Although the Bible contains many salvation truths, three are most important for the would-be converts to know and internalize in their souls.   

Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...”

The Bible teaches humankind is subject to the wrath of God because they are displeasing to Him. What makes us displeasing to God?  The sin nature! Matthew 7 talks about the strait gate and narrow way that leads to eternal life. Finding and then walking through the strait gate is the most difficult part about salvation because the soul must look at itself, acknowledge the depravity it sees, and then come to grips with the fact s/he is lost and without hope.

God uses the Ten Commandments to help us see our sin nature. Unfortunately, most people refuse to look in the mirror of the Ten Commandments because they do not want to confess they are ugly, destitute, and rejected by God. If the truth be known, sin is the ‘spiritual essence’ of every heart, which is at the center of every soul (Romans 3:10-18). We are not sinners because we sin but sin because we are sinners.

Mark 3:28 says that although God has forgiven humankind for their sins, there is one sin he will not and cannot forgive; and, that sin will send them to hell! That sin is the act of unbelief in the sacrificial death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.    

Basic Salvation Truth 2

Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Since everyone is born in sin, all have the disease except Christ who was born without sin (Romans: 3:21). Everyone needs a new heart, a transplanted heart. Unfortunately, most people are unwilling to admit they have the disease and for that reason unwilling to say ‘yes’ to the Surgeon of their souls. They are unable to view themselves as the Publican in Matthew who said: “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” They are unwilling to look in the mirror of the Ten Commandments. Why? 

The answer is many evangelicals would have you believe one’s ‘heart disease’ is nothing more than a ‘mild cold’ that will go away with a simple prayer. Many ministries have diluted the seriousness of sin down to nothing more than innocent mistakes. The Bible paints a different picture of sin, one that shows our sinful nature as a terminal disease. The Bible teaches that every human heart is (corruptible) beyond repair and needs a new (incorruptible) heart, one that God Himself transplants through the seed of His Word  (John 3: 1-21; 1 Peter 1:22-25).

1 John 5: 4-5 says: “He that overcomes (or is given a new heart by the renewing of our minds through the Word of God) will come out from under God’s judgment into Christ. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 Corinthians 15: 1-5 says essentially the same but under the Spirit inspired penmanship of the Apostle Paul. 

Basic Salvation Truth 3

The Bible says there are two sides to salvation. From God’s side, salvation is possible by grace through the finished work of the Cross (Romans 3:22, 24-25, 28). From man’s side, faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only condition God requires for salvation (John 3:16, 14:6; Acts 4:12; and 1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Faith is our response to the gift of salvation. From Genesis to Revelation, God uses grace and faith to put man right with Himself. Faith and faith alone is what please the Father (Romans 1:17; Romans 5:1).    

To borrow from a popular analogy used by evangelists, imagine two brothers trapped by fire on a window ledge several floors up. Their only hope of escape is to jump into the net below. Suddenly, one brother leaps from the building and lands safely in the net. He finds salvation. The other (blinded by smoke and lacking faith in the net) backs away from the ledge and looks for another escape route. In the ensuing moments that follow, poisonous fumes overcome the second brother and he perishes in the fire. He finds death.

What saved the first brother’s life? It was his faith in the net. What took the second brother’s life? Obviously, it was his lack of faith in the net. The net was there for both of them. One said yes and the other said no. 

From this analogy, we see that grace (made possible by the finished work of the Cross) is the net that God has spread out before all mankind. Those who jump by faith will find salvation. Those who do not jump will be lost.  What causes a person to be lost?  Lack of faith (unbelief) in Christ!    

Before salvation can occur, the person must:

• Acknowledge s/he is a sinner (caught in a burning building) with no way out and in danger of losing eternal life.

• Look for an escape route from God’s wrath (the fire) by placing his or her faith in the unseen net far below (the finished work of the Cross)

•  Jump (take the leap of faith) believing the one holding the net far below is Christ himself.

How do we jump? According to the apostle Paul, we take the leap-of-faith by believing the gospel (with all of our heart) as outlined in 1 Corinthians 15 1-4: “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures...”

In closing, the Bible instructs believers to examine themselves to see if they are in Christ (and rapture ready).

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THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FESTIVALS TO THE INDIVIDUAL

BELIEVER IN THE LORD JESUS [YESHUA] AND HOW THEY RELATE TO

HIS LIFE by Eddie Chumney

God designed the agricultural and weather seasons in Israel to parallel
the life of every believer in Christ who seeks to love Him and serve Him
with all his heart.  With this in mind, let us examine how this is true.
Every time a person receives the Lord Jesus as his own Savior, he
spiritually experiences Passover.  He is to flee Egypt, the world's evil
system and ways, trust in the Lord, the Lamb of God, and allow Christ to
be the doorpost of his heart.  As believers, we are then to seek to live
holy lives before God and experience Unleavened Bread.  Just as Jesus
rose from the dead, we are to consider our former ways dead to us and
experience the newness of life in the Lord.  Once we do this, we can be
immersed (baptized) in the Holy Spirit and have the power of God (the
anointing) in our lives.  Spiritually, we have experienced the spring
harvest of Israel in our lives.  When we accept Jesus into our hearts
and lives, He begins to teach us the Bible and show us how much He loves
us, and we begin to grow in the knowledge of Him.

At that time, God will begin to take us on a spiritual journey through
the wilderness of life.  Spiritually, we will begin to experience the
dry summer season of Israel.  Many things in our lives will not go the
way we expect them to or how we trust God for them to go.  In the
process of experiencing life's bitter disappointments and struggles, if
we keep our eyes upon God, He will take us from Passover to Pentecost.
There He will reveal His ways and his Word, the Bible, in a deeper and
more progressive way.  By keeping our eyes on the Messiah through life's
struggles, God will not only reveal His Word, the Bible, to us in a
greater way, but He also will refine our faith like fine flour, just as
was done to the wheat during the days of counting the omer between
Passover and Pentecost.  Meanshile, if we put our entire trust in Jesus
while on our spiritual journey in the wilderness of life as God refines
our faith and reveals Himself to us in a greater way, then our spiritual
journey will not end in the wilderness of life.  Instead God will take
us forward to spiritually experience the fall festivals and our
spiritual promised land.

---Study taken from "The Seven Festivals Of The Messiah"
        by Eddie Chumney
 

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