Looking at 1 Corinthians 14:33, “For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.” Then 2 Timothy 3:16; “All scripture is inspired by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Jesus prayed for His disciples and all of us in John 17:17, 20; “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth…. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word.” Also 2 Peter 1:21; “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried by the Holy Spirit.” (ESV, all emphasis mine)
The biblical meaning of “sanctify” is “to set apart to a sacred purpose or to a religious use; to be free from sin” (From Merriam-Webster). This is for all who believe in, receive and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
In other so-called religions, which are all man-made, there is a sense of never fully knowing where a member stands. It seems that much is left to one’s imagination as to what their deity expects, and works and contributions are absolutely required. When questioned as to what saves them, and when do they know for certain they have earned salvation, the response is that they can only hope they’ve given enough or have done enough works to go to their paradise. This is not our Heavenly Father’s way.
The plain and simple response that believers in Jesus have is Ephesians 2:8-9; “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Another example is when Paul and Silas were in prison, and an earthquake opened the doors, and all the bonds holding the prisoners were unfastened. The jailer was about to take his own life because any guard that allowed a prisoner to escape was put to death. Paul called out to him not to hurt himself as all were still there. The jailer had to realize he had witnessed a miracle and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30). The response from Paul was, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” It should be noted, each member of his household was led to Jesus by the jailer’s conversion.
No one who has ever received and accepted Jesus as their Savior has had to go through any mystical secret ceremonies that only a special few could do. Joel 2:23, “And it shall come to pass, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” Acts 2:21, “And it shall come to pass, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
That’s three times God gave the same statement, and please note that none of them continue with any further stipulations. In fact, Romans 10:9-12 gives the steps leading to the call, and they are: simply, Admit and confess we’re all sinners in need of a Savior; Believe and have faith that Jesus paid for our sins in full; and finally, we’re saved when we Call on Him to save us.
To add anything to this is an insult to the Son of God by saying that His sacrifice for us was not enough. That would be saying His precious sinless blood, which was shed for us, was not adequate for the Father to accept once and for all. Actually, it’s the only sacrifice that would ever cover all of our sins. Personally, I would not want to imply that I feel other than this way in any manner, shape or form.
Psalm 103 is a Psalm of David praising the Father for all He did for him and for all He would do for all who would accept God’s word. Verses 11-12 state, “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.”
Some may say this was long before Jesus and had nothing to do with our sins today. God had a plan for all of us, even as He was creating this earth. John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
Therefore, if we take Psalm 103, then look at John 1:1-3, and finally add John 3:16-18, we have; “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
Verse 18 gives us the “unforgivable” sin. Not believing in the name of Jesus and not accepting Him as Savior before passing from this earth condemns that person forever. Everything in the Old Testament led up to the arrival of the Messiah, and to be saved, they had to be in the will of God. They had the Law (10 Commandments), and they were instructed not to worship any other gods. Our Father knew that no one could fully follow the Law, just as He knows we are not sinless today.
Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, and Romans 6:23 say we’re all sinners who deserve eternal “death,” but through the free gift of God, we can have eternal “life” in Jesus. Nowhere does it ever say, “through Jesus, and also….” Jesus Himself covered this in John 14:6 with, “And Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Acts states the same thing with, “And there is Salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved.”
Satan and his demons and all the false prophets and antichrists are doing everything they can to pull souls away from the Savior. They know just what thoughts to give us and what temptations to use to cause us to seek earthly things rather than worship the Lord.
Knowing and accepting Jesus should be our greatest goal. All who call on Him will not be turned away. We’re told in 2 Peter 3:9 that God doesn’t want anyone to fail but is patient toward us. However, people can test His patience by seeking earthly treasures rather than developing a relationship with His Son.
Some say they can’t understand the Bible because it’s too complicated. Perhaps they have only tried to read translations that are not clear to them. If they would look at any true version of a study Bible in easier to understand language, it would be easier to get into the Word. My progression was from the King James Version to the New King James Version, to the American Standard, and finally to the English Standard Version. With a study Bible, many questions are answered in the footnotes.
God allows us free choice to accept or reject Jesus. He explains the results of each choice, and there are only two to choose from.
One is found in Titus 3:5-7; “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of, regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us richly through Christ Jesus our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
For rejecting Jesus, there will be a long line at the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15) that will have everyone from pre-calvary that were not in the will of God, all the way to the end of the Millennial Reign that did not have Jesus as their Savior. They will be sentenced to forever in the Lake of Fire made for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41).
There is no other option. Joshua 24:15 is our call to make a decision. Choose other gods and the things of this earth, or choose Jesus, Son of the Lord God Jehovah, Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Please choose wisely, as this is the most important decision by far you will ever make on this earth.
Shalom!