GOD’S PLAN OF SALVATION

Because of the condition of man God has provided a simple, yet effective plan of salvation. Jesus said of Himself:

”For the Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

From God’s perspective man is lost, spiritually lost, forever lost. God created man in order to have fellowship with Himself, but when our original parents opted to obey the devil rather than God, they took on a different nature. Since, for the most part, we think as our parents think, we have inherited that nature. Just consider it. The mentality of our day is to “look out for ol’ number one. I’ll look after myself and hang everyone else. I’ll do what is best for me no matter how it effects anyone else.” The Bible calls this attitude an attitude of sin. Sin is a nature not just things we do. Man is corrupt and apart from God and His righteousness.

Consider the apostle’s words in Romans 3:10-12: As it is written, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

Because of this condition we just cannot measure up. Paul goes on to say:

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

It has to get worse before it gets better and the worst is this. There is a payment or a wage for our sin. It’s a payment that requires everything most valuable to us, our lives. Sin kills! It is the destroyer of everything, including your soul.

”for the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

This death is not simply the cessation of physical life; it is death to the spirit. It is an ongoing agony of soul and spirit forever. I’ve met people who thought they’ve faced hell on earth. And they may have had some really bad experiences. We shouldn’t minimize that, however, it is nothing compared to
everlasting hell in a place called the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8).

Matthew records this by the mouth of Jesus:

”And these shall go away into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46).

All this sound pretty awful and it is. However, God does not reveal all of this to simply rub it in. There is a remedy, an escape for it all. Not an escape just for the punishment, but also, for our sin. This is not a remedy that we can implement, nor is there a price that we could pay. We could never be good enough to be worthy of heaven, nor could we work hard enough to inherit eternal life, nor could we give enough to tip the scale to our favor. God, Who demanded the ransom, paid the ransnom. He sent His only begotten Son into the world to be the substatutionary sacrifice for sin. His death was no accident. Why He did it is based upon a love so strong and pure that you and I cannot even begin to fathom it. This is the tremendous, life giving message of John 3:16.