If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation.
The desire of every high school athlete is a full scholarship to college. I was speaking to a local softball team yesterday. I asked them to imagine that I could give them a full scholarship. The only thing I needed them to do was to try out. The terms of the scholarship state that if every "at bat" is a home run; if every ball is fielded cleanly; if every throw is on line; and every pitch a strike, then you will get the scholarship.
I asked them if they could achieve that. "No" was the unanimous answer. Of course you can't because no one is perfect.
God's standards for Heaven are no different. He says, "Be holy because I am holy."
But Romans 3:23 says that we aren't holy, we are all sinners. Just as we would fall short if a full college scholarship required perfection, we fall short of Heaven because perfection is required.
How do schools offer scholarships? A free ride for the athlete costs somebody something. Somebody has to pay!
God knew we couldn't be perfect but He wanted us to be with Him. So, somebody had to pay. Jesus paid for every mistake we have made today, in the past, and will make in the future. He was beaten, spit on, booed, and nailed to a cross and humiliated in order for you and I to receive a full scholarship to Heaven.
The scholarship doesn't guarantee you a full ride until you accept it. What Jesus is offering is not a 4-year deal; it's a 4-ever deal. Would you make a commitment to Jesus today?
1. Have you been striving to be perfect and keep coming up short?
2. What does the Bible say about perfection in Romans 3:23?
3. Have you asked Jesus to be your Savior and the Lord of your life?
4. Have you shared Christ with others?
Ephesians 2:8-9
1 John 1:9
1 John 5:11-13