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The Plan Of Salvation.
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What Does It Mean To Believe On The Lord Jesus Christ?
- Saved From What?
A. Saved from sin. What is sin? Sin is the
transgression of God's law. What does sin do? It
separates between God and man, and produces both
physical and spiritual death. Sin is the cause of
every unpleasant thing in this world, and in the
world to come to all who die without salvation.
B. Saved from shame. Shame and everlasting contempt
in the sight of God is the portion of every human
soul as long as he remains in a unsaved state, and
his sins are charged against him. Shame is a fruit
of sin, and testifies against the sinner both in
this life and the life to come. It causes the sinner
to hide from the face of God in this world and to
shrink from the justice and judgment of God in the
world to come.
C. Saved from a depraved nature. All men are, by
nature, children of wrath, Eph. 2:1-3. It is an
immutable law of God that like begets like, and the
race of mankind having been begotten by depraved
parents are all, therefore, by nature depraved.
Since all are by nature depraved, therefore, all
stand in need of salvation. There is only one way to
be made free from our sinful and natural state, and
that is to DIE to the nature. By nature all men are
children of wrath, Eph. 2:3. All will remain
children of wrath until we die to that sinful
nature, spiritually, or until we are born of the
Spirit and made partakers of God's nature. Since all
men are possessed of a depraved nature, all need to
be saved from that nature and its awful
consequences.
D. Saved from eternal death. Death is a direct
consequence of sin. God has said, The soul that
sinneth shall die. All have sinned, therefore, all
must die. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned," Rom. 5:12.
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God," Rom. 3:23. Sin separates a soul from God, and
since all have sinned, all are separated from God.
This separation results in eternal death.
E. Saved from hell. Hell is the place of departed
spirits, whether it be called hades or gehenna; it
is the ultimate abode of unsaved souls who have
lived their lives in unbelief. The subjects of hell
are imprisoned forever in a state of remorse and
self-condemnation; an eternal night of despair; it
is an eternal dying. The Bible doctrine of hell is
sufficient to cause the most rebellious and
stouthearted sinner to cry out in horror of it,
"WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?"
- How Can I Be Saved?
The Apostle Paul answered the man's inquiry as to
what he must do to be saved. He said, "Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,"
Acts 16:31.
A. Who is Jesus Christ that He could save a soul?
The world has always marveled at how Jesus can save
a soul from the condition and fate outlined above.
There is no possibility of any man being able to
save himself, nor any group of men being able to
save another, for all men are under the same
condemnation. The Savior must Himself be free from
sin and condemnation. Since all men are born with a
depraved nature and possessed of inherent sin and
have a disposition to sin, this depravity is passed
on by the fathers to the children, so the Savior
could not be the son of an earthly father, else He
would have the sinful nature, and therefore, could
not qualify under the law to be a sinless Savior.
Thus it follows that God who is without and above
sin must be His Father.
Here I cite a biological fact. We get our life from
our father and our body from our mother, and we
possess the same kind of life that our father
possesses. God being the Father of Jesus Christ, He
did not possess a nature of depravity, but a nature
of innocence. He was born without depravity and
without sin, and His life was lived here on earth in
the perfection of holiness. "For he hath made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him," 2 Cor. 5:21.
Christ being without sin, was the ONE RIGHTEOUS
PERSON on earth. He was the Son of God, for God was
His Father; and He was the Son of man (mankind) for
Mary was His mother. He, therefore, possessed two
natures, viz: divine and human, both qualified under
the law of God, because of the righteousness of His
life and the sinlessness of His nature to be offered
as a substitute for such as are guilty under the
penalty of the law. So, He stood as the Lamb, having
neither spot nor blemish.
B. God must vindicate His justice. God does not
offer a sinner MERCY at the expense of His JUSTICE.
The penalty of sin, which is death, must be paid and
justice satisfied before mercy and forgiveness can
be bestowed. Since it requires eternal death to pay
the penalty of the law and satisfy the demands of
justice, there is neither time nor opportunity for
man to do anything but die eternally; so, he is
truly without God and without hope in the world when
left to his own powers and abilities. If he is ever
saved it will be the result of help outside of
himself.
C. Jesus Christ our SUBSTITUTE under the penalty of
sin. "And if any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is
the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours
only, but for the sins of the whole world," 1 John
2:1, 2. In this passage we are taught that Jesus
Christ the sinless One, makes Himself the sacrifice
for the sins of the whole world.
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned
every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on
him the INIQUITY OF US ALL," Isa. 53:6. Isaiah
teaches us that the sacrifice for sin was for all of
us. John tells us that it is for the "whole world."
Therefore, we see that as by nature we are all
included under sin, so also, by the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ, the righteous, this sin debt was paid
for all. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own
body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye
were healed," 1 Peter 2:24. Jesus Christ, being
without sin, took all of our sins upon Himself as if
they were His very own, and on the CROSS OF CALVARY
BY HIS DEATH SATISFIED THE DEMANDS OF JUSTICE
against every one of us by paying for us the penalty
of the law, which is eternal death to the soul that
sins. "Even as the Son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his
life a ransom for many," Matt. 20:28. He gave His
life by the shedding of His blood. As there could be
no remission for sins without the shedding of blood,
so His life's blood was the ransom price by which we
are redeemed. Redemption means to buy back from
under the penalty of law. Jesus Christ died in our
stead, and the price of His blood was acceptable to
God, the Father. So, when the apostle saw Him
transfigured in the state of His glory, as He is
today, after having triumphed over death, hell and
the grave, the voice of the Father was heard to say,
"This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,
here ye him." God accepted the price of our
redemption, and salvation was made possible and free
to every person who will accept it from Jesus
Christ. The Father says, "HEAR HIM."
- What Does Jesus Say We Must Do To Be Saved?
Jesus told Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews, who
came to inquire the way of life, that he "MUST BE
BORN AGAIN."
Nicodemus said, "How can a man be born when he is
old?" Both young and old are born the second time in
the same manner, John 3:3, 4.
A. There are always conditions which produce a
birth. The new birth is no exception to the rule
that conditions determine the birth. A begetting and
a conception must take place before there can be a
birth. In the new birth, God is the Father and the
conception takes place in the spirit in man. "It is
the Spirit that quickeneth," John 6:63. Even as
Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the
womb of Mary, so also is the new life conceived in
the spirit of many by the Holy Spirit of God.
There are two conditions which prepare the human
spirit for the conception of the new life by the
Holy Spirit; these conditions are: Repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, both of
which are dependent on the hearing of the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
B. Repentance. What is it? Jesus said, "Except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish," Luke 13:3, 5.
Repentance is the resolute purpose of mind and heart
which tears us loose from the world and a life of
sin: it consists of three elements: (1)
Intellectual. (2) Emotional. (3) Volitional. When
one hears the gospel, he comes to know that he is a
sinner. The knowledge of sin produces sorrow for
sin. Sorrow for sin begets a willingness to be saved
from sin; this is repentance.
C. Faith. What is it? "But without faith it is
impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarded
of them that diligently seek him," Heb. 11:6. Since
it is impossible to please God without faith, and
God certainly will not receive into His eternal
presence anything that displeases Him, we must have
faith to abide in His presence. "So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,"
Rom. 10:17. When the gospel is preached to a sinner
and it finds a responsive attitude from the sinner,
it produces faith in the heart of the sinner. Faith
is also of three elements: (1) Intellectual; by this
the sinner is made to know that God is, and that He
rewards them that seek Him. (2) Belief, by the
gospel, the sinner comes to believe that Christ can
and will save him. (3) Trust. When the sinner knows
that God will reward him, and that Christ will save
him, he is led to trust Christ to save him by
surrendering himself wholly into His hands.
Repentance furnishes his attitude toward the world
of sin, while faith furnishes his attitude toward
God and Christ, and the two together cause him to
surrender passively into the care and keeping of the
Holy Spirit: he being thus prepared, the Holy Spirit
begets within him the new life; then, he is saved;
he is passed from death into life. He has the same
kind of life that is in God, his Father, which is
eternal life.
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourself: it is the gift of God: not of
works, lest any man should boast," Eph. 2:8, 9.
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What Must I Do To Be Saved?
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What Does It Mean To Believe On The Lord Jesus Christ?
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Jesus Christ?
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What Must I Do To
Be Saved?
Here's the Plan of Salvation.
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