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Sinners. You and I. We have been offered eternal life with Holy God, the Creator of all that is good. He wants us.
Hallelujah! That is an offer most would call irresistable, like – “Just gotta have it!”. But do you? Have you personally talked to God to accept it?
For sure, salvation is offered. However, like any gift: It is not yours until you take it into your hands. Salvation is in God’s hands, only “an offer” – until you personally accept the offer and take it.
Jesus saved me
The sinner must repent and say “Yes” — to actually become “a sinner saved by grace“. Jesus is able. He can save any repentant sinner. The hold-up is…He does not save the one who does not bow to receive it (“repent”) nor follow Him. Don’t resist and reject. Don’t be a rejector. Be receptive.
On which side of the offer are you? Are you religiously liking it, or have you fervently accepted it?
Staying religious
Religious people just stay religious. 1 They are caught up with religion.
Christians on the other hand — have made the choice to personally accept His forgiveness. They “bowed the knee”, repented, and began the walk to follow Him. Big difference! So the choice is: Stay merely religious, or get saved.
Imagine what being saved can mean to you
“It is from Him”
Salvation emanates from Jesus MerWeb “emanate“: spring, arise, rise, originate, derive, flow, issue, proceed, stem — meaning: to come up or out of something into existence.
Being in Christ
Salvation is only from Jesus. The Godman Jesus, full of grace and mercy, said, “I give them eternal life“. “It is from Him.“
30 But it is from Him
that you are
in Christ Jesus,
who became to us
* wisdom from God [revealing His plan of salvation], and
* righteousness [making us acceptable to God], and
* sanctification [making us holy and setting us apart for God], and
* redemption [providing our ransom from the penalty for sin]….”
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What did Jesus give you when you received His forgiveness through faith?
* wisdom
* righteousness
* sanctification
* redemption
Jesus became to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. What are these?
wisdom
The ultimate wisdom is what God revealed through Jesus the Messiah: His plan of salvation. Have you received His salvation – or are you just “religious”?
righteousness
When you receive the forgiveness — you receive the righteousness. It is His righteousness that thus makes you “acceptable to God”.
Salvation comes through faith Ephesians 2:8-9 — not by how good you can be. It is His goodness that God sees when we are “hidden with Christ” through salvation.
Colossians 3:3
For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.
Water baptism is the sacred drama we perform before God and the world — giving testimony of how we “died to this world”, going under the water, and then are lifted up out of the water in newness of life, with our new life “hidden with Christ in God“. He does not see our sin, because it is forgiven — all hidden with Christ.
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been
baptized into Christ Jesus
have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him
through baptism into death,
so that as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father,
so we too might walk in newness of life.
– Romans 6:3-4
sanctification
At the moment of salvation He sets us apart for God (set apart from sin – set apart to Jesus). It’s a lifelong process which the Holy Spirit is working inside us – helping us to mature spiritually, to be more and more like Jesus in all we do and think. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is “the One who brings our faith to maturity“:
“…let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, 2 [looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity]”
– Hebrews 12:2
redemption
Redemption means “providing our ransom from the penalty for sin” . Jesus paid it all. Glory to God — I’ve been redeemed.
Without His salvation – the only chance you have is: Hell. Don’t chance another minute without it.
FOR MORE:
Without His salvation – the only chance you have is: Hell. It’s a forever place. Don’t chance another minute without it.
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Every believer’s new life in Christ…A series on Ephesians 1
Your New Leaf – once you have repented…It’s a lifelong process called “sanctification”. Excerpt: “The way to live” once you become a newbie Christian is described well in Philippians 2:1-18. This is the “New Leaf” passage. You have become a true child of the King, and it’s time to “turn over a new leaf” by the power of God in you.
He has made you a brand new creature – and the Holy Spirit lives in you now. We are no longer goats due for justice. We are His sheep (Matthew 25:31-46). Leave the past behind and follow Him.
Imagine what being saved has meant to you Excerpt: What it has meant to me – “being saved”.
I am absolutely, supremely jazzed by the thoughts – as I have paused to imagine what “being saved” has meant to me. Pause a moment to think of this with me, will you?
What has “being saved” meant to you?
Oh how marvelous…a sinner saved by grace. Excerpt: Marvelous grace. To a sinner, what else could be so marvelous? God’s grace, that “un-merited” bestowing of a blessing on me. Just because of Him. Just because He chooses to do so within His Heavenly legal system.
What marvelous grace of the damning God, who would go so far out of His way to “un-condemn” me, to “un-do” His “God damn”, His damnation of me, to save me forever for Himself. To love me – at all. That is the grace of God.
The Redemption of God Excerpt: Any common Pawn Shop holds what you “lost” to them, until it is “redeemed”. The item was lost, and you must go to redeem it – to purchase it back.
Jesus’ Eternal Redemption
Similarly, Christ is our “redeemer”. There is nothing you can do to redeem yourself. So Jesus came to earth to legally “redeem” us by the blood He shed on the cross for us. Jesus paid the cost required in God’s System of Justice in order that we might be freed from a righteous “God Damn”.
Legally Damned – Legally Forgiven
“The spirits of the righteous made perfect”…made righteous through Jesus
Have you “come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God”? Excerpt: When you, in prayer, accept Jesus as your personal Savior, and/or when any true follower of Jesus prays — you have come to an awesome, almighty place of wonder and love. Oh how marvelous! Through prayer to Jesus:
— “you have come to Mount Zion
and to the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to myriads of angels [in festive gathering]….”
– Verse 22 of Hebrews 12:18-24.
Salvation. True version – False version Excerpt: Jesus taught the true version of salvation. I got my version from God Himself! Where on earth are you getting yours? Here’s a list of OMGj articles to consider reading. Is yours the true version, or one of the many false versions? Actually, the odds are: you have a false version and are on a lost, wrong road. Scary thought.
Salvation is immediate – not delayed until after “enduring to the end”…the moment of salvation
That Moment In Time…the moment of salvation
Turn from – Turn to…set apart from sin – set apart to Jesus
What was it like – your confession to Jesus?…We must personally receive His salvation
Was your confession accepted by God?
How to accept Jesus…by faith through confession, repentance, and following Him
Specific salvation parameters to get saved
References about salvation…His Word – upon which we base our salvation by God
What knowing the Bible does for you
Not saved yet Excerpt: When it comes to God things: Be very careful. Be extremely fearful even. When it comes to what affects your eternity – be ultra specific with your thinking. God is. Are you not saved yet?
Liking Jesus Excerpt: What constitutes “following Jesus” – as contrasted with just “liking Jesus”? Jesus urges us with His Gospel, a crisp, clear calling – “follow Me”. It’s not merely a gentle “Respond to me, okay, like me, please….” The call to repentance is an active, life-long response to Jesus.
And He said to them, “Follow Me [as My disciples, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk], and I will make you fishers of men.”
– Matthew 4:19
This confuses some folk. Especially confusing to some are passages like Hebrews 6:4-9 (quoted below), which addresses this very issue. It is so popular today – “liking” someone or some thing. There’s a lot of noncommittal going on. “We like it, but… not so much as to commit to it.”
The Godman Jesus Said “Follow Me”
What God thinks you are…a sinner in need of His amazing grace
Prepare Your Eternity with great fear and trepidation
The Problem with different brands of “Christian faith”…Be ultra specific – careful to follow His Word
The Whosoever People who miss the turn – to Jesus
What it is when Hell is yours Don’t mess with Hell. Excerpt: The day is coming when all who reject God’s loving forgiveness – will find themselves condemned and in Hell. Want to avoid condemnation? God is asking us all to repent. Jesus can save any repentant sinner.
What clearly saves and what obviously does not save…He does not save the unrepentant heart. Do you know the signs?
Our Life As God Sees It – Ephesians 2:1-10
Excerpt: *Capture each part of the process of being made alive in Christ.
Here the passage is broken into its separate phrases and nuanced truths
…explained here by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 1-10.
“I give them eternal life” – John 10:27-30
Specific salvation parameters to get saved – and: What He absolutely requires for it
Being 100% given-over to Jesus
We know what Jesus believes. Do you agree with Him?
Back in the day…salvation was a mystery
The Mystery of Salvation…what God revealed through Jesus
The Mystery of the Gospel has been revealed
The Messiah has come to earth…the Gospel has been revealed
About past sins and being forgiven now
Signs of an unrepentant heart…Do you know the signs?
PIC: horse-wild-stallion.BY Jordan Heinrichs-393844. Unsplash
Who I really really am Excerpt: Life. It’s not an easy road. But as I live my daily grind, I don’t have to let it grind me down.
Life’s a wild, buckin’ bronco ride. God chose the saddle I’m on, and there’s no gettin’ away from it. You gotta ride what’s under your saddle!
Sometimes I feel I’m walking down a rocky mountain trail, alone… and a pit-bull’s workin’ its way up my leg.
But, each day I am renewed and instilled with new energy and hope when I turn it all over to Him.
My hope is not in being saved from it all. My hope is knowing He is my all. He is my confidence and my hope. Read Hebrews 13:5-6.
How a Christian lives life…It’s not an easy road.
Livin’ it to the max! Excerpt: What kind of thinking person would reject God in order to stubbornly spend one short lifetime for dubious pleasures here, when God offers non-stop eternal life with Him, all the goodness of the Creative Designer Himself – in His forever Kingdom? Really? Reject Him for this wisp here? Only a fool. Not me. Now that I belong to Jesus — I’m livin’ it to the max!
Living it deep Excerpt: What will it be – an end without Christ? I choose to end with Christ as Savior.
The worst about life
is an end without Christ
abandoned desert heart
tender fatherless orphan…
Luke 18:17 AMP
“…whoever
does not receive
the kingdom of God
[with faith and humility]
like a child
will not enter it at all.”
– Jesus Messiah
Living the good life – with courage and confident hope
More than conquerors – in Christ
I live with confidence…because He is my confidence
Now I belong to Jesus Excerpt: I belong to Jesus. How ’bout you? What kind of commitment did YOU make to Jesus?
And We All Bow Down Excerpt:
…And we all bow down
Praising Him, just praising Him
And the joy joy joy
All around, all around
Giving Him our all-in-all, giving Him all that we are
And we all bow down, gratefully, so gratefully
He’s accepted us, we are free at last
The God to whom I belong and whom I worship…I belong to Jesus. How ’bout you? Jesus is…
“the God
to whom I belong
and whom I worship”
– Acts 27:33
English Standard Version Anglicised
A very meaningful church song back in my high school youth days said just that: “Now I belong to Jesus.” 2 Love that song.
Fools in the Bible:
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?
Psalm 14:1
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt…
Footnotes
- MerWeb meaning of “religious”: very devoted to God, faithful to their religion.
- Source: hymnlyrics.org. We sang this a lot in our church youth group, back in the 60-70s. Songs written by – Norman J. Clayton:
Now I belong to Jesus
by Norman J. Clayton
Jesus, my Lord will love me forever,
From Him no pow’r of evil can sever,
He gave His life to ransom my soul;
Now I belong to Him;
Chorus
Now I belong to Jesus,
Jesus belongs to me,
Not for the years of time alone,
But for eternity.
Once I was lost in sin’s degradation,
Jesus came down to bring me salvation,
Lifted me up from sorrow and shame,
Now I belong to Him;
Chorus
Now I belong to Jesus,
Jesus belongs to me,
Not for the years of time alone,
But for eternity.
Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me,
Freed me from sin that long had enslaved me
His precious blood, He came to redeem,
Now I belong to Him;
Chorus
Now I belong to Jesus,
Jesus belongs to me,
Not for the years of time alone,
But for eternity.
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