Chapter eight - Salvation

 

I have included a section on salvation because I know that not only everyone reading this will be saved, and the advice given about leadership and marriage will not make a lot of sense to someone who doesn't know the saving love of Jesus.

 

These are things that you must do in order to be saved.

 

• Believe in the existence of God.

 

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

 

            At some time in our past, almost everybody in America believed in the existence of God. Evolution was just some wild theory that was held by just a few kooks.  But nowadays, evolution is taught as fact in most of our public schools.  This has lead to most people no longer believing in the existence of God. Belief in God, and the fact that He was the One who created everything, is the foundation of salvation, is no longer considered to be the norm today. Without that foundation of belief in the existence of God, you cannot be saved.  So we will spend a little time trying to disprove evolution.

 

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

 

So the invisible things are clearly seen.   God's handiwork should be as plainly seen as the nose on your face, or even something simple as your eyebrows.  Can you explain why you have eyebrows?  They have no visible use, they don't keep rain or dust out of your eyes. Hair covering your face like apes from which we are supposed to have descended from would have protected your face much better.  But the most interesting thing about eyebrows is their symmetry, you look at one and the other is almost like a mirror image of the other one.   It's almost like an artist put them there.  If they were an accident of evolution, would they be perfectly symmetrical?

 

And looking at the hairline, we see that it is a definite line where evolution would have given you a random, jagged line, and yet it is straight.  Again like an Artist drew it.  And the eyebrows are a completely different kind of hair than that growing on the top your head. Eyebrows grow to a very short length, whereas the length of the hair on your head can grow long enough to drag on the floor. But these two different types of hair are only separated by just a few inches of forehead.  Why would evolution give you so many different lengths and types of hair growing on your head, all of which look like an Artist's Handiwork?

 

Symmetry defines what we perceive as beauty, a beautiful woman loses her appeal with some parts of  her body or face are of different sizes. When we create something we incorporate symmetry. We see symmetry throughout all nature, take the bee for example.  Even assuming that it could understand the concept of flight, and assuming that he could force his body to produce wings, having perfectly symmetrical wings is essential to flight. One wing longer or shorter than than the other, one wing not even with the other on the body, will result in the bee not being able to fly. If evolution was true there would be birds with wings on their bellies, or feet, and there would be some with non symmetrical wings, animals with uneven legs.

 

This symmetry cannot be accidental, we believe that this symmetry comes from a Great Artist, Creator, Whom we choose to call God.  That handiwork of this Great Artist's is there in nature, if you only chose to look for it, .  We believe that there is no such things as missing links, only the same strokes used by The Great Painter when He created different animals, birds, flowers etc.  Open your eyes and you will see His brush strokes, even in your mirror at home.

 

• Understand God's standard to enter heaven.

 

God created humans to have fellowship with Him, but we have sinned against Him.  We fell short of His requirement of holiness, we became His enemies.

 

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

 

God wants to have fellowship with us but He is Holy.  He hates sin, and He will not allow it to be in His presence.

 

Hab 1:13a You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, 

Psa 5:4  For You are not a God that enjoys wickedness; nor shall evil dwell with You. 

Psa 5:5

 

God's standard to enter heaven is a sinless life, He cannot allow a person with even one unforgiven sin to enter heaven with Him because He hates sin.  We as humans are no longer able to have fellowship with God because of that sin.  God wanted to bridge the gulf that existed between sinful man and a Holy God. But even God has laws that He has to observe.  One of those laws is the spiritual law that blood must be used to pay for sin.

 

Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Lev 17:11  For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

 

Using an animals blood would only be a temporary fix. God came up with a solution to that problem. He decided that Christ (God Himself) would be that sacrifice for those He loved, but as God, He lacked the blood needed for that sacrifice. The solution was for Him to take on the form of a human to have the blood required to shed to pay the price of our sins.

 

• Christ chose to be that sacrifice for us.

 

Heb 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption [for us].

1Pet 1:18,19

 

 

• Believe that Jesus is God.

 

Joh 8:24  I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

Joh 5:18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.

 

• Believe that Jesus, God the Son came to earth.

 

Joh 1:10-11  He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

 

• Believe that Jesus died for our sins.

 

Rom 5:8  But God commends His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

Rom 5:9  Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.

 

• Believe that Jesus was buried, and rose again from the dead, paying the full price of our sins.

 

1Co 15:1  And, brothers, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and in which you stand;

1Co 15:3-4  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures;

2Co 5:21  For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

• Acknowledge that you are a sinner.

 

Admit that you are a sinner and that you do not have any righteousness of your own to stand before a Holy God.  There are no good works that you could possibly do to merit His favor.

 

Rom 3:10-12  as it is written:  There is none righteous, no not one; there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they have together become unprofitable, there is none that does good, no, not one.

Rom 5:12  Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed on all men inasmuch as all sinned:

 

A child is a sinner both by birth and by practice

.a. By birth -

Psalms 51:5: Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Job 14:4,  Job 25:4: 

.b  By practice -

Psalm 53:2-3: God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.  Every one of them is gone back; they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Psalms 58:3: The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

 

Because a person is a sinner both by birth and practice, he cannot enter a heaven where a Holy God cannot look upon sin.

 

Psalm 5:4-5: For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.  The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

 

• Repent from your sins.

 

Luk 13:3  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

2Co 7:10  For the grief according to God works repentance to salvation, not to be regretted, but the grief of the world works out death.

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Act 17:30, Act 20:21, Rom 2:4

 

Repentance is having the desire to turn away from your sin.

 

Psa 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

 

• Accept the free gift of salvation.

 

Rom 5:15-18 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)  Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 

Rom 6:23, Rom 4:5, Mar 10:26-27

 

Please know that if you do accept that gift of salvation with a repentant heart, believing that that sacrifice of Jesus is the only payment that a Holy God requires for you to be saved, that the bible tells you that you now belong to Him, you are now His child.

 

Joh 1:12  But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name,

Joh 3:36  He who believes on the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.

Rom 10:9

 

Please understand that God has paid the full price for your salvation.  We can add nothing to what Jesus has done for us on Calvary.  To say that Christ didn't do it all is to diminish His sacrifice, and say that God didn't do enough, and God wants nothing to diminish the sacrifice of His Son.

 

Eph 2:8-9  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

 

There is nothing that we have done on our part in the salvation process except believe and repent.  So we have nothing to boast about except how much faith we had, or how fervently we repented.  But God doesn't want us to even boast about anything in heaven, even those things..

 

Gal 3:22  But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.

 

You will notice that the faith of Jesus Christ is given to believers.  Perfect faith, with no doubts, no doctrinal faults.  That faith is a gift of God.  It is not our faith, but it is that of our Saviors.

 

Eph 2:8-9  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

 

Please note that we are saved through faith, and that faith that saves us is not of ourselves, it is not your faith but that of Christ.  That faith is also a gift, so that we have nothing to boast about in heaven, even how much faith we had.

 

Gal 2:16  Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Rom 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

 

Our faith is like a light switch, a small flick of our finger can turn on the tremendous amount of power of the faith of Christ.

 

Mar 9:24  And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

 

OK, we can see that even faith is a gift of God, what about repentance? Repentance is also a gift of God given to those who truly desire to turn from their sins.

 

2Ti 2:25  in meekness instructing those who oppose, if perhaps God will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth,

Act 5:31

 

God is the One who will take out your stony heart and give you a new one if you desire to turn from your sinful ways.

 

Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Rom 9:16 So then [it is] not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Rom 9:15-18

 

Repentance without God given repentance is just tears.

 

Heb 12:16-17 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

 

Tell others, Be baptized, Not to be saved, but to testify of what Christ has done for you, Find a good Biblical Church.

 

Rom 10:9  Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.

Rom 10:10  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses unto salvation.