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Saved From What?
Saved from our sins. The Bible says, "The wages of
sin is death" and one further learns through the Bible that the person who dies
without being "Saved" spends eternity forever tormented, languishing in a lake
of burning sulfur (brimstone) called, Hell.
Since God is perfect, He cannot tolerate sin. Thus, our
sin separates us from Him. Fortunately, He is also a God of love and desires that we love
Him. So, He devised a plan that would bridge our separation from Him. He caused a common
Jewish lady named Mary to have within her a child by His Holy Spirit. Though she was a virgin,
she thus began supernaturally carrying God's only son. Upon His birth, at the direction of
the angel Gabriel, Mary and her "husband to be", Joseph (she was only engaged
to be married) named the child Jesus, which means Savior.
God's purpose was that His
son Jesus would pay the
death penalty for the sins of every person that had and would ever live. So, in His mid thirties,
in obedience to His father's will, Jesus allowed himself to be crucified on our behalf.
Yes, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins, but we do not
automatically receive the benefits of His provision. God requires that we personally
accept His free gift of salvation by committing our lives to belief in the death, burial
and resurrection of His son.
There are many gods in this world. But there is only one
eternal, supreme God and His name is Jehovah. The proof of that is the supernatural resurrection
of His Son. Though Jesus died for our sins, after three days in the grave God raised Him
to life. Even Josephus, the Jewish historian, who never professed to be a Christian,
recorded that Jesus was resurrected from the grave and was seen of many witnesses.
The Bible further records that after Jesus was
resurrected, he was on earth for 40 days at the end of which God caught Him up into Heaven where
He now reigns with His Heavenly Father for eternity.
You say, "Why should I believe the Bible?"
Well, much research has been done by scholars to
consider it's accuracy and authenticity. The result of their work is the knowledge that, when you consider the accuracy of all the major classical works of literature that
have ever been written, relative to their oldest available manuscripts, the Bibles we have
today are some 2500 times more accurate than the best of the classics.
More important
to me is the declaration of Holy Scripture (The
Bible) that "God is a spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and
in truth". It further says that "Without faith it is impossible to please
God". Elsewhere it says we are to come to Him like little children. When I consider
the unimaginable power and creative ability of God made visible through creation, who am I
to argue with His legal written will for humankind, the Bible?
Most significant to me is the fact that although I am so
unworthy, God is willing to make Himself known, to reveal Himself to the likes of me.
There is no way to describe the pleasure of the close relationship He has allowed
me to have with Him. We visit throughout each day. My entire life wraps around our
friendship. In short, I love Him with all my heart, soul and mind. What an incredible
phenomena that the God of the universe would allow me to be His friend in this way. I will
never be able to thank and praise Him enough!
If you would like to develop a close friendship
with God I recommend that you click HERE. Some
other reading that will bless you is found HERE.
The Webmaster
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