The Sin of Man - the Salvation of God - by Keith Petersen
December 14, 2003
Dear Friend,
I should simply like to present the following for your consideration. Our lives here are uncertain at best and I should like to speak to you as to eternal life.
Life supposes living. Yet, none can deny that our paths here are bounded by death. The Scripture says, “[for] what [is] your life? It is even a vapor, appearing for a little while, and then disappearing” (James 4:14). Life, inherently, is not in ourselves. The Bible says that Jesus Christ “is the true God and eternal life.”
It is obvious that this world is filled with the results of man’s sin. The apostle Paul writes in Galatians that “the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strifes, jealousies, angers, contentions, disputes, schools of opinion, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revels, and things like these; as to which I tell you beforehand, even as I also have said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit God's kingdom.” Can any honestly say that in their life they have been entirely free of even one of these? None could say that but One. The Scripture says, “All men have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and it says that if a man fails in one point of the law he is guilty of it in its entirety. The law was given by God to show and prove man’s state of sinfulness. It is written in the 1st Epistle of John that “sin is lawlessness”; which is to say that sin is the absence of the principle of law or, in other words, of the control of God over the soul of a man.
The simple truth is that we are, each of us, found guilty as to sin. Do you bridle at this statement? If you do, you prove your natural mind’s independency from God and His will. If you agree that you are a sinner; then, you are on the road to finding God’s grace and love in your life through salvation. The Gospel being presented to you this moment “is to them that perish foolishness, but to us that are saved it is God's power.”
Would you perish, my friend? As you read this, I would have you know that there is an on-going conflict for your soul. In 2nd Peter 3 it says that the Lord is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” In 1st Peter it says “Your adversary [the] devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour.” It is solemn and a distinct attestation to the unrepentant state of our natural hearts that, while God holds out the promise of eternal life to those who believe on Him through Jesus Christ, we cannot of our own volition bring ourselves to accept His offer of gracious love. Why? Because salvation necessitates confessing the place of the sinner and, without God’s work in our hearts, we’re not going to do that.
God gave His Son over to judgment and death on the Cross of Calvary that we might be saved through His atoning work. The Lord said when here, “No greater love hath a man than that he should lay down his life for his friends.” Friend, the Lord’s resurrection clearly speaks that the power of death has been broken for those that believe. “Ye are saved by faith.” Would any spurn God’s free gift of eternal life? You would say that only a madman would refuse an eternity of joy and peace; yet, if you will not confess your need as a sinner to God, you cannot possibly be saved from “the wrath to come.”
God gives of His Spirit to those who believe. The Scripture says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control”. Your salvation cannot be secured by any attainment on your part. It has been well said that man has no part in the transaction of salvation except in his sins being met by Christ at the Cross. Christ – the sinless One – willingly bore the judgment for our sins at the Cross of Calvary through His infinite love. Does it not touch your heart that a Man whom you may have never considered as your personal Savior died for you? The apostle Paul wrote, “the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me.”
It is impossible to be saved without God’s hand working in your heart and your life. You must ask Him to help give you repentance. You must ask Christ into your life and your heart. Do it now – you have no guarantees as to tomorrow. If your history here is closed up without salvation, it is too late. Undoubtedly, many a person shall awaken on the day that you read this who, without any foreknowledge of their destiny, shall no longer be alive at the end of the day. If unrepentant, they shall face an eternity of judgment for their sins.
The Bible says, “God is love.” Do not shun His wondrous love. The Word of God simply says, “if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among [the] dead, thou shalt be saved. For with [the] heart is believed to righteousness; and with [the] mouth confession made to salvation ….. For every one whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved.” (Romans 10).
In friendship,
Proverbs 10:22“The blessing of Jehovah, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow to it.”