God establishes
His covenant with Noah here. Notice that He didn't require Noah to do anything
to earn this covenant. True, God required him to build an ark, but that was
just an act of faith to show that Noah believed God. It is the same as later
when Abraham believed God and God counted it to him for righteousness.(Gen.
15:6, Rom. 4:3) Our righteousness doesn't matter when it comes to God's perfect
righteousness. Isaiah 64:6 says all our righteousness is as filthy rags next to
God's.
God understands
this, and is merciful. He doesn't require us to do anything but act in faith by
trusting Him and what He can do for us. For Noah, He saved him from the flood,
along with his family and a male and female of every creature, so he could
start the earth anew. For us, He saves us from the sting of death and hell. For
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so that death passed unto
all men, for that all have sinned.(Romans 5:12). However, while the wages of sin is death, the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.(Romans 6:23.)
So how do we
get the same type of Covenant as Noah had, being saved from that horrible fate?
Ephesians 2:8-9 says “by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works; lest any man should boast.” We
are not saved by any works that we do, because that would lead to boasting and
believing we are better than others. God resists the proud, though, and gives
grace to the humble.(James 4:6) We can't trust in anything we can do. It is
only by trusting in what Jesus Christ did for us that we are saved.
Each person,
then, is only a single, sincere prayr of repentence to Jesus Christ aay from
eternal life; life which begins at the moment one trusts Him, because He comes
to live in that believer’s heart through the Holy Spirit. God loved us so much,
He knew we could not save ourselves and so He made a way for each person to be
saved by faith. Each person must make their own decision to trust Jesus Christ
by calling on Him to save them from their sins, and to make them new on the
inside, so He can live in them through the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
“If anyone is in Christ he is a new creature: Old things are passed away behold
all things are become new.”
Another good way to explain it is, it's as easy as ABC - Admit you're a sinner, Believe that Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take the punishment for your sins and rose from the dead, and Call on Jesus to forgive you and save you, Choosing to turn from your sins and invite Him into your heart to make you new inside.
Another good way to explain it is, it's as easy as ABC - Admit you're a sinner, Believe that Jesus Christ, God in flesh, died to take the punishment for your sins and rose from the dead, and Call on Jesus to forgive you and save you, Choosing to turn from your sins and invite Him into your heart to make you new inside.
This is the Gospel,
it is so easy a child can understand and yet has so much depth that a person
can take a lifetime and not learn everything. If any readers want, they can go
to Godlife.com and learn more, even asking questions of volunteers there. They
can read blogs like takethespirituallead.gblogspot.com and learn how to be a
leader in their community and share the gospel if they don't have a loving,
gospel preaching church. It is especially geared toward young people, though it
will help anyone.
