There are many today claiming to be or have the way to God. Because of spiritual darkness in the world, most people are confused and uncertain about their future – but there is no need for it.

You see, there is only One Who came down from Heaven to save mankind. His claim was verified by His powerful miracles, His words, and by those who were closest to Him.

The Bible prophesied His coming centuries before and declared that He would fulfill many detailed prophecies. They were so detailed that it would be impossible to predict them or even to deliberately fulfill them.

All religions teach that man must earn his way to Heaven. Because Jesus came to die for our sins, and He could only do this if He had no sin. He even invited others to point out His sins if they could – and there were no takers – not even from the religious leaders who hated Him! (John 8:46 “Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?”)

Because His life backed up His words, and so did His miracles, He proved that He was indeed “the way, the truth, and the life.” This was not just a declaration of a wish – it is the truth – that all must heed if they want to see Heaven (“No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”)

What does He require for salvation? He wants you to turn from sin and, in faith, ask Jesus to be your only Savior. He said: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Have you asked Him to be your Savior? If not, why not do it today?

Here are some things that Jesus told His disciples as they listened to Him:

I. Disciples Continue in the Word

Jesus is delighted with and takes note of those who seek to know the Bible and strive to follow it. He looks for those who whole-heartedly will follow Him. By His statement, Jesus reveals those whom He considers to be real believers and those who are not.

II. Discipleship Is Necessary to Know the Truth

Although the Bible is readily available to many people, a large number of those with a Bible really do not understand its teachings. They also miss the spiritual meanings because they either are not saved or are not in tune with the Holy Spirit.

These verses plainly show that obeying God’s truth is necessary to correctly understand the Bible. Jesus said this to those who had believed on Him, so He is not talking about how to be saved. Grasping the real meaning of the Bible requires more than just a grammatical and historical interpretation – although that helps.

III. Knowing the Truth Brings Spiritual Freedom

Spiritual freedom comes from understanding the truth of the Word. Freedom comes when you:

1. Understand that it is not necessary to follow the Law for salvation, because Jesus paid for all your sin.

2. Know that the Bible guarantees Heaven for believing what Jesus did for you on the Cross – and no more (John 3:16,17).

3. Take advantage of the access to the Father (prayer) that Jesus purchased for you (Hebrews 10:19).

4. Get victory over sin (day-by-day) because the Holy Spirit now lives in you (Ephesians 1:13,14).

5. Study the Bible and use the many promises in it to enable you to live for God.

6. Salvation removes the guilt of past sin

7. And much more.

Are you daily learning more of God’s truth that sets you free?

God has always wanted to bless His people. He loves to see His people happy and enjoying their relationship with Him.

The world will never understand what a blessing it is to have your sins forgiven, your name written down in the Book of Life, and be sure that Heaven will be your Home when you die. You can also enjoy fellowship with Him and have your prayers answered. While on earth, there will be some trouble, but God can help deliver you out of them.

The Lord never makes anyone a robot. He leaves every believer with the power to choose. If you walk according to His Word and by His Spirit, you can have the blessing He wants to give you.

On the other hand, if you choose to stay in your sin (check up on your salvation: God makes true believers “new creatures” who enjoy doing the will of God – not perfect, but growing), and know that God will not bless you. Your blessings will dry up, and God will work against you (the curse).

Someone may say: That is the Old Testament and God does not work that way anymore. The truth is He does not change. Yes, we are under grace and forgiveness can be quickly obtained. Still, there is such a thing as chastisement (see Hebrews 12 – New Testament).

In conclusion, like the verse says: “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day.”

Which way will you choose – to obey carefully or not?

I have the privilege of talking to many people about spiritual matters. It is amazing to me, with Bibles in most homes, how few people there are who have actually read it through.

God has given to man a supernatural Book, one that reveals the truth about our existence, God, our future, and most important, how we can have eternal life and live with God forever. Many churches proclaim the passages every week to help people understand it. Also, many churches even encourage their people to bring their Bibles with them because they want the people to see that what they are teaching is really in God’s Book.

In the above verses, Jesus was talking to people who had the Scriptures and had memorized much of it. Yet, they were unwilling to believe what the Book plainly told them.

Many people are like that still today. Some even read the Bible but fail to accept its simple truth about salvation.

The great truth is that salvation cannot be earned. This is plainly stated in Ephesians 2:8,9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Note that salvation is the gift of God. Gifts are free.

The gift that God gave to give us salvation is the gift of His Son. John 3:16 says it very well: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Thank God, His Son Jesus, paid the full price for what we owe.

If you are not yet a believer, call on God in prayer now, asking Him to forgive you and save you – because Jesus paid your full price. Read the verse again in the paragraph right above this one.

Now that Easter is past, some may wonder whether the resurrection is all that important. The truth is that all the teachings of the Bible are meaningless unless Christ rose from the dead.

God declared two very significant things in the Bible that affect our salvation. The first is that sin separates us from God – eternally. The Bible declares in Romans 6:23 that the “wages” [pricetag] “of sin is death” in Hell.

The second very significant thing that every person on earth must know is that only blood (death) can atone for our sin. God demonstrated this to Adam and Eve in the Garden when He provided them with skins – to cover them after they sinned and their own efforts to please God with leaves had failed. The Bible clearly declares this fact in Hebrews 9:22: “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

These two Biblical principles mean that if people are ever to be accepted by God and allowed to enter His holy Heaven, then Someone must take our place and die for us. Only by a substitution could the sinner ever be allowed to go unpunished.

Jesus Christ became the willing Substitute for all mankind. Although sinless, He came to die for “the sins of the world” (John 1:29). He had to die if we were to go free. But if He never came back, it would be impossible to know that our sins were forgiven by God.

Jesus’ resurrection proved that God was satisfied with His death for us. Otherwise, He would have remained in the grave – and in Hell continuing to pay for our sins.

Isaiah 53:11 – written centuries before Christ, predicted that God would be “satisfied” with what Christ did on the Cross for us. The verse says: “He” [God the Father] “shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”

Because Jesus Christ paid the full price of what we owe, all that is left is for us to receive His gift of forgiveness and eternal life. John 3:16 states it very clearly: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Have you called on Jesus to forgive and save you yet? Will you believe today before it is too late?

Paul first encourages believers to be a “living sacrifice” to God, and then he tells them why. He calls it a “reasonable service.”

Many reasons could be given as to why it is “reasonable.” They certainly would start with the fact that we do not deserve it; and secondly, God did not have to put His Son on a Cross for us.

God could have let all of us simply go to Hell and pay the price we deserve for our sins. After all, we are told that “the wages of sin is death” (Ro. 6:23).

In love, God sent His Son to redeem us by dying on the Cross for us. Then, He made salvation as a gift through faith (Eph. 2:8,9) and did not make us earn it. In fact, He rejects all attempts to make us pay for it – or even part of it. Once faith is put in Christ for salvation, all our sins are forgiven and erased.

We should also consider being a “living sacrifice” because He put us into His family and made us joint-heirs with His Son, Jesus Christ (“And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ,” Ro. 8:17).

God’s redemption of us also includes eternal life with Him, the removal of sin from our natures when we see Him in glory, and a perfect and sinless world in the future. What more could He have done to make His gift of salvation wonderful?

Considering all these things and more – it certainly is reasonable! He will not make you make that decision, but it should also be mentioned that He adds “abundant life” and blessing to those who make that choice!

Many Christians are living a nearly joyless Christian life because they believe that their salvation depends on their enduring to the end. They may be working hard to resist some sins but also know that other ones may be present.

Their lives could be changed by understanding that we are saved by faith in what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross. It is not based on what we have done or do now. He died for us because we could not pay the price for our sin and still escape the fires of Hell. What a wonderful gift of salvation we have received.

What Jesus did on the Cross puts the believer into the family of God. When Jesus cried from the Cross: “It is finished,” He meant that everything necessary to give us a full and complete salvation was accomplished.

As Christians, we could not begin to merit anything from God – nor can we ever keep ourselves saved. Sin is still present with us. Jesus one-time death on the Cross and resurrection is forever sufficient for any need you or I will ever have. He not only saves us, but our text verse shows that He also keeps us.

We cannot consistently hold onto Him, so He holds onto us – and we cannot escape out of His hands – or His Father’s (John 10:28,29). Because of His power to hold us in salvation and give us eternal security – we can have joy and sleep well at night. Praise His Name!

As we approach Easter, it must be remembered that Christ’s crucifixion was not an accident, nor was it an unexpected event in His life. Instead, it was the very reason He came to earth.

Jesus’ death on the Cross was predicted hundreds of years before He ever came. Isaiah 53 was written 700 years before Christ’s birth. David wrote Psalm 22 about 1,000 years before Jesus was born.

John the Baptist, in the text verse above, spoke these words at the very commencement of Christ’s ministry. He knew that Jesus came to be God’s special Lamb to die in our place. No other person could die for the sins of another and have their blood cover their sins in the eyes of God. The Bible declares, in Ezekiel 18:4, and again in verse 20 of the same chapter: “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

If we, as sinners, were to go free from the punishment of our sin, God would have to do it. Thank God, it is what He did through Christ’s crucifixion. He paid our full debt. And because He paid our full debt – there is nothing left for us to pay! It is why salvation is free to anyone. We can go free because of Jesus’ death and resurrection!

All that anyone needs to do to be saved from Hell is to turn from sin in your heart and believe on Christ’s payment for you. Although salvation is by faith, if you were serious about getting forgiven for your sin and disobedience to God, it is time to start living for Him and obeying the Bible.

From cover to cover, the Bible teaches that all people are sinners (Romans 3:10). As such, they cannot please God enough to merit salvation – no matter what they do.

Romans 8:7,8 makes this truth abundantly clear: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Since all the sinner does is displeasing to God, there must be a turnaround place at some point. Sin brings damnation – even just one (Romans 6:23). When the sinner realizes that all he does is condemning him, he wants to discover what does please God. Naturally, when people realize this, they usually start trying to live a better life and keep the Ten Commandments.

The change of mind is a form of repentance. But this kind is not the kind that saves. They must also repent of trying to save themselves by establishing their own goodness (righteousness).

Yes, Biblical repentance first involves a change of mind toward sin. But it does not end there. Being saved also means you stop trying to save yourself and put your faith in Christ alone to save you. He is the Gift of God for our salvation. He paid the debt we all owe because of our sin. Don’t reject God’s free Gift.

Once you trust Christ to save you, He changes the life and enables you to live for Him. No other religion can do this. It is because of Christ’s death and resurrection power to forgive and save that He commanded the disciples, in Luke 24:47: “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

Have you repented and trusted Christ to save you?

This is a powerful verse, along with the two verses before it. In these verses, Paul deals with the argument about people thinking that you can lose your salvation.

In verse 26, he points out that if Christ’s death on the cross was not sufficient to guarantee you a place in Heaven, then Jesus would have to die more than once. Of course, that is not going to happen. God knew what is necessary to get us to Heaven

The truth is, if it depended on us to ensure our salvation – none of us would be saved. Also, we would not need a Savior, either. We are all still sinners, even though saved. Hopefully, as you grow in Christ, you should be sinning less and less.

Among Jesus’ last words on the Cross, He said: “It is finished!” This simple phrase meant that our redemption had been accomplished once we merely believe on what He did for us. Nothing needs to be added to it, and nothing can be added to God’s perfect redemption. The only qualification for salvation is found in Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

Because of what Jesus did for us, we can know that we have eternal life. In simple faith, those looking to go to Heaven one day by trusting Jesus alone, will find that when He comes back – He will not have a record of any of our sins since salvation with Him – thus guaranteeing our salvation.