Salvation From Sin: How It Works

Salvation From Sin: How It Works I. This is an exploration of God’s salvation by Jesus Christ in a simple question and answer format. II. What is sin? A. Sin is the transgression of God’s law. 1JN 3:4; JAS 4:12 c/w ISA 33:22 III. Why is it a problem? A. Sin brings death. ROM 6:23; ROM 5:12 B. The sin nature is passed from father to child through the seed. GEN 5:1-3 C. All men have sinned. ROM 3:23; 1JN 1:8 D. Men who die in their sins will go to hell and suffer eternally. 2TH 1:8-9; JUD 1:7 IV. Why should I care? A. Your eternal destiny is at stake. This life is short. Eternity is forever. B. Unless someone else pays the penalty of sin for you, you will pay it, which means you will die and go to hell and suffer eternal damnation. V. What can I do about it? A. If you were 1. Born without sin 2. And you never once sinned in all of your life 3. Then you would have no sin and therefore you would not die and go to hell. (ROM 6:23) B. But you were born in sin, and you have sinned, so you can’t fix the problem. See point III. C. In other words, there is nothing you can do to save yourself from your sins. VI. What hope is there then? A. The only hope for sinners to be saved from eternal damnation is the Lord Jesus Christ. ROM 6:23 VII.What is so special about the Lord Jesus Christ that he is able to save me from my sins? A. God’s law requires a perfect sacrifice for sin. LEV 4:3,23; LEV 22:19-21; JOH 1:29 B. But none of the offerings under the old testament law could take away sin. HEB 10:1-6 C. Jesus Christ offered the perfect sacrifice for sin that the law required. HEB 10:9-14; MAT 5:17 D. In order for Jesus Christ to offer this perfect sacrifice, he had to be completely without sin. 1PE 1:18-19; HEB 9:14 E. If he had any sin of his own, he would have to die for his sins like anyone else. F. In order for Jesus Christ to have no sin, he had to be born without sin and never sin all his life. VIII.How is it that Jesus Christ was born without sin? A. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. MAT 1:23; LUK 1:34-35 1. Christ bore God’s image, not Adam’s. COL 1:15; HEB 1:3 2. If Jesus were not born of a virgin he would have an earthy father and would have inherited the sin of Adam just like all other men. (Recall GEN 5:1-3; ROM 5:12) 3. This means he could not save us from our sins, because he had to die for his own sins. 4. His virgin birth is essential to our eternal salvation because it means he did not have an earthly father, which means he did not inherit the sin of Adam. 1CO 15:21-22 5. His virgin birth means he was born without sin. B. Furthermore, Jesus never sinned in his life. 2CO 5:21; 1PE 2:22 C. He always does things that please God. JOH 8:29 D. He is the perfect man. EPH 4:13 IX. Ok, so Jesus is sinless. But what does that have to do with him saving me from my sins? Page 1 of 2 Salvation From Sin: How It Works 8/12/2023  Salvation From Sin: How It Works A. Since Jesus is sinless, he is not under the penalty of sin, and thus he did not need to die. B. But he did die. How can this be? 1. He died not for his own sins, he died for the sins of all of the elect that God gave him to save. 1PE 2:24; ISA 53:5; MAT 1:21; JOH 17:2 2. He did not die like other men. Other men deserve to die because of their sins. He did not deserve to die, because he had no sin. He laid his life down. JOH 10:17-18; 1JN 3:16 3. He offered himself without spot to God by offering his blemish-free blood, obtaining eternal redemption for us. HEB 9:12,14,26 C. Jesus’ resurrection proves him to be the sinless Son of God. ROM 1:4 1. It was not possible that he should remain dead because he had no sin. ACT 2:24; ROM 6:9 2. Jesus died for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. ROM 4:25 3. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Christian faith is vain. 1CO 15:14,17 4. As Jesus’ virgin birth is essential to our eternal salvation, so is his resurrection, for it proves that God accepted his offering for sin. 5. His resurrection means he had no sin of his own. X. We have seen how it is that the Lord Jesus Christ could, and did, save his people from their sins, because he was the sinless Son of God in his birth, he lived sinlessly all of his life, and he died without any sin of his own, and then rose again from the dead, proving that God accepted his sacrifice on our behalf, and thus, that we have been redeemed from our sins. A. The virgin birth of Christ and the resurrection of Christ are both essential elements of Christian faith because they are essential to the sinlessness of Christ. B. It is not our faith in Jesus Christ that saves us from our sins. It is the Lord Jesus Christ himself who saved us from our sins. HEB 1:3 C. Nobody else could save us from our sins because nobody else is completely without sin. JOH 14:6 Page 2 of 2 Salvation From Sin: How It Works 8/12/2023