How do I get in on it?
Jesus, God in the flesh, came to earth and died for our sins. His death took care of our SIN problem! He did not stay in the tomb dead, but rose on the third day! Through His resurrection, Jesus took care of our GRAVE problem! But we need to know how to get in on this Gospel. We now return to some of the LIFE and DEATH statements we find in the Bible.
As you read Romans 10:9, note what we need to do to be saved: "...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;"
The apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Romans tells us that we must do two things:
So in these LIFE and DEATH statements we learn that if we want to be saved, we must confess Jesus as Lord, and we must believe the Gospel.
The Bible also tells us that we MUST change our lifestyle. There are many Scriptures that teach this, but let’s read a few to see what kind of changes we need to make.
Read I Corinthians 6:9-10 and notice lifestyle changes we must make: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God."
Other Scriptures that could be studied are Ephesians 4:17-5:7; Galatians 5:19-26; Romans 1:28-32.
In order to inherit the kingdom of God, to be saved, there are changes we must make. The Bible calls this repentance. But what happens if we chose to not change? What if we chose not to repent? Then what happens. Read what Jesus says if we chose not to repent in Luke 13:3, 5: “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Notice that Jesus uses LIFE and DEATH statements!
If we chose not to change, we will perish. So if we want to get in on the saving grace of our God, what must we do? How can a person get in on the Gospel? Read the apostle Paul’s words in II Thessalonians 1:7-9: "...to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."
How can I escape the judgment of God that includes flaming fire and eternal destruction? According to the Bible we must obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. But how does one obey the Gospel? Read the following passages and see if you can see the Gospel portrayed there. Do you remember what the Gospel is? The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Now read Romans 6:3-6: "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin."
How do we get into Jesus’ death? The text says we are baptized (immersed in water) into His death. A person is buried with Christ, and raised up to walk in a newness of life.
Then read Romans 6:17-18: "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."
But why would God want us to get into Jesus’ death? Maybe this picture can help portray a person who is obeying the Gospel and answer that question.
As you read Romans 10:9, note what we need to do to be saved: "...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;"
The apostle Paul, who wrote the book of Romans tells us that we must do two things:
- Confess Jesus as Lord
- Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead
So in these LIFE and DEATH statements we learn that if we want to be saved, we must confess Jesus as Lord, and we must believe the Gospel.
The Bible also tells us that we MUST change our lifestyle. There are many Scriptures that teach this, but let’s read a few to see what kind of changes we need to make.
Read I Corinthians 6:9-10 and notice lifestyle changes we must make: "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God."
Other Scriptures that could be studied are Ephesians 4:17-5:7; Galatians 5:19-26; Romans 1:28-32.
In order to inherit the kingdom of God, to be saved, there are changes we must make. The Bible calls this repentance. But what happens if we chose to not change? What if we chose not to repent? Then what happens. Read what Jesus says if we chose not to repent in Luke 13:3, 5: “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Notice that Jesus uses LIFE and DEATH statements!
If we chose not to change, we will perish. So if we want to get in on the saving grace of our God, what must we do? How can a person get in on the Gospel? Read the apostle Paul’s words in II Thessalonians 1:7-9: "...to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power."
How can I escape the judgment of God that includes flaming fire and eternal destruction? According to the Bible we must obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. But how does one obey the Gospel? Read the following passages and see if you can see the Gospel portrayed there. Do you remember what the Gospel is? The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Now read Romans 6:3-6: "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin."
How do we get into Jesus’ death? The text says we are baptized (immersed in water) into His death. A person is buried with Christ, and raised up to walk in a newness of life.
Then read Romans 6:17-18: "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."
But why would God want us to get into Jesus’ death? Maybe this picture can help portray a person who is obeying the Gospel and answer that question.
So where does one actually become a Christian? When does one put on Christ? When one is immersed into Christ!
Galatians 3:26-27 answers that question: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
We know biblical immersion for the forgiveness of sins and the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit (not to be confused with the baptism of the Holy Spirit which only happened to the Apostles and the household of Cornelius for specific purposes) was immersion in water. We learn this from reading passages such as Acts 8:36: "As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?” We also realize that there is now only "one baptism" in the Christian age according to Ephesians 4:4-6: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all."
Click the the picture below to continue the study.
Galatians 3:26-27 answers that question: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."
We know biblical immersion for the forgiveness of sins and the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit (not to be confused with the baptism of the Holy Spirit which only happened to the Apostles and the household of Cornelius for specific purposes) was immersion in water. We learn this from reading passages such as Acts 8:36: "As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?” We also realize that there is now only "one baptism" in the Christian age according to Ephesians 4:4-6: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all."
Click the the picture below to continue the study.
