You Must be Born Again by Sam O. Oluwafemi - HTML preview

Chapter 4

The Mystery of Believing in Jesus Christ

 I call this “escape from punishment”. I termed this escape from punishment because there is always punishment for all the wrongs we do in life. According to the saying “what a man sow he will reap”. Believing in Jesus with total repentance makes you escape reaping the fruits of your wrong doings, deliver you from the wrong doings of your father and mother including the sin of Adam.

According as it is written; the wages of sin is death and all have sinned in Adam and in their personal walk in life, no man is exempted, this brings every human under condemnation.

A man may be able to live a life that is free of sin according to his understanding but he is not accounted as a righteous man by God if the trace of the sin of Adam is still in him. What many don’t see as sinful is what God count as sin, this makes it difficult for anyone to justify him/her before God, therefore the saying is fulfilled “all have sinned”.

For instance: - A man that is a thief and a robber; we all know that this kind of person is under condemnation of man and God. Curses has been laid on him by the people he has stolen from and injured, because God is a righteous judge, this man is condemned already. He is due to reap the evil reward of his deeds and also his children shall also suffer it. If this man repents today whole heartedly, believe in Jesus Christ, all the sins that have been laid on his account will be totally removed. This is not forgiveness of sin but remission of sin which is the total removal of all sin laid on the man for the evil things he had done making this sinner man stand in the presence of God as a righteous man as though he has never stolen or robbed before, that is why we call it “GOOD NEWS”. This is exactly what the Bible is saying in Acts 10 v 43.

To him give all the prophets witness that through his name WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHALL RECEIVE REMISSION OF SINS.

God does not forgive a sinner that comes to surrender his life to Jesus Christ but offer him remission of sin. Forgiveness of sin is for someone that already belongs to the family of God who committed a sinful act. Remission is once, forgiveness is continuous, also in forgiveness of sin, references can be made to what the person had done before that has been forgiven but in remission of sins, there is no record or references, no trace at all.

Note: If anyone is committing evil purposely with the hope of accepting Christ someday to escape the reward of his sins, such a one deceives him / herself, God will not count it unto him as ignorance or lack of knowledge. If it is not counted unto him as ignorance or lack of knowledge then the grace to receive salvation will be far from such. Salvation comes to people by grace; the grace of salvation is bestowed when someone committing sins is counted as such a one that knows not what he / she is doing. It’s also the same with forgiveness of sins, the fact that you already belong to God does not give you the right to continue in sin and expect forgiveness all the time, don’t be deceived, God is not mocked.

 Who Did Jesus Came To Die For?

Jesus Christ is not for special people called Christians alone, Christian is a name given to those who believe in Jesus Christ and act like Him. Jesus Christ came to die for the sin of the whole world.

John 1 v 29

The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, WHICH TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.

Jesus Christ came to die for the sin of every living soul that exists today whose linage can be directly traced to Adam, to reconcile us to God the father, to save that which is lost, to give us the God kind of life, to make us the seed of Abraham and to save us from the condemnation that is to come. Jesus Christ is not for those that live a wayward life alone, is not for the poor alone, He is not for the sick alone, He is not for the barren woman alone etc, he is for everybody, every tribe, every tongue and every nation under heaven. For His death to be effective in your life, you must believe in Him, the fact that He died for everyone does not make it automatically effective on every living soul, you have to believe in Him and confess him as Lord of your life before His sacrifice can be effective in your life. This is so because we all have ‘will’ and that ‘will’ cannot be override by any supreme law without our consent.

Believing in Jesus is a means of reconciling you to God your creator whom you are separated from because of sin (Adam and yours) so that you can escape spending your eternity with Lucifer and his demons in hell and then lake of fire afterward. This has nothing to do with religion or tradition, it is an individual reconnection to his God, if you are not reconnected to your God, it means you have chosen to stay connected with devil in bondage.

When you believe in Jesus, you are not doing God any favour, you have only done your soul the biggest favour in the whole world. You have more to benefit, Jesus has absolutely nothing to take from you, He is inviting you to come and inherit a blessing, to wash your sins away, restore your wasted years, give to you the Abrahamic blessing, to make a terrible person like you a righteous person, to give you the Holy Spirit and make you a citizen of Heaven which you can never achieve by any other means.

“Stop going up and down for help, you don’t need them, you need Jesus Christ, if you have him, you have all”.

“Jesus came to recover that which was lost, that includes you and the Holy Ghost will help you to walk in dominion”.

“In him alone you can have peace”.

“There are too many troubles in the world, come to Jesus and be free”.

“Only Jesus can save you from condemnation on the last day”.

“It is never too late while you have your breath”

“Don’t worry about what you have done in the past”.

People who have done terrible things in the past he love to show His great mercy to more. Because to him who’s many sins are forgiven, shall thank Him more.

Let me show you what the last day will be like;

Revelation 20 v 11 - 15

And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were JUDGED EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

AND WHOSOEVER WAS NOT FOUND WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE.

If you believe in Jesus Christ, the Bible declares you are justified from all things;

Acts 13 v 39

And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses.

And Romans 8 v 1 declares;

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The word that is translated “no condemnation” also means “no judgment”. You will not be among those that will be judged that day but among those that will be rewarded according to their works.

Revelation 22 v 12

And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

If you believe in Jesus Christ whole heartedly you will not be among those that will be judged according to the works of their hands but you will be among those that will stand before the Lord to be reward for the things you did in the name of the Lord.

We all know that no man can be justified and be blameless before God in judgment according to the works of his hands.

Romans 3 v 20

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

To escape this fierce judgment, your sins must be purged with blood, not by good works or religious believes.

Leviticus 17 v 11

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

Hebrews 9 v 22

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; AND WITHOUT SHEDDING OF BLOOD IS NO REMISSION.

God has made the precious of His Son Jesus Christ to clean us from all sins;

1John 1 v 7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

So when we say come to Jesus to be washed by His blood for the atonement of your sins, we are trying to help you receive the righteousness which is of God so that you’ll escape the Judgment that will be passed on those that are to answer for themselves according to their own righteousness, and we know, scarcely shall any man be be justified that day, anyone whose life does not meet the demands of God to be righteous will be cast into the lake of fire which is worse than hell.

Remember those that will stand that day are those that are already in a waiting place in hell not in heaven.

Revelation 20 v 13

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were JUDGED EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS.

Those that believe in Jesus are not there; they are already written in the book of life and are with Him. Being in Hell after you die till that Day of Judgment is a terrible experience and if you don’t pass you will be thrown into Lake of fire which is worse that hell itself. And what is the assurance that you will escape lake of fire that day?

The book of life here is actually called the “LAMB’S BOOK” Revelation 21 v 27. And Jesus is the Lamb of God. If it is His book, then he must have been the one that wrote the names of the people that believed in Him. God has given to Jesus All Authority. You can’t just say you are okay with God so you don’t need Jesus. No no no! Jesus will actually be the one that will be dealing with you that day. Is it not better you get acquainted with Him now? Save yourself from the destruction that awaits disobedient people who rejects Jesus Christ. You may be rich or okay the way your life is but you sure need Jesus for the saving of your soul.

I understand that there are religions that claim to relate with God but hate His son. I don’t know how this is going to work out. How can you say you love a man and yet hate his son? You are working in a company, the owner gave birth to a son, you deny it’s not his son even though the man has said this is my son. You are also told that the company now answer to the son and everyone in the company is under the son, you say as far as you are concern, you know the father and not the son. Are you sure you are ready to work in that company? That is how it is when people say God has no son and so they don’t regard Jesus as the son of God even though God has openly declared Him heir of all things. If you reject the Son of God, you have rejected God! Therefore be ready for a fierce judgment from the Son.

These things have been written many many years ago before our fore fathers were born. We either believe them or reject them; trying to interpret them to suit our purpose is a waste of time.

It doesn’t matter how long you have been going to Church, the number of years you have been attending church services will not save you, it doesn’t matter how good you may think you are, good deeds or charity cannot deliver you from Hell and lake of fire, there is no other means by which you can be saved except by total repentance of past sins, accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour, baptized in water and in the Holy Ghost, and continuously prevent yourself from committing sins and atrocities on purpose and hold on to your salvation till the end of your life time, this is the only means God has provided for us all to escape condemnation to Hell and lake of fire. If you reject Jesus, you are on your own!

Now that you know why you need Jesus Christ, let’s find out how to receive him into our lives.

Accepting the Lord Jesus Christ

When do you want to surrender your life to Jesus Christ and say bye bye to sin finally? I mean when do you want to stop doing everything and anything you know is not right according to God’s given understanding? Sometimes making decisions can be very difficult especially when it is a decision that is for a life time. You need to make up your mind, no play, no jokes.

Some people really want to surrender their lives to Jesus but are not willing to stop the terrible things they do even though they know it’s a sin. Some want to continue because that is their source of living while some want to continue because of the pleasure they derive from it. Either ways, it makes no difference; there is nothing in this world that is more precious than the saving of your soul. Let it go and live a peaceful life with God.

I was preaching one morning, a woman came to me with sobbing heart, she was so broken and trouble by the message I was preaching. Right in the middle of preaching she interrupted me and asked me if the world is really coming to an end soon, I told her the last days has signs but the death that comes to take our lives does not pre-inform us that we are going to die. She asked what must I do to be save, I told her to believe in Jesus Christ and turn away from every sinful life, she turned her head down immediately and said “I have tried several times to stop living a wayward life but my friends are my problem, every time I make up my mind to stop drinking, smoking and clubbing so as to be serious with my walk with God, they make jest of me and after a while I join them again, what do I do?” I said well, you will have to choose between your friends and Jesus Christ that is able to save your soul, I don’t need to pray for you, go and make your decision. If you have similar case, you need to make up your mind whom to follow.

Let me tell you something you need to know; we all have three important phases of our lives:

• The Past: Our past is always something almost all of us regret all the time because it’s full of messes, so many wrongs that we wish never happened. Sometimes some people say that they don’t need Jesus that they just need to stop doing bad things and start living right. Well what are you going to do about the sins of your past? This is another reason Jesus Christ is very important for us to let into our lives. Only Jesus Christ can take care of your past life for it not to affect your present life and your future. Making a decision to live a righteous life when we have terrible past is often difficult but I want to use this opportunity to tell you not to let what you have done wrong in the past stop you from making a decision that has positive impact in your present and future. Just for the record, you cannot do anything about your past. God has not given to any man the power to amend his past life. If you will let Jesus into your life He has power over your past, Him alone can do something about your past especially when you have done terrible things in the past that are already hunting you. Leave your past and its sins for Jesus Christ.
• The Future: The future is a mystery to us all. Sometimes we make plans that fall in places sometimes things don’t go the way we expected them to be. Irrespective of our probabilities of the future, one thing is certain, we follow the day as we see it most of the time not knowing exactly what the day will bring or what will happen, we only hope for the best. We have little or no power over the future. This present hour is what we have to structure our future.
• The Present: God has given to every one of us the power of ‘Present’. That is, we have power over ‘right now’. We cannot make any decision over the past but we can surely make a decision over ‘now’. You can decide what you want now. You can decide to accept Jesus Christ with whole hearted repentance or decide to move it to tomorrow which you don’t know what will happen tomorrow because God has not given power over tomorrow to know and control all that will happen; Make good use of now. Make your decision now. Nobody is forcing you; nobody is lying to deceive you. Let it be something you really want to do and don’t postpone it because you don’t know what will happen tomorrow.

God knows that we don’t have power over tomorrow that is why he says;

Psalms 95 v 7 -8

For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. TO DAY IF YE WILL HEAR HIS VOICE,

HARDEN NOT YOUR HEART, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

Harden not your heart in unbelief, open up your heart unto the Lord and receive Him with singleness of heart and gratitude coupled with total repentance from any form of evil way.

I believe you want to give your heart to the Lord and make Him the Lord of your life, saving your soul from the condemnation that is to come and have your name written in the book of life which is the book of the Lamb. If this is your decision, I want to lead you into salvation, say this prayer with me;

If you cannot memorize it, open your eyes with your left hand on your chest and your right hand lifted up as you pray it with all earnestness and total conviction.

“Dear heavenly father, I have come home into your ever opening arms, I believe you sent your first begotten son Jesus Christ to die for my sin and free me from the bondage of sin that Adam brought upon me and the sins that I have committed, I believe you raised him from the dead for my justification. Dear Lord Jesus, today I give my heart, my soul and all that I have to you and I repent from all the sins I have committed and I promise not to return to any evil, I will live this holy life that you have given me with all my strength, might and power. Thank you for washing all my sins away and cleaning me from all things that pertained to the devil. Come and take your place in me, from this day henceforth, you are the Lord of my life, I belong to you, I belong to the kingdom of God, thank you father for accepting me as your child.

I am free. Halleluiah ………….

It is done!

Father I thank you for the gift of salvation, it is your desire that all men come to the knowledge of your Son for the saving of their souls. Thank you for sending your Son to bring salvation to us all.

I pray that God will help you stand on this holy mountain you have come to firmly and stable and increase you from one level of glory to another, May the Spirit of God guide you and help your steps to walk in the path of righteousness. This day, you are separated unto God and nothing shall pluck you from His hands in Jesus name, amen.

Welcome home brother

Welcome home sister

Welcome home daddy

Welcome home mummy

I perceive a sigh of relief. It feels good to be home.

This is what T.L Osborn calls “The greatest miracle on earth”.

“This I call the first step of faith”

I see the Lord Jesus standing up from his throne to welcome you as the Angels sing at your both sides.

You just can’t understand it. This is called LOVE

Thank youLORD JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank youLORD JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank youLORD JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am saved.

Now you are saved, your name has been written in the Book of Life. You belong to the mighty God now. God bless you for making that decision.

In John 3 vs 18

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

If you have given your life to Christ before and you happen to fall back, you don’t need to re-confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ, you need rededication and that also requires decision. You need to make up your mind not to go back to sin anymore, you cannot continue backsliding all the time, if it continues, the saving grace will depart from you, once the saving grace depart from you, you will no longer be able to see the need to rededicate your life to Christ and that means you have lost it forever. You never can tell if this is your last opportunity. Finding an opportunity to rededicate life to Christ is not as easy as finding grace to be saved the first time. If you want to rededicate your life to Christ, I can help you right now but you must make up your mind to stop toying with sin. Is your mind made up? If yes then let us graft you in.

Close your eyes, lift both hand toward heaven and begin to talk to your God and your Saviour Jesus Christ, repent from every ungodly act. If you are sincere enough, in the space of five minutes, you will experience an embracing peaceful atmosphere; don’t stop until you experience a deep relief in your heart. Once you receive that note of victory, begin to thank Him for His love for you.

Father I thank you for this moment of rededication, your lost one has return, let his cold spirit, soul and body feel your warmth embrace I pray in Jesus name. Amen

Congratulations my brother / Sister, you have just successfully completed the first stage of salvation. You are saved. It is written whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and you have just done that by making Him the Lord of your life.

Romans 10 v 13

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Note: The easiest way for the Devil to draw you back is through your friends and the company you keep. Walk with fellow Christians and people that can help you know more about God if you don’t want to fall back into sin. Buy a Bible and start attending a Church; Sundays and weekly services. Don’t miss any prayer meeting even if it is house fellowship, the power of the Holy Spirit is more effective in those small small meetings than the fully packed Sunday service.

Some Special Benefits of Salvation

1. Remission of Sins: Remission of sin is the total removal of sin and its effect from your account. This means that all the sins you have committed including the effect of disobedience of Adam has been removed from you. As far as God is concerned, you are a righteous person that has never committed any sin. Your life with God begins now. Romans 3 v 25.
2. Restoration of Your Wasted Years: One of the benefits of being reconciled with God is that all the things you lost while you were living in sin, that is, those things you could have had but did not have them because of the effect of sin, God will restore to you. These include; opportunities, blessings, favour etc - Joel 2 v 25.
3. Partaker of the Abrahamic Blessing:- Those that are in Christ are counted as Abraham seed. Now that you have come to Jesus Christ and have become one of His own, you have been made a child of Papa Abraham and that means the blessing God gave to Papa Abraham that is making the Children of Israel to prosper everywhere they go will also make you prosper everywhere you go and increase whatever you do. Galatians 3 v 29.
4. Partakers of Prophecies of blessing: - Do you remember how I said earlier that the law was given to the children of Israel alone and everything God said back then was strictly for the Children of Israel? Good, believing in Jesus Christ makes you have access to all the prophecies of blessing that the God gave to the children of Israel. All of their blessings and none of their curses. Praise God forever more. You can lay claim on any prophetic blessing in the Old Testament and receive what it talks about. Isaiah 65 v 1
5. Faith: When you believe in Jesus Christ, the seed of faith is deposited in you. This God kind of faith is what you use to relate with God, it will now become possible for you to live by faith and believe God by faith. Romans 12 v 3.
6. Forgiveness of sin: Forgiveness of sin is more like water to wash. God knows where you are coming from, He knows your past and He is aware that you cannot just come out of all the wrong things you used to do over night and sometimes you may find yourself doing some of your old habit even though you don’t really want to do them again. So God has already made forgiveness available for you in Christ Jesus so that if you mistakenly commit any sin, you can obtain forgiveness for it but this does not mean you should continue doing those things you know are sinful. If you continue doing those things you used to do without fighting yourself continually to stop them, it means you have return to your vomit and that is not good for you. No one may be seeing you but know that you are a child of God and God watches over His children all the time. Ephesians 1 v 7.

This first stage is the most important aspect of salvation but it’s not complete. You are at the cross now nailed with Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. The problem of sin was dealt with on the cross of Calvary. Jesus Christ did not remain on the Cross, don’t remain on the Cross. Many Christians that stopped here have their lives messed up, many backslide and many have up and down Christian life. I don’t want you to stop here, your sins are only remitted and forgiven here, you don’t have power to live above Satan and all his demons yet. I don’t want Satan to continue tormenting your life; even though you have given your life to Christ Satan can still torment you if you don’t have the power of God. For you to have the power of God to live the Christian life there are some things you must do and there is someone you have.

Some people want to give their lives to Christ but they don’t want to go to any church, well you can give your life to Christ at home and serve God at home but there are some things you cannot learn by yourself and do for yourself. After giving your life to Jesus Christ, you must buy a Bible and look for a Church to attend for the completion of your salvation process.

Let us now see what is remaining.