1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.

This passage refers to the fact that God has given us eternal life through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, and the only way to possess eternal life is to possess God's Son. The question is, how can a person have the Son of God?

Separation from God - Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

According to Romans 5:8, God demonstrated His love for us through the death of His Son. Why did Christ have to die for us? Scripture declares all men to be sinful. To "sin" means to miss the mark. The Bible declares "all have sinned and fall short of the glory (the perfect holiness) of God" (Rom. 3:23). In other words, our sin separates us from God who is perfect holiness (righteousness and justice) and God must therefore judge sinful man.

The Futility of Our Works - Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not of works, so that no one can boast.

Scripture also teaches that no amount of human goodness, human works, human morality, or religious activity can gain acceptance with God or get anyone into heaven. The moral man, religious man, and the immoral and non-religious are all in the same boat because they all fall short of God's perfect righteousness.

No amount of human goodness is as good as God. God is perfect righteousness. Because of this, Habakkuk 1:13 tells us God cannot have fellowship with anyone who does not have perfect righteousness. In order to be accepted by God, we must be as good as God is. Before God, we all stand naked, helpless, and hopeless in ourselves. No amount of good living can get us to heaven or give us eternal life. What then is the solution?

God's Solution - Romans 5:8 - But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 4:25 - He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.

God is not only perfect holiness (whose holy character we can never attain to on our own or by our works of righteousness) but He is also perfect love and full of grace and mercy. Because of His love and grace, He has not left us without hope and a solution.

This is the good news of the Bible, the message of the gospel. It's the message of the gift of God's own Son who became man (the God-man), lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sin, and was raised from the grave proving both the fact He is God's Son and the value of His death for us as our substitute.

How Do We Receive God's Son? - Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the cross, the Bible states "He that has the Son has life." We can receive the Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior by personal faith, by trusting in the person of Christ and His death for our sins.

John 1:12 But to all who have received him--those who believe in his name--he has given the right to become God's children

John 3:16-18- For this is the way God loved the world: he gave his one and only Son that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. 18 The one who believes in Him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

This means we must each come to God the same way:

(1) As a sinner we must recognize our sinfulness.

(2) We must realize no human works can result in salvation.

(3) We must rely totally on Christ alone by faith alone for our salvation.

If you would like to receive and trust Christ as your personal Savior, you must ask Him into your life. One way to express your faith in Christ is through a simple prayer acknowledging your sinfulness, accepting His forgiveness and putting your faith in Christ for your salvation. If you wish to ask Him to be Lord of your life please say the following prayer.