WRITTEN THROUGH THE INSPIRATION, GUIDANCE AND REVELATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.




Why, Because God HAS JUDGED that ALL have SINNED and COME SHORT of the Glory of God (ROMANS 3:23). And the Penalty for Sin is DEATH; for When He Commanded the First Man, ADAM the Forerunner of us all, NOT TO EAT of the Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, He Emphatically added that "FOR IN THE DAYTHAT THOU EATEST THEREOF THOU SHALT SURELY DIE" (GENESIS 2:17).

And so, when Adam did not HEARKEN UNTO THE WORDS OF GOD (having instead hearkened to the voice ofintreatment of his wife.Eve, who was in turn earlier deceived by the Serpent or the Devil), the First Sin, which was DISOBEDIENCE and DISBELIEF Entered into the WORLD or MAN and consequently the PENALTY or the WAGES thereof, that is DEATH (Both of the Earthy Body and the Soul) accompanying it (ROMANS 6:23);
Wherefore, as By one Man Sin entered into the World and Death By Sin; and so Death passed upon all men, for that All have sinned (ROMANS 5:12).

And as the apostle Paul further wrote, saying. What then? are we BETTER than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both JEWS and GEN­TILES, that they are ALL UNDER SIN; As it is written, There is NONE Righteous, no, not ONE: There is NONE that UNDER­STAND, there is NONE that SEEKETH after GOD. They are ALL Gone Out of The WAY, they are ALL TOGETHER become UNPROFITABLE; there is NONE that Doeth GOOD, no NOT ONE . . . (ROMANS 3:9-18).

And again, God looked down from heaven upon the children of MEN, to SEE if there were ANY that did UNDERSTAND, that did SEEK GOD. EVERY ONE of them is one Back: they are ALTOGETHER become FILTHY; there is NONE that Doeth GOOD, no, NOT ONE (PSALM 53:2-3).

Therefore by this REALITY, my dear brothers and sisters, WE are ALL CONDEMNED to DIE because of SINS and UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, and are DOOMED for ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. This is the BAD and SAD NEWS, but then in the APPOINTED TIME God sent His Son Jesus Christ into the world with the GOOD NEWS, say­ing... FOR GOD SENT NOT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO CONDEMN THE WORLD; BUT THAT THE WORLD THROUGH HIM MIGHT BE SAVED ... But how is this SALVATION possible?

How? By God's own MIGHTY OP­ERATION and Divine WILL. For in His Great LOVE AND MERCY for all MANKIND, He gave His only Begotten Son, His Christ, to die for us and to suffer the punishment and penalty for all our sins and transgressions. By His Own Will, He sent His Most Beloved Son to be The LAMB of God, Pure and Without Blemish, being made as a Holy Offering for the REMISSION and ATONEMENT for the SINS of the WORLD.

HE DIED IN OUR STEAD, the SINLESS for the SINNERS, that it might be an ACCEPTABLE OFFERING, that we may be PURGED from our Sins by the Precious BLOOD of Christ.

As it is written, And almost All Things are by the Law Purged (or Cleansed) by BLOOD, and Without SHEDDING of BLOOD is NO REMISSION (HEBREWS 9:22). Whereupon neither the First Testament was Dedicated Without Blood.

For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of CALVES and of GOATS, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and Sprinkled both the Book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the Testa­ment which God hath enjoined unto you. But IF the blood of BULLS and of GOATS, and the ashes of an HEIFER Sprin­kling the UNCLEAN, Sanctifieth to the purifying of the FLESH: How MUCH MORE shall the BLOOD of CHRIST, who THROUGH the ETERNAL SPIRIT Offered Himself WITHOUT SPOT to GOD, PURGE your CONSCIENCE from DEAD WORKS to SERVE the LIVING GOD?

And for this Cause He is the MEDIATOR of The NEW TESTAMENT, that by means of DEATH, for the REDEMPTION of the TRANS­GRESSIONS that were under, the FIRST TESTAMENT, they which are called might RECEIVE the PROMISE of ETERNAL INHERITANCE (HEBREWS 9:1-28).

But some may say, so it is by DYING alone that we were totally SAVED? Not so! FIRST, BY DYING but LIKEWISE (and much more glorious to say) BY HIS RESURRECTION From the DEAD. As Paul, according to the wisdom God gave him wrote. For in that He DIED, He Died for unto SIN ONCE: but in that He LIVETH, He Liveth unto GOD (ROMANS 6:10); And if Christ be not RISEN, then is our PREACHING vain, and your FAITH is also vain. And if Christ be notRAISED, your FAITH is vain; ye are yet in your SINS, Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have HOPE in Christ, we are of all MEN most miserable.

But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become The FIRSTFRUITS of them that slept. For since by Man came DEATH, by Man came also the RESUR­RECTION of the DEAD. For as in ADAM all die, even so in CHRIST shall all be made alive (1 CORINTHIANS 15:14-22). Know ye not, that so many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His DEATH?

Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of The Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His DEATH, we shall also be in the LIKENESS OF His RESURREC­TION: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is free from SIN. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: Knowing that christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; Death hath no more dominion over Him (ROMANS 6:3-9); But God, Who is rich in Mercy, for His Great Love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened (made us alive) together with Christ, (by GRACE ye are SAVED;) And hath raised us up to­gether, and made us sit together in Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus (EPHESIANS 2:4-7).

Remember then, my breth­ren, that this divine plan of Salvation designed by God of His Own Will according to His Own Counsel and Pleasure in and through Christ, is a Grace from God: As Paul again wrote, For by Grace ye are saved through Faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For WE are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before or­dained that we should walk in them (EPHESIANS 2:8-10). And so, my brethren, we all must forever thank and praise God for His great love and kindness toward us in giving unto us this wonderful Gift of Salvation in Christ Jesus. Yet, let no one deceive himself by thinking that since Christ died for all men, then are all saved. No, this is not so! For when God declared this Saving Grace, He together with it likewise gave the divine condition whereby any one can rightfully par­take of its blessings.

And What is This Condition or Require­ment? Or What must we do in order to receive this Amazing Grace? Well, the Gospel continues.. .
. . . THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN THE SON, SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE . . .

Yes, Brethren, it is very plain and clear indeed (and there should be no doubt about it) that God wants, in fact requires, all of us to believe in His Son, whom He has sent, that we may rightfully partake of the blessings of His Saving Grace. For it is only through FAITH in Jesus Christ can one be justified and sanctified in God.

But NOW comes the most challeng­ing QUESTION to us all (which also makes the big differ­ence among Christ-believers): HOW do (did) we believe in Jesus Christ? WHAT do (did) we believe in Jesus Christ? HOW do (did) we establish our Faith in Jesus Christ? And finally, HOW do (did) we achieve the FAITH that is OF JESUS CHRIST?

For only when we have satisfied our heart and soul with the real answers to these trying questions of Faith, then and only then, can we have the true confidence and the peace to say, '1 am saved!".

But now going back to the question. What did we believe in Jesus Christ? Most of us, brethren, will readily say, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, right? Well, that is indeed good for it is true. In fact, it is the first basic thing that we must believed in!

Yet Faith in Jesus Christ does not only mean believing in his being a Divine Person, not by merely accepting and saying that He is the Son of God; for such divinity of his person has already been proclaimed by the Scriptures before His Birth and confirmed by The Father Himself as witnessed by John the Baptist at the river of Jordan, and by the apostles Peter, James and John when they were with Him in the holy mount and was transfigured before them; as they all heard The Voice from Glory saying, 'This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him" (MAT 3:16-17/MARK 1:9-11/LUKE 3:21-22/ JOHN 1:32-34/MAT 17:1-5).

And likewise, is it not alreadyemphasized in the beautiful verse that we have been dis­cussing from the beginning of this epistle, that GOD SENT HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON INTO THE WORLD, that Believing in Him we might be Saved (JOHN 3:16-18).

Thus it has been foreordained and proclaimed by God Himself through the prophets of old time and later confirmed unto His servants (John the Baptist and the three apostles), that this Man Jesus is His Messiah or Christ and the Son of God.

What I am trying to point out, my dear brethren, is the fact that the substance of our Faith does not end with the belief about the person of Jesus Christ, for any Bible-reading Christian (and even them who are just hearing) has known and believed this open and plain truth.

There is indeed more, much more, to what God meant when He required us to believe in His Son so as to fully receive the Blessing of this Saving Grace. So now, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, allow me to share with you the deeper and greater part of our FAITH in Jesus Christ.

First, after knowing and believing in our heart that Jesus is The Christ, the Son of God, we equally have to leam the Whole PURPOSE of His Coming into the World, His Divine MISSION from God The Father. And having done so, we can obtain Faith in Him and through Him by hearing The Word of God; as it is written, Faith comes by Hearing, and Hearing, by The Word of God (RO­MANS 10:17).

Then finally, by living His Words through Faith that worketh unto Holiness and Love, we may receive the Promise of the Holy Spirit and thereby grow in Grace unto Perfection and the Fulness of Christ.

THE DIVINE PURPOSE OF THE COMING OF CHRIST INTO THE WORLD: