Our salvation rests in Jesus alone. We cannot atone for our own sin. Only Jesus can do that. Jesus is our savior.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Watch the video of this teaching at https://www.celllifechurch.tv/jesus-is-our-savior/ or on our YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/0UmYotaiVMo
If you asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior as a result of this teaching let us know at https://www.celllifechurch.org/i-said-yes-to-jesus/
We are sharing a series of teachings themed around the phrase, “Jesus Is”. In this series, we are talking about many of the characteristics of Jesus and the different role he takes in our lives. This week is Easter Sunday or Resurrection Day and our teaching is titled Jesus Is Our Savior.
We are going to look at three aspects in this teaching. We will discuss sin and how it separates us from God, that sin must be atoned for, and that Jesus is the perfect and final sacrifice to atone for all of mankind’s sin.
Let’s start by talking about sin and how it separates us from God.
In the beginning, God created all that we see, including Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had the mission of populating the earth and tending to it. We read in the first chapters of the book of Genesis how God created Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him. God then created Eve from one of Adam’s ribs to be a partner in life with him.
Their days were filled with walking in the garden of Eden with God. Having conversations with God. They were in fellowship together, man and God.
Then one day Adam and Eve fell to the deception of the devil. They believed the lies the devil spoke to them through the serpent and ate the fruit from one of two trees God told them not to eat from. They disobeyed God and brought sin into the world. This sin breeds rebelliousness and selfishness. Sin is always self-focused and in large part serves to benefit the individual more than anyone else.
God had two rules for Adam and Eve. Don’t eat from two of the trees in the garden. Everything else was available. There were no other rules. A perfect life free from sickness, disease, death, jealousy, and hatred. The two trees Adam and Eve were not supposed to eat from were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The devil tricked them into eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This separated them from God. We read in the first part of Habakuk 1:13:
(13) Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
God cannot look upon sin. Sin separates us from God. However, God created us for fellowship, and sin does not change that. He created us for a relationship with Him. There is a chasm between us and God caused by our sin.
Our sin must be atoned for to regain a right relationship with God.
When you read about the downfall of mankind in Genesis 2 and 3 you learn that God set in motion some rules for Adam and Eve. It started with a curse which was the wages of their sin. The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:23:
(23) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our reward for the sin in our lives is death. God originally intended us to be with him forever. God set an angelic guard at the Tree of Life preventing Adam and Eve from eating the fruit from it and having eternal life without Him. He then cast them out of the garden and hid it from them.
Adam and Eve had to start working for their existence every day. Adam toiled in soil growing crops amid weeds and thorns. Eve would have pain in childbirth from this time on.
As time would go on we read in the Old Testament about God choosing a people to be His people, the Israelites. He wanted to make them separate and His inheritance in the world. All the world would look to His people. They would be His children. Because of this, He gave them the Law through Moses. The commandments and rules for what to do and not do.
There were sacrifices made regularly to atone for the sin of individuals, families, and the whole nation of Israel. But none of these sacrifices were long-lasting. None of the things they could do would pay for all their sin, once and for all. God knew that mankind needed a savior. He knew a once and perfect sacrifice had to be made.
The sacrifices made up to this point had been firstborn animals that were without blemish or defect. This is a requirement for God. He wants only the best from us. Unfortunately, we are not perfect or unblemished. We cannot atone for our sin once and for all.
God had a plan. God had the perfect and final sacrifice for all of mankind; His own Son, Jesus.
There are three events in human history that God set in motion that affected all of mankind.
Two of the most quoted verses in the Bible are John 3:16 and 17.
(16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God’s love for mankind, all of mankind, was so deep He sent and sacrificed His Son so that we all could return to a right relationship with Him, forever. Jesus was that perfect sacrifice we needed to atone for our sin. His sacrifice lasts forever. There is no need to repeat it.
We cannot earn our salvation. We are sinful and tarnished. Our need for God’s perfect salvation is great and Jesus is our savior. Jesus knew no sin. He is God’s only son, and he willingly gave up his life so that we could all be saved and return to God.
The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 3:21-26:
(21) But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (22) This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, (23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (24) and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (25) God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— (26) he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Our salvation rests in Jesus alone. We cannot atone for our own sin. Only Jesus can do that. Jesus is our savior.
A good way to remember this is to memorize what many call the Roman Road to Salvation. The Apostle Paul gives us these 4 verses in the book of Romans and they lead us down the path from sin to salvation to eternity with God through Christ Jesus.
(23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We have all sinned and not one of us is perfect.
(23) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The result of our sin is death. It is eternity apart from God in torment and despair, but God has a path away from that, Jesus, our savior.
(8) But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God sent Jesus to pay the price for our sin once and for all before we turned from our sin even!
(13) for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Salvation is for everyone, both Jew and Gentile, male and female. No one is exempt from God’s plan of salvation for mankind. Jesus gave up his life on that Roman cross 2000 years ago for each and every one of us.
The gift of salvation is free. You cannot earn it, and you cannot buy it. Salvation is a free gift from God. Jesus is our savior.
The good news in all of this is it does not end with Jesus’ death on the cross. On the third day after his sacrifice, he rose from the dead! God raised Jesus from the dead and he walked and talked with thousands of people for the next 40 days. This has been recorded in many historical texts, not just the Bible.
After this time Jesus ascended to Heaven in full view of thousands of people assembled. He now sits at the right hand of God interceding for all those who have asked him to be their Lord and Savior.
Through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and subsequent resurrection all of us who have given up our own dreams, desires, and lives and taken on the dreams, desires, and lives that God intended for us can count ourselves brothers and sisters of Jesus and co-heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is our savior.
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