There is a very huge difference between knowing someone and knowing about someone. To know someone is to have a relationship with that person. On the other hand, knowing about someone means you have only seen, heard, spoken to, or read about the person but never had a personal experience with that person.
To know Jesus Christ is to accept Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life. The Bible says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Note: the text says whoever believes in him, which means knowing him in our lives and experiencing His forgiveness of our sins.
Over the years, many things have been written about Jesus Christ. Some are true and some have proven to be false. The Holy Bible is God’s means of communicating to mankind. In it is God’s plan of salvation. Knowing about Jesus Christ is definitely no substitute for knowing Him as your Savior. The problem is that everyone since Adam is a sinner, and need of a Savior
The Bible teaches, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22,23). Sin means missing the mark, failure to meet God’s divine standard resulting in “spiritual” death, which is eternal separation from God and His kingdom.
However, God has provided the one and only remedy for sin, which is in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The Bible says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Jesus came into the world to deal with the sin question by putting away man’s sins once for all by His sacrifice on the Cross. The Bible says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). It was therefore necessary that the blood of Christ should atone or pay for our sins against God.
What a wonderful Savior!
We redeemed, the price is paid
What a wonderful Savior!
—Elisha A Hoffman, 1839-1929
When a person accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, that person recognizes that Jesus is Lord also. You cannot accept Jesus as Savior only, but as Lord and Savior. J Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, said, “Christ is either Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all.”
After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. The Scripture says, “Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the God the Father” (Philippians 2:11).
Jesus saves, keeps, and satisfies all who come to Him in faith, believing in Him. He is truly that Friend that sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 38:24). Great joys and blessings are for those who have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, because God has accepted us in Him.
The Christian is identified with Christ in His nature, “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). In His life, “Christ who is our life” (Colossians 3:4). In His relationships, “I am ascending to my father and your Father, to my God and your God” (John 20:17). In His inheritance, “We are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16,17).
Christians are heavenly-minded people in this present world. The world is not our home. We are strangers and pilgrims here on earth because we “share in a heavenly calling” (Hebrews 3:1).
My home is far away upon a golden strand;
Ambassador to be of realms beyond the sea,
I’m here on business for my King.
—E Taylor Cassel
People are saved not only for the time present, but for all eternity as well. Salvation prepares us for the future to spend eternity with God in heaven. No one can get to heaven without salvation. That’s why the Bible says, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
There’s no time like the present time. The saying goes, “Yesterday is a canceled check; tomorrow is a promissory note; today is the only cash you have – so spend it wisely” (Kay Lyons Stockham). Yesterday is past and gone. Tomorrow is at best uncertain. Today is our only opportunity to grasp and make good.
If you have not trusted Jesus Christ as you Savior, why not do it now? Here’s how. “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved” (Romans 10:9,10).
The Bible says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this not your own doing: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Salvation is by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Take Jesus as your personal Savior, believe that He died on the Cross for you, and ask Him to come into your heart and save you from your sins. And He will.