Dear K,
Thank you for your letter. Yes, I can answer “how to please God and to save one’s soul.” There are three things you need to know before your salvation can happen:
1. That you are a sinner, you are tired of sin, and that you cannot save yourself by anything you can do. "Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin" (Rom. 3:20).
2. That God loves you. He expressed this love to you by sending the Lord Jesus Christ into this world in order for Him to die in place of you for your sins and for the sins of everyone else. Then He was buried. Three days later he rose from the dead. "Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve" (1 Cor. 5:1-5).
3. That because you are a sinner and Christ died for sinners, you have access to this salvation. It is free. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7)
How do you receive this free gift?
• Receive and believe. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God" (John 1:12-13).
• Call upon Him. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Rom. 10:13).
• Believe and confess. "That 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" (Rom. 10:9-10).
• Come to Him. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).
• Repent. "Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'” (Acts 2:38). "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31).
Although these words are different (receive, believe, call, come, repent), they mean the same action. Receiving, believing, calling, coming, confessing, repenting are all the same thing. The object is the Lord Jesus, and the result is salvation.
You asked, “What is necessary to please God?” Nothing that you can do. Jesus did it all. You need to know what He did. That is the good news! You can read about it in the Bible. Start with the books of Luke, John, Acts, and Romans. They will create faith in you.
Call upon Him to save you as soon as you have faith.
If you are in a hurry, read the first three and the last three chapters of Luke, the first four and the last four of John, the first four chapters of Acts, and the first eight chapters of Romans. Later you can read the whole New Testament.
You do not have to clean yourself up in order to please God. You can't. You call upon Him, and He will clean you up.
Please respond after you have called upon the Lord. If you do not understand, please write to me again.
Your friend,
Jim Wilson
Thank you for your letter. Yes, I can answer “how to please God and to save one’s soul.” There are three things you need to know before your salvation can happen:
1. That you are a sinner, you are tired of sin, and that you cannot save yourself by anything you can do. "Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin" (Rom. 3:20).
2. That God loves you. He expressed this love to you by sending the Lord Jesus Christ into this world in order for Him to die in place of you for your sins and for the sins of everyone else. Then He was buried. Three days later he rose from the dead. "Now brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve" (1 Cor. 5:1-5).
3. That because you are a sinner and Christ died for sinners, you have access to this salvation. It is free. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7)
How do you receive this free gift?
• Receive and believe. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God" (John 1:12-13).
• Call upon Him. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Rom. 10:13).
• Believe and confess. "That 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" (Rom. 10:9-10).
• Come to Him. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).
• Repent. "Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'” (Acts 2:38). "In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31).
Although these words are different (receive, believe, call, come, repent), they mean the same action. Receiving, believing, calling, coming, confessing, repenting are all the same thing. The object is the Lord Jesus, and the result is salvation.
You asked, “What is necessary to please God?” Nothing that you can do. Jesus did it all. You need to know what He did. That is the good news! You can read about it in the Bible. Start with the books of Luke, John, Acts, and Romans. They will create faith in you.
Call upon Him to save you as soon as you have faith.
If you are in a hurry, read the first three and the last three chapters of Luke, the first four and the last four of John, the first four chapters of Acts, and the first eight chapters of Romans. Later you can read the whole New Testament.
You do not have to clean yourself up in order to please God. You can't. You call upon Him, and He will clean you up.
Please respond after you have called upon the Lord. If you do not understand, please write to me again.
Your friend,
Jim Wilson
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