Christ Jesus - our Savior

The account in Genesis tells us that Adam sinned, and died (death came into his body so that it began to die); and all of us have sinned.

Paul taught: "ALL humans have sinned and ALL humans fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23-24);

AND

"Just as it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10);

AND

"The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23).

So there is a guilty verdict on all of humanity - but there is good news: 

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23).

Jesus said, "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes on Him should have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day." -- John 6:40.

So the apostle Paul taught: 

"If Christ's Spirit is in you,

(1) Your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit (of Christ) is your (eternal) life [zoe] because of (Christ's) righteousness. 

(2) Moreover, if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken [zōopoiéō] your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you." (Romans 8:10-11).

Imagine you're the Titanic, which has struck an Iceberg, causing a gaping hole. The hole represents your own sinful thoughts and desires, the lies you've told, and the amount of times you have broken one of the ten commandments, and any other sin you may have committed. 

You've tried to stop up the hole with goodness, decency, or obedience to the ten commandments and to God's holy law, but all this is mixed with your sin. The patch is not holding, because God is 100% just, and a judge who is 100% just, has to punish all sin. 

Jesus said, "No one has ascended up to Heaven except He who came down from Heaven, the Son of man who is in Heaven. But even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life";

AND

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him." (John 3:13-16).

So when Paul wrote, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?", he immediately answered his own question:

"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. " (Romans 7:24-25a).

Paul could say this because just as Paul also wrote,

"For He has made Him (Christ Jesus) who knew no sin, to be sin for us, 

that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

2 Corinthians 5:21.

The prophet Isaiah wrote:

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each one to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 

Isaiah 53:6.

Jesus said,

"I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."; 

AND

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me." (John 10:11; 14:6);

AND

 "I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John 8:12);

AND

"God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." -- John 4:24

As the author to the Hebrews and all the authors of the New Testament also testify,

"God, who at many times and in many ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 

has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the ages, who being the shining splendor of His glory, and the express image of His essence, and upholding all things by the word of His power, having made purification of our sins, He sat down on the right of the Majesty on high." -- Hebrews 1:1-3

WE ARE SAVED BY FAITH

WE ARE SAVED BY CHRIST THROUGH OUR FAITH IN HIM

LIVING BY FAITH IN CHRIST

Romans 3:23-25 

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed." 

Titus 3:7

"That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." 

Faith simply means believing. We are justified by His grace and by His blood, through faith (believing):

"For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world: our faith." -- 1 John 5:4.

"Our faith in Christ overcomes the world" is not saying that our faith itself is what saves us or justifies us. We cannot be saved or justified by our faith. What is our faith in? In our faith? In ourselves?

Faith is the human hand of the arm stretched out to receive from God's hand the gift that He has given us, i.e justification. Faith IN the One who justifies the ungodly, and in HIS work, will save us. If we do not believe, we are calling God a liar - which is the thing that condemns:

"He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." -- John 3:18-19.

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 God sent His Son for our salvation, 

not a boat like the Ark that was built by Noah.

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John 3:17-18

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God."

The only way to God the Father is through Jesus Christ:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6).

The only way to come through Jesus Christ is through faith in Jesus Christ. 

"For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" -- John 5:4-5.

Righteousness can only come through faith in Jesus Christ

Hebrews 11:7

"By faith Noah, having been warned by God of things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

Christ paid the price. The blood of Christ and the empty tomb proves it. Nothing we can do, nothing other than the blood of Christ and the empty tomb will ever prove that we belong to Him and that we are saved, if we believe. There is nothing more that we can add to it, because Christ died for us while we were sinners (Romans 5:8), and that is what saved us - Christ's death, and Christ's resurrection.

WHAT HUMAN EFFORT IS ABLE TO DO

"Make every effort to ADD to your faith: 

Excellence, to excellence, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly affection; to brotherly affection, unselfish love." 

Why add this? 

"Because if these things are really yours and are continually increasing, they will keep you from becoming ineffective and unproductive in your pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately." -- 2 Peter 1:5-8

We can add the above to our faith, but we cannot add our salvation or our justification through human effort, because it was all accomplished by Christ, but now, knowing that we are saved by Christ and justified by Christ through our faith (and not by human effort), for our own sake we should nevertheless make an effort to be diligent to add to our faith in Christ the list of things Peter mentioned above, 

and we are doing so in order that we will kept from becoming ineffective and unproductive in our pursuit of knowing our Lord Jesus Christ more intimately.

Romans 13:8-10 "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this: Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." John 15:10-14 "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." 1 John 3:23 "And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. John 15:4-5   Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.   I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

1 John 3:17-18   But whoever has this world's goods and sees his brother having need, and shuts up his bowels from him, how does the love of God dwell in him?   My children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. James 2:15-18    If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and if one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them those things which are needful to the body, what good is it? Even so, if it does not have works, faith is dead, being by itself. But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. James 2:1-4:  My brothers, do not have the faith of our Lord Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.    For if there comes a gold-fingered man in fancy clothing into your assembly, and if there also comes in a poor man in shabby clothing, and if you have respect to him who has the fancy clothing and say to him, You sit here in a good place, and say to the poor, You stand there, or sit here under my footstool;   Did you not make a difference among yourselves and became judges with evil thoughts? Matthew 25:37-40   Then the righteous shall answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry, and fed You? Or thirsty, and gave You drink? When did we see You a stranger, and took You in? Or naked, and clothed You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and came to You?   And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you have done it to Me.

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