Salvation

 You Must Be Born Again...

Image by Gerd Altmann, Gerhard Janson and OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Images Edited By Otto Brinkmeier

We all Need to be saved...

"But the Scripture declares that the whole world
is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised,
being given through faith in Jesus Christ,
might be given to those who believe" 
(Galatians 3:22)

Man's Need Of Salvation.

God's original intent was one of covenant and relationship with mankind.
However, the fall and sin have caused a separation and enabled death to reign.
Man's need of salvation is a result of sin, as a Holy God cannot touch sin.

Sin Separates us from God.

"But your iniquities have separated you from your God" Isaiah 52:2

Sin Is Universal

"There is no one righteous, not even one." Romans 3:10

All of Mankind is party to sin: By Birth and By Action!

• By Birth:
  "therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men,, because all sinned."
  Romans 5:12
  
  "For just as through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, ..." Romans 5:19
  
  "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me."
  Psalm 51:5
  
  Therefore, sin is our spiritual heritage as a result of the fall.
  
  
• By Action:
  "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
  Romans 3:23

Sin Has A Penalty

The penalty for sin is divine judgement and death.
"for the wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23)

"The soul that sins is the one who will die." (Ezekiel 18:4)

All of mankind is subject to sin, there is no mistaking it. Sin separates mankind from God's intent, which is covenant relationship and intimacy. 
Sin enables death to reign, and sadly many never see this as ignorance is bliss.

God's Provision Of A Savior

Man Is Impotent To Save Himself

"And all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." Isaiah 54:6

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so no one can boast."
(Ephesians 2:-8-9)

This However, Does Not Leave Us Hopeless

"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." (John 3:16)

Jesus Christ laid down His life for us." (1 John 3:16)

What qualifies Jesus To remove The Effects Of Sin?

• He Committed no sin Himself
  NIV: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin." (Hebrews 4:15)
  
  
• Jesus suffered the punishment (wrath) of God for sin. 
  In doing this He became the sacrifice who atones for sin and stands as a substitution in the place of sinful mankind "But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His Blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him! (Romans 5:8-9) " But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities." (Isaiah 53:5/Acts 4:12)
  
  
• He broke the power of death in that He rose from the dead
     (see 1 Corinthians 15:3-6 and Hebrews 2:14-15)

Recap: 

God created man, man fell, and all are subject to the power of sin.
God has provided a Savior as the solution:
the Savior died as a substitutionary(note) sacrifice.
Clearly, however, this redemption does not apply to everyone
because the Bible states that some will be committed to hell at the judgement. 

(note - In other words, to stand in the place of)

Who Can Be Saved?

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

Potentially, all people can be saved.
It depends on their response to the revelation of God.
It is God's desire that all should be saved (1 Timothy 2:4)

1 Timothy 2:4, ESV: "who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 1 Timothy 2:4, KJV: "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." ... 1 Timothy 2:4, NLT: "who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth."

What is More - Jesus Died For The Whole World! (John 3:16)

The King James Version of Chapter 3, Verse 16 of the New Testament's Gospel of John, simply referred to as John 3:16, reads: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

But in actuality not everyone is saved. The question then is "How is one saved?"

How is One saved?

Paul exhorted the people to:

 "Turn to God in repentance and have Faith in our Lord Jesus" (Acts 20:21)

Jesus began His preaching saying:
"The time has come, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News!" (Mark 1:15)

Both of these texts highlight the two fold biblical requirement for salvation:

1. Repentance
2. Faith

What do they involve?

Repentance

The Greek word  for Repentance is 'metanoia' and literally means:
 "to Change one's mind." 

Change in one's way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion.

"what Jesus demanded of people was metanoia:
, repentance, a complete change of heart"

This means that the repentance is not a state of remorse or a feeling sorry but rather a decision. It is an act of the will, rather than an emotional issue.
Of course, the decision may be accompanied by great emotion, but repentance itself is the changing of our mind. This changing of our mind and consequently of the direction of our entire life is:

1. A recognition of our sinfulness
2. A decision to live according to God's revealed will for His Chosen people.

" 'The time has come' he said. 'The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!' " Acts 2:38

Faith

This requires us to put our trust in - and adhere to - the Revelation of Jesus.
There is no work or action that a person can do to entitle him to justification.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from

yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) 

A gift cannot be earned it can only be received.

“We have been justified through faith.” (Romans 5:1) 

Justification is a legal term which applies to those who have been absolved of their guilt. To be absolved from the guilt applicable to all mankind as a result of sin, one must believe in the saving work of Jesus Christ. Faith then, is believing God’s Word.

“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)

God’s Word is Truth (John 17:17) and contains no lie. 

New International Version

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

New Living Translation

Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.

English Standard Version

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

Berean Study Bible

Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.

Berean Literal Bible

Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.

New American Standard Bible

"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

Therefore we can trust it wholeheartedly.

Working Out Your Salvation

From the moment we repent and believe in Jesus, we enter God’s kingdom.

This is described as being “born again” (John 3:3). 

From this point of entering the kingdom until the end of our earthly life, we need to live in repentance (a constant bowing to the Word of God) and faith in Jesus as Savior.

Jesus said in John 10:28-30, “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are

one.” 

So once we are saved our salvation is protected by Jesus – no one can

rob us of it. But the Bible also says in:
 2 Timothy 2:12, “If we disown Him, He will also disown us.”

And so we are encouraged to persevere in our faith until we die, or until

Christ returns. Hebrews 10:35-36 says, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.” 

As we persevere in righteousness, good works, faithfulness and persecution, we are rewarded with eternal treasures by God

See, for example: 

Hebrews 11:26, 

Matthew 6:1-6,

Matthew 6:16-21, 

Matthew 10:41-42, 

Matthew 16:27, 

Luke 6:22-23.

Assurance Of Salvation – Feelings.

The Christian life is not all just exercising faith with no "experience". The

believer can expect to feel and experience emotions which assure him that he

is in fact a child of God. The Bible clearly points out that the Holy Spirit can

bear witness with our spirit that we are the children of God when it says in

Romans 8:16, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.” This experience will involve our emotions.

However, we must clearly emphasis that these emotions and feelings are not

continuous and permanent. They are the RESULT of faith in the Word of God

and acting upon that Truth. There are times when a Christian does not feel

saved. Our emotions are affected by the environment around us, and we may

in fact feel very alone, and at times even deserted by God. These are the times

when we do not resort to our feelings, but with maturity tell ourselves that

our feelings are not important and that we are to believe the Word of God.

The emotions and feelings which are the product of faith are in fact a bonus,

an extra, "the cream on the pudding". They are not to become the basis of

our faith, nor are they to become our main objective and goal. They come as

we seek to obey the Word of God, but they WILL come, and we can expect to

experience feelings of excitement, peace and well-being.

Credits

Extracted from Laying Foundations

Copyright © 2002 by Cornerstone Church

Print Date: March 2003

This manual may be duplicated whole, or in part in any

form (written, visual, electronic or audio)

without express written permission of the publisher,

providing it is not used for commercial purposes.

Published by Cornerstone Church

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