What Did Jesus Actually Die For?

What Jesus Really Brought to Us- What He Died For

A Closer look at Jesus and His salvation

If you ask most people why Jesus Had to die what would be their answer? I have asked this question on a website and will use the answers here so we can compare them to what scripture says.

Which answer would you give?

But before we start on this we need to take another journey.

I have come to see the tremendous need of understanding this following scripture, especially the last 6 words.

It has become foremost in my serving the disciples of Christ and those that will be His disciples.

I grieve over the fact that few professing to be followers of Christ seem to pay attention as to which gate they have passed through and which path they tread. They have heard and follow the false doctrine of men that the sugar daddy god will wink at your missteps because he knows your heart. Yes He knows your heart and has warned you in His word about it as well. He says your heart is desperately wicked and who can know it. He also tells us in His word that He will judge us by our FRUIT and not by what your heart tells you. So, who will you believe the word of the living God or the word of mortal men. Men that bring you to “their ministry” in “their church “ to help build “their kingdom” and “their programs”? Or the Holy Spirit that will lead you through Jesus into the Kingdom of God and all truth if you will allow Him to override your personal self serving spirit? That deceitful heart that wants to lead you in a self gratifying direction.

Matt 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Let's look at these two verses of scripture that are SO VERY IMPORTANT and see what they can tell us.

The first thing, we are commanded to enter by the narrow Gate.

Then we are told about a different gate, one that is wide, easy to find and easy to walk through, the gate for lazy people, those like the foolish virgins that did not consider properly preparing for the night ahead. Those that care more about their immediate satisfaction without a thought for the long term. Those that do not believe that God requires anything from them as long as they believe Jesus is His Son, and they don't even believe that, they believe Jesus is just another name for God. That sugar daddy god that loves everybody just as thy are no matter what they do.. Then it goes on to explain more about where that wide carefree gate leads. It takes you to a wide, comfortable path, no discomfort here just easy walking with no worries about avoiding brambles or hidden dangerous drop off or wild animals waiting to hurt you, and much company so you don't get lonesome. In other words a wonderful pleasant now experience. But then we come to the end and what a surprise is waiting there. This has all been a horrible illusion planted by satan and his henchmen and designed to lead us away from the truths and trials and tribulations that Jesus promised we would have to endure. Oh, yes , but no one told you about them? You did not find time to study the scriptures for yourself, you just paid the preacher to do that for you and accepted that he would show you the truth? But now it is TOO LATE. If only you had read the scriptures yourself, you would have read that ALL truth is only available from the Holy Spirit, that He is the one God sent to teach you the truths of the kingdom of God. You believed when you were told you need a man to teach you what the scriptures say. You believed as you were told that God looks at the heart and what really matters is that your heart is right. If you had studied for yourself you would have seen that God said your heart was desperately wicked and that you are not to trust it, and that God will judge you by the fruit you produce. And NOW that it too late, you have arrived at the end of the path, you find a great white throne with God sitting on it at at His right side is His Son Jesus, you know, the one you were told was just another name for God. No!it can't be , God is asking His Son if your name is in His Book, and He is saying No , that He never knew you. Oh what a mistake this must be, look I supported my “pastor”, I gave my time to do as he asked, I gave him money to take care of the poor. I always told people I am a Christian. Then you hear God say, “cast him into the lake of fire to be destroyed, his name is not in the lamb's book of life, we do not know him.

And then there is the gate we were commanded to enter.

It is very narrow, it is hard to find, it is hidden by trials and tribulations that Jesus told us we will face if we carry His name, it is not pretty and fancy and easy to find , it takes a lot of searching to locate . We must search the scriptures to find where and how we can enter it. Unlike the wide gate there is not a line of people on it in fact it looks unused, like it might not even be safe to enter it. But we were commanded to use it by the word of God, so we must trust it and walk on it to reach the destination Jesus promised to us. We must study the scriptures and follow them, we must take all the steps that are the process of being saved in order to arrive at the correct destination When we start reading and understanding the scriptures we find that we must first repent of our sins so God can forgive us for our sins, then we must be born again and then we must be baptized in water, Then we must ask to have the Holy Spirit fill us and teach us all truth because only He, as the very essence of God knows all things and when we are filled with His Spirit and are led by Him instead of our own carnal spirit or by any other fleshly means. We then have within us the ability to call on Him to learn all truth. Now that we have access to all truth we start seeing some things we could not see before. We see that now we are understanding how to find the narrow gate , we see that it is not going to be lonely because Jesus is going to go there with us. WE see that these trials and tribulations are blessings in disguise because they prove our sincerity and love for the one who paid with HIS OWN LIFE to give eternal life SO WE CAN LIVE forever with Him and His father and all the other children of God.. in their perfect place called eternity . So as we cross through the narrow gate and enter the narrow way, safe in the knowledge that Jesus is with us. We find brambles in the path and in some places the path is along the top of a deep ravine that we must be careful not to fall into. We see various other dangerous and difficult things along the way but they do not bother us because we know Jesus is with us and the Holy Spirit is showing us the dangers we must avoid. We know are safe in the knowledge that we have the truth and are walking in the right path to reach the destination promised to us by Jesus, as long as we allow the Spirit to lead, if we endure to the end. And sure enough we come to the end of the path and there sitting on a great white throne is God and at His right hand we see His Son Jesus and in front of them is the Lamb's book of Life, open with many names on the page, then we hear “welcome good and faithful son, enter into our eternity for you have inherited the earth.”

Now back to the subject at hand – What did Jesus really die for?

Here are the answers given to the question by those professing to be Christians

and also what the majority of men professing to be “of Christ” say.

Most people and the preachers, the hirelings of the church system of men will tell you He died for our sins.

This question is posed to cause you to look for yourself at what scripture says about ALL THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION PERTAINING TO SALVATION.

Here is what scripture says that Jesus died for

John 10:7-10 Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Scripture is clear, in the words of Jesus Himself it states that He came , died and was resurrected to BRING US LIFE AND HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTY. ETERNAL LIFE. The eternal life that was lost to us in the Garden by Adam's disobedience to God.

He DID NOT , as most think and teach , come to pay for our sins, He came to Die, defeat death and cleanse us from the residue of our sins, making it possible by His resurrection, for us to obtain the high prize-- our salvation which is really ETERNAL LIFE. He did not come to save us from anything He came to bring us the greatest gift ever given to man, ETERNAL LIFE.

Let us now look at how our sins are forgiven and how the blood of Christ relates to forgiveness and cleansing.

Matt 6:14-15 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Mark 11:25-26 "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

1 John 1:6-10 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

John 3:14-17 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Here we must stop and look at the word translated in most bibles as “believe”. Remember this is not a modern word that is translated it is from the ancient scripture by modern men, using a modern dictionary and the meaning of the word has changed over the years, so we must look at the original meaning of the word, at the time the scripture was written..

NT:4100 pisteuo (pist-yoo'-o); from NT:4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), i.e. credit; by implication, to entrust (especially one's spiritual well-being to Christ):

Notice it means to entrust YOUR Spiritual well being to Christ. It does not mean you believe He is the son of God, which most people do not even believe, it means you become FULLY dependent on Him for your Spiritual well being, for your eventual salvation if you follow Him and ALL He requires of you.

I have included the first two scriptures above to enforce the importance of forgiveness. They show us that forgiveness comes from man and from God, ultimately it is from God. So this establishes that forgiveness is from God and if we study further we find that forgiveness of sin comes after admission and repentance.

The scripture from John 1 shows that once forgiveness is given then the blood of Christ (remission= removal of the sin stain, requires blood) and Jesus' blood accomplishes the removal. Cleansing from us our unrighteousness, making us clean before God. Jesus death and resurrection have no part in forgiveness of our sins, but His blood cleanses us from ALL unrighteousness, AFTER WE HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN BY GOD. You cannot be cleansed of unforgiven sin. Jesus came not to give forgiveness of our sins but to cleanse us of all forgiven unrighteousness (sin) as necessary, for Him to bring us ETERNAL LIFE.

Another Important and related subject to look at

The vast majority of those professing to be Christians seem to be unable to answer in their own words what salvation is and how to achieve it. If you profess to be a follower of Christ you should be able to explain in detail how to be a follower of Christ. What it means and each step in the process-- yes it is a process. If you can not do this how can you possibly fulfill the following scriptural requirement given to ALL DISCIPLES OF CHRIST?

Matt 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

And how can you possibly fulfill this requirement? Or know the truth and be free?

John 8:31-32 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

And how can these requirements follow you if you do not understand them, know how to use them or expect them to follow you?

Mark 16:15-18 "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Remember all the commands and examples of Jesus are to each individual that is or will be His disciples. These command etc are not given to a preacher or a “church” they are given to EACH INDIVIDUAL DISCIPLE OF CHRIST and He expects each of us to DO them.

Charles LaFoe

11/1/2017