If we were to get to the core of every other religion or "belief system" in the world, the central teaching of all those religions is that man is constantly seeking to earn favour with "a god". Man seeking to redeem himself in some way or form, either by some ritual or act or sacrifice. They are men constantly endeavouring to reach up to God.

However the truth is man is separated from God, he can not reach up - he can not "pay" or make right for his past, present, or future wrongs.

A Christian is a Christian simply because, God has already reached down in mercy, through the death of His only Son. 

God tells us in the Bible that we are all by nature sinful, and we stand condemned and helplessly separated from Him. The "seemingly" smallest sin we have committed demands from the One and Only altogether pure and Holy God - His judgment and eternal wrath.

The Bible tells us that our most righteous acts are as filthy rags before an all knowing and Holy God. So in short all men, are all by nature sinners, separated and condemned before almighty God.

Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"  Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death"

Isaiah 59:2 says "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God"

Can God "overlook" anyone's sin? The answer in His Word is always "no", because if He did, He would not be a pure and Holy God. God is both holy and just, and is bound by His very nature to punish our sin.

Yet He is also Sovereign, and in that nature of His Sovereignty He has so decreed to save people. We may ask "Do not all people really deserve to be saved"  The answer of course is "no one deserves to be saved"

In other words God saves people not because there is or was, anything good, worthy or commendable in them at all, but rather they are just like all other people - sinners!

The Bible says the Lord Jesus "came to save sinners" and that He "came to call the unrighteous" those that humbly see that they have offended a Holy God.

In other words He did not come to save those that "suppose" that they are "good enough", the "supposed righteous" or to put it another way "the self righteous", and self deceived. He came to save unrighteous sinners. 

We may ask "how can God condemn the sin of such people and yet still pardon them in love and mercy?" 

The Bible makes this matter abundantly clear from beginning to the end and especially in:-

Romans 5:8-10 says "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when 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".

The answer therefore is in the death of a perfect man, the God Man, His only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who lived a perfect sinless life, He lived the life that we should have lived and He died in our place, as He was executed on the cross. The Bible tells us that He took the place of those that would believe in Him. On the cross, He bore their sins, He died as their substitute.

In short nothing else, no other faith, no other religion, no other religious act can save any person from the wrath of God concerning their own personal sin.

Jesus said In John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me"

The Word of God in Acts 4:12  says “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”

Romans 4:25 says "Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins"

Some 700 years before Jesus Christ came to die and pay the penalty for the sins of those who would believe and put their trust in Him, the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament was moved by God's Holy Spirit to write and Prophesy these words concerning Christ's coming, and the result of His substitute death for sinners.

Isaiah 53:5-6 says “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”

This verse reveals the desperate condition of lost humanities state in sin and secondly God's gracious provision for sin.

Many details of Jesus Christ's death are foretold in the Old Testament, hundreds of years before His crucifixion in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ is referred to in Revelation 13:8 as "the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world".

Mental assent to these truths is one thing, but the Bible teaches that true belief will always be characterised by a repentant heart and a changed person. The Lord Jesus Christ said "But why do you call me Lord and do not do as I say"

The Bible clearly teaches that we must individually receive and follow the Lord Jesus Christ as both Lord and Saviour. As Saviour we believe that He is the only way to God, heaven and eternal life. As Lord His Word must have absolute authority over our lives.

John 1:12 says "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name"

Romans 10:9 says "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"

Ephesians 2:8 says "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God"

So what should we do?

God says in Isaiah 55:6"Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near" 

But what If we do nothing?

John 3:36 says "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him”

In short either Christ takes the punishment for  sinners or God will punish and condemn sinners that have not trusted in Christ, as their only provision for their sin.

Dear friend, do not give yourself rest until you have come to God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. In praying to Him and acknowledging what His Word the Bible has to say and respond to Him in genuine repentance and faith, which is marked by trust and obedience to His Word.

Moreover please feel free to contact us by telephone, write to us or email us from the contacts page, we would be greatly encouraged to be able to point you to the Saviour.

In the work of the Lord Jesus Christ

Pastor Chalan Hetherington 

Listen here to the following message titled: What is a Biblical Christian - By Albert N. Martin - Trinity Baptist  Church