Saved by His Life! : By James Lantz
The goodness of God is magnified through His great mercy, compassion, and love that He freely gives to all who humble themselves before Him through repentance and faith toward God. In the book of beginnings we see that God created everything good. Gen. 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Man was created in the image of God and given dominion over God’s creation with the charge to care for it and to keep it. Man was designed to live forever in the environment that God had placed him in. Our millions of cells in our body are renewed about every seven years. Why then does the body grow old and die? It is because of the curse that came as a result of disobedience. The curse effected the earth and more than that, brought death to every man, spirit , soul, and body. Before the fall there was no pain, no unkind words, no sickness, no poverty, no death. Adam ignored his heavenly Father’s instructions which brought death to every man, woman, boy and girl born in the earth. Rom. 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. Isaiah the prophet, records the result of Adam’s sin. We are all unclean and our righteousness is as filthy rags, we are fading like a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. I recently watched a recorded interview of a republican presidential candidate who says he is a Christian. This man claims that he never asked God for forgiveness because he is always right and never needs forgiveness. We who are in the light understand that there is no right standing with God except we repent and receive Jesus as our Lord! We believe and accept that we were made righteous through Jesus shed blood, his suffering for us, and his resurrection from the dead. Every one has already been forgiven of their sins and the way has been cleared for each one to come to God and receive mercy, but we still have to acknowledge our need for salvation ( that we had sinned) and to call out to God and receive by faith. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If our right standing with God could have been restored through our own good works then our
Sinners are reconciled through Jesus death and we are saved by His life!
heavenly Father would be a murderer for having Jesus sacrificed for our righteousness. Father God is just and fair and sin must be punished! In His mercy towards us, He asked Jesus to voluntarily take our punishment for sin so that we could be restored back into favor with Himself, become His children and be redeemed from the curse of the law. 1 Pet. 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. Jesus rose to the task, humbled himself, became a man, became the sacrificial lamb dying for us, after suffering three days and three nights in hell as payment for our sins, he rose from the dead giving us eternal life. Christ died for us when we were yet sinners and now that we are justified (made righteous) we are saved by his life. God’s love is awesome towards His enemies, but those who receive the life of God are able to receive much more of his love! Rom. 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. The new Living Translation reads, since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. Every part of redemption is very important! Jesus shed His blood and suffered in hell for the remission of our sins! Jesus bore our sickness and diseases so that we could be healed! Jesus was pressured and tempted in His mind so we could have peace! Jesus became poor so that we might become rich! Jesus was raised from the dead so that we could be raised from the dead and have eternal life! This rising from the dead is the most important part because without the resurrection we would not have received the life of God nor Jesus high priestly ministry that blesses us today. 1 Cor. 15:17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. The apostle Paul also writes of his desire to win Christ, and be found in him having the righteousness which is of God by faith. Phil. 3: 10&11 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Is your desire to know him as strong or stronger than your desire to have the power of the resurrection? In the resurrection we receive a new life, the zoe life of God! John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. We have not placed enough emphasis on this life of God that we have received through Christ. 1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 1 John 5:12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. The Holy Spirit through Paul refers to this new man as a new creation in Christ. God gets a brand new son or daughter and we get to be God’s representative here in the earth. Luke 10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. I am reminded of Jesus’
Having your name in the book of life includes all that Christ gives!
command to rejoice that my name is written in heaven. Our rejoicing is to be based on the finished work of our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who took the responsibility and punishment for our sins and gave to us eternal life! Rejoicing in our life with God allows us many reasons for rejoicing all the time. We are not going to hell but rather are going to be spending eternity with our heavenly Father, the Lord Jesus, and the precious Holy Spirit! God’s love for us was climaxed when we were raised up together with Christ and seated together with Him in heavenly places. Jesus gave us His name and all authority over demons, in which I am thankful, but rejoicing in the life that Jesus gave us covers it all. Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. By continually rejoicing in the life that we have been given through our Lord Jesus Christ helps us to keep our minds on Jesus. Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Our spirit was reborn when we gave our life to Jesus and we are now to live after the things of the Spirit of God. This is accomplished through faith and persistence as we learn to obey the word of God and the leading of His Spirit.
Look at how much the Father loves us in making us His sons and daughters even now before we get our glorified body. 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Abundance of grace!
- All those who chose Jesus as Lord are empowered to become sons of God!
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Romans 10:13 Eph. 2:8 2 Cor. 5:15
2. Empowered in this life! Eph. 2:4&5 Acts 1:8 1 John 5:4
Rom. 5:17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.
3. Enjoying the God kind of life for all of eternity! Phil. 1:21 1 Thess. 4:17
Eph. 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
