Jesus Christ: From Start to Finish (2)

Part Two (Click here to read part one)

Last week we began studying how to journey through this world towards Heaven. Thus, today we will see the first point we must consider in our pilgrimage.

It all begins with Jesus Christ

The Holy Spirit brought us to the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ through his convictions of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. There we beheld Him bleeding and bruised, ridiculed and forsaken, humiliated and crushed as a punishment for our sins. Upon understanding this we despairingly cried out to God, “What must I do to be saved”? The Holy Spirit replied, “Believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ and be saved. 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”. (John 3:16) After that, we “confessed that Christ Jesus is the Son of God and believed in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead” (John 6:69; Acts 8:37; Rom 10:9-10) and we were saved.

As a result of this, we stopped being children of wrath and became Children of God. At the same instance, we became Citizens of Heaven instead of candidates for hell. Our faith in the truth that ‘Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world’ (John 1:29) was how it all started. At once God saved us and we became new creations in Christ Jesus! (2 Cor 5:7) God’s Holy Spirit stamped us with God’s seal. Through prayer and the reading and studying of God’s word, and by the gentle but sure guidance of the Holy Spirit, we began to grow.

The Simple Plan of Salvation

God’s desire  to save the souls of men is deep. Thus He has made the means for salvation simple to understand and easy to attain. You see, God does not want anyone to perish. God’s arms of love always extend towards us. The Creator of the universe patiently waits for lost humanity to return back to Him. In addition to all this, God is actively engaged in the salvation of man. (Isa 65:2; 2 Pet 3:9) All you have to do is believe in your heart and confess with your mouth.

Nevertheless, this simple plan of salvation has proven, often, too simple to be accepted by man. We enjoy being industrious, scientific and proud. This gift goes against all our natural instincts. We question God’s motives and wonder if He has put any hidden stipulations in the “fine print”. In some cases, we question His very existence! With respect to this, man has reduced creation to chance and happenstance instead of Divine Design. We believe that order emerged from chaos, and that life is only what it is here and now.

In other cases, we will not accept the idea of a free gift evnthough we believe in the existence of God. In our minds and hearts, we believe that we have to do something to appease an angry God. We have not fully understood that God laid His entire wrath upon Jesus Christ. He crushed Him for our iniquities and bruised Him for our transgressions. Because of this, we can come to Christ Jesus just as we are and He will gladly save us.

God is Worthy of Our Trust

Let us all remember this when we falter in our faith, and feel unworthy of His Love. We had nothing to do with our salvation. We went to Christ and confessed our sins and that was it. Therefore let us continually go to Christ for a fresh visitation through His Holy Spirit when our decisions bog us down in the mire of our sins. (Matt 11:28-30) Let us go to Him for strength and guidance. He is trustworthy and capable. He will guide us in the way He chooses. (Ps 25:12; Ps 48:14)

Next week, we will continue with part three of the article. Click here to read part one.