Relating to God
ISAIAH 45:22 [God:] Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
God wants all people to be saved
1 TIMOTHY 2:3-4 This is good and it pleases God our Saviour, who wants everyone to be saved and to come to know the truth.
God wants us to earnestly seek Him – and so find Him
ACTS 17:26-27 [Paul, preaching to the Athenians:] God began by making one person, and from him came all the different people who live everywhere in the world. God decided exactly when and where they must live. God wanted them to look for him and perhaps search all around for him and find him, though he is not far from any of us
DEUTERONOMY 4:29 [Moses, to the Israelites:] If from there you will seek the Lord your God, then you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and soul.
We must believe in God
and what He says
HEBREWS 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
JOHN 5:24 [Jesus:] I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life.
We must be open to believing and responding to God
MATTHEW 18:2-4 He [Jesus] called a child, had him stand among them, and said [to his disciples], “I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven! Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Now is the time to seek God and
to respond to Him
ISAIAH 55:6 Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he is near.
2 CORINTHIANS 6:2 [Paul:] God says, “At the right time I heard your prayers. On the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you that the “right time” is now, and the “day of salvation” is now.
We must repent
ACTS 17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent
ACTS 3:19 Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out
ACTS 11:18 “So then, God has granted the repentance that leads to life even to the Gentiles.”
Not repenting will result in judgment
ROMANS 2:5 [Paul, to any unrepentant readers:] But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed!
Confess your sins
1 JOHN 1:9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
In turning from sin, do what is right
JOHN 8:11 She [a woman caught committing adultery] replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”
PSALM 34:14 Turn away from evil and do what is right! Strive for peace and promote it!
Turn to God
ACTS 20:21 [Paul:] To Jews and Gentiles alike I gave solemn warning that they should turn from their sins to God and believe in our Lord Jesus.
Believe in Jesus Christ
JOHN 6:29 Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires – to believe in the one whom he sent.”
JOHN 4:42 They said to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of your words, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this one really is the Savior of the world.”
ROMANS 10:9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.
One’s response to Jesus Christ is one’s response to God, who sent him
JOHN 13:20 I tell you the solemn truth, whoever accepts the one I send accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.
LUKE 10:16 “The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
Superficial belief is not enough
LUKE 8:13 [Jesus, explaining the meaning of a parable:] Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in a time of testing fall away.
We are forgiven of our sins
ACTS 10:43 About him [Jesus] all the prophets testify, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.
We are granted righteousness and justified before God
ROMANS 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
ROMANS 10:10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
We are saved
ACTS 16:30b-31 [A jailer, to Paul and Silas:] “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 1They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”
We have eternal life
JOHN 3:16 For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
We become a child of God
JOHN 1:12-13 But to all who did accept him [Jesus] and believe in him he gave the right to become children of God. 13They did not become his children in any human way—by any human parents or human desire. They were born of God.
We are given God’s Holy Spirit
JOHN 7:38-39 [Jesus:] Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Those who do not believe in Jesus Christ are condemned and do not have life
JOHN 3:18, 36 The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. … 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him.