What  is salvation?  

    Is salvation even necessary?

        What if I’m not interested?

To many, questions like the above are not even relevant.

What Is Salvation?
The primary dictionary definition for salvation is “the preservation or saving from the punishment for sin.”  However,  to the Christian salvation goes far beyond this to the greatest state of being for now and through eternity. Christ has come and provided , through His blood, the means to replace our sins and our punishment with his righteousness.    For Christ has placed us in a much favored state.

Christians Are Blameless in God’s Sight
Romans 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Christians Are Sons of God
I John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
I John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Christians Will Spend Eternity With Jesus
I Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
I Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
I Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
I Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
I Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Is Salvation Even Necessary?
Romans points out that whether a person was a Jew, and had the Law, or a Gentile and didn’t have the Law, they would all be judged and found wanting.

Romans 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

Romans goes on to point out the lost state of all men without Christ.

Romans 3:9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Jesus also told us what the fate would be for those that ignore His salvation.

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that  believeth not shall be damned.

Salvation is necessary for all and Peter assures us in the Book of Acts that salvation can only come through Jesus.

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

What If I’m Not Interested?
You sometimes hear people say “..if that’s how God is I don’t want anything to do with Him”.  They think they can choose to not be involved with God and His Son Jesus.  But that’s not what the Bible teaches. 

Romans 14:11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

 Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Philippians 2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

How to Receive Salvation 

If we want to know what to do to be saved we must come to God’s word - the Bible. And not just anywhere in the Bible, but the New Testament, for this is where salvation is first offered.  To be more specific we should go to the Book of Acts where the Gospel was first preached and salvation was first offered.  All of the specific examples of people receiving salvation are in the Book of Acts - people drawing conclusions from the thief on the cross and other places are misled.

The steps of salvation found in the Book of Acts are simple.  A person must:

• Hear who Jesus is

• Must realize that he has sinned

• Realize that there is nothing that he can do on his own to blot out his sins

• Must repent of his sins

• Must publicly confess his belief in Jesus

• Must be baptized

There are as many opinions about what a person must do to be saved as there are churches.  Some say do this, believe this, this isn’t necessary, ….  We say - do what God says.

There is a good rule to remember when considering conditions for salvation:

A given Bible passage may contain one or more of the terms of salvation.  There may be more conditions of salvation than is found in any one verse but there is never less.  All verses on the subject must be read and followed.

All examples of how to become a Christian are found in the Book of Acts.  Some conditions of salvation are found in one example while only implied in another.

The following table illustrates this (X = explicit; I - Implied):

Hearing and baptism are mentioned in every example of conversion for salvation.

Who Is Jesus?

Jesus is God.  The Apostle John tells us in his Gospel:

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.

John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Jesus was Man.  The Apostle John tells us in his Gospel:

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Jesus said that He and the Father were one:

John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

John 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

 John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Paul spoke of Christ’ divinity and His equality with God:

Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Philippians 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Philippians 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Philippians 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

The glorified Jesus told John that he was the Beginning and the End:

Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Jesus came to give life to us who were dead:

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

We Must Realize That We Have Sinned and We Have No Solution

Re-read the previous section “Is Salvation Even Necessary?”.  The Bible verses in this section, along with many others make it evident that we have sinned and that we cannot fix our problem.

Sin is doing what is wrong:

I John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Sin is failing to do what is right:

James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Unless we are a psychopath, we all must realize that we have sinned.  The question then becomes what to do about our sinful state.

We Must Repent of Our Sins

The dictionary definition of repent is:

To feel remorse, contrition, or self-reproach for what one has done or failed to

do;  to feel such regret for past conduct as to change one's mind regarding it:

repented of intemperate behavior;  To make a change for the better as a result of

remorse or contrition for one's sins.

This definition closely matches the biblical use of the word.  Repentance is a change of attitude toward sin.  It is an agreement with God about how terrible sin is and our desire to avoid it.  It also includes the desire to be forgiven of our sins.

We Must Confess Jesus Before Men

Jesus said that if we would confess Him before men He would confess us. Jesus also said that if we are ashamed to confess Him before men He will not confess us.

Luke 12:8 Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:
 

Luke 12:9 But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

Although this confession is a continuing activity for our whole Christian life there is also a formal confession that must occur prior to our baptism into Christ.  See:

Acts 8:37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

We Must Be Baptized

So many of the churches today twist the language, logic and facts to try to eliminate baptism as a requirement of salvation.  There are several reasons that we believe that baptism is necessary:

Jesus said so

Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

The first time the gospel was preached Peter commanded it

Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

After baptism the baptized person rejoiced - see the following and other passages:

Acts 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went

down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

Acts 8:39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

It is in baptism that we become the new man

Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Romans 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Romans 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

What Happens When You Obey The Gospel?

When you obey the gospel -

Realize that you have sinned

Realize that there is nothing that you can do on your own to blot out your sins

Repent of your sins

Publicly confess your belief in Jesus

Be baptized

And then -

Your sins are forgiven

You receive the gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

You are added to the Church

Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life

You begin a life of sanctification

Why are you waiting?
 

Where Are You Now?

If you have not followed the steps that are outlined in the New Testament for your salvation, please don’t delay - contact us now and we will help you become a child of God.