Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: So, it's really of importance this morning to understand the text that we have before us. If you're not saved by Jesus Christ, period, you will perish. I don't care who you are. Mary cannot save you. The church cannot save you. Krishna cannot save you. Buddha cannot save you. Mohammed cannot save you. No one can save you, only one person: Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Thanks for being here today for a new Easter series celebrating the power and love that propelled Jesus to a cross.

Raul will begin with a foundational word about the universal need for salvation. All of us have sinned and are separated from God, but through the Lord Jesus, He gives us a way back into relationship. Stay with us to think about the world-changing work that Jesus accomplished on the cross. Here's Raul Ries in Matthew chapter 18, beginning in verse 11 with the lesson "The Importance of Salvation."

Raul Ries: If you have your Bibles, turn to the book of Matthew, chapter 18. Matthew 18. We've been coming now following the Lord as He's going up to Jerusalem. And in a way, He's kind of opening Himself up a little more to the disciples in sharing with them what His purpose is to go to Jerusalem, and that is to give His life for the sins of the world.

And what's interesting now is that we're going to take verse 11 this morning. Let's read it and see what it says there in verse 11. He says, and verse 10 He starts out by saying this: "Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost." Let me stop there for a second.

Notice in the text what He's saying here, that He's coming and the purpose of His coming is for His coming for those that are to be saved, those that have been lost. Now notice that He's been talking, Jesus, to the disciples about the little ones. We've been talking about salvation. Now it's really important that we understand that salvation, first of all, is the free gift of God given to anyone that is seeking through the Holy Spirit's anointing to become converted and to become a Christian.

Not joining the church. Not joining the Nazarene Church, Methodist Church, Calvary Chapel, Baptist Church, Pentecostal churches. It doesn't really matter what church you join because there are a lot of churches that teach that true membership is by signing a piece of paper and then becoming a member of that church.

To become a member of the true body of Jesus Christ, whether Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, or Calvary Chapel, the Bible says you have to be born again of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you can't belong to the church.

When I became 24 years of age in 1972, April 15th, when the Holy Spirit came into my own living room and convicted me, when I was going to kill my wife and my kids and shoot it out with the police, watching television, watching the Jesus People Movement, Pastor Chuck Smith on Channel 13 with Kathryn Kuhlman, the Holy Spirit through His teaching of the word of God through John chapter 3, verse 16, convicted me and brought me to my knees in true conversion.

It's not by attending a church that a person becomes a Christian. You can become a Christian anywhere. It's you calling out upon Jesus Christ to become your Lord and your Savior. It's not about becoming religious. There's a lot of religious people in this world that are on their way to hell.

And hell is a very genuine, real place where there are millions and billions of people already waiting judgment to be cast into the lake of fire. With death and hell, the Antichrist, the false prophet, every demon will be cast into the lake of fire with every person whose name is not found written in the Book of Life. Very important.

The only way to get your name written in the Book of Life is for you to humble yourself, come to repentance and confession, and asking Jesus Christ to come into your heart. And then you become born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's what happened to Nicodemus. Those are the requirements in John chapter 3. It's called regeneration, theologically. It means you've been regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God.

There has been a change, a transformation. Paul the Apostle, writing to the Corinthian Church in his second letter, chapter 5:17, said, "Therefore, if any man is in Christ Jesus, all things are passed away. Behold, all things have become brand new," which means my sins have been cast away, fully and completely, forever. By the blood of Jesus Christ, He's covered them.

So it's really of importance that we understand church membership. We don't have church membership here. Many people will come and ask us, "Well, where do I get that card to become a member of the body of Christ?" and I ask, "Are you born again?" They say, "Yes." Then you're a member already of the whole body of Christ.

You don't have to join a church. Every born-again believer is the church. The church is not a building. The church is what? You are the temple of the living God. And if any man defile the temple of God, God Himself shall destroy that person. Believers become the temple of the living God. My body is the house of God where God dwells and where God lives 24/7, 365 days in the year.

That's where it's at. It's not becoming a Sunday morning Christian or a Wednesday night Christian or a Friday night Christian. It's becoming a Christian or a believer, born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, when I give my heart to Jesus Christ and He gives me a clean heart and a new heart and a new mind and a new behavior in my life, which the old things are passed away and behold everything becomes brand new. That's what born again is.

So it's really of importance this morning to understand the text that we have before us. If you're not saved by Jesus Christ, period, you will perish. I don't care who you are. Mary cannot save you. The church cannot save you. Krishna cannot save you. Buddha cannot save you. Mohammed cannot save you. No one can save you, only one person: Jesus Christ. Period.

For there is no salvation under any person except the name of Jesus Christ, period. He is the bridge builder between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Very important to understand what He's saying here. And yet many people believe that they are going to heaven because they joined a church or they practice fasting or giving money to charities.

It doesn't matter if you give money to charities. You're not going to heaven. Helping blind people across the street, doing good deeds doesn't get you to heaven. What gets you to heaven is when you repent of your sins and you humble yourself. The way up is first of all the way down, and then God lifts you up.

And it's coming to repentance and confessing my sins to the Lord and say, "I have sinned against You," and by His precious blood He cleanses me and He washes me by His blood. And then He takes His pen and He writes my name in the Book of Life.

And God is the only one that can change your hearts. He's the only one that can bring you into that place of regeneration where He can bring love to your heart and caring and loving and forgiving people.

And so it's really important what Christ is saying here. He's talking to the disciples and He says in verse 11, "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost." Are you lost here this morning? You say, "Well, what do you mean?" Are you lost? Are you unregenerated? Are you a person that has been born into this world, and Adam and Eve, our first parents, sinned against God?

So every child, male and female, that comes out of the womb, the moment you come out and take your first breath, you're a sinner to the day you die. And you've got to come to Jesus Christ. I don't care if you're a Mormon, Jehovah Witness, Krishna, I don't care who you are. The Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Everybody sinned.

And the only way is to come through Jesus Christ. He is the bridge between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, the Bible says. He is the Savior of the world, that's what the Bible teaches. In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19:10, He added one word. He said, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." That's the purpose of His coming: to save the lost.

To bring you to the light out of darkness, out of bondage, out of pain and death and torment, to bring you unto the other side where there's comfort and there's peace and there's gentleness and goodness. And the fruit of the Holy Spirit is there to work in your hearts and into your lives.

So the first observation that I made in reading the text this morning and this week is that, first of all, what is the source of salvation then? What's the source? Number one, it's God's grace to you and to me. God's grace. Unmerited favor. Everybody deserves hell, that's the bottom line. But God gives us an opportunity to be saved through the grace of God.

Paul the Apostle, speaking to the Ephesian Church, chapter 2:5-8, he says, "Even when we were dead in trespasses, He made us alive together with Christ, for by grace you have been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." It is the gift of God, salvation. It's a gift. You can't work for it. It's the gift of God when you come to repentance and you ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for biblical resources to enrich your relationship with God. You can also join Raul for Straight Talk on the Somebody Loves You Worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. West Coast time. Let's continue now with the final part of our study, "The Importance of Salvation."

Raul Ries: Number two, it is a source of salvation, it's God's love for you and for me. John 3:16 says what? "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, that whosoever believe it in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Think about that. In Romans chapter 5:8, it says, "But God demonstrated His own love towards us in that while we were yet still sinners, Christ died for us."

Christ died for you. Christ died for me. Whether you're Jew or Gentile, doesn't really matter. Buddhist or Asian or Mexican or whatever, doesn't matter. Every ethnic group came from one place: Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve, they were our parents. Same blood all the way through. God is not prejudiced. God sees the whole world as one nation.

And it's really important that we understand what the Scripture is teaching because the third thing that happens in the source of salvation is not only God's grace and God's love, but it's God's what? God's mercy to you and to me.

In Titus 3:5, regeneration, He says this: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy Jesus Christ saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." The Holy Spirit. Regeneration. Being set apart for Jesus Christ.

And then check this out: Christ alone is the source of our salvation. Acts 4:12. It says nor is there salvation in any other person, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by where we might be saved. No, by where we must be saved. Must. M-U-S-T. We must be saved through Jesus Christ. He's the only one that can save us.

And then in 1 Corinthians 1:18, the source is what? The cross alone that can save me. He says, Paul, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those people who are going to hell, that are perishing, but to us," notice, "who are being saved, it is the power of God." The power of God. It's not stupidity to us. I'm not going to hell. I'm going to heaven. Why? Because I have chosen the cross of Jesus Christ. I've asked Him to cleanse me and to wash me by His blood.

Observation number two: the blessing of salvation. What's that? Number one: important deliverance from your sin. Remember Matthew 1:21 when Jesus was going to be born? Mary became pregnant. What did it say? "And she shall bring forth a Son, you shall call His name Jesus, for He, Jesus, will save His people from their sins." He is the Savior of the world. There is no other Savior in the world. No other.

And that's why the Jewish nation of Israel will be deceived when the Antichrist comes. Why? Because they didn't receive the true Mashiach, the true Messiah, but they received the phony one, and then he will prosecute them and he will kill two-thirds of the Jewish nation, and only one-third will survive it.

And by the grace of God, God leads them over to the city of Petra, blocks them out, keeps them there for the last three and a half years of the seven-year tribulation period. Otherwise every Jew would be killed. God loves Israel and I love Israel. I love the Jew. They're God's people, and we need to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

And then we have deliverance from Satan's power when you come to Christ. In Hebrews 2:14-15, He says, "Inasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise share the same, Jesus, that through death He might destroy the devil who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear and death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."

So if it wasn't for Jesus Christ, Satan would rule this world. But Satan has been defeated when Jesus Christ went to the cross and He died on the cross. Satan's world was turned upside down. It was done. Satan is a done, done foe. He is on his way to the lake of fire. And that's why he's after so many people.

And then something else that happens: the wrath of God is passed from us. According to Romans 5:9, he says, "Much more then, having been justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, we shall be saved through the wrath through Him." He took my wrath upon Himself and His blood cleanses me and washes me from all of my sins and from eternal death.

Remember John 3:16-17? "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Jesus Christ might be saved." Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. And He also came to deliver me and you from what? From judgment.

Hebrews 9:27-28: "And it's appointed for every man to die once, but after this the judgment comes." So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. Jesus Christ left the first time, He's coming back the second time. When? At the end of seven years, He'll come back.

Before seven years, the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the real church, what's going to happen? At the rapture, we're going to be taken to heaven. The last seven years of world history, the Antichrist will be here to persecute, to prosecute, to give the number 666.

Nobody will be able to buy, to eat, to sell, to go to school, to go to church, to do anything unless you can show the identity mark in your right hand, the back of it, or your forehead. And if you don't have it, you're going to have to be beheaded.

Read your Bible. The book of Revelation, chapters 6 through 18, tells you that. It's real important you understand that. That's why the church is going to be taken down before that. Why? Because that's the true bride of Christ. There's a lot of people in the church today, they think that when the rapture comes they're going to be taken, but they're not.

Why? Because they're living carnal lives, not spiritual lives. They really truly do not believe in God's word. They don't live according to God's word. They live according to their own beliefs. And that's wrong. And that can send you to hell.

So it's really important that we understand there also, thirdly, the requirements of salvation. What are the requirements? Number one: true confession. Acts 2:21 says, "And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved." Two: true repentance.

Remember Mark 1:15 when Jesus came to John the Baptist? He said, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe by faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ." That's the key.

And number three: faith. True faith. Hebrews 11:1: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for it is the elders obtaining a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were formed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."

By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And through it, he being dead still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did never saw death. He was not found because God had taken him, and for before he was ever taken, he had this testimony: that he pleased his God.

But without faith, it is impossible to please God. For he who comes to God must believe by faith that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who are diligently seeking after Jesus Christ. Truly seeking after Jesus Christ. And then what? Regeneration.

John 3:36: "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides in him." The wrath of God abides in that person. Every person that doesn't know Christ, the wrath of God is abiding upon that person. Sad. Even people in our families.

And then finally, the Holy Scriptures. 2 Timothy 3:15-16, Paul speaking to young Timothy, he says, "And from a childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness."

In righteousness. And by the way, in conclusion, three things. Observation number four: the temporal aspects of salvation. Number one: it's past, present, and future. Okay? Past: Ephesians 2:8. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It's not by works, lest any man should boast."

Guest (Male): Whether you've walked with the Lord Jesus for many years or you're still considering a relationship with Him, we hope today's lesson has stirred your heart with assurance of His unconditional love. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's teaching was titled "The Importance of Salvation." For a donation of $5 or more, we'll be happy to send an unedited version to you. Simply call us at 800-634-9165.

We'd also like to tell you about Raul's entire series titled "Why the Cross Mattered and Still Does." Available on CD and thumb drive, this 13-lesson resource illuminates how Jesus' death and resurrection paved the way for you to enjoy a personal, eternal relationship with God. You'll find that receiving His salvation is not a one-time decision, but a daily choice as you walk in step with Him.

Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order "Why the Cross Mattered and Still Does." We'll send you this 13-part study on CD for $25 or on USB for just $16. That's 800-634-9165. You can also get this resource by writing to us at Somebody Loves You Radio, P.O. Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

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Now here's Raul once again with a closing thought from today's teaching.

Raul Ries: 1 Corinthians 1:18: "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God." Notice that. And lastly, future. Hebrews 9:28: "So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Jesus Christ, He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation."

Interesting. In the future, God is going to continue to save people even to the end of time as long as people put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, they will be delivered from hell and the lake of fire.