SALVATION WITH SECURITY – Part 1, 2, 3
by Eugene
Part 1 of 3
YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN
by Eugene
Part 1 of 3
YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN
To the reader of this material, you must be born again! In (John 3:3), "Jesus answered and said unto him (a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews) Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Unless you are born again, you may not be able to see, understand, and believe some things written here.
You may ask: how can I know whether I'm born again or not? It is said in (1 John 5:1): "Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God:" (Christ: the Anointed one or Messiah - The promised Savior of mankind)
In (John 1:1, 3, 10, 14), Jesus is shown as God, (3) "All things were made by Him;" (10) "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not," and (14) declares that God became man and lived among us. (Matthew 1:23) says: "His name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."
You may have had someone ask you: "Are you saved?" This term is saying that you are saved from condemnation (Romans 8:1), death, hell, and the lake of fire. (Rev 20:11-15) "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. (12) And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: (Showing these being judged were not written therein) and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books (Not the book of life), according to their works.(13) And the sea gave up the dead which were in it (Dead bodies in the sea); and death (Dead bodies that were in the grave) and hell (Souls in hell awaiting judgment of those dead bodies in the grave and the sea) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. (14) And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (15) And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
Judgment will come upon all who do not accept Jesus as their savior, and consequently do not have their names written in the book of life. They are the dead who will be judged.
"Verily, verily, I (Jesus) say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him (God, the Father) that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." (John 5:24).
You might think you are good enough and don't need a savior. You haven't killed anyone. You once gave money to United Way to help some cause or the other. You even received a gift Bible for perfect attendance at Sunday school and may even teach Sunday school. I believe I have done more good than bad and God is a God of love and wouldn't punish anyone. (Proverbs 14:12) says "There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Surely you realize that the entire world doesn't believe doing bad is the way to please God, or there wouldn't be so much religious activity and sacrifice going on.
On the other hand, you may think you're too bad to be saved; that Almighty God would never accept you. You have done everything wrong and there is no reason trying to get right with God, especially with all those rules and laws.
Both are wrong. Those who believe they are doing alright have become self-righteous, and are in effect saying; we didn't need Jesus to die for us; we can make it by ourselves. The other thinks they are too bad to come to Jesus, and believes that Jesus' dying on the cross was not enough, or they're just plain ignorant of the facts of the matter.
All: The immoral person who believes he is too bad to be saved or just don't care, the moral person believing he is doing more good than bad, and the religious person without Christ that believes he is doing the will of God are all condemned and in the same condition. They all are judged as unfit and will come into judgment, for in (Romans 3:23) "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." This is God's judgment of all mankind. It means that whatever condition you are in when you compare yourself with God, you come up short of His glory, and God states that the wages you will receive for the sin are death (Romans 6:23).
Some may ask: but why did Jesus have to die for my sins for me to be saved? (Romans 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 are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one" (Romans 3:23). "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
Now when there seems to be no way to get out of the trouble you're in, (Romans 5:8) says: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Love found a way. I believe Brother D.E. Hill put it best when he said: Jesus didn't spill His blood which would suggest that it was accidental, but He came to this world to pour out His blood to pay the penalty for our sins.
Then, just how do you get saved? First of all, it isn't by following the Ten Commandments. In (2 Corinthians 3:7) the law is called "The ministration of death, written and engraven in stones," and (Galatians 3:24-26) tells us that "The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith, but after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster (No longer under the law). For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." If you rightly judge, are truthful and examine yourself by the Ten Commandments, you must come to the conclusion you aren’t totally obeying every aspect of the law at all times. If you found yourself hanging over a deep chasm by a chain of ten links, how many links have to break before you fall to your death? (Romans 7:8) explains how the law worked. "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence (Desire or lust). For without the law sin was dead." and (Romans 4:15b) says "Where no law is, there is no transgression." Without a speed limit, you don't break any speeding laws and haven't got the urge to do anything but to drive the speed at which you want to drive. Having a rule or law to live by is akin to telling a child he is not allowed to play with a certain toy, and I'll guarantee it's the one thing that child will want the most. The law was like a carpenter using a level to determine whether a wall is plumb; it won't square the wall, but will tell you it is out of level. The honest person will finally admit they can't obey all the law and they need help.
"There are none that doeth good, no not one." You need a savior; you need Jesus! (Isaiah 1:18) put it like this "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." In more familiar language, you can get rid of your sins and God will accept you. (2 Timothy 1:9) "God hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,"
Ephesians 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." Now, if salvation is a gift, we can't do anything to earn it, but you read in (Philippians 2:12) that you must work out your own salvation with all fear and trembling. If God has provided this salvation as a free gift, how am I to add anything to that? There are many different ways that the word salvation is used in the Bible, such as safety from enemies, but I will limit this booklet's teaching to four aspects concerning salvation of the soul.
Part 2 continued on reply number 1 >
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