If you’re reading this page, it might be because you’re curious about what I mean when I say that I’m a Christian and a follower of Christ. The short answer to that is that it means that I’ve accepted the free gift of salvation that Jesus provided by dying on the cross and shedding His blood as the payment for my sins. And if you’re interested in knowing more details about what that means, I’d like to explain a bit more here.

Creation and the Problem of Sin

To start with, I believe that the Bible is God’s word and that it is the truth. I believe what the Bible says about the fact that God created the world and declared that it was good. (You can read many more details about this creation of the world in the first couple of chapters of the book of Genesis in the Bible.) Adam and Eve, the first man and woman that God created, lived in fellowship with God in the perfect world that God had created, but then when they disobeyed God by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin entered into the world and the result of that sin was death, both physical death in this life and eternal death and separation from God forever in hell.

Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
And Romans 6:23a says, “For the wages of sin is death.”

The bad news is the fact that we have all sinned. We have all broken God’s laws. We have done many things we shouldn’t do, and we have also failed to do many of the things that we should do. God is perfectly holy and righteous and without any sin at all, and we could never reach that standard of holiness on our own. We will always fall short. And because God is so good that He cannot allow evil to be in His presence He must judge sin. And the Bible says that the judgment for sin is eternal death in hell.

The good news of the gospel, though, tells the story of the way that God provided for us to be forgiven of our sin so that we don’t have to face this judgement of eternal death and separation from God. Instead, we can have a restored relationship with God and be with Him forever in Heaven.

The Hope of God’s Solution to Our Problem of Sin

Even though we have all sinned and could never measure up to God’s standard of perfect holiness, the second half of Romans 6:23 provides hope, saying that “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Even though we deserve the wage of death for our sin and our rebellion against God, He has given us an incredible gift.

Even though our sin separates us from God and brings with it the penalty of death and hell, God provided a way for us to be saved from our sin by sending His Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for our sins. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, who is God, came to this earth and was born of a virgin. He lived a completely righteous life and never sinned even one time. And then He died on the cross and His blood that was shed is the only payment for sin – the only payment that can satisfy the righteous wrath that God has against sin

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
John 14:6 says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves when it says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Any good works we might try to do could never be enough to save us, but the good news is that Jesus came to earth and lived a perfect life of obedience in our place, and then He died on the cross and shed His blood as the payment for our sins. Because of His death, we can have forgiveness of our sins.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 says, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Believe in Jesus

No amount of good works that we might try to do could ever be enough to earn our way to Heaven. The only way to have eternal life is to trust in what Jesus did on the cross in our place. To accept God’s free gift of eternal life in Heaven, you need to repent or turn from your sin and place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus instead, believing in Him as your only hope of eternal life.

Acts 16:31 says, “… Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.”
Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Learn More

If you’re interested in learning more about what the Bible says, you can read the Bible for free online at Bible Gateway.

And this video gives a visual presentation about what the book of Romans in the Bible says about salvation: What Is The Romans Road to Salvation?