Christ Alone (NIV)

The earth didn’t get here by itself. The universe is not eternal. For example, stars, such as the sun, die out. You can’t get something from nothing. Nothing times or plus nothing equals nothing. So this means that there has to be a creator (God). Why would God create mankind just to live a sin-filled life and then turn to dust in the ground? So if there is a God there must be a heaven. So how does a person get into heaven, or “get right with God”? God created mankind for His glory, but doesn’t force us to love Him. He gave us a free will to choose to love Him or not. Sin is the lack of love for God, and separates us from a holy God. We are all sinners: even the nicest people still sin. To be in God’s presence in heaven demands perfection. This is not possible because all human beings are stained with sin. This causes us all to be under God’s wrath since God demands perfection to be in his sight. We must live a perfect sinless life to avoid God’s wrath and satisfy God’s holiness. This is impossible for any human being to do. So then what good are our lives in God’s sight? Among other things, our lives are a proving ground to see who has true saving faith and who does not. God tries people to test their faith to see whether they are true or not. “The one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10) Even before we were born, God knew that we would be sinners who are not worthy to be in his presence. So he sent Jesus Christ down from heaven to live a life of perfect sinless obedience which we could never live, and to pay the penalty for our sin on the cross. So then there is a double imputation of Christ’s perfect life in our place and also as our substitute in His payment for our sins with His death on the cross. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). But even His death on the cross would not be sufficient to save us from God’s wrath because any man could die on a cross. No, to make the crucifixion effective, Jesus had to rise from the dead. If He had just stayed dead on the cross, we would still be in our sins: “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). “I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins” (John 8:24). “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36) Our part is to appropriate the perfect life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Christ by making him our Lord and Savior. By accepting his perfect life and crucifixion as our substitute, culminated by His resurrection, we accept Him as our Savior. By our obedience we accept Him as our Lord. Please allow Jesus to control your life in all your ways and act as if Jesus is right there in your presence and make Him your Lord! Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved” (John 10:9a). So what must we do to be saved? We must turn to God in repentance (turning from our sins and false religion) and have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21b). Amen. We are not saved by baptism nor is baptism necessary for salvation. We are cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ alone: “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7) The doctrine of baptismal regeneration is unbiblical. If, when meeting God, we are trusting in our baptism to save us, we will surely end up in hell. We cannot add to what Christ did for us. Trust in Christ alone for salvation from damnation to hell. Not Christ plus baptism—or anything else. “We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19). Also, it is not possible that a truly saved person can ever lose their salvation. The following scriptures make this abundantly clear: “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). “All who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48b). This verse and the following show the doctrine of predestination. “Whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). This Romans passage is called the golden chain of salvation. It is all part of God’s plan and cannot be broken. “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13b,-14). So the Holy Spirit is a seal and a guarantee of our salvation until we get to heaven. Finally, 1 John 5:13: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” Here God’s word leaves no doubt about where believers stand. We may KNOW that we are eternally secure! Useful websites: www.ligonier.org (R. C. Sproul) www.gty.org (John MacArthur)