John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
If we look back to our verse in John it says, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God tells us in Romans 10: 9-10 how we can receive this gift of eternal life.
Verse 9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
When we are ready to repent of our sins by turning away form those sins and when we acknowledge the fact to God that we need Jesus as our Savior. God will forgive and cleanse us from our sin.
Verse 10 says, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
God looks at our heart—He knows if we are repentant of our sins.
In Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
I like that word “whosoever” because it means absolutely anyone. We can make this verse personal to each of us by replacing “whosoever” with our own name. “For if _____ shall call upon the name of the Lord he/she shall be saved." Did you pay attention to the language tense — “shall be saved” “ means there is no doubt about it. It’s a done deal.
Twenty-seven years ago I did just that. But prior to that point and over the course of a few years my mother tried to tell me about Christ. But because of my pride, independence and rebellion I wouldn’t listen to anything she had to say. God had given me the free-will to choose. He gives each of us the free-will to choose.
It was during my first pregnancy that God really started to deal on my heart. I knew I wouldn’t go to heaven if I died. Because in my mind I developed a preconceived notion of what a Christian should be like. I told myself I could never measure up to be that kind of a person. So I would wrap myself back up in my blanket of pride and ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
While in the hospital after giving birth to my son, Pastor Henry came to visit me and prayed for him because he was having medical problems. A month later men from the church helped me move Mom from her house into an apartment. I had been impressed with these “church” people. They weren’t the “holier than thou” — stuffy sort I expected. They were simply nice, fun, caring people. So I agreed to visit their church one Sunday morning. After attending for a month I trusted Christ as my Savior and was baptized on July 18, 1982. Remember how I had a “preconceived notion of what a Christian should be like”? I was so surprised God accepted a sinner like me -- just as I was. There was no way in my own power I could have changed myself. It is only through Christ we can become new creatures.
I have no doubts about my salvation. Because God also gave many different verses that reaffirm our assurance of salvation —like in...
John 10:28-30, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.”
It is God the Father and God the Son that holds our salvation secure. God loves us so much that He gave His only begotten Son. It is not his desire that any of us should go to hell, but He gave us a free will to choose.
So what is you choice today?
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