From death to life

"Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life" John 5:24. 

In the Old Testament, you had to do good works to be justified by God. If you kept all commandments but failed at one thing, you broke all law. You were guilty. You could only be justified by observing the entire law. If you failed at something, judgement of God was in store for you. The law demanded for you to be righteous. It was a heavy burden on the shoulders of the Jews and nobody could really fulfill the entire law. If they thought they could, they actually were lying to themselves. 

Christ came. He was the only person in the world who never sinned and fulfilled all the commandments of God. He died for you and me. The New Covenant was established. On the cross, God poured His judgement on Jesus for all the sins that the entire world committed: past, present and future. Now, what you have to do to be saved and have eternal life is to listen to the words of Jesus and believe. If you do, you are saved and pass from eternal death to eternal life. You don't have (can't) to be good in order for God to justify you. In the New Covenant, God does not demand righteousness from you, He supplies His own righteousness for you. You cannot be good enough. You have to accept (believe) the gift of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and you will never be judged by God. You will pass from death to life. What a glorious gift God has given us! Thank Him for that. 

Wages of sin and gift of God

Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Sin is never left unpunished by God. He is righteous and cannot ignore the evils that happen in the world daily. The Creator of universe and all human beings cannot contemplate, speak or do evil or even tolerate it. God fights it and in due time punishes it. Sounds scaring, but that is the truth. There will be the Judgment day when righteous God will eternally condemn sinners and fully redeem the righteous. That is what my Bible tells me about that final day.

However, there is the bright side to it. God is good. He does not want to condemn a single individual. Therefore, he prepared the gift of eternal life for everybody who will repent and believe in Jesus Christ his son. Christ was punished on our behalf that we might be saved and enjoy eternal life with all of its’ joys and privileges being sons and daughters of God. If you have made Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior you have come out of darkness and will surely avoid the judgment of eternal damnation. You will live in God’ favor forever. Praise God for that.

No condemnation in Christ

Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.

Everybody has sinned. There is not a single person and there have never been one who hasn’t sin. Exception would be only Jesus. He hasn’t committed a single sin. However, all the rest of us have. And the Bible clearly says that the reward for sin is death. Bad news huh? Well, that is the truth. God is righteous and just. He cannot tolerate sin. So, does that mean we all be punished? No, God made a plan how to shift that punishment to somebody else.  How is that?

On the one hand, as God is righteous He had to punish sin. Somebody had to die. But who? The only one who could really take that punishment had to be someone who had never sinned. There wasn’t anybody who could qualify for that as everybody sinned. Therefore, a sinless God (Jesus) had to become a man and die as a sinner (without being one) and take all the wrath of God for our sins. He did that by dying on the cross. He took all the condemnation. Sin was condemned in Christ and therefore we are no longer condemned by God for our sins. Why? Because, Christ bore that punishment for us.

Isn’t it a great reason to rejoice? It is. God does not condemn you. He justified you in his Son and adopted you to become a child of God. God does not condemn his children. Praise him for his wonderful salvation. You can be free from your feeling of guild and condemnation today, because God does not condemn you. He loves you and if you have been reconciled to Him you can come to him without fear and shame. You are his son/daughter. Run to your Father.

29 Bible verses about salvation

For centuries, even thousands of years people of the Old Testament had been waiting for salvation. The law of Moses and the prophets told them that the Messiah was coming. And He did come in the person of Jesus Christ. When you study the verses about salvation you will find out that salvation is not only one single event, it is also a Person – God. Embrace him and be saved. 

1. Exodus 15:2
“The LORD is my strength and my defense ; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.“

2. 2 Samuel 22:3
„...my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me.“

3. Psalm 27:1
„The LORD is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?“

4. Psalm 51:12
„Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.“

5. Psalm 74:12
„But God is my King from long ago; he brings salvation on the earth.“

6. Psalm 85:9
„Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.“

7. Psalm 98:2
„The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.“

8. Psalm 116:13
„I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.“

9. Isaiah 12:3
„With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.“

10. Isaiah 30:15
„This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.“

11. Isaiah 49:8
„This is what the LORD says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances...“

12. Isaiah 51:5
„My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.“

13. Isaiah 52:7
„How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

14. Isaiah 59:17
„He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.“

15. Isaiah 60:18
„No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.“

16. Lamentations 3:26
„...it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.“

17. Luke 1:77
„...to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins...“

18. Luke 19:9
„Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.“

19. Acts 4:12
„Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

20. Acts 13:47
„For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.”

21. Romans 1:16
„For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.“

22. 2 Corinthians 7:10
„Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.“

23. Ephesians 6:17
„Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.“

24. Philippians 2:12

„Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling...“

25. Hebrews 2:3
„...how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.“

26. Hebrews 9:28
„...so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.“

27. 1 Peter 1:9
„...for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.“

28. 1 Peter 2:2
„Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation...“

29. 2 Peter 3:15
„Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.“

See also: http://bible-verse-of-the-day-blog.blogspot.com/2012/05/26-bible-verses-about-grace.html

http://bible-verse-of-the-day-blog.blogspot.com/p/bible-verses-about-healing.html