The very first verse of the Bible says, “In the beginning God…” In other words, there is nothing before God. He is the first cause. He is the beginning and the end. Therefore, He gets to make all the rules, including the rules of science and nature. God setup the universe and all the rules to have life, the laws of nature, gravitational force, nuclear force, etc. He also setup the standards by which we must live, the Ten Commandments for example. He created a perfect heaven and a perfect Earth. He also created people and gave us the freedom to choose a relationship with Him, or to choose to reject Him. Unfortunately, we chose to reject Him and therefore brought about His wrath upon His creation.
We could have lived in a perfect world with perfect bodies free of disease and pain. Our desire to reject God brought death and destruction, and put heaven and a right relationship with God out of reach. The Bible tells us that all men are sinners. Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. It goes on to say in Romans 6:23 that the penalty of sin is death, “For the wages of sin is death…” The word “wages” here is a good one because it illustrates death is something we have earned. Fortunately, the verse does not stop there. You see, despite our rejection of God He continued to love us and He reached out to us. This same verse continues, “… but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” God gives us salvation from death through Jesus as a gift. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.” God provided a sin-bearer and gives to us His righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
So, we are all sinners and have rejected God, and even if we try to go to God, we do not meet God’s standards. However, the good news is that God himself provided for our salvation. Man needs only belief in the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal savior for salvation. Romans 10:9-10 says, “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. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Some said that was too simple. They said they had to work towards their salvation. Well, let me add one analogy. Suppose for a moment I am a very wealthy man and you are average at best. Now, let’s say I offer you a Rolls-Royce Phantom in mint condition. I say to you, “Here are the keys and the title free and clear.” You then say to me, “I cannot accept this for nothing. All I have is $1,000 in the bank, so let me go get that and give it to you.” What did you just do to the value of that Rolls-Royce? Don’t cheapen God’s gift by thinking you can earn salvation. No matter what good works we pile on top of our sins, our sins are still there. It is only when we accept what only the perfect sacrifice of Christ could do that we have salvation.
If we trust in Christ to provide our salvation, we know that we have it, and know that we cannot lose it. John 10:28-29 tells us, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.” Once we trust Christ, we are in His hands and will be with Him for all eternity.