The Road to Salvation and A New Life in Christ
Matthew 7:13-14
13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the
gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter
through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that
leads to life,
and only a few find it.
Jesus Christ made it very
clear that there are only 2 paths you can be on. Have you found the narrow one? Let’s take a look at why there have to be 2
paths and how you can get on the one leading to life.
Man’s sin
problem
Do you feel like you’re a
pretty good person? How about compared
to the righteousness and glory of God?
Romans 3:10
10As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
Romans 3:23
23for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God,
It takes just one sin to
become guilty in God’s eyes:
James 2:10
whoever
keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking
all of it.
The wages
of sin
What is the result of our
sin?
Romans 6:23
23For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in[2]
Christ Jesus our Lord
Romans 5:12
12Therefore, just as sin entered the
world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to
all men, because all sinned
James 5:20
20let him know that he who turns a sinner from the
error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of
sins.
What
do these verses mean by death? The last
verse above makes it clear that sin results in more than just physical
death. The Bible reveals that death in
the verses above is eternal punishment and separation from God.
Revelation
20:14
14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of
fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
But I thought God was loving
and caring, you say. How could he punish
anyone so harshly? Well it is certainly
true that God is a God of love. You’re
probably familiar with the following:
John 3:16
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[6]
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Because God is love, he must
hate sin because it damages our relationship with Him and others.
Habakkuk 1:13
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrong….
God loves sinners. God hates sin and must punish it. As a just God, what other choice could he
have? No matter how “good” you may think you are, you fall far short of God’s
standards.
Nahum 1:3
3 The LORD is slow to anger and great
in power;
the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.
By your own efforts, can you
be declared anything but guilty when you appear before God on judgement day? Now
you should understand why there must be a “road leading to destruction.” God must punish sin.
God desires
that all be saved
So
we saw in the previous sections that all men are born with the sin nature that
separates them from God. But the Lord
does not desire that anyone would remain in this condition.
1 Timothy 2:3-4
3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who
wants all men to be saved and to
come to a knowledge of the truth.
2 Peter 3:9-10
9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some
understand slowness. He is patient with
you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come
like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be
destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
God’s
payment for sin
Romans 5:8
8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 Peter 2:24
24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have
been healed.
Colossians 1:21-23
21Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in
your minds because of[6]
your evil behavior. 22But now he has reconciled you by Christ's
physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without
blemish and free from accusation-- 23if you continue in your faith,
established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.
Repent,
confess, and believe for salvation
The first step to getting
off the road to destruction is repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This requires you to turn away from sin and and turn to God:
Luke 13:3
But unless you repent,
you too will all perish.
Acts
19Repent,
then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of
refreshing may come from the Lord
Next you must believe and
confess:
Romans 10:9-10
9That if you confess with your mouth,
"Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him
from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that
you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and
are saved.
Confessing Christ as Lord
requires a willingness to make him Master of your life. Believing in Christ means to place complete
confidence and trust in him to bring you out of your death situation and into a
new life with him. The act of believing
and receiving Christ brings you into God’s family as a child of God. This process is known as regeneration, the
new birth, or “being born again.”
John 1:12
12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed
in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13children
born not of natural descent,[3]
nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The
Christian life
As a son of God, you will
receive the Holy Spirit to help you in your Christian walk.
Galatians 4:6-7
And because
you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave
but a son, and if a son, then an heir *of God through Christ.
John 14:15-17, 26
15"If you love me, you will obey what I command.
16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Counselor to be with you forever-- 17the Spirit of truth. The
world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you
know him, for he lives with you and will be] in you.
26But the
Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach
you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
The Christian life is a life
of living by the power of the indwelling Spirit and dying to the flesh, that is
your old human nature that was without God and therefore prone to sin and
opposed to God.
Galatians 5:16
16So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not
gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Galatians 2:20
20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Count the
cost
Becoming
a born-again Christian will put you on the road to life, give you the Holy
Spirit and a real purpose for living, free you from sin and death, and begin
the process of changing you into something far better. But Jesus also warned that the road would not
always be easy:
Luke 14:27-33
27And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28For which of you,
intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost,
whether he has enough to finish it-- 29lest, after he has laid the
foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,
30saying, "This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
31Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down
first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes
against him with twenty thousand? 32Or else, while the other is
still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.
33So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Perseverance
required
Understand that the road to
salvation is narrow and you must stay on it!
Let the Spirit be your guide and source of strength along the way in
both the good times and the hard times.
Hebrews 10:36
36You need to persevere
so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has
promised.
James 1:12
12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will
receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
Matthew 24:12-13
12Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of
most will grow cold, 13but he
who stands firm to the end will be saved.
Jesus commanded water baptism so don’t delay!
Mark
16 He who believes and
is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
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