Salvation. If you're like me, you probably heard the word many times as you were growing up, and maybe you even had somewhat of an idea as to what it meant. When I was a kid I heard the line, "Jesus saves!" without ever knowing what it meant. "Saves from what?" I wanted to ask when I heard it. And even if I knew what He saved us from, I didn't have the slightest idea as to how it worked or was relevant to my life. Jesus was the Son of God—and you might either be interested or frightened to know what I once thought that meant—who had come to Earth, lived a good life, died, was resurrected, then went off into Heaven on some sort of celestial fishing trip, leaving us poor sods to "muddle through" life. Or so I thought.

A friend finally explained things to me when I was seventeen. The truth was that I was so totally clueless at the time that I thought it was some new cult or something. It was only after I'd done a bit of reading and checking up on what he'd told me that I finally came to understand that this was real, classical, Biblical Christianity, the religion that Jesus had founded before He left and returned to Heaven. Furthermore, He wasn't off on some intergalactic tour visiting quasars; He maintains a clear and direct interest in everything that is going on here on this planet, and in fact will be coming back, perhaps sooner than a lot of people think.

So what was this message that I finally heard? How is it relevant to my life? Read the following paragraphs.

We are all Sinners

This was a concept that I had absolutely no trouble with at all. When my friend explained this to me, I was actually still on parental probation—ordered by juvenile court—for a stupid prank that I had played a couple of years earlier at my high school. I still remember those days. There was a part of me that wanted to do right, simply because I saw that misbehaving would only get me into more and more trouble. Mentally, I didn't classify myself with the "peck-offs", as we called them. I didn't smoke or go around getting into fights. I did my homework and got good grades—when I wanted to. Yet I kept being drawn into misbehavior. And it culminated in my sophomore year when I got the cute idea to call the school office and tell them that there was a bomb in the building. Biiiiig mistake.

The problem was that a part of me—the part of a person that stands off and watches detachedly as one lives their life—was terribly dismayed. Why was I continuing to do these things? I had an absolute horror of reform school and/or prison, yet a part of me feared that I would eventually end up in one or the other. I knew I had the brains to make something of myself. But I wouldn't use them. It was as if a part of me was irresistably drawn to evil.

There are a number of verses in the Bible that address this issue. Psalm 53 describes humanity by saying that "there is no one who does good, not even one." In the New Testament, the apostle Paul reinforced this evaluation in Romans, chapter 3, verse 23, where he said, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." There are more, but these will serve for examples.

Part of the problem is our nature, which Paul went on to describe in Romans, chapter 7. This is something that we have had from the beginning. Adam and Eve—who were two very real people, not merely mythical figures—were created perfect, but chose to disobey God. That had consequences that no one can even begin to describe, except to say that something was lost, something that left them mortal and with a propensity for evil. And being their descendants, we share that nature.

The Penalty for Sin is Death… and Hell

The Old Testament was clear about the penalty for sin, which is a short, monosyllabic word meaning disobedience to God. The penalty for disobeying many of the laws of Moses was death. And as for the soul… Well, in Ezekiel 18:4 it states that "the soul that sins, it shall die." And in the New Testament, Romans 6:23 states that "the wages of sin is death".

It gets worse.

Death in and of itself is not something to look forward to or rejoice over. Even if you were to simply cease to exist, it would mean an end to life and awareness, an end to friendship and laughter, an end to everything that makes you you. But the Bible makes it clear that death is not cessation of existence. In Hebrews 9:27 it states that after death comes judgment. And Jesus spoke often of judgment and Hell. Putting all the Scriptures together, the picture that emerges is that after a person dies, someday he or she will be resurrected and face judgment. And there are only two outcomes: Either a person is allowed into Heaven to spend eternity with God, or a person is thrown into a terrible place called the Lake of Fire (Read Revelation 20:12-15, and take a look at the description of the planet Venus).

And Hell is forever, my friend. Torture and agony unceasing. Pain and suffering without end. Fire. Torment. And after ten trillion years of this unspeakable horror, you will have still only begun to serve your sentence.

So what do we need saving from? We need saving from Hell. To put it closer to home and in a more practical, direct application, we need saving from sin.

Jesus Christ paid the Penalty for Sin

When God gave Moses the law, He not only gave a list of what was wrong, i.e. sin, but He also set up a system for dealing with it. The ancient Jewish priests were forever offering burnt sacrifices on the altar before the LORD. Some of these sacrifices were merely a part of the regular worship, like the morning and evening offerings. Others had to do with special holy days, such as Passover. But many of them were meant as atonement for sin.

On the surface, it seemed like an equitable system. You sin, you go to the priest with a bull or other appropriate animal. He burns it on the altar before the LORD to pay for your sin. Mission accomplished; God's justice satisfied. The problem was that the real issue wasn't the individual acts that people do. Rather, it's the heart attitude. Jesus pointed that out in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) when he said that even if you did not actually commit adultery, but merely looked at a woman lustfully, you were just as guilty. Or that even if you did not kill a man, but were merely angry at him without cause, you were just as guilty. In short, even if sacrificing a bull were sufficient to pay for a person's sin, there simply aren't enough animals in the entire world to cover everything that God actually considers sin. No one can be justified before God by keeping the law of Moses.

So what can be done?

Jesus Christ—Yeshua the Messiah—was born of a young woman named Mary in a stable in Bethlehem. Unlike with any other pregnancy, Mary was still a virgin at the time. Jesus had been conceived within her by the power of the Holy Spirit, as prophesied in Isaiah 7:14. Because of His unusual mixed parentage, Jesus was fully man—and at the same time, fully God. Do I understand how this is possible? No, I don't. I doubt that anyone does. But there are many things in this world that have nothing to do with divine nature that none of us yet understand, so that should not be a barrier to believing. At any rate, Jesus was born, grew up, and lived in the city of Nazareth in Judea, during the time of the Roman domination. Like other men, He had friends, an occupation (He was a carpenter) and engaged in other normal activities. Unlike other men, he never sinned against God.

However, God had not sent His Son to Earth merely to build tables and chairs. When He was around thirty years old, He left home to begin a ministry. He called twelve men to be His disciples, and spent three years training them. During that time He also taught thousands of others, healed the sick, drove out demons, raised the dead, fed multitudes, calmed a storm, and did more things than I can possibly list here. And in the end, His teaching offended the Jewish religious leaders to such a degree that they had Him brought before the Roman governor, accused of blasphemy, and eventually crucified, which was a common Roman method of execution in those days.

At first glance, you might be tempted to think that Jesus' purpose had failed, since He had been arrested and put to death. But that was not the end of the story. Three days later, He rose from the dead and returned to life. For the next forty days, His disciples—as well as nearly five hundred others—saw Him on many occasions, before He finally ascended to Heaven and left this world completely, at least for the time being.

But if that was all He came for, then why go through the whole process of being put to death? Why didn't He merely finally tell His disciples that He had taught them enough, then just drift off into Heaven without going through the torture of the cross?

The answer is in the real purpose for which He came.

As I mentioned earlier, man has a sin problem. The law of Moses provided for a system of sacrifices, but as I also pointed out, that system was woefully inadequate to really deal with man's problem. And even if enough critters could be found to pay for each and every one of a person's sins, there still remained the basic problem of our nature. The cold, hard truth is that we want to sin.

The wages of sin is death. However, Jesus had never sinned. So when He was put to death, His death could be used as an atoning sacrifice, in the same way that the ancient priests had sacrificed bulls and goats, to pay for sins. And since He was God in the flesh and not merely a bull or goat, He could pay for everyone's sins, from Adam all the way down to you. And your children. And their children. And so on.

Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice to pay for all of our sins, thus overcoming the failings of the law of Moses.

So What do I do?

It would be great if that were all there was to it, if the simple fact of Christ's sacrifice guaranteed that nobody would go to Hell. But that's not all there is to it. Stop and ask yourself for a moment why God would possibly have created human beings. Weren't plants and animals enough? Well, not really. Plants are pretty, and animals fascinating, but they aren't true companions. (Yes, some people consider their pet dogs to be their best friends, but most of us realize that even the best pooch cannot compare with another human person.)

Humans are different. Yes, I know that it isn't politically correct these days to distinguish humans from animals, and if Darwin were correct in his theory, you might have grounds for saying that. But there are holes in Darwinian evolutionary theory big enough to drive a fleet of aircraft carriers through, and the plain fact is that all theories of origin are unprovable. But if the Bible was right about who Jesus is, then I'm willing to take it at its word when it says that God made man in His own image. We're special to Him. He loves us. After all, He was willing to send His Son to become one of us and suffer one of the most painful kinds of death that man has ever invented for our sake.

The reason God hates sin is because it wrecks our relationship with Him. How would you feel if you had a friend and he or she kept doing things to deliberately offend you? It's the same way between us and God. Sin is spitting in His face. Jesus did not pay the penalty for our sin so that we could just keep on doing more of the same thing. Long before He said anything to His disciples about His coming appointment with the cross, He was calling on people to repent.

Sin is still sin. Jesus said that He did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. He did this by becoming the ultimate sacrifice for sin. But right is still right, and wrong is still wrong. This is a common misconception these days, that the Old Testament standards of what is acceptable behavior are no longer valid. They are just as valid today as they ever were. The standard for measurement has not changed. The only difference is that the atonement part has been taken care of, fully and completely, by Jesus.

The first thing a person must do to get right with God is repent. That means making a decision to turn away from sin—whatever yours is—and choose to obey God. The next step is to believe and accept Jesus Christ's sacrifice as the payment for your sins to satisfy God's righteous judgment. Many people think that they can do the latter without the former. You can't. Jesus said that eternal life was knowing God—and Jesus Christ Himself (John 17:3). That is only possible if we turn away from doing the very thing that interfere with that relationship: sin (see Isaiah 59:2).

In short, to be saved from sin—and from Hell as sin's result—you must repent of your sin (disobedience to God's commands) and trust in Jesus Christ's sacrifice to pay the penalty for your sin. That, in a nutshell, is the gospel ("good news").

And before you just "blow this off", take a look at The Bible and The Future. We may be a lot closer to Judgment Day than you imagine.

Where do I go from Here?

If you are reading this, then there are basically two possibilities. First, you are already a Christian. If that's the case, I hope you are pleased with my attempt to present the basic gospel message. If you believe that I've left something important out, then feel free to write to me and tell me, and if I agree with you, I will modify this page. Either way, I hope and pray that you are growing in the Lord and fellowshipping with other believers. If I don't already know you, then someday I will meet you in Heaven, if not sooner!

The other possibility is that you are not a Christian. If you are not, and after reading the above presentation of the basic gospel message you have decided that you would like to become a believer, then I encourage you right now to stop whatever you're doing and pray. Tell the Lord that you want to follow Him, that you believe in Him and His sacrifice to pay for your sins, and that you are repenting of your sins right now. That last one is important. As a note of encouragement, you will still find yourself falling into sin from time to time. This is normal. What is crucial is that you do not merely blow it off and go on with life as usual, but that when you catch yourself in sin—or even find that God is convicting you of something that you had not realized before was sin—you stop at once, confess it to God, and renew your repentance.

Read your Bible. If you don't have one, go buy one. I recommend a modern translation that is easy to understand, yet is not merely a paraphrase. Some good versions are the New American Standard, the New King James, and the New International. Stay away from The Message; it is not only a paraphrase, but dangerously close to being New Age in some of its passages.

Find a good church. By "good", I mean one that teaches the Word of God, not one that merely proclaims the "social gospel". Stay away from the so-called "emerging church"; it is essentially paganism with a Christian label. Get to know other believers and spend time with them. Find a good Bible study. God intended for the followers of Christ to be a body, not a collection of individualists. We need one another.

And most of all, pray. Seek God in your personal time. He will fill you with His Holy Spirit, and enable you to overcome sin and live for Him. Remember that Jesus said that eternal life is knowing Him.

The alternative to this is that you are not a Christian and have no intent or desire to become one. You may even be ridiculing me as you read this. If so, that is your right as a human being… at least at this point in history. However, I cannot help but warn you. If you are right and I am wrong, then when we die we will both simply cease to exist, or be reincarnated as garden slugs, or our consciousness will go off to join some cosmic "Force", or whatever. But if I am right and you are wrong, then someday we will both stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Because I have chosen to follow Him and put my faith in Him, He will welcome me into Heaven. Not because I deserve it—I most assuredly do not—but because of His unmerited grace and goodness through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross. You, on the other hand, will be condemned to Hell. It may not be "tolerant" or "inclusive" to say that these days, but I really don't care. You see, as I pointed out up above, Hell is forever. And it is horrible and dreadful beyond human imagining. I really, really do not want you—or anyone—to go there. But I'm not the one who decides these things. God is. And He has decreed that the only way to avoid Hell is to believe in His Son, Jesus, as I have also explained above. Please, please, I urge you to think about this. Think hard. Are you really willing to take such a chance? It's not merely your life, it's your eternal life.

Well, that's basically all I've got to say. If something isn't clear, then please feel free to contact me. If you've got any (serious!) suggestions, I'll listen.

God bless you and keep you!