Lighthouse Deaf Baptist Church, Seattle, WA

The wonderful truth of the Bible is that it gives us the assurance we can know we can go to heaven and it is our choice. Many people seek to find a way to heaven and it always involves work or some kind of sacrifice but that is foreign to the Bible. God gives us the simple plan of salvation and we want to share that with you here at Lighthouse.

First of all, you need to understand that the Bible says we are all sinners. Romans 3:10, "As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one." The Bible clearly teaches our relationship with God not in good standing. To illustrate, it is like a husband wife relationship; if the husband and wife have an argument or a dispute, they are still married, yet their relationship is not right.

Secondly, everyone is a sinner and nobody is exempt. Romans 3:23 states, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," Just imagine a basketball player standing at the edge of the key, standing in a perfect spot, set to shoot, aims, then shoots the ball but misses by shooting over the basket. Of course, this does not count as a point. The same concept applies to way to heaven. Because we have sinned, we have missed heaven and it does not count.

Then thirdly, we are sinners because we have inherited our sin nature. Romans 5:12, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." We are not sinners because we committed sin, we are sinners because we sinners by nature, from Adam, passed down to all men for all have sinned. You are not a sinner because you stole a cookie as child, or lied to someone, or mad at someone, you are a sinner because of Adam.

Then fourthly, there is a penalty for our sin. Romans 6:23 clearly teaches, "For the wages of sin is death;" there is a payday for our sin and that payment is death. This death is a spiritual separation from God in a place called hell. As you may know, a wage is what we have earned and deserve. We have earned our place in hell and deserve that place, however…

Fifthly, God has a remedy for that sin debt. The second part of Romans 6:23 also teaches about a gift from God, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" it is this gift that will pay for the sin debt we owe. We find in Romans 5:8 - 9, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." We see that God proved his love by sending his Son, Jesus Christ to die for us, even when we sinned against his great love. It is his blood that saves us.

Then finally, we can have this gift by receiving Jesus Christ. Romans 10:13 states, "For whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." And how we receive this gift is found in vs. 9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." And in vs 10 is why we do this, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

If you would like to receive Christ as your savior, you can pray a prayer like this. But remember, this must come from your heart, not just copying the words. "Dear Lord, I know I am a sinner, and I know your word says there is a payment for my sin. I ask you Jesus to forgive me for my sins and come into my heart to save me. I accept you as my personal savior. In Jesus name I pray, Amen."

If you prayed this prayer, we would like to hear from you. Please email us at Lighthouse and let us know of your decision. We would like to hear from you.