Isaiah 1:18 "'Come now, and let us reason together,' Says the LORD, 'Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.'"
Romans 3:23 - "[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
- The condition of man; we have all sinned against our Creator, every one of us.
Isaiah 59:2 - "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear."
- This sin has a consequence, in that we have become separated from God.
Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death."
- This separation is permanent, as the result of our sin is that we are now condemned to die. The payment for our sin is continual separation from God; therefore, there is nothing we can do to change this.
Ezekiel 18:32 - "'For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,' declares the Lord GOD. 'Therefore, repent and live.'"
Ezekiel 33:11 - "'Say to them, "As I live!" declares the Lord GOD, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?"'"
- God doesn’t desire that we die, rather He would have all men live.
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."
Romans 5:8 - "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
- Therefore, since He doesn’t desire for us to die, He has created the way by which we may be redeemed.
Revelation 1:5 - "To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood."
Revelation 5:9 - "[F]or You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation."
- The sacrifice of Christ has accomplished this, in that a death has been given to take our place.
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 as a result of works, so that no one may boast."
- This salvation is the free gift of God, and is not something we can earn. There is no work we can do to earn our salvation.
However, since it is evident that not all men will be saved, there has to be a way in which we partake of the blood of Christ, a way in which we are washed in His blood. And this we find in the salvation of Paul, in Acts 22:16, "Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name." It is in baptism that we are washed in the blood of Christ. Yet this is the culmination of several things that must preceed it:
- First, we need to hear the gospel, for how can we believe if we haven't heard?
- Hebrews 11:6 "And 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 seek Him."
- Romans 10:14,17 "How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?...So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."
- Second, we must believe what we hear:
- Romans 10:10 "[F]or with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness."
- Mark 16:16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."
- Having heard and believed, we must repent of our sins:
- Luke 13:3 "[B]ut unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
- Acts 2:38 "Peter said to them, 'Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
- We need to confess before men that we believe:
- Romans 10:9-10 "[T]hat if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
- Then we are baptized:
- Mark 16:16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned."
- Acts 2:38 "Peter said to them, 'Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
By this, the Lord adds us to His church, Acts 2:47.
Jeremiah says, "I know, O LORD, that a man's way is not in himself, nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps," Jeremiah 10:23. We would not know the way to be saved, unless it had been revealed to us. Jesus has purchased our salvation, and revealed to us the way to partake of it; and it is not burdensome.
Ephesians 2:1-9 "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in 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 as a result of works, so that no one may boast."