Salvation in Christ
Ivan Ho 9 May 2020
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:8-10
What you believe in your heart and what you confess with your mouth are keys to salvation.
You may say: “I am ok, why do I need salvation, and salvation from what?”
That seems to be the mindset of lots of people in the world. Little do they know: every man, without salvation through Jesus Christ, will be judged and heading to hell after he dies due to his sins!
Every man needs salvation from sin and death through Jesus Christ alone. There is no salvation outside of the name of our Lord Jesus!
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Jesus has done everything to make it possible for man to be reconciled with God through His death and resurrection.
Definition of sin
Because of man’s sin which began with Adam and Eve disobeying God at the garden of Eden, sin and death has entered into our world, and our relationship with God has become hostile as a result.
Due to our sin nature we inherited from Adam and Eve, every man is prone to sin. What is the definition of sin? For many, sin is doing things that are wrong, like murder, theft, rape and so on. Wrongdoings are certainly manifestations of sins. Moreso, from God’s point of view, sin is you knowing what God says is wrong but you do it anyway. In other words, sin is judged by the word of God, not by your subjective moral standards. It is like when we were kids, our father told us not to do certain things, or adviced us to do certain things, but we went against his words and did the exact opposite!
It is the rebellious attitude in us that lead us to do things against God’s commands, things that are displeasing to Him.
For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!
Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 7:19-25
Saul, the first king of Israel, offered sacrifice to God but not according to the time that God commanded him through prophet Samuel. The act of sacrifice itself did not seem to be wrong, but the wrong timing of the act revealed the attitude of rebellion in Saul’s heart that led him to sin against God.
And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord .’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”
And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
I Samuel 13:11-13
Have you ever done anything that went against the word of God? God is perfect, if one breaks one commandment of God, he has broken all His commandments. Hence, in God’s eyes, all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. There is no one good according to God’s standards.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Romans 3:23-24
Due to sin, everyone, unless he repents and accepts Jesus as his personal Lord and Saviour, will perish in hell for all eternity.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Due to man’s sin, punishment through death is the inevitable outcome, but thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ whose blood shed on the cross now redeems us from all our sins!
Today, If you accept Jesus Christ into your life, your sins are forgiven, and you shall receive from God the gift of Eternal Life!