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What is the Trinity?

In our studies so far we’ve continually seen three persons referred to as God. We’ve seen God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Because of these mentions of these three persons we thought that now would be a good time to take a break to define each of these persons which in Christianity are known as the Godhead.

“Speed Slider”

The Trinity Explained

What Is The Trinity? – Transcript

Now we have to start with a stipulation.

God is Beyond the ability of a human to fully comprehend.

Therefore, all man’s attempts to explain the three persons of the Godhead, what’s known as the Trinity, are limited, incomplete and imperfect.

God is beyond the ability of a human to fully comprehend.

Therefore, all man’s attempts to explain the three persons of the Godhead, what’s known as the Trinity, are limited, incomplete and imperfect.

God simply cannot be explained in human terms. How could he possibly be?

He’s outside of all that exists. He’s eternal which means He never began, and He’ll never end. The mind of man is incapable of rationalising that.

The only way we can truly know Him is through faith.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, that’s Hebrews 11:1.

The hardest part of explaining the Trinity is man’s inability to grasp that there could be a being far beyond man’s own intelligence and capabilities. It just won’t compute to most people. In other words, If something can’t be explained it must not exist.

Despite this we live in a world where we’re surrounded by the unexplainable and the existence of a great many of those unexplainable things is beyond dispute, yet where God’s concerned, man’ll do almost anything to deny His existence and there’s a very good reason for that and the answer lies throughout our bible study.

Now, we don’t find the word “Trinity” in the Bible, yet the doctrine of the Trinity is there in many places, in fact throughout the whole book.

The Trinity means there is one God who is revealed in three distinct Persons, all of the same Substance, co-equal, co-existent, and co-eternal, and known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. However, The Father is God, Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God.

The Trinity is explained in diagram form.

Note: No crudely created diagram can ever go close to explaining our unexplainable God! It’s simply a way of challenging our human logic and thought patterns.

Look at this Syllogism. A syllogism is an argument, a logical conclusion, a deduction, or a reasoning.

If it can be shown that:

There are three persons mentioned in the Bible,

And, that these three persons are all called “God”,

And that there is only one God,

Then the three persons must be the one God whether we understand it or not.

Can this be shown in the Bible? Yes, it can!

First, there is only one God.

James 2:19 – You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

1 Corinthians 8:4 – …there is no other God but one.

Deuteronomy 6:4 – Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!

Second, The Hebrew word for “God” (Elohim) is plural but is used with a singular verb.

Genesis 1:26 – Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image…”

Genesis 1:27 – So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 11:7 – Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language…

Genesis 11:9 – …there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Third, the Hebrew word for “one” (Deut. 6:4) is not yachad, which means “absolute mathematical oneness,” but echad meaning “composite unity” or “united one.”

Genesis 1:5 – So the evening and the morning were the first day. One (echad) day.”

Genesis 2:24 – Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one (echad, the same as One God) flesh.

Numbers 13:23 – …and there cut down a branch with one (echad, the same as One God) cluster of grapes.

Deuteronomy 6:4 – Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!

Fourth, Jesus revealed God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:19 – …baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…

Fifth, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all called “God.”

The Father is God.

1 Peter 1:2 – …according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…

2 Peter 1:17 – For He received from God the Father honour and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

The Son is God.

Hebrews 1:8 – But to the Son He says: “YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER; A SCEPTER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE SCEPTER OF YOUR KINGDOM.

Titus 2:13 – …looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, …

Romans 9:5 – …of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

The Holy Spirit is God.

Acts 5:3 – But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? then to the next verse, verse 4, You have not lied to men but to God.”

1 Corinthians 6:19 – Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

2 Corinthians 6:16 – As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.” We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit after we believe!

Sixth, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist as three eternal and distinct persons.

John 14:16 – “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever…” This also disproves the teaching that the Father becomes the Son, who becomes the Holy Spirit.

The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. Jesus is sent by the Father, and He and the Father send the Spirit (John 14:26, 15:26, 16:7, 17:8, 20:21).

Therefore, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons of the one God, not three manifestations of God, which was the belief and heresy of the third-century priest and theologian Sabellius.

This proves that God (Elohim–plural) is one (echad–composite unity) and is three separate persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Verses that tell us of the Trinity.

The following verses all contain each member of the Godhead.

Matthew 28:19 — Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, …

Notice Jesus said to baptize in the “name” (singular), not “names” (plural). Then 3 separate persons are listed: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Greek uses “and the” between each person, clearly distinguishing them as separate from each other.

2 Corinthians 13:14 — The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

1 Peter 1:2 — …according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…

Matthew 3:16-17 — The Father speaks, the Son is baptized, and the Holy Spirit descends.

John 15:26 — “But when the Helper (The Holy Spirit) comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

Other verses — Acts 7:55, Luke 1:35, 3:21-22, Eph. 2:18-20, 4:4-6, 5:18-20, 1 Cor. 12:4-6, Isa. 48:16, Zech. 12:10, John 14:16-17, 26, 1 Thess. 1:2-5, 2 Thess. 2:13-14, Titus 3:4-6 1 John 5:6-9

Who Indwells the True Believer?

God the Father

2 Corinthians 6:16 – …I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

Philippians 2:13 – …for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Jesus Christ

2 Corinthians 13:5 – …Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?…

Galatians 2:20 –  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…

Colossians 1:27 – …what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 6:19 – Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

John 14:17 – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

2 Timothy 1:14 – That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Romans 8:9 – But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Who Raised Jesus From the Dead?

God the Father.

Acts 3:15 – …and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.

Acts 3:26 – To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 – …and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Acts 2:32 – This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Acts 17:31 – …because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.

Jesus raised Himself.

John 2:19-22 – Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

The Holy Spirit

Romans 8:11 – But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

1 Peter 3:18 – For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit…

Who Will Raise the True Believer from the Dead?

God the Father

1 Corinthians 6:14 – And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.

Jesus Christ

John 5:25-29 – Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

John 6:40, 44 – And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Philippians 3:20-21 – For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

The Holy Spirit

Romans 8:11 – But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

God Is…

God is Sovereign.

He is absolute.

Psalm 8:4 – What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

Romans 9:19-21 – You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?

Everything that comes into being is a result of the sovereign choice and creation of God. Consequently, we should never question God, “Why did you make me as I am?” You are God’s unique creation. We live and move under a Sovereign God.

God is Grace and Love.

God’s attitude toward even the worst of sinners is that He wants to save him.

Romans 5:8-11 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Romans 5:20-21 – Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is Infinite.

He is without end – without limit. Scientists tell us that the universe is expanding outward at a tremendous speed, but God is always beyond it. The universe will never go beyond our infinite God.

God is Omnipresent.

He is everywhere, always present.

Psalm 139:7 – 17 – here can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me.

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

God is Omniscient.

He is all-knowing. There is not, or was not, or will never be a time when God had to seek advice or to consult someone or some source outside Himself, or study something out. Certainly, within the Godhead there was counsel, but it was immediate, there was no debate among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God is self-existent.

He has no beginning; He has no end.

In Genesis 1:1, “God” refers to the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

This Triune God is Spirit, invisible, intangible.

He is unable to be comprehended with the senses of man. But in

Colossians 1:15, speaking of Jesus, it says, “Who is the image of the invisible God, …”

John 1:1 to 3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

 

God became visible in the flesh; He became touchable.

In summary, there is absolutely no doubt that the Bible clearly portrays The Trinity.

As individuals we have the God given right of free will to believe what the Bible says or to reject what the Bible says, however there’s one thing we cannot say!

We cannot say that the Bible doesn’t teach the Trinity, the Triune nature of God.

How Can I Be Saved?

What is Salvation and why do I need it? What happens to me if I’m not saved and what happens to me if I am saved? How can a person be saved and know it for certain?

Salvation is the basic foundation on which Christianity is built an in fact all of life is built, whether we know it or not or whether we believe it or not.

In this episode we uncover these questions and show the way to salvation from the Bible.

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How Can I Be Saved? – Transcript

Many of the things that most people are searching for in life are given in the Bible.
For example, it tells us how we and the universe we live in came into existence.
It explains the cause of the evil that’s in the world; and it gives us our ultimate purpose for existence.

The Bible also speaks about the cause of death.
It says in Romans 5:12,
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
The Bible tells the story of how the first man, Adam, was disobedient towards God and even though he lived physically for a very long time, he died that very day spiritually. It’s called the fall of man. His fall from relationship with his Creator, God.
When he fell and died spiritually this fallen nature that he now had, this nature that was alienated from God, introduced sin and death into the world that was until then perfect.
The Bible shows us how that nature, that sin nature, of the first man was passed on right through the entire line of humans that would ever be born from Adam, right down to you and me today.

Because of that fall of man, there’re two things we can be sure of in this life, and we find them in Hebrews 9:27,
…it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
Every person will die because of their sin, both physically and spiritually, and then every word they ever spoke, every deed they ever did, and every thought they ever had will be judged by God’s righteous standard.
How will the judgment turn out?
In Romans 2:6-9 we see that.
God “will render to each one according to their deeds”:
eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honour, and immortality; …but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation, and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil…
Evil will be punished for eternity with anguish and wrath, but the righteous will be rewarded with eternal life.
But here. of course, is a huge problem: There is none that are righteous.
Romans 3:10-12 tells us that,
There is none righteous no not one;
There is none that understands; There is none that seeks after God.
The have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable (meaning rendered useless to God, spoiled); There is none who does good no, not one.”

We, each and every one of us, are headed for eternal damnation in hell!
You’re probably shocked at that. How can we talk about such an awful thing in this day and age? I thought God was love.
How can we make such a harsh statement that’s so all-encompassing and final and how can we know that we’re not good enough to get into heaven?
Well, through the Bible we can answer these questions.
We can know what our fate is on Judgment Day by using God’s standard of judgment. We can also see that although God is Love He’s also a God of perfect Justice.

In Deuteronomy 32:4 we read about the nature of God,
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.

But, I’m a good person, you say! I don’t go out of my way to harm anyone and I’m not a criminal. I don’t see how God can refuse me entry into heaven and eternal life when there’re many much worse than me!

In the Books of Exodus and Leviticus we see a set of laws that God gave to the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. There were 10 specific commandments and 613 amendments.

How can we do a check to see if we are actually eligible for eternal life on that day that we leave this physical body and depart this natural world?
Thankfully the Bible clearly explains that right throughout, from beginning to end.
It explains that since were all descendants of the first man Adam, we’re all cursed with sin, death, and we all fall way short when it comes to righteousness as we just saw in Romans 3.
We see it again in Romans 5:12,
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.

As a result, God in his perfect justice can’t let any person tainted with unrighteousness into his perfect and eternal home.
All unrighteousness is worthy of eternal condemnation in what The Book of Revelation calls the lake of fire in Revelation 21:8,
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

The best way to discover whether we’re good enough to go to heaven is to examine how we compare to God’s standard of righteousness – the divine law, not to other humans either the ones we associate with every day or the people of history.
You see, if we compare ourselves to any other human, living or dead, such as the world’s mass murderers, a rapist, a murderer, or a thief, we may come up looking pretty good. But sadly, we’d be using the absolute wrong standard to judge ourselves by.
Used properly, the Bible says that the law we just saw will reveal any sin found in our nature and will indicate if we’re qualified for heaven. See only by the law can we see our true selves.

Let’s find out how we measure up to that law.
Exodus 20:16,
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
Have we ever told a lie? Even a small one a long time ago? Then that makes us a liar and in danger of the lake of fire as Revelation 21:8 says as we’ve just looked at.
One of the things God hates is a lying tongue in Proverbs 6:16-17, and you can look that up.
Exodus 20:15 says,
You shall not steal.
Ever stolen anything? Even something small a long time ago like something from an employer maybe? Then that makes us a thief and puts us out of the running for entering the Kingdom of God. You can confirm this in 1 Corinthians 6:10.
Exodus 20:14 says,
You shall not commit adultery.
Now just in case you think you’re doing ok on that one Jesus expanded the meaning of this and other laws in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 5:28 Jesus said,
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Have you ever looked upon a person of the opposite sex with lust? If so, even a fleeting thought, then Jesus says you have committed adultery in your heart.
The only difference between the internal desire and the outward action is a given opportunity.
Then in Exodus 20:17 the law says,
You shall not covet…
Have we ever desired someone else’s possessions? If we have, then this shows the real condition of our heart and our desire to follow after its lusts and desires. Ephesians 2:1-3 expands on this.

These are just a few of God’s laws that are written on the conscious of man, but which we continually break. The Bible says in James 2:10,
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
Just one minor point, one minor failure at keeping any of these laws and we’re guilty of breaking them all!

In Romans 1 verses 18 and 19 we read,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
See this verse says that in the Bible’s revelation of the wrath of God, which will come against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, we see what God has revealed to us about Himself. He, being perfectly righteous, simply cannot turn a blind eye to sin.
Romans 3:20 tells us how the law is what makes us realise just who and what we really are,
Therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Breaking God’s law means facing an eternal life sentence which will be spent in anguish and torment in the place the Bible describes as hell.
Through these laws, God has not only revealed the standard by which we’ll be judged but also that not a single person who has ever lived on earth from the line of Adam has been able to keep these laws and since we’ve all broken those laws, we’re condemned automatically.

There’s not one of us that measure up to God’s standard of righteousness, not one. As a result, we’re all condemned because of our sin, and we must accept the consequences whether we like it or not or whether we agree with God or not.
Romans 6:23 we read,
For the wages of sin is death…
And then in 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 9,
These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power…
Where will this take place? Mark 9 verse 44 tells us,
where ‘THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.’

It’s first and foremost through realising and coming to the understanding of man’s (and each of us’) depraved condition before God, that we see our need for salvation from this judgment.
We don’t need salvation from cyclones, thieves, murderers, or poverty as much as we need salvation from a more permanent and eternal condition – sin, and the judgment of God against that sin which is the death of the spirit, eternal separation from God and His presence.

Let’s look at Micah 6:8,
He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

The law was given to teach what the Lord requires. Meditation on the law taught judgment, the severe punishments of the law demanded mercy, and through the sacrifices and prayers of the Old Testament humility was openly displayed as thousands of animals bled as sacrifices for sins.
Judgment, mercy, and humility were divinely revealed to humanity so that even today the world’s religions hold them up as the most noble religious pursuits.
Of course, the entire law is summed up in just two of those laws that Jesus identified: love God and love your neighbour as yourself.
Matt 22:40 Jesus says,
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

However, after thousands of years of living under the law one thing is evident: no one is righteous, that’s Romans 3 verse 10 to 12 again as we’ve just seen. No man can give God what he requires. It’s simply impossible to do all that God requires. The purest requirements of judgment, mercy, love, and humility remain only dreams to a cursed world.
The apostle Paul after receiving revelation directly from Jesus Christ Himself wrote in Galatians 3:24,
Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Christ accomplished all that God required.
Jesus Christ fulfilled the righteous judgment of God against sin through his death on the cross as we see Paul explain in Romans 3 verse 25, speaking of Christ,
whom God set forth as a propitiation (which means an atonement or an appeasing) by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.
The richness of God’s mercy was shown through Jesus, Who was God in the flesh, Immanuel, God with us, and Who provided life, eternal life, to sinners.
See, it was Christ who humbled himself being made in the likeness of men so that He could do what no one else could:
We see this in Philippians 2:8,
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Also in Romans 5:8,
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And in the great passage of Ephesians 2:4-10,
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (That’s our own works, our own goodness, our own attempts to keep the law)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Today, God does not require anything from us because Christ has done everything required to provide free justification to all who believe.
How incredible is the realisation of Romans 4:5,
But to him who does not work (that’s those who do not attempt to be righteous by keeping God’s law) but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

If we think the Bible is simply a book telling us what God requires, then we’re still living under the law, and, as we’ve clearly seen, that path can’t possible lead us to salvation, only death.
We would’ve missed the gospel of God’s grace detailing what God has given us in Christ’s finished work.
Are you struggling to meet God’s perfect requirements?
Stop struggling!
You can never succeed no matter how hard or how long you try.
You might begin to produce good works after you have salvation but it’s so important to understand that these works would be as a result of salvation not in order to earn it!
Put your faith in Christ’s fulfillment of God’s requirements and receive the spiritual benefits of God’s righteousness freely as Romans 3:24 says,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!
Salvation comes by believing what’s written here in God’s Word.
We are saved from sin and death when we trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and his bodily resurrection. His sinless blood pays for our sins, earns forgiveness, and gives us eternal life.

Salvation is the gift of God by grace as God’s Word clearly explains. It’s not a product of:
– Prayer
– Popes
– Baptism
– Confession
– Good works
– Turning from sin
– Commandments
– Church membership
– Mass or the Lord’s Supper.
We receive that gift through faith and faith is the only way we can please God as Hebrews 11:6 tells us,
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Faith plus nothing! This is the gospel of the grace of God.
Only Believe!
One thing we must not do is think that being saved or being spiritual has anything to do with a feeling.
That lady that always cries during the songs at church does not feel salvation or spirituality any more than anyone else, as emotional as she may be.
We learn from the Bible that being saved and walking through life spiritually is by faith not feelings.
Hebrews 11:1,
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Our natural flesh produces a lot of feelings, but the spirit is that by which we can know the things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:12,
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
It has nothing to do with an emotion, a feeling.

Now, we can speak directly to God and tell Him that by our free choice that He’s given us we accept what His Word says about us, that we are sinners and can’t save ourselves and that we turn to Him and accept the salvation He provided for us. It’s not a ritual prayer that must be said to somehow seal salvation, it’s just the start of a relationship with God where we can talk to Him in prayer, knowing that He always hears us.
It’s the start of a journey that will open up truth and reality and the purpose that God has for us. That truth, reality and purpose will come as God’s Word, the Bible, becomes the central foundation on which everything else in life is built.
God bless you on your incredible journey.

Who Is Jesus?

The answer to this question, Who Is Jesus, is what separates every religion, cult, and new-age human philosophy from Christianity. A Christian is simply a follower of Christ, The Jew’s Messiah, The soon-coming King, The Redeemer of Man, and The Saviour and most of The Son of God – God in the flesh!

“Speed Slider”

Who Is Jesus? – Transcript

The answer to this question, Who Is Jesus, is what separates every religion, cult, and new-age human philosophy from Christianity. A Christian is simply a follower of Christ, The Mesiah, The soon coming King, The Redeemer od Man, The Saviour.

A Christian has the unshakeable belief that Jesus is God.

Every other belief in the world, without exception, believes He is not.

Some religions say He was just another human prophet, others that He was a created angel. Some say He was Satan’s brother; others say he is one of many gods. Teacher, do-gooder, rabbi – the list goes on and on – but never God.

Of course, the most common religion of today, Atheism, believes He never existed at all.

The Christian Belief

We, as Christians, believe that He is God, Who created the universe, and us, and that He was able to enter into humanity by becoming a man while remaining fully God.

He is one of the three “parts” or “personalities’ of what we know as “The Godhead”. God is a unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God in three manifestations.

How this could be is a mystery locked in the incredible power and glory of God. God makes it very clear to us in His Word  (the Bible) Who He is, but He doesn’t give us details that are impossible for us to grasp.

Countless volumes have been written trying to fully explain the triune nature of God. They all fail to fully explain it in a way that our limited minds can grasp. Hey, we can’t even explain the information process of DNA which is common to every living thing. How could we fully explain the trinity?

We Are Created In His Image

We can see a little more into the nature of God when we understand how God created us. We are created in His image.

We ourselves are three parts in one.
We areSpirit (the “real” us, the eternal part that never ceases to exist. It is the part of us that is “made new” when we accept Jesus Chris as our Lord and Saviour.)
We have a Soul (the emotions, thoughts, feelings and desires), which will also never ceases to exist. The Soul is not made new instantly when we come to God but is constantly changing as we learn more about God and begin to trust Him with the details of our lives.
We have a Body (our earthly flesh which will die but will one day be resurrected in a glorified state the same as the body of Jesus after His resurrection).

In the future, God willing, I hope to present some discussion on how we can undeniably prove for ourselves that Jesus is Who He says He is. But that isn’t the purpose of this piece.

A Child Is Born – A Son Is Given

When Jesus took on the form of humanity in the little town of Bethlehem 2000 years ago, he was born a child. However, He was given as a son.

The book of Isaiah tells us in chapter 9 verse 6,

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

And, probably the most familiar bible verse of all time,

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The “child” was born in Bethlehem, but the “Son” was “from everlasting.”

The incarnation of our Lord, the promised Messiah who would take away the sin of the world, is the awesome wonder of our lifetime.

That the Creator Himself chose to enter His creation to undertake a mission that would lead to His horrific torture and death on our behalf strains the imagination of any thoughtful person. It is staggering in the extreme!

The “Son is given” occurred at Golgotha outside Jerusalem on a Roman cross 33 years after the “child was born”. This was a fulfill­ment of the promise given on the day man fell into sin. It was planned before the foundation of the Earth.

Easter

Although, as a secular society we have degraded Easter into an unrecognisable party holiday, it was once the very peak of the ceremonial year for the Christian. It was the celebra­tion of the empty tomb that vali­dated that Jesus Christ was indeed the long-promised Redeemer who would sacrifice Himself for the sin of man and rise again on the third day, defeating death and the grave and making the way by which every fallen human can get back to a full relationship with God.

His story is a love story written in blood on a wooden cross that was erected in Judea two thou­sand years ago.

So, Who is Jesus Christ?

Let’s see what the Word of God says.

He is the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2, Mark 15:2 and others)
He is the King of Israel (Mark 15:32 and others)
But He’s also
King of all the Ages; (1 Timothy 1:17)
King of Heaven; (Daniel 4:37)
King of Glory; (Psalm 24:10)
King of Kings; (Revelation 17:14)
and Lord of Lords. (Revelation 17:14)

He is
a prophet before Moses;
a priest after Melchizedek;
a champion like Joshua;
an offering in place of Isaac;
a king from the line of David;
a counsellor above Solomon;
beloved, rejected, and exalted like Joseph;
The Heavens declare His glory, and the firmament shows His handiwork.
He is, was, and always will be. He is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega, the Aleph and the Tau, the A and the Z;
He is the “I AM that I AM” (Exodus 3:14) that spoke to Moses on Mt Sinai, the voice of the burning bush, the Captain of the Lord’s Host, the conqueror of Jericho
He is our Kinsman-Redeemer and He is our Avenger of Blood;
He is our City of Refuge;
He was crucified on a cross of wood, yet He made the hill on which it stood.
By Him were all things made that were made; without Him was not anything made that was made; (John 1:3)
By Him, all things are held together!
In Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily; He is very God of very God.
He became the first fruits of them that slept.
He has many names, among them is Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.
He is our Performing High Priest; Our Personal Prophet; Our Reigning King.
He is enduringly strong; entirely sincere; eternally steadfast;
He is sovereignly powerful; immortally graceful; impartially merciful;
He stands alone in Himself:
He’s unique, pre-eminent, supreme, unparalleled:
He’s the loftiest idea in literature;
He’s the highest personality in philosophy;
He’s the fundamental doctrine of theology;
He’s the supreme problem in “higher criticism”!
He’s the Son of God!
There is no means of measuring his limitless love:
It was written in blood, on that wooden cross erected in Judea 2,000 years ago.
He was born of a woman so that we could be born of God;
He humbled Himself so that we could be lifted; (Philippians 2:8)
He became a servant so that we could be made joint-heirs; (Philippians 2:7)
He suffered rejection so that we could become His friends;
He denied Himself so that we could freely receive all things;
He gave Himself so that He could bless us in every way.
He is available to the tempted and the tried; Blesses the young; Cleanses the lepers; Defends the feeble; Delivers the captives; Discharges the debtors; Forgives the sinners; Franchises the meek; Guards the besieged; Heals the sick; Provides strength to the weak; Regards the aged; Rewards the diligent; Serves the unfortunate; Sympathizes and He saves!
His reign is righteous; (Jeremiah 23:6)
His promises are certain; (Numbers 23:19)
His goodness is limitless;
His light is matchless;
His love never changes; (Hebrews 13:8)
His grace is sufficient; (2 Corinthians 12:9)
His mercy is everlasting;
His word is enough;
His yoke is easy and
His burden is light! (Matthew 11:28-30)
He’s indescribable;
He’s incomprehensible;
He’s irresistible; (Philippians 2:9-11)
He’s invincible! (Colossians 1:15, 18-20)
The Heaven of heavens cannot contain Him; Man cannot explain Him.
The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him but soon learned that they couldn’t stop Him;
They railroaded Him through six illegal trials,  and yet the witnesses couldn’t agree against Him and the personal representative of the ruler of the world couldn’t find any fault with Him;
Herod couldn’t kill Him, death couldn’t handle Him, and the grave couldn’t hold Him!
He has always been and always will be; He had no predecessor and will have no successor;
You can’t impeach Him or vote Him out and He isn’t going to resign!
His name is above every name; That at the name of Yeshua, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess That Jesus Christ is Lord!
His is the kingdom, and the power,  and the glory, forever, and ever, Amen!