Pastor Daniel Shanks: Salvation in Christ
"Search the Scriptures; for in them ye
think ye have eternal life; and they are
they which testify of me" -John 5:39
The Lord Jesus Christ referred to the Old Testament when He said, "the Scriptures.. .testify of me." Speaking of the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis-Deuteronomy),Jesus said that Moses "wrote of me" (John 5:46). After His resurrection, Jesus met two of His disciples and encouraged them by saying, "All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me" (Luke 24:44).
When you read the Old Testament, look for promises about Jesus Christ - He is the Seed who crushes Satan's head; He is the Lamb of God; He is the Prophet we must listen to; He is the Priest who offers Himself up to God; He is the King who rules His people.
In the New Testament, the Gospel has come and commands us to believe in Christ, the One that God promised in the Old Testament and sent in the fullness of time. What is the Gospel? It is the "Good News" that through belief in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ we can have forgiveness of sin and eternal life (I Cor 15:3-4).
But why did Jesus have to come into the world? He came because of our sin problem — we do things that displease God. But why are we sinful? Because the first people God created, Adam and Eve, fell into sin – they disobeyed God's will - and as a result we are born sinners, and experience the wages of sin, death and eternal condemnation (Gen 3:1-19; Rom 5:12; 3:23; John 3:18).
Because of our sinfulness, we are alienated from God. He is Holy, without sin, and cannot allow wickedness into His presence. But Jesus was a very special person. He was both God and man. He never sinned. He always pleased His heavenly Father. And He gave His life as a sacrifice for sin. Being both God and man He could come between a holy God and sinful men (I Tim 2:5). His blood provided an atonement, a covering, so that sinners could be pardoned.
The third day after His death on the cross, Jesus was glorified and exalted when the Father raised Him from the dead. He appeared to many witnesses for forty days and then ascended to the right hand of the Father to make intercession for His people (Acts 1:9; Rom 8:34). He will come again gloriously to receive His own unto Himself and to judge with everlasting punishment those who have not obeyed the Gospel (II Thess 1:7-10).
After His resurrection, Jesus said that repentance from sin and forgiveness of sin must be proclaimed to all nations (Luke 24:47). Whenever men look to Jesus by faith for the forgiveness of sins, they also repent of their sins. Repentance means that a man has godly sorrow for his sins and turns from evil in order to live righteously (II Cor 7:1). Paul captured this Gospel truth with these words, "Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (I Thess 1:9-10).
All who stop trusting in their own "works" to make themselves right with God, that is, anything they can do or perform, and look by faith to Jesus Christ as their Substitute, they are accepted by God. God no longer sees the sins of those who believe in Christ, but sees the perfect life and work of His Son (Rom 3:22; 5:15-19). The Bible calls this "justification" -God accepting sinful people on the basis of Christ's finished work (Rom 4:1-8).
Jesus spoke of a man who was convicted of his sins. He did not compare himself to others. He knew his best efforts could not satisfy God's demands. Instead, he beat upon his breast, and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Jesus said, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified" (Luke 18:13-14).
In order to stand before God we must be holy. Since we are all unholy in His sight, we must look outside of ourselves to Jesus alone who is holy and perfect. We will all stand before God's judgment some day. We will either stand there in our sins and be condemned, or stand before Him clothed in the perfect righteousness Of Christ (II Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9).
All of us tend to think that God will accept us into His presence because of something we do. We think that if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, He will accept us on Judgment Day. But it is only what Jesus did that God accepts. God only accepts people who are “in Christ!” We can only come to God through His Son. Have you ceased from your own works and rested your soul in the work of Christ? Are you trusting in Christ's life, death, burial and resurrection alone for your salvation? May the Holy Spirit bring you to cry out, "God be merciful to me the sinner, through your Son Jesus Christ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Salvation in Christ” by Daniel Shanks. A West Indian Company for Courageous Christians Only. Write to us for an Assortment Package of Tracts. Metro Press Box 2168, Roseau, Common Wealth of Dominica, West Indies
think ye have eternal life; and they are
they which testify of me" -John 5:39
The Lord Jesus Christ referred to the Old Testament when He said, "the Scriptures.. .testify of me." Speaking of the first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis-Deuteronomy),Jesus said that Moses "wrote of me" (John 5:46). After His resurrection, Jesus met two of His disciples and encouraged them by saying, "All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me" (Luke 24:44).
When you read the Old Testament, look for promises about Jesus Christ - He is the Seed who crushes Satan's head; He is the Lamb of God; He is the Prophet we must listen to; He is the Priest who offers Himself up to God; He is the King who rules His people.
In the New Testament, the Gospel has come and commands us to believe in Christ, the One that God promised in the Old Testament and sent in the fullness of time. What is the Gospel? It is the "Good News" that through belief in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ we can have forgiveness of sin and eternal life (I Cor 15:3-4).
But why did Jesus have to come into the world? He came because of our sin problem — we do things that displease God. But why are we sinful? Because the first people God created, Adam and Eve, fell into sin – they disobeyed God's will - and as a result we are born sinners, and experience the wages of sin, death and eternal condemnation (Gen 3:1-19; Rom 5:12; 3:23; John 3:18).
Because of our sinfulness, we are alienated from God. He is Holy, without sin, and cannot allow wickedness into His presence. But Jesus was a very special person. He was both God and man. He never sinned. He always pleased His heavenly Father. And He gave His life as a sacrifice for sin. Being both God and man He could come between a holy God and sinful men (I Tim 2:5). His blood provided an atonement, a covering, so that sinners could be pardoned.
The third day after His death on the cross, Jesus was glorified and exalted when the Father raised Him from the dead. He appeared to many witnesses for forty days and then ascended to the right hand of the Father to make intercession for His people (Acts 1:9; Rom 8:34). He will come again gloriously to receive His own unto Himself and to judge with everlasting punishment those who have not obeyed the Gospel (II Thess 1:7-10).
After His resurrection, Jesus said that repentance from sin and forgiveness of sin must be proclaimed to all nations (Luke 24:47). Whenever men look to Jesus by faith for the forgiveness of sins, they also repent of their sins. Repentance means that a man has godly sorrow for his sins and turns from evil in order to live righteously (II Cor 7:1). Paul captured this Gospel truth with these words, "Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (I Thess 1:9-10).
All who stop trusting in their own "works" to make themselves right with God, that is, anything they can do or perform, and look by faith to Jesus Christ as their Substitute, they are accepted by God. God no longer sees the sins of those who believe in Christ, but sees the perfect life and work of His Son (Rom 3:22; 5:15-19). The Bible calls this "justification" -God accepting sinful people on the basis of Christ's finished work (Rom 4:1-8).
Jesus spoke of a man who was convicted of his sins. He did not compare himself to others. He knew his best efforts could not satisfy God's demands. Instead, he beat upon his breast, and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner." Jesus said, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified" (Luke 18:13-14).
In order to stand before God we must be holy. Since we are all unholy in His sight, we must look outside of ourselves to Jesus alone who is holy and perfect. We will all stand before God's judgment some day. We will either stand there in our sins and be condemned, or stand before Him clothed in the perfect righteousness Of Christ (II Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9).
All of us tend to think that God will accept us into His presence because of something we do. We think that if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds, He will accept us on Judgment Day. But it is only what Jesus did that God accepts. God only accepts people who are “in Christ!” We can only come to God through His Son. Have you ceased from your own works and rested your soul in the work of Christ? Are you trusting in Christ's life, death, burial and resurrection alone for your salvation? May the Holy Spirit bring you to cry out, "God be merciful to me the sinner, through your Son Jesus Christ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Salvation in Christ” by Daniel Shanks. A West Indian Company for Courageous Christians Only. Write to us for an Assortment Package of Tracts. Metro Press Box 2168, Roseau, Common Wealth of Dominica, West Indies
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