Forgiveness and the Gospel of His Salvation

By Becky Barrett-Smith

This book is written to Christians, who are striving to see the whole picture of salvation, but who are struggling to understand the depths of Gods Redemption; His Forgiveness; His Word of Reconciliation; No Condemnation or Punishment for those who are in Christ; what it all means to the believer and how it all fits together in the whole salvation picture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 13, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462829217

Becky Barrett-Smith

Becky Barrett-Smith is a born again, new covenant, believer in Jesus Christ, who was saved in 1986, but admits that she took a wrong turn. Getting back on track, Becky married born again Christian, David Smith in 2003. Together they founded Basic Life Support for Christians, an internet based Christian ministry, proclaiming the gospel of Christ Jesus, our Lord, God and Savior. The contents of this book and the “Basic Life Support for Christians” (www.bls4c.net) website were developed with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the grace of Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father in, whom I give all the glory.

Book preview

Forgiveness

and the

Gospel of Your Salvation

Becky Barrett-Smith

Copyright © 2010 by Becky Barrett-Smith.

All Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, unless other wise listed. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

74526

Contents

Prelude

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Dedication

In the loving memory of my dear, late husband David Anthony Smith, who always encouraged me to write, proclaiming Jesus Christ as our great Lord, God and Savior.

To Becky Yakimow, who graciously agreed to proof read this writing, correcting my errors in punctuation, grammar and making much needed suggestions in the layout. Thank you so much.

Prelude

The Gospel of Salvation

Salvation is like a jigsaw puzzle and when you see just one piece of the puzzle at a time, you cannot see the big picture. It is only when all the pieces are put together that we can see and completely understand the whole gospel of our salvation and truly understand what Jesus accomplished for us.

Apostle Paul explains what ‘the Gospel of Salvation’ is and that it is a ‘gospel that saves.’

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you holdfast to the word which I preached to you, unless you believe in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1Corinthians 15:1-4).

Apostle Paul describes the ‘gospel that saves’ as being the gospel of Jesus Christ and what He achieved and accomplished for us through His death, burial and the resurrection. Salvation does not come from just the death of Christ, but from the ‘whole gospel of Christ,’ and that is in His death, burial and His resurrection.

Why Jesus Died

Created by God, He breathed His Spirit of life into both Adam and Eve, making them into His own image, spiritually. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, the Spirit of God left them. Because of their sin, God cursed them and sent them out of the Garden. (Genesis 3:6-19). Through the sin of Adam, sin and death entered the world.

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive (1Corinthians 15:22).

All people born after the fall, (after Adam sinned and was cursed), are all born in the image of Adam (Genesis 5:3). We are born in his likeness, with a sinful nature and without the Spirit of God living in us.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

God has always had a love for man and never wanted to see humanity lost because of sin; but at the same time, His Righteousness and His Holiness demands that all sin be punished by death.

"For the wages of sin is death . . ." (Romans 6:23).

God did not have to save us at all. He could have just cursed and condemned us all to hell, an eternal separation from Him. Because of His awesome love for humanity, He sent Himself (John 1:1-3), in the fleshly form of Jesus, the Son (John 1:14), to give us life eternal (a life like Adam and Eve had in the Lord, before sin entered the picture) and to save us.

For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:16-17).

As I have already noted, the ‘gospel that saves’ is found in Jesus Christ and what He did for mankind through His death, burial and resurrection. And now we know why Jesus had to die. He was sent by God and that through Him we might be saved.

Chapter 1

Achievements in His Death and Burial

"They took Jesus, therefore,