Blog 9 – August 2, 2017
Salvation Is a Big Deal
In an earlier writing, I mentioned that at a certain period of time in my life I realized that I needed something new, and that something new turned out to be spiritual light. When I was younger, from time to time, I would see someone with a placard or something similar, in public, urging people to repent for the ‘end is near’. That always made a negative impression on my mind, because usually the people doing it looked homeless and unstable. And here they are telling me that I should repent!
As time went on, and I learned some things about the Scriptures, I realized that things like that were usually just trick presentations by the adversary to try and degrade God.
1 Peter 5:8 says, ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:’ This tells us that the devil will constantly be seeking ways to trick the Christian into thinking less of the important things of God: and salvation is important!
1 Timothy 2:4 says, ‘Who [referring to God] will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.’ God’s ultimate will is for all men to come to salvation, but we know that all men will not. For those of us who are concerned about the realities of salvation, we know it is extremely important for a person to make Jesus Christ lord in his life and to believe that God raised him from the dead.
This is a spiritual matter and Christians are still wrestling with trying to understand and believe spiritual matters. Why? Because they flock to organized religion which often promotes politics and distracts the seeking Christian from honestly working the truths regarding salvation and redemption.
Yes, salvation is a big deal; and it’s not man’s idea, it’s God’s idea. The earth was altered from its perfect state back in Genesis 1:31a ‘And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good…’ But that didn’t last, because as Genesis 3:7 tells us, ‘And the eyes of them [Adam and Eve] were both opened, and they knew that they were naked…’ Their eyes were opened because they had both just been tricked into disobedience to God, and at that moment, they knew that things had changed. This is called sin and at that moment, they changed from a perfect spiritual state to fleshly sin nature. In Verse 10 of that same chapter, Adam admitted ‘… and I afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ Prior to that there was no mention of fear.
So now, as of Genesis 3:7 we have everything altered on the earth: in the vegetation, the infrastructure – with the seeds of disease and death being introduced.
Romans 5:12 says, ‘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.’ This means that, like it or not, we inherit that disaster that Adam initiated and sent our way.
This was not God’s original plan for mankind, but since it happened, God had designed a way out, which is introduced in Genesis 3:15, ‘ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;’ The enmity is the promise of the Savior, the lord Jesus Christ.
Now we see that man has a major problem and one doesn’t need to read the scriptures to see that; as around us throughout the world, man cannot cease from sin, from strife and wars. Disease can hardly be contained. We find our minds easily fertile to thoughts that are not God’s thoughts.
Yes, we certainly need salvation – a better way! And as we just mentioned that better way is Jesus Christ, who God ordained to redeem man.
Romans 5:17 tells us, ‘For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; muchmore they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.’
Ephesians 2:8 tells us, ‘For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.’
What do these two verses tell us? That man is in a bad state: however,God’s grace and power is greater than that bad state. God has given salvation to us by grace: it is impossible for man to earn it on his own. Jesus Christ is the key to salvation. It is impossible to be born again without making him lord in your life and believing that God raised him from the dead.
This is a spiritual matter and it takes a spiritual person to understand and believe these truths: That is referring to a person desiring spiritual matters. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:1 ‘Now concerning spiritual gifts [matters] brethren, I would not have you ignorant.’ God put this all together and with God it is a big deal!
Salvation needs to be a big deal to us as well. As Christians, we have the spiritual abilities to move God’s Word along and to tell others how to get born again. What a great privilege it is to be born again, to stand out in our world and to be able to know what we know because someone else loved enough to tell us once upon a time. I’m inspired so let’s continue to have funglimpses! Thanks for reading. Will Grove