The bible says that man greatest need is eternal life. To get eternal life, man must be saved and salvation comes only through Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).By nature, all men are born spiritually death and separated from the life of God (Eph. 4:18). One can be alive physically, engaged in everyday activities (moving corpse) but being dead spiritually (dead in trespasses and sin). He that lives in worldly pleasure is dead while he lives (1 Tim 5:6). All men, by nature are not only dead spiritually but are sinners as well (Rom 3:23; Gal 3:22).There’s no man who does not sin (1 Kings 8:46). “We sin because we are sinners.” Sin is a sad and terrible reality.
The bane of man: Again, by nature all are guilty before God (Rom 3:19) and condemned already (John3:18). “There is none righteous, no, not one”(Rom 3:10). All are “sold under sin” and “servants of sin” (Rom 6: 17; 7:14). Sins have separated all from God. There is no fellowship with Him (Isa 59:2). By nature, all are “far off from” God and are lost (Eph 2:13; Luke 19:10). ‘We are without Christ’…having no hope and as a result without God in the world (Eph 2:12). Sadly, no man can cleanse himself from sin (Job 14:4). A sinner is utterly helpless and can neither save nor redeem oneself. Worst still, no one can redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him (Psalm 49:7). Infact, “All our righteousness is as filthy rags in God’s sight” (Isa. 64:6). No human being can by his deeds meet the high and perfect standard God requires. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23); and are weighted in the balances and are found wanting (Dan 5:37).
Why Jesus and what He has done: Since man is sinful in nature and unable to save oneself, God expressed His unconditional love by sending His only begotten son, Jesus Christ to the rescue. “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” (John 3:16). “For the son of man (Christ) is come to save that which was lost (Matt 18:11). “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15). “God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9). “For in Him we live and move and have our being”…(Acts 17:28). Do you still wonder why we celebrate His birth (coming into the world)?
Jesus did for man (sinners) what we could do for ourselves. He became “the propitiation for our sin” (1 John 4:10); ‘made reconciliation for the sin of the people (Heb 2:17) and became sinner’s substitute. He bore our sins in His body on the tree (cross) (1 Peter 2:24) and ‘the Lord laid on Him (Christ) the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:6; 1 John 3:16). “While we were yet sinners (unacceptable and unlovable) Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). The blood of Jesus Christ, His (God’s) own son cleanse us from all sins (1 John 1:7); “Jesus Christ … loved us, washed us from our sins in His own blood (Rev 1:5) Read also: Eph 2:13; Rom 5:10; Col 1:20. God in Christ Jesus had accomplished for sinners what they could never had for themselves through the sacrificial death and shed blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18, 19; 2 Cor. 8:9).
Why we need to be saved?
- Man by nature is born in sin and death. He is helpless and cannot save himself. Salvation is only through faith in Jesus Christ. God has given every one a measure of faith (Rom 12:3).
- To be saved means to have eternal life and it’s a gift from God (Rom 6:23); not by works or personal goodness….(Titus 3:5).
- Salvation comes when you believe in Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of God (John3:36; Acts 16:31; John 5:24; Mark 16:16).
- God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He that accepts and believes in the Son has life (John5:11, 12; John 1:12) and born of God (1 John 5:1).
- When a sinner accepts Jesus as his personal Savior and believes in His saving grace, he is born again (John3:3); born of the spirit of God (John 3:5), made alive in Christ (Eph 2:5) and passes from death unto life (John 5:24) and become a new creature, a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) or put another way, “a new species of being” that never existed before; similar to that which occurred or came to being in the genesis of creation.
- When you accepts and believes in Christ Jesus, a new incorruptible seed of God’s word (creative power) is sown into your heart. You are now in Christ (Eph 2:13) and that affects your thoughts, your beliefs, your actions (behaviors) and utterances (speech).
- You now have access by faith into the grace of God (Rom 5:2); and can speak and receive by faith heavenly (unseen) things into being (Rom 10:9); sent to speak deliverances to the captives (Luke 4:18).
ARE YOU SAVED? WHAT IS YOUR ASSURANCE AND TESTIMONY? That is the reason Jesus was born to save His people from sin.
Reach: Evangelist Ogbonnaya, Godswill @ weefreeministries@yahoo.com or P. O. Box 720035, Houston, Texas, 77272. Web: weefreeministries.org. Ph. 832.881.3929 c.