Table of Contents
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WHY DO WE NEED SALVATION?
Romans chapter 3 verse 23 states, “for all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God”.
The meaning of this text is clear and plain. All people without exception have sinned against God and fallen very far short of his perfect standard of absolute righteousness.
Many refuse to accept that they are by nature and practise vile, guilty, hell deserving sinners before God. Many fondly believe that they are no worse than others and that they will be alright when they stand before God in the day of Judgement.
Some think that they are better than others not realising that the Bible states, “all our righteousness (good deeds) are as filthy rags” (lsaiah 64: 6)
The word of God alone reveals our fallen state and brings home to us our need of being saved from sin. Without God’s Salvation we shall end up in hell where there is “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 10:28, Matthew 13:42)
WHAT IS SALVATION?
Salvation is deliverance from the penalty, pollution, power and pleasure of sin. One day we also shall be saved from the very presence of sin.
Being saved from sin is far more important than being saved from illness, fire, loneliness or financial problems, (Romans 6:14-23 Ephesians 2:1-13 Titus 3:4-6). The true Gospel of God is a message about being saved from our sin not these mere trifling issues.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, ‘Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God”. Any thought, word or deed that either violates or fall short of complete conformity to God’s Holy Law is sin. Sin is the transgression of the law of God, (1 John 3:4). “All unrighteousness is sin”, (I John 5:17) “Him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin”, (James 4:17). “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin”, Romans 14:23
WHAT HAS GOD DONE TO PROVIDE SALVATION?
God’s remedy for sin is bound up in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God’s provision for sinners is a Saviour who is both God and man, the two natures joined in the one person for ever.
God sent his only begotten Son into our fallen, sin-cursed world, (John 3:16-21). Jesus Christ became a member of the human race having been conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Ghost, (Johnl: 1, 14, Matthew 1: 18-25, Luke 1:39).
Christ lived a perfectly sinless life for us by fulfilling all the righteous demands of the law of God. God the Father, who loved us in spite of our sin, also sent his eternally begotten Son to die instead of and on behalf of sinners, ( lJohn4 :10).
In Romans 5:8 we read, “ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”. Christ Jesus bore the full fury of God’s holy wrath and died on the cross as our substitute, sin-bearer and surety to bear the penalty God’s law and holy justice demanded, (Romans 4:23-25, I Corinthians 15: 1 -4, Matthew 20:28, Isaiah 53:5-6, 9-12, 2Corinthians 5:21). Christ rose again from the dead to break the power of sin, death, hell and defeat Satan.
FOR WHOM DID CHRIST DIE?
Christ died for people from every tribe and nation under the sun, who willingly come and embrace him as Lord and Saviour, (Matthew 1: 21, John 6:37-44).
WHO WILL BE SAVED?
God’s salvation is to be preached to all men without discrimination. Jesus Christ told his disciples “go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature”, (Mark 16:15).
All men who are sinners by nature and practise, spiritually dead to all that God is, unable to please God and are under his wrath, (Romans 3: 23, Romans 8:7-8, Psalm 51:5, John 3:36, Romans 1: 18-32, Ephesians 2:1-5) are exhorted to flee to Jesus Christ for Salvation. Jesus Christ said, “All that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”, (John 6:37).
The big question is have you come to Christ? Have you called upon him to save you from your sin? Remember the prayer of the publican in the temple, “God be merciful to me a sinner”, (Luke 18:13.)
Paul writes, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”, (Romans 10:13). The Bible says, “repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out “, (Acts 3:19) Have you?
Salvation is freely bestowed on everyone who repents of their sin and trusts solely and exclusively in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
WHAT IS REPENTANCE?
Repentance is that change of attitude about sin, one’s self, God, Christ, Heaven and Hell which involves the whole personality- {mind, affections, emotions and will}.
True repentance is the gift of God and it is not meritorious. Repentance always accompanies true saving faith. It involves admitting our sin, (Psalm 51:4- 5), being truly sorry for them (Psalm 38:18), being thoroughly ashamed of them, loathing and hating them so much that we are willing to confess them to God and turn from them unto him, (Isaiah 55:7).
True repentance means that we are sorry enough to quit our sin. It is the soul’s divorce from sin. (2 Corinthians 7:9-10). True repentance was preached by Jesus Christ at the beginning and end of his earthly ministry, (Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, Luke 13:3-5, 24:44), John the Baptist, (Matthew 3:1-3) Apostle Peter, (Acts 2:38) and the Apostle Paul, (Acts 17:30-31, 20:21) and others.
Remember Christ said, “except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish”, (Luke 13:3-5)
WHAT IS SAVING FAITH?
Saving Faith is the gift of God in the act of the New Birth, (Ephesians 2:8). True faith is the instrument by which we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. It is the born again individual coming to Christ, believing in him, clinging to him, holding on to him, fully relying on him and his finished work.
It is the soul believing that God on the basis of Christ’s substitutionary atoning death pardons, declares, accepts and treats as legally righteous in his sight all who trust in and fully relay on him alone for salvation, It is therefore not what we do but what we believe that counts before God now and in the Judgement day.
If we believe right, doing right will follow. Good works are the fruit and the evidence of our salvation they are not the ground or the cause of it.
HOW DO WE RECEIVE GOD’S SALVATION?
The only way we can be saved is by faith alone in the doings and blood shedding of Jesus Christ, (John 1:12-13). Neither good works nor careful observance of religious ritual, forms the basis upon which we can be perfectly accepted before the true and living God.
Mere Church attendance, or joining a church, or belonging to a particular denomination, {no matter how good or bad} is not the ground of our salvation. It is not the Church that saves sinners; it is God that saves sinners.
God’s Salvation is by Grace alone, (Romans 3:24, Ephesians 2:8-9) through faith alone, (Romans 1:16-17, 3:26, 5:1, Galatians3: 16-26) in Christ alone, (John 14:6, Acts 4:12).
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