When Adam ate of the forbidden fruit he became separated from God.
Every since then all his descendants have also been separated from God.
We are all born of Adam's seed. Because we are all from Adam, we all
inherited that sin nature of Adam's. Not only did we inherit that sin
nature from Adam, but God saw us with Adam when he disobyed, eating of the
forbidden fruit (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22).
We
can't help but sin, we are sinners. Not all of us sin in the same amount.
Some people sin more than others. But everybody sins. This flaw is
called a "sin nature." Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit. He did not come
from Adam's seed. Thus Jesus was sinless. He did not inherit this flaw
from Adam. He did not have this urge to sin as you and I do. In the Old
Testament God forbid human sacrifices for the payment of sin. Instead he
told the Israeli's to only sacrifice clean animals, such as lambs. Because
every human being inherited a sin nature from Adam we can never pay God
enough for our sins. Instead our sins pay us the price of death (Romans
6:23).
The
lambs offered in sacrifice in the Old Testament all pointed forward to a
time when Jesus, born without a sin nature, would pay for our sins in
full. In the Old Testament people were saved the same way they are today:
by grace (Habakkuk 2:4). God always is concerned about the internal, not
the external. Jesus is our lamb.
There
are some religious groups who will say that Jesus' death on the cross was
not enough to pay for all of your sins. They will say you have to meet
him halfway to prove yourself worthy to complete your salvation. This is
in contrary to Scriptures. Jesus, before he died said, "It is finished"
(John 19:30).
Ephesians
2:8-10 says: 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.
Christ died on the cross. It was a horrible death. He paid this
price for you in order to bring you to a right relationship so that you
would no longer be separated from him. To make sure he was dead he was
pierced in the side and blood and water ran out (John 19:31-37)
Jesus
answered them, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three
days." The Jews replied, "It has taken 46 years to build this temple and
you are going to raise it in three days? But the temple he had spoken of
was his body. (John 2:19-20) Romans 4:25 says Jesus was delivered over to
death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
When we
understand that we cannot earn God's love with our deeds and that we
deserve death we are beginning to understand our need for a Savior. Jesus
paid for our past sins, our present sins, and our future sins when he died
on the cross. He was buried and he rose three days later (1 Cor 15:1-11).
When we truly believe this in our hearts our entire lives change.
When
we
believe the gospel (1 Cor 15:1-11) we become a new creation (2 Cor 5:17).
Christ lives in us (2 Cor 13:5) and we have a totally new outlook on life.
Whereas before we thought nothing of certain sins, we are now repulsed by
the thought of them.
We
have a peace that surpasses understanding (Phil 4:7).
Because
Christ is our peace (Eph 2:14) we have true fellowship with God. There are
times when we will sin after being saved. This does not mean our
salvation is lost. However, it does break our fellowship with our Father
in heaven. 1st John 1:9 assure s us that by confessing our sin that
fellowship is restored.
- The Gospel of Grace reveals: Jesus Christ, His life, death and
resurrection (1 Cor 15:1-4)
- Salvation is only through Christ (Acts 4:12)
- Salvation is a gift of God's grace (Ephesians 2:8,9)
- Salvation is by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8,9)
- Salvation is attained by Christ (Romans 5:9)
- Salvation is at the moment a sinner believes the gospel (Ephesians
1:13,14)
- Salvation is secured by God (John 10:27-30)
- Sins are expiated by Christ's blood (Romans 3:25)
- Salvation glorifies God alone (Ephesians Chapter One)
- The work of salvation is finished (John 19:30)
I pray you
will consider carefully what has been presented. I also pray you will
honestly consider the verses I have offered. Please write them down and
read them in their context so you can be sure of the Truth of the
Salvation which is in Christ Jesus. If you have not accepted the Lord
Jesus as your Savior, please accept His free gift of salvation.