At its very heart, salvation is surrender. The idea behind the concept is that of giving up yourself for God. The way that we do this is through the blood of Jesus that He shed for us on the cross. His blood allows Him to be our Savior and our surrender submits us to Him as Lord. Here are the basic things we need to know:
Every person ever born has violated God's commandments. All of us have lied at some point in our lives. All of us have looked upon someone with lust in our heart, thereby committing adultery in our heart. All of us have fashioned a god in our image, to suit our likeness and our desire of what we want god to be. These are violations of the 10 Commandments and if we went through all 10 most of us would have to admit that we have violated all of these commandments mulitiple times. Therefore we are guilty.
Because we are guilty and God is Judge, we need to know what our punishment is. Is it hell! The Bible teaches that all of us are guilty and that God's judgment is the death penalty--eternal separation from Him in a place called hell. If any of us attempt to go to God on our terms then we will end up in hell. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
However, God is also a God of love, grace, and mercy. Therefore Jesus came, God in the flesh, and lived a perfect life in complete obedience to God's commandments, something we could never do. He then took our sin on Himself and died on the cross in our place. Three days later He was risen from the dead and today He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He offers us the opportunity to accept His punishment in place of ours so that we can experience the love, grace, and mercy of God instead of the judgment of God.
That brings us back to surrender. You are to simply give up and quit trying to earn God's favor because you cannot earn it. He wants you to repent of sin and turn to Christ! You do that simply by giving yourself to Him. You can pray a prayer similar to the one below, but know that the prayer is not some magic phrase that saves you. Jesus saves you as a result of your surrender.
Dear Jesus
I know that I am a sinner as I can see that I have violated Your Law
I turn from sin and trust Christ as my Savior! I ask You to accept my plea for surrender and that You take control of my life.
Yes, salvation really is that simple. Now you need to go to a Bible-believing church, join that fellowship through baptism, read your Bible daily, get involved in Sunday School and Discipleship Training so that you can grow in your knowledge and faith, and share this good news with everyone you encounter.
