When Martin Luther, the Reformer, discovered that God’s forgiveness for his sins was through faith in God’s atonement for his sins through Jesus’ death and shed blood on the Cross alone, it was as a result of his long past having repented of his sins but not being able to gain God’s forgiveness for those sins through his own works. What he discovered was that God’s forgiveness for his past sins repented of came through accepting by faith God’s forgiveness of his sins through Jesus’ death and shed blood alone. By Faith means making a willful choice to accept God’s forgiveness for our sins through Jesus’ death and shed blood on the Cross, not because we feel it is true, but despite our feelings. I may not feel it is true, but despite how I feel, I choose to believe God’s Word: that He forgives my sins repented of through Jesus’ death and shed blood on the Cross. This is what the Bible means when it says that we are saved through Faith (Eph 2:8-9). Faith is choosing to believe that God’s promises are true, not feeling God’s promises are true. I choose to believe it is true despite the fact that my feelings are telling me the opposite. We know that the Word is true, despite how we may feel, because Jesus proved it is true by coming back from the dead. Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead is our proof, not our feelings (John 2:22).

A person who is living in willful unrepented sin and who intends to keep on living in sin does not turn to Christ or seek God’s forgiveness for his sins. He spends his life justifying evolution, atheism or whateverism he or she is into to try and explain away the existence of God in order to live with themselves in their sinful lifestyle. He looks for reasons to explain away God and Christianity, just as our immoral politicians are doing today to justify their moral and political agenda. Isaiah wrote,

"For a fool speaks nonsense, and his heart inclines toward wickedness, to practice ungodliness and to speak error against Yehovah." (Isaiah 32:6)

Jesus said the following:

"Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46-47)

Jesus tells us that we are to preach repentance of one’s sins first so that that person can then turn to Jesus for His forgiveness of their sins. Otherwise, as long as man is living in willful sin, he won’t be interested in God or his Salvation through Jesus Christ. He will not turn to the light, but will flee from the light because he loves his sin and doesn’t want it exposed.

What Jesus’ death on the cross frees us from is paying sin’s penalty: death, eternal separation from God in an eternal hell. What it does not do, however, is give us a license for sin. The Apostle Paul wrote,

"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life." (Galatians 6:7-8)

Jesus died for our sins so that we would repent of our sins and then return to Him and live for Him without fear. Before the cross, man had no incentive for repenting of his sins and living for God because he had no way of knowing God would forgive his past and present sins. But now that Jesus has paid sin’s penalty for us and has proved this to be absolutely true through His resurrection from the dead, we have every incentive to repent of our sins and return to God through Jesus and absolutely no excuse for not repenting of our sins and returning to Him.

Only a person who is sorry for his sins, acknowledges and turns away from his sins, wants and is able to receive Jesus’ salvation. Jesus shows us this is true in Luke 19:8-10. Luke records,

"And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.’"

If this man had not been willing to repent of his sins, he would not have turned to Jesus or wanted His forgiveness. Only a person who has repented, past tense, of his sins looks to God for forgiveness. What gave Jesus evidence of this man’s salvation? First, because Zaccheus confessed his sins, Matt 3:6; second, because he corrected the wrongs he had done, Matt 3:3; and then third, by his bringing forth fruit in keeping with repentance which was to submit to God’s atonement for his sins and for his salvation: Jesus Christ, Matt 3:8. Paul wrote about the Jews who rejected God’s atonement for their sins through Jesus’ death and shed blood:

"For not knowing about God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." (Romans 10:3)

It is not enough to repent of our sins for salvation, we then need to also repent of relying on our own works for salvation and submit ourselves to God’s work of salvation for our sins: Jesus’ death and shed blood on the cross. This many Jews would not do and so even though they had repented of their sins, they had not repented of the most important sin, relying on their own acts of righteousness for salvation and then submitting themselves to God’s act of righteousness for their sins: Jesus’ death and shed blood on the cross.

The third thing receiving Jesus as Lord means is to obey His will and plan for your life revealed through His Holy Spirit. Jesus said,

"Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven." (Romans 7:6)

The Apostle John wrote,

"By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (John 3:36)

When we receive Jesus as Savior from our sins and as Lord of our lives, He comes into our lives and saves us and makes us one spirit with Him. This means that whatever is true for Jesus is now true for us. This means that His death becomes our death for our sins. The Bible is plain that we can only die once for our sins and that once a person dies, pays sin’s penalty, that the law can no longer make claims over that person. This is also what Paul means by being freed from the Law. What are we freed from? The Law’s penalty of death for our sins and all Old Testament rituals related.

But why did Jesus die for us in the first place? Just to free us from the penalty of sin and the ritual of the Law? No. First, Jesus died for our sins to give us a reason to repent so we would return to Him. Second, Jesus died on the cross for our sins to free us from spending our lives and time working with the hope of appeasing and gaining His forgiveness for our sins. Third, He died for our sins because He has a plan and purpose for our lives and wants us to focus on that, not on spending our lives trying to gain His forgiveness and acceptance through religious works and ritual. All one has to do is read the Torah and all the time required in ritual for their sins to be thankful you were not born a Jew in Old Testament times. The writer of Hebrews wrote:

"Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." (Hebrews 2:14-15)

Jesus through His death on the cross freed us of spending our lives and all our time in fear in religious ritual trying to appease God so we could instead focus on His will and plan for our lives.

You see our sins, Isaiah the prophet tells us, put a barrier between us and God so that He cannot relate to us and we cannot receive from Him. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 59:1-2,

"Behold, Yehovah’s hand is not so short That it cannot save; Neither is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your Elohim [God], and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear."

Therefore, in order to receive God’s will and plan for our lives, the sin barrier had to be removed first; our fear of death and not being accepted by God through enough religious works had to be removed. To solve this problem God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. The purpose of turning to the cross then for God’s forgiveness of our sins repented of is so that we can again enter back into relationship with Him and then receive His purpose and plan that He has for our lives. Therefore, thirdly, receiving Jesus as Lord means to submit to His will and plan for your life revealed through His Holy Spirit. Only God knows those who are his, but if a person says he knows Jesus and is saved but then does not live for Him and His purpose and plan for his life, that person, according to Jesus, does not know Him and is not saved. Jesus said recorded in the Gospel of Matthew 7:20-23:

"So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’"

According to Jesus then, to know Him and be truly saved means to repent of Your sins and obey His will and plan for Your life revealed through His Holy Spirit. What is God’s will for our lives? First, to repent of our sins. Second, to turn to Him for the forgiveness of our sins through His Son’s death and shed blood on the cross and to accept His forgiveness by faith, not by any works of ours. Third, after we have done these two things, His will for us is to stop doing anything to gain His acceptance and accept we are accepted through Jesus’ death and shed blood on the cross; next, to seek Him about what His will and plan is for each of us individually; and third, to then focus our lives, time and energy on fulfilling His will and plan for our lives.

This brings up the next important question which is how do we make Jesus Savior and Lord of Our lives so our sins can be forgiven and so we can enter back into relationship with God and receive His will and plan for our lives? The way we do this is by literally receiving Jesus Christ into our hearts as Savior from our sins and as Lord of our lives. Jesus said,

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I WILL come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me." (Rev 3:20)

The door refers to our hearts. The Heart is the volitional part of man. It is that part of man that controls his life and free-will destiny. Jesus says, Surrender that to Me. (Proverbs 6:32)

Receiving Jesus Christ then into your heart means:

1. To Repent of any known sin in your life.

2. To Accept God’s forgiveness for your sins through Jesus’ Death & Shed Blood alone.

3. To Obey Jesus’ leading in your life through His Holy Spirit.

We Receive Jesus Christ into our hearts by faith. The Apostle Paul wrote in the Bible,

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

What does the Bible mean by faith? It does not mean blind faith, meaning faith without proof or verification; it means knowing that once we ask Jesus to come into our heart as Savior from our sins and as Lord of our life, that He does come in and save us, not as a feeling, but because He gave us absolute proof that He will do what He promised when He came back physically from the dead. And what is Jesus’ promise? That He will come into your heart when you ask Him to. Luke, the physician, wrote in the Bible about Jesus’ Physical Resurrection,

"To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:3)

If you have never received Jesus as Savior and Lord before but would like to, then pray right now the following prayer by faith:

Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and repent of my known sins. I ask You now to come into my heart as Savior from my sins and as Lord of my life. Heavenly Father, thank You for forgiving my sins through Your Son’s death and shed blood on the cross and that I now have eternal life. Now take control of my life, and through Your Holy Spirit lead me into your will and plan for my life; in Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s name , amen.

Did you just pray and ask Jesus into your heart? If you did, you can know by faith right now that He is in your heart and that you are saved from your sins, that you have eternal life and have entered into the beginning of the purpose and plan that Jesus has for your life.

The Bible teaches that to have Jesus Christ in your life is to have eternal life. The Apostle John tells us that God the Father gives us the following testimony about what determines whether we have eternal life or not. He writes,

"And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life." (1 John 5:11-13)

God the Father makes plain that to have His Son Jesus Christ living in us is to have eternal life. Because you just received Jesus into your heart as Savior and Lord, you have Jesus living in you and God the Father says to you that you have eternal life and will go to heaven. Isn’t that a wonderful truth? You may ask how do we know this is true? Because God the Father brought Jesus back from the dead to prove to us it is true. That is the significance of the resurrection, it proves to us that anything that God says is absolutely true truth that we can base our lives on. You are saved! Accept it!