Salvation 101: Alive Again

May 24

“Jesus… will save His people from their sins.” (from Matthew 1:21)

We have been talking about what sin does to us – and of the devastating effects it has on our lives. It separates us from God (our Life Source) and it separates us from His divine calling and purpose for us. In the Bible, this separation is called: “death.”

It is this “death” (i.e. lack of Life) that deeply effects every area of our lives. Distorting, twisting, bending, and breaking every aspect of who we were made to be (“from the foundation of the earth” – Ephesians 1:4).

Yesterday, we summarized the effects caused by our sin (guilt, judgment [condemnation], slavery to sin, brokenness, aimlessness and the numbing of our souls). These things comprise the human condition – of which the apostle simply described as being: “dead in trespasses and sins…” (Ephesians 2:1)

Obviously, the solution to our problem is to become… undead.

This is exactly the opportunity that God has provided to us through the redeeming work of Jesus. His suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension all occurred so that WE might come alive in Him and through Him.

Jesus’ redeeming work addressed every one of our souls’ needs – providing a resolution to every single one of sin’s devastating effects on our lives.

I’ll say that again: every thing that sin did to destroy us… has been completely addressed and resolved through the work of Jesus!

How is this possible? And (more importantly) how do we access everything that Jesus did for us?

Everything begins with a simple understanding…

Death came because of a separation from God. As flowers are cut from the plant, we are cut off from God (by our sin). God is our Life Source… and without what He brings to our lives, we are (as the flowers) destined to slowly wilt and “return to dust.”

There is nothing in this world that can bring us the life we need. We were MADE to live off of one True Life Source.

The solution to our death problem is a reversal of the problem. We need to become reconnected with God.

This is what Jesus has made possible (and another reason why He is the ONLY way to God). Only Jesus took every one of our sins upon Himself. Our guilt became His guilt. Only Jesus took the judgment and condemnation for our sins. Our judgment became His judgment. Jesus not only took our sins, He took our griefs and sorrows. Our brokenness became His brokenness.

But here’s where it gets really good… Everything Jesus did was so that we might share in Who He is and what He has done. Romans 6:3-11 tells us that (for those who believe) when He died, we died with Him. When He was buried, we were buried with Him. And when He was resurrected, we were resurrected with Him – but not to live the same old life, the same old way we used to live.

Jesus gave us a new way of living. He offered us the gift of a complete reconnection with the One Who gives us Life.

Salvation is living by this reconnection with God. What we were originally designed to be and do, has been completely restored through Jesus.

The true Christian life is simply living life by the Life that we have now because we are restored to relationship and communion with the One Who made us.

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