By: Steven Hotze, M.D
Today we commemorate Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death to pay for the penalty of our sins. This Sunday we celebrate Christ’s resurrection from the dead.
The following Bible verses give an overview of God’s plan of salvation. As we remember Jesus’ death on Good Friday, these passages will keep us somber. Read them carefully and let God bring them alive in your soul and spirit.
Old Testament Prophesy of Jesus Christ’s Sacrificial Death
Isaiah 53
1) “Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
2)For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3) He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4) Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5)But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6)All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7)He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8)He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9) And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10) Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11)He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12)Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
Jesus Paid It All
Romans 3:23-26
23) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24) yet we can be justified as a gift by His grace through faith in the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,
25) whom God displayed publicly as a sacrifice for our sins in His blood on Calvary’s cross.
This was to demonstrate God’s righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins that we previously committed go unpunished;
26) for the demonstration, that is, of God’s righteousness at the present time, so that God would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Salvation in Christ Jesus is God’s Free Gift
Romans 6:23
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What must I do to be saved?
Acts 16:29-31
“And the jailer asked for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas; 30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
The Sinner’s Prayer
If you would like to place your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, Lord and King, then consider praying the following prayer.
God knows your heart and is not so much concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:
“Lord Jesus, I want to know You personally. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior, Lord and King. Thank You for forgiving me of my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”
Saved by faith in Jesus Christ’s death for our sins and His Resurrection
Ephesians 2:8-10
8) “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
How then should we live?
Galatians 2:20
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Romans 6:1-7
1)“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2) Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
3) Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4) Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.
5) For if we have become united with Christ in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6) knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Christ, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7) for the one who has died is freed from sin.”
If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, Lord and King, and would like help to grow in your Christian life, then please contact me by email at [email protected]
Have a most blessed Resurrection Sunday!
Committed to your success, I remain, as always,
Sincerely yours,
Steven F. Hotze, M.D.