Salvation

Gen 1:1 & 31 In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth. And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.

Today when we look around in this world, things are not so very good. The reason is that sin has entered into this world.

Is 45:18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens, who formed the earth and made it, He did not create it a chaos, He formed it to be inhabited! "I am the LORD, and there is no other."

Rm 3:9 All men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin.

Eph 2:1-3 And you He made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

I Jn 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one.

Every man in this world knows that he is a sinner. He may be a Christian, Hindu, Muslim or of any faith. And man has been trying to do something about his sin with his own methods and plans. Man has been trying to reach God by his own efforts. Some people dip themselves in the waters of various rivers, believing that the water will wash them of their sins, but water cannot wash our sins it can only wash clothes and utensils. Some sacrifice animals believing that the blood of the sacrificed animals will save them from their sins, but how can the blood of animals save one from sins? Still other people believe that they can do charity to the poor and please God and have their sins forgiven. If that was possible, then all the rich would please God and go to heaven by giving their money to the poor. Man cannot earn his salvation from sin by his methods and plans, by any of his good works. Salvation from sin is a free gift which comes from God alone.

MAN’S METHOD: RELIGION

One man came into this world and he told the people that he has a plan and if people follow his plan they will go straight to heaven. Thousands of people followed this man and it became a religion. Later another man came and he told the people that he has a better plan and anyone who followed it, would not miss heaven. Thousands of people followed this second man and it became another religion. One after another, men who claimed to know the way to heaven started showing the other men the way to heaven. When God saw that the people of the Earth were trying to reach Him with their various methods and plans, He came down to the Earth, to reach out to man to show him the way. This is Jesus Christ, who came into this world. Christianity is not a religion but a way of life shown to us by the Father through Jesus.

Titus 3:5-6 He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

ONLY UNDER GOD’S RULE ARE THINGS POSSIBLE.

Is 45:22 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, God made a plan of salvation instantly in the garden. But in the fullness of time, roughly about 4000 years later Jesus came as the Saviour. A lot of people think that Jesus’ existence began just 2000 years ago. No, that is not true. Jesus was there from the beginning with God. 2000 years ago He became man. Jesus said,I am the beginning and I am the end," "I am the Alpha and the Omega." From Adam and Eve to Jesus is roughly 4000 years, and from Jesus till today it is roughly 2000 years. From Adam and Eve till today it is roughly 6000 years. If Adam would have been alive today, his age would have been about 6000 years. Jesus is true God and true Man. He is 100% God and 100% Man. He is able to take man to God. When you want to move from one side of the river to the other side you need a bridge. If you want to move from one side of the railway platform to the other side, you need a bridge. If you want to move from Earth to Heaven, you need a bridge and Jesus is the bridge, which God has made.

Jn 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jn 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

The Word of God mentioned here is Jesus.

Gen 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.

The woman mentioned in this passage is Mary and God was talking about her seed i.e. Jesus. God was here talking about sending a Saviour into this world, who would be bruised by the seed of the enemy. One who would go on the cross. God loved man so much that He decided to save man from his sins. He did not make any plans for the angels who sinned against Him. Man is the choicest creation of God, created in His own image and likeness.

Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

Heb 2:16 For surely it is not with angels that He is concerned but with the descendants of Abraham.

Jn 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

God chose that you be saved through Jesus. You may ask this question, why only Jesus, why not any other? That was God’s master plan for you and me. Jesus is the best gift that God is offering to you for your sin, sickness and evil. If you want to know who God is, what He is like, then look at Jesus. Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.

II Cor 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

You receive salvation by faith in God and not in your own doing. Because of our sins there is a punishment upon us and we all deserved to be severely punished. But God had mercy on us and He put our sins on Jesus Christ and He saved us from our sin. The greatest miracle that can happen to any human being is, sin to be removed from his soul and be saved. This is the good news. What is good news for a hungry man? If someone offers him some bread, that is good news for him. What is good news for a thirsty man? If someone offers him a glass of water, that is good news for him. What is good news for you? God wants to meet you at the point of your need, that is good news for you. We need to thank God for this marvelous deed but we will never be able to thank Him enough for what He has done.

Jn 6:29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God that you believe in Him whom He has sent."

Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.

Heb 9:22 And without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

The shedding of blood was absolutely necessary for the forgiveness of your sins and my sins. But whose blood was to be shed? Can the blood of goats and calves save us from our sins? Not at all. Can the blood of any holy man save us from our sins? No. Because, even this man would need salvation for himself. God was looking for a fitting sacrifice. Who would qualify for this sacrifice? God saw in Jesus the perfect sacrifice for your sins and my sins and God told Jesus to go down on the Earth and to die for the sins of the people and Jesus became obedient to the Father and died on the cross.

Heb 9:12 He entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves, but His own Blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Col 1:14 In Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Redemption means to be bought back once again. We have been bought back from the enemy with a price, not with silver or gold but with the precious Blood of Jesus. Jesus paid this price to the Father. Jesus became the Lamb of God, the perfect Sacrifice.

I Pet 1:18-19 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious Blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

Jn 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world!"

Rm 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace.

Jn 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"

Jn 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me."

If you are asking, "Where is the way, can somebody help me to get to the way?" Jesus said, "I am the Way." If you are asking, "What is Truth? Where is the Truth? Can someone help me to find the truth?" Jesus said, "I am the Truth" If you are asking, "Where is life? What is life? Can someone help me to get some life?" Jesus said, "I am the Life." All others who came to show the way said, "Here is the way there is the way, this is the truth that is the truth, this is life that is life." Jesus is the only one who said,"I am the Way, I am the Truth, I am the Life." Jesus did not say, "I am a way, a truth, a life" which would mean there are many ways and I am one of them. You may choose them or choose me.

If you are asking "Where is the door to Heaven? Can somebody help me to find the door?" Or you are saying, "Forget the door, I will get in through the window or through the back door or through a secret hole." Sorry, there are no windows, back doors, secret holes to Heaven. There is only one door, which the Father has opened and that door is Jesus.

Jn 10:9 "I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture."

Jn 14:11"Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves."

Jn 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Mt 9:13 "For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Lk 19:10 "For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost."

I Jn 3:8 The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

There are only two kingdoms in this world. The kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of Light. In the kingdom of darkness there is sin and evil and Satan is ruling in that kingdom. In the kingdom of Light there is Righteousness, Joy and Peace in the Holy Spirit and Jesus is ruling in that kingdom. Ask yourself this question now "Which kingdom do I belong to?" If you are not in the kingdom of Light, then you are in the kingdom of darkness. If you are not in the kingdom of darkness, then you are in the kingdom of Light. You cannot say that you are in neither of the kingdom or in both the kingdoms. You are either in the Light or in the darkness. Who is ruling your life? Jesus or Satan?

Col 1:13 He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.

Jn 12:31-32 Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out; and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.

Col 2:14-15 Having cancelled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in Him.

The enemy had weapons to attack us but Jesus has disarmed him.

Mt 26:39 And going a little farther He fell on His face and prayed, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt."

What was Jesus afraid of? Was He afraid of the crucifixion, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the shame or the pain that He had to go through on the cross? No, not at all. He was afraid of the fact that He being the sinless one was going to be made ‘sin.’ That was terrible to bear, and when He became sin on the cross, He experienced the separation from the Father, and He cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" Now Jesus suffered on the cross for three hours. He was hanging with the whole weight of His body pulling on the two wounds on His hands and He was getting choked, not able to breathe. He had to press His feet down on the piece of wood under His feet and lift His body inorder to take a breath, but in doing so, brought unbearable pain to His feet, so He had to drop down His body to hang again and He was getting suffocated, In this manner He was in agony for three hours. He died of a broken heart. He loved you and me so much, that His heart burst.

People ask this question, "Why is the Friday on which Jesus died called a Good Friday? It should have been called a bad Friday, because Jesus died?" It was good that Jesus died or else we all would have died in our sins and received eternal damnation. On that first Good Friday when Jesus died on the Cross at Calvary, a beautiful exchange took place on the Cross. Jesus took the sins of the past, the present and the future, the sins of the children, the youth and the old, the sins of the North, the South, the East and the West, the sins of the whole world in His body and His righteousness came to you and me. This means Jesus took the immorality, disobedience, stubbornness, pride, jealousy, hatred, etc. in His body. You may not understand what it means to take the sins in your body. Let me give you an example. There was a young, beautiful, spinster, who was raped by a stranger, and she became pregnant. Imagine the pain, the shame and the guilt that this young girl had to go through for taking the sin of one man in her body. Can you understand now, when the Bible says that Jesus took the sins of the whole world in His body? He was sinless, yet He became sin for you and me. He was sold for thirty pieces of silver. This was the price fixed for a slave in those days. A slave is one who does dirty and heavy jobs. Jesus did the dirty job of taking your sin and my sin. He did the heavy job of taking the sins of the whole world.

Rm 4:25 Who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

I Pet 3:22 Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to Him.

Eph 1:20-22 Which He accomplished in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and made Him sit at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and He has put all things under His feet and has made Him the head over all things for the Church.

Rm 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.

I Pet 2:24 He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

There are two types of righteousness. One type of righteousness comes by keeping the law, which no man can attain, because no man can keep the law. The other type of righteousness comes as a free gift from Jesus on the Cross.

Phil 3:9 And be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

Rm 5:8-9 But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood.

The word ‘justified’ and ‘righteous’ mean the same. Justified means, just as if I have not sinned. I am a sinner, but when I repent the Blood of Jesus takes away my sin in such a way, just as if it was not there.

A second exchange that took place on the Cross at Calvary was that, Jesus took your sicknesses and mine and of the whole world upon His body and gave us His good health, which means, Jesus took all the diabetes, blood pressure, cancers, tumours, asthmas, blindness, deafness, AIDS etc. upon His body. This is the truth.

Mt 8:17 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases."

Is.53:4-5 Surely He has borne our griefs 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; upon Him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with His stripes we are healed.

I Pet 2:24 By His stripes you have been healed.

The Bible says You have been healed." The work of healing is over, the work of salvation is over. Jesus has won the victory over sin, sickness and evil. He is not going to win the victory today or tomorrow, it is done already and the victory is waiting for you. Believe and receive your victory. Jesus received thirty nine lashes on His body. Medical doctors say, that there are 39 major sicknesses in this world. Jesus took one lash for one major sickness of this world.

Rm 10:9, 10 Because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

There are many lords, landlords, gay lords but there is only one Lord of lords, Jesus Christ.

Salvation is a package deal. When you receive Jesus as Lord, you are saved and alongwith your salvation, you receive healing, deliverance, peace, blessings, etc. just as in the shopping trend you buy a T.V. you get a camera free. You buy a camera, you get two rolls and development free. If you are looking for healing, why don’t you look at the Healer and you will get your healing, If you are looking for deliverance, why don’t you look at the Deliverer and you will get your deliverance.

Joel 2:32 And it shall come to pass that all who call upon the name of the LORD shall be delivered.

Acts 2:21 And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

II Cor 5:17 Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.

Rev 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with Me.

Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart for years and He is knocking today. If you hear His voice, open the door and invite Him into your heart and into your life. He wants to come in as Lord and Saviour. Lord because He wants to control your life, Saviour because He wants to save your life. The word Lord means the highest authority in your life, the sole proprietor. I cannot open the door of your heart for Jesus, nor can you open another’s heart for Jesus. Each one needs to open his/her own heart to Jesus, for the latch to the door of your heart is from the inside of you. Only you, have the access to the latch. What does it mean to call Jesus into your heart? It simply means that you make Him the centre of your life. That you give Him the first place above all. If you are at the steering wheel of your life and have experienced many failures and accidents, today Jesus wants to be at the steering wheel of your life and He wants you to sit back and He will take you through this life, He will lead your life.

If you are looking for someone like this and the Word of God has touched you and you believe in your heart that you will receive, what God has promised, then say this prayer sincerely:

Father, I repent for all my sins and decide to forgive and love my enemies, living and the dead. I believe that you have sent Jesus in this world to save me. I confess with my mouth, that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart, that You have raised Him from the dead, Jesus I believe that you died on the Cross for my sins, sicknesses, and problems. I believe that you have won the victory for me over every sin, sickness and evil. I surrender my life to you. Jesus, today I open the door of my heart and I invite you, please come into my heart, come into my life, be my Saviour, be my Lord, I need you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. AMEN.

Now close your eyes for sometime, repent, forgive, surrender and by faith open the door of your heart, receive Jesus and talk to Him for a while and He will surely hear your prayer.

GOD BLESS YOU.