I want to speak this morning on a subject entitled, “What is a Christian?” It is baptism Sunday, and so it is good for us to stop for a moment and just think about what it means to be called a Christian. 

I heard the story of a man who was down on his luck, and he desperately needed a job, because he desperately needed some money. And so he began to move around his city looking for jobs, and he couldn't really find one. And so he decided kind of last resort, that he was going to go to the zoo and see if he could find a job. Well, the manager of the zoo had no position for him, but as he was looking at this man, seeing that he was quite of a large build. He said, “You know, I might have a possible position for you.” He said, “Last week, our gorilla died, and it was our most popular exhibit. Would you be willing to put on a gorilla suit and act as a gorilla for the next few days before our gorilla comes? We will pay you handsomely for it.” Well, you know, when a man is desperate, a man is desperate, and a job is a job. And so he said, “I'll do it.” And so he put on this grazing gorilla suit, and he just began his job of imitating a gorilla. And, you know, really got into it. Began to pound his chest and to shake the bars of the cage. And, you know, after a few days, he thought, “You know, this is not a bad job. You know, after all, the money's good. I get to take afternoon naps, and I get to eat all the bananas that I want to eat.”

Well, one day, in the midst of his little uh, you know, his acting like a gorilla, he was swinging on the trapeze, he got a little bit carried away, and the momentum uh took him so far that he lost a grip on the bar, and he fell right dab in the middle of the lion's cage, and as you could well imagine, the lion jumped to its feet and gave out a ferocious roar. And the man thought from him, “What am I going to do?” You know he knew then if he cried out and he said, “Help!”, everybody would know. It would give away his identity, and this man who was desperate for money, would lose his job. So he began to slowly walk backwards with his eye upon the lion, towards the chain-link fence, hoping he could climb it, drop back into his cage, and all would be well. But as he was moving backward, he could see a hungry look in the eye of that lion, and he could see the lion was slowly moving towards him, moving towards his prey, and overcome with fear, he cried out, and he said, “Help!” And just then, the lion pounced upon the man and said, “Shut up or you'll get us both fired!” 

You know, things aren't always as they appear. And you know, there are many people who appear to be Christians, and they're not. I remember reading a survey not long ago, it said that 40% of our world's 7 billion in population claim to be Christians. And you know, as I read that stat, I asked myself,” Well, how Christian are these so-called Christians?” And a survey was done asking Christians kind of on you know anybody who claimed to be a Christian, asked them some questions about life and morality. And here's what these men and women who claim to be Christians said about life and morality. In fact, 60% said that they believe that living together without being married is acceptable. 45% had no problem with abortion. 42% had no problem with any kind of immorality. 35% said that they had no problem with pornography. In fact, many of them said they view it on a regular basis. 36% of those interviewed said they have no problem using profanity. 35% said they have no problem getting drunk, and some even admitted to regularly getting drunk, especially on Friday or Saturday nights. 

And this is what these who claim to be Christians, said about life and morality. And so it causes me to ask the question, “So how Christian are these Christians?” In fact, when these same group of people were asked what they believed about Christianity and what they believed about God. Here is what they said. They said 59% said that they believe that Satan is a myth. He's not a real person. He's just a symbol of evil. 50% of those could not name the four Gospels. You know Matthew, Mark, Luke and Paul, all right. I'm glad you know the four gospels right. And 30% of them said that they believed that the Bible is not accurate. 60% said that they go to church on Easter. And yet, when they asked them, “Well, what is Easter all about?”, only 30% could actually tell them what Easter is all about. 

And so it causes me to ask the question, “How Christian are these Christians?” In fact, it reminds me of that man who was once asked the question, “What does your religion believe?” And the man says,”Well, my religion believes what I believe.” And then he asks him, “Well, what do you believe?” And he says, “Well, I believe my rigid religion believes”. And that's all that man knew about what he believed, okay. And it's obvious that there are so many people who named the name of Christian, but they have no idea what that means. So what is a Christian? 

You may be here today, and you may be visiting us, and you may be thinking to yourself, “Well, why is it so important to be a Christian? After all, don't all roads lead to God?” And that is a popular question, but an answer to that question, if you would ask Jesus Christ today, you know, do all roads lead to God, Jesus would say, “Absolutely not.” In fact, listen to what Jesus Christ said. This is an unbelievable statement. Jesus said it in John, chapter 14 and verse 6, Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and Life, and no man come to the Father except me.” In other words, Jesus was saying, “Listen, there's only one way a person can have their sins forgiven, and there's only one way a person gets to heaven.” And Jesus Christ said,“that way is through me.” And yet maybe you're thinking for a moment, what an audacious statement. All right, Wow! How could anybody dare to say that he is the only way? But you know Jesus Christ has a right to say that. You know why? Because only Jesus Christ lived a sinless life. Only Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins. And only Jesus Christ rose again the third day, proving he is who he claimed to be the Son of God and the Savior of man. And only Jesus Christ made the promise of an eternal life in heaven. You see, Jesus had the right to say what he what he said because of what he did. 

In fact, I remember a little story about a man who was just became a Christian, and his friend asked him. He said, “Why did you convert?” The man said, “Well, it's like this, if you were walking down a road and you came to a fork in the road, and there were two roads, and you didn't know which way to take, didn't know which road to travel upon. And there were two men, and one was dead, one was alive, whose directions would you follow?” 

And yet, in the very same way, you see Jesus Christ, not only did he live a sinless life, and not only did he die upon Calvary’s cross, but he rose again, proving to us he is who he claimed to be, and that is the Son of God and the Savior the world. In fact, Peter testified to that when he said in Acts 4 and verse 12, he said, “Nor is there salvation in any other speaking about Jesus Christ, for there is no other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved.” 

Friends, there is one way, and that way is the person of Jesus Christ. In fact, did you know that, that which separates Christianity from all other world religions? Do you know what separates Christianity from all other world religions? What makes Christianity distinct is that all other world religions apart from Christianity, teach that if you're going to have your sins forgiven and you're going to have everlasting life, there is something that you must do. Are you with me? Every other religion apart from Christianity, teaches that if you're going to have your sins forgiven and you're going to have the hope of everlasting life, there's something that you must do, something that you must do to appease your god or your religious system. 

But Christianity is totally different than that. You see in Christianity, a person does not have their sins forgiven, and they do not have the hope of everlasting life based upon what they do or do not do, but it's simply accepting what God, through Christ has already done for us. Did you get that? You see, in Christianity, it's not what you do for God that gets you to heaven, but it's you by faith, accepting what God has done for you. All right, it's accepting what God has done for you. 

I read a survey that went like this. The survey asked the question, “How do people get to heaven, or how do you get to heaven? Or how can you get to heaven?” And 54% said that if you do enough good things, you can get to heaven. And when these people were asked, well, how many good things are? What are these good things that you must do in order to get to heaven? People threw out things such as you must go to church, or you know, attend your religious place of worship, or you need to pray, or you need, you know, to be baptized, or you need to go to church, if you do enough good things, you can get to heaven. But what's interesting is that in Christianity, it's not what you do that gets you to heaven, alright, but it's accepting what God does that gets us to heaven.

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Let me just say something that might shock you a little bit. Do you know that you can do all those good things? I mean, you can come to church on a regular basis. You can pray. You can be baptized, and you know you can just, you know, give all of you have, you know, to serve God, and you realize that you can do all those good things and not still be on your way to heaven. Did you know that? Did you know that you can do all those good things, do what everybody says you ought to do, and still not be certain that your sins are forgiven and you are on your way to heaven? In fact, a person can go to church, and just because a person goes to church does not mean that they are on their way to heaven. In fact, going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than owning a pair of golf clubs makes you a golfer, or owning a paintbrush makes you a painter, or owning a surfboard makes you a surfer. Listen, you don't become a hamburger just because you go to McDonald's, and you don't become a Christian just because you come to services here on Sunday morning at Gospel Light Christian Church. There's nothing that magical that happens on Sunday when you get out of bed and you walk through those doors, a person can come faithfully to church and still not be on their way to heaven. Hey, a person can pray regularly and still not be on their way to heaven. It is said that 9 out of 10 people on planet earth pray on a regular basis. But do you realize that faithful, regular praying for self and others is no guarantee that a person is on their way to heaven? 

In fact, some of the most scathing words that Jesus Christ ever spoke, he spoke to a group of religious men who are absolutely pious about their own religion. These men would be called the Pharisees, and they were the top, they were the peak in the pinnacle of the religious system in the Lord's Day. And these men were very pious. They were very devout. In fact, it is said that these Pharisees that they prayed three times a day and they fasted twice a week. And yet, to these men, listen to what Jesus Christ said, and these were like some shocking words. Speaking to these religious leaders, Jesus said, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” He says, “You are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside you're full of dead man's bones and all uncleanness, you serpent brood of vipers. How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” Wow. These are searching words. By the way, these might make you feel a little bit uncomfortable, because these are uncomfortable words. But Jesus spoke these to the most pious religious men of the day, men who are depending upon their own self effort to get them to heaven. And so you can be as pious as these men, but that's no guarantee that you're on your way to heaven. In fact, do you realize that you can have a lifetime of good works and still not be on your way to heaven? Do you know that? Serious in fact if there was ever a man who could get to heaven on his own self effort? All right, humanly speaking, it would a man by the name of Nicodemus. 

Do you remember Nicodemus in the Bible? He's found in John chapter 3, Nicodemus was, without a doubt, he was a Pharisee. He was a religious man. He was one of the peak and pinnacle in the day. I mean, he was extremely pious. He likewise prayed three times a day, fasted twice a week. I mean, he humanly speaking like Mary Poppins, was practically perfect in every way, you know. I mean, he was the kind of guy that adhered to all the ins and the outs of his religious system. But not only was he a very pious religious man, he was a leader of a religious group called the Sanhedrin made up of 72 people. He was its leader. These were the men that simply made the religious laws for the multitudes. And so this man was over the top. In fact, if we were in Israel during Nicodemus’s day, and we were to ask someone on the street,” Hey, listen, who's the most religious man in town? I mean, who is the most pious, who is the closest to God?” Every finger, without a doubt, would have pointed to this man, Nicodemus. But you realize, in spite of his religious devotion, in spite of all of his good works and all of his effort, his sins were not forgiven, and he was not on his way to heaven, because one day, this man, Nicodemus, came into contact with Jesus Christ, the Jesus who said, “I'm the Way, the Truth and Life. And no man comes to the Father except by me.” And to this man, Nicodemus, Jesus Christ said, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In other words, Jesus was saying, “Nicodemus, there's something drastically wrong. Nicodemus, there's something missing in your life. I know that you've been pious. I know you've been religious. I know that you're a man of prayer. I know that you fast. I know that you make the laws of the land. Spiritually speaking, but Nicodemus, that's not enough. Something is missing. You can't earn God's favor by what you do.” And yet, on the other hand, do you remember when Jesus was crucified? The Bible reminds us that he was crucified between two thieves, right? There he is right in the middle two thieves. And you know those two thieves that are on the side of Jesus. They were not your common criminals. They were not your petty thieves of the day. These were the worst of the worst. These were the lowest of the low. These were the kind of thieves that not just broken the home and stole, but they would rape and kill in the process. And as these two men were dying on the cross for their own sins, and remember, Jesus was not dying for his own sins, because the Bible says that He was sinless. And so as he was dying upon that cross, He Jesus was dying for your sins. But these thieves, these worst of the worst, lowest of the low, they were dying for their own sins. And yet, as they were dying for their sins, their crimes they committed, they began to join the crowd, and they began to mock Jesus Christ. And so Jesus, with the eye of that omnipotent God, looking down that tunnel of time, seeing the hearts of men and women around the world. He cried out, and he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And when those words went forth from the mouth of Jesus, they were like an arrow from the quiver of God, and they struck the heart of one of these thieves. And there, in an instant, there in a moment of time, that thief recognized that he who was dying next to him was the Son of God, and he was the Savior of the world. And there, with a cry of conversion, he said, “Lord, remember me when you go into your kingdom.” And Jesus, with that promise of salvation, looked over to that dying thief, and he said, “Today, you shall be with me in paradise.” 

Imagine the scene Nicodemus, a man who had a lifetime of good works, and Jesus says, “It's not enough.” He says, “You're not forgiven, you're not on your way to heaven.” And here was this thief, this worst of the worst, this lowest of the low, who turned and in a moment, received Jesus Christ as his Savior, was certain of his sins forgiven and had a hope of everlasting life that very day, and it reminds us of this very important truth. You see, friends, we don't get to heaven based upon what we do or do not do, but people get to heaven simply because they've accepted what God, through Christ did for them on the cross. In fact, that's why Paul made this statement. It's found in Titus chapter 3. You know this verse, Paul said that it's not by the works of righteousness that we have done, he says, “But according to his God's mercy that he saved us.” You see, it's not what we do that gets us to heaven, but you and I accepting what God, through Christ, has done for us. In fact, we are saved because of his marvelous, matchless and amazing grace. We're saved by His wonderful and His Amazing Grace. 

Grace reminds me of a story. Now this story is not a real story, and you'll see why in just a moment, but that's a story that illustrates grace. One day, a man died, and he stood before the gates of heaven, and there he was met by the angel Gabriel. You see why it's not a real story. Are you with me? And Gabriel says,“In order for you to get into heaven, here's what has to happen. You need 100 points.” He said,“So you tell me all the good things that you have done in life, and I will assign to you a point. You get enough points you can get in.” The man said, “Hey, no problem with that one. Lay it on me.” And so he said, “Go ahead.” And so the man said, “Hey, here's here's me. I've been married for 50 years, or I was married 50 years to the same lady. I never cheat on her, not even once.” He says, “I never cheated on her, even in my mind, I was absolutely faithful to my wife for 50 years.” And so Gabriel said, “Hey, that is great. I wish more men could say that. I'll tell you what. I'll give you, three points.” The man looked at Gabriel said, “Three points. 50 years of faithful marriage, only three points.” And the Gabriel said, “Sorry, only three points.” The man said, “Okay, well, you know, I was faithful to my church, and you know, I gave to the offering, and I helped him to advance the, you know, the work of the church and and I did that faithfully throughout my entire life. Rarely did I ever miss a service unless I was sick.” And Gabriel says, “Man, I that is great. I wish there were more men and women like you. I'll tell you what. I'll give you one point”, and you can see on the man's face now, he was a little bit horrified. In fact, he was a little bit afraid.

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And he said,” One point, you know. Sorry on only one,” He said, “Okay, well, you know, every year I would, I would have a kind of a soup kitchen, and I'd go down to the inner city of my, my city, and there I would feed people, and I would, I would, I would give them a meal for the day. And I did this during the holidays. I did this every year for many, many years.” He says, “Sure, that's worth something.” And Gabriel says, “Yeah, that's great. I appreciate your service.” He said, “I'll tell you what. I will give you two points.” And the man was horrified, to two points. He said, “Gabriel, at this rate, the only way I'm going to get to heaven is by the grace of God.” And Gabriel said, “Did you say by the grace of God? Then if it's by the grace of God, come on in.” Because there's only one way a person gets to heaven, and you know what that is? It's simply by the grace of God.

In fact, that's why Paul made this great statement for us in Ephesians chapter 2.  Listen, he said, “For by grace”. By the way, what is grace? Grace is God's unmerited favor. It is God doing for you and doing for me what we can't do for ourselves. Salvation, the forgiveness of sins, the hope of everlasting life. He says, “For by grace, have you been saved through that simple choice of faith. And it is not of yourselves. It's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, and it's not of works”. Lest we can come to God and say, “Oh, God, you gotta let me in. God, I've been a good person. You gotta let me in. God, I've been faithful to my wife for 31 years, and I have but God, you gotta let me in. You know, God, you gotta let me in.” And we give God all these boastful reasons, and God says no boasting apart from the cross. You see, friends, there's only one way a person gets to heaven. It's not based upon what you do or do not do. You see, we can have a lifetime of good works. We could be faithful in prayer, praying for others, praying for self, praying for needs. We can be giving of our time and our talents and our treasures to advance the Kingdom of God. But you see, that is not going to earn us any stripes in heaven, that is not going to give you an entrance, that's not going to wash away your sin, and that won't give you everlasting life. So you might be thinking, all right, if that's the case, then then how can I become a Christian? Or how can I have my sins forgiven? How can I have the hope of everlasting life? If it's not based upon what I do, but based upon what God has done for me, then how can I receive that so my sins can be forgiven and I can have the hope of everlasting life? 

Well, friends, if you're going to become a child of God, if you're going to become a Christian, if your sins are going to be forgiven and you're going to have the hope of everlasting life, there are some things you need to understand. And there is a decision, a very important decision, that every single person needs to make. You say, well, what do I need to understand? Well, first of all, you need to realize that you are a sinner. Now, I know this is basic, but we got to get this, all right? And the fact is, we understand that, that we're all sinners. In fact, Paul said, “For we have all sinned”, without exception. Everybody within this room, I don't care how good you are, and I'm sure this room is filled with a bunch of wonderfully good people. But no matter how good you are, the fact remains that you are a sinner. And you might say, “Well, what is sin?” Well, by definition, sin is you and I breaking God's law. In fact, the Bible is God's law, so whenever we do what God says we shouldn't do in His Word, we have broken God's law, and we have sinned. And I've talked over the years to a lot of people about the matter of sin and salvation, and I've only met one person in my life who ever said to me, “I have never sinned.” 

Remember, I was in with a church in a church camp in Malaysia, and there was a young man, a university student from Hong Kong, was with us, and I was sharing with him the wonderful saving message of Jesus Christ, telling him about God's wonderful grace. And I asked the young man, “Are you a sinner?” And he looked at me, and he said, “No, I am not a sinner.” And I remember for the first time, I thought to myself, Wow, that's weird. I've never heard that one before. And so I asked him a second question. I said, “Do you know what sin is?” And he looked at me says, “No, I don't know what sin is.” Then I realized, well, that's why you can say to me, I am not a sinner. So I said, “Let me define for you and then I'll illustrate for you what sin is.” And so I told him, as I just mention to you that sin is breaking God's law. It is doing what God says don't do. In fact, I said, “Do you know the Ten Commandments?” And he looked at me with his blank stare, and he says, “No, I've never heard the Ten Commandments.” So I began to share with him the Ten Commandments. I said, “God commanded these things, and when we don't do them, or we violate them, we break them, we have sin. That's what sin is.” And I said, “The Bible says we shouldn't lie, so whenever we say something that's not truthful, we are breaking God's law and we're sinning.” And I can see the light going on in his eyes. I said, “The Bible says we're not to steal, so when we take something that's not ours” and so he was a college student, I illustrated it this way. I said, “Have you ever cheated on an examination?” And as most students would admit or not admit. He admitted, and said, “I've done that one.” I said, “Well, that's stealing, that's breaking the law of God.” And I went on to mention the other commandments, such as, you know, committing adultery and so on and so forth. And at the end, he said to me, “Well, if that's what sin is, then without a doubt, I have sinned” because, and that was an honest confession, because the Bible says, “For we all without exception, we have sinned.” 

I remember a story about a young man who had just been married, and he came to his pastor, and he said, “Pastor, I want you to know that I have married an angel.” The pastor looked at the man, he said, “Son, in a few weeks, you'll realize that angel do not get married because there are no human angels.” The fact is, we have all sinned. And so you might think, Okay, we've all sinned. But what's the big deal? Well, sin is a big deal. Do you know how big of a deal sin is? It is so big that God had to send his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to deal with our sin. That's how big of a deal it is. You see, here's what sin does. Sin, from the very moment of your birth, separates you from God. Now, that's why you feel the way you feel. That's why in your heart, no matter how much you have, no matter how much success you achieve, no matter how much popularity you gather, there's still something missing on the inside. We call that a God-shaped hole, because every single person was designed for a specific purpose. You were designed to know God and to be satisfied by God. And apart from a relationship with God, there's no true satisfaction in this life. That's why you feel the way you feel. That's why there's emptiness, that's why there's guiltiness, that's why there's fear and loneliness. That's why we search for love, and we seem often to come up empty, because we're born in this world separated from God. But not only does sin separate me from God now, but sin disqualifies us from coming into the very presence of God.

Listen to the verse he says, “For we have all sinned, and as a result, we have come short of the glory of God.” You see, in order for man to enter into heaven, we need to meet God's standard. And what is God's standard? It is absolute flawless perfection. That creates a problem. The problem is none of us are perfect. We're all sinners and we all fall short. But that's why Jesus Christ came, you see, he came to remove your sin and to give you His righteousness so you meet God's standard, and so God can accept you into His heaven. And you need to recognize that. You need to recognize, number one, that you're a sinner. Number two, then you need to repent of that sin. In fact, the Bible puts it this way, that unless you repent, he says you will likewise perish. Repentance. You see what is that? It means simply to change your mind. Well, change your mind about what? It means to change your mind about sin. It means you need to see sin as something that has separated you from God. It means you need to realize that your sin has disqualified you from coming to God. It means you need to realize that your sin, if not dealt with, will send you to hell rather than heaven. You need to change your mind about sin. It means you need to change your mind about Jesus Christ. You see it means that Jesus is not just a good man, not just a moral teacher, but he is the Son of God who came to be the Savior of man. 

But you see, if Jesus Christ is going to be your Savior, the Bible says, then you need to make a choice to believe. You need to make a choice to receive Him into your life, to be your Savior and to be your Lord. You see, Jesus Christ came to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. Jesus Christ came to remove your sin and He did that by dying on the cross for you. That's why Paul gave us this great verse in Romans 5, he said that God demonstrates His own love towards us in that while you and I, we were yet sinners, that Jesus Christ died for us. You see, Jesus Christ came in that while we were yet sinners to do for you and for me what we cannot do for ourselves. He came to remove that sin and to give to us everlasting life. 

Have you ever seen the movie entitled “The Last Emperor”? You ever seen that movie? No response. You guys out there, I can see you. I'm sure you've seen it. If not, I'll give you a little bit of a snippet, okay? It's about the last emperor China's small child.

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And this small little boy was anointed to be the last emperor of China. And this little boy lived in absolute luxury. In fact, he had a thousand servants at his beck and call. Wouldn't that be cool? And one day, his brother came to him and said, “What happens when you do wrong?” And the little Emperor stood there, in all of his pomp and circumstance, and he said,“ When I do wrong, somebody else gets punished.” And there to demonstrate, he pushed a vase off the table. It broke on the floor, and as a result, he had one of his servants punished. Now, that may be how they did it in ancient China, but that's not how God does it with us. Do you realize that God, in His love for you, punished his son for your sin? You see, that's why Jesus Christ came. He came to do for you and he came to do for me what we can't do for ourselves. He came and He died for our sin to wash away our sin, to bring us into our relationship with God, so we might have the hope of an everlasting life in the future and the promise of an abundant life now.

Let me tell you a story. It's a true story, by the way. Few years back, there was a bus driver who had his bus filled with some 40 kids, and he was taking his normal route home, and he had to go down kind of a steep incline. And as the bus was moving down this incline, the brakes failed. As he began to pump the brakes, he realized that there was no holding power, and the bus driver could not swerve to the left because there was a wall, and he could not swerve to the right because there was a cliff, but he knew that at the end of the road there was a meadow that was surrounded by a fence, and he hoped that he could just hold on, and he could bring that bus to the end of the road. He could break through that fence, and the bus would stop naturally in the meadow. His only hope was that there was nothing blocking the gate, no cars and no people were there. And so he held on, and as he began to move down to the end of that road, he saw the approaching meadow, he saw the fence, and yet to his horror, he saw there was a little boy sitting on that fence. The boy was kind of waving at the bus because he was unaware of the approaching danger. The driver of the bus began to flicker his headlights, began to honk the horn, hoping to alert the boy to get out the fence and get out of the way but the boy just sat there, unaware, waving at the bus. Now the bus driver had an important decision to make. “What do I do?" He knew that if he swerved to miss the boy, that he might take the life of the 40 children and plunge off the cliff, but if he pushed through the wall or the fence, that he would kill the boy, and yet he would save the 40 children. And so the bus driver had an important choice, and he made his choice. He decided to sacrifice the life of the boy to save the lives of the children. And so he burst through that fence, the boy was instantly killed, and yet the bus came to a safe stop. Emergency vehicles soon arrived, parents and grandparents arrived, and everybody was happy. Everybody was thrilled that their children were alive. Everybody was happy, except one person, and that was the bus driver, because that little boy was the bus driver's son. 

But you know, in a greater sense, that's what God did for us in sending His Son, Jesus Christ. As there he died upon that cross, he took all of your sin and he died in your place. He died to forgive you of your sin. He died that you might have life and that you might have life more abundantly. That's why Jesus himself made this great statement found in John 3:16. Jesus says that God so loved you. It doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't matter what you've done, it doesn't matter what you think of him. God loves you. How much does God love you? He loves you so much that He gave His only begotten Son, so that if you make a choice to believe in Him, God gives to you everlasting life, and that's how much God loves you, and that's what Christianity is all about. It's not what you do for God. It's not what you do not do for God that brings you into a walk in a relationship with God, but it's you accepting what God has done for you, that's what makes you a Christian. 

And so I ask you today, has there been a time, has there been a point in your life where you recognized that yourself as sinner, that your sin has separated you from God. It has disqualified you from coming into God's presence and repented of that sin and then to that simple choice of faith, receive Jesus Christ into your life, to be your Savior and to be your Lord. And friend, if you've not made that decision, may I encourage you that today, before this service is out, that you would make that decision, that you would make that choice. Because it's only when we make that choice to believe and to receive Jesus do we become his children, do we have our sins forgiven and do we have the hope of everlasting life. 

Listen to what the scripture says in John 1, we're told, “But as many as received Him Jesus, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in his name”. You need to make a choice to believe. You need to come to that point where, yes, you recognize that you are a sinner, you're willing to repent of that sin and to receive Jesus Christ into your life as Savior and as Lord. And so maybe you're here this morning and you're not certain that your sins are forgiven. You're not confident that you're on your way to heaven. Maybe you've been coming to Gospel Light Christian Church for the last 25 years. Maybe you were born here. Maybe you grew up in the Sunday school. You grew up in the teen years, and you've gone through the motions. I mean, you did what the church said that you needed to do. But you can't remember a time, you can't remember a point in your life where you recognize that you are a sinner and your sin has separated you from God, and because of your sin, you’re disqualified. You can't remember a time when you've repented and received Jesus as your Savior. In fact, maybe you can remember a time where you prayed a little prayer of faith, but you've seen no change. Then I ask you, then what certainty do you have? You see, the only certainty that we have is when we recognize, yes, I'm a sinner, and you repent of that sin, and thereby faith, you receive Him into your life. And maybe that's where you find yourself today. You're not certain that your sins are forgiven, you're not confident. Maybe you have been going through the motions. 

Maybe you're here, you're visiting today, and maybe you are one of those who are dragged by your friends, but you know that there's something missing in your life. Maybe you are a religious person, and you've been seeking to earn God's favor, but you've always come up empty and you're not certain. Maybe you've been asking yourself the question, “How much is enough?” And friends, you know enough is when we accept what he did for us, because it's not what you do, t's accepting what he has done. 

And maybe you're here today, and you're just not certain that your sins are forgiven, you're not confident that you're on your way to heaven, and you realize that this is a decision that you need to make, and if this is a decision that you need to make, you want to be certain that you're on your way to heaven. You want to know the reality of an abundant life now and an eternal life in the future. Then I'm going to invite you, in just a moment, to make a choice, to receive Jesus Christ into your life, to be your Savior and to be your Lord, because God so loved you that He gave His only begotten Son for you, so that when you believe in Him, you shall not perish, but you have everlasting life. That's God's promise, but you need to, by faith, receive Him to be your Savior and to be your Lord. And I pray that's a decision that you make, if that's if that's a need that you have. So let's bow our heads for a word of prayer. Shall we? Let's pray together with our heads bowed and our eyes closed.

Lord, we just come to you right now and we want to say thank you for what you did for us on the cross. Lord, we're thankful that you died to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Lord, I'm thankful today that salvation is to that simple choice to trust you to be Savior, to be Lord, to trust you to do what we can't do. Lord, I want to pray today that if there are some in this audience that are not certain that their sins are forgiven, they're not confident that they're on their way to heaven, but they believe in their heart that you died for their sins. They know that their sin stands as a barrier between them and God. Then I pray today that they would make that simple choice to receive you into their life, that they might know you as Savior and as Lord, and with every head bowed and every eye closed, maybe that's where you find yourself this morning. Not certain, not sure. Maybe you're here today, and you'd say, You know what, I think I need to make this decision. And friends, if God is speaking to your heart, and this is a decision that you need to make, here's what I want you to do right where you are. I want you to indicate your need to make that decision, your need to trust Christ, your need to ask him to forgive you of your sin. I want you to indicate that with an uplifted hand, and by lifting up your hand, you're just saying, “Hey, listen, I recognize that I'm not sure, that I'm not certain, and

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I want to settle that matter with God today. I want Jesus Christ to be my Savior and to be my Lord. I want the certainty that my sins are forgiven and heaven is my eternal home.” 

And if God has spoken to your heart this morning, and that's a decision that you need to make, I want you right now just to lift your hand and said, “Please pray for me”, and I will have a word of prayer with you and lead you in a simple prayer of faith afterwards. But if that's your need, that's your desire, and that's a decision that you need to make. I want you right now, right where you are, just to lift your hand and say, That's me. “Would you please pray for me?” I'm not going to embarrass you, I'm not going to point you out. I'm just going to lead you in a very simple prayer of faith in a moment. So right now, just lift your hand and say, “Please, pray for me.” Yes, I'll pray for you. Somebody else, yes, I'll pray for you. Somebody else, yes, I'll pray for you. Yes, I'll pray for you. Yes, I'll pray for you. Yes, thank you. Yes, I'll pray for you as well. Somebody else, please pray for me. I need to make that decision with the lifted hand to say, That's me. I want to settle this matter with God right now. I recognize that I can't, but he can. And I'm going to ask him to be my Savior. And God has spoken to your heart right now, not yet raised your hand, do so right now, just say that to me. Would you please pray for me with an uplift of the hand, God is speaking to my heart. Yes, I'll pray for you. Somebody else, somebody else. Please pray for me. Please pray for me. Please pray for me. I'm gonna ask the pianist to play, just to break this silence here, just for a moment, with our heads are still bowed and our eyes are still closed. 

Friend, if there's a tug and a pull at your heart today, if there's some internal anxiety, that's God knocking at the door of your heart, that is God saying, “Let me come in. Let me wash away your sin. Let me give you life, eternal life and abundant life.” And if he's knocking at the door of your heart right now, don't leave him outside knocking. Reach out that hand of faith, open that door and invite him in and let him be your Savior today. If you've not yet raised your hand, and this is a decision that you need to make. I want you to do so right now and then I'll have a simple prayer of faith with you. So with right now. You not yet raised your hand, but you do. So now just put that hand up and say, That's me. I need to make that decision. I'm going to make that choice. I'm going to trust Him as my Savior and as my Lord, with an uplifted hand, say, Please pray for me. Let's put it up right now. Thank you. Somebody else, somebody else just put that hand up. That's me, if you've raised your hand here this morning, and I thank you for doing so. Thank you for your honesty, although nobody else can see your hand, God knows your heart. And if this is a decision that you need to make, you recognize that you're a sinner. You want to repent of that sin and receive Jesus Christ into your life to be your savior so he can do for you what you cannot do for yourself. The Bible says that you need to call upon Him. You need to call upon Him. And so in a moment, I lead you in a very simple prayer of faith. Invite you to pray this prayer of faith with me. The prayer does not save you, but your prayer is simply calling upon Jesus, and you asking Jesus Christ to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. And so if this is your need, you want your sins forgiven. You want the hope of everlasting life. You want Jesus Christ to be your Savior and it's your Lord, then I invite you to pray with me this prayer of faith right now.

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Say, “Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that my sin has disqualified me from heaven. And Jesus forgive me of my sin, and I receive you into my life to be my Savior and to be my Lord. Jesus save me from my sin and give to me everlasting life. Amen.”

Lord, I pray today for each and every person who's prayed that simple prayer of faith, honestly and with understanding that you would grant to them right now the witness of the Holy Spirit, that they would know that they you've done what they have asked you to do. Lord I thank you that you said, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” So grant them the witness of the Spirit, fill them with your spirit and enable them to live for you. Take your word. Speak to hearts. We ask in Jesus' name, Amen.