Plan of Salvation
and
Frequently Asked Questions

God's Gift

Man is in need of forgiveness.

Forgiveness from whom?
Forgiveness from God.

As it is written, 'There is none righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10)

What does it mean to be righteous?
To be righteous means to be 'right with God.' Alone, on our own, we cannot do this because none of us are capable of achieving the standard God has set for us.

What standard has God set for us?
God desires for us to be wtihout sin.

What is sin?
Our sin is what seperates us from God. God has set rules for us to follow. The very word 'rules' turns many people's heads but without rules, we would hurt ourselves. The ten commandments themselves keep us from harming ourselves.
For example, where would we be without such rules as:
'Do not kill.'
'Do not steal.'
'Do not lie.'
'Do not commit adultery.'
It is hard to argue against the fact that if we could sleep with whoever we wanted to, take whatever we wanted to, and tell a lie whenever we felt like it that life would become difficult.
'I haven't killed anyone or stolen anything or commited adultery.' To be realistic, most people haven't. We have all told a lie or two, though. Many of us have cheated on test or two, watched something on television that we shouldn't have (Galatians 5:10).

What's So Bad About Sin?
The price.
God set the price for sin long ago in the Garden of Eden. He gave one commandment to Adam and Eve. That's all. Just one commandment. He also gave them one punishment if they disobeyed this commandment. If they disobeyed God's commandment, the price was death.

"And the Lord God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'" (Genesis 2: 16-17)

Why didn't Adam and Eve die, then?
The price was spiritual death. Separation from God.

What's so bad about that?
We all know this feeling, the feeling inside like something isn't there that should be. There is no peace, no rest.
We all know what it's like to lay our head on a pillow at night and feel so alone because there isn't anything there, just emptiness.

What is causing this emptiness?
Our separation from God.

"For the wages of sin is death," (Romans 3:23)

The price of our disobedince to God is death. Ever wonder why your heart sometimes feels as if something crawled up and died inside it? It's because something did. That feeling of death inside is your separation from God.

How do I get right with God, then?
If the price of my sin is death, how am I supposed to pay that? That's a high price, isn't it?
That is a high price to pay and, if we are going to come into God's presence, someone has to pay the price of our sins. We can't come into God's presence with our sin. After all, our sin produces death, not life, with God. So, what do we do?
We don't have to do anything, God has already taken care of it!

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Chirst died for us." (Romans 5:8)

The only person who could pay the price of our sins is God Himself. God came down in the form of a man, Jesus Christ, and gave His life for our sins so that we can come into His presence.

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrightous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit." (1 Peter 3:18)

God died for my sins?
Yes.

How can God die?
He can't but a man can. That is why He came down in the form of a man. An ordinary, poor, average- looking, compassionate Jewish carpenter from Galilee. Through his death, God's and man's, we can now come into God's presence with life, not death.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(Romans 6:23)

So God just died, that's it, now I can become right with Him?

No. God did not just die, He arose from the dead.
(Matthew 28)

Arose from the dead, isn't that a bit 'out there?'
No more 'out there' than believing God came to earth in the form of a man.

What does all this mean?
It means that, in God's sight, you are forgiven. You are forgiven for all the bad things you have ever done. No matter how bad, no matter how big or small, no matter who saw it and who didn't, you are forgiven for all the things you have done against God.

How do I receive this forgiveness from God?
1. You must believe that God came to earth in the form of a man and died so that our sins can be forgiven. You must also believe that He rose again so that, through His resurrection, we can also have life with God.
2. You must receive Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Saviour.

How do I receive Christ Jesus into my heart?
Pray this prayer to God from your heart.

"Lord Jesus, I am a sinner,
Confess all your sins to God. You might as well, He is God. He knows everything you've done. He even knew what you were going to do before you did it.
but I am sorry for my sins.
You wouldn't be sorry for your sins if you were not praying this prayer but God loves honesty. He loves being there for you when you need Him. After all, He died just so you could have life with Him.
I want to turn from my sins; I am willing to begin a new life with Your help.
To repent means to turn away from. The only way to truly be sorry for the things you have done wrong is to stop doing those things. You may not be able to stop doing those things on your own but you are not on your own. God is there to help.
Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and my life right now.
Through God's blood that was shed on the cross, we can have forgiveness of our sins and God can enter into our hearts. When you ask Him into your heart, that feeling of death inside becomes a feeling of life, God living inside you.
From this moment onward, my life belongs to You and You alone.
God wants all of you, everything. He gave everything He had so that you could spend time with Him. He just asks for the same thing in return. It's a small price to pay for life.
I will love You, serve You, tell others about You, and trust You to live Your life through me.
God wants you to be totally dependant upon Him. After all, God knows exactly what you need. He only wants to save you from yourself.Thank You Lord, for coming into my life and forgiving my sins today."
Be thankful to God for the price He has paid, the forgiveness He offers, and the life He brings.

What do I do now?
Tell someone of this decision that you have made.

If God will forgive me of everything I do, why can't I just do whatever I want to? Why did you even bother telling me?
God's gift of forgiveness doesn't cost anything but it's not free.
Once you accept God's forgiveness, through Jesus Christ, You become a new creation.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"
(2 Corinthians 5:17)

And new creations are obviously not like the old creations.
Old creations are slaves to sin and dead to God. New creations are free from sin and alive to God.

New creations don't want to do what the old ones did, they have found something better.
Therefore, new creations don't sin anymore.

"No one who lives in Christ continues to sin. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him." (1 John 3:6)

"Shall we go on sinning? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?"
(Romans 6:1-2)

So the new creations are totally without sin?
No. New creations still sin but they do not live in sin. They are dead to sin and when they do sin, they realize that sin is something that they no longer desire to be a part of and they stop doing the things that keep them from God.