God's Marvelous Plan of Salvation
#1. Rom
3:23
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"
The first thing we have to know is that we are sinners. If ALL have sinned that
means that Walt Stowe, Pastor Emeritus, is a sinner. And if ALL have sinned it also means
that you are in the same boat with me and that you are a sinner too.
This verse tells us that sin is "coming short". "Come short of the glory of God.." It's like having a certain "Standard" that must be met in order to be approved. It's like an inspector who has a clip board in his hand and on it are the specifications that must be met to meet the standard required. He goes into the factory and comes out shaking his head and saying, "I don't understand it. Nothing in there met the standard, I had to write rejected on everything." God says that He is the chief inspector of the universe and He has checked us all out and had to write "rejected" on each one of us.
Again, the Bible says that sin is a violation of the Law. 1 John3:4 It means we have broken God's laws somewhere. If we break a law with teeth in it we will have to pay a price. Did you ever get a traffic ticket? What did it cost you? You broke a law of society and it cost you something. What is the penalty for breaking the law of God?
#2. Romans 5:12 "Death passed upon all men..".
Sin against God is a Capital crime. The penalty is death, capital punishment. Sin against God carries the death penalty. The Bible speaks of death in three different ways. Physical death, Spiritual death, and Eternal death.
Physical Death
To help us understand what the Bible teaches about death let me ask you a question, Is this you? (Touching his hand or shoulder) No thats not you. We could cut your hand off and throw it away and you are still here. The Bible calls your body a; house, a tabernacle, a tent, if God lives in it with you He calls it a temple. You see God created Adam a living soul but He put him into a physical world. So God gave Adam a physical body to live in so that he could experience and communicate with a physical world. Through the five physical senses we can experience and communicate with a physical world. You could have all the five senses shut down and be alive in the body but you would not be able to experience anything physical. So God teaches us that we live in a physical body house.
Now there is another house that the body house lives in. Whereever your address is. That other house only exists for the good of the body house. The body house gets tired we take it in there and we rest it. It gets cold we take it in there and we warm it. It gets hot we take it in there and we cool it. It exists to keep the body house from being subject to the elements. If a tornado swept through there and blew the roof off and the windows out it would not be fit to live in so we would move out. The house is no longer functional, could not do what it was built to do. A year or so later we drive and remark, There's that old dead house I used to live in.
Some day the body house won't be functional and you will move out. Whether it gets hit by a truck, drowns or just wears out, it won't be fit to live in so you will move out. That is Physical death. Separation from the body. John Doe separated from his body house is physically dead but in a state of conscience existance wherever he made arrangements to go.
Spiritual Death
So God created Adam a living soul and put him into a physical world with a physical body through which he could experience and communicate with the physical world but God is not physical, God is a Spirit and He says that He must be worshipped in spirit and truth. So God also gave Adam a spirit and as he could experience and communicate with the physical world with his physical body he could now experience and communicate with God through his spirit.
God had told Adam that in the day you sin against me you will surely die. He sinned against God that day but he did not die physically. So in what way did he die? He died spiritually. His spirit was no longer functional. He was separated from God. Spiritually dead. Sin separates from God. (Isaiah 59:2) Note: If sin separates humans from one another, adultery,etc, how much more man from God.)
So physical death is separation from the body, spiritual death is separation from God, eternal death, if you live without God and die without God you will spend eternity without God in a place the Bible calls a lake of fire. And God says that that is the penalty for sin!
The penalty must be paid, there is no recourse. The price for sin must be paid and you cannot pay it. You are a finite man and have sinned against an infinite God. To sin against man you pay an eye for an eye and you are even but you can never even the score with God therefore Hell is eternal. Again, the price must be paid, God will not allow your sin to go unpunished.
So far I have told you only two things. #1. You have sinned against God. #2. The price on your sin is death. The word "GOSPEL" means "GOOD NEWS". so far I have not told you any good news, it's all been bad news. You are hopelessly, helplessly lost! But now the good news.
#3. The Good News "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." Rom 5:6
"Yet without strength" totally helpless and could not help ourselves. What is the most helpless thing you can think of? How about a new born baby. It dirties its diaper. Clean yourself up kid. It can't, it is helpless to do so. He only makes matters worse. But someone who loves that baby comes and does for it what it cannot do for itself. The baby is hungry. Feed yourself kid. It cannot do it. It will starve unless some one who cares will come do for it what it cannot do for itself. When we could do absolutely nothing to help ourselves God did for us what we could not do.
IN due time Christ died. What is the penalty for Sin? Death. Christ died, paid the penalty for sin but He never sinned so He didn't pay it for Himself so who did He pay it for? "For the ungodly" that's you and me. "Christ died for us.." Rom 5:8 I want to help you to understand what it means for Christ to die for us. Here is my New Testament, it must be put on that coffee table over there. Yes, that is right it must be put on that coffee table. (He starts to arise and put it over there) Wait! Can I do it for you? (I take the NT from him and get up and take it over to the coffee table and leave it there.) Now you don't have to do it, you know why? That's right, because I did it for you. And now you know you don't have to pay the price for your sin because He did it for you. (I have seen this little illustration used of God in most remarkable ways) Isn't that wonderful?
(Sometimes I use the following illustration to help them feel the impact of what it meant for God to give His Son) Do you have any idea of what it meant for God to give His Son for you? Do you have a best friend? His name is John? Let's say your best friend gets into serious trouble. In fact it is so bad that it could cost him his life. Now you have three children and it just so happens that if you would be willing to give just one of those three children to step in and take your best friend's place he could be saved. Now which one of your three children would you be willing to give to save your best friend's life? How bout Billy? No, you couldn't give Billy to save your best friend. How bout Susie? No, you couldn't give Susie either. As a matter of fact you couldn't give anyone of your three children to save your best friend's life. And you would stand there and watch with tears as your best friend perished because you just could not bring yourself to give anyone of your three kids to save your best friend.
Do you know that God did for you what you would do for your best friend? Romans 5:10 says, "For if when we were enemies, (Not His best friends) we were reconciled to God-(Brought back to God. How?) by the death of His Son.." God didn't have three Sons, He just had one but He loved you so much that He did for you what you would not do for your best friend. )
I have seen men break down and weep as this truth broke upon their hearts.
Now #4. How Do We Nail This Down And Apply It To Ourselves? Romans 10:9 " That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
Two things in this verse that God says if we do "thou shalt be saved." Number one. If we confess Jesus to be our Lord Jesus. Not our bell-hop or our flunky but our Lord. The word Lord means supreme in authority. Are you willing for Jesus to be your Lord? Is there any reason why He should not be your Lord? You need to accept Jesus as your Lord.
Number two. "And believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead". Believing in the heart is a matter of trust. My wife could stand here and tell you that my name was Walt Stowe, I was born in Texas, went to Bible College in Springfield, Mo., etc. And you might say, Yes Mrs.Stowe, and pointing to your head say, I believe everything you have told me about your husband, I am intellectually convinced but, and pointing to your heart say, I still don't trust him. It's like a doctor who says, That pain in your side, appendicitis, I can operate and save your life, can you trust me to be your personal physician? If you say no then he cannot help you. If you say yes he will say Ok, from this point I am your personal physician, lay down on this table and go to sleep, it is entirely in my hands now.
Jesus comes and He says to you, Bill you have a sin problem and it can destroy you but Bill I came to take away that sin and died for you at Calvary and was raised from the dead. I can save you if you will trust me, can you trust me Bill to be your Saviour? What would you tell Him Bill?
DRAWING THE NET
Bill we are going to have a prayer right now. Let's bow our heads. (Regardless of what he does I bow my head and start praying.) Dear Lord I thank you for Bill allowing me to take this time with Him to tell Him about your wonderful plan of salvation. I pray you will help him to open his heart to You. Now Bill while we are still praying and our heads are still bowed, if you are willing the best you know how to accept Jesus as your Lord and to trust Him as your Saviour would you put your hand in mine?
Bill we are going to pray a little prayer something like this, dear Lord Jesus, the best I know how I accept you as my Lord and I put my trust in you to be my Saviour---if you can pray a prayer like that and really mean it from the heart I want you to do it now and I will help you. DEAR LORD JESUS, -Dear Lord Jesus-THE BEST I KNOW HOW,-the best I know how- I ACCEPT YOU AS MY LORD-I accept you as my Lord- AND I PUT MY TRUST IN YOU-and I put my trust in you- TO BE MY SAVIOUR-to be my Saviour.
Then added: AND I THANK YOU DEAR LORD-and I thank you dear Lord- FOR LOVING ME-for loving me- AND FOR DYING FOR ME-and for dying for me- AND FOR SAVING ME.-and for saving me- AMAN-aman.
Dear Friend, if you have prayed that prayer as sincerely as you know how please know that God has heard you and the Lord Jesus Christ is now your personal Lord and Savior. We have some great materials that will help you grow and become strong in the Lord. Please contact me at stoweroy@aol.com 253-678=2000