In the previous two posts we established that everyone has sinned. We also determined that our sin has significant consequences. It leads to spiritual death, and it causes us to be separated from God. The key is that by sinning we have entered into an inescapable situation. We cannot save ourselves! Some claim that a righteous deed will erase a bad deed. But that simply is not true. Isaiah 64:6-7 reads; “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.” All our righteous deeds are as filthy rags because they can never cover up the sin that we have committed. Apart from Jesus we are truly in a pitiable condition. We have, by our own action, become the enemies of God and nothing we, alone, can do will change that fact. Job 25:4 “How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean [that is] born of a woman?”
God has made a way for us to be saved!
But, God, in his mercy made a way for us to be justified before the Lord. John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Our actions have sown our own death, but in Jesus we can have life. Romans 5:6 – 11 “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” It is through Jesus that we can be justified before God. Titus 3:4-5 “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done , but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”
So, how do we obtain the salvation that is offered in Jesus?
We must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that there is salvation in him. Jesus says in John 3:16-18″For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever 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 in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” Other scriptures that demonstrate the necessity of belief include: Romans 10:9-13, Matthew 16:16, Acts 16:30-31, Mark 16:16
If we are to be saved, we must also repent. Paul, in his sermon in Athens tells us; “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31) We cannot continue our loves as we were before. We must repent and turn to the Lord. Other scriptures that teach the importance of repentance include: Luke 24:47, II Corinthians 7:10, Acts 2:37-38
We must also confess that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus said in Matthew 10:32-33 “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Other scriptures that teach on the importance of confession include: Acts 8:35-38, Romans 10:8-10
We must be Baptized for the remission of our sins. Peter in Acts 2, preaching on the day of Pentecost said, “Now when they heard [this], they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men [and] brethren, what shall we do ? Then Peter said unto them, Repent , and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” (Acts 2:37-38) Other scriptures that teach the necessity of Baptism include: Mark 16:16, Acts 22:16, I Peter 3:21, Romans 6, Acts 8:35-38, Colossians 2.
We were helpless in our sins but through Jesus we can have life. It is through the Grace and Love of God that he has sent his son into this world to save us from our sins. Ephesians 2:1-10 “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
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