Part #01
“Salvation, through the Cross of Christ Jesus is a ‘Judicial Act of God”.
And our ‘Eternal Destiny’ rests only and completely in this ‘Judicial Act’.
When it comes to ETERNAL salvation, it is certainly ‘NOT’ based on one’s performance in this life on earth.
Performance, good works, has ‘no place’ in receiving God’s judicial and irrevocable salvation and an entry into His eternal Heaven.
This is one of ‘The Greatest” liberating Truths of Bible Scripture.
(Good works and performance does have a place in eternity, a great topic which we will address later)
The sword of ‘thou shalt’ and ‘thou shalt not’, which brought only ‘condemnation’, is no longer hanging over our heads.
That is no longer Heaven’s mandate!
There is no one chasing us, there is no one looking over our shoulder.
For Redemption was purchased by a Judicial ‘Act of God’, through the shedding of Divine Blood, Jesus Christ, God’s Son.
And this ‘Judicial Act’ of God took place openly and publicly, on a gruesome, shameful Roman cross 2022 years ago.
Speaking of this Judicial Act of God, irrevocable and irreversible, here is how Scripture lays it out in [Colossians 2:14]:
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us……
That is speaking of the Laws of God, which were actually against us.
…….which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, (and how? By) nailing it to His cross;”
God Himself took this sword of condemnation out of the way.
So there we have it, as plain and simple as day.
There is ‘NOTHING’ to be added by us, to that ‘Judicial Act of God’.
History’s Greatest Moment
When Christ Jesus, in history’s greatest moment, ‘rose alive’ from His grave three days later, what did that prove?
First, His Resurrection proved that He was indeed God’s Begotten Son, as Scripture lays it out in [Romans 1:4].
Speaking of Jesus Christ, Scripture declared Him, “to be the Son of God with power……..” and how?
“…..by the resurrection from the dead.”
Paul, when preaching at Antioch in [Acts 13:33-34], quoted and explained Psalm 2:7.
“As it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
And as concerning ‘THAT’ 👆🏼 He (God) raised Him (Jesus) up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,……”
Secondly, Christ’s Resurrection proves beyond any shadow of doubt, that every man’s sin debt was truly paid on that Roman cross.
The Resurrection, Divinely authenticated that.
For Scripture, through the pen of the Apostle Paul, attests this great Truth in [1 Corinthians 15:17].
“ And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”
That’s why God has given every single one of us, ‘the’ great ‘redeeming and saving Gospel’, Heaven’s good news.
The Infallible Truth
The infallible truth, is that this purchased redemption, wasn’t just for a selected few.
It wasn’t just for a certain group or groups of people.
This divine redemption was purchased for every single person ever born on this planet, past, present and future.
God Himself paid, ‘in full’, every man and woman’s sin debt, past, present and future.
Bible Scripture so clearly shows us in [Colossians 2:13] , that we were ‘dead’ in our sins.
But God has made us ‘alive’ in Christ Jesus, “having freely forgiven (already done! And how much?) ‘ALL’ our sins”
This is what the redemptive work the cross of Christ has fully accomplished for each one of us without exception.
That’s what Christ Jesus meant when HE spoke His last words, just before he died, “it is finished” [John 19:30].
This is for all of us today in this “Age of Grace”.
The Bible calls it, “the dispensation of Grace” [Ephesians 3:2].
“…..How that Jesus Christ died for sins, according to the Scriptures”.
And HE was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” [1 Corinthians 15:1-4].
There is no ‘religious tone’ to this message.
There is no religious act, work or effort required to receive His Salvation.
It is a ‘free gift’, offered ‘unconditionally’ to all men without exception.
“…..The free gift came upon (how many?) ‘ALL’ men…….” [Romans 5:18].
Laying Hold Of And Embracing
So how do we lay hold of and embrace this wonderful and unconditional offer of God’s free gift to mankind?
We either accept it or reject it, these are the only two possible results, and applies to any kind of offer.
And to accept it, all it takes is a simple act of one’s heart to just ‘believe it’.
That is why the great Apostle said in [Romans 1:16]:
“ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:…..”
And why did he say that he’s not ashamed?
“……..for it is the power of God unto salvation to (how many?) ‘EVERY ONE’ that believeth;”
Notice, there’s ‘NOTHING’ added to that word “believeth”.
Remember, we are dealing only with the ‘Salvation aspect’, of our eternal destiny here.
Unfortunately, Christendom over the centuries has incorrectly added on to it, twisting it out of shape.
We have ‘no right’ to add on what we ‘think’ should be there, to that which is Divinely ‘complete’.
And the Inerrant and Authoritative ‘Word of God’ is ‘complete’.
There is no “believeth ‘plus’ repent, water baptism, Church joining, financial offerings, do this or do that”.
They have ‘no role’ in God’s free gift of Salvation.
Anything that we can do in the energy of our flesh, cannot and will not hold any water in adding to the work of the cross.
And if we really think about it sensibly and logically, it actually takes all the heat and pressure off us.
It totally by God’s Grace alone!
Something Happened
When Paul, the apostle for the Gentiles, the non-Jews, preached the Grace Gospel in Galatia, having established the Church, something happened.
The Judaizers from Judea came there, obviously sent by the Jerusalem head quarters, attempting to corrupt God’s newly revealed Gospel of Grace.
They told Paul’s grace converts that, “Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.”
We find this in [Acts 15:1].
Then the Pharisees got into the act and took it even a step further, as we find in [Acts 15:5].
“That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
The Hurried Galatian Letter
Having heard this, the Apostle Paul had to hurriedly write a letter to the Galatian Church.
Beginning by calling them ‘foolish’ in [Galatians 3:1-4], he gives them a strong blast.
“Right before your very eyes” Paul tells them, “Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified in the gospel message.”
He then asks them, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”
In other words, Paul asks them:
“Tell me, did you get eternally saved by keeping the Law or by hearing and believing the Gospel of Grace?
Are you so foolish and senseless?”
“You began your new life by faith with the Spirit”.
“Are you now being perfected and reaching spiritual maturity by the flesh?
Are you trying to do so by your own works and efforts to keep the Law?”
“Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.”
“Have you suffered so many things and experienced so much all for nothing—if indeed it was all for nothing?”
Remember that the Apostle Paul, received his Gospel for us ‘directly’ from the Ascended Lord Jesus Christ in Glory.
He did not receive it from man, neither was he taught it by any man [Galatians 1:11-12].
Everything that Paul writes is only by ‘direct revelation’, and not his own ideas and opinions.
We must ‘NEVER’ lose sight of that.
A Strong Statement Of Truth
SO NOW, further down in [Galatians 5:2], this Divinely, Hand-picked Apostle makes a strong statement of truth.
This ‘directly revealed’ statement is from the Ascended Lord Jesus Christ which should ‘rattle us all’.
If you have not noticed it before, then now is the time.
Whether we are a Christian or a non-Christian, this statement is there for us all, to pay ‘strong heed’ to.
Here it comes!
“Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised,……..”
Now watch this!
“…..Christ shall profit you (how much?) NOTHING”.
What is Paul saying here?
“That if you receive circumcision or anything else in the energy of the flesh as a supposed requirement of salvation…..
If you add anything to that “finished works” of the cross, CHRIST will be of ‘no benefit’ to you.
For you will lack the faith in Christ that is necessary for salvation.”
Now that is scary! and comes as a strong warning to all of us, Christians and non-Christians alike.
For Eternal Salvation, it’s ‘believe + nothing else’, which is by ‘Faith + nothing else’.
There are no religious practices here.
The Bible says what it means and means what it says!
And when it comes to our personal salvation it is just, ‘believe’ with your heart [Romans 10:9-11].
Nothing pleases God more than just believing Him!
Taking God At His Word
And so we believe ‘by Faith,’ which simply means, “Taking God at His Word”.
And when we do that, we fulfil one of the two ‘absolutes’ of all Bible Scripture.
The first is, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” [Hebrews 11:6].
That is our part.
And the second is, “Without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins” [Hebrews 9:22].
That is God’s part, which HE did ‘first’, via the way of the cross of Christ Jesus, which was His ‘Judicial Act’.
And these two absolutes consistently run all through Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, be it ‘under Law’ or ‘under Grace’.
Many Argue
Now, many may and do argue, “But Jesus commanded water baptism”, quoting the Scripture from [Matthew 28:19] and [Acts 2:38].
And we will deal with this ‘from Scripture’, in Part #02 of our next article, which is to follow very shortly.
So do stay with us till then.
The Question
People ask the question, and maybe you are one of them:
“What do I have to do with someone who died over 2000 years ago”?
Well, from what we have seen so far, ‘EVERYTHING”!
(Please note, all that is written in the orange colour, are connecting links, so do read them. You will find them to be very useful.)
