Jesus paid our sin-debt in full. At His death, God the
Father placed all the sins of mankind – past, present, and future upon Him. His
painful death provides for our gift of salvation and it is by the gift of God’s
grace whereby He forgives our sins. The Old Testament records how God’s
faithful people sacrificed animals on His altar in atonement for their sins.
These blood sacrifices would later be replaced by the supreme sacrifice by the
One called Jesus Christ, whom John the Baptist referred to as the Lamb of God. Jesus
sacrificed His life by dying on the cross as a substitute for us. We are then
eternally secure in the Holy Spirit, and our fate is sealed with Christ for all
eternity.
We have salvation by God’s grace
not by any good works or our good behavior. Just because we religiously go to
church every Sunday or we give of our tithes and offerings or even that we
preach from a pulpit does not guarantee our salvation. (Ephesians 2:4, 5) speaks of how we were made alive in Christ. And then, in
verses 8-10 of the same chapter we learn how through faith in Jesus Christ we
are saved. Our faith in Christ is our personal acceptance of Him – asking Him
to come into our lives and live inside us. Specifically, we are born again as Christians.
In the near future, I plan to
dedicate several messages concerning being born again and how you can explain
this gift to someone else. You will be able to lead a friend or a family member
through the steps of accepting Jesus as their Savior. I know the first time I
felt called to speak with a stranger about their salvation I was scared and
felt unworthy to do so, but by the leading of the Holy Spirit and my own hunger
for knowledge concerning accepting Christ, I became more comfortable with it. I
want to help those of you who will have this wonderful opportunity to lead
others to Christ. After all, it is a mandate of Christ to witness to the world.
PROCLAIM IT! God IS
answering my prayers today!