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Salvation Exposed

How to get a suntan

God's Word says: 'This life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life.' (1 John 5.11,12). The gift does not merely come through Jesus, it is in Jesus. This means that you cannot have the gift apart from Jesus.

Over the summer months, many people go away on their holidays. Most folk just like to sit in the sun, relax, and come back with a suntan. You may see a man with a deep tan that you admire, and you ask him where he got it. 'In Spain', he replies.

You would like a tan like that, so you dash around to the travel agent and get all the available brochures on Spain. Then you go to the library and borrow some travel books on Spain. Lastly, you begin to attend night school classes to learn Spanish. You do all this, and your knowledge of Spain has vastly increased, but you have no suntan. You don't get a tan by learning about Spain; you get it in Spain.

In Christ

In the same way, you can learn lots of things about God and Jesus, but you only get eternal life in Jesus. To be in Christ means to be one with him, to love him and to trust him. It means to rely only on him for salvation. It means that you are part of him and he is part of you.

Such a gift is too important to be uncertain about. And God never intended that we should be uncertain. He says very firmly: 'He who has the Son has life.' That is certainty. The gift is received by coming to Christ in repentance and faith, and asking for it.

Is that too simple? It is what Jesus said: 'Ask and it will be given to you' (Matthew 7.7). If someone told you that he thought and felt you needed a holiday, and then he offered you two free weeks in Spain, how would you respond? In all probability you would grab the ticket thankfully.

God says that you need salvation, and that it is free in Jesus. How will you respond?

This is an extract from Peter Jeffery's new book Salvation Exposed, published by Evangelical Press (web site www.evangelicalpress.org), and used with permission.
See page 17 for a review.