Life’s Greatest Decision

I want to be faithful in my pursuit of writing and blogging, therefore, I have created this page to share with readers about the Gospel of Christ. The article here was written by my former pastor, Dr. Douglas McLachlan. He says what I want to say and he does it better than I can.  I decided to use this article until I can write something acceptable.

What is Life’s Most Critical Decision?

by Dr. Douglas McLachlan

The decision to become a Christian is the most important decision you could ever make. On this decision hinges the temporal well being and eternal destiny of every human soul.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? (Mark 8:36)

God loves all men and women, and He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to endure the penalty which our sins so richly deserve on the cross.

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. (John 3:16)

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

Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

Eternal life is the gift of God, found only in Jesus Christ. It cannot be earned, bought or inherited. It is received by believing the gospel, and by receiving Jesus Christ by faith as our personal Savior. The gospel is the Christian good news of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection in our place and in our behalf.

And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:11-13)

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. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

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. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

What does it mean to become a Christian? Christianity is first and foremost Jesus Christ Himself. Christianity is not primarily a system; it is a Person and a personal relationship with that Person. There is, of course, a place in the Christian faith for creed, ceremony, conduct and church, but none of these can substitute for Christ. We are called to trust in Christ alone in order to experience biblical salvation.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. (Philippians 3:7-9)

Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

To experience physical death without having received Christ as Savior results in permanent expulsion from the presence of God – a horrific condition which the Bible defines as hell. But God’s great gift of salvation through Christ rescues us from this awful prospect and makes us sons and daughters of God. God urges all of us to receive this rich gift by receiving Jesus Christ into our lives!

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)

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

For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)

How do we become a Christian?We have seen that Christianity in its essence is first and foremost Jesus Christ, and a personal relationship with Him. Let me suggest three steps which all of us must take in order to have a personal relationship with Christ:

1. There Is Something For Us To Admit. All of us must be ready to admit that we are sinners, that our sins have separated us from our God, that we must turn from our sins and that we need a Savior.
   

   For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)

   But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. (Isaiah 59:2)

   Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30)

   And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. (1 John 4:14)

   It is only as we admit our needy condition that we are ready to receive the solution provided by Jesus Christ.

   When Jesus heard it, He said to them, those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. (Mark 2:17)

2. There Is Something For Us To Believe We must believe that Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be – the Son of God and God the Son, and the Savior whom we admit to needing. In Jesus of Nazareth, God became man and laid down His life on the cross as a ransom for our lost souls.We must believe in Christ’s incarnation (the eternal Son was made flesh); His crucifixion (the Son of God was made sin, i.e., an offering for sin); and His resurrection (the crucified Savior was raised to life bodily and physically as a vindication of His person and work).
   

   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)

   And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

   For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

   I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death. Revelation 1:18

   Of course there is more to the Christian faith than these basic components, but these are at the very center of the truth we are called to believe.

3. There Is Something For Us To DoAdmitting our need as sinners and believing that Jesus has come and died to be our Savior still leaves us one step short of having the necessary relationship with Him.We must act to receive Him into our lives as our own personal Savior.
   

   “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37)

   “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30)

   But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)

Is there a simple “picture” of how to do this?Yes! Perhaps the clearest picture we have of what this looks like is in Revelation 3:20. Jesus says: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

Jesus calls us to “hear His voice” and “open the door.” Jesus “stands” at the threshold of our life speaking and knocking. If we have heard His voice in the text of Scripture defining the shape of our need as sinners and affirming that He is the Savior from sin, and if we admit that He is right about us and believe that He is who He claimed to be, then He calls us to “open the door.”

We must invite Him in from the threshold outside our life into the dining room inside our life. Then we are given the gracious promise: “I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” This is a glorious picture of shared joys, reciprocal fellowship, forgiven sins and eternal salvation!

From our heartIf you have not already done so, we urge you to receive this gracious gift which the crucified and risen Christ waits to give you at this moment. Do you hear His voice? Then open the door! You have this promise: “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Making such a decision is never the end, but it is an indispensable beginning. This is life’s most critical decision, and if you choose to make it, please grant us the privilege of knowing that. We would delight to help you in your spiritual growth once you decide to enter the Christian faith: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby” (1 Peter 2:2).