Salvation-Adopt-Heir
Plan of Salvation
Jesus Believed He Was the Only Means of Salvation?
John 3 is just one of these incredible presentations of the greatest message of all, the plan of salvation. As we look at this event note carefully that:
*Jesus believed that He was the only means of salvation.
Christ’s presentation of salvation is clearly captured in John 3; and it is a very simple summary of salvation that contained three truths:
YOU–MUST BE–BORN AGAIN!
1. “you” (salvation is a personal and individual transaction).
2. “must be” (salvation is a very exclusive, narrow, and quite directive command from Jesus to lost sinners who need to be saved).
3. “born again” (salvation is an obedient, personal confession that your first birth into what ever family, religion, heritage, ethnic group, and so on is insufficient to get you to Heaven, and unless a supernatural, conscious miracle called Conversion takes place, only Hell lies ahead).
What is most compelling about this time that Jesus shares the plan of salvation is that it was said to someone who was most clearly:
* A person who was deeply religious and God fearing;
* A person who was under the Jewish covenant,
* A person who was circumcised in the exact and proper method prescribed by the Old Testament Mosaic law, and
* A person who was carefully keeping all the commands of God’s Word in every way he knew how.
***However, though Nicodemus was God trusting, and Bible obeying, Jesus explains that because he was never Personally born again, supernaturally converted or saved from his sin, *Nicodemus was going to be banished from the banquet called Heaven, and cast into the place of everlasting doom called Hell.
Spiritual rebirth was not a new concept. *Jesus would not have been the first person to use this term.
*It literally means “made anew”.
*This however was a foreign concept for the Jewish people. Being born anew was something which was considered philosophical and outside the box for them.
* God to them was not “spiritual” but rather ritual. One must be changed from ABOVE, NOT by their OWN actions. This is the biggest hangup for most on Christianity.
* Do we ever find ourselves guilty of the same thing?
Titus 3: 4 But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us NOT by works of righteousness that WE have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Study: Romans 8:12-17 “adoption”
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of ADOPTION, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 And if children, then HEIRS (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ) – if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.
*Paul paints and humbling picture in this passage. He reminds us that, left to ourselves and our SIN, our DEBT could only be paid by our death and condemnation, BUT GOD saved us from that by giving us a new life of promise and hope.
Picture you’re a part of a family that is going nowhere. A family whose only option is a path of destructrion, penalty, punishment, and death.
Now picture a loving Father comes along and decides that He will pull you out of that family and give you a new path of life.
That Father comes to you, takes you under His wing, and adopts you as His own.
Picture that this Father is not only a kind and generous Father, but a powerful King with a Kingdom that rules over anything you’ve ever known and everything you could ever imagine.
Now picture that you, His newly adopted child, has been set right up at the top of the chain as His heir to inherit that Kingdom.
* This Father has pull you from the slums and seated you on the mountaintop.
* He has pulled you from the dark shadows and seated you in the light of His glory.
*** How could you not cry, out of returned love, praise, and worship, and cry to Him “Abba! Father!”
*Abba is an intimate and loving name children use for their father.
ABBA, thank You for reavealing Yourself to me as my loving Father! Thank You for placing people in my life who have been able to reaveal to me what it means to have a loving father when my own father wasn’t able to fill that void in my life. Thank You for being my Abba, for loving and taking care of me.
Thank you God for your Spirit. (The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God).
Thank you Holy Spirit for the Power to overcome; worries, anxiety, addiction, anger. Thank you that now I can afford to feel good about myself, knowing There is no condemnation in Christ. John 3:17. In Jesus Name, Amen.
John 3: 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.