All men who came after Adam’s fall from grace are born with a sin nature and are therefore condemned to hell at birth. No amount of good works will reverse that curse. In our own weakness, we cannot keep from sinning all the days of our life. We are fallen creatures in a fallen world controlled by Satan, who tempts us constantly. We have one thing in our favor. The God who made us loves us dearly and in his love, mercy and grace he has established a method to achieve our salvation and restore our lost fellowship with the Father. God is holy and sin cannot enter where he dwells so in order for us to live in heaven our sins against God must be forgiven.
Hebrews 9:22 – And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.
Jonah 2:9 – But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.
Hebrews 5:9 – And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.
Acts 4:12 – Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
1 Thessalonians 5:9 – For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Whenever I study God’s salvation plan for man one word keeps popping up in my mind, “perfect”. No human being could conceive of such a plan; but only the mind of God. To me this is just another proof of God. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. This is a spiritual law of God that cannot be broken. The salvation of God is always by the shedding of innocent blood (without blemish or sin). According to Hebrews 9:22, this is also an unbreakable law of God. To save man the blood sacrifice had to be a man who was without sin (spotless) before God. No such person has ever existed after Adam fell because all men after Adam have sinned.
The only sinless person is God. To meet God’s justice and and also God’s criteria for our salvation God himself had to come off his throne and come to earth in the incarnation of Jesus Christ, as wholly man and wholly God. Jesus died on the cross in our place so that God could forgive our sins. God’s work of salvation was completed on the cross but the application of God’s grace is only through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A sinner’s expression of faith is always followed by God’s grace unto eternal life. We have God’s promise and God cannot lie.
Ephesians 2:8-9 – 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.
Titus 2:11 – For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Romans 5:1-2 – Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who come to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
1 Corinthians 1:3 – Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.