The Bible clearly lays out the redemptive story of the world. The entire Bible testifies to God's relentless love that pursues after us. His love pursues after us because our sin has separated us from God because we all have willfully rebelled against the creator of the universe. The Bible tells us that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (ROMANS 3:23). The Bible also tells us that the price for our sin is death (ROMANS 6:23). While these verses may seem difficult this is the truth of all of humanity, and understanding this is key to understanding the love of God. The Bible also tells us that while we were dead in our sins Christ died for us and made us alive (COLOSSIANS 2:13, EPHESIANS 2:5). That is to say that while you and I were rebelling against God with nothing to offer Him except disobedience He loved us. He demonstrated His love for us through sending Christ to pay the price we deserved to pay The Bible testifies to the fact that Jesus Christ did nothing to deserve death, yet he took upon Himself the sin of the world so that all people could be saved.
Both 1 Timothy and 2 Peter testify that God desires that all people should be saved.
1 Timothy 2: 3-4 states, "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth,"
2 Peter 3:9 states, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance."
Now there is no magic prayer you must pray in order to receive the salvation that God offers through Jesus Christ. In fact many people have been deceived into believing that if they say a prayer and go to church they are saved. This is not in the Bible. The Bible simply states that we must repent and believe. Jesus himself said in Mark 1:15, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." In order to be saved you must repent and believe the gospel.
• REPENT: To repent means to turn from the sinful things in your life and run to God. Repentance involves recognizing your sin has offended God, and then desiring to leave those things which are against God. 2 Corinthians 7: 9-10 explains it this way, "Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death."
• BELIEVE: To believe does not mean you understand everything. If we understood everything then there would be no need for faith. To believe the gospel does mean that we trust the truth of God revealed in His word. The truth that tells us that God loves us. You see the gospel simply means good news, and the good news Jesus is referring to in MARK 1:15 is that while we sinned against God he did not give us what we deserved (death) instead He gave us Christ, who lived a sinless life and suffered and was crucified and buried only to rise again in three days in fulfillment of the prophecies written throughout the Old Testament.
We pray that today if you have never repented and placed your trust in Christ that you would consider this matter, and cry out to God in repentance and faith so that you may be saved.