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Jesus says:

“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.”

John 10:9 NIV

Jesus saves. The door is open right now, and He is waiting for everyone, everywhere, to come to Him.

Repent. The Kingdom of Heaven is already here.

— Pastor Tim

Jesus preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17), and said, “the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21).

I don’t know Jesus yet. I want to come in. I belong to Jesus. Help me be ready.
“I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”

2 Corinthians 6:2 NIV

If you don’t know Jesus yet

Come in through the Gate

A gate has one job: to let people in. Jesus did not call Himself one way among many. He said He is the gate: the way into God’s family, into safety, into life that lasts forever.

Jesus says:

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
Mark 1:15 NIV

What does “repent” mean?

The word Jesus used, metanoeō (Greek, Strong’s G3340), means a change of mind that turns your whole life around. Picture someone walking the wrong way on a road. They stop, turn around, and head home. To repent is to turn from your sin and turn to God.

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”
Acts 3:19 NIV

How do I come in?

  1. Admit you need saving.

    Every one of us has sinned. Sin is not only doing wrong things; it is living without God. And it costs everything.

    “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
    Romans 6:23 NIV

  2. Believe what Jesus did for you.

    Jesus, who is God, died in your place for your sins, and God raised Him from the dead.

    “If you declare 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 NIV

  3. Turn to Him and ask.

    Confess your sin to Him. He does not turn away anyone who comes.

    “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
    1 John 1:9 NIV

You can talk to God right now

Words do not save you. Jesus does. But if this is what you believe, you can tell Him in your own words, or with these:

Lord Jesus, I have sinned, and I cannot save myself. I believe You died for my sins and that God raised You from the dead. I turn from my sin and turn to You. Forgive me, make me new, and lead me as my Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me. Amen.

Welcome home

If you prayed that and meant it, you have come in through the Gate. Tell someone today. Start reading the Gospel of John. Find a church that teaches the Bible. And write to us; we would be glad to pray for you: info@thegospelinfiveminutes.org

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What is salvation?

Salvation means being rescued by God, from sin and its penalty, into eternal life with Him. The Bible is clear about who the Rescuer is: Jesus.

The words

In the New Testament, “saved” translates the Greek sōzō (G4982): to rescue, keep safe, make whole. “Salvation” is sōtēria (G4991): rescue, deliverance, safety. Even the name of Jesus carries it. In Hebrew, Yeshua means “the LORD saves.”

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21 NIV

Rescued from what?

Sin is more than bad behavior. It is turning away from God, and it separates us from Him. Left alone, it ends in death.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23 NIV

Rescued how?

Not by being good enough. Salvation is a gift you receive, not a wage you earn.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV

And there is only one Rescuer.

“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:12 NIV

Jesus says:

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 NIV

Why would God do this?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17 NIV

What it meant to the first hearers

Jesus spoke the words “I am the gate” right after the religious leaders threw out a man Jesus had just healed of blindness (John 9). Men shut that man out, and Jesus went and found him. To people who lived among sheep, the picture was plain: a sheepfold had one way in. Inside, the sheep were safe; through that same opening they went out to find pasture.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
John 9:35 NIV

What it means for you today

No one is too far gone, too unworthy, or too shut out. The same Jesus who found that man is looking for you. Salvation is not a reward for good people. It is rescue for lost people, and it is offered to you now.

Today

Read John 10:1-18 slowly. Then ask Jesus to be your Gate and your Shepherd.

And you are saved for something:

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Ephesians 2:10 NIV

Word studies use Strong’s numbering (G = Greek, H = Hebrew).

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What God calls “righteousness”

Most people think righteousness means being a good person. God’s standard is far higher, and His answer is far better news.

The words

Hebrew tsedaqah (H6666) and Greek dikaiosynē (G1343) mean being right: in right standing, measured by God’s own perfect standard, not ours.

Our best is not enough

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
Isaiah 64:6 NIV
“As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one…’”
Romans 3:10 NIV

If getting in depended on our goodness, no one would get in.

God gives His righteousness

Long before the Law was given, Abram simply believed God, and God counted it as righteousness.

“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”
Genesis 15:6 NIV
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
Romans 3:22 NIV
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:23-24 NIV

The great exchange

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

Jesus took our sin. We receive His righteousness. That is the heart of the gospel. Paul, one of the most religious men of his day, let go of his own record to hold on to this:

“and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”
Philippians 3:9 NIV

Given, then lived

Righteousness that God gives always becomes righteousness we live. His gift changes us, and we walk in the good works He prepared for us. Stop trying to earn what Jesus already paid for. Receive it, and then live it in His strength.

Jesus warns

As it was in the days of Noah and Lot

Jesus says:

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”
Luke 17:26-30 NIV

Look at what Jesus lists: eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building. Ordinary life. They were not lost for living ordinary lives. They were lost because they ignored God’s warning while life went on as usual.

Original artwork: the ark in the rain with its one door open and lit.

Noah: one door, and God shut it

Noah built the ark for years, and the ark had one door. When the time came, Scripture says:

“Then the LORD shut him in.”
Genesis 7:16 NIV

God Himself shut the door. Everyone inside was safe. No one outside could get in.

Original artwork: a road leading away from a burning city toward the mountains at dawn.

Lot: mercy, and a warning

“When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.”
Genesis 19:16 NIV
“Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
Genesis 19:17 NIV

Lot’s wife left the city, but her heart stayed behind, and she looked back. Jesus gives us three words to carry:

Jesus says:

“Remember Lot’s wife!”
Luke 17:32 NIV

The door will not be open forever

The times are late. Jesus is clear that a day is coming when the door is closed.

Jesus says:

“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’”
Luke 13:24-25 NIV
“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.”
Matthew 25:10 NIV

But today the door is still open, and Jesus is still calling.

“I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2
Come in now

If you belong to Jesus

Be ready

Jesus says:

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come… So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Matthew 24:42, 44 NIV

In Jesus’ story of the ten virgins, only those who were ready went in. Being ready is not fear. It is faithfulness.

  1. Keep watch.

    Pray every day and stay in His Word. Do not let the cares of this life put you to sleep.

  2. Keep your lamp full.

    Walk closely with Jesus today. Don’t live on yesterday’s faith.

  3. Keep a clean heart.

    Confess sin quickly. He is faithful to forgive (1 John 1:9).

  4. Be prepared to answer.

    “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”
    1 Peter 3:15 NIV

  5. Go.

    Someone near you does not know the door is open. Tell them.

Jesus sends us

To the ends of the earth

Jesus says:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

Jesus saves, and He is waiting for everyone to come to Him now. Who needs to hear it from you today?