Salvation Cycle

Since all are sinners and to rescue us from the sin Jesus came to this world as a human and paid the price for our sins, it is necessary to know about how to get our debt from sin cleared.

Here I present a Life cycle of how sin came to the world and how we can overcome it.

Origin of Sin

Lucifer (Satan) rebelled against God and was thrown out from the holy place to Earth. “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!” – Isaiah 14:12. Lucifer wanted to become the most high and was thrown out from heaven. Since then he made it a point to rebel against God. The next step he did was to take out God’s creation. So he led man to sin.

The fall of Man (Adam and Eve)

You can find the fall of man in Genesis 3. Satan came in the form of serpent and made the woman to eat the fruit which was forbidden. She ate and gave it to man and as a result got into sin. But the same chapter God promises to provide them a saviour and through him the human race can come out of sin. (Genesis 3:15)

Sin got inherited

The fall of first man resulted in all men inheriting the basic sin nature and committing individual acts of sin due to this nature. Satan started working with the sin from the first children onwards, resulting in murder. One killed by his sibling. Genesis 4.

Death

Sin further leaded to Spiritual and Physical death. The punishment for sin is death. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” – Romans 5:12. Sin can be attacked only by shedding of pure blood. So in the Old Testament times, sacrificing animals was the way to get saved from sin. It was temporary. But God gave another option for everyone to come out of sin permanently.

On the Cross Jesus Paid the Price

Son of God came as a man and obeyed the laws and commandments, did not sinned, but was beaten and finally died on the cross shedding blood for all the mankind as a permanent sacrifice for the sin and destroyed the devil on the cross and resurrected on the third day and overcame death. On the cross, Jesus paid the penalties which resulted in justification of sinful man. The salvation is free but man has to accept Christ as his saviour and leave his old life, repent and ask for salvation. Repentance is necessary to avoid Spiritual death and eternal life. It will make an inner change of mind resulting in an outward turning away from sin to move towards God and righteousness. 

Conversion

Repentance and accepting Jesus leads you to conversion. Conversion means to turn from the wrong way to right way. The parable of Prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 is a good example of conversion. When the young man realized his sinful condition he made a decision to go to his father and repent of his sin. This is repentance. The young man left the old life and went to his father to start a new life. This is conversion. It is the outward change.

Salvation from Sin and Justification before Righteous God.

The conversion will result in justification of sinful man before a righteous God and salvation from a life of sin and the penalties of sin.

Friends, if you feel you are a Christian, have you gone through these processes? Have your repented your sins? Have you got converted? You cannot inherit salvation through your family, only sin comes as inheritance. Individually you need to take a step for salvation. Your name cannot make you a Christian, only your acceptance of Christ and repentance from sin can make you a true Christian. If you haven’t done it, now it’s the time to act.

Have Repentance

“For all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God” – Romans 3:23

In this world, all the people who live, which ever religion or community, are sinners. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, this way death came to all people, because all sinned” – Romans 5:12

Sin doesn’t mean adultery or murder alone. There are lots of words which are defined for sin. Sin, Evil, Wickedness, Transgression, Unrighteousness, Ungodliness, Iniquity, Disobedience, Trespass are some of them. According to God, Sin is any violation of his Laws. “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” – 1 John 3:4. When you read the New Testament in Bible, there are 103 different sins listed. Some are – Evil thoughts, Murder, Adultery, Sexual immorality, Theft, False Testimony, Slander, Greed, Malice, Deceit, Lewdness, Arrogance, Gossips, God haters, Boastful, No love and mercy, Drunkenness, Jealousy, Gays, Witchcraft, Selfish Ambition, Foolish talk, Coarse Joking, Lust, Evil desires, Lovers of money and themselves, Abusive, Proud, Ungrateful, Unholy, Unforgiving, Without self-control, Lovers pf pleasures, Worldly Passions, Hypocrisy and Idolaters are some of them. (Mathew 15:18-20, Mark 7:21, 22, Romans 1:29-32, 1 Corinthians 5:9, Romans 13: 13, 14, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10, Galatians 5: 19-21, Ephesians 5:3, 4, Ephesians 4:25-31, Colossians 3: 5, 6, 2 Timothy 3: 1-5, Titus 3: 3,4, 1 Peter 2:1)

The origin of sin came when Lucifer [Satan] rebelled against God in heaven. He

was cast out of heaven to earth and led the first man and woman into sin. Because of this, sin and the penalties of sin were pass on to all men.

There are people whose repentance from sin was ineffective. Judas was one of them. He confessed he sinned, but killed himself, did another sin. (Mathew 27: 3, 4). Peter confessed his sin and followed Jesus and became his powerful witness.

Only way to come out of sin is the confess it and accept Christ as your personal saviour. Repentance should come from your heart, and the faith should be there that in Christ you are a new creation, without sin. But after that if you destroy your salvation by going back to your old works, no point in that repentance. It will be like Judas’s repentance. Repentance from sin is an inner change of mind resulting in an outward turning away from sin to move towards God and righteousness.

Have Foundation

While building any building, the architect will plan the foundation with respect to the surroundings, which include climatic conditions and the strength of the soil. Same it said about the faith in men. If the faith needs to be strong, the foundation should be very strong according to the personal situations. Jesus told an example which can be found in Mathew 7:24-27. Foolish men will build his house in sand, but a wise man will build his on the Rock. When rain and flood came, the house built on sand got washed away, while the one on the rock did not fall as it had a rock foundation. For faith to work in a person’s heart and life, he should have a solid foundation.

For a person to live a life closer with God, the spiritual foundation laid by God is none other than Jesus Christ. The person should accept Christ as his saviour, should confess his sins, and should believe that Christ came to take away his sins, and his sins are forgiven and forgotten and he is not going to his old ways of living. He should go ahead and live a life pleasing to God, glorifying the name of Christ who saved him. For that he should study the word which God gave, understand it and live accordingly. Bible is a set standard on which to base spiritual life. “Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands form in the heavens” – Psalm 119:89

Accepting Christ is the first step towards your spiritual life. For growing old in your spiritual life you need a spiritual foundation based on the doctrine of Jesus Christ, which can be attained by mediating and study the word of God. 

There are six foundational doctrines listed in Hebrews 6: 1-3. Repentance from dead works, Faith towards God, Doctrine of Baptism, Laying on of hands, Resurrection of the dead and Eternal Judgement.

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgement. And God permitting, we will do so. Hebrews 6: 1-3

I urge you to be closer with the word and understand the foundations proper and become a true servant of God. We are not living to somehow get into heaven, but to live a victorious life in Jesus, then go to heaven when called, and get the crown which Christ provides to his faithful ones.