Salvation

If you give me a few minutes of your time, you may find what I have to say very interesting and beneficial for your eternal wellbeing.

I have read and studied this book, the King James Bible for the past 48 years. It is the verbally inspired and divinely preserved word of God for the English-speaking peoples. God used approximately forty different individuals over 1500 to 1600 years to set these words down for us, but the author is always God. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and for instructions in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works. The Bible declares that Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

I said all that so that I may share with you a few words from the word of God. In the book of Genesis, the first book in this Bible, we have the record of God creating the heavens and the earth and everything in them in the space of six literal days. On the sixth day God created all the land-dwelling animals and man. God created them male and female. The first man He called Adam, and the first woman was called Eve. God then planted a garden called Eden and He placed Adam and Eve in that garden to tend it. God gave them one rule, or one law. They could eat of the fruit of any of the trees in the garden except one. They were told that the day that they ate of that tree, they would surely die. Disobeying God is called sin, and Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God and eating of that tree. It was called the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. The consequence of sin is death. When they sinned, they began to die but God promised them a redeemer. God declared that there would be a child born that would redeem them from the condemnation of their sin. When Adam and Eve sinned, it changed their nature. The sin nature became a part of them, and that nature was passed down to all those who descended from Adam and Eve. God shed the blood of animals to cloth Adam and Eve with the skins of those animals. The shedding of the blood of those animals could not take away the sin nature but only covered it. The death of those animals was a picture of the perfect sin offering that would later be made by the redeemer. Every person that has ever been born on this earth was born with that sin nature, including you and me. But there was one exception. The redeemer that God promised would not be born with that sin nature. Since the time that God promised that redeemer, He gave many prophets pictures and prophecies giving detail concerning the coming redeemer. These prophecies were given over the years and are recorded in the Old Testament of the Bible. The details of those prophecies told where the redeemer would be born, where He would live, the miracles He would perform, the way He would die, and by whose hand.

That redeemer came a little over two thousand years ago fulfilling all those prophecies of His first coming. He was born of a virgin called Mary in a little town in Israel called Bethlehem. He was born the only begotten Son of God. His mother Mary called His name Jesus. He lived and grew in Israel until He was about thirty years old, at which time He began His earthly ministry to draw people back to God affording them the opportunity to have their sin forgiven and inherit eternal life.

When Jesus was preaching and teaching the people, He shared with them the love that God had for His creation. He performed many miracles, healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, casting out demons from those possessed, and raising the dead. Jesus spoke to great crowds and in some cases spoke to individuals privately. One such conversation is recorded in the Gospel of John chapter 3. One of the religious leaders in Israel came to Jesus by night to ask Him about salvation. His name was Nicodemus. Jesus told him that he needed to be born again. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that he was born a physical birth but also needed a spiritual birth. That is what Jesus meant by being born again. Let me read to you three verses from what Jesus told Nicodemus. John 3:16-18:

16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Jesus told Nicodemus that God had sent Him, God’s only begotten Son so that whosoever believed on Him could be saved (having their sin forgiven) and be not condemned to the fires of hell. Those who do not believe on Jesus are condemned already, but those who believe on Him are not condemned to those torments.

Let me share with you another conversation that Jesus had with some of His closest associates. It is recorded in the fourteenth chapter of the gospel of John. John 14:1-4 (Jesus said):

1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  2In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.  4And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

This conversation took place on the night before Jesus was going to be betrayed and crucified. He had been telling the disciples about what was coming but He encouraged them to believe in Him. He told them that they believed in God, and they should also believe in Him. He told them that in His father’s house (heaven) were many mansions and He was going to prepare a place for them there. He continued by telling them that if He was preparing a place for them, then He would come back to get them to be with Him so that they could be with Him for all eternity. Then one of the disciples named Thomas asked Him in John 14:5:

5Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

Thomas wanted to know the way in which they could go. To which Jesus replied in John 14:6:

6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

No one can get to the Father’s house except by Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Only by believing on Him may one have eternal life in heaven with God.

That night Jesus was betrayed, He was tried illegally, and the religious leaders of the day brought pressure to bear on the governor, Pontius Pilate to condemn Jesus to death by crucifixion. He was crucified that day. After He was dead, His body was taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb. But on the third day He was raised from the dead. After His resurrection Jesus was seen by many over the space of forty days, then He ascended back to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God the Father to await the time of His return to gather together all those who believe on Him.

The disciples began preaching about Jesus paying the penalty for the sins of the world and encouraging others to believe on Him. In one of those messages the apostle Peter said in Acts 4:12:

12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Things in this world are getting worse and worse. People are murdering one another and mistreating each other in horrendous ways. That is because of the sin nature within us. God will soon judge the world for sin, but before that happens Jesus will return for those who have believed on Him. Are you ready? Jesus said in Matthew 24:44:

44Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Are you ready? Do you believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God? Jesus came and laid down His life for the sins of the world so that we might have forgiveness of sin and inherit eternal life. If you believe that you are a sinner, and if you believe that Jesus Christ came as God the Son and the Son of God to die for our sins and was resurrected from the dead, then call out to God and tell Him you believe on Him and desire His forgiveness of your sins so that you can be saved. Then get yourself a King James Bible and prayerfully begin reading the Gospel of John, the book of Acts and the letter to the Romans. Ask God to open your eyes to what He would have you learn. Read those three books, then begin with Matthew and go through the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation. Then you might begin in Genesis and read all 66 books of the Bible. Find a Bible believing, Bible preaching church that preaches from the King James Bible and attend regularly to learn from the teaching and preaching. I thank you for listening and pray you take it to heart.

If you have made a decision to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation by God’s grace through faith, please let us know by email or telephone through the “CONTACT US” menu.