See that you need to be saved. God created a perfect world. By Satan’s deception and man’s wrong choices, sin came into the world. God does not “allow bad stuff” to happen in the world. Sin, Satan, and the bad choices of mankind all work together to “allow bad stuff” to happen in the world. When you see that you are in sin with your wrong choices that are aligned with Satan’s deception, and that you are a part of the condemned, sinful world system, and that you are separated from really knowing God, then you are seeing that you need to be saved. Being separated from God, and not really knowing God, is the pathway to hell. Hell is a place with the torment of being eternally separated from any kind of hope or presence of God. Heaven is a place of the saved who are in the eternal presence of God. The difference in going to heaven or going to hell, is the difference in really knowing God versus just knowing about God. Here is how to really know God.
See Jesus. Hear the gospel, the good news, of what Jesus has already done for you. Hear and understand that He Himself was without sin, but He became sin for your sake, to take your sins away from before an absolutely righteous, holy God. You don’t want to face God in a state of sin! Understand that Jesus gave Himself as the perfect and eternal substitute before God to give you an eternal living spiritual relationship with God. Because of Jesus, your sins have been taken away. Because of Jesus, you are accepted by God. Because of Jesus, you have an eternal union, an eternal connection with God as a son of God, so now God can be your good Father.
Believe the good news. Believe that Jesus took your sins on the cross. Believe He died for you on the cross in payment for your sins. Believe the sacrifice He made for you is what makes you right with God. If you really believe what Jesus did for you is sufficient before God, then repent, turn from your sinful life and release it to God. Right now, turn from your bad choices and Satan’s deception, and turn to Jesus to receive what He did for you.
Call on the Lord. Talk to Jesus. Tell Jesus that you now turn from your sin and Satan’s deception, and that you submit your life to Him as your Lord and Savior. Tell Him that you receive the gift of His righteous life in exchange for your sinful life. Tell Him you receive His righteousness and His sacrifice to be your right-standing with God. It has nothing to do with your goodness or good works of any kind. It is all about believing and agreeing with and confessing what Jesus has already done for you. It is what He has already accomplished for you on the cross. Jesus is God’s gift to you! Believe and receive the good news of Jesus and live! By faith in Jesus Christ, you are saved! By faith in Jesus Christ, you are reborn! Romans 5:1; Romans 10:8-10
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” By seeing your need to be saved, by seeing what Jesus has done for you, by turning from sin, by believing the good news of Jesus, and by calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus, and confessing Him as your Lord, you have peace, salvation, and spiritual birth. This is all by God’s power working in your life through the Holy Spirit. Romans 1:16-17; Romans 10:13
Share Jesus with others. Jesus came to earth to be a witness of His Heavenly Father. When we are saved, when we are truly born again, we are a new creation, alive in Christ. We have come from spiritual death to spiritual life. We have the desire to be a witness of Jesus to others, to tell others about Jesus. Obey that desire to confess Jesus as your Lord, and share Jesus freely with others. Romans10:8-10.
Water Baptism. Just as Jesus was water baptized, so are we to be water baptized as a public witness of Him. This shows the world that we identify with the Lord Jesus Christ. Water baptism publicly shows, confesses, and confirms our faith that we are dead with Christ, and all our sins are remitted; all our sins are buried with Christ, and forgotten by God, and we are risen with Jesus Christ in a new, holy, eternal life—a new creation of God. Acts 2:38; 2 Corinthians 5:17
Holy Spirit Baptism. Just as Jesus had the power of the Holy Spirit to come upon Him to be a supernatural witness of His Father to others, so are we to receive the power of the Holy Spirit upon our life to be a supernatural witness of Jesus to others. The Holy Spirit gives us liberty, joy, boldness, and a supernatural prayer language by which we can be strengthened by communion in spirit with our heavenly Father. Luke 3:16, 21-22; Acts 10:44-46; 1 Corinthians 14:14-15
The Holy Spirit empowers us to do the same kinds of supernatural works as Jesus. By the supernatural power of the Spirit of God that came upon Jesus, He was able to heal those who were sick and oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him (Acts 10:38). With the life of God in us by the new birth, and with the power of the Holy Spirit upon us by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we too, have God with us to do the same good works as Jesus. By the power of God, we can effectively proclaim the good news of Jesus. We can be a vessel through which God will heal the sick, devils will be cast out, and people will be set free in every way. This is what Jesus said would happen as we believe on Him. He also said we would have His supernatural protection. John 14:12-14
Jesus said it like this in Mark 16:15-18:
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
Salvation in every way is for all people through the name of Jesus. This is how God’s salvation can reach the whole world—by God setting people free in every way, and working through those same people to set others free. By God’s power, we can all be vessels to show the whole world the good news of what has been accomplished in the resurrected person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
