Our Past Salvation

There is a tendency in the lives of many young people to think that their way of doing things should be acceptable to others, including their parents, teachers and peers for example. After all, it works for them, so they say. Many parents and teachers, even in their frustration, continue to guide them and teach them, holding out the hope that one day the light will come on and they will “get it”.

Suppose your parents were taking you somewhere special with them and told you to get dressed. You could forget about wearing your shirt inside-out, or saggy pants or too tight skirt. You wouldn’t get pass the front door until you were dressed according to their standards. Well, in a more profound and amazing way, God prepared a way for us, sinful mankind to be reunited with Him through salvation. People must understand that without Christ, they can never be right with God. There is no other way, it is not about you, what you think or how you feel, it is only by the grace of God that you are forgiven and made new and acceptable to Him.

Conversion & Regeneration

God alone is the standard of righteousness – we must be changed to fit His standard. There are no points that we can pile up like in a video game, and hope we can earn enough to please God. The only people who think they are alright the way they are, are those who have a distorted view of who God is. God is holy and just. He will not pretend sin doesn’t exist. So how can we be right with God? He makes His righteousness available to us, and it’s free! It is given to anyone who takes it by putting their faith (confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart; Romans 10:9-10 in Jesus Christ. Only then does Jesus become our substitute, taking the punishment for sin which is death, (separation from God), Romans 6:23 that we should have received.

Now that we have been changed to fit God’s righteous standard, He gives to us His Holy Spirit. The Spirit makes us new and alive in Christ. Ephesians 2:4-5 We are promised that we will live with God forever. We have been given a second chance, a “ do-over”, but this time we can’t blow it because it is by God’s power that we are made new (born again).

Redemption

Redemption refers to the price that must be paid to buy something. As African Americans, we know about our history as slaves. We were captured from our home in Africa, brought to America and other foreign lands and held against our will in bondage to work and serve people who had the means to purchase us for a price. The only way of obtaining our freedom was usually attempting to escape often to be re-captured and beaten, sometimes to death. We are grateful to our ancestors like Harriet Tubman and leaders like Abraham Lincoln who fought to make us free from the suffering and disgrace of slavery. But there is a slave master that still holds many people, young and old, in bondage even today. That cruel and evil slave master is sin. But for those who believe, Jesus has come to our rescue. His precious, sinless blood paid the price for our forgiveness Romans 3:24-25. Now when God looks at us, it’s like He sees us with 3D glasses on. He looks at us, but what He sees is the righteous image of his Son, Jesus Christ and He is very pleased.

Justification

Now having been redeemed (bought) by the blood of Jesus, we are called righteous by God’s standard. He sees us as if we have never sinned. We are now welcome to come into His presence anytime we want to, to talk to Him, worship Him and to hear from Him, without having to be ashamed of who we are or what we have done. What God has provided for us through Jesus Christ is complete and everlasting. We can now freely serve the living God with gratitude and thanksgiving. Hebrews 9:14 And when we do sin, even as believers, we can go to God in prayer agreeing with Him that His ways are right and ours are wrong. We can ask for forgiveness, and He has promised to give it 1John 1:9.