St. Michael's

Truth, Knowledge and Peace through Scripture   




 

                       

                                             God's plan for Salvation

For this question we will turn to the Bible and see what God has to say about His Plan for salvation.

Salvation is available to everyone, not just a few but for everyone. If they would only believe and ask for God's forgiveness for all of our sins. All of us are sinners, not just a few, but all of us, that means you, me, and everybody, there are no exceptions. We read in the New Testament from the book of Romans - "As it is written, There is none rightous, Not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, there is not even one." Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving," "The poison of asps is under their lips"; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness"; Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known." There is no fear of God before their eyes." Romans 3:10-18. This is terrible news! according to this statement, we are all in deep, deep trouble and it would seem we are all destined to spend eternity isolated from God! Thankfully though, God in His infinite mercy has provided a plan of salvation for all of us. There are a couple of requirements though, The first requirement is to confess our sins and ask God for His mercy, we need to acknowledge that we are sinners and again ask God to forgive us and help us to sin no more. We read in the Book of Ephesians - "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses (sins), according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us in all wisdom and insight." Eph. 1:7-8. Secondly, we must believe in God's Son, Jesus Christ. We can begin to see that forgiveness is available to us, it is available to all, we can see this by turning to the Gospel of John where we read - "So that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life." "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." "For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him." John 3:15-17. What a re-assuring and wonderful teaching these verses are for the believers! all that we have to do is believe in the name of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for us on the cross to take all of our sins away, and offer each one of us eternal life if, we will only believe in Him. God wants each one of us to know that we are saved, here and now. God does not wish for us to sit around and worry or ponder as to weather we are saved, He tells us in John - "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him." John 3:36. Jesus continues to tell us "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter." Matthew 7:21. In other words we are commanded to obey Jesus, His teachings and trust in Him with all our hearts and minds. If we believe in the Son (Jesus Christ) and obey His commands and have mercy upon our fellow creatures, if we renounce Satan, then He is Faithful and He will save us from eternal damnation (Hell).   "For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment." James 2:13. If we turn to the New Testament Book of Romans we see this statement "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23. There are no exceptions here, ALL OF US ARE SINNERS! we were born in sin and unless we repent and beg God through His Son Jesus Christ to forgive us of all our sins then we are lost.  Turn to the New Testament Book of Luke and read what Jesus says, "Itell you, no , but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Luke 13:3. In other words we better "get right" with God while there is still time to do so. Please do not wait for tomorrow to repent because for some tomorrow will never come, God could call us from out of this world  a moment from now, whenever He chooses. Confess your sins now! do not put it off!.  "That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9. 

How do we obey the Son?

A good beginning would be to believe in the Son of God i.e. believe in Jesus Christ, believe that Jesus was sent into this world by God, believe that He suffered, died and was burried and on the third day He rose from the dead. Believe that Jesus took upon Himself the sins of everybody, sins of past, present and future. Believe through Jesus Christ and because of His love for us all of our sins are forgiven. John 5: 1 teaches us - "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him." We need to believe in Christ Jesus, we need to believe that He is the only begotten Son of the Father. "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. Rom. 10:9.

We must confess our sins to one and other and pray for one and other, in the gospel of James we read - Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:16. We see that we must believe in Jesus Christ and also confess our sins, these are God's requirements for forgiveness and the door to salvation. 1 John tells us - If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.  Jesus tells us "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10. Turn from your sins now! while the opportunity is available.  "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." John 14:3.  We should pray the sinners prayer and beg God for His forgiveness, an example of this can be found in Matthew and Luke, in Matthew we read - "But the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant will be healed." Mat. 8:8. If we turn to Luke 7:6 we see this prayer again. Imagine that! here we have a Roman official asking Jesus to heal his servant who has become sick. This soldier has probably never heard of God but by faith he realizes that this man Jesus has all power and authority to make his servant well, and so; he boldly comes to Jesus and asks Him to make his servant well. If we pray earnestly and sincerely from our hearts and confess with our mouth to God that we are sinners, if we ask Him for forgiveness, then He will listen and forgive us. Let all of us humbly and prayrfully come to Jesus and acknowledge to Him that we are sinners, ask Him for His forgiveness. Tell Jesus that you believe that He is the only begotton Son of God, tell Him you believe that He suffered, died and was buried then rose again for the forgivness of our sins and invite Him into your heart and your life. Why not do this right now? If you are willing to receive Jesus into your life right now then you can ask Him through prayer. Here is a prayer you might want to use, or you could pray using your own words.

Dear Lord Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God and died to forgive me of my sins, I know I have sinned. I ask You to forgive me, I turn from my sins and I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Thank You for saving me. I want to live for You the rest of my life. Amen.

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