SALVATION: THE ONLY SOLUTION Lesson 4 for October 27, 2012

What is sin? Does the sin problem affect me? Do I want to find a solution for my sin? “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) If I know that sin exists, that I’m corrupted by it and that I want to find a solution, I must ask the next question, “How can I solve the sin problem?” If I want to find the solution for a problem, I must accept that that problem exists, that it affects me somehow and that I want to solve it.

When we try to find a solution for the sin problem we realize that no man can solve it. Good news is that God was ahead the problem; he made provision to solve it, a Plan of Redemption. When we try to find a solution for the sin problem we realize that no man can solve it. Good news is that God was ahead the problem; he made provision to solve it, a Plan of Redemption. When did God devise the Plan of Redemption? “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (1 Peter 1:18-20)

The Plan of Redemption is so easy that a couple of verses are enough to understand it. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16) “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6) God gave Himself in the person of His Son to die at the cross; He bore OUR sins just because of His great love. The Salvation provision God made is enough to save every human being that wants to be freed from sin.

THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION AND MAN Everyone who accepts the Plan of Redemption experience three phases. “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life” (Romans 6:22) JUSTIFICATION Washing my sins in Jesus’ blood. That is an act of faith that brings us back to God. “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins… and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:14, 20) SANCTIFICATION Living a life in harmony with the divine will. God regenerate us and prepares us to live a holy life. “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7) GLORIFICATION Receiving an immortal body and living forever with Jesus. “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52)

“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19) God devised the Plan of Redemption so that EVERY man could be saved. But God doesn’t want to force anyone, so He gives everyone the opportunity of accepting or rejecting salvation. What must I do before being justified? Repentance is an essential step to be forgiven. I must first feel the desire of having my sin forgiven and then ask for it to be washed away. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance and justification. Thus, if I should repent of sin and experience justification, God is the one to receive the credit. Salvation, then, is truly a gracious gift from God, for, indeed, it is by grace through faith that we are saved (Eph. 2:8)

SANCTIFICATION A new live begins in us after we are justified. We then can live together with Christ under the conduction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Can we be the same person after repenting (living the way we used to live, thinking the way we used to think and feeling the way we used to feel)? “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4) “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13) Although we need to make some effort for that life, both justification and sanctification as well as glorification are God’s work. There is no merit in us.

“The divine Author of salvation left nothing incomplete in the plan; every phase of it is perfect. The sin of the whole world was laid upon Jesus, and divinity gave its highest value to the suffering of humanity in Jesus that the whole world might be pardoned through faith in the Substitute. The most guilty need have no fear but that God will pardon, for because of the efficacy of the divine sacrifice the penalty of the law will be remitted. Through Christ the sinner may return to allegiance to God. How wonderful is the plan of redemption in its simplicity and fullness. It not only provides for the full pardon of the sinner but also for the restoration of the transgressor, making a way whereby he may be accepted as a son of God. Through obedience he may be the possessor of love and peace and joy. His faith may unite him in his weakness to Christ, the source of divine strength, and through the merits of Christ he may find the approval of God, because Christ has satisfied the demands of the law, and He imputes His righteousness to the penitent, believing soul… What love, what wonderful love, was displayed by the Son of God.... Christ takes the sinner from the lowest degradation, and purifies, refines, and ennobles him. By beholding Jesus as He is, the sinner is transformed and elevated to the very summit of dignity, even to a seat with Christ upon his throne” E.G.W. (That I may know Him, March 31)