By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
Last week I brought a question up that challenged how I think about salvation. I asked: Can I say “I am not going to hell because of my sins but because I refuse to have a relationship with God?”
Summarizing my answer, I came to the conclusion that Jesus paid the penalty for all sin, for all men, for all time so going to hell is not because I have to pay for my sins as they have already been paid for by Jesus’s death on the cross.
Going to hell is because I did not accept the payment for my sins by accepting a relationship with Jesus. John 3:17-18 reads: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Jesus came to save the world.
Not a portion of the world but all the peoples of the world…past, present, and future. No one, no matter how good or evil, is left out. Genghis Khan, Hitler, Pol Pot, Pope Francis, Billy Graham, me, you, your worst enemy and your best friend.
His death paid the penalty for all sins committed by all humans, dead or alive or yet to be born. It comes down to belief.
Whoever believes in Jesus is saved and whoever does not, is already condemned. Not because of our sins but because of our unbelief in the name of Jesus.
When scripture says that we are to believe in the Name of Jesus, it doesn’t mean just the word “Jesus” or even the man, Jesus.
It means that we are to believe in the whole of Christ’s divine manifestation, the character of God as revealed in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection.
Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Again, salvation isn’t in the word or name itself but in what it symbolizes about God’s love and sacrifice for us. Where are you in relation to God’s forgiveness? Have you been ignoring Him? Doing your own thing?
Trying to be good enough to be judged worthy of going to heaven? Are you afraid that God will mess up your life? You won’t be able to do what you are used to doing?
Relax, God is not going to come storming into your life demanding change! God takes us as we are and over time changes our desires so much that we readily agree to the changes he wants us to make.
He is not ever heavy-handed. Let me help you make a decision about a relationship with Jesus. Respond with this prayer “Father, I don’t want to be separated from you any longer. I want to come home. I accept your offer of forgiveness and reconciliation that Christ’s death made available to me.
Please forgive me for walking away from you and for my disobedience. I promise to listen to you and to obey you as best I can.
Thank you for making this forgiveness available to me. We have the choice to accept or reject his love for us as shown on that cross on Calvary some 2,000 years ago.
A lot of people believe that there is a heaven and a hell…about 2/3 of all the people in the US believe in Heaven and Hell.
Unfortunately, not a large percentage of them know how to receive the free gift of God’s salvation. And that’s on us who are Christian. We have failed to live life in such a way that others would see that we have something special and desire it.
We have also failed to be passionate about what we have, thus not sharing it often or at all. 10% of Christians don’t even believe they are supposed to share their faith.
Rom 10:14 states the issue clearly. “So how can they call on someone they don’t have faith in? And how can they have faith in someone they haven’t heard of? And how can they hear without a preacher?
The word preacher isn’t directed at pastors but all believers. If you won’t share your faith, then who will? How will they receive that free gift of salvation from a relationship with Jesus if we don’t tell them about him?
And if we don’t tell them, then how will they ever find a way to avoid Hell and go to Heaven? Isn’t their eternal soul worth our time and risk?
They are interested in our lives. Sharing our faith story and our daily faith life is not offensive or hard. We don’t need a program to share what God has done for us.
We just need to frame our conversations around God’s part in our lives. “We had the most amazing thing happen last week” becomes “Let me tell you what God did for us last week!” It’s literally that simple.
Think on how you share your life with others and see if reframing our conversations will open doors for deeper conversations.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.