Salvation & Your Obligation

Introduction Note: A friend of mine recently asked me some questions about hell. I was surprised and ashamed to admit that I had not done an indepth study on such a seemingly basic aspect of Christianity. In attempting to rectify my ignorance, I came across an incredibly helpful article. I found it's writings on hell to be both fascinating and biblically based. My favorite aspect is that the author gives references to each of the numerous scriptures as he uses them. The main portion of the article is simply too large to post here, so in a stray from my usual writing, I have copied a very small portion of this excellent study -ironically the portion least to do with hell- and pasted it here. I have chosen this portion for it's succinctness and for it's supreme importance.

For the full article, The Biblical Doctrine of Hell written by Pastor David Fairchild, I strongly urge you to visit: http://www.kaleo.us/hell.html

Salvation

God has revealed to you the terrifying nature of hell in order that you will turn to Jesus Christ. God’s wrath is great, but it is not greater than God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ. God has provided only one way to escape eternal torment and obtain eternal life. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (Jn. 14:6).

If you believe in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished in His life, death and resurrection, then you will have eternal life. Only Christ’s blood has the power to wash away sin. Christ experienced the full brunt of God’s curse and wrath against sin on the cross in His own body so that those who believe in Him will not have to experience that wrath. Christ lived a sinless life to provide the perfect righteousness to enter heaven.

Jesus Christ’s mission on earth was twofold. First, He had to live a perfect, sinless life. You and I are both sinners; we have failed to obey God’s law. But Jesus Christ in His human nature was born without sin. He lived His whole life in perfect obedience to God’s law. If you believe in Jesus Christ, His perfect obedience is imputed or credited to you. You are a sinner and deserve to go to hell, but if you trust in Christ you will be clothed with His perfect righteousness. On the day of judgment, when God looks upon all those who believe in Jesus Christ, He will see perfect obedience, perfect righteousness. It is solely on account of Christ’s merits—His objective righteousness—that Christians gain entrance into heaven. Your supposed good deeds contribute nothing to your salvation.

Second, Jesus Christ had to die a bloody, sacrificial death for His people (the elect). Because of your sins you are guilty before God; the wrath of God rests upon you. You are an enemy of God and alienated from Him. You are in bondage to Satan, sin and death. But if you believe in Christ, your sin and guilt are placed upon Him on the cross. God’s righteous wrath and indignation against your sin are appeased and set aside, because Christ bore the full penalty for your sin in your stead. The enmity and alienation from God that you caused by your rebellion against Him are fully absolved by Christ’s death. If you believe in Jesus, you and God are no longer enemies but friends.

Christ restores our friendship and fellowship with God; He reconciles us to God. “For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:7-10).

Only the incarnate Son of God could provide the sinless, sacrificial death needed for sin’s removal. And only the perfect, sinless life of Christ can provide the imputed righteousness needed so that God could be both just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus Christ. God did not overlook sin; He dealt with it head-on in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ rose from the dead, victorious over sin, Satan and death. If you believe in Him, His victory becomes your victory. “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.... Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed” (Rom. 10:9, 11).

Your Obligation

If you have placed your trust in Jesus Christ, as He is revealed in the Scriptures, then you are completely justified before God and clothed with Christ’s perfect righteousness. Although a person contributes nothing to his salvation, true believers show their love and gratitude toward Christ by obeying His revealed will. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn. 14:15). True saving faith always issues forth unto a life of obedience (Mt. 7:16-20; Heb. 3:12-19; 4:2, 6; Jas. 2:14-20, 26; 1 Jn. 1:5-10); therefore, you should obey God by being baptized and becoming a member of Christ’s church. It is absolutely vital to your spiritual growth that you use the means of grace: prayer, the Word and the sacraments in the public worship of God. Attend a church that obeys the Bible as God’s inspired and infallible Word—Becoming a regular part of Christ’s church is mandatory for the believer: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:25). Remember, Jesus warned you of the wrath to come and the eternal punishment of hell so that you would turn to Him. Believe in Christ now, before it is too late. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).