“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).  One of the great themes of the Bible is God’s loving mercy toward sinful man.  As the Apostle Peter noted, if it were not for God’s mercy we would have no hope in this life.  Notice some of the great statements about God’s mercy found in the Bible.

The Bible clearly teaches that the Devil is a serious adversary who desires to devour our soul.  The Apostle Peter said, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).  While the devil is a fearful foe, the good news is we can and must defeat the Devil.  Here are three ways we can defeat Satan.

“Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you’" (Acts 24:25).     His mind was made up.  Paul was going to Rome to appeal to Caesar.  Yet, along the way Paul had a once in a lifetime opportunity to speak to such wicked men as Agrippa and Felix.  If you could speak to some of the world’s most powerful leaders today about the gospel, what would you say?  Let us consider Paul’s three major points to Felix.

The Holy Spirit says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins” (Heb. 9:22).  The Old Testament Levitical system was a very bloody system (Lev. 1-5).  For every sin of every kind there was a blood sacrifice to be offered (Lev. 4:1-12).  Yet the Scripture records that the blood of all those bulls and goats could never really take away sin (Heb. 10:3-4).  How thankful we should be that Jesus was willing to shed His blood once for all for sin so that the sin problem would have a permanent solution (Heb. 10:12).  Notice just how important the blood of Christ is to our salvation.

The most important question ever asked is “What must I do to be saved?”  (Acts 16:30, 2:37).  Everyone who believes in God must ask this question at one time in his or her life.  Truly, no other source is better able to answer this question than the word of God, for it is able to save and sanctify the souls of men (James 1:21; Jn. 17:17, 8:32).  Therefore, what does the Bible teach one must do to be saved?