Robby
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GJCN
The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Author: Jack Heckathorne
"He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement (punishment) for our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed (drawn together with God). All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and God (the Father) hath laid on him (God the Son) the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:5)
So writes the prophet Isaiah some seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ. In scripture, Jesus is often referred to as the Son of man and sometimes as the Son of God. He is both. He is the mediator between God the Father and Man. He is the God/Man, true humanity and undiminished Deity in one person forever. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Jesus Christ." (1 Timothy 2:5).
Man, as a sinner, is in a hopeless situation. When a person is born physically he is born into sin and has a dead human spirit. The sin nature is inherited from Adam. He must have a spiritual birth. "For as in Adam all die (spiritually) even so, as in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Cor. 15:22) Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death (spiritual) by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned." (Romans 5:12)
In addition to inheriting the sin nature man commits many personal sins during his lifetime. God the Father must be satisfied that man is free from all sin before he will allow him into Heaven. At the same time the Justice of God the Father must be satisfied that sin is punished. "For the wages (payment) of sin is death (spiritual) but the gift of God is eternal life. (Romans 6:23)" The Bible states again and again that salvation is a gift from God.
What can man do to deal with the sin problem. How can man satisfy God the Father that he is free from all sin and that the price of death has been paid for sin? Can he make a commitment to Christ to be saved? How long will a persons commitment last? Till the next time he sins? Can he turn away from his sin, his sin nature, his dead human sprit and his personal sins? How many sins would be too many to enter heaven? The answer is one. No sin is allowed in heaven. No sin is acceptable to God. Can we be saved by keeping the ten commandants (the law) when the scriptures tell us plainly that "... a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28) The law tells us the definition of sin. It is not a standard to live up to for salvation. "Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:20)
We cannot obtain Gods perfect righteousness by inviting Jesus into our heart. Inviting Jesus is not found in the scriptures. Inviting does not require faith. I can invite an atheist to dinner but I don't necessarily believe what he says or does. One could say "OK Jesus if you are real I invite you into my heart" This is doubt not faith. "Believing" is accepting. If I believe in you I accept everything about you. Faith is required. In the case of "inviting" faith is not required.
Can we obtain perfect righteousness by feeling sorry for our sins? The brutal fact is that people enjoy sin. That's why they do it. Even if we do muster up sorrow for our sin so what? We just run out and do it again or find a new sin to try out. We posses the sin nature and we have no way to rid ourselves of it. We are not saved because we feel sorrow or any other emotional response to sins. The apostle Paul had this to say in speaking of people who try to obtain righteousness on their own. "For they, (unbelievers) being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own (self) righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believeth." Romans 10:3-4)
Our dead human sprit must be made alive. Can we do this by doing good deeds? Man cannot achieve the perfect standard of God on his own. That is why works or human morality, even though a good thing, will not save us. No matter how good we are or how many good works we do we simply can not reach the high standards of God which we must do to live with God for eternity. We may be a good person by human standards but we fall way short of Gods absolutely perfect righteousness.
Therefore, we must be made righteous by God. "For He (God the Father) hath made him, (God the Son) who knew no sin, to be made sin (paid the death penalty) as a substitute for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). However, we are not automatically saved because Jesus took the sin issue away. We must believe in Christ to obtain Gods righteousness. "For with the heart (the thinking part of the soul) man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation...For whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:10&13).
There is no way that we can earn salvation. Not by works, not by morality, not by anything that we can do in the flesh. Faith is an expression of our free will. It is an act which has no merit. " Faith is our basic system of perception. Everyone uses faith every day. For example: Did you have lunch today? Did you take your food to a lab and test it yourself to see if it was poisoned? When you started school and your teacher said the apple was red did you question her and try to make her prove it? Of course not. You accept these things by faith.
The existence of God cannot be proven scientifically and the non existence of God cannot be proven scientifically. To even try to do so assumes that we have knowledge that we could not possibility posess. We can look at the creation of the universe, the earth, plants, animals and man and determine which is the more credible belief. Did an intelligence create these things and set everything into motion or did everything just appear from nothing and turn into everything we see today with no guiding force, power or intelligence of any kind?
All that God requires of us for salvation is that we use our system of perception and have faith in his Son Jesus Christ. Believing in Jesus Christ is easy but for many people getting to the point of believing can be most difficult because Satan has deceived them and they are not seeking the truth. Some come to Christ after many years of believing in evolution and being frustrated because it offers no answers. Others come to Christ because they realize that they are hopelessly drowning in sin and cannot save themselves finally realizing the need for a savior. Still others come to Christ because someone has properly presented the Gospel and it made sense to them. There are not 2, 3 or 4 steps to salvation because anything other than faith is works and we cannot be saved by works. There is only one step. The step of faith. "For by grace are you saved by faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8&9)
Believing in the existence of God or the existence of Jesus is not salvation. Salvation is the acceptance of Jesus Christ in total. A belief in His person and work on the cross. That's what the Bible means when it says believe on the name of Jesus Christ. In addition we can know that we are saved. "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." (1 John 5:11-13)
You may think that you have done too many bad things in your life to enter heaven. You may think that because you are a homosexual, thief, murderer, con man or whatever God is going to reject you. On the other hand you may think that because you went to church all of your life, gave money to charities, and were a good moral person God will welcome you with open arms. Well, think again because Jesus Christ paid the death penalty for sin and he says that works will not save you. Jesus told Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, that he must be born again. Nicodemus and the Jews were very moral and did many goods works but Jesus said " Except a man be born of water (physical birth) and of the Spirit (spiritual birth) he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." In the next verse he says it again. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh (physical birth) and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." (spiritual birth). (John 3:5&6).
Since we are born spiritually dead our spirit must be made alive. Jesus tells us that we must have a spiritual birth. John 3:17 & 18 tells us how we can be saved and why people are condemned to hell. "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of Gods uniquely born Son.
The sin penalty has been paid, the work has been done, God the Father is satisfied with the work of his Son on the cross and salvation is now available to you regardless of what you have done, where you are, how you feel, or what you do. All you have to do is believe. "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead (spiritually), yet shall he live (spiritually in heaven). And whosoever lives (physically) and believes in me shall never die (spiritually). (John 11:25&26) "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me" (John 14:6)
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Cor. 2:9)
You can tell God the Father that you believe in Jesus Christ right now and you will posses eternal life that no one can ever take away from you. "That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:9&10)
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