THE TRUTH OF JESUS CHRIST AND HIS GOOD NEWS.

[TheMinister]

By faith in the finished work of our LORD Jesus Christ can be born into a heavenly family, adopted by God, made righteous, to love and serve Him from this day on. By faith, through His amazing grace, you can be saved from the wages of sin and made a new creature in Christ. Christianity is not another craftily assembled, unreliable religion made up by man, for man. Christianity is a pure faith, evidential, that has grown out of the sound wisdom of the Jewish patriarchs and brought into near completion by the writers and teachers of the New Testament, specifically, Jesus Christ, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude. All these great prophets had one thing in common; they all committed their lives to the glory of God.

My hope here is that you understand and love the doctrine of soteriology, that is, the study of our so great salvation. Pray to God in heaven who promises wisdom to all who ask. Pray for understanding. May you grow in faith, hope, and love as you commit you life to the LORD Jesus Christ, and to the brethren to the glory of God.

Question, what exactly does a sinner believe when they put their faith in Jesus Christ? Chances are that they did not come from an atheistic belief to faith in Christ. In fact, they probably already believed that an all-powerful creator existes some where in this vast universe. So what is different about your genuine saving belief? Did you believe the gospel, which is the good news proclaimed by the LORD Jesus and His disciples? Be sure!

Gospel – Lit. Good news. To the church, this word has come to mean the good news given by the Lord Jesus Christ, which a sinner must accept if salvation is to occur. When the gospel is received and believed by the sinner, salvation happens. It is a miracle of God, whereby He works a myriad of divine good within the repentant sinner, changing his status and position in time and eternity forever. The good news is this:

God sent His only begotten Son, in the flesh, into this sinful world to be a sacrifice for sins. Peace and fellowship with the Creator is possible and made available to the sinner who trusts in the victorious life, death, and resurrection of the God-man, the LORD Jesus Christ. Christ offers full pardon from the wages of sin (eternal separation from God) by accepting His righteousness through faith. When the Savior is accepted, escape from hell and eternal separation from God is given as a gift, because God the Father is pleased with His Son, and He is pleased with those who accept His Son. This is the good news! I hope that this is what you trusted in when you entrusted “All” to the Savior.

Salvation is a gift from God when He calls that sinner to saving faith. When the sinner believes, that is, trusts in the Savior and His gospel, salvation is given to you from God. But is this exercise of faith a work? If the creature must produce the action of the verb, is not the creature somehow contributing to the process. Not necessarily. God exerts such a pull on the sinner to come to Him that the call is irresistible. Quite possibly the sinner may have close the eyes to many invitations to faith before, but when God appoints the moment in time to draw you unto Himself, faith is a forgone conclusion. God sought us out because if He had not, we, being dead in our trespasses and sins, would not seek Him. If not for the mercy and longsuffering of God, the opportunity to even respond in faith would be nonexistent, hence, grace would never be offered and we would all perish eternally in our sins. Since clear and concise definitions of terms are essential in any discipline, let’s define a few key Christian terms so when we use them, we have a common understanding. Salvation in scripture refers to deliverance from eternal death. The whole notion of salvation implies that one must be in a perilous condition or situation that creates the need for someone other than they to rescue them. Who saves a person from grave danger? A savior. Jesus taught that humanity was in grave danger of judgment and eternal fire if they did not accept and own the knowledge of the truth, which could save them. The truth is His message of salvation through Him alone. He explains the way to salvation in the following verses:

“ For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16–18.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word, and believes Him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

John 5:24.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”

John 6:47,48.

“My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Fathers hand.”
John 10:27-29.

When the LORD called you to follow Him through the gospel, which is His instrument unto salvation, you heard His voice, believed in Him and probably realized that nothing will ever be the same again. Some new converts experience a less dramatic conversion experience, but no less real or effectual unto salvation. The simple faith that changed you and saved you is the same kind of faith you need to live by every moment of every day. Because He now befriends us and loves us, follow Him! Because we have passed from death into eternal life, follow Him! Because He is the bread of life, follow Him. Because you know Him and the sound of His call, and because you are safe in the hand of the Almighty, follow Him!

So the gospel is the good news, the instrument God uses to inform sinners of their need and the only solution to their predicament. Salvation is the gift of deliverance from judgment and condemnation through believing in the person, merits, and life of Jesus Christ our LORD.

HOW SWEET THE SOUND – AMAZING GRACE.

The bible clearly teaches that a sinner is saved by the grace of God through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. Consider the following New Testament passages that deal specifically with the initial phase of God’s plan of salvation:

Eph.2:8-9 - For it is by grace you have been saved through faith–and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God- not of works, lest any man should boast.

2 Tim. 1:8b-9 - …But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling- not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

Here are good places to grow in the faith:

http://www.gospelcom.net/rbc/

http://www.ligonier.org

http://www.equip.org

http://www.oneplace.com

[TheMinister]

http://www.leadingtheway.org

http://www.intouch.org

http://www.ttb.org

[TheMinister]

http://www.keylife.org

http://www.freeindeed.org

[TheMinister]

Find good Christian academic resources at:

http://www.zondervan.com

http://www.christianbook.com

[TheMinister]

http://www.lwf.org

http://www.rzim.org