11/01/22 BASIC SALVATION

11/01/22 BASIC SALVATION

BASIC SALVATION
If you would see (meet with, converse with) Jesus, then you must seek Him with your whole heart.

Read the following passage and see what His message is.
Certain Greeks came to "see" Jesus just before His Sacrificial Death on the cross (vss. 20-22). Jesus response to the inquiring visitors (vss. 23-26) indicates the cost of seeking and following Him. Very few continue to seek or follow Him once they find out His plan. 

John 12:20-26
20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. 

Read vss. 24-26 again...
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Life in Christ demands death to the self life. This is seen in the symbolism of baptism. We are baptized INTO HIS DEATH. Life in Christ results in death to self, sin and the world.

This is why the seed on the rocky soil and the thorny ground gave life but did not bring forth fruit. They allowed the trials of this world and the temptations of this world to rob them of the fruitful life of salvation.

We, as believers, must die. Our Old Man (sinful nature) must be crucified with Christ. Crucifixion is an ugly business. No one wants to die to their old desires, their old thoughts, their old ways, their old beliefs, their old behavior, yet death to sin and self, is God's intended plan of salvation from before the time we get saved. 

Here is the Biblical portrait of a Christian.
Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

Let's look at this verse closely and carefully.
Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ:

nevertheless I live;

yet not I,

but Christ liveth in me: and

the life which I now live in the flesh

I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and

gave himself for me.

It is not me, but Christ in me.
Colossians 1:27-29
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Here is the same truth, explaining our death to sin and our victorious life of faith, in more detail.

Romans 6:3-14
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.