The free gift of which we speak is being offered to every man, woman, young person and child. It’s yours for the taking now.

It’s important for you to understand how much God loves you. The Bible says God is love. Not just that He loves, or that He has love-He is love. If you could get just an inkling-not a full comprehension, but just the tiniest hint of a clue-how much God loves you, you would wholeheartedly surrender your life to Him on the spot.

God’s love for you is so intense, so overwhelming, that it moved Him to give all He had for you. You can literally say that Jesus loves you more than life itself.

Why wouldn’t anybody want to know an all-powerful, all-knowing Creator Who loves them so completely? The only possible reason would be lack of knowledge. If God were the harsh, cruel, imposing dictator that religion has painted Him to be, you could understand people running from Him.

But God doesn’t condemn you-He only loves you. His plan for you is only good-because He loves you and He wants the best for you. God’s perfect will is the best thing that could ever happen to anybody. God is love. Let him reveal His love in and to you. He’ll make your life Heaven on Earth and then Heaven when you die! It doesn’t get any better than that!

You may be thinking, “I’m a good person-surely I’m going to Heaven.” The Bible has something to say about this.

Romans 10
Verse 1
Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.

Notice, the apostle is praying for these people to be saved. So, we’re talking here about people who are not saved. He then goes on.

Verse 2
For I bear them witness that they have a zealfor God, but not according to knowledge.

Do you know what “a zeal for God” is? It means they’re very religious. I want you to notice what the apostle is saying here. He’s praying for a group of people who are very religious-they have a zeal for God. And what is he praying? That they’ll be saved. Apparently, being a “good person”-even very religious-doesn’t guarantee salvation.

The problem, according to verse 2, is that their zeal for God is “not according to knowledge.”

You see, you can be a good person, a religious person-even to the point of being zealous for God-but if that zeal, that religiosity, that goodness is misguided-not according to knowledge, you may still miss the mark.

God offers the free Gift. But a gift isn’t really a gift until it is received.

If you could earn your salvation through good works and right living, then Jesus died in vain. In other words, if even the best, finest, most holy person to ever live could have earned his salvation, there was no point in Jesus dying on the cross. If it were possible to live holy enough to earn salvation, then it wouldn’t be a gift at all.

So, how is God’s free gift of salvation received?

Here in Romans 10, where we were just reading, the apostle continues.

Verse 9

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

This verse of Scripture explains exactly how salvation is received. Two necessary ingredients are mentioned: believe in your heart and confess with your mouth.

First, let’s discuss believing in your heart. There’s more to this than mentally agreeing to an historical fact. Allow me to illustrate. Every overweight person knows that he needs to lose weight and he also knows exactly how to lose weight. Why isn’t the weight coming off? Because the person isn’t acting on the knowledge he possesses. He has the knowledge in his mind, but until that knowledge is translated into action there will be no results. Let me ask you a question about that: does the overweight person believe that through diet and exercise, he can take the excess weight off? I’m sure every overweight person knows that fact and mentally agrees with it. But to believe--in the Bible sense of the word--means that he will act on that information. He will order his life according to that fact.

The phrase “believe in your heart” as it’s used here means more than to mentally agree with the historical fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead. It means to order your life according to that fact. Just as the overweight person has to order his life according to the facts he knows about diet and exercise, you must be willing to allow the fact of Christ’s Resurrection to change your life.

The second ingredient to salvation is to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus which simply means to speak words. However, I invite you to notice the word “Lord”-not Savior. “Lord” (as in landlord) means owner or ruler. Nowhere does Scripture say that you are saved by receiving Christ as your Savior. It says here you are saved by making Jesus the Lord of your life. Simply put, if Jesus isn’t your Lord, He isn’t your Savior.

If I may use a personal illustration, I believe I can show more clearly how salvation is received.

When I was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force, three steps were necessary.

1)   The paperwork had to be in place. I had been visiting with my recruiter and giving him all sorts of information. Seemingly “tons” of paperwork were involved.

2.)   I had to speak the words. I raised my right hand and swore to uphold and defend the Constitution, etc.

3.)   I then had to live the life. I couldn’t just walk off, go do my own thing and expect to receive a check every two weeks! The Air Force had a right to tell me where to live, what kind of work to do, even how to dress and wear my hair!

All three of these steps were necessary. If any one of the three had been missing, I would not have been a military officer. I may have been deceived into believing I was and had a zeal for the Air Force, but it wouldn’t have been according to knowledge.

Perhaps a second illustration will clarify the point further. When I married my wife, Graciela, the same three steps were necessary.

1.)   The paperwork had to be in place. We had to have the necessary marriage license and make sure everything was legal.

2.)   We had to speak words. We stood in front of a minister and I took Graciela as my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold.

3.)   We had to live the life. Had we left the church, gone our separate ways, and never consummated the marriage, we wouldn’t be legally married.

Once again, if any one of these three ingredients had been missing, we wouldn’t be legally married. We might think we were-have a zeal for each other and be passionately in love and even convince others we were married-but it wouldn’t be according to knowledge, and therefore we wouldn’t be actually married.

To receive God’s free Gift, the same three ingredients are necessary.

1.)   The paperwork is already in place. Romans 10 doesn’t mention that because it’s already done. The Bible already says that whosoever will may come.

2.)   You must speak the words and confess Jesus as Lord of your life. Below, you’ll find a sample prayer that you may wish to use for this purpose.

3.)   You must then live the life. That’s what it means to “believe with your heart”. I didn’t say yotv have to be perfect. I said you must be sincere and honest about living your new life with Jesus as your Lord.

If you would like to receive God’s free Gift now, pray along these lines:

Almighty God, I come before you in Jesus’Name. I believe in my heart that You raised Jesus from the dead. With my mouth I confess that Jesus Christ is now my Lord. Come into my heart Lord Jesus. Make me a new creation. Give me eternal ljfe. Fill me to overflowing with Your Holy Spirit. Take me to Heaven when I die. And I’ll serve You all the days of my life. Thank You Lord. I’m Yours. I’m in. I believe that I am now a Christian and I’ll never be the same again. In Jesus’Name. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, I wish that you would contact Grace Family Church and let us help you get started. Go to the “Contact Us” page and use whatever method is most convenient for you to contact us. We want to rejoice with you, and pray with you, and pray for you.

Speaking of free gifts, if you don’t have a Bible and can’t afford one, we’ll give you one that you can understand. Whether you live in the Abilene area or not, we’ll help you get started living your New Life. Please contact us today.