Beginning in Christ

Salvation – Eternal Life

Beginning in Christ

In Mark 8:36 Jesus said, For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

The Bible, God’s Word, teaches us that there is a place called Heaven where God dwells. Heaven is described as being such a wonderful and peaceful paradise that our human minds cannot comprehend its joy and blissfulness. It is a heavenly kingdom that God wants all to enter into and be part of.

God’s Word also teaches that there is another place, a place called Hell. This place was prepared for the angels and Lucifer who rebelled against God.

When God created man, He made him a three-part being; body, soul and spirit. 

(1 Thessalonians 5:23), Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• The body is our flesh, muscles, bones, etc. God made our bodies from the dust of the earth, (Genesis 2:7), and some day will go back to dust when this life here on earth is over.
• The soul is spiritual and eternal and though it is unseen by the natural eye, it is just as much a part of you as the body. In (Luke 9:28-33), Peter, James and John saw the souls of both Moses and Elijah.
• The spirit is the “breath of life” within us that also is eternal like the soul.

When God created mankind, He gave us a free will in our hearts to make choices just like He gave the angels the ability to choose. Sadly, some of the angelic beings chose not to love the Lord and even went as far as to try to exalt themselves above God. As a result of their choice, they lost eternal life in God’s wonderful kingdom and were cast into Hell.

Man also has this same choice. He could choose to love God and be part of His wonderful kingdom or choose the same fate as these fallen angels have.

That is what Jesus meant when He pleaded with us not to lose our own souls in (Mark 8: 36).

How can we know for sure that we will be in Heaven with God some day? What choice must we make to assure us of this salvation and eternal life?

To begin with, a person must realize that as a child, their relationship with God was alive, they were innocent and sin was not held to their account because they did not yet understand the law and commandments of God.

(Romans 7:9), I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

The apostle Paul tells us here that his relationship with God was alive before he knew the law of God, before he knew what was right from wrong. If Paul had died as a child, he would have gone to Heaven to be with the Lord. But Paul then continued to tell us that his relationship with God died when he came to the age when he knew right from wrong, and chose to do wrong and sinned against God.

(Romans 7:9) “…but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 

Paul became dead in trespasses and sin. This is what he meant when he wrote to the Christians at Ephesus and explained this truth in the following manner;

(Ephesians 2:1), And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

(v.5), even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

The first thing then one must realize to understand their need for salvation is, as a child, they were innocent until they sinned against God for the first time. No matter what that sin was, whether it was lying, stealing, disobeying, etc., it caused their innocent relationship with God to die. Their spiritual life that was once pure is now stained with sin and in need of a cure if their relationship with God is to be restored.

The next thing they must realize is that the Lord Jesus Christ came to give us a “gift of love” which was the sacrifice of His life on a cross for the sins we have committed. The reason why God chose it to be this way is to show us two things;

• How terrible sin really is.
• How deeply God truly loves us!

We do not naturally comprehend sin for what it really is and the devastation it has caused over the millenniums, the countless tears, broken hearts, pain, disease, murder, abuse, terror, wars, fighting, broken families, broken marriages, theft, fear, loss of love and compassion, souls lost forever, and the list can go on and on! It seems that we have become so familiar with it that we have become numb to its’ evil and horror. We have lost the vision of what it was like back in the “Garden of Eden” when man and woman walked with God in Paradise where everything was so beautiful, pure and peaceful. We do not see the “before and after” picture. But God reminded us how awful sin really is. It is so terrible, that the Lord had to die because of it! There is no greater nor effective way He could have showed us to help melt away the cool numbness of our hearts that we might see and feel once again how horrible sin is and how much we allowed it to rob us of such love, joy and peace; how we allowed sin to steal us from our Maker, our heavenly Father!

There is no greater way He could have showed us how bad sin really is and there is no greater way He could have showed us how much He really loved us! The ultimate act of love is when one lays down their life for another. We could not ask for a greater gift from Him!

(John 15:13), Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

(Romans 5:8), But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

(John 3:16), For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Next, one must understand that they have to make the choice to receive this “gift of love” that the Lord has offered to all. The only way we could receive this gift of God’s mercy and grace is by; 

• Loving Him. 
• Be thankful and believe with all our heart He died and shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins and rose from the dead.
• And then God asks us to confess our sin to Him and repent of them, and if we do so, He promised that He would forgive us and cleanse us from our sin by His blood (spiritually speaking), making us pure, innocent, clean and alive unto God once again.

(1 John 1:9), If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(v. 7), But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

We are now alive once again unto God! This is what Jesus meant when He said in; 

(John 3:3), Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

(Ephesians 2: 1), And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

This is God’s way and it is the only way for one to have forgiveness of sins, eternal life and assurance of Heaven. God wants all to receive His Son as their Lord and Saviour but sadly, many will refuse and only a few will be saved.

(Matthew 7:13-14), Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

(1 John 5:13), These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

In this lesson, we see then how one begins in Christ;

• Realize that sin caused our innocent relationship with God to die.
• Realize that the Lord loved us so much that He came to die as a sacrifice for our sins.
• Love Him, be thankful and believe with all our hearts that He died and shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins and rose again from the dead.
• Repent and confess our sins and believe that He keeps His promise to forgive and cleanse us from all sin.

In our next lesson, we will study how we are to continue in Christ and how our steadfastness shows the reality of our salvation.