THE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS OF SALVATION

Chapter 1 - The soul worked

We also want these lines meet the needs of those who have been awakened from the sleep of spiritual death and whose main interest is to know the way to obtain peace with God. One can characterize the state of their souls with anxiety. People in this state are numerous, especially in a time like this, where the gospel of the grace of God is so widely proclaimed. It's not just those who are moved to point to exclaim: what should we do to be saved? but also many others who, in a calm and quiet outside, hide a genuine distress of soul. The depth and intensity of their feelings vary among individuals and circumstances. In some people it will only be of concern, in others we find a real distress of mind and heart, while in others it will be a positive anguish of the soul. But whatever the depth of feeling, either more or less, if the conviction of the remoteness of God or guilt before Him, if there is pain because of sin, and the lowest desire for forgiveness and reconciliation with God, in other words if there is a humiliation before God by judging ourselves, this is where we talk about spiritual anxiety, for such a state of heart can be produced by the Spirit of God.
The means used to bring this mood is, in one way or another, the word of God. This is not always apparent, because a song, a simple question from a friend, remember the prayers of a parent calling a preacher of the gospel, may have been used as arrow belief, but in all these examples is actually the word of God in these various forms, that the Holy Spirit has used to awaken the careless soul. His own Word, as we know, the only weapon that God uses to achieve this goal, because it pleased Him "by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe" (1 Cor. 1:21) and it is why the apostle said "we preach Christ crucified, to Jews to sin, to nations foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:23, 24).
There are several examples of this in the Acts of the Apostles. On the day of Pentecost, we see Peter present in his speech, Christ crucified, risen and exalted, and accuse his hearers of the sin of having rejected and crucified Him whom God raised from the dead. "Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. And having heard these things, they had seized the heart of compunction, and said to Peter and other apostles: What shall we do, brothers? "The Apostle Paul was humbled at the feet of the Savior in a special way and extraordinary but it was also the presentation of Christ, though in revelation, not by preaching the Word. Another example is Felix. We read that, as the apostle of righteousness, temperance and judgments to come, Felix was afraid and, although in this example, the effect seems to have been only momentary, it shows us the power the word of God on the soul. The Philippian jailer may at first seem an exception to this rule, but without doubt the supernatural events of the night when Paul and Silas were in his custody were only the occasion of his distress of spirit, the plea set his heart on his conscience and the Gospel message he had heard before that time. It is often the case today. Frequently a danger or a sudden illness, carrying men to the immediate prospect of death, make them effective through the power of the Spirit, messages and warnings of the gospel, until despised or neglected, meet the souls of the fear of the wrath of God because of sin and lead them to implore his mercy.
Here is where we see the anxiety of the soul, this concern we discussed, we can be sure it is the work of the Holy Spirit by means of the Word of God. It is to such people that we wish to address.
Dear Reader, are you in this condition with respect to the hello? Have you been convicted of sin and the desire of your soul is it to know the way to peace with God? If so, do you have to turn a deaf ear to the voice of the Spirit of God, you laugh, or trying to stifle the convictions he has already occurred. And, we beseech you, beware also differ. Struggle with God through you. Therefore it is particularly true for sure "now is the pleasant time: behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). Beware of healing the wounds of your soul with other remedies than those of the gospel, lest you be led to say: "Peace, peace! and there was no peace "(Jer. 6:14). Your situation is full of hope because the One who has awakened your needs hello send you this message: "Be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:20), and His own Word says that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have eternal life "(John 3:16). Let me entreat you to God, read carefully and with prayer, the following pages, which can show you the way of salvation as revealed in Scripture. And that God Himself wants to teach you and guide you in peace is through faith in Christ!

2 Chapter 2 - 1st thing to learn: The state of man before God

The first thing the anguished souls need to learn is their place and their condition before God, they must understand how God Himself sees them. For as long as they remain in delusion and ignorance about their own condition, they refuse to be saved by the grace of God. Until they receive and admit the testimony that God makes of themselves, they will not receive the testimony he gives about his Son. Because the gospel is for sinners, and therefore must be proclaimed to sinners only. I wish to strongly emphasize this point to all those who are troubled in their souls, as many are held for months and even years in doubt and anxiety, because, probing their own hearts, instead to question the word of God, to recognize their true condition, they never take the place it before God assigns to them.
"The heart is deceitful above all things" (Jeremiah 17:9), but the word of God is truth (John 17:17), so that it alone that we must report it.
So what is the testimony of God about you, about all men? Expect it to be the worst possible! ... "Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and ... so death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned "(Romans 5:12). And again: "There is none righteous, not even one, there is nobody who has the intelligence, there is no one who seeks God, and they have all turned aside, they are all together rendered useless and there is none who exercises kindness, there is not one "(Rom. 3:10-13). And again: "There is no difference, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (v. 22, 23). "The Scripture has confined all things under sin" (Gal. 3:22).
Such is the testimony of Scripture, according to which all men are sinners before God. Do you accept this testimony as true to you?
I'm not asking if you admit in general, because many people are there who will try by comparison with others, or themselves to apologize or to draw conclusions for their own benefit . The important point is this: that God puts all men on the same ground before Him, and declares that all are sinners. The question before him is not that the degree of sin or guilt, but there is no difference, is that everyone, whatever their position, their character or reputation, all are sinners, sinners without excuse, without a single glimmer of hope in themselves, since all are contained in the same sentence. Death passed upon all men because all have sinned "because the wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).
I ask you again: Do you accept the testimony of God as true in your case? You humble yourself under the ruling of yourself before God, acknowledging that you are a sinner, the object of his just sentence against sin?
If it is not so, I beg you to stop a bit and consider how your cause is hopeless for the Lord Jesus himself said: "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners "(Matt. 9:13). So there is no Christ, no Savior, if not for sinners. So as long as you're not sure or if you refuse to take the place of a lost sinner, you are outside the limits of grace and mercy of God in the gospel.
But if you receive the testimony of Scripture regarding your own state, we can therefore say of Him who "bore our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24), who "was wounded for our transgressions "and" bruised for our iniquities "(Isa. 53:5); of him that" God has presented for atonement, through faith in his blood "(Rom. 3:25); the One who actually took the sinner's place and has supported the decision of the sinner: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life (2 Cor. 5:21; John 3:16). But the testimony of the truth goes even further: not only are you sinners, but the Scriptures teach that even those who are unsaved are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1). The Lord Jesus also said that the believer is "passed from death to life" (John 5:24), clearly showing that the previous condition of the believer was death, spiritual death. Accordingly, the sinner is both under the condemnation of sin and death in his sins. That certainly does not mean he has no life, because obviously he has the physical life. But what is said is that through sin, the sinner is separated from God, cut off the source of life (because God is the source of life) and, consequently, it is in a state of spiritual death, not life, nor the power of life, for God. All the way God acts towards men, since Israel until now, is proof of the truth of His Word. So I ask you again: did you receive this second testimony to you?
Beloved reader, you never know the poverty of your condition until you subscribe yourself to the verdict. The men say: Where there is life there is hope. How often these words have sustained the hearts of those who watched at the bedside of a relative or friend sick? Hoping against hope, they refused to believe that the end was near, and until the last pulse has arrived with his last breath, they did not want to believe in the presence of death. It is often the sinners, even those whose souls have already been awakened. They can not doubt that they are sinners and under condemnation, but they can not believe that their condition is hopeless, they have in themselves no power of life or rehabilitation, or restoration and consequently they do not recognize that they are completely ruined, lost, "dead in trespasses and sins." In this way, they exclude themselves from the blessing and return, perhaps for years, in the wanderings and struggles, because they trust in their own hearts rather than God (and one that trusts in his own heart is a fool according to Prov. 28:26). But we must resolutely shut our eyes to all things, to receive the testimony of Scripture, because this is not what I think or what I prefer, or what I feel, or what I think, but what God declares, that determines my state before his eyes. He is the only judge, and therefore if he says he is a sinner dead in trespasses and sins, the sinner is forced to acknowledge that God is true, and that every man is a liar (Rom. 3: 4).
Do you accept now, not having life, your condition is hopeless? Subscribe to the verdict of God immediately, as soon as you have taken the place of a sinner, recognizing the truth of God to you, and confessing that you are under the just condemnation of sin, once you enter a position of blessing; where God in His infinite grace, you can meet, and where you can invoke the Savior of sinners. Therefore humble yourselves before God now, and receive the unspeakable gift of his love - his own son - as your Savior, your Redeemer and your Lord.

3 Chapter 3 - The blood of Christ necessary for the forgiveness of sins

Assuming now that we're talking about worked souls humble themselves before God's judgment regarding their condition, their primary interest is to know by what means they can obtain forgiveness for their sins. The blood of Christ is the only way to rescue them from the guilt of sin. "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). Here is shown the necessity of Christ's death, the need, indeed for the whole work of redemption. It is therefore of the utmost importance that this truth is understood.
We have already noted that the death "went to all men, in that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12). Adam has incurred the first this award because of his disobedience to God. He had been warned not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil "for the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Gen. 2:16, 17). Adam despised the divine command and fell under the terrible death sentence - a penalty that God had attached to disobedience. Thus "by one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and ... so death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned "(Romans 5:12). There is no difference, all are equally sinful, and therefore every child of Adam's race is subject to the penalty of sin is to say death. Yes, there is already dead (see Rom. 5:13-21) over the entire human family, each individual (except those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ) being under the just sentence of death because of sin. "But God finds his love to him for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). He "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Being rich in mercy, he sent his own Son to die, "the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). And as, when Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, God provided a lamb to be offered in its place, so that Isaac could be delivered and survive (Gen. 22), even so God gave a lamb be sacrificed in place of the sinner, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). This is the secret of Christ's death. He died as the sinner's substitute, which he supported the condemnation and guilt expiated.
The wonderful efficacy of the blood of Christ, in the presence of the need for sinners, spring character of the person and the nature of his death. His blood is the symbol of his death, the sacrifice of his life, because life is in the blood (see Leviticus 17:10-14), so that his blood cleanses from sin, because of the value of his death to God's eyes instead and for the sinner. God has condescended to teach us this by types and figures, along with direct instruction.
3.1 The Passover

Consider the Israelites in the land of Egypt on the night of Passover. God was about to execute the judgments against the land of Egypt, but the moment that justice had its way, Israel was under the ambit of the trial, as far as the Egyptians. How then save the first while the latter would be affected? "I will go through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and will execute judgments on all the gods of the Egypt. I am the LORD. And the blood will be to sign on the houses where you are and I see the blood, and I will pass over you, and there will be no destruction wound in you, when I smite the land of Egypt "(Ex. 12:12, 13; also v. 21-23). The only difference this night (note this well), between Israel and Egypt was the blood. It was not what Israel compared to the Egyptians, but the blood stopped the hand of the angel of death - the blood outside of their homes, because the LORD had said when I see the blood I will pass over you. By type, the blood of the lamb - because the lamb had been killed - the cleansed from guilt, so that God could justly save Israel, while with justice as he destroyed the firstborn of Egypt.
3.2 The great day of atonement

The great day of atonement, we have the story in chapter 16 of Leviticus, we provide the same education as Aaron was to sprinkle the blood of the ram and the goat sacrifice for sin on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat, where God remained between the cherubim, "because in this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you, and ye shall be clean from all your sins before the Lord" (Lev. 16:30). All these things were only shadows of the effectiveness of the blood of Christ. Thus we read: "Our Passover, Christ has been sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5:7), and again: "Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood," he entered once for all the holy places, "having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls - and the ashes of a heifer with which they sprinkled on the unclean - sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit , has offered himself without spot to God, cleanse Does your conscience from dead works so that we may serve the living God "(Heb. 9:12-14). We learn that "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

3.3 What does the Scripture say about the blood of Christ

We can now make out distinctly what Scripture teaches of Christ's blood in connection with sin:
1 ° is the only way to purify the guilty. It is God who has established and provided the means, therefore, any other means is excluded. "When thou wash thee with nitre, and you use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord Jehovah" (Jeremiah 2:22). "If I wash myself with snow water, and I clean my hands in purity, then you plunge me into a ditch, and my clothes get me in horror" (Job 9:30, 31). The blood of Christ alone can make the sinner whiter than snow.
2 ° It is the blood which alone, by itself and by itself, has its effectiveness. You can not add. This is not the blood and something with. Add anything, experience, prayers or penance (all things that are important to their own site), and you remove its power to purify.
3 ° It is God who provided the blood. It is He who gave His Son to death. This provision for the needs of the sinner is entirely the effect of the grace of God and, therefore, quite apart from the sinner himself. God in His infinite mercy and because he loved the world, has provided a Lamb for sacrifice, and now the precious blood of the Lamb is the benefit of all who believe (John 3:16) . There is no limit in any application, if not disbelief of the sinner. It is prepared for everyone and everyone can become the object of his faith precious power of purification.

3.4 Application of the blood of Christ

Dear reader, you recognize your need for purification, and behold, God has prepared what can only satisfy this need. You ask: how will I apply this blood to myself? It is only and absolutely with the obedience of faith. Let us refer to the night of Passover (Ex. 12). It was not enough that the lamb was slaughtered, and blood was in the basin, but the Israelite was instructed to sprinkle the blood for himself on the lintel and the two posts of his door . With the bunch of hyssop in hand, a sign of humiliation under the fair trial of God, he sprinkled with blood the lintel and posts, confessing himself that he deserved death, and showing his faith in the blood, as a means to remove the destructive and be guaranteed the fair trial Judge. But now the Lamb was slain and offered his blood was shed. But the fact that bloodshed does not assure you of your salvation. The question is: Are you under cover of this blood? You ask again: how will this happen? It is humbling yourself as an Israelite before the trial that God has pronounced against sin, is taking the place of a sinner and watching the blood of Christ to guarantee the fair and just sentence punishment of sin. Therefore the blood of Christ is upon you in all its value and is between the ruling and you, to shelter you completely and forever from the consequences of sin, the blood having met and satisfied all requirements of the holiness of God against you for God presented Christ as the mercy seat through faith in his blood (Rom. 3:25). You just, therefore, absolutely nothing to do, not even the task of collecting the hyssop and sprinkled with blood. You have to simply believe the word of God, with faith to consider the blood already spilled the only means of protection against death and trial, and God will see you when covered with its effectiveness and its value, purified defilement of sin and whiter than snow. Do not wait to seek the protection of the precious blood of Christ. At midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt as well, suddenly and without warning, the ruling will surprise those who reject Christ, because when they say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them ... and they shall not escape (1 Thes. 5:3). So today, listen to the call of love of God, who invites you to escape the wrath to come and contemplate the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

4 Chapter 4 - You must be born again

When Nicodemus came to the Lord to look for direction, he immediately received the solemn answer: "Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God "(John 3:3). Ponder for a moment this divine and penetrating voice, for whatever the state of a soul or profession of faith, if no such great change, "new birth", there is still no life and no salvation.
First, to whom the Lord he sent these words? To Nicodemus, a leading Israel, the state where the approximation of the second and third chapters, gives us the true light. We read: "And as he was in Jerusalem at the Passover at the feast, many believed in his name, beholding the miracles he did. But Jesus himself did not trust them because he knew all men, and did not need anyone should testify about man, for he himself knew what was in man. But (as he should read) there was a man of the Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus, who was a leader of the Jews "(John 2:23-25, 3:1, etc.. ). Thus a number of Jews believed in Jesus, contemplating his miracles, and Nicodemus was one of them. But Jesus himself did not trust them because he knew what was in man and their faith was really just a natural conviction of the truth of the human Jesus, produced by the evidence miracles, an intellectual belief in Christ's name, without humiliation of heart before God. So when Nicodemus came to Jesus by night, probably looking for something more and expressing this belief, Master, we know that "thou art a teacher come from God, because nobody can do these signs that you're doing, if God is with him, "Jesus replied by first establishing the necessity of being born again. It was as if he had said: "You can believe in me as a divine doctor and yet be lost. You must be born again before being able to enter the kingdom of God. "
So we get an exhortation of the most solemn as well as a necessary warning. This exhortation is: Take care not to be satisfied with a profession of faith in Christ. The warning is: Never forget that everything is useless if you are not born again. You can be very serious, very religious, a model of zeal, the high reputation of sanctity of conduct, or useful work, and yet your soul can be lost, because if you are not born again you can even see the kingdom of God.
4.1 Why does it so that a man be born again?

The answer to this question leads us to one of the most important parts of our subject. We have already shown that all men are sinners, but it's not just being sinful, it's still kind of have a bad, corrupt, depraved, and this nature is irredeemably corrupt tree which produces all the evil fruit of sin. Sinful acts manifest the character of this nature and that nature is entirely unsuitable for the presence of God. Here the scope of our Lord's words in this chapter: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (v. 6). Everything we are as natural men, as children of Adam, flesh and in the flesh, dwelleth no good (Rom. 7:18).
We understand that all men without exception, are so thoroughly corrupt and hopelessly wrong? Yes, this is the verdict of God on human nature. That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
But is it possible that the noble examples reported by history, or any kind, generous and benevolent actions that we encounter in our daily life, are the work of those whose nature is so utterly depraved? Surely there must be a difference of degrees in our natural condition, because how is it possible to classify all such actions and coarse and blatant sin?
There is no question of external actions of men, if they provoke the applause or censure from their peers, for as long as they proceed from men who are not born again, they are worth nothing in the eyes of God. Because there is no "bad tree which produces good fruit ... Because we do not harvest figs from thorns, nor grapes picked on a bush "(Luke 6:43, 44). The word of God is quite explicit on this subject. "The thought of the flesh is enmity against God, because it does not submit to God's law, also because it can not. And those who are in the flesh can not please God "(Rom. 8:7, 8). Thus, as Luther said, it's not a question of doing, but a question of being, not an issue of shares, but by their nature, and God declares that nature is flesh, and the flesh can be nothing but evil in his eyes. It is written: "Flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of God, and corruption either does not inherit the imperishable" (1 Cor. 15:50).
That's where the need appears to be born again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, "Do not marvel that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again (John 3:7). This need is universal in its application. It relates to the submissive and obedient child, as well as the prodigal son, the active and zealous philanthropist as well as the convict in prison. For the flesh is flesh and can not enter the kingdom of God. You need to have a new nature and new life, and if these things are not, regardless of the moral reputation of a man, he will be forever excluded from the kingdom of God.
4.2 How is a man he can be born again?

This is in essence the question of Nicodemus, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? "(John 3:4). Now, instead of answering the question of possibility proposed by Nicodemus, the Lord reveals how a man is born again: "Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of Water and the Spirit, he can not enter the kingdom of God "(v. 5).
4.2.1 Water

A major difficulty has been raised by the efforts that have been tempted on all sides to twist the meaning of this symbol. The ritualistic many nuances have persistently tried to push their way this false teaching of baptismal regeneration. But if we confine ourselves to the Scriptures, we find that the difficulty disappears. First, it is obvious that Nicodemus should have been able to grasp the meaning of the words of the Lord, because when he replies: "How can these things they do?" Jesus answered and said, "You're the Doctor Israel, and knowest not these things? "(John 3:9, 10). And if we look at one of the prophets (whose writings have been known to Nicodemus in his capacity as teacher of Israel), we find a clear anticipation of the Lord's teaching. Speaking of the future restoration of Israel, the prophet Ezekiel said: "I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put within you a new spirit and take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my Spirit within you and I will make you walk in my statutes, and that you keep My judgments and do them (Ezek. 36:25-27). Here we have the same approximation of the water and the Spirit, and a radical change following their application involved in this expression: "A new heart." In addition, water is mentioned in this passage in the sense most familiar to the Israelites, in connection with the purification.
In light of this quotation, we ask what is the meaning of water? Psalm 119 gives us this question: "How can a young man he makes his way pure?" (V. 9). That, he says, "by taking heed thereto according to thy word." We also read in the New Testament: "By the washing of water by the Word" (Eph. 5:26), and again: "You are already clear, because the word that I said unto you" (John 15 3. Read also John 13:5-11). Water is therefore a well-known symbol of the Word of God. On the other hand, we find the word constantly associated with the new birth in other passages. "Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth" (James 1:18). "You who are born again, not of corruptible seed, but by incorruptible seed, the living and enduring word of God: because all flesh is as grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass: the grass has dried and the flower has fallen, but the word of the Lord stands forever. Now this is the word that was announced "(1 Peter 1:23, 25). The apostle Paul, referring to the same subject, tells the Corinthians: "I've generated in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:15). Thus the word of God preached in the gospel is the primary means of new birth, the Lord here in this type of water.
4.2.2 The Spirit

"It is the Spirit who gives life" (John 6:63). "The letter kills but the Spirit gives life" (2 Cor. 3:6). The Spirit working with and through the word of God gives life to dead souls, and are born again. The Word can not do that without the intervention of the Holy Spirit but the Spirit of God uses the Word as an instrument to bring souls from death to life, resulting in them both, a new nature and a new life. The Scriptures provide several illustrations of this fact. Consider the most striking of all - the day of Pentecost. The murderers of the Lord Jesus was gathered around Peter and other apostles, Peter tells them the word of God and said, "Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified "(Acts 2:36). At the beginning of the chapter in the story of the descent of the Holy Spirit, it is said of the apostles "they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them s enunciate. " Peter was therefore by the power of the Holy Spirit and the same Spirit, taking the word of God of great power, a multitude of people were born again, the change produced in them was evidenced by the fact that they "had the EurAsEC seized with compunction and said to Peter and other apostles: What shall we do? "(v. 37). It is the same today, when men are born again. It is always by the Spirit of God, through the Word. There is no other way.
4.2.3 Conclusion on the "how"

We can now, in the presence of the Lord's teaching, to define more precisely the meaning of these words. In the Gospel of John, ch. 3, v. 9, Nicodemus asks, "How can these things they do?" First, the Lord gently reproached her ignorance (v. 10) and unbelief (v. 11, 12), and then he gives a complete answer to the question he had addressed. It comprises three parts, which together reveal the mystery that the spirit of Nicodemus could not understand.
4.2.4 The complete response from the Lord to Nicodemus

4.2.4.1 The person of the Son of Man

This is the foundation of everything in the word of God in the gospel, whereby under the action of the Spirit of God the souls are brought to new life. "No one has ascended into heaven but He who came down from heaven, the son of the man who is in heaven" (v. 13). We have here the great mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God. He was in heaven, but he "came down from heaven." He was born a woman and became the Son of man on earth, and yet while talking to Nicodemus he can say to himself "who is in heaven." He is the God-Man, true man and true God, who is here revealed in the person of the Son of man. This is the wonderful dignity of the person of Christ, which gives an infinite virtue to his work: hence the need to keep with jealous care the true doctrine of the person of our Lord, and to reject any teaching that can be depreciated his human nature or divine nature. All that is hostile to the person of Christ, opposes his cross and his atoning sacrifice. The person of Christ is the foundation of the gospel of the grace of God and gives it its character. "For it is God who said that out of darkness, light shines forth, which has shinned in our hearts to shine the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6).
4.2.4.2 The work of Christ

Here we find the second of the divine "must". "You need," says the Lord, "being born again." And now he says: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3 : 14, 15). But why must the Son of Man was crucified and raised? It was a moral necessity, because "without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9:22). Because, taking the place of the sinner, it should be "wounded for our transgressions" and "bruised for our iniquities" (Isa. 53:5), because, by the fact that we were under trial and conviction of sin he had to die in our place, for he himself "bore our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). It was, in short, as a substitute for the sinner that he must be high, "that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:15). It becomes the source of life again, in resurrection is the life of every believer (Col. 3:3, 4), because it is in the new birth that life is communicated through the power of the quickening spirit. But by the nature of his death as a substitute of the sinner on the cross, it is the lives of those who believe it is in death that he has atoned for our sins, and made the atonement, and by this means It has removed all barriers between a God of grace and lost sinners. Therefore he can say: "Whoever believes in me, though he is dead, shall live" (John 11:25).
Thus a life out of death, life in a crucified and risen Savior, because "by the death, he went powerless him who had the power of death" (Heb. 2:14) because "to Unless the grain of wheat falling into the earth, not die, it abideth alone: but if it dies it bears much fruit "(John 12:24).
4.2.4.3 Faith is the link between the sinner and Christ

Faith is the link between the sinner and Christ, as the touch was the link between those who were healed and Christ in the days of his life here. Ensure that "whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:15, 16). This will be immediately understood if one considers the parallel place here before the Lord Nicodemus. He compares his own "students," the serpent raised by Moses in the wilderness (Num. 21:6-9). Snakes were biting the children of Israel and made them die, it was the snake that they were invited to look to live. Sin was the cause of our death. "Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so on." (Rom. 5:12). Similarly, it is He who was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), we are called to believe to have life.
So this is the crucial point to grasp, namely the relationship between the act of looking at the snake and faith. We read: "And Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, and it happened that when a snake had bitten a man, and he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived" (Num. . 21:9). Note first that it was bitten Israelite looked, and, secondly, he looked out of obedience of faith, believing God's word. This is exactly how high of Christ. Whoever takes the position of a sinner, recognizing that it is "bitten" irretrievably lost by sin, if he looks at Christ in the obedience of faith, shall not perish but have eternal life. We thus see, as in the Passover, it is sinful for absolutely no work to do. He simply believing the testimony God has given His Son, namely, that God has settled the account of sin in Christ's death and that when he proclaims the life for all who believe. Once the sinner has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is born again, he has eternal life.

4.2.5 This led to place the new birth.

The gospel is preached, the Word of God says to a guilty race, that "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son (engaged in death), that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life "(John 3:16). The Holy Spirit is God's message of grace and power. He enters the hearts of sinners and believe they are quickened, they are born again, they have eternal life (John 3:16).
Dear Reader, are you born again? With this speech before the penetrating eyes, you can easily answer this question. If you are, your whole soul break out in thanksgiving to God for the gift of His only Son! If you're not, let me warn you again that it is not about what you can be a good son or good daughter, wife or affectionate devoted husband, good father and loving mother. If you are born again, you are outside the kingdom of God, destroyed, lost without hope. Will you be satisfied with such a condition? What would have happened if the Israelites were bitten refused to look at the bronze serpent, saying: "We can perhaps heal us? They died in their anguish and their sin. Similarly, if you refuse to believe in Christ, to believe in Him, there is no other remedy, and instead of eternal life, you will perish forever. But if you submit to this necessity of being born again, recognizing your true condition before God, and looking to Christ in simple faith, you immediately pass from death to life.

5 Chapter 5 - Peace with God - Justification

"Therefore being justified on the principle of faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). This is the conclusion which the apostle arrived, having found the conditions under which God can meet the justified sinner by grace and whoever believes in Jesus. The principle contained CETT