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Salvation
A friend of mine
once said, “You tell me that you don’t love Jesus? You don’t
know my Jesus!” How about you - DO YOU KNOW JESUS? I am
not talking about recognizing the name, or even understanding what
the Bible says He did while on earth. I am talking about truly
knowing in your heart that Jesus is one with God, that He came to
earth as a man and walked among us, that He was crucified for the
sins of us all, that He died on that cross, and that on the third
day arose from the dead, and that He now sits at the right hand of
God the Father? Are you trusting in Him alone for salvation? If
you died tomorrow, do you know what comes next?
Let’s start with a
wonderful and very basic fact. You were created in the image of
God!
Genesis 1:27
“So God created man in His own image, in the image of God
He created him; male and female He created them.”
Long before you were
ever born, He knew you and had woven you into His plans!
Psalm 139:13-16
“For You created my inmost being; You knit me
together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full
well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the
secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the
earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for
me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”
God loves you! It
doesn’t matter who you are, what you have done, or where you come
from! He Loves YOU!
Psalm 36:5-7
“Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your
faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty
mountains, Your justice like the great deep. O Lord, You preserve
both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both
high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
Psalm 103:11
“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great
is His love for those who fear Him.”
Psalm 103:13
“As a father has compassion on His children, so the Lord
has compassion on those who fear Him.”
Psalm 103:17
“But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is
with those who fear Him.”
1 John 3:1
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we
should be called children of God!”
Matthew 10:29-30
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one
of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your
Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So
don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
We have a problem,
though, where God is concerned. God is perfectly holy. Sin and
sinners cannot survive in His presence.
Isaiah 6:1-5
“…I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and
the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs,
each with six wings: with two wings they covered their faces, with
two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And
they were calling to one another: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord
almighty: the whole earth is full of His Glory.” At the sound of
their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was
filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a
man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips,
and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
Now, you may be
thinking, “I have lived a pretty good life, tried to do right.
I am not a sinner- I am a good person.” Well, have you ever
told a “little white lie”, have you ever been angry at someone,
have you ever looked at someone in lust? Jesus tells us that these
sins are the same as murder and adultery.
Matthew 5:21-22
“You have heard that it was said to the people long
ago, “Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to
judgment.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his
brother will be subject to judgment.”
Matthew 5:27
“You have heard that it was said, “Do not commit
adultery.” But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman
lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Held to this
standard of holiness, which of us can pass the test?
Romans 3:23
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Isaiah 59:2-3
“But your iniquities have separated you from God; your
sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For
your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your
lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things.”
What are we to do?
None of us can live up to God’s holy standards. They keep us
separated from God. But our sins also have eternal consequences.
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death…”
We deserve
punishment for our sins. We are deserving of death, but this was
not acceptable to our God, who loves us, who knew us before we
were knit together in our mother’s womb, and who made us in His
Image. His solution is based in His great love for His children.
John 3:16
“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.”
Enter Jesus!
Romans 6:23
“…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”
Jesus is the son of
God, and is one with God.
John 1:1-3
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through
Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has
been made.”
God took our sins
and placed them on Jesus!
2 Corinthians 5:21
“God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so
that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Jesus took our
punishment! He was crucified for our sins.
1 Peter 3:18
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for
the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the
body…”
1 Peter 2:24
“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that
we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by His wounds you
have been healed.”
Romans 5:8
“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Jesus paid the
price, the wages for our sins, when He was crucified, dead and
buried. Our sins were buried with Him! Imagine: Jesus as God knew
you before you were knit together in your mother’s womb. He knew
EVERY sin you would ever commit, and yet He still loved you enough
to die for you!
John 15:13
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life
for his friends.”
When you understand
what Jesus has done for you, how can you help but love Him! What
do you do, then, with this in mind? Is there something you have to
give, some “work” that you have to do? No! Jesus has DONE the work
for you, has paid the price!”
Romans 3:24
“…and are justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 4:4-7
“For He chose us in Him before the creation of the
world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He
predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in
accordance with His pleasure and will- to the praise of His
glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace”
All you have to do
to be saved from your sins and the wages of death you deserve is
to call upon the Lord Jesus Christ!
Romans 10:13
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved.”
This gift of love
has been given so freely! It is offered to all who hear! It is the
ONLY path to salvation that has been given to men.
John 14:6
“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me.”
All we have to do to
receive this free gift is to acknowledge that we need it, that we
are sinners and unable to save ourselves. We must confess our
sins. We must believe that Jesus is who He says He is- the Son of
God, that He was crucified for our sins, that He was dead and
buried, and that He arose from the dead and ascended to heaven.
Romans 10:9-10
“That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will
be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are
justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are
saved.”
If you choose to
accept this gift (God will not force it on you!), the very heavens
will rejoice!
Luke 15:10
“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Where do you go from
here? I would urge you to go to the Bible and read the gospel of
John (the verses here are from the New International Version).
Find a good, Bible based church that believes in salvation through
the blood of Christ alone. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance as
you learn more about your Savior and King by reading His word.
Obey! Read the words of Jesus in the gospels and do as He directs!
Finally, be at peace in the knowledge that you can never be
separated from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus!
Romans 8:1 .“Therefore,
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:38-39
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any
powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is
in Christ Jesus our Lord”
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