Friday, February 8, 2008

Salvation

Romans 10:9-10, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace have you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Salvation is not just a precautionary measure for death, it is life, and the only way to salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, by the person of Christ alone. There is no other way! When I spoke Wednesday night I gave the analogy of Noah’s Ark. In the days of Noah when the flood rains began to come, the people ran to the hills and the mountains, but when the hills were consumed, and the mountains lost beneath the depths of the sea, the only thing that saved was the Ark. So it is with Jesus. When the fires of God’s wrath are poured out the ones that ran to the hills and mountains of their works, and fails religions, will be destroyed. That is the hard truth; man is nowhere near good enough to go into the presence of God without Someone covering for his sins.
By the sheer grace of God that person was sent and that person is Jesus. He is the One that from the foundations of the world was considered slain for the sake of mankind. He is the One that the entire Bible points to. He is the only One that can make you white as snow that you may come into the presence of God the Father. “Surely He has borne our grief, and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:4-6).”
So this is my challenge to you. Do not just confess Jesus (Christianity) by your mouth, live it; love it, for by Him you have been saved. Go and debate your salvation with it’s Author, be sure of it, for this is no trivial matter it is, perhaps, the most weighty issue that you will ever encounter in your life. Do as Philippians 2:12 says, “…Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”

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