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We all have many needs.
Jesus wants to fulfill your greatest one.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
First and foremost, I give all glory, honor, and thanks to Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord, who mercifully died and shed His precious blood for my sins to offer me salvation from an eternity in hell. His Holy Spirit deserves all credit for leading and empowering me to write this booklet. May He use it to reach the lost, revealing to them their need for a Savior and leading them to repentance and faith in Christ.
I also want to express my immense gratitude to my wonderful parents and grandparents, who selflessly devoted their lives to raising me to know, fear, and serve the Lord. Their continued love and support mean the world to me, and I am deeply honored to likewise love and support them daily. Furthermore, their feedback proved invaluable in guiding me through some challenging edits to this booklet.
Finally, I want to express my immense, heartfelt thanks to my brothers in Christ and incredible friends Mason Tilley, Josh Skipper, Hunter Line, and Joel Katterheinrich. Their support and feedback were instrumental in verifying this booklet’s doctrinal accuracy and improving its accessibility to the lost. I thank my heavenly Father for making them an invaluable part of my life and for giving us this blessed opportunity to co-labor for His glory.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matt 11:28-30)
For many years, I struggled with heavy burdens I placed on myself. Among these were avoiding disappointing or upsetting others, seeking everyone’s approval, and earning perfect grades in college. Despite striving to bear these and other self-imposed burdens in my own strength, I often fell short. Instead of bringing peace, fulfillment, and joy, they only produced anxiety, insecurity, and shame.
Thankfully, the Holy Spirit patiently worked in my heart to graciously deliver me from these miserable and unnecessary burdens. He reminded me that the only one He calls me to carry is to trust and obey Him. Furthermore, because I cannot bear this yoke and burden alone, He graciously makes them easy and light by giving me His perfect strength when I humbly receive it. This change brought great peace and freedom, delivering me from the countless fears that once controlled me and opening my heart to wholeheartedly serve Jesus.
Dear reader, I pray that God will also deliver you from any burdens you are struggling with, especially those concerning your standing before Him or whether you will enter heaven or hell after you die. God’s Word promises forgiveness of sin and entrance into heaven to everyone who repents (i.e., turns from sin and stops rejecting Jesus) and trusts in His salvation (i.e., deliverance from God’s wrath and judgment for our sin). I pray that this booklet’s thorough explanation of the Gospel—the Good News of Jesus Christ—leads you to surrender all self-reliance, uncertainty, and unbelief to Him and receive His perfect salvation, assurance, and rest.
Our lifestyles and choices are heavily shaped by our needs. For example, we devote countless hours to our jobs to secure food, water, and clothing. We also maintain our homes to ensure we have shelter. Additionally, we seek relationships to fulfill our emotional needs. However, humanity’s most critical need is not only overshadowed by our other needs but is also deeply misunderstood.
This occurs because our greatest need lies beyond the countless physical, emotional, financial, and relational ones that endlessly consume our time, energy, and thoughts. It also transcends the physical, emotional, and psychological fabric of mankind because it involves our innermost parts. Furthermore, it concerns the internal deadness we all feel and desperately strive, in futility, to cure through relationships, religion, accomplishments, and possessions. Most importantly, it decides whether God, humanity’s sovereign Creator and righteous (i.e., morally perfect) Judge, will permit us to dwell with Him in heaven or irreversibly condemn us forever to unending torment in hell. Despite the complex nature and alarming seriousness of this need, God mercifully created one simple, complete, and beautiful solution that is only found in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Although He freely offers all people His perfect solution to our greatest need, most people sadly reject it. Many of them do so because they do not perceive their urgent need for Christ, believing they can earn their way into heaven through good works (e.g., charitable acts), niceness, and religion. However, this booklet shows how the Bible clearly warns against these devastatingly erroneous beliefs and provides infallible, convicting proof that all people need Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. It is God’s will that everyone hears and receives this truth by faith, for 1 Timothy 2:4 says, "[He] desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
To recognize our need for Jesus’ salvation, we must first understand how God created us. Genesis 1 explains how the Lord created all things in six days, culminating in the creation of Adam and Eve—the first man and woman—on the final day. Unlike the animals, God made Adam and Eve in His image, imparting spiritual life and many of His attributes to them (Gen 1:26). He also established them and all their descendants to have dominion over the animals and rule over the whole earth (Gen 1:28). Additionally, God further separated humans from animals by blessing the former with the ability to directly fellowship with Him. With this, He gave all people an awareness of eternity (Eccl 3:11), a need to abide in His love (John 15:9), and a divine purpose to worship Him (Rom 11:36).
However, while the Lord created us to love and worship Him, He never forces anyone to do so. As John 4:23-24 state, He desires sincere, willful worship done in spirit and truth. Instead of forcing us to love Him, He gave us free will to choose between serving or rejecting Him. Thus, humanity holds a special place in God’s creation, being made with an eternal purpose to fellowship with Him forever; an inherent dependence on His love, care, and guidance; and a glorious responsibility to serve and worship Him through voluntary obedience.
Unfortunately, humanity’s spiritual status before God dramatically changed when Adam and Eve sinned (i.e., disobeyed Him and broke His Law). When the Lord created the first couple, they and all creation were initially perfect (Gen 1:31). However, to respect Adam and Eve’s free will, the Lord made two special trees that respectively represented obedience and rebellion toward Him: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen 2:9). In Genesis 2:15-17, the Lord commanded Adam not to eat the latter tree’s fruit, warning that the consequence of doing so would be inescapable death. Unfortunately, Genesis 3:1-7 record that Adam and Eve gave into Satan’s temptation and willfully chose to disobey God’s command. By eating the forbidden tree’s fruit to know good and evil apart from Him, they chose their selfish desires and self-sufficiency over His perfect love and providence (i.e., His care and guidance). Immediately after their rebellion, the first couple’s hearts became corrupted with sin, causing them to receive a new worldview and frame of reference on good and evil that was detached from God’s. This devastating change caused them to forfeit their perfection as sin’s corrupting power consumed their very nature.
Just as parents pass down their genes to their children, Adam and Eve likewise imparted their sin’s consequences to all humanity. For example, Romans 5:12, 5:19, and Ephesians 2:1 note that we all were cursed with immediate spiritual death and eventual physical death through the sin nature we inherited from Adam. Also, Romans 3:10 and 23 reveal that through this nature, our own sins cause God to declare us unrighteous and fallen short of His glory. Additionally, Romans 8:20-22 state that Adam's rebellion subjected all creation to sin's corruption, producing pain, weakness, disease, and death. Thus, Adam's sin condemned all people to be born spiritually dead, physically dying, unrighteous (i.e., guilty) before our Creator, and subject to this corrupted world’s pain and agony.
Furthermore, sin’s presence within us resulted in radically destructive changes to our very being. All humans are composed of three parts: the body, our physical outer shell; the soul, our mind, will, and emotions; and the spirit, our innermost, God-conscious part (1 Thess 5:23). While the body and soul respectively allow us to interact with our environment and other people, the spirit is our only means of communing with God (John 4:24; Rom 8:16). However, when Adam and Eve sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, they experienced immediate spiritual death (Rom 5:12; Eph 2:1). The death of their spirits caused their souls to become self-centered and enslaved to their bodies’ sinful lusts (Eph 2:3), thus forming within them the flesh (i.e., the sin nature). This radical change severed mankind’s relationship with God and put us at enmity with Him and His ways (Rom 8:7). Again, God can only be worshiped in our spirit (John 4:23-24), for He cannot be pleased by our flesh-controlled soul and its self-centered efforts (Rom 8:8). Thus, this inherited spiritual death causes all people, starting from birth, to be grossly stained with sin, tyrannically controlled by their wicked flesh, and completely separated from God.
This state leaves us in desperate need of a Savior, especially because our sin causes us to be guilty before the Lord and in grave danger of His righteous judgment (Rom 6:23). Although many people believe they can enter heaven by abstaining from certain sins, God's Word proves otherwise. For example, as our holy and righteous Judge (Ps 7:11, 96:13; Isa 33:22), He has given us His Law to reveal our sinfulness to us (Rom 7:7). Specifically, the Ten Commandments expose our guilt before God when we even once break them by lying, stealing, committing adultery, murdering, or taking His name in vain (Exod 20:1-17). Furthermore, Jesus states in Mark 7:20-23 that even if we outwardly abstain from these and other sins, our corrupted hearts produce internal desires to commit them, which equally defiles us before God. For example, Matthew 5:21-22 explain that while we may outwardly abstain from murder, having a strong hatred for someone still breaks God's Law by committing that sin in our hearts as an inward motive. Thus, our sinful actions and thoughts both make us lawbreakers and sinners before our righteous Judge.
Moreover, our sin nature prevents us from avoiding God's judgment by our own merit and keeps Him from simply dismissing our sin. For example, while many believe they are saved by good works (e.g., helping people, donating money, serving in a church), Isaiah 64:6 notes that our sin nature taints them with self-centered motives, making them as worthless and offensive to God as filthy rags. Also, Romans 3:20 and Galatians 2:16 state that no one can be justified (i.e., declared righteous before God) by attempting to follow His Law since it exposes our sin and inability to perfectly obey it. Moreover, God cannot overlook sin as our good and holy Judge, just as a good human judge would not allow a criminal to go unpunished after being proven guilty. Additionally, because His holiness (i.e., perfect moral purity) causes Him to be angry with the wicked, hate them, and abhor their sinful ways (Ps 5:5-6, 7:11, 11:5; Prov 15:9), He must judge their sin by sentencing them to eternal judgment and unspeakable torment in hell (2 Thess 1:8-9). Thus, our sin nature places us in grave danger of God's righteous wrath and hell’s eternal torment while preventing us from saving ourselves, leaving us undeniably and desperately in need of a Savior.
Despite all humanity breaking His Law, rebelling against Him, and falling short of His glory, God mercifully chose not to leave us in our condemned and hopeless state. Although our sovereign Creator would have been perfectly just in sending all humanity to hell for eternity, His indescribable love for us led Him to, as 2 Peter 3:9 states, "not [wish] that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." Because our sinful nature prevented us from overcoming sin and saving ourselves from the righteous wrath of God's justice, He planned in eternity past to graciously rescue us Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ (Eph 1:4-5; 2 Tim 1:9; 1 Pet 1:20). As John 3:16 famously proclaims, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
Because He is omniscient (i.e., knows all things), God foreknew that mankind would rebel against Him, break His Law, and fall short of His perfect glory. However, as Ephesians 1:4-5 state, He knew that many people would accept His salvation and receive His forgiveness through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, after Adam and Eve sinned, He gave them and their descendants hope through a prophetic promise in Genesis 3:15. In it, God revealed that He would send mankind a Redeemer who would purchase our freedom from sin’s slavery to reconcile us to Himself. This Redeemer would be Jesus Christ, God Himself dwelling among us as John 1:1, 14 state, "In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
To perform the promised work of redemption, Jesus had to satisfy God’s nature of justice. Because the Lord is holy (i.e., set apart and pure from sin), sinful humanity cannot commune or dwell with Him, for Psalm 5:4 states that evil cannot dwell in His presence. To earn the Father's forgiveness on our behalf, Jesus had to meet the demands of His justice, which required the shedding of blood to pay for sin (Heb 9:22). The Lord foreshadowed this by requiring the Israelites under the Mosaic Law to make sacrifices to Him with their livestock (Lev 1-6). However, these animals only provided a temporary covering for sin because they were substitutes that could never remove the permeated stain of sin in humanity’s nature (Heb 10:4). Furthermore, as God required these sacrificed animals to be without spot or blemish, the blood shed for our redemption had to be from a sinless person (Heb 9:14). Thus, to satisfy God's nature of justice and redeem us from our guilt before Him, the blood from a perfect human sacrifice needed to be shed (Heb 9:12).
Thankfully, Jesus simultaneously satisfied the Father's justice and mercy by doing what we could not. For example, while the entire human race was disqualified from redeeming itself by inheriting a sin nature from Adam (Rom 5:12), Jesus avoided receiving one by being miraculously born of a virgin through the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:34-35). Also, while Hebrews 4:15 notes He was tempted in every way we are, He perfectly abstained from sin and lived a perfect life. Furthermore, He fulfilled God's Law by obeying it with consistent perfection (Matt 5:17; Rom 10:4). Finally, He lived in complete submission to His Father's will, "[humbling] himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2:8). These supernatural accomplishments made Christ alone worthy to earn our salvation, giving Him the right and authority to proclaim in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
However, earning our salvation came at an immeasurable cost to Him. For example, coming to earth as God Incarnate required Him to empty Himself of His privileges in heaven (Phil 2:7), endure this fallen world's trials and suffering (John 4:6, 19:28), and live as a lowly servant despite His deity (Phil 2:6-7). Also, He willingly chose to suffer an unspeakably brutal and torturous death on the Cross to become the spotless Lamb sacrificed to pay the penalty for our sins (Isa 53:3-7). Furthermore, by taking upon Himself all of humanity’s past, present, and future sins, He became sin—despite His innocence—to bear His Father’s righteous wrath that we deserved, demonstrating His unfathomable love for us even as sinners (Rom 5:8; 2 Cor 5:21; Heb 9:28). Through Christ’s selfless, loving, and redemptive sacrifice on the Cross, He bore the entirety of humanity’s sin, appeased His Father’s wrath, and fully paid humanity’s sin debt to earn our forgiveness.
However, our Savior is not a dead man, for Christ’s work continued after His crucifixion. Specifically, He claimed total victory over death through His resurrection (Rom 6:8-9). By rising from the dead through the Holy Spirit’s power three days after His burial, He proved that sin and death could not defeat Him (Rom 8:11; 1 Cor 15:4). Days after this glorious display of His unconquerable deity, He returned to heaven, where He sits at the Father’s right hand and continuously intercedes for all those who have placed their faith in Him (Rom 8:34).
Furthermore, Revelation 3:20 reveals that Jesus is knocking on the door of every person’s heart, intensely seeking those who will accept His free gift of salvation. While He completely atoned for all humanity’s sins committed in this life through His death (Rom 6:9-10), it is every person’s responsibility to make a critical decision concerning how to respond to this knowledge. According to Romans 6:23, the salvation and eternal life Christ earned for us on the Cross is a gift that must be accepted to be received. This simple yet crucial action is absolutely necessary for receiving entrance into heaven and being rescued from hell’s unending torment. As Romans 10:9-10 state, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."
As Romans 3:23 states, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Because every member of the human race has inherited Adam's sin nature (Rom 5:12), is born spiritually dead to God (Eph 2:1), and is guilty of breaking His Law (Rom 7:7; 1 John 1:8), no amount of good works, kindness, religion, or any other form of human effort can make us right before Him. Furthermore, God must punish sin because He is holy and just, placing all humanity in grave danger of His eternal judgment through unspeakable torment in hell (2 Thess 1:8-9).
Although our sinfulness and resulting guilt are exposed by God's Law (Rom 7:7), Galatians 3:24 reveals that He also provided His Law to be a guardian for us, pointing us to our desperate need for a Savior. Thankfully, the Lord graciously answered this need, for Romans 5:8 proclaims, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Through living the perfect life we could not (Heb 4:15), dying for our sins (Isa 53:5), and defeating death through His resurrection (Rom 6:8-9), Jesus won our salvation to provide the only way to be forgiven of our sins, to commune with the Father, and to enter heaven when we die (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
However, because God will not override our free will, He will not force His salvation on us. Instead, He gives us the choice to reject or accept it during the brief time He has given us on this earth. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus compares this choice to two life paths: "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Rejecting Christ’s salvation to continue following the world’s broad path of countless pleasures, promises, and philosophies places us in grave danger of eternal destruction. Because Christ alone has the power to provide salvation and forgiveness (Acts 4:12), to die rejecting Him is to irreversibly commit the unpardonable sin by forfeiting God’s only provision to escape eternal judgment in hell. Conversely, we secure our entrance into heaven after we die by turning from our sin and accepting Christ’s salvation through faith. As Jesus promises in John 10:9, "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved."
Now that you have heard the Gospel, the greatest and most important news ever given to mankind, you must now decide. While Jesus loves you immensely, He will not force you to choose Him. Also, simply knowing these truths intellectually does not save you; you must allow them to change your heart toward God and your sin. This change of heart to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord to receive His salvation only requires two things: repentance and faith.
First, to repent means to change your mind about your sin and who Jesus is, meaning you turn from it and stop rejecting Him. Acts 3:19 says: "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out." Your heart becomes repentant when you stop living for your sinful desires and surrender your life to Christ.
Next, faith refers to placing your trust entirely upon Christ for your salvation, believing He died for your sins and rose again to provide it. Ephesians 2:8-9 state, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." True saving faith trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord, allowing God to impart His righteousness to you for your salvation.
Once you have settled in your heart to repent and place your faith in Christ, you must proclaim your decision to Him. Acts 2:21 promises that "everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." If you desire to receive Jesus into your heart, accept His perfect salvation, and give your life to Him, please pray this prayer (simply stating these words will not save you; they must be genuinely believed in your heart to receive His salvation):
"Dear Jesus, I know I am a sinner who deserves judgment. I cannot save myself; only You alone can. I confess my sins and receive You as my personal Savior. Thank you for this free gift of salvation You lovingly paid for with Your life. I repent of my sins and surrender my life to You and Your will. Amen."
Upon receiving Christ’s salvation, you become a Christian (i.e., a follower of Christ). You are also now born again, receiving a new spiritual life through His Holy Spirit reviving your once dead spirit and permanently dwelling within it (Ezek 36:26; John 3:3, 5-6). This new life allows you to fellowship with God, who has permanently adopted you as His beloved child (John 1:12). Furthermore, because Jesus conquered sin and our flesh on the Cross, the Holy Spirit will give you the power necessary to overcome sin and obey Him as you surrender your will and desires to Him (Gal 5:16). Additionally, while God does not promise a life of financial prosperity, worldly fame, or constant ease, He promises His best for you, declaring in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." These and many more are the countless blessings God has promised to those who receive a new life in Christ through His salvation
However, how deeply you experience this life depends on how intently you pursue a deeper relationship with Him. To do so, begin reading the Bible, praying to God, fellowshipping with other Christians, and attending a Bible-believing church. Also, while you will never live perfectly as a Christian and are promised to struggle with your flesh (Rom 7:18-20; 1 John 1:8), 1 John 1:9 provides hope for you when you sin: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Furthermore, although you are certain to face trials and difficulties because you are a believer (John 16:33), God’s Word promises that He will not only use these situations to strengthen your faith (Jas 1:2-4), but will also never stop loving you or ever forsake you (Heb 13:5). Devote your entire life to Jesus, for He promises to richly reward those who do so, both in this life and the next (John 10:10; 1 Cor 3:14).
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