BEYOND THE BORDERS (Part 1)
“Why Do People Need Salvation Through Jesus Christ?”
Acts 16:25-34
We need salvation through Jesus Christ because ....
1. HUMANITY NEEDS A NEW DIRECTION
Jesus had this to say about direction,
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter though it (Matthew 7:13).
2. HUMANITY NEEDS A FRESH START
So far in human history no amount of self-discipline or moral improvement has been able to create the perfect society – a society free of fear and anxiety. No matter what we do we are unable to break free from our circumstances by using our own strength. In our own strength we are unable to change who we are by nature. That’s why we need a fresh start with Jesus Christ behind the driving wheel of our lives.
Jesus exposed this need when he said,
“Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34)
Jesus also said,
“what comes out of you is what makes you “unclean.” For from within, out of your hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All of these evils come from inside and make you unclean (Mark 7:20-23).
Our greatest need is for forgiveness – and only salvation through Jesus Christ can offer us ultimate forgiveness from the God who made us.
3. HUMANITY’S NEED OF A NEW MOTIVATION
In John Ch6 Jesus gives a sermon about his being the Bread of Life. In it he essentially says, “Why do people spend so much effort pursuing bread (i.e. material things), when this will simply perish? Why not work for something that will endure forever? Instead of eating bread which will only satisfy us physically and only for a little while, why not eat bread that will lead to eternal life? And then we read,
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. You do not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:66-68).
The disciples had found a cause far greater than themselves, a cause with eternal and lasting significance. The cause of Christ gave them a purpose in life, a reason for their existence.
4. HUMANITY NEEDS ACCEPTANCE
In Ephesians 2:8 Paul talks about acceptance from God
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.
It is God who searches for the lost and when he finds them, he accepts them into his kingdom. God is a the God of acceptance. It’s God who seeks us out for salvation not vice versa.
5. HUMANITY NEEDS A SPRITUAL DIMENSION
Because you and I were created to have a relationship with God, we feel incomplete when He is not at the center of our lives. People will try to fill this gap with all sorts of things – you know it – busyness, hard work, drugs, alcohol, sexual promiscuity, money, seeking success.
When we receive salvation through Jesus Christ, we discover a new spiritual dimension to life – and gain a new spiritual perspective on the world around us. It completes us. Paul explains this in his first letter to the Corinthians,
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).
(Credit for structure to: Bewes, R., Hicks, R. "Explaining Bible Truth – Salvation" Middlesex: Creative Publishing 1981 Scripture Union).
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