Genesis 1 teaches that God created the universe and created man in His own image. He gave man an abundant life, but by free will, man chose to disobey God and to go his own way. According to Romans 3:23, all have sinned and the result of sin is death. This sin separates man from a Holy God. Isaiah 5:16 says that God is righteous in his judgement and Psalm 9:16 declares that the Lord is known by His justice. Because God is holy, He will have to punish sin to execute justice.

 

“Jesus answered ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.’
John 14:6

 

God loved the world He created and planned a way by which the world could be saved, escaping judgement and eternal damnation. He sent His Son, born of the Holy Spirit, to bring everlasting life to those who would believe on Him. If a man hears the Word of God, is convicted of sin, and is brought into repentance, he escapes condemnation. He is forgiven of his sins and stands rightly before God. Jesus was crucified, died, and was buried, but God raised Him from the dead. He paid the penalty for man’s sin by taking man’s iniquities upon Himself and dying in man’s place. His death and resurrection bridged the gap between God and man. Jesus said He is the way, and the only way to be brought back into right relationship with God, the Father.

 

“For there is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself as a ransom for all men.”
1 Timothy 2:5

Because of God’s great love for his creation, He made a way for man to be reconciled to Himself, yet man has a part to play in his redemption. He must receive Jesus’ work on the cross and invite Him to be his Savior. Jesus said He stands at the door and knocks and if any man open the door to Him He will come in and sup with him. The door He referred to is the door to the heart. Man needs to allow the Lord entrance into his heart and not simply give mental accent to God’s saving grace. A verbal confession that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead opens the door to salvation. Romans 10:9 states that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. Embracing the message of salvation brings man into a new birth into the Kingdom of God and he becomes a child of God, redeemed from a life of futility, exchanging sin, frustration, guilt, and lack of purpose for forgiveness, peace, and abundant and eternal life.

Once choosing to let Jesus into the heart, radical change takes place in a man’s life as he turns from his wicked ways and receives the cleansing and healing work of the Holy Spirit. A giving up of earthly pleasures to follow the Lord brings a man out of agreement with the darkness of the world and into the light and liberty of Christ’s kingdom. Jesus beckoned those who would come after Him to take up their cross, deny themselves, and follow Him wherever He goes. He said He did nothing except what the Father was doing and prayed that we be one with Him as He is one with His Father. Selfish ambition and striving after the things the world has to offer is an affront to the cross. When Jesus was challenged by Satan, prince of the world, to follow him into the world and partake of what the world has to offer, He refuted him in every temptation and taught that the world and the Kingdom of God were at enmity with each other. Those who truly love Jesus will be willing to forsake the world and suffer for Him, even unto death. This is a hard order to fill, but Jesus did not leave His followers helpless. He sent the Holy Spirit to work in the believer as he submits to a refining process including healing and deliverance. A transformation of character taking on love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control and the renewing of the mind to line thoughts line up with the Word of God is the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work, and a walk in holiness is the result.

Surrender of the will to the lordship of Jesus brings a man into his destiny in God and sets him free from the pronouncement of death and destruction handed to him in his sinful nature.

 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has
anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim freedomfor the prisoners and recovery of sight for
the blind, to release the oppressed....”
Luke 4:18-19