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WHO WANTS TO BE A
MILLIONAIRE?
 If
we asked "Who wants to be a millionaire?" You might consider that a daft
question. Who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? We all know the possible
benefits and are willing to risk any of the so called difficulties of having so
much money.
If we asked, "Who wants to be
a Christian?" The response may be very different. The reason for this is that
the benefits are not as easy to see as having a million pounds.
However, we want to share with you the real benefits of becoming a Christian.
The great thing is we may never have a million pounds but we all have the
opportunity to have Christ in our lives.
1.
What
is a true Christian?
The only description of a
true Christian is given to us in the Bible.
A Christian is a person . . .
. . . . .
. . . . who has realised
their sinfulness.
For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3 : 23)
. . . . who has knowingly
come to Christ for help.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
(Matthew 11 :28)
. . . . who has called on the
Lord Jesus for Salvation.
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
(Acts 2 :21)
. . . . who has put their
faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save them.
Who ever
believes in the Son has eternal life.
(John 3 : 36)
To all who received Him,
to those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become the children of
God. (John
1:12)
. . . . who has opened the door of their life to Christ and let Him take
control.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens
the door. I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
(Revelations 3 : 20)
. . . . who has been changed
by the power of God.
Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
(2 Corinthians 5: 17)
. . . . who has been born
again.
No-one can see the Kingdom
of God unless he has been born again.
(John
3 : 3)
Salvation is found in
no-one else, for there is no other name under the Heaven given to men by which
we must be saved.
(Acts 4:12)
. . . . who is seeking to
discover and endeavouring to obey the will of God.
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.
(Matthew 7 : 21)
. . . . who is trusting Jesus
Christ and confessing Him as Saviour and Lord, by life and lip.
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.
(Romans 10 : 9)
2.
Some misunderstandings of what is a true Christian
Years ago at the funfair
there was the hail of mirrors. These mirrors distorted your body so you could be
any shape you liked, tall, short, thin and fat, They were great fun as long as
you realised that this was not your real shape!!
In the same way there are
some distortions or misunderstandings as to what a Christian is. These
misunderstandings are far more dangerous than the hall of mirrors because
sometimes we think they are the real thing. It is interesting to note that there
are no references in the Bible to support the idea that any of these
misunderstandings are an aid to salvation.
We are not Christians by . .
. .
. . . . going to Church
whether it is Markethill or any other Church.
. . . . being baptized.
. . . . by taking Communion.
1st Corinthians in fact tells
us, Anyone who eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.’
. . . . trying to keep the 10
Commandments (God’s Law)
. . . . trying our best and
keeping the laws of the land.
. . . . being a member of
Committee or even Kirk Session.
. . . . being a Sunday School
teacher, minister or missionary.
There are many people who
accept these distortions and so think that they are Christians. But salvation is
totally undeserved and unearned by any man, woman, girl or boy, it is a free
gift of God.
‘For it is by grace you
have been saved through faith and thus not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God not by works, so that no-one can boast. (Ephesians 2 :
8,9)
Many of us think that the
only division in Northern Ireland is Protestant/Roman Catholic or
Unionist/Republican. Worldwide others think it is black/white, China/rest of the
world.
The more serious division in
this world is the saved/unsaved i.e. those who have asked Jesus into their
hearts as Lord and Saviour and those who have not.
3. How then do we become a Christian?
 There
are several steps we need to take in order to meet the requirements God had set
out in His Word. We come on God’s terms not on our own. We need to understand
that none of these things in themselves save us and make us Christians. It is
Christ who effects salvation. The Lord Jesus is the one, and the only one, who
is able to meet our need.
In order for Jesus to make us
a Christian we must . . . .
1.
Realise that we are sinners.
For there is no
difference, for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3 : 22, 23)
If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (John
1: 8)
2.
Repent of our sins.
Repent and believe the
Gospel. (Mark 1: 15)
God now commands everyone
everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30)
Repentance means more than
being sorry for our sin. It is a turning away from it and a turning to Christ.
3.
Recognise in Jesus, the only one who can save us.
Christ died for our sins. (1 Corinthians 15 : 3)
Jesus said, “I am the way,
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." (John 14: 6)
He Himself bore our sins
in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for
righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed. (1 Peter 2
: 24)
4.
Receive Him , by faith, as our personal Saviour
Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you will be saved. (Acts 16:31)
To all who receive Him, to
those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. (John 1: 12)
5.
Rely on the clear promises God has given you.
I tell you the truth,
whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not
be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (John 5
: 24)
So these are the steps we
need to take. However sometimes we are still unsure how practically we take
them. This then is how we begin our new life in Christ.
Pray to God a prayer
something like this:
O God, I do
confess that I am a sinful person. In so many ways I have broken your good
laws.
I know that I
cannot save myself, for all my good works are as filthy rags before you. I am sorry for the
way I have lived, and for the way I have treated your Son, and I ask your
forgiveness for all my sins. I do believe Jesus
is the Son of God and that He died for me on the cross at Calvary. I do
believe He is the only one who can forgive my sin and make me a child of God.
Here and now, I
invite you, Lord Jesus, into my life, to be my personal Saviour and Lord of my
life. By
faith — just trusting your promises, I believe you have heard my prayers;
forgiven my sinfulness; given your gift of eternal life and made me a Christian,
and I thank you for what you have done.
Amen.
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