay the penalty for all of my sins and I believe in my heart that you are risen bodily from the dead and I declare that from this moment forward I am a follower of Jesus Christ as my Lord, for you are my way, my truth and now you are my life.”

God always hears the prayer of a repentant sinner. If you truly repented and believed, then as of this moment, all of your sins are forgiven, and you have eternal life. Not because I say so but because God says so. Jesus said the following:

“I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned but has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming—and is now here—when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

John 5:24-25

As you can see, eternal life is a present possession. Even though you will die someday, Jesus says “yet you shall live”. He died and is risen from the dead and we who believe will arise from the dead too. That is the great promise of the Messiah to all who believe. You have crossed over from death to life and nothing can take that away from you. Nothing. You will never experience hell or the lake of fire. Your name is now written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and your sin will not be held against you. The gift of eternal life is yours right at this very moment, by your faith in Christ.

Now I will end this series of posts on the gospel as I began with the same two questions:

1. Do you know for certain that you will go to heaven when you die?
2. If you died right now and stood before God, and He asked you “Why should I let you into heaven”, what would you say?

If you indeed received Jesus Christ as explained and if you truly repented from your sin, then you will go to heaven when you die. And if the God of Heaven asked you why He should let you into heaven your answer would simply be: “Lord, I received your free gift of eternal life by repenting of my sin and placing my complete trust for salvation in what Jesus died for me on the cross.” His response is actually recorded in the bible:

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Matthew 25:34