A Pastor’s Thoughts: Salvation 

By Pastor Wayne Sibrava, Living Water Baptist Church —

Of all the issues that mankind has to deal with, the most important issue is one’s eternal destiny. Everyone will live in eternity. Even if a person would say, “I don’t believe in heaven and I don’t believe in hell,” the fact of the matter is, you can’t stay here. You will either spend eternity in heaven or in hell. 

Jesus comes to Earth and declares that He is God and the only way to enter into heaven. There are seven instances where Jesus says, “I am.” They are all found in the Gospel of John. 

The phrase “I am” has deep meaning. The phrase means this; “I was what I was, I am what I am, and I shall be what I shall be,” or “I am the ever-existent one. I am very God of very God.” 

In the third “I am” statement of Jesus, He says, John 10:9 (KJV) ⁹ I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

During the days when this was written, a sheepfold would hold several shepherds’ sheep. At the start of the day, a shepherd would come to the entrance of the sheepfold, give a distinctive call, and only his sheep would come. He would then take the sheep to pasture where they could graze and eat and then, at the end of the day, he would return them to the fold. 

The Lord Jesus is saying clearly, “I am” or “I’m very God of very God, and I’m the only entrance point to get into heaven.” He is saying that the ever-existent one is the door and by entering through Him, all shall be saved. Pretty clear Word from Jesus, who is very God of very God! 

And so for me, Jesus has given me total satisfaction, clear direction, and simple salvation. I’m often asked, because of my background, which includes my brother committing suicide, my father dying of alcoholism, my mother dying of alcoholism, and my other brother dying of alcoholism, “What happened to you? Why didn’t you follow in their footsteps?”

The answer that I always give is this, “I didn’t find Jesus. He found me!”

In 1974 I went to a church, invited by a friend, and heard the clear message. Jesus is the door, He is the entrance into eternal life in heaven. I invited him to come and save me, AND HE DID. 

Now I’ve dedicated my life as a pastor for over 41 years, to help people make life’s most important decision, which is to know for sure that when they die, they will go to heaven and  enjoy eternal life with Jesus forever. As I pastor in Owego, it’s my prayer that we would all embrace Jesus and have eternal life in heaven with Him.