The Next Step – Jesus My Savior

Welcome back, my friend. Last month in our series, “The Next Step – Living Your Life through Jesus”, I discussed the importance of God the Holy Spirit in your spiritual rebirth. He is your guide and teacher to a faith- driven Christian walk as you live your life through Jesus. He is the one who unlocks the secrets of the Bible and shows you the will of God for your life.  He is the one who covers you with God’s sealing grace guaranteeing you’ll be spending all eternity with God your Heavenly Father.

Let’s now begin the discussion of God the Son, Jesus Christ My Savior.

My friend, you need to understand why God the Son had to die, and how His death, burial and resurrection played into God’s plan of redemption for this lost world controlled by Satan.

God Three in One — the Persons of the Trinity

The key to understanding your salvation lies in the Trinity (I spoke about this last month). Biblically, all three Persons of the Trinity have the same spirit and nature. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are not forms of God — each of them is God — but each One has different roles or activities when it comes to how God relates to the world. For example, our salvation is based on God the Father’s love and grace (John 3:16), God the Son’s death and resurrection (Romans 4:25), and God the Holy Spirit’s guarantee of rebirth and God’s sealing grace for all eternity (Ephesians 4:30). The different tasks that the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit perform are the result of the eternal relationship that exists among the Persons of the Trinity — God three in one.

If You Just Work Hard Enough, You Can Get to Heaven. Right?

So why did Jesus have to die?  Wouldn’t it have been easier if God the Father had, through His love and grace, just forgiven each of our sins and welcomed us all to heaven with open arms.  He could have said, come one and all, I love you and forgive all your sins; I want you to be with me through all eternity.  If He had simply done this then Jesus Christ, God the Son, wouldn’t have had to die for us.

Unfortunately some religions teach just that. They believe that a loving Holy Father would never send his own beloved creations to Hell because He loves us too much.  All we have to do is work really hard at being the best person we can possibly be,  keep all of the rites and rituals of the manmade religion we participate in and we’re pretty much assured that He will let us into Heaven.  They skip over the life changing part about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection completely.

My friend, this approach to Heaven is the very lie that Satan wants you to believe.  He teaches the lost to believe that it’s “All about ME, not JESUS.”  They tell you that you can work your way to God, proving to Him that you are worthy of spending eternity with Him because of all the hard work you’ve done for Him.  I’m sure there will be those individuals when they arrive at the great judgment seat who will produce resumes to hand to Jesus proving all they’ve done to get into Heaven.

But, God’s Holy Word doesn’t teach us that.  Nowhere in the Bible is this approach to Heaven mentioned or taught.  If you have a friend or family member who tell you this, my advice would be to ask them in love to show you in God’s Word where it teaches this approach to salvation so that you can learn about it.
Remember, one verse pulled out of scripture can’t stand on its own unless the person quoting it can show you that its theme is carried throughout the Bible. And this approach to salvation can’t stand on its own. It’s as simple as that.

The True Deity of Jesus Christ

Let’s correct the misconception perpetuated by Satan that Jesus was a great spiritual man, a prophet sent by God, and nothing more.  Friends, this is a lie taught by cults and religions who preach Satan’s gospel of good works as the way to get to Heaven.  We find the truth that answers this lie in the Gospel of John.

The Word (Christ) was in the beginning. The Word was with God. The Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. He made all things. Nothing was made without Him making it. Life began by Him. His Life was the Light for men. The Light shines in the darkness. The darkness has never been able to put out the Light. John 1:1-5 (NLV)

But although he made the world, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him. But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them. All those who believe this are reborn!—not a physical rebirth resulting from human passion or plan—but from the will of God.  14 And Christ became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth. John 1:10-14 (TLB)

Jesus Christ, God the Son, is God and through the relationship established in the Trinity He became a human being and lived here on earth among us.  For this to happen, He had to divest Himself of His eternal life and become a flesh-and-blood human being born of a virgin.

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11(NKJV)

And you are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.  Matthew 1:21(NLT)

He will save His people from their sins.  The Greek for Jesus comes from the Hebrew word yehoshua, which means “He will Save.” His very name means Savior.  Jesus was born for the purpose of saving humanity (you and me). “Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.”  Hebrews 2:14 (NLT)

Jesus who is fully God became a human and in reality, He became God with us (Matthew 1:23).  Why did Jesus become flesh and blood, just like you and me (Romans 8:3)?  He had to become human so that He could die.
Jesus was flesh and blood, just like you and me.  He did not merely enter into a fleshly body and become God inside of, and separate from, His human body.  Jesus had all of the characteristics I spoke about in “Who Am I Really” lesson 1” Your Life Begins.”  He needed the same blood that courses through your veins, the same air you breathe, and the same food you eat to keep Him alive.

God’s Eternal Plan Spared Mankind from an Eternity in Hell

So why did Jesus have to die?  Because of one word SIN.  When Adam and Eve fell into sin everything changed.  They immediately became physically and spiritually separated from God their Father (along with us).  God had to turn His back on them because He could not tolerate the sight of sin’s wickedness (Psalm 5:4).  In fact, “All (of us) have sinned and are not good enough to share God’s divine greatness.”  Romans 3:23 (ERV).  “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Romans 5:12 (NLT).  “Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone,” Romans 5:18 (NLT).

Don’t overlook the word death I have highlighted above.  When sin entered the world it came with a severe judgment from God, and death was that judgment “For the wages of sin is death,” Romans 6:23 (NLT).  You may think, I know I’m going to die eventually, doesn’t everyone, so what’s the big deal.

My friend, this death means more than just physical, it also means spiritual.  This sentence of death ensures each and every one of us an eternity separate from God with no appeals or over turning of our sentence.  From birth our destiny is and always will be to spend all eternity in hell with Satan and all of his evil minions.

Do you now understand why Satan and his evil minions fight so fiercely to keep the Good News from you?  We belong to him and he wants every one of us to spend eternity with him in the lake of burning sulfur where we will be tormented day and night forever and ever, totally separated from God for all eternity. (Revelation 20:10-15)

Even though Satan triumphed in introducing sin into the world through Adam and Eve, and separating us from God our Father condemning us to eternal death, God already had a different plan.

Satan is told that his goal of separating man from God, our Father, would fail. God shares His eternal plan, which involved the redemption of men and women from the curse of sin and death. He is the first to announce the birth of our Redeemer and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. (Genesis 3:14-15)

Just imagine that you are sitting in your prison cell on death row waiting to be executed for your crime of Sin.  Your death is the debt you owe to society for what you’ve done.  You’ve just finished your last supper and your hear the footsteps of the warden and the guards.  Your cell door is opened and the warden asks you to stand and then to your surprise he tells you that you are free to go.  You don’t understand and the warden tells you that someone took your place in the electric chair and died for your crime of Sin — your debt is paid in full.  You ask who would do such a thing and the warden says a man named Jesus stepped in and took your place.  You walk out of jail a free person still trying to wrap your mind around what just happened.  But, then you remember bits and pieces of the scriptures you read in the Bible while you were waiting to die.

He died for our sins just as God our Father planned, and rescued us from this evil world in which we live.  Galatians 1:4 (TLB)

We aren’t saved from sin’s grasp by knowing the commandments of God because we can’t and don’t keep them, but God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours—except that ours are sinful—and destroyed sin’s control over us by giving himself as a sacrifice for our sins.  Romans 8:3 (TLB)

For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath. In this way he was being entirely fair, even though he did not punish those who sinned in former times. For he was looking forward to the time when Christ would come and take away those sins.  Romans 3:25 (TLB)

The light bulb goes off in your mind and you realize what you’ve read about Jesus is all true.  You drop to your knees and finally understand that “Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.” Romans 5:8 (ERV).   Believing the truth you thank God for saving such a sinner as you and you stand to walk away from the prison full of peace and joy as you begin to live your life through Jesus, your Savior.

God the Son became the final sacrifice God the Father needed to pay the ultimate penalty for sin, death.  “ Christ himself suffered when he died for you, and with that one death he paid for your sins. He was not guilty, but he died for people who are guilty. He did this to bring all of you to God. In his physical form he was killed, but he was made alive by the Spirit.”  1 Peter 3:18 (ERV)

In order for death to be conquered, Jesus not only needed to die but also  had to rise from the dead in order to make the conquest complete. “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Corinthians 15:57 (NLT).   “And the last enemy to be destroyed is death” 1 Corinthians 15:26 (NLT).

This is the reason our loving Heavenly Father couldn’t just say your sins are all forgiven don’t worry about anything I’ll see you in Heaven.  Jesus your Savior, God Himself had to die for your sins because it was the only way.  Like the prisoner on death row, it is never too late.  Have you accepted Him as your personal Savior?  Remember, “Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

We’ve looked at Jesus My Savior.  Join me next month as we discuss Jesus My Lord.  

Until next month, my friend, may His mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.