WHY DID JESUS CHRIST DIE?

If the Resurrection had been a lie, then we have shown
that the Disciples KNEW it. No where in recorded history
has there ever been a case of a group of men giving up
their lives for a LIE, much less 12 men:

o PETER was CRUCIFIED upside down

o ANDREW was CRUCIFIED

o MATTHEW was STABBED with a SWORD

o JOHN died a NATURAL Death after a lifetime of
tribulation

o JAMES, Son of Alphaeus, was CRUCIFIED

o PHILIP was CRUCIFIED

o SIMON was CRUCIFIED

o THADDAEUS was "filled with arrows"

o JAMES, brother of Christ was THROWN from the Walls
of Jerusalem and then STONED to death

o THOMAS was THRUST with a SPEAR

o BARTHOLOMEW was CRUCIFIED

o JAMES, Son of Zebedee, was STABBED by a SWORD

A skeptic can still say, "Well, they died for a lie".
The very fact that each of these men had the "opportunity"
to recant their faith and DID NOT shows a TRUTH when
coupled with the very lives that these men led after
Pentecost.

The 500 eyewitnesses that were still living when Paul
wrote his letters, in essence saying "Go talk to them for
evidence" could be better understood if we think in terms
of giving each of the 500 only 6 minutes to testify in
court, we would have over 10 days of court time - 50 hours
of EYEWITNESS testimony!

WHY DID CHRIST DIE ?!

o For RELIGION?

Religion is humanity trying to WORK their way into the
Presence of God. Good Works, Obedience, etc. So our answer
is a resounding NO!

o For CHRISTIANITY?

Christianity in NOT RELIGION. Christianity is GOD COMING
TO Men and Women through the person of Jesus Christ.

o SALVATION - Secure and Eternal

Acts 16:31 says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved". However, Jesus also wanted
something else - Let's look at the following:

o MARK 1:14,15 We receive Kingdom Citizenship
2:17 Our sins are "cured"

o LUKE 15:7 & 10 Joy in Heaven when we repent

o LUKE 24:47 Opened to the World

o ACTS 2:36 Remission of our sins
3:19 Repentance is REFRESHING
20:21 Repentance is PROFITABLE

True repentance ALWAYS leads to a change in the
conduct and attitude of the believer.

SALVATION HAS SEVERAL PARTS. THESE ARE:

o FAITH

If repentance is true then Faith is the first by-
product. Faith means you have a "confident trust in"
something or "reliance on" something.

***READ*** HEBREWS 11:6 - "Without faith it is
IMPOSSIBLE....."

In and of itself, FAITH is meaningless Remember
the story of the "battle of the Gods" when Elijah
challenged the priest of Baal? The priest had faith! They
were sincere in their faith! However; FAITH always needs an
OBJECT to which it is placed in or on. If the OBJECT of our
FAITH is worthless as it was for the priest of Baal, then
we are victims of superstition. It makes no difference how
sincere or intense our faith is, we can be sincerely
deluded and intensely mis-led!

SAVING FAITH is many things, but must have (1)
Acceptance about the FACTS of and about Christ - HIS DIETY,
HIS DEATH and OUR NEED OF HIM. Most of all, it should
contain (2) a COMMITMENT TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST IN OUR
LIVES.

We don't believe only because of our feelings -
we make a DECISION to believe.

***READ*** James 2:20. The "faith" indicated here is "head"
faith - the kind that does not manifest itself by leading
the believer into a MORE holy lifestyle. This "head faith"
produces the DEAD WORKS, usually to impress other humans
with our "goodness,etc".

o REGENERATION

Regeneration is mentioned ONLY TWICE in
scripture. In Matthew 19:28 the reference is to the
restoration of the world, but in TITUS 3:5, we find the
reference to individuals.

Regeneration is a DECISIVE EXPERIENCE that
happens ONCE for ALL. However; the regeneration is
continual in the results and changes in the lives of the
believers.

In JOHN 5:40, Christ says :"Ye will not come to
me ..". Notice that He did not say, "Ye CANNOT come to me
..". It isn't that any of us CANNOT come to Him - it's that
we CHOOSE NOT TO come to Him. It requires the active
commission of WILL to acknowledge that He is better able to
direct our lives and to submit ourselves to His Complete
Will!

Well, what of ELECTION where God, in His soverign
will, has chosen certain people and certain groups of
people to receive His Grace and Mercy. God chose Abraham as
an individual and Israel as an entire nation. Look at the
major aspect of ELECTION - it is not by any virtue or
quality of the chosen, but exclusively through the Will of
God. Coupled with ELECTION is PREDESTINATION.
Predestination indicates that God's purpose for the
believer -- that we become CHRISTLIKE is CERTAIN to be
fulfilled.

****READ**** Romans 8:29,30

Foreknowledge, predestination, calling,
justification & glorification are all parts of the one
"package" of SALVATION. If we have one - we have them ALL!

****READ**** John 6:44- Predestination is exclusive of any
merits we might have and is totally through God's soverign
will.

****READ**** Romans 9:23- "He selects" does NOT show
discrimination! Keep in mind that we are ALL sinners and
GOD has EVERY RIGHT to treat His rebellious creations in
the manner that HE pleases.

WE SHOULD NOT BE SO AMAZED THAT GOD WITHOLDS MERCY
FROM SOME -- WE SHOULD BE THANKFUL AND AMAZED THAT HE
SHOULD SHOW GRACE AND MERCY TO ANY!!!!

The purpose that the Bible teaches us about
ELECTION and PREDESTINATION is to show that SALVATION is
ALL from God and cannot be won, or earned or received by
any action or doing on our part. SALVATION is GIVEN! By
showing an ELECTION before the world began, God shows and
tells us, graphically, that our SALVATION is ETERNAL and
CERTAIN (Secure).

A skeptic says, "If I am elected then I'll get
into Heaven, anyway - if I'm not elected then there's no
use trying!". God ELECTED, and ONLY GOD knows WHO is
elected. Until we come into His Kingdom, we do NOT KNOW if
we are among the chosen - But I do know that NO ONE in HELL
will ever be able to say, "I wanted to be saved, but my
name was on the wrong list!".

FOREKNOWLEDGE IS NOT FORE-ORDINATION OR FORE-ELECTION....

o JUSTIFICATION

This can be paraphrased, "Just as if I'd NEVER
sinned" but is far more that just an Acquittal of sins. It
actually means that we are RIGHTEOUS before God.
Justification is OBJECTIVE in that it does not make us
"personally" righteous but declares us righteous in a LEGAL
sense to make right our relationship with God.

Christ's death in our place satisfied the claims
of God's holy law against our sins

****READ**** Romans 5:8,9

Christ's perfect obedience (Romans 5:19) gave us
the example we are to follow, but we are reminded of faith
in His atonement.

IT ISN'T SALVATION BY WHAT WE CAN DO BUT BY WHAT GOD HAS
DONE!!!

o SANCTIFICATION

This is the PROCESS of being saved. It is the
PROCESS (continual action) of becoming more holy. The
actual meaning is "set aside" or "holy". The word SAINT
uses the same root word, and helps us understand a little
more of what we are to be in the process of...

-Justification is our standing before God and is
instantaneous

-Sanctification has to do with our character and lifestyle
and daily lives and is continual in nature.

****READ*** I Corinthians 6:11
Galatians 5:16 & 22,23

o GLORIFICATION

****READ**** I John 3:2 and I Thessalonians 5:9

- This is the "FUTURE" part of SALVATION.

- o JUSTIFICATION - we are SAVED from the PENALTY
of sin.

- o SANCTIFICATION - we are SAVED from the POWER of
sin

- o GLORIFICATION - we are to be REMOVED from the
PRESENCE of sin.

SECURITY OF OUR SALVATION

o The HOLY SPIRIT places us in the BODY OF CHRIST as told
to us in I Corinthians 12:13, and no scripture even
hints that removal from the body is possible!

o The HOLY SPIRIT seals us as told in Ephesians 1:13 and
4:30 until redeption. The seal would have to be broken
to remove salvation, and this is not scriptural.

o Father's purpose is to KEEP US as told in John 10:28-30
to present us FAULTLESS before His THRONE.

o In Romans 8:29,30 the past tense of a future event
PROVES the CERTAINTY of SALVATION.

SALVATION TAKES US OUT OF THE MIRE AND PUTS US INTO
THE CHOIR

SALVATION MAY COME QUIETLY BUT WE CANNOT BE QUIET
ABOUT IT
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