Come to Jesus and Live

Why should you come to Jesus today? Here are seven reasons. 

First, you should come to Jesus today because Jesus is the Savior of the world. 

• At the birth of Jesus, an angel from heaven appeared to the shepherds near Bethlehem and announced, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11) 

• When the prophet, John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming toward him he said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) 
• The Apostle John tells us in his first letter…¹⁴And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” (1 John 4:14) 
• In Luke 19 we read … ⁹Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”  (Luke 19:9–10) 
• In Luke 5 we read …³¹Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have NOT come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31–32) 

You should come to Jesus today, if you are a lost sinner because he is the Savior of the world and he is calling you to repentance and is seeking to save you. 

Second, you should come to Jesus today because Jesus invites people to come to him so he can give them eternal life. 

• We don’t get eternal life by knowing what the Bible says. The Bible points us to Jesus who gives eternal life to those who come to him. Jesus said to the Pharisees… 

³⁹You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to me to have life. (John 5:39–40) 

• In John Chapter 6 Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”  (John 6:35) In this passage he also teaches us these other things:  

• Jesus, the Son of man, offers to give people the food that endures to eternal life. 
• God the Father has placed his seal of approval on Jesus, the Son of Man. 
• The only “work” God requires for salvation is the “work” of believing in the one he sent to save you from your sins. 
• Jesus is the Bread of God who came down from heaven to give life to the world. 

• Everyone the Father gives to Jesus will come to him.  
• Jesus will receive those who come to him in faith and never drive them away. 
• Jesus came down from heaven to do his Father’s will. 
• It is the Father’s will for Jesus to keep all those the Father has given him and raise them up on the last day.  
• God the Father has willed that everyone who looks to His son, Jesus, and believes in his son, Jesus, will receive eternal life and Jesus raise their dead bodies back to life on the last day.  

• In Chapter 4 of the Gospel of John there is a record of a conversion Jesus had with a Samaritan woman. ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” … Then he said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:10, 13–14)  
• Jesus offers to give the Holy Spirit to those who are thirsty and come to him. ³⁷On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” ³⁹By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37–39) 
• God the Father granted to Jesus the authority to give eternal life to the people that come to him in faith. The scripture says…After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ²For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. (John 17:1–3) 

You should come to Jesus today in faith and ask him for the bread of life and living water because if you ask him, he will give you himself, the Holy Spirit and eternal life. 

Third, you should come to Jesus today because Jesus saves people and brings them into the family of God with the assistance of His Father and the Holy Spirit. 

• Jesus gives the right to become children of God to those who receive him and believe in his name. You need to understand that all the “he” and “him” pronouns in John 1:10-13 refer to the second person of the trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word, the Son of God, the promised Messiah of Israel, and the Savior of men. To emphasize this fact, when I read these verses, I am going to substitute the name JESUS for the “He” and “Him” pronouns which refer to him.  

¹⁰JESUS was in the world, and though the world was made through JESUS, the world did not recognize JESUS. ¹¹JESUS came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive JESUS. ¹²Yet to all who received JESUS, to those who believed in his name, JESUS gave the right to become children of God— ¹³children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:10-13) 

• The Holy Spirit reminds people of their sin against God and their guilt before God so that they will understand that they need to be forgiven and saved by Jesus. Without this work by the Holy Spirit people will not come to Jesus for salvation. Jesus said to his disciples…⁷But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: (John 16:7–9) Are you aware of your sinfulness and guilt before God? Are you afraid of God’s judgement? If you are, it is because the Holy Spirit is showing you that you are a sinner and under God’s judgement, so that you will realize that you need to come to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.  

• God the Father enables people to come to Jesus, God the Son, so that he can save them and give them eternal life. ⁴³“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. (John 6:43-45) ⁶⁵He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”  (John 6:65) 
• Jesus knew that he had been given the assignment by his Father to provide for our salvation through his sacrificial death on the cross and he also knew that as Savior of the world he had been given the job of saving those who would come to him in faith. That is why Jesus did not send people to the Father to be saved. Instead, Jesus said he would call people to himself for salvation. Jesus said, ³²But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” ³³He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:32–33) 

You should come to Jesus today, believe in him and receive him as your Savior and Lord because when you do this, He will save you, and give you the right to become God’s child. 

Fourth, you should come to Jesus today because saving faith in Jesus involves an active response to the message of the Gospel. You won’t receive eternal life by merely giving your mental assent to Biblical truth. 

In John Chapter 3, Jesus tells Nicodemus, that God sent his son into the world to save the world and that those who believe in his son, Jesus, will be saved and have eternal life. Listen as I read what Jesus said to Nicodemus … 

¹³No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him (the Son) shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him (the Son) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. (John 3:13–18)  

Believing in Jesus, God’s Son, and receiving eternal life requires you to go the cross and look to Jesus in faith. Jesus illustrated coming to him in faith by using the story in the Old Testament where God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. People who had been bitten by a snake and were dying could look at the bronze snake and live. (Numbers 21:4–9) In order to be saved from death they had to get up from their sick bed, leave their tent and go to pole with the bronze snake on it so they could look at it. They would not go through all this trouble unless they really believed that it would work. 

Believing in Jesus or saving faith involves trusting Jesus and responding to him. It goes beyond believing that Jesus came and died for the sins of the world. Rather, it involves believing that he died for you and going to him and asking him to save you. It means trusting him as if your life depended on it. It is like jumping out of an airplane and trusting that the parachute strapped on your back will open in time and save you from crashing into the ground below. If you don’t jump out the door then you will go down with the plane and you will not experience the thrill of being saved from death when your parachute opens. And if you never come to Jesus and fall on his mercy you will never experience his saving grace. (Luke 20:18) Believing in Jesus means that you trust his words and are willing to follow through by doing what he says. If a person really believes in Jesus, he will do what he says and come to him when he calls.  

Imagine that you have a terminal illness, and you believe that the medicine your doctor prescribed for you can cure you. Will that belief save you if you don’t get the medicine and put it in your mouth and swallow it? If you really believe that the medicine has the power to heal you then you will take it as prescribed by the doctor. It is the same way with believing in Jesus. If you really believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world and He is the only one who can save your soul from sin and death, then you will go to him and call out his name and ask him to save you. If you have never asked Jesus for his mercy and forgiveness, then why do you think he has given it to you? When encouraging his disciples to pray, Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you … for whoever asks, receives.”  (Luke 11:9-10)  

You should come to Jesus today and ask him to save you because believing in Jesus and having eternal life involves putting all your trust in his words and actively responding to them.  

Fifth, you should come to Jesus today because he is the only way to the Father in heaven and eternal life. If you haven’t entered God’s Kingdom through Jesus, then you are not saved. 

• Jesus said that he is the ONLY way to the Father in heaven. According to Jesus, for anyone to come to the Father in heaven that person must come to him first and then go through him to get to God the Father. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) 
• Jesus said that he is the GATE and whoever enters through him will be saved. The sheep (God’s present and future children) must come to Jesus (the Gate) and go through him to enter the sheep pen (God’s Kingdom). Only those who enter through Jesus are saved by him. Let’s listen to what Jesus said in John 10…⁷Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture. (John 10:7-9) The opposite is also true. Those who do not enter through Jesus will not be saved. 

• Jesus said … ²²Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,²³that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. (John 5:22–23a) Think about this hypothetical situation … If you were to die tonight and you asked God, the Father, if you could come into heaven … what would he say to you? Based on this verse He would say … “Don’t ask me. Go, talk to my Son, Jesus. Whatever, he says about you is the final answer.”  Jesus will be the judge of whether you are saved or not saved. And Jesus will decide your eternal destiny based on whether or not you believed in him and came to him for salvation. 
• Salvation comes through the name and person of Jesus Christ alone. Peter boldly proclaimed to the leaders of Israel… 

¹⁰then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. ¹¹He is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ ¹²Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12)  

A person’s name represents his person, his authority, and his power. When Peter says there is no other name than Jesus, given among men by which we must be saved he means that Jesus is the only person who has the authority and the power to save you. Being saved in the name of Jesus means being saved by him. Jesus is the only Savior. There is no other one.  

You should come to Jesus today and go through him because he is the only way to the Father in heaven and the only one who can save you. 

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Sixth, you should come to Jesus today and call on his name because the Bible promises that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. 

• When the Holy Spirt came at Pentecost the Apostle Peter stood up and preached a sermon to the people of Israel gathered in Jerusalem. In this sermon Peter was talking about calling on the name of the Lord Jesus for salvation when he said, ²¹And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ (Acts 2:21) Then a little bit later in his sermon, Peter demonstrated that this Old Testament promise about calling on the name of the Lord from Joel 2:32 referred to calling on the Lord Jesus Christ. He did this by using a quote from Psalm 110:1 to show that Jesus was David’s Lord. ³⁴For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand ³⁵until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” (Acts 2:34–35) 

• When Paul quoted Joel 2:32 in Romans chapter 10 to describe how to get saved, he was talking about calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. 

⁹That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ¹¹As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” ¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9–13). 

• In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he said that Christians, are those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says there … ²To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: (1 Cor 1:2). We must call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to become a Christian and then after we become a Christian, we continue to call on him in prayer because he is our Lord and Savior. 
• Jesus was crucified between two thieves. One of them called on his name and went to paradise the other did not and went to hell which is the default destination of all who don’t call on the name of Jesus. In a way, these two thieves represent the whole human race including you and me. The scripture says in Luke 23 …  

³⁵The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” ³⁶The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar ³⁷and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” ³⁸There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews. ³⁹One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!” ⁴⁰But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴²Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” ⁴³Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:35–43 

The promise of salvation is for those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus. Will you be like the thief who called on Jesus in faith and was given eternal life? Or will you be like the thief who insulted Jesus in unbelief and was left to die in his sin? 

You should come to the Lord Jesus today and call on his name in faith because the Bible promises that if you do this, he will save you. 

Seventh, you should come to Jesus today and be born again because a second spiritual birth is required to enter heaven.  

• Nicodemus, a devout pharisee and teacher of the Bible in Israel came to Jesus secretly at night and confessed that he believed Jesus was from God as evidenced by the miracles Jesus was able to perform. Even though Nicodemus was a most religious person and a believer in God and teacher of the Old Testament scriptures, Jesus told him that unless he was born-again, he could not see (John 3:3) or enter (John 3:5) the kingdom of heaven. Jesus said that spiritual birth is an absolute necessity for entering the kingdom of heaven. (John 3:3-8) 
• Comparing similar characteristics of Physical birth and Spiritual birth can help us understand the process of Spiritual birth better. 

• Characteristics of Physical Birth 

• Physical birth is a crisis. It doesn’t happen over a lengthy period. Labor and childbirth usually happen over a period of less than 12 hours.  

• Physical birth is painful to the mother and the baby. 
• Everyone who is born physically has a birthday.  
• Before birth, the baby is living in the dark, inside his mother. But when a baby is born, he comes out into the light and can see what is going on outside his mother’s womb. 

• Corresponding Characteristics of Spiritual Birth 

• Spiritual birth is a crisis. It happens during a short period of time.  

• Spiritual birth can be mentally and emotionally painful. 
• Everyone who is born again spiritually has a Spiritual birthday. 
• Before Spiritual birth people are living in the darkness. They don’t understand the Bible and spiritual truth. But when they are born-again, they start living in the light and can see what is going on. Spiritual truth begins to make sense to them. 

• On Judgement day there will be many productive “Christians” without a Spiritual birthday who will not be allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven.  

Jesus said, ²¹“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21–23)  

• I hope that no one here in this room today will be among that crowd on judgement day. On that day, it will not matter what you did for Jesus. What will matter is that you had a personal relationship him and that you did what his Father wanted.  God the Father wants people to have a relationship with his Son.  In a letter to the Corinthian church Paul wrote, “⁹God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” (1 Corinthians 1:8–9).  Jesus called himself the Good Shepherd and he said, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” (John 10:14) Jesus didn’t know these people because they were not his sheep.   
• On judgement day if Jesus asks you, “When did you come to me? When did you call on my name and ask me to save you?” What will you say? If he says to you, “Here, I have a video archive of your entire life on earth from your first breath until your last one. I have a record of every thought you have ever had, every word you have ever spoken, and everything you have ever done. Tell me when you came to me and called out my name and asked me to save you. I will start the video tape of your life at that point, and we can watch it together.”   
• If I were in that position, I would not want to have to say, “Lord, I don’t know when I came to you and called on your name. I have forgotten the most important day of my life. So, start at the beginning and play the whole record of every moment of my life. Maybe, we can find it together.”   And I would not want to remember that I had put off coming to Jesus and asking him to save me and never got around to it. I would not want to have to admit to the Lord Jesus that it never happened. 
• If you have never been born-again then you need to come to Jesus, call on his name and ask him to save you. You need to receive him as your personal Lord and Savior so you can be born-again.    
• If you are a Christian without a Spiritual birthday…If you believe in Jesus now but don’t know when you were born-again…If you don’t know when you crossed over from death to life and from darkness to light… then I encourage you also to come to Jesus today. Let today be the day you call your Spiritual birthday.  

You should come to Jesus today and be born-again because you need to have a Spiritual birthday to go to heaven.  

Conclusion 

In obedience to his Father’s plan of salvation for sinners, and out of his great love for us, Jesus willingly went to the cross to suffer and die for sins he didn’t commit. He was punished for all the sins of all the people who have ever lived and who will ever live. He bore God’s wrath against sinners who have rebelled against God’s rule in their lives and have broken his laws. Since ALL sins have been paid for by Jesus on the cross, God is not being unjust when he has mercy and grants a pardon to those guilty sinners who believe in his Son and come to Jesus for forgiveness and eternal life. (Romans 3:25-26) 

After rising from the dead, Jesus returned to heaven and was exalted to his former glory. Jesus now sits with his Father, on God’s throne in heaven. The Lord Jesus is waiting for you to come to him. He will save you today, if you will turn away from your sins and call on his name in faith. God the Father will welcome into heaven everyone that his Son, Jesus, saves. There will be no human person in heaven that Jesus didn’t save.  

The Rapture will reveal who the real and who the fake Christians are. Those who don’t know Jesus, those who are not born again, those who have never called on the name of the Lord Jesus in faith will be LEFT BEHIND. The Great Shepherd will take with him only those who have come to him and gone through him into the sheep pen. Those who have spent their lives loitering outside the gate of heaven but have not come to the gate and have not gone through him, will discover on that day that they do not have the oil of the Holy Spirit in their lamps. They will NOT be allowed to enter the wedding banquet in heaven because the bridegroom doesn’t know them. (Matthew 25:1-13)   

The scripture says that Jesus will come back to take those who are “in Christ” to heaven with him. (John 14:1-6, 1 Thess 4:13-18). The blessed ones will be those whose belief in Jesus was active and responsive. They didn’t stop after giving mental assent to information about Jesus. Instead, they acted on their faith by coming to him, calling on his name and receiving him as their Savior and Lord. They are the ones, who will be found, to have Jesus living in their hearts when he comes. 

I invite you to have your own personal “Come to Jesus Meeting” today. You choose the time and the place. Humble yourself before the Lord Jesus by getting down on your knees and praying to him from your heart. Provided in your bulletin is a Sinner’s Prayer for Salvation. I am asking you to read it out loud to the Lord Jesus and then sign it, date it, and put it in your Bible.  If you don’t have your own copy of the prayer, you can pick one up, on your way out.  

You may stand up as we conclude this service by singing together one of my favorite Christian songs, “Come to Jesus and Live” by Chris Rice. When the song is over you are dismissed. 

Sinner’s prayer for salvation  

Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. I admit that I have sinned against God and broken his laws. Have mercy on me and forgive me for every wrong I have done. I believe that you died on the cross to pay for my sins, and I believe that three days later you rose from the dead, so that you could save me. Thank you, Lord, for loving me enough to die for me. Lord Jesus, come into my heart and become my Lord and Savior. Make me the person you want me to be.  

You said in your Word that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Right now, Lord Jesus, I‘m calling on your name. Please, save me, give me eternal life, and fill me with your Holy Spirit. 

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for saving me. This day I confess that you are my Lord and Savior. Thank you for giving me the right to become a child of God because I have believed in you and received you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving me eternal life and writing my name in your book of life. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Signed ___________________________________ 

Dated ______________________ 

I encourage you to tell someone what you did today and what Jesus did for you.