Step One: Salvation

Salvation and Heaven are absolutely free for us but the obtaining of them  was not free for the Lord Jesus Christ. The problem for human beings going to Heaven is that no one is righteous enough to get there by their own efforts (Romans 3:10). All human beings have sinned and come far short of God’s expectations for them (Romans 3:23). The consequence of humanities’ sin is that all must die because of their sin (Romans 6:23).

The good news is that Jesus Christ, Who was perfect, died an undeserving death as mankind’s substitute for sin on the cross of Calvary (Isaiah 53:4, 6; Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21). God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus Christ by raising Him from the dead. With Jesus’ death and resurrection men and women could have their sins transferred to Jesus as their substitutionary atoning sacrifice. By the sacrifice of Christ complete satisfaction was achieved as regards sin (John 6:47; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

With this knowledge we put our faith in Christ as our personal savior from sin and the penalty of everlasting Hell that our sin deserved (John 3:36; Ephesians 2:8-9). And, we sincerely repented of our sins as we sought to follow our savior and lord.

Therefore, we were saved from the condemnation of sin (Acts 16:31; John 3:36). And, we are forgiven of every single sin and we are even justified from all the guilt of the sin. The fact is that the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ removes all of our sin and its consequences (1 John 1:7).

Thus, we have been adopted as perfect children into the family of God. May God Himself receive all of the glory for our conversion from spiritual darkness to spiritual light, from spiritual death to spiritual life.