An informed decision requires an informed platform. For instance, let’s talk about God. All religions have one. But that’s religion. Let’s talk about Jesus. Only one religion recognizes Jesus Christ as God’s only begotten Son who died on the cross and rose from the dead to save the world from eternal damnation through Adam’s sin in the garden. That religion is Christianity.
While there are many doctrines in place within the religious realm of Christianity, who is to say who is right and who is wrong? The place to go to make that decision is the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, the Living Word of God. Yep, you heard me right. Only by reading and understanding God’s Word can we learn God’s intentions towards us.
If we begin with Genesis, we read that God created our world and everything within it. He creates the stars, the moon, the sun and all the universe above us. God creates all animals and people. And He doesn’t do this alone. His Son and His Spirit work with Him to create.
And when we go to the Book of John we read that The Word of God has always been, just as God has always been. We read that The Word became flesh, that He let God wrap His glorious Son in the frail body of flesh and gave Him to the world to become the sin offering once and for all.
Reading Romans we see that while Christ died for all of us, it is up to each of us, on an individual level, to make a decision to choose and believe that Jesus Christ is LORD. An informed decision. Each one of us, every person who ever lived and is capable of making their own decision, is responsible for choosing to be saved or condemned by God. No one else can make this decision for us but us.
As soon as Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God knew. For He came to the garden and could not see them, as sin covered them. So God asked Adam, "Where are you?" And when Adam responded, "I hid because I was naked.", God asked, "Who told you you were naked?"
The two basic questions God asks every person. Where are you? and Who told you you were naked?
Naked means more than unclothed. It is to be without proper covering. Without a proper covering God could not see Adam, nor Eve. He cannot see us without a proper covering. In the beginning in the garden, God had to kill an animal and use its skin to cover Adam and Eve that they might be properly covered. {While the Bible does not tell us then which animal died, when we read Exodus and Leviticus we see that an unblemished, spotless lamb was used for the sin offering, as a substitute for a person who had sinned (disobeyed God's Word). }
In the Book of John we learn that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son came to us as The Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. And that believing this Truth covers us who believe with the blood of this Lamb, making it possible for God to see us.
So, what must I do to be saved? A cry made from the heart and echoed by the lips. First we must recognize that we are sinners. Romans 3:10 There is none righteous, no not one. Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. This is repentance: Recognizing that we are sinners and have sinned and choosing not to keep living in the state of sin. It is more than remorse or sorriness: it is abject recognition of being apart from God and making an Informed Decision to be near Him through His Son and under the guidance of His Holy Spirit.
Realizing I am a sinner I understand the penalty of sin is death. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is hope now, because the believer is given a gift from God: eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:8 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas before, we had only an eternity of death and separation from God standing before us, now we have Hope and Peace by faith in Christ.
A new word has been introduced to us: faith. It is the act of believing God. Believing that He Is and that His Word Is Truth. Believing that what God promises, God delivers. As He has for so many people for thousands of years God’s Word is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11 and Revelation 22:6). See also Hebrews 11 to learn what a few folks accomplished by their faith.
Seeing now that I am a sinner and am saved by Christ, what now must I do? Romans 10:8-10 But what does it say? The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the Word of faith, which we preach, that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus Christ is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.” Words to rejoice and shout! I believe that Jesus Christ is Lord! Do you?
You can. Romans 10:23 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I am a whosoever. You are a whosoever. Yes, you, the one reading this page. You can be saved. You can believe. Let no one tell you otherwise. It is simple and easy. It is the faith of a child believing her father will catch her if she jumps, lift him up when he falls. And now that you and I have called upon the name of the Lord for our salvation? Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
I have made an Informed Decision for Christ. Have you?
