The "American Wisdom Series"
   presents
Pamphlet #7024 KC

The Simple Salvation Message

In study #7023 we learned that just as all the children of God must come down and dwell in the flesh, so did the Son of man, the Word of God, who was from the beginning with God, for He was God (Jn. 1:1).

And there was a very special reason why the Son of God, who is God Himself, went through that process of being born in the flesh. We read about in the opening chapter of this Gospel. He was to be the Lamb of God, the sacrificial Lamb Who would pay the price and atone for the sins of the world.

And just how difficult do you suppose it is to accept that sacrifice and be "saved" from eternal death and receive eternal life?

Well, Jesus is about to give to us an example, a type set forth, of the Simple Salvation Message which will then be expressed in one famous verse in John 3:16. He draws the analogy to the serpent in the wilderness.

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
You should go back to Numbers and read the whole account of what happened.(We are expected by our Lord to know these scriptures.) The Children of Israel were murmuring and complaining and speaking against God, Who had provided for their safety and nourishment with numerous miracles in the wilderness. So much for the thought that seeing a miracle will give you the faith to keep you on track for the rest of your life. These folks saw multiple miracles!
So God sent a bunch of fiery serpents to the ungrateful Children of Israel to bite them! Ouch!
Numbers 21:6
And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
Assuming that you know a little bit about the Bible you should be able to draw the analogy to that old serpent, the devil, Satan. If you get bitten by him you will surely die!

So here we see in the wilderness [the world], that unless something is done to "save" these people, they will surely die. And there's no doubt about it, they were dying!

Numbers 21:7
Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
These sinners make their plea for salvation from the fiery serpents. (Isn't it wonderful that today we have the Gospel Armor (Eph. 6) to protect us from the fiery darts of SATAN, the serpent?)
[8] And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
ALL THEY HAD TO DO was to look to the serpent on the pole and LIVE!
Note: Don't try to make any more out of this than the lesson Christ is teaching here in John. God could have put a frog or a door knob on the pole as the savior of the people.  And all they had to do was look upon it and believe!  But the point is HE HIMSELF would become the One on the pole [THE CROSS] Who would ultimately be our SAVIOR
Let's continue in John now that we have filled in some of the details between John 3:14 and 3:15.
John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
Seems simple enough, doesn't it?

And now for the most quoted verse in all the Bible which will explain WHY Jesus Chirst became the sacrificial Lamb.

[16] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
It is Because God Loves His Children so much!

Yes, He loves you and me, and all His precious children, and desires so much in His heart that we/they would all turn to Him and love Him. And He showed forth His love by allowing Himself, as His only begotten Son, to be placed on the cross [by guess who?... the serpent], and as per the example in the wilderness, all we have to do is BELIEVE in HIM and receive ETERNAL life.

It doesn't get any better than that! There is no greater love!

So the question is,

"What must a person do to receive eternal life?"

John 3:16 says it all.

Now for a couple of notes on this verse:

1.) The word "everlasting" in John 3:16 is the same word as "eternal" in the prior verse (15) and should be rendered as such, i.e. "eternal life" not "everlasting life".  There is a difference, in the Greek, between "eternal" and "everlasting". "Eternal" means "from the beginning", even continuous for ever and ever from the creation of your very soul in the first earth age.

2.)If you recall from our pamphlet #7023 study we mentioned that one of the well known and often quoted verses we would be covering is misunderstood and conflicts with a main "tradition of men", which is an unscriptural doctrine of Christianity, of which there are many! And that verse happens to be John 3:16.
You see, the opposite of Eternal Life is Eternal Death.

And the word "perish" in John 3:16 means just that, to cease existing, which is for ever and ever. Many church Traditionalists teach that our Father is going to torture His unrepentant children in an everlasting burning hell fire, when He Himself said that hideous thought NEVER even crossed His mind.

It's amazing how that we have laws that protect even dumb animals from being tortured and yet we will allow someone who claims to be a representative of Christ and teach the love of God, tell us that our Father is going to torture His children for ever and ever. 

Don't allow it! 

Stick to and believe the Word of God.

Even the very fate of Satan, whose name (one of his names) by the way, is also the "son of perdition", which means the "son who will perish", is well documented in Ezekiel 28. Read the entire chapter of how iniquity was found in this once beautiful son of God and how he will ultimately be "destroyed" and cease to exist. We pick it up in verse 18, speaking about Satan:

Ezekiel 28:18
Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
God is a consuming fire as Hebrews 12:29 shows: "For our God is a consuming fire."
[19] All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
When Satan, whose name is also death [because he's as good as dead having been sentenced by God already] is cast into the lake of fire, he will cease to exist, perish, along with everyone else who is cast in with him. That is why the lake of fire is called the second death. It kills, destroys, the soul!
Rev. 20:14
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev. 21:8
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Can your soul be killed,
i.e. DESTROYED?
Yes it can.

Here are the very words of Jesus Christ:

Matthew 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
The first death (your shadow of death) is the death of your flesh. The second death is the killing of, (the destruction of), the perishing of your soul. Only God
 can do that, because He is a consuming fire.

So the question is, 

"Do you believe in Jesus Christ?"

Do you know Him? 

REALLY KNOW HIM!

Not Just Saying You Do!

John has already gone to great lengths to document that He is the Word of God.

Then I've got great news! You will be raised to immortal status at Christ's second coming and therefore the second death doesn't even apply to you!

Rev. 20:6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Is He good to us, or what?
To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.
1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them {the ancient Israelites} for ensamples, and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

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