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I Will Never Be The Same Again!
Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. Salvation is abundant and for all.
Just reading these words 'salvation is abundant and for all' gives such a
feeling of freedom and peace. Freedom because there is plenty to go around and
peace, because it's for everyone, regardless of what you have done, who you are
or where you come from.
But for many who are unfamiliar with God and salvation and His word, the Bible,
you might begin to wonder what this is all really about. You might have many
general ideas about salvation, but do you know what is required of you, do you
really know why Jesus died?
Matthew 11 v 27 – 30: “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one
knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and
those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary
and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For
my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The number one answer to the question above, if you ask many Christians today is sadly
a little off. The most popular answer is that “Jesus died for your sins to save
you from hell”. In truth, he died 'that we might know the Father', our Father in
Heaven, who created the heavens and the earth and the fullness there of, for
this reason and this reason alone did he die. Everything else that accompanies
salvation is to further this purpose, that we might know the Father, for if we
do not know the Father we will hear some very heartbreaking words 'Away from me
I never knew you'! And no amount of good works or things done in His name will
change that; the sole purpose of salvation is a personal relationship with our
Father that we might do His will. Do not become an illegitimate child of your
own making when there is a better way.
Yes, he died also for our sins, why, because without washing away the stink and
grime of sin we could not stand before our Father and he could not look upon us,
You don't go to a wedding or an important event in your underwear, it would be
inappropriate for you, and insulting to your host. You put on your best clothes,
and go out of your way to show that YOU deserve to be there. The forgiveness of
sins can only take place when we make our decision to walk away from the
rebellion to our true Father, and to become obedient children; he wants us to
love Him as we love our earthly parents. To be forgiven for our sins, we must
openly repent of them to God AND man, as our way of showing Him that this is
truly what we want, a life with Him.
Without Jesus' death on the cross, we would never be able to know God, you could
know OF Him, but never truly know Him. Take a walk down a busy street, you know
that other people are walking past you, but you know nothing about them, who
they are, what they do or don't like. It is the same with God. At your salvation
you are saying to Him I want to KNOW you! Everything about you! Who you are,
what brings you joy, what breaks your heart, what can I do for you?
We hear of all that God has done for us, given up for us, and put up with
from us in our ignorance and pigheadedness and suddenly we just have to give
something back. And there is only one thing to give; (and no all you people who
think you can buy God off by dropping your 10 percent or 'pledge' in the bucket,
it's not your money) He wants you. 100 percent, not 10 percent or half or three
quarters, but all of you, that He may envelope you and fill you from toe to
scalp, give a purpose to your life which otherwise would be left to pleasuring
your self right into hell. Without him we are a rudderless ship at the mercy of
the sea or Satan if you will, and he is merciless.
He calls us, all who are weary. Those who are tired of life as we know it to be,
tired of being crushed and oppressed, looking for someone in this world to
really care about us. Someone to help us turn it all around, those of us ready
to commit to something greater than ourselves, ready for real security.
Something no 401K plans or retirement setup can give.
Matthew 25 v 34: Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who
are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you
since the creation of the world.
2 Corinthians 4 v 17- 18: For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for
us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what
is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is
unseen is eternal.
I have prepared here a study for you to do on Salvation, it's easy for me to do
it, but you will learn more and get a fuller understanding if you allow God to
give you revelations of your own from His word, too often I prepare massive
articles on different subjects and it is too easy for you to read them and
forget, now it is your turn to show yourselves approved, if you really want it
and Him, then come drink of the fountain. Take the Fathers hand and he will lead
you through. As you read and study his word, you will see just how much Jesus
wants to be able to take you to his father, he wants to strip away everything
that would leave you feeling ashamed as you stand before your maker, your Father
and your God, you will see how desperately he wants to reunite you with the
heart of love.
As a mother, I can't stand even the thought of losing my children, of not being
able to watch them as they sleep, to enjoy every smile like it was the first and
the last, I don't want to miss a moment for every one is precious and fleeting,
the idea of being on the same planet and not having them with me tears my heart
to shreds and brings tears to my eyes. If I, a sinful and worldly being can
experience such emotion over my children, who are with me all day everyday, and
yes, even drive me crazy sometimes, these children given to my husband and I by
God, they are his always and forever, to do with as he wills, if I can feel this
way about my children, how much more can the heart of God break for you, his
little ones, gone astray from the womb? Does he not pine for you day and night
like the desert longs for the rain.
SALVATION IS THROUGH CHRIST
Luke 1 v 69: He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his
servant David.
A horn is a sound for alarm, like the microwave alerting you the popcorn is
ready, well, 2000 years ago the horn was raised to let all mankind know that now
is the time for salvation, Jesus had come. We sure do know how to take our time.
Luke 1 v 71: Salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Luke 1 v 74- 75: To rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to
serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
Luke 2 v 30: For my eyes have seen your salvation.
Anyone who has laid eyes on a bible has seen His salvation, anyone who has been
ministered to by a spirit-filled Christian under the power of the Holy Spirit by
word or by deed has seen His salvation.
John 10 v 1- 18: “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen
by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man
who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate
for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and
leads them out. When he had brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them,
and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow
a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a
strangers voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand
what he was telling them. Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I
am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers,
but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me
will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes
only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and
have it to the full. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his
life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So
when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf
attacks the flock and scatters. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and
cares nothing for the sheep. “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my
sheep know me- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father- and I lay down
my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must
bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock
and one shepherd. The reason my father loves me is that I lay down my life –only
to take it back up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own
accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This
command I received from my Father.
YOU CAN'T BUY YOUR WAY IN! Salvation was an act of love and only by a real love
for God can you obtain and hold on to it, love is the key and must be your
driving force. He is the only door, for the Jew and the Gentile
Acts 4 v 12: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under
heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
Self-explanatory.
Acts 15 v 11: No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we
are saved, just as they are.
You must believe you are saved by the grace and mercy of God your Father, not by
ancient laws and traditions or good works, but by believing which is faith, and
everything you do is acting upon that faith in Jesus, not upon your own power to
get something done, believing in faith that he has saved you, and that He will
see you through, that He will either rescue you from your circumstances or give
you the strength to endure and fight. His grace is sufficient for you; it is NOT
through His mother Mary or the priests of the Catholic Church, or leaders of any
church for that matter. Jesus was given occasion to give her the sacrilegious
esteem the Catholics do, here is an example: Luke 11 v 27- 28: As Jesus was
saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who
gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear
the word of God and obey it.” Nope, no encouragement to worship Mary there,
instead He turned it around and said that we, those of us who not only read His
word but live it are blessed, so you can strike that 'Hail Mary' rubbish from
your language. Every time you say it you are worshipping the created rather than
the Creator, which is idolatry and you are in danger of hell fire. No man in a
frock can absolve you of your sin.
We are commanded to confess our sins before man so that our pride at not wanting
to look bad in the eyes of others doesn't send us to hell, no sprinkling of holy
water can cleanse you, you must be washed by the blood of the lamb, there is no
religion with God, religion is just a repetitious act, a monkey can do it, there
is only faith in Gods word and believing in His son Jesus, only this can save
you, get out of your churches and give up your well worn seats, you don't need
them, do as God commands and seek the expansion of His kingdom, I can guarantee
you that everyone in your church has heard about God, you are all supposed to be
out there finding the ones that aren't in church on a Sunday because they don't
know Him and you are supposed to be sending them there so that they can learn,
your no good to anybody in that little church of yours, fellowship on your own
time, God didn't call you now or ever to warm a bench and fill a bucket with
money for a nice parking lot and choir robes, get out there and do what GOD
called you to do, some of you have been sitting in churches for decades, God
called you to be men and woman of action, flowing and MOVING OUT with His love
which pours forth like a river, not sitting like a toad in a stagnant pond, your
church should NEVER be so full of the usual crowd that there is no room for the
newcomers who genuinely want to hear about God, you have heard enough, it is
time to GO and share it with people you have never met before. Salvation is a
job, you can't be an electrician if you don't do any electrical work, you're not
saved if you're not fulfilling your requirements given to you at salvation,
Ephesians 4 v 11 – 13: I t was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be
prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to
prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be
built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son
of God and becoming mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ.
Nope, no bench warming positions in there, wonder what that service our pastors
are supposed to be preparing us for? Cake sales? Fundraisers? Preaching the
gospel? If you hold an evangelistic meeting and a thousand people get saved, you
didn't just get a thousand member strong church and a big fat cash cow, you got
a thousand people that need to be brought up in the knowledge of Christ (that
bit about maturing, not marinating for 20 or 30 years), that you might have 1000
people out getting thousands more saved from the fires of hell before it's too
late, it's a race against time, not a race to see who has the biggest church. We
are paying a heavy price whilst too many of you sit stubbornly in church every
Sunday and Wednesday hearing the same message three times that some preacher
picked from his sermon repertoire by closing his eyes and pointing at a page
with his finger, and we are paying it with the lives of others, what a dangerous
game.
Romans 5 v 6- 11: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless,
Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man,
though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates
his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved
from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were
reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been
reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also
rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received
reconciliation.
If this piece of scripture alone dose not spur on the flame of love for Him even
though for now He is not visible to you, not much will. It is filled with the
warmth of Christ's love, His compassion for us like an abandoned baby, He came
for us in our tears, crying and cold, hungry and thirsty for something REAL to
fill us, to meet our needs, His blood avails us, it justifies us, our spirit
KNOWS that without it we will die, our brains and bodies are just too slow to
catch on, sadly.
1 Thessalonians 5 v 9- 10: For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to
receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether
we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
Continual union with Christ through His gift of salvation, we are restored from
wrath to sonship.
Hebrews 5 v 9: and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation
for all who obey him
Once he fulfilled the law of the old testament statutes, and blamelessly died a
criminals death in our place and wept for our forgiveness with His last breath
He was made perfect and able to become the way for us to know our Father, when
He joined us in a mortal body and staked His claim amongst us, he made us heirs
to his inheritance, He made us brothers and sisters in Him and He then went one
step further, He sent the Holy Spirit in His place to comfort us, to teach us,
to convict and rebuke us and to lead us to repentance. He returned to heaven
that he might continually go before God our Father and plead our cases, keeping
us continually before our Father, reminding Him not to forget us in our
suffering like an older brother that has faith in us saying to our Father 'give
him another chance, I know he can get it right, l know it is within him to do
this, for I am within him and I will give him my strength to overcome this
evil.' And rejoicing with our Father each time a prodigal son comes back to the
family.
Hebrews 9 v 27- 28: Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face
judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people;
and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to
those who are waiting for him.
If we die, it is to judgment, for that is what awaits us, he died to take away
our sin and bring salvation, so that when we face judgment, though there are
many tears of remorse and shame for so many wrong doings and wasted
opportunities, we are forgiven and set free to enter eternal life.
He is coming, are you ready?
CONDITIONS OF SALVATION
Salvation is a mission, are you ready to accept it? It has conditions that you
must accept, they can't be bent to your fancy, you must bend and change to meet
them, you must see it through, you can't quit when the going gets tough, those
are your finest hours, where God is truly glorified, salvation means life stops
being about YOU, it becomes focused on you seeing to it that OTHERS are saved
through Jesus Christ by His word from YOUR lips and those of others bound for
glory, God's glory.
Everyone will be brought through trials regardless.
Ok, here we go, do not be discourage by what you read, because we can do all
things through Christ who gives us strength and with Him we are never alone.
Matthew 10 v 22: All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to
the end will be saved.
It takes endurance, whether you live one minute or one hundred years past the
point of accepting of Christ- you must endure, you must stand, you must study
Gods word and be in prayer, for this will help you through many a tough time.
Romans 10 v 8- 10: But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your
mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if
you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you
believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are
saved.
You must know this and do it. These are just for starters, the things to work
on; for it is hard to get out of the rut of sin your life was in, without
determination it is hard to break free, but He can and will help you.
James 1 v 21- 25: Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so
prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not
merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone
who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at
his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately
forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law
that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard,
but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
Clean house, clean yourself out and humbly accept the word planted within you
that can save.
2 Peter 1 v 5- 11: For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith
goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to
self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness,
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these
qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and
unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not
have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been
cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to
make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never
fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
He calls for spiritual diligence and a willingness to allow God to do the work,
it hurts to remove a thorn from your finger, and it hurts to remove that which
is unacceptable and undesirable in Gods eyes for he is the master plastic
surgeon, he works in the unseen, removing the warts and pimples and scars of sin
from within to bring forth a beautiful creature, which brings to mind the old
adage, 'it has to hurt if it is to heal,' it hurts to change the way we have
lived our lives for many years, withdrawals from years of substance abuse is an
agony you can't even imagine till you've been there, I have been blessed to only
witness it, not experience it. The shame of a foul mouth drawing attention
whilst God draws out the poison from your language is painful, but the joy of
being a new creation awaits you on the other side, leaving you pure and with
nothing to be ashamed of as long as you continue is the way he has laid out for
you.
Revelation 22 v 14- 15: "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may
have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the
murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Earn your right to the tree of life and the ability to go through gates as a
most welcome child of God, by simply laying yourself down on the alter and offer
yourself up to the one who created you perfectly, allow Him to refashion and
remold you into what He always destined you to be. There are many more things
that God requires of you and they will come up as we continue.
SALVATION IS BY FAITH
How do we believe? By faith.
Hebrews 11 v 6: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone
who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him.
You can't come to Him if you don't believe he exists- He's not Santa Clause or
the Easter Bunny- He is eternal, not seasonal. He is either absolutely almighty
God all the time or you're wasting His time; too many of us have what I call a
seasonal walk with God (and yes this is a bad thing) it's a never-ending cycle
and He hates it. SPRING: we are either springing to life or coming back to life,
SUMMER: we are hot on fire for God, FALL: falling away from GOD, WINTER: away
completely from God's light and love, in a sense we are dead, at least
spiritually, careful your body doesn't catch on and pack it in too. And then
right back to SPRING.
James 1 v 5- 8: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives
generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when
he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of
the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive
anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
You don't turn on the tap to get a glass of water and expect nothing to come
out, you just always expect the water; in fact we are confounded when nothing
happens, we look in the tap, we bang on it, we turn it off and on again to make
sure we didn't make a mistake and not get it right the first time, you just
always expect the water. It's the same principal with God, don't go and talk to
God and ask of Him and not expect him to answer or ask him to do something
without expecting him to act, one way or another, He will respond. If you aren't
hearing or seeing anything happen, you either do not believe he will do what you
asked or answer you, meaning you are faithless, or you don't like His answer or
didn't get what you wanted and you are in sin. If you seek the Lord in any way
shape or form and have doubt in your heart, you are useless and if you do not do
something about your attitude of heart you will severely jeopardize your
salvation.
The very essence of our salvation, at it's conception was our BELIEVING with our
hearts and confessing with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord, you can not
believe of Him (the common generalization being “ I believe there is a god' my
question is 'and who might that be?' 'With some 40,000 plus false religions and
cults worldwide, of whom do you speak?'), you must believe IN HIM (the truth
being “I believe in God, my Father in heaven, creator of all things, seen and
unseen, nothing is too difficult for Him and He loves me, He sent His son to die
for me, and by the blood of His son my life's debt to sin is paid and I am
rescued from Hell. He is the true God, the one and only God there is none like
He). He commands us to make our calling (those called by His name to service)
and election (the job those who are called have to do) sure, we are to believe
and have faith, and with out this we have nothing.
1 John 3 v 21- 24: Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have
confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his
commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the
name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those
who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that
he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
We should be united as one in love.
Habakkuk 2 v 4: "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the
righteous will live by his faith.
Evil builds itself up with importance and ungodly desires to fill the void that
only one can fill. But the righteous, they are full and lack nothing; therefore
they will live by their faith, which is well founded (Hebrews 10 v38-39 &
Hebrews 11). They have found the truth, believed and received, they are filled
up with the peace of God about their eternal existence and they have met and
personally know the faithful one. They know He cannot lie and He will supply all
their needs minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour and day by day- they will have no
reason to doubt. Therefore, they WILL live by their faith in God.
Romans 5 v 1- 5: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access
by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we
know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and
character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his
love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Justified through faith and at peace with God through Jesus Christ
Galatians 3 v 6: Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him
as righteousness."
Abraham was credited with righteousness about something he never even saw for it
happened long after he was dead, he simply believed on the promises of God and
rested on it, if you cannot believe God or that the promises he makes from His
word are trustworthy and good, you are lost and in serious trouble.
SALVATION IS FREE
Isaiah 55 v 1- 3: "Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you
who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and
without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does
not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will
delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul
may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love
promised to David.
It is free to all –just come everlastingly! Come fully the first time and don't
try to walk away.
Romans 3 v 22- 24: This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus
Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
All have sinned and all that believe upon His precious name are justified freely
by His grace.
Revelation 22 v 17: The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears
say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take
the free gift of the water of life.
God's continual message, Come. Come it is free to all who thirst after it like
the desert for the rain. You must want it in you and around you, overflowing and
all consuming, for our God He is a consuming fire and the flame burns deep, it
consumes you until you end and only Christ within you remains, only Him and His
will.
Oh how I love Jesus because He first loved me, I want the whole world to know of
my love for Him, it causes me to fly to dizzying heights of joy in moments of
triumph in His spirit as He conquers more of my life each day and carries me
through the valleys of sorrow and suffering for His namesake and to His glory
SALVATION IS OF GOD
Psalm 27 v 1: The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD
is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
Halleluiah, Praise Jesus for He is our light and Salvation, of whom shall WE be
afraid.
Psalm 37 v 39: The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD; he is their
stronghold in time of trouble.
Psalm 62 v 1- 2: My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
Isaiah 12 v 2: Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The
LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."
Isaiah 25 v 9: In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in
him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be
glad in his salvation."
1 Timothy 4 v 9- 10: This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance
(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God,
who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.
Put your hope and trust in the Living God –He is a Savior to those who believe.
All of the above scriptures are an outward and defiantly joyful manifestation of
genuine salvations. They show true joy, real peace and freedom from earthly
bondage and they show people willingly unable to cease from praying, people
continually in a state of thanksgiving, praise and worship.
SALVATION IS GOD'S GIFT
John 3 v 16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The gift of His LOVE awaits you.
John 4 v 10: Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that
asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you
living water.”
If you know truly of the gift- Salvation, you would ask for it. And if you knew
of him who wished to partake of you-, Jesus you would not need to be asked, you
would have offered yourself up with eager expectation of all that He is and has
promised He would do in you and with you.
Romans 6 v 23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You can't out give God. He's not after your money! He is after you, the more you
give of yourself, the more He will open Himself up to you, you will see more of
His wonders as you become more of the example that Jesus set in His life on
earth, as the servant, humble and lowly in spirit that He may raise you up in
spirit and in truth and in that day you will be glorified in Christ Jesus as an
heir with Him in His reward, His heavenly kingdom. No longer cursed to Hell and
a Christ less eternity, with a void between you and your Father that not even He
can cross, but a child of the promise, the promise that He will never leave you
nor forsake you and that your momentary trials and sufferings draw you ever near
to peace and rest eternal at the bosom of the Father.
Romans 8 v 32: He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all –how
will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
You can't out give God.
2 Corinthians 9 v 13 -15: Because of the service by which you have proven
yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies you
confession of the gospel of Christ, and your generosity in sharing with them and
with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to
you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his
indescribable gift.
I do thank you Jesus for your indescribable gift, for a blameless life lain down
in place of mine, I am redeemed, how may I serve you my King?
Ephesians 2 v 4 - 10: But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in
mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions –it is
by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us
with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming
ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his
kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith –and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –not by works, so
that no one can boast. For we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
To us He gives the gift of GRACE, for it is by grace we are saved –through
faith. Not of ourselves for it is a gift, freely given, once you lay hold of it,
don't make the mistake of giving it up, the cost is too great and you could
never pay it.
SALVATION IS GRACE
Titus 2 v 11- 14: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all
men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live
self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for
the blessed hope –the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify
for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
The grace that brings salvation HAS appeared, He HAS opened the way, NOW is the
time to reach out and take Him by the hand, don't miss this opportunity for it
may not ever be offered again, this could be the last in a long line of many
opportunities passed by, be the wise man and not the fool.
NOW IS THE TIME FOR SALVATION
The time is favorable for seeking God.
Psalm 32 v 5 - 6: Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my
iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”- and you
forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you
while you may yet be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not
reach him.
Pray to Him while He may yet be found –He is the hiding place, in Him there is
no fear, for none can reach you unless you deliver yourself into your enemies
own hand, for when you are in Christ, the enemy can kill the body, but not the
spirit, for He is the hiding place and the place of rest and protection.
Psalm 69 v 13: But I pray to you, O Lord, in the time of your favor; in your
great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation.
Don't wait until it is too late and you are answered with great and justifiable
wrath instead of mercy and salvation.
Isaiah 49 v 8 - 10: This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will
answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and
make you to be a covenant for the people to restore the land and to reassign its
desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in
darkness, 'Be free!' “they will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every
barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or
the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them beside
springs of water.
2 Corinthians 6 v 1- 2: As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's
grace in vain. For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day
of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is
the day of salvation.
In the time of favor He will hear and answer you, do not lightly pass this up,
the time of His favor. On the day of your Salvation He will help you, He has
promised it, He is God and not a man that He should lie, if He has said He will
do something, it will be done, just be sure to do that which is required of you!
SALVATION IS POSSIBLE FOR ALL.
Luke 3 v 6: And all mankind will see God's salvation.
It says ALL will see God's salvation, it does not say all will accept God's
salvation; it is possible for all, but still a choice for all to make.
Acts 2 v 21: And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
You have to choose to call out to him, for it does indeed say all who (genuinely
and life alteringly) call upon the name of the Lord will be saved
Romans 10 v 13: For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 5 v 18 – 19: Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was
condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was
justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience
of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one
man the many will be made righteous.
It was one act of sin on mans part to condemn us all to death, it was one
righteous act by an innocent man to make it possible for us to be free from the
penalty of sin, who's righteous act? It was Jesus Christ's, not ours, but his.
Our calling upon the name of the Lord is an act of guilt and confession, of
admitting that without Him paying the price for our own sin that we were too
weak to stand up and atone for ourselves, we would be in hell and rightfully so.
1 Timothy 2 v 4 – 6: Who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of
truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men –the testimony given in it's
proper time.
You must come TO the knowledge –like the old saying goes, 'You can lead a horse
to water but you can't make it drink.' How many times have you been lead to the
living water and refused to drink, refused to get that knowledge, refused to
find out about Him intimately like you would get to know the person you were
going to marry, because the relationships He wants from you and with you is
deeper than any earthly relationship we can contrive. Why would you not want to
know the one who gave Himself up in your place to a most horrible and gruesome
death that you would have the chance to really live, the gift He intended for us
to have from the time of creation but had to revoke before He could even give it
because sin came in.
The testimony spoken of is the one you are hearing right now, go to your bible,
read the gospels, the appointed time of God's favor is NOW, after this there is
only one appointed time left that scripture speaks of, and it's certainly has
nothing to do with God's favor but His cup of wrath spilling over unto the
destruction of the world and all it's unsaved inhabitants, the revealing return
of Christ in the day of the Lord.
Please turn again to Titus 2 v 11 – 14.
The grace of God has appeared to all men. In some way or another, He has
revealed himself to you; do not deny it for he is doing it even now. The
testimony of Christ is the gospels, and they teach us to say 'NO!' to
ungodliness. Also, as we read them and as we hear them we are being taught what
kind of life it is that we are accepting, it's not something that comes as a
great shock afterwards, it is a life we walk into with eyes wide open, we should
be aware that his way is better, why else would we choose to follow him if we
have not admitted that we're screw ups? The word of God (the bible) is also
encouraging us to want nothing to do with evil, which at salvation (genuine) we
should begin to shun naturally anyway, being involved in evil sinful practices
should be to us like the idea of bathing in trash can juices makes us recoil, so
should having anything to do with sin. At your salvation, you even begin wanting
to be with God physically, not just spiritually and knowing that you must be
clean inside and out to do so, you begin waiting for the day He comes for you.
You want to meet face to face with the one who gave himself up for you and
bought you the opportunity to be purified and to know your Father. You become
filled with an overwhelming desire to do what is good- the perfect and pleasing
will of God, you want to share Him with all the world and want to found being
about the Fathers business when He comes that you might be doing His perfect and
pleasing will when He returns, you want to be doing that which satisfies your
God.
2 Peter 3 v 9: the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand
slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to
come to repentance.
Romans 2 v 4 – 11: Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness,
tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you towards
repentance? But because of you stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are
storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous
judgment will be revealed. God “will give to each person according to what he
has done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and
immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and
who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will
be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew,
then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.
SALVATION IS PROMISED
Psalm 91 v 14 – 16: “because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I
will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will
answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
Mark 16 v 16: Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does
not believe will be condemned.
Luke 19 v 9 – 10: Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house,
because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and
to save what was lost.”
Acts 11 v 14: 'He will bring you a message through which you and all your house
will be saved.'
Our beloved word of God, the wondrous message through which we are saved.
Acts 16 v 30 – 31: He brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be
saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved –you and
your household.”
Please note that they are not saying that if he believes and follows after God
that the rest of his family is free to do what they want and will still receive
a heavenly reward, that is not just and God is a God of justice, it means that
they too must believe and choose God's way over their own, then, they too will
be saved.
NO CONDEMNATION FOR THE RIGHTEOUS IS ALSO PROMISED
The lord does not bring guilt and condemnation; instead He brings conviction and
a spirit of repentance, which is the Holy Spirit. For guilt only causes us to
feel bad about what we have done, how you feel when you are caught in the act,
ashamed and embarrassed and pride kicks in with self-preservation, and even at
that it really only affects us if it was something personally related to us. And
condemnation, is like a judge sentencing you with the death penalty, you feel
horrible, without hope and unable to escape what you have done, you wallow in
the misery of your actions till you are about half crazed.
But oh the gifts of the Lord they are so good, His conviction brings you to a
place within yourself where you are eager to search yourself, where you desire
to see that which is within you that is unfit for a servant of the Most High
God, be it greed or pride, or a murderess heart, what ever it may, you want to
see it and of your own free will acknowledge it and that it is there in your
life because you have allowed it to be, and that your deeds reflect the true
attitude of your heart, and in the midst of all this, the deeper you dig to
reach the truth about yourself, and the worse the things are that you expose and
confess openly before man, even if they are shameful to you, you are left with a
feeling of such freedom you almost feel as if you could fly, and that sweet
spirit of repentance, the knowledge it brings that as you confess your sins
before God and man, leaving no room for pride of what others might think, that
as you confess your deeds, that like water on a ducks back, the filth and grime
rolls off. Like being pulled out of quicksand, when you arrive on solid ground
there is not a grain of sand to be found on you anywhere, no mark is left of the
ordeal or of the old person that dies more and more with each passing day, but
what remains shines like the sun in the light of Gods glory and grace to the
edification of His blessed name. To quote that lame song from the 80's 'Oh what
a feeling, when you're dancing on the ceiling.'
John 5 v 24: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who
sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from
death to life.”
If you believe and have invited Jesus Christ into your heart to be Lord and
Savior of your live, you now have eternal life and are not condemned for your
debt is paid, unlike those who had the chance and turned and walked away, you
have gone from life to death.
Isaiah 55 v 7: Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let
him turn to the Lord and he will have mercy on him, and to our God for he will
freely pardon.
You can't be condemned and run over the coals for that which from which you have
already been forgiven and freely pardoned.
1 John 1 v 9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
We MUST do our part in order for Him to fulfill His part, God is a God of order
and it is us who must change for He changes not, it is the fact that He is the
same yesterday, today and forever that gives us a firm foundation for our faith,
He is not emotionally swayed like a hormonal woman, we never have to wonder how
He is going to be today, He is always a rock and fortress for He is steady and
unswerving in His plan, He loves us and all that matters is that we please Him
by giving every single bit of ourselves to Him for Him to use while there is
time left for something to be done through us by Him before the cup of His wrath
overflows.
SALVATION IS BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST, THE LAMB OF GOD.
Hebrews 9 v 22: In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed
with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Matthew 26 v 28: This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Romans 3 v 25 – 26: God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith
in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance
he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – he did it to demonstrate
his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies
those who have faith in Jesus.
1 John 2 v 2: He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours
but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 4 v 9 - 10: This is how God showed his love among us; He sent his one and
only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that
we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for
our sins.
SALVATION REQUIRES HIS MERCY AND US SEEKING HIS MERCY
2 Samuel 22 v 26 – 27: “To the faithful you show yourself faithful. To the
blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but
to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
Psalm 103 v 8: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding
in love.
Isaiah 55 v 7: Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let
him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God for he will
freely pardon.
Deuteronomy 4 v 31: For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon
or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed
to them by oath.
A good example of an oath made to our forefathers, scripture example being
Hebrews 13 v 5 – 6.
Psalm 108 v 4: For great is your love, higher than the heavens, your
faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Psalm 27 v 7: Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer
me.
Psalm 51 v 1 – 6: Have mercy on me, O God according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my
iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is
always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in
your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you
judge. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived
me. Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the
inmost place.
Simply put, 'have mercy for I am sinful and only you can save me'.
Psalm 85 v 7: Show us your unfailing love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.
Psalm 119 v 76 – 77: May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your
promise to your servant. Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for
your law is my delight.
Habakkuk 3 v 2: Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O
Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember
mercy.
Luke 18 v 13 – 14: “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even
look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.' “I tell you that this man, rather than the other went home justified
before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbles and he who humbles
himself will be exalted.
SALVATION REQUIRES YOU TO CRY OUT TO GOD.
Psalm 34 v 4 – 6: I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from my
fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with
shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his
troubles.
Seek the Lord for He answers; cry out to Him for He saves.
Psalm 61 v 1 – 2: Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the
earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is
higher than I.
Be willing to accept that God really knows better- that you really know nothing.
To accept that your way of doing things is not as perfect as Gods, and be
willing right from the beginning to set aside your ways of doing thinking and
doing –choosing rather to lean to Gods understanding, His power.
To have this attitude –that you, all alone without God have completely screwed
your life up and now you want to let God have a turn –not with your input, but
with your submission. Knowing He can't possibly do as bad of a job as you did,
that if you let Him, He can bring about a great change and a new way of life to
you, that any changes and improvements He can bring about have got to be better
than going on another day in the misery you are already in.
I saw a woman ask God into her heart and try to put right something terrible she
had done. She was prepared to lose everything, her home, her family and even her
freedom, but try as she might to turn herself in, by calling the police on
herself and attorneys from several states to see what else she had to do,
nothing worked, not one person ever called her back, that statute of limitations
had expired and there was nothing she could do about it, they just simply didn't
care, why? You might ask! Because God had a different plan for this woman, not
only did He set her free from the wages of sin, He freed her from having to go
to prison –a true miracle for this mother of two young children who had made a
stupid mistake as a young woman because He has a different plan. Now this young
woman is struggling with other areas in her life that need to be dealt with and
changed –but she has seen the faithfulness of God. I just pray she will hang on
to that and fight through this.
Please note that God will not rescue everyone from prison who is headed there,
someone has to minister the gospel to the sinners on the inside and the apostle
Paul spent almost 75% of his ministry in prison, being beaten and transported
from one prison facility to another, in a time when if you did have family close
by to bring you food every day of your time in jail, you starved! Not quite so
cushy as the prison systems of today, and yet with the same dangers that prison
always has, the rapes and gang rivalry, still he survived to go on for the Lord
to glorify His name and allowed himself to used of God to open the door that we,
the gentiles might have a chance at true life and salvation.
If we could all hand it all over, our will, our worldly way of thinking and
feeling –greed, pride, jealousy and anger, hate etc. and our way of doing things
and from the very beginning and choose once and for all to walk on the path laid
before us, to speak the words given us by God and to do as the spirit leads us,
to live as Jesus did, what an awesome walk, relationship and life we would have
with our Savior, it would be beyond description.
But many choose sadly to take years to come to the realization that the creator
of the entire universe can actually do a better job of leading our lives and
guiding our steps than we can because of one thing– pride. We don't like to
admit we're screw ups and because of that we miss out on so much that when
judgment comes there will be much weeping when we see what we should have been
and what was lost because we had to do it our way –we knew better –don't make
the mistake of so many others. You can't jump into a cold pool and change you
mind mid jump, you can't reverse your direction; it's impossible. In the same
respect you can't get saved and give your life to God to fully take control and
then say to Him 'here let me show you how to do it.' It's God's way or the
highway.
THROUGH SALVATION YOU OBTAIN GOD'S GRACE AND MERCY
1 Peter 5 v 5: Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older.
All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God
opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.
2 Corinthians 8 v 9: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his
poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 12 v 9 - 10: But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more
gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why,
for Christ's sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in
persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
1 Timothy 1 v 12 – 13: I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength,
that he considered me faithful appointing me to His service. Even though I was
once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because
I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
SALVATION IS BY GRACE
Acts 15 v 11: No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we
are saved, just as they are.
Romans 3 v 22 – 24: This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus
Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Please keep in mind that the gift of Salvation is freely given, but it has
requirements that must be fulfilled to make it a real and valid salvation, such
as a genuine relationship with your heavenly father, a desire to change your
ways, to throw your way of doing things out and by totally adopting Jesus ways,
etc. Yes! Salvation is for all, all who want it, if you don't want it, make your
trip to hell worth it's while, don't go there to suffer eternal torment for
'being a good person!' Good people DON'T go to heaven, only those that are
saved, sealed and called by His name, those that live by faith in Christ Jesus,
that He is who He says He is, the Savior of all man kind and that He did what He
said He did in His holy word.
Romans 5 v 15: But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by
the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that
came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many.
The trespass: committed by Adam, his sin caused his children, us, to be born in
sin, in this sinful state we are dead, we have no chance, God knowing this and
sent His willing Son, Jesus to save us from ourselves.
The Gift: unlike sin, which is passed from generation to generation like a
disease, one man, the Son of God, Jesus Christ –to whoever is willing to receive
it, gives the gift. As we grow and mature by the worlds standards from childhood
innocence to being able to grasp the consequences of right and wrong, of how
what we do affects others, the pain caused by malicious words, how it feels to
have something stolen from you etc, we are able to accept for ourselves the gift
of God's salvation (not because your mom or dad, husband or wife accepted Christ
and we want a free ride on the back of the service they dedicate to God),
admitting that our lives until that point were lived in total 100% selfishness
and the satisfying of our own desires, that even our good deeds were done purely
to receive praise from those around us etc. putting that behind us we take up
the ways of Jesus and follow his example, live the way He lived as he walked
this earth in the flesh.
Basically put, the sins of one man caused many to die, but the gift of grace
through the death of one innocent man freely offered up caused many to live.
Titus 3 v 3 - 7: At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and
enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy,
being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our
Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of the things we had done, but because
of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy
Spirit, whom he poured out in us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so
that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope
of eternal life.
Please open your bible at this point to ROMANS chapter 2, and read about the law
of love, look into it and try to see the comparisons made between our ways of
doing things and Gods way, that his is perfect and just, even when He judges us,
there is no fault or bias in Him, unlike our way of judging, that He sees the
whole picture, not just what is said and presented on the outside, but also what
goes on in the heart and in the head. It will show you that it doesn't matter
what you do or don't have or what your physical appearance is, what's important
is whether or not you have Christ within you, and no, there is nothing wrong
with circumcision for health reasons, but when it comes to spiritual things, it
is more important to circumcise or cut out of your life the things that are
damning you to hell than it is to base the security of your life on the fact
that you nipped the tip (you will read in my other articles how circumcision has
been transformed from a necessary physical act to a necessary spiritual act, but
that it is also still Ok to circumcise your sons if you so wish).
Ephesians 1 v 7 - 8: In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he
lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Ephesians 2 v 4 - 10: But because of his great love for is, God, who is rich in
mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions –it is
by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated with
him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he
might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us
in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith –and this
not from yourselves, it is the gift of God –not by works, so that no one can
boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Romans 11 v 6: And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace
would no longer be grace.
1 Timothy 1 v 4 - 5: nor devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies.
These promote controversies rather than God's work – which is by faith. The goal
of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and
a sincere faith.
Romans 9 v 16: It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on
God's mercy.
Titus 3 v 5: he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but
because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by
the Holy Spirit.
SALVATION GIVES US HIS MERCY
Psalm 103 v 17: But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with
those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children.
Psalm 108 v 4: For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your
faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Lamentations 3 v 22 – 23: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your
faithfulness.
Joel 2 v 13: Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and
he relents from sending calamity.
Micah 7 v 18: Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the
transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever
but delight to show mercy.
Luke 1 v 50: His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to
generation.
Please read again EPHEASIANS 2 v 4 – 5.
SALVATION GIVES US FORGIVENESS FOR OUR SINS AND WE ARE ABLE TO FORGIVE OTHERS
Titus 3 v 3- 5: At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and
enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy,
being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our
Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal
by the Holy Spirit.
Micah 6 v 8: He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord
require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God.
His word is good, his ways are just, He is quick to forgive and expects the same
from you, that you forgive those who have wronged you regardless of whether they
repent or not, for the Lord is judge of the both the wicked and the righteous,
his command is love, not for only those that you like, but for all man kind, for
all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and without that love,
none of us would care enough about our fellow man to share with them the
mysteries of God and His saving power. To remember that Jesus came for the weak
and the sickly, the poor and the down trodden, if you're saved, it's not because
you are a stellar human being who has it all together, but because YOU NEED GOD!
You were like a paraplegic without a wheelchair, and not the other way around,
only HE can save, there is no other God and no other name by which you can be
saved from an eternity in HELL. Only He who has paid the price for your sins can
forgive you for them, only He has the right to save and forgive and only He can
wash the stains of sin off and He requires that you forgive others.
Matthew 5 v 7: Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Luke 6 v 35 - 36: But love your enemies, to good to them, and lend to them
without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you
will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and the
wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Exodus 34 v 6 – 9: And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the
Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion
and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children
and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth
generation.” Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshipped. “O Lord, is I
have found favor in your eyes,” he said, “then let the Lord go with us. Although
this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us
as your inheritance.”
2 Samuel 22 v 31: “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is
flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.”
2 Samuel 22 v 26: To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless
you show yourself blameless.
FORGIVENESS THROUGH SALVATION IS DIVINE
Psalm 103 v 1 – 4: Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his
holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits –who
forgives all your sins and heals your diseases, who redeems your life from the
pit and crowns you with love and compassion.
Psalm 130 v 3 – 4: If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O lord, who could
stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
Acts 13 v 38 – 39 & 47 – 48: “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that
through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone
who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the
law of Moses. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “I have made you a
light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord;
and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
Ephesians 1 v 7: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace.
James 5 v 15: And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well;
the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned he will be forgiven.
1 John 1 v 9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Psalm 78 v 38: Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not
destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his
full wrath.
Psalm 85 v 2 – 3: You forgave the iniquity or your people and covered all their
sins. You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.
Mark chapter 2 (please read the entire chapter, speaks of the paralytic who was
forgiven and healed).
Admission of guilt in regards to sin is useless if there is no remorse, no
desire to change or to try with all your might to not fall into that sin again,
and admission of guilt is nothing more than that. It is not life changing, you
have not fully accepted the gravity of the effect your sin has upon you and
those around you, and when you admit to sin because it has been exposed by
others rather than confessing it before God and man of your own free will, it
simply means you have been caught in the act rather than accepting the
conviction of the Holy Spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to purge you of all
that makes you unfit for the kingdom of God and you are unable to claim your
heavenly inheritance. When you offer up excuses for your actions rather than
revealing your true motives behind the sins you commit, you are trying to
justify yourself, when the word of God clearly states that it is by faith in
Christ Jesus that we are justified and made righteous, by His grace and mercy,
the blood debt that he paid in our place, NOT EXCUSES.
Confess your sin, tell the truth the first time so that you don't get yourself
into deeper sin that you later have to repent for also, the thing that stops us
from being truthful about the selfish motives we have and that cause us to sin
is pride, concern for what those around you will think, don't let pride and care
of the thoughts of mere men deter you from drawing near to God and from being
set free, 'for ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God' we have all
committed the same sins, just from different angles, same dog, different leg if
you follow my meaning. Moving on, there is also no point in a genuine heartfelt
repentance if you do not truly believe by faith that you will be and are
forgiven, if you set in your heart to try to the death if needs be; not to fall
into that sin again and earnestly repent, but if you allow Satan to fill you
with ungodly guilt and condemnation, it's not a repentance at all, when you
repent, the burden of sin is lifted and you should be walking ten feet tall and
full of joy at the fact that once again your merciful Savior has set you free
from an eternity in hell.
As a child of God who has genuinely repented, He will not leave you groveling on
the ground in uncertainty. So strengthen your faith, for no sin is too great for
Him to forgive for the unsaved. For the saved, those of you who are supposed to
be studying God's word to show yourselves approved and by now should have sought
out in God's word as to whether there are things that when done cannot be
undone, you would know that there are two sins that are unforgivable, the sin of
blaspheming the Holy Spirit and the sin of Eli's sons. But for you, the unsaved,
who up until now have never known God, you could not possibly be aware of these
sins that are an abhorrent abomination to God that cannot be forgiven, for you
are still learning about God, and He will not rob you, who are considered a
precious and helpless babe in His eyes of your chance at salvation.
Repent and confess the sins of your worldly life, and believe that your Father
in heaven forgives you. (For those of you that are saved and are concerned that
you have committed the unforgivable sins, PLEASE write to us and we will explain
them to you so that you can go before God with a full understanding of what the
unforgivable sins are and allow Him to examine you and see if you truly have
committed them, do not burden yourself down with condemnation which we know is
of Satan when you can be filled with the merciful conviction of the Holy Spirit.
I can pretty much guarantee you that you will know if you have committed them,
for you will feel so far from God, and out of His Spirit that you walk with Him
will be obsolete, so please write to us as soon as you can if you are worried
about where you stand before the Lord in this area. And again to the unsaved,
you cannot commit these sins at all as you have no knowledge of them and they
would have been committed in ignorance).
Colossians 2 v 13: When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.
Circumcision is cutting away of that which may lead to infection, (not of the
penis in this case) if you do not remove flesh that is infected with gangrene,
it can consume the whole body and lead to death, if you do not cut yourself off
from your sinful nature with Gods help, that sin can cause you to fall away from
God like rotting flesh and you can lose your salvation, the Lord is the one who
will reveal what is in your life that needs removing before it turns into a full
blown infection, for one sin leads to another in an effort to hide the truth of
how you really are and who you really are, if you give the God chance, He will
remove whatever it is that will cause you to end up in hell.
SALVATION REQUIRES REPENTENCE
Isaiah 22 v 12: The Lord, the Lord almighty, called you on that day to weep and
to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
Ezekiel 18 v 31 – 32: Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and
get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel. For I
take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and
live.
Hosea 14 v 2: Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to him: “Forgive
all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our
lips.”
Joel 2 v 12: “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart,
with fasting weeping and mourning.”
Matthew 3 v 2: and saying, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
Luke 13 v 2 – 3: Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse
sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you,
no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Acts 3 v 19: Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.
Acts 8 v 22: Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will
forgive you for having such a thought in your heart.
Acts 17 v 30: In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all
people everywhere to repent.
Proverbs 28 v 13: He who conceals his sin does not prosper, but whoever
confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Finally….
Salvation requires repentance, for without our open confession of our sins,
which allows us to live freely; and without shame, we would remain in darkness
and fear, and God does not give us a spirit of fear. Repentance tells the world
that we only care about what God thinks of us, not what they think. Repentance
at your salvation is like the pinnacle of a mountain, it's a long hard climb to
get to that point, but it's all down hill from there, once you get the ball
rolling, the changes in you really start to happen, you will still have good
times and hard times, but they take on a different meaning, they are what temper
and refine you, the good times give you the opportunity to praise God for His
goodness and the hard times allow you to draw closer to God and increase your
faith, and allow you to see even more of the goodness of God, how He protects
you from circumstances being worse that what they are, where you can actually
see Him answer your prayers in your hours of need. But without repentance, you
have not fully cut yourself off from your old life, you have not made a full
separation and you become like a conjoined twin whose other half has died and
you are still waiting for the same fate to take you over, when a very simple
procedure, the act of open repentance can cut you cleanly away from bondage and
death.
Very simply put, now that you have heard the truth you have two choices, you can
accept the truth and believe in the word of God and God Himself, ask Jesus into
your heart and to be Lord of your life and REPENT or you can say 'No thank you'
and continue on the wide road to hell. Make your choice and either be blessed or
eternally damned, the rest is up to you. If you choose to accept Christ Jesus,
then I urge you to read the follow up articles I have prepared and find out what
comes next for you in your salvation, what happens at the point of salvation and
what you are to do next, along with reading the articles on this website
prepared by fellow believers and brothers and sisters in the Lord that have put
much prayer and time into explaining the things of God for you that you, people
who have opened up their personal lives and poured their hearts out online for
all the world to see the goodness of God and His working in theirs lives,
wanting you to know that He can and will do the same for you. But most
importantly, get a bible and read it, seek out His truths for yourselves, he
will open up His word to you that you might have a full understanding of Him for
He has promised He will and He is faithful and true.
If you want to be saved but you don't know how to pray, I have placed below a
version of the sinners prayer, but I urge you to read it and have your prayer
come from the heart, the prayer I have written includes the fundamental things
you have to confess with you mouth and believe in your heart, but you are
welcome to add your own personal touches and take as long as you need to pray,
to be sure when you get up off of your knees that you are without a doubt
totally and 100% saved and that you have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb,
by the precious split blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, that by His act
of love you are able to fall in love with Him as we all at Into the Light
Ministries are in love with Him and are filled with His joy and peace, peace
that our eternity is secure and that our faith in Him is well founded, you too
can have what we have, for in mans eyes we are nothing special either, but we
are special in Christ's eyes and that is all that counts. Please… Do NOT forget
to repent of your sins, out loud not caring who hears you, and don't allow pride
or shame to rob you of the most wonderful gift, which you are about to receive.
The Sinner's Prayer
The sinner's prayer must come from your heart and we hope this will help you to
invite Jesus into yours. This prayer is here only as a guide. I urge you to pour
out your heart to Jesus in your own words.
"Heavenly Father, have mercy on me, a sinner. I believe in you and that your
word is true. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that
he died on the cross so that I may now have forgiveness for my sins and eternal
life. I know that without you in my heart my life is meaningless. I believe in
my heart that you Lord God raised Him from the dead. Please Jesus forgive me,
for every sin I have ever committed or done in my heart, please Lord Jesus
forgive me and come into my heart as my personal Lord and Savior today, I need
you to be my Father and my friend.I give you my life and ask you to take full
control from this moment on; I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ."Amen
Welcome to the family!
Please feel free to contact us with any questions about this article.
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