The Invitation to Salvation is For All

God has a plan of salvation for you. When we read Genesis 1:26-28, we see God creating mankind and giving them both male and female dominion over the earth He created.  It sounds like an exciting place to be.  God actually came to the garden in the evenings and talked with them. Something went wrong.  A third party entered the garden.  A fallen angel called Satan.  He had lost his position in Heaven because pride had caused him to want to overthrow God, Himself.  When he sees these two beings that had just been given authority of the earth.  He chose to seduce them into giving him their authority.  In Genesis chapter three, we see the day the sin entered into the heart of mankind and separated the relationship between God and his creation, mankind.

All through the Old Testament we read where God constantly tried to find a man or woman who would walk in uprightness.  He never found one person.  He made covenants with those who would let Him near, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and others. Still there was no one who could live a totally righteous life.  They were born in sin, because their blood line came from Adam.  The only way God found to keep relationship with His creation was to pour out the punishment for sin on innocent animals.  Read about this in the Bible book of Leviticus.  It contains offerings, sacrifices, and laws.  Exodus 30:10 shows us the atonement (payment) for sin was to shed the blood of animals.  When God saw the blood, he released forgiveness.  

There came a time when God chose to bring in a man who could be holy and without sin.  He had to be from a different male seed, as the bloodline is carried through the male of the species. The One who chose to be that man was His son, Jesus.  He was chosen and surrendered Himself to be that man.  He was born of a virgin woman to keep the seed pure. (Matthew and Luke record the whole story). He was born in a normal way, lived a human life, unable to use His deity.  When He was about 30 years old, He was called out by God to fulfill His mission on earth.  He was anointed by the Holy Spirit.  Mat 3:16  And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” 

He had a full anointing of the Holy Spirit. John 3:34  “For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. ”  This released in Him the ability to heal, deliver and set people free.  But He was only one man, filled with the Holy Spirit, going about following God’s plan. He spoke over and over again that all His holy actions were directed by God, the Father.  It still was not enough to free all mankind from sin.  A sacrifice was needed.  Jesus became that sacrifice.  He was innocent and is compared to the lamb of sacrifice spoken of in the Old Testament.  The book of Isaiah and in Psalms are several prophecies about what would happen to this Messiah, the Chosen One.  He would suffer greatly, die a horrible death, have God’s wrath poured out upon Him and be the final blood price to satisfy once-and-for-all the payment for sin.  His sacrifice allows God to forgive all mankind and renew relationship with all of us.  

He was condemned to death.  He died on a cruel cross.  He went to hell and because no sin was found in Him, conquered sin and death.  He arose from the dead, ascended back to Heaven and is seated in Heaven at the right hand of God, ever making intercession for those of us who believe on Him.

Now let us go the the Scriptures to explore this wonderful Savior.

John 17:1-13 is part of Jesus prayer to God, the Father.  It reveals so much of the relationship and calling of Jesus.

John 17:1-13  When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,  since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.  And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.  I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.   And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.  I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.   Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.   For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.   I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.   All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.   And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.   While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.   But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. “

John 3:16-21 Reveals the heart and will of God toward mankind.

John 3:16-21  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.   For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.   Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.   And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.   For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.   But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” 

Romans 5:12-17 Reveals the working of sin and how it controlled mankind until Jesus became the sinless Man who brought salvation for all.

Rom 5:12 -17 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.   Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.  But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.   And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.   For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. “

Ephesians 1:3-14 Reveals the plans God has for those who believe in His Son, Jesus.

Eph 1:3-14  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,   even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love  he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,  which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight  making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ  as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.  In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,  so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.  In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. “

Ephesians 2:1-10 Reveals the power of the Grace of God through our receiving salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.

Eph 2:1-10  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.   For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. “