SALVATION
Upon asking many people in the world today, "Are you saved?", most will reply with an
automatic, "Yes"; but if we
ask them what they are saved from, most of them will have no idea what we are even talking
about...
Salvation is deliverance. It is being rescued from
something. It is something that is done by one who has
the strength, for someone who has the need and desire.
Salvation in the New Testament is spoken of in
two tenses:
1.) salvation from
the bondage of sin, so that a person can be
changed from a sinner into a saint (all Christians
are saints), and have the power to live a holy life free from
the bondage of sin (present
tense)...
2.) salvation from
the wrath of God Almighty [Jesus Christ] which is to come (future tense) by living in the power of the
gospel of Christ, and keeping oneself free from sin until
the day of judgment.
Paul taught it this way in
Romans
5:9,10:
"Much more then, being now
(present
tense)
justified by his blood, we shall
be (future tense) saved from wrath
through him.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
by the death of his Son, much more, being
reconciled (present tense) , we shall
be saved (future tense) by his life."
SALVATION FROM
THE BONDAGE OF SIN
"Verily, verily I
say unto you,
he that committeth sin
is the servant
of sin."
(John 8:34)
"We are
not sinners because we sin;
rather
we sin because we are sinners."
This statement is true of all who are not in Christ by
the gospel of the New Testament. Every man and woman ever
born (except the Son of God, whose father was not a
man), was born under the curse of sin
that Adam brought upon himself and his seed.
Man is a sinner. That is why he sins. He must sin. He is
a bondservant. He was born that way and cannot help it,
much in the same way that a baby from a mother addicted
to crack cocaine is born addicted to crack cocaine
when he has never personally used it. It is not fair;
he was just born that way.
That is why God came in the flesh as the last Adam,
to "undo" what the first Adam did
in the beginning.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the
world, never sinned, and became the perfect sacrifice to
pay the death penalty that every person on earth
deserved.
"For
all have sinned,
[That includes you]
and
come short of the glory of God..."
(Romans
3:23)
"The
wages of sin is death..."
(Romans
6:23)
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die."
(Ezekiel
18:4)
The Bible
says that,
"...the life of the
flesh is in the blood,
therefore have I given
it to you upon the altar
to make an atonement for
your souls..."
(Leviticus 17:11)
...and so in order for the death penalty to be satisfied
there had
to be a blood
sacrifice...and in order for that sacrifice to be able to
save others it had to be innocent itself; otherwise its blood
would only pay the penalty for its own
transgressions. Therefore
it had to be sinless blood, if it could save anyone.
The only man ever born that did not come from Adam was Jesus of Nazareth the
Christ of God. His mother was a woman, but his Father was God
and not a man. Therefore he was fully human, but his blood came
from his Father (God, not Adam), and he was not
under the curse of Adam. As such there was no sin in him (1 John 3:5), although he had the
opportunity to sin, as he was,
"tempted in every way
like as we are"
(Hebrews 4:15).
So, he became the perfect
sacrifice. He
died,
was buried,
and rose from the grave
on the third day, as it was written in the
scriptures for centuries before he came.
After
his resurrection, he showed himself alive to his
disciples, and commanded them to preach this gospel (good news),
all over the world, which they did and are still doing.
They were taught of the Lord to preach that he was risen from the dead incorruptible (that means he
can never die again), and that whosoever believes on
him can have remission (pardon, forgiveness) of sins and a resurrection into the
kingdom of God through his name (Acts 10:43, 13:38,39)!
And this is the
way that the apostles of Jesus Christ preached that we
should become saved:
"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;
For the promise is unto you,
and to your children,
and to all that are afar off,
even as many as the Lord
our God shall call…
Save yourselves from
this untoward
(unruly; wicked; out of
control)
generation."
(Acts 2:38-40)
On the first
day of the New Testament, Peter, the
chief apostle, preached that message; and it is the same message that
all of the other apostles preached from that time, and it
is still
the only message that will save the sinner from the power of darkness, so
that he can live a holy life in covenant with God
Almighty and enter into his glorious kingdom.
When we repent, we die; because we make the decision
not to live for ourselves any longer, but rather for
Jesus in obedience to his word.
Then, when we are baptized, we become "buried with
him in baptism"
(Colossians
2:12); and
therein we are "risen with him through the
faith of the operation of God, which hath raised him from
the dead"
(Colossians
2:12 again)
by receiving
his Spirit, the Holy Ghost.
So, just as Jesus went through death, burial,
and resurrection for us, we also experience death, burial,
and resurrection through obedience to the gospel
his apostles preached, so that we become “new creatures in Christ
Jesus“,
risen again to walk in newness of life!
That is the gospel
of Christ, which the apostle Paul said is,
"the
power of God
unto
salvation
to
every one that believeth"
(Romans
1:16,17)!
Praise the Lord
Jesus Christ!
This online tool is added for your
benefit and convenience: always remember to use the King
James Version!
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