Does Christ's DEATH Save Us?
What about the broken-hearted appeals of religion, today? Have you seen the signs on rocks, barns, billboards, and automobiles — "Christ DIED TO SAVE SINNERS"?
Probably, you have. But that is NOT IN THE BIBLE! Shocking as it may sound; the Bible nowhere says we are saved by the DEATH of Christ! Now read carefully what the Bible does say.
Let's understand!
When we break God's LAWS, which were given us for our protection, our BLESSINGS, our GOOD, we become sinners! And sin cuts one off from God! The ONLY way we can ever be forgiven our sins, and be reconciled to God, against whom we have sinned, is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ! "Neither is there salvation in any other; for there IS NONE OTHER NAME UNDER HEAVEN given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Christ DIED to pay the penalty for SIN!
And everyone has sinned (Rom. 3:23). Paul wrote, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly!" (Rom. 5:6)
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS, Christ DIED for us" (Rom. 5:8).
But does the simple acknowledgement of Christ's DEATH save us?
Can a person be truly SAVED — be given an ETERNAL inheritance, just by confessing he believes Christ did live once, and that He DIED?
Not according to the Holy word of your Creator!
"Much more then, being now Justified by His blood . . ." (Rom. 5:9).
Then the DEATH of Christ, the shedding of His life's BLOOD, was required to JUSTIFY our guilty past! That means to forgive us our wrong-doings, our sins, our transgressions of God's spiritual and Holy law! It removes the BARRIER our sins had set up between us and God. It reconciles one to God — establishes a connection.
It ALWAYS takes Christ's blood to forgive ANY sin, at ANY time, ANYWHERE! But it takes MORE than Christ's death to SAVE US!
Read it, in your own Bible! "Much more then, being now justified [having our past sins forgiven] by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath THROUGH HIM . . . For if, when we were enemies we were RECONCILED to God by the DEATH of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we SHALL BE SAVED BY HIS LIFE!"
Yes, it takes a LIVING High Priest, and a soon-returning KING to really SAVE us!
It takes the shed blood of Christ to forgive and atone for our sins, but it takes a living Christ to resurrect us, or to CHANGE our vile bodies into His glorious form (Phil. 3:21).
Forgiveness, reconciliation, justification come with Christ's BLOOD. But final SALVATION, the gift of ETERNAL LIFE — being conducted into His Kingdom, CHANGED from flesh to spirit, that is accomplished by His LIFE!
Do you still believe Christ's DEATH "saves" sinners? Not if you believe the Holy Word of GOD, you don't!
Did Christ Try to SAVE the WORLD?
Obviously, if Christ tried to save the world then, He lost the battle.
Still obviously, if Christ is trying to save the world NOW, He's fighting a losing battle!
But is Christ SO WEAK?
Not at all! This just is not the only time of salvation. This shocking truth is made plain in a free article entitled "Is This the Only Day of Salvation?" Write for it immediately.
The Devil is only ALLOWED a certain span of time to work on human nature — to appeal to carnal vanity, and the lusts of human flesh! Satan is able to accomplish only what the great Creator ALLOWS!
God is the RULER! Christ is the soon-coming KING of this earth! He will RULE it, with a rod of iron (Rev. 2:26-27).
Christ came to deliver a message to His disciples (John 12:49), and to commission them to preach it to the world (Matt. 28:19-20).
He even predicted most people WOULD NOT repent, and be converted!
"If the world hate you [He said to His true followers], ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not OF the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:18-19).
He predicted, "I have given them thy word [He was praying to the Father] and the world hath hated them, because they are not OF the world, even as I am not of the world" (John 17:14-15).
He said His true servants would be ridiculed, impugned, injured, even MARTYRED for the truth they would preach (John 16:2; Matt. 24:9).
He warned His servants, ". . . beware of MEN; for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles . . . and ye shall be HATED of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall BE saved!" (Matt. 10:17-22)
Do you STILL think Christ had any illusions about saving the world, either then or now? Not if you tremble before the very WORD of that Christ, you don't!
So, after all, just how badly DOES God really NEED you?
What Is God DOING, Today?
Obviously, He's not conducting broken-hearted appeals — not struggling desperately to plead, whine, argue, beg or wheedle people into repentance! Jesus did nothing of the kind — nor did Peter, Paul or other Apostles — nor is the living Christ, through HIS true ministers, today! He is NOT trying to SAVE THE WORLD, NOW!
But God IS WARNING this world! Jesus Christ gave His servants an awesome responsibility!
He commissioned them to preach the Gospel of the KINGDOM of God, as a WARNING, as a WITNESS AGAINST THEM! (Matt. 24:14)
The world is hearing that warning message, and with increasing power and force every single year!
God thunders to us a stern WARNING about the future. He warns us where our frightful crime, divorce, lusts, hatreds, bigotries and violence are taking us!
He commands us to REPENT, before it's too late!
But He doesn't have to beg. He doesn't need to bargain!
Almighty God demands TOTAL surrender — absolute and unconditional!
"REPENT, or ye shall all likewise perish," said Jesus Christ (Luke 13:3, 5).
"REPENT ye, and believe the Gospel," He said (Mark 1:15).
"REPENT ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).
To those who WILL repent now, Christ offers a free salvation — a conversion NOW — and a responsible place WITH Him, in conducting the most vitally important work being accomplished on earth. And He offers MORE — He offers a change — at Christ's coming — from mortal to immortal, and a position of RULERSHIP with Him in His soon-coming RULE on this earth!
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne" (Rev. 3:21). "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father" (Rev. 2:26, 27).
But He's not begging. He's not pleading. And He doesn't really NEED you.
No, YOU NEED HIM!
You need Him DESPERATELY, you need Him BADLY, and you need Him URGENTLY!
Christ doesn't need to ask you — you need to ask Him! Christ doesn't need to plead with You — you need to plead with HIM to grant you real broken-hearted repentance — to fill you with His precious Holy Spirit!
It's time you asked and answered some mighty serious questions!
Just what is a true Christian? And what is real repentance? Just what is salvation, and how do you really receive it?
We have booklets on all three subjects. You need to prayerfully STUDY those booklets, and also the revealing booklet on WATER BAPTISM! Find out just how earnestly YOU NEED GOD, and exactly why! So before you forget it, WRITE for those booklets, if you haven't yet read them. And remember, if any of you do feel YOU need to talk to one of God's own called and chosen ministers about your own private spiritual needs — we are readying, once again, our summer tours. Each summer, teams of ministers and advanced students from Ambassador Colleges call upon, and visit with thousands of persons in their own homes — all over the world!
But we never call upon anyone who does not specifically request a visit.
We only want to help, to serve — but not to force God's truth upon anyone who does not sincerely want it. So if you would like one of our teams to call upon you in the coming months — please write and let us know immediately.
But whether you want to be visited or not — BE SURE you read these vitally important booklets. They're FREE, of course!