Hi everyone! I hope your day is going well so far.
*All Scripture is taken from the ESV Bible unless otherwise noted. All italics within Scripture are mine.
Today we will be going over reasons 3-5 of 7 for wanting salvation.
B. Why would you want Salvation?:
3). It is a gift, it’s absolutely free if only we accept it: Acts 5:31—“God exalted Him to His own right hand as Prince and Savior that He might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.” In Acts 11:17, Peter says "God gave [the Gentiles] the same gift as he gave [the Jews].” God gave the gift. Going again to Romans 6:23 –“For the wages of sin is death,” like we mentioned before, but the rest of the verse states, “but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” This verse portrays two types of servitude, or slavery, in which the person doesn't have the freedom to determine his own course of action: The first type earns you death, that’s your wage; the other is not earned and cannot be earned, it is a gift, it’s free for us, although it cost God everything. The first type earns you an eternal life in hell, in the presence of God’s wrath; the other is a gift of eternity in heaven, in the presence of God.
4). The Bible tells us to: Jesus tells us in Matthew 4:17b, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” and in Mark 1:15b, “…the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” Peter tells us in Acts 3:19, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.…” I’m so glad that my heart is right to allow me to desire to do what God’s word says.
5). For Truth: One thing that I hate is lying (yes, I can hate it…God does). I’m so sick of dealing with a world of lies or possibility of lies, or even a promise of no lies! Not only from those in my house, but those all over the world, everywhere and anywhere, in any position, including the president. I want the truth—the absolute truth and I realize I will never get it from man. It can only be found with God.
So what is truth? Even Pontius Pilate wondered that, and the answer was right in front of him! (Luke 18:38). Jesus is the truth: “…I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). God’s word is the truth. Jesus is praying for his disciples in John 17:17, and he says to his Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” God’s word can be found in written form in the Bible, and it is reliable, for “all Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16a NIV). God had an active involvement in the writing of Scripture. What Scripture says is what God said; but humans weren’t just recorders, they also actively spoke and wrote in their own styles, but what they said came from God.
In John 8:31b-32, Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The truth sets us free from the curse of sin—the punishment that we will surely receive if we never accept Christ—spiritual death, eternity in hell. Those who haven’t accepted Christ as their Savior cannot really know truth, they simply reject it. Only Christians can understand and gratefully accept truth, for we are brought forth by the word of truth” (James 1:18a).
Next time we will be going over reason 6 for wanting salvation. Reason 7 is pretty long, so that will be by itself. Have a wonderfully blessed day, given to us by the Lord our Savior!
Niki Ƹ>Ï<Ʒ
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