This doctrine begins in the book of Genesis. Adam and Eve were created and placed in the beautiful Garden of Eden. God told them they could eat of all of the fruit in the garden except for one tree. It sounds so easy. After all, they only had one rule to obey.
There came a time when Eve was by herself in the garden, and the devil approached her and began to talk with her. His ultimate goal was to make her doubt what God had said, and he convinced her that disobedience to God was okay. She later shared the fruit with Adam, and he ate it and disobeyed God, too. They had no way of knowing ahead of time the drastic results of their disobedience. Sin had entered the world.
From that very moment when sin entered the world, every person has been born a sinner. Because he is perfect, God does not allow sin in his presence. Therefore, no one can go to heaven on his own. No matter how hard a person works or tries to gain heaven, there are not enough good works to pay for the sin of even one person.
God knew that it would take a perfect sacrifice to save man from his sin. The only one who was perfect was Jesus. God loved mankind so much that he willingly sent his only son, Jesus, to die on the cross, and pay the sin debt of every man, woman and child.
When Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood for people who were lost spiritually in their sin, he paid for all of the sins of mankind: those in the past, present and future. When Jesus rose from the grave, God proved that the sin debt had been paid in full.
God provided salvation to every person as a free gift, not something they were forced to accept. Choosing heaven or hell, made possible by Jesus's death on the cross, was their choice. Heaven awaits those who accept the free gift of salvation, just as hell awaits those who reject God's free gift. Man may determine that he can reach heaven on his own, but it never works. His sin debt will not be paid.
This doctrine is extremely important for every individual. The moment a person believes from his heart that Jesus paid his sin debt and that person receives Jesus as his Savior, he has eternal life. His life changes completely from the inside out without any effort on his part. The burden of sin disappears, the doubts are gone and peace, joy and contentment flood through him. He knows without a doubt that his sin has been forgiven and that his life has been made anew.
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