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God's Plan of Salvation

Salvation:  What is it?

That's almost a loaded question.  The word itself means Deliverance, Safety, Preservation or the "state of being saved" from harm or from evil.

One thing is certain:  There is a Holy God that we cannot possibly know without being Holy ourselves!  Anyone at all can look at the depraved state of man and know that we are NOT holy.  Mankind is corrupt almost to the point that is beyond belief.  Even in  pulpits today, we see corruption that is beyond imagination.  Men who are SUPPOSED to be "God's Man" are being found as anything BUT Godly.  Many are caught up in sex scandals, embezzlement schemes, even murder and plots to commit murder.     That is a topic for another time, but the bottom line is that Mankind is corrupt, and all mankind has no hope of ever being "good" without the intervention of Someone more holy than we are.  That someone, my friend is God himself. 

There is a Holy God, He HAS spoken to mankind and He has given us instructions on how to escape a deadly disease that will ultimately kill us.  The disease?  Sin.  The cure?  God's Plan of Salvation in the form of a Messiah; A Savior!

There was no need of salvation until man was separated from God by Adam.  It was at that point that man had a need to be reconciled to God.   Man was not created to be sinful.  Man BECAME exceeding sinful because of his free choice.  Unfortunately, the first Man, Adam, CHOSE to disobey God and in so doing, he became sinful (man was not made sinful, he became sinful).  He could not fellowship with God ever again as he did before.  He was now removed from the presence of God, not because he wanted to be, but because being a sinful creature attempting to enter into the presence of a Holy God mean instant destruction for him if he were to do so.    Adam need to be reconciled to God, somehow.   He then passed on this sin nature to his children and through them, to all children of men everywhere, even unto us. 

The Bible, which IS the Word of God tells us in Romans 5:12 that because of Adam's Sin, death now reigns in our bodies and will ultimately cause us to cease living.  Romans 5:12  "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:..."

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;..."

Sin:  We all have it, we have all committed it, we ALL have the capability of committing it again, regardless of how long you've been saved or how long you've been filled with the Holy Ghost.  YOU are fully capable of choosing to sin if you want to!  Now, this doesn't mean that you HAVE to.

Isaiah said we are all like Sheep:

Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."

Job 14:1 says we are but a few days and FULL of trouble.

We have constant statements throughout the Word of God AGAINST every man doing that "which is right in his own eyes". 

The biblical message—from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22—is that mankind is in a woefully sinful condition, and is desperately in need of help in order to find his way “back to God.”   A corollary to that message is that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23; 33:11), and genuinely desires that all should be saved (John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9).

 To reconcile man back to somewhat of a condition in which he could have limited fellowship with God, it was God himself who instituted a means by which man could have the fellowship and blessing of God.  Through the shedding of innocent blood (Man was required, as the guilty party, to shed innocent blood), God provided a means of covering the sins of man.  God did not completely REMOVE the sins of man, and could not do so.  The blood of animals could never cover the sins of a man. 

God is Holy, Fair and Just and PURE JUSTICE demands that the guilty party (1) pay restitution in like kind and (2) pay the penalty for wrongdoing.   Pure Justice (which is all God can deal with) requires the blood of man at the hands of man.  This was what we saw in the Levitical instructions:  an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, etc. 

The problem came though, when MAN violated GOD!   How could a Man ever make restitution to God?  God has no need of anything!  For example, if a man steals from a man, he is to pay back in like kind (money, sheep, goats, etc) AND he is to do it by restoring what he took PLUS Seven times more! 

God created EVERYTHING!  How then would it ever be possible for MAN to pay what he owes for his violations against God?  Animals certainly could not do it!  It was not possible for an animal, regardless of how innocent it was, to REMOVE the sins of a Man.  The Blood of Animals could COVER the sins of a man, but in no way could it remove them.  The writer of Hebrews tells us that it is not possible for the blood of animals to take away sins.

Hebrews 10:1-4   "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."

To completely remove the sins of man and reconcile man back to God was going to take something more.  It was going to take the BLOOD OF A MAN, but not just any man.  The sacrifice must be an INNOCENT MAN, one that is Holy and Clean...One that is FREE FROM SIN! 

Enter the Messiah!

Isaiah 53 describes the nature of the Messiah in detail.  If you haven't already done so and you wish to know more about this Savior, please read our study on the Messiah.  Since we've covered this subject elsewhere, we will assume you already know that Jesus Christ is that Messiah.

Let's examine some New Testament Scriptures concerning the Savior.

Acts 2:36   "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." 

Acts 4:10  "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." 

Galatians 3:1  "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?" 

In Acts 13 we see one overwhelming theme:  Paul preached Jesus!  

Jesus is that Messiah...He is the Lamb of God sent to take away the sins of the world, and the scriptures are clear!

John 1:29  "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."

Hebrews 9:14   "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? "

1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin."

Acts 20:28   "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

1 Peter 1:15-23   "But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."

We know and are sure that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Savior of all Mankind.  We know that only through Jesus Christ we are freed from sin and we can once more enter into fellowship with a Holy God!  We are no longer under condemnation!

Romans 8:1-2  "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."

Since we understand that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior, the one who brings Salvation, don't you think it would be important to see what the Messiah might have to say about salvation and about God's ultimate plan of Salvation for mankind?  I think so. 

Look at the record we have of the first "preaching" of Jesus:

Mark 1:14-15    "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel."

Jesus began preaching the Gospel.  We know that "Gospel" literally means "Good News"!   What is the Good News?   The Good News is that a Savior has been born!   Luke 2:11  "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

Jesus came preaching the Gospel!   What then is the Gospel of Salvation?  

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