The Bible actually reveals that there is a plan of salvation for ALL people. It is absolutely incredible that NONE are left out, and the opportunity is there for ALL to be SAVED! Today I would like to talk with you about the salvation of your soul. It is a good thing for you to be concerned about your soul because the Bible makes it clear that each and every one of us will stand before God one day, and be judged.
And as it is APPOINTED unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)
Have you ever given place to the thought, that you may not have long to live?
Do you realize that there is a possibility that you could even die before this day is over?
It is true that we are not promised even another day, and the very breath that we breathe is on loan to us.
Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. (Proverbs 27:1)
The most important thing for any human being to know is where they are going to spend eternity, and that is what I want to talk with you about right now.
Do you know where you are going after you die?
Do you realize that you will spend eternity in one of two places, either HEAVEN or HELL
Maybe this is something that you have wondered about, but you are not completely sure whether this whole thing about the AFTERLIFE is true.
I also used to wonder about these things, until I was born again back in 1989. You can read my testimony HERE if you desire, but let’s get back to God’s plan of salvation for you.
The devil is referred to as “the god of this world” in the following passage:
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious GOSPEL OF CHRIST, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
Do you see that?
The devil [the ‘god of this world’] is declared to be the one who blinds the minds of lost souls, because he does not want them to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which can save their soul.
The devil does not want you, or anybody else, including your closest loved ones, your sons and daughters, your wives and husbands and your closest friends to understand the good news about Jesus Christ.
There are many things that will keep you occupied in this life, and trying to make ends meet can be a daily struggle for many people. On the other end there are people who do not struggle with their finances, and they seem determined to make even more money as they go through this life. But once again we come back to the ultimate question of where a person is going to spend eternity. You see all the money in the world cannot buy salvation. Jesus Himself said this:
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37)
Think about those words for a moment. Suppose you could inherit all the money you could possible imagine, drive the best cars, eat at the best restaurants, travel to the most exotic places in the world, and at the end of your life you end up dying in your sins, and end up in Hell!
Is it worth it? Come on tell me is it worth it to lose your soul and spend eternity in Hell for a few minutes of pleasure in this temporary life?
A preacher once declared that “most people sell their souls for a bag of popcorn”, and he was right on with that statement.
The Devil Wants To Hide This From You!
The Bible lets us know that each and every one of us is a sinner, and YOU need to know that, before you can SEE your need for salvation.
Many [if not most] people look at themselves as basically “good people” who mind their own business, and they expect to be alright with God, if in fact, there is some kind of a judgment in eternity.
They envision the eternal “scales of justice” being held up, and they are confident that their “good deeds” will outweigh their “bad deeds” and they hope to enter Heaven after they die.
The devil is very happy with that type of thinking and mindset, and if you are thinking along those lines, then you are as deceived as I was for thirty six years of my life. The devil is a LIAR but the LORD is a God of TRUTH!
This is what the BIBLE has to say about the salvation of YOUR soul, and you can take God at His word on this.
As it is written, There is NONE righteous, no, NOT ONE: (Romans 3:10)
Did you read that? The scripture tells us that there are NONE who can make the claim to being righteous, in and of themselves!.
That means that you could travel the world, from the USA to England, to Africa, to Australia to Europe and every other part of the earth and you will not find ONE person who can be declared righteous in the sight of God.
For ALL have SINNED, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23)
Once again we learn that ALL people can lay claim to the title of SINNER.
If you do a lot of traveling around the world, then you probably get to hear a lot of people, talking in all sorts of different languages, but you ALL have one thing in common, and that is the fact that you are ALL sinners.
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that EVERY MOUTH may be stopped, and all the world may become GUILTY before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. (Romans 3:19-20)
If we were to stand in the courtroom of God, and be judged according to the Ten Commandments, EACH and EVERY ONE of us would be be found GUILTY before Almighty God.
The Bible tells us that the Law of God stops [silences] the mouth of every single person from justifying themselves before a Holy and righteous God. The Ten Commandments warn us about the worship of false ‘gods’ [1] making and worshiping graven images, (idols) [2] killing [6] ,adultery [7] and coveting our neighbors possessions [10] just to mention a few of them. [Read Exodus 20]
None of us are righteous in the sight of God, in and of ourselves.
God forbid: yea, let God be true, but EVERY MAN A LIAR; as it is written . . . (Romans 3:4)
Sinner: What Are The Consequences?
For the wages of sin is DEATH . . . (Romans 6:23)
The Bible declares that YOU have earned the wages of SIN which is DEATH.
Yes, I realize that you are physically alive right now, but the scripture is talking about SPIRITUAL death here also.
If you have never come to salvation in Jesus Christ, then YOU are spiritually dead right now according to the scriptures, and in the sight of God.
Your physical death is sure to follow and that may be soon for you, or it may be many years away, but it is going to happen.
The Lord wants you to see your own condition the way He sees it. Each and every one of us is nothing but a WRETCH outside the love and mercy of God.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately WICKED: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
The human heart is so deceitful and wicked, that it will cause a person to continue to live their life, without seeking the help and counsel from God, that is so desperately needed.
Have you seen your need for salvation yet?
Great Hope For ALL Sinners (You Too!)
So what can a person do, once they see their spiritual condition in truth?
But GOD commendeth his LOVE toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, CHRIST DIED FOR US. Much more then, being now JUSTIFIED BY HIS BLOOD, we shall be SAVED from wrath through HIM. (Romans 5:8-9)
Perhaps you have heard all of this before, but maybe you did not quite understand it.
The person that we know as Jesus Christ was sent from the Father above, to this earth to REDEEM you and RECONCILE you back to GOD!In plain and simple language. JESUS CHRIST died as a SUBSTITUTE in your place!
There was a reason for the BLOOD which was shed upon that cross by Jesus Christ so many years ago.
Every animal sacrifice in the Old Testament was a mere type and shadow of the GREATEST SACRIFICE ever made.
The one thing that you need to know, is that Jesus Christ knew all along that He was going to be butchered upon that CROSS.
The prophet Isaiah even prophesied about the DEATH of JESUS CHRIST approximately 700 years before it happened!
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne OUR GRIEFS, and carried OUR SORROWS: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for OUR TRANGRESSIONS, he was bruised for OUR INIQUITIES: the chastisement of our peace was upon HIM; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the INIQUITY OF US ALL. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a LAMB to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb [silent], so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:3-7)
The Bible records the following:
The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the LAMB OF GOD which taketh away the SIN of the world.
(John 1:29)
John the Baptist was speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when he made that statement. he knew that Jesus was the one sent from God to redeem the world. The Bible tells us that BLOOD is necessary for the atonement of the soul.
For the life of the flesh is in the BLOOD: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the BLOOD that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)
Did you catch that? The LIFE of the flesh is in the BLOOD.
If a person is involved in an automobile accident and they lose a lot of BLOOD, it is often referred to as a LIFE threatening injury because the BLOOD is necessary to live. That is why the emergency personnel will seek to get the person to the hospital as soon as possible before they die,
Jesus went to the cross willingly as the Lamb of God, knowing full well that HIS BLOOD would be shed for the sake of all the lost souls in the world. That is the absolute example of TRUE LOVE is it not? Jesus said this:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be SAVED. He that believeth on him is NOT CONDEMNED but he that believeth not is CONDEMNED ALREADY, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten SON OF GOD. (John 3:16-18)
Jesus spoke about the LOVE of God and yet He did not mince words in telling the people that a person was already condemned, if they did not believe in Him. Jesus was put to DEATH upon the cross but it did not end there. That very same Jesus rose from the dead.
And as they thus spake, JESUS himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I MYSELF: handle ME, and SEE; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be FULFILLED, which were written in the law of MOSES, and in the PROPHETS, and in the PSALMS, CONCERNING ME. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the SCRIPTURES, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved CHRIST to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name AMONG ALL NATIONS beginning at JERUSALEM. (Luke 24:36-47)
The followers of Jesus Christ were terrified when they first set their eyes upon the risen Christ, until they realized that this was the very same Jesus who walked with them, and taught them for over three years.
The Lord made a point of sharing a meal with them and He also encouraged them to examine His wounds from the cross, to show them that it was indeed Him. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God!
The Lord also made a point of telling His followers that the scriptures prophesied of these things concerning Himself.
He spoke about how Moses and the prophets and the psalms spoke about all of these things, and then he told His followers to go and preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in His name, beginning at Jerusalem.
So that is the plan of salvation for you my friend. The Lord Jesus Christ said this “… repent and believe the Gospel…” [Mark 1:15]
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be SAVED; but he that believeth not shall be DAMNED (Mark 16:15-16)
He that believeth on the Son hath EVERLASTING LIFE: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the WRATH OF GOD abideth on him. (John 3:36)
For there is NO DIFFERENCE between the JEW and the GREEK [Gentile]: for the same LORD over ALL is rich unto ALL that call upon HIM For WHOSOEVER shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be SAVED. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a PREACHER? (Romans 10:12-14)
There is only ONE plan of salvation and that is found in Jesus Christ. That includes both Jewish and Gentile people all over the world.
If YOU Miss THIS, Then YOU Miss Everything!
Jesus declared that He was the ONLY way and the scriptures declare the very same thing!
Jesus saith unto him, I AM the way, the truth, and the life: NO MAN cometh unto the Father, BUT BY ME. (John 14:6)
Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of ISRAEL, that by the name of JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is NONE OTHER NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we must be SAVED. (Acts 4:10-12)