God's Salvation: The Preservation of Humanity

By Daniel Silas

The revelation of the Lamb of God is a story of God's grace and mercy to a world of sinners in danger of God's coming wrath. Jesus' incredible life and loving act of complete self-sacrifice brings God's salvation into clear view as the way to forgiveness, yet there are those who still reject Jesus as Savior and Lord.

The world remains divided between those who follow Jesus and those who reject Him. The Bible explains why, and the tension between God's Sovereignty and human choice is a deep question discussed among believers for centuries.

Seeking to shine a light of discovery on the theological question, Daniel Silas presents a simple, basic explanation that unifies the Biblical texts.

God commmands all to repent and believe, eternal life is freely given to those who come and desire, but no one would call on the name of the Lord to be saved without His intervention.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 16, 2014
• ISBN: 9781312110038

Book preview

God's Salvation: The Preservation of Humanity

God’s Salvation

The Preservation of Humanity

By Daniel Silas

Copyright

God’s Salvation: The Preservation of Humanity

Copyright © 2014 by Daniel Silas

ISBN: 978-1-312-11053-3

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version unless otherwise marked.  Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.  All Rights Reserved.

The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society.  Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

"The

Lord

is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation…" (Exodus 15:2a)

Chapter 1: The Good News

One day I was eating lunch with a friend and co-worker of mine.  We were sitting in a busy dining room chatting about common interests.  That included topics such as news, gaming, and others.  We always tried to avoid shop talk when having a break.  Taking a bite of my pizza I began to think about a question the Lord had put on my heart in recent days.

I wondered if my friend actually understood what Christians mean by saying You need to get saved.  We Christians sometimes take for granted that people do not understand our vocabulary.  I’ve wondered if other Christians knew as well.  The Lord had given me the privilege to speak with my friend concerning Christ before, so I decided to ask him the question.  I asked him, What are you being saved from?

His answer, I have no idea.

The answer to that question is the entire reason why we call the testimony concerning Jesus Christ the Good News.  So what is the answer?  People are being saved from God’s justice and wrath for the evil things we do.  That is one part of what getting saved means.

Everyone has done something wrong in their life, and we all deserve God’s justice.  We can all look at ourselves and can honestly admit that we do things that are evil.  What is evil?  There are two commandments that Jesus spoke on during His ministry on the earth that will help us sum that up.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:37-40).

We are to love God and love people.  If we violate those laws, we have committed evil (sin).  The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) gives us a good, simple break down of what loving God and people includes.  In regard to God, having nothing before God in our lives, no idols, not using His name like a curse, working, and remembering His day of rest that He made for us.  In regard to people: honoring our father and mother, not committing murder, no adultery, not stealing from people, not lying about them, and not desiring what they have.  Sadly, at some point in our lives, we have violated God’s law in one way or another. 

I’ve realized the root of all evil is selfishness and that is what drives sin.  Selfishness in and of itself is not evil, but when a person’s selfish actions hurt others then it crosses the line into evil.   Motivation is important.  Even when people do good things, what is the motivation behind it?  Do they get something out of the good act?  Perhaps it makes them feel good about themselves, or perhaps it makes them look good to other people.  That is one reason why God calls our righteous acts filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

Paul reveals the depth of humanity’s wickedness in Romans 3:10-18.

As it is written:

"There is none righteous, no, not one;

There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

They have all turned aside;

They have together become unprofitable;

There is none who does good, no, not one."

"Their throat is an open tomb;

With their tongues they have practiced deceit";

The poison of asps is under their lips;

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

"Their feet are swift to shed blood;

Destruction and misery are in their ways;

And the way of peace they have not known."

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Paul clearly shows us that each and every human being is sinful.  There are none who do right, not even one.  We don’t understand, and absolutely none of us seek God.  We are all consumed by our sin, and since all of us are sinners, all of us will answer to God for our evil ways.  The result of that is God’s justice against us.  We are condemned before God because we are guilty of sin.  God’s punishment for sin is death and eternal prison.

What about all the good works a person does in their lives?  Will that have any kind of impact to balance the scales?  The simple answer is no from a Biblical perspective.  Go down to the county court house and sit in on some criminal cases that are open to the public.  Imagine someone who is guilty of a crime standing up and pleading about how many good things they have done in their life.  Will that in anyway sway the judge to dismiss the case?  I don’t know of any judges that would.  God is the perfect judge and sin demands justice no matter how many good things a person may have done.

God pronounced this punishment for sin at the very beginning when Adam and Eve were created.  He told them if they disobeyed His Word and ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil they would die.  They ate of the tree and they died.  What was worse is that after they sinned they had children in their own likeness, fallen sinners under the condemnation of God for sin (Genesis 5:3).  The sinful nature of men and women surfaces in childhood and continues until the end of life.

All of this did not catch God by surprise.  Before the foundation of the world God had designed a plan of salvation for the fallen human race (Ephesians 1:3-5).  That plan is based on Jesus Christ.  Paul continues in Roman 3:

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood (23-25a).

This text sums up the reality of the situation.  Paul has established that we are sinners and no one will escape God’s judgment due us for our sins.  But, God has created a plan of salvation, which will remove His judgment against us and the wrath that follows.  That plan is focused on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Atonement means that the judgment and wrath of God has been satisfied by Jesus.   How did Jesus do that?  God poured out His wrath on Him instead of on those who trust in Him for salvation.  Jesus was wrongly accused, scourged, beaten, humiliated, mocked, spat on, a crown of thorns placed on His head, and nailed to a cross in their place.

He died the death they deserved even though He was completely innocent and without sin.  He purchased His people