Are you saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ?
This is the most important eternal life-changing question and answer of your life.
It’s a simple yes or no question and “maybe” is not an option. You are either “saved” and you know that you know that you know you are saved OR you are “not saved” and still “lost,” without faith in Christ… condemned and without hope.
But it is important for you to understand that because of the curse and consequences of sin we are all born “not saved,” “lost,” without faith in Christ… condemned and without hope. Our only hope, our “living hope which is sealed by the Holy Spirit” is to accept God’s grace through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. It’s the only way to change your eternal destiny. Your earthly and eternal lives will be forever changed when you are “born again.”
From Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 8-9… Salvation
“For by (God’s) grace you have been saved through faith (in Jesus Christ) and that not of yourselves (you didn’t do anything to deserve it); it is the (free) gift of God.” (emphasis added)
Being “saved” by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ is the one and only way you can be “saved.” It is the only thing you “absolutely must do“ in this life to change your eternal destiny and if you don’t change it, you remain condemned... for eternity, and eternity is a long, long time to be wrong!
Some non-believers, when presented with the plan of salvation, might ask: What does it mean to be saved? Saved from what? There are 4000 or more gods and religions in the world, which God are you referring to? What does grace mean? What is faith? Who is Jesus Christ? How did Jesus Christ “save” me?
Let’s break it down:
(Are you “saved?”)
What does it mean to be “saved?” What is salvation?
Salvation means you are set free from the penalty of God’s wrath and His rightful judgment (the eternal punishment for sin) only because of what Christ did for you through His death and resurrection. Your sins are “forgiven” which means God has canceled your debt by paying the penalty owed for those sins, Himself.
When you are “saved” it means you are a Christian, a born-again believer in Jesus Christ.
(Are you “saved?”)
What does it mean to be “saved?” What is salvation?
Salvation means you are set free from the penalty of God’s wrath and His rightful judgment (the eternal punishment for sin) only because of what Christ did for you through His death and resurrection. Your sins are “forgiven” which means God has canceled your debt by paying the penalty owed for those sins, Himself.
When you are “saved” it means you are a Christian, a born-again believer in Jesus Christ.
(Are you saved by “God’s grace?”)
Who is God?
God is a greater, supernatural infinite Being, a mind who is not physical or material, an external spirit outside of space, time and matter who has always been and always will be. He is the Creator God, the Uncaused First Cause of the universe and everything in it. He is the Judeo-Christian God, the God of the Bible, the one true God and the only living God and He is the only God who, by His grace, makes your redemption and salvation possible.
He is ONE God, revealed in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, who each have vital roles in your salvation; God who purposed it through His divine and perfect plan, Jesus who accomplished it through His death and resurrection and the Holy Spirit who applies it through your repentance, faith and spiritual rebirth.
What is grace?
Grace is God’s unmerited favor for you which means that because of His love and mercy, He gives you what you need (a Savior) and not what you deserve (death and eternal punishment). It is God’s grace that draws you to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit. It is His grace you accept when you become a born-again believer in Christ.
(Are you saved by God’s grace “through faith”)
What is faith?
Faith is turning to, trusting in, and relying on Christ because of who He is and what He has done for you through His death and resurrection.
“So faith comes from hearing the Good News (the gospel). And people hear the Good News when someone tells them about Christ.” (Romans 10:17 ERV; emphasis added).
Not “temporary” faith where you believe for a while and then fall away or “intellectual” faith where your faith in Christ is in your head, but not in your heart or “dead” faith where there are no actions to show the evidence of your faith, but real “saving” faith where you confess with your mouth for all to hear that Jesus is your Lord and Savior and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead so that you might have eternal life.
This “saving” faith is imbedded in your “new” heart. It completely changes you from the inside-out. It shapes and defines the content of your new Christ-like character that grows and matures each day.
It’s not something you can do all by yourself; it’s saving faith, real faith, permanent faith, which is granted only by the Holy Spirit who only grants faith when it’s real.
(Are you saved by God’s grace through faith in “Jesus Christ?”)
Who is Jesus Christ?
Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of the one true and only living, Creator God, the Christ, the long awaited Messiah, the Anointed One, the Chosen One, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was God incarnate, the deity of God in human form, the Word of God in the flesh, truly God and truly man who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin named Mary and the only human being who ever lived a sinless, righteous life. Jesus is also the only human who was not born of the seed of Adam and therefore not cursed with the sin nature like all of us. His name means, “Savior. He will save His people from their sins.” That’s why he came. That’s why He was born. That’s why He died. And that’s why God raised Him from the dead.
What did Jesus do to “Save” You?
He was arrested, beaten, falsely convicted, had His hands and feet nailed to a cross, His side pierced with a spear, willfully bled and died to pay the penalty for your sins and the sins of all mankind. On the third day, God raised Him in a victory over death to grant you eternal life in Heaven.
But His righteousness is not yours until you choose to accept God’s gift of grace through your faith in Christ.
What You Must Do To Be Saved
It is God’s will that all people (including you) be saved.
“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the (divine) truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4 NKJV; emphasis added)
You must hear the “Truth” of the Good News of Jesus Christ and let the Holy Spirit do what only He can do.
Salvation is offered to everyone, but each individual must choose to accept or reject God’s gracious offer.
Our prayer is that when you are presented with “God’s absolute and indisputable Truth,” you cannot come away from it unmoved.
It is sin that separates us from God.
When Adam, the first man of creation, disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, he brought sin and death into God’s perfect world and passed on the curse of his sin nature to all of mankind. Therefore, we are all sinners, with no exceptions, separated from God and fall short every day of His perfect standard of righteousness… His glory.
In the Bible, sin is defined as breaking God’s law, an act of disobedience or rebellion against Him. It is also described as “missing the mark” of God’s holy standard of righteousness, His absolute and perfect measure of moral and ethical behavior which reflects His own nature and character. At its core, sin reveals that humanity considers sin more desirable than God. In the midst of sin, our selfish desires take precedence over His goodness. In our feeble minds, sin becomes our top priority no matter what God thinks about it.
But simply put, sin means doing anything that does not please God… not saying and doing things you should say and do, but instead, saying and doing the things you should not say and do; un-Godly things, sinful things things that are evil in His sight. Our actions, what we think, say and do, either please God or they don’t; they are either Christ-like or they’re not and these should be the only standards for our Christian behavior.
Our sin provokes God’s wrath, a powerful and just anger, and because it is God who makes the rules and set the standards in the world He created, the penalty for sin, God’s rightful judgment, is physical and spiritual death, separation from God and eternal punishment… a fiery torment, without ceasing, forever and ever. It is permanent and irreversible.
And because we willfully choose to sin even when we know it does not please God, then we must understand his wrath.
God knew that Adam would sin and He knew that we would also sin, but His perfect plan included redemption that was already in place even before time began.
God’s rightful judgment requires that all sinners must die to pay the penalty for their sin,s unless someone else dies to pay the penalty for them. But His justice required that the substitute for man be a human who had committed no sin, because if the substitute had sinned, his death would only pay the penalty for his own sins.
There was not one perfect, sinless human who could be that substitute, but…
The Good News of Jesus Christ is this….
God loves you so much, that while almost 2000 years before you were even born and yet already cursed with sin and condemned to eternal punishment for sin, God Himself through His son Jesus Christ, became that sinless human substitute and died on a cross to pay the penalty for your sins and the sins of all mankind. There is no other “god” who loved sinful man so much that He would suffer and die for him.
Jesus was the only begotten Son of God, God incarnate, which means God in human form, the Word of God in the flesh, both God and man… truly God and truly human, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin named Mary and the only human being who ever lived a sinless, righteous life, making Him the only “human” who could pay the penalty for sin, because He never sinned.
Jesus suffered and died to pay the penalty for your sins so you wouldn’t have to.
And when God raised Jesus from the dead, everyone had righteousness set to their account, which would make them right and acceptable to God and grant them eternal life. There is no other “god” who was ever raised from the dead to give you eternal life.
Only God Himself could do this and He did it for just one reason…
LOVE!
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that “whosoever” believes in Him should not perish (die) but have everlasting (eternal) life.” (John 3:16 NKJV; emphasis added)
“But God demonstrates (and proves) His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NKJV; emphasis added)
God loves you and He wants you to love Him back, but He won’t mandate it, because that wouldn’t be “true” love. Your love for Him has to be your choice. He proved His love for you on the cross.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in the history of the world. If the resurrection really happened (which it did), then it proves that Christianity is true and everything else is not.
There is simply no solution to the human problem of sin and its eternal punishment except by the grace of the one true and only living, Creator God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
This is God’s absolute and indisputable Truth!
Only one God’s divine plan of redemption includes restoring His perfect world for eternity.
In fact, the entire universe exists only for the exercise of salvation for those who accept Christ and condemnation for those who don’t.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (from Acts 14:6)
And that name is…
JESUS!
Nobody is born a Christian. There are not millions of ways to get saved. Works won’t do it. Your family and friends cannot save you and you cannot save them and you certainly cannot save yourself. You must be “born again.” Salvation is applied by the Holy Spirit, God’s agent of salvation, and it comes ONLY by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus made it perfectly clear when He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
When He said “I am the way”… He was saying He is the ONE way, the ONLY way to salvation. Without Him you remain “lost” and condemned.
When He said “I am the Truth”… He was saying He is the divine incarnate Word of God, the deity of God in human form, truly God and truly man, the source of all Truth which is absolute and indisputable.
And when He said “I am the life”… He was saying He is our Lord and Savior, the ONE who freed fallen man from the penalty of sin, death and eternal punishment through His own death and resurrection.
And this is the Gospel Truth, the Good News of Jesus Christ, and it is the truth that will set you free. Nothing else will.
What is your response for what Jesus Christ did for you?
All you can do to be saved is to accept God’s grace, repent and place your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit does the rest.
Repentance and faith are the necessary responses to the gospel message. They work hand-in-hand. You cannot have saving faith without genuine repentance or genuine repentance without saving faith. They are inseparable, yet distinct acts. Both are gifts of God’s grace and neither are possible without the work of the Holy Spirit.
Repentance means changing your mind about being a sinner through Godly sorrow and intentionally turning away from your sin and toward a righteous relationship with the one true, living God by His grace and through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the repudiation (rejection) of not only the act of sin, but also the repudiation of “your” self for allowing sin and evil to separate you from God. You need to learn to hate sin as much as God does.
Faith is turning to, trusting in, and relying on Christ because of who He is and what He has done for you through His death and resurrection.
“So faith comes from hearing the Good News (the gospel). And people hear the Good News when someone tells them about Christ.” (Romans 10:17 ERV; emphasis added).
Saving faith requires a knowledge of what God has said through His Word. It is by hearing the Good News that the Holy Spirit begins to do His work in you. It is the Holy Spirit who grants you the gift of faith enabling you to believe in Jesus Christ.
As you hear the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit submits “sufficient light” to draw you to Himself, unblinds your eyes, “tugs on” and softens your hardened heart, opens your mind and “convicts you about the guilt of sin, the punishment for it, your need for a Savior and about righteousness and judgment.” He allows you to see that you are “spiritually” dead in your sins, separated from God and condemned to the eternal punishment you will receive without a Savior. The Holy Spirit releases you from the bondage of your sin and enables you to come to Christ through genuine repentance and saving faith.
By accepting God’s free gift of grace, you are justified, declared righteous by God and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, where you are transformed through a spiritual rebirth, born again, as a new creation in Christ and filled with His Spirit, making you complete and whole with Jesus for the first time and for all time.
Justification is your position in Christ, your legal standing with God; not guilty, free, no longer an enemy, declared righteous… right and whole with God on the basis of your faith in Jesus Christ and His righteousness.
xxxxxYour old sinful self is gone, “behold everything is new.” Your new self is no longer you, but Christ who lives in you.
When you are born again, you are completely changed by the Holy Spirit from the inside-out for all to see. You cannot remain the same.
And yes, you are still in this world, but you are not of this world.
How do you know that you know that you know that you are saved?
Because you have been changed from the inside-out, with a new heart, a new way of thinking, a new way of acting and reacting, with new attitudes which shape and define the content of your new Christ-like character which reveals your a new identity in Christ, where you are no longer “identify” by “who” you are, but by “whose” you are in Jesus Christ.
Let others see Christ in you in everything you say and everything you do and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you to explain what has happened to you, your new attitude and how you have changed and the hope and joy you have, but answer them with gentleness and respect, just as Christ would do. (adapted from 1 Peter 3:15)
Salvation is the beginning of the new life for the “born again” Christian. The first phase of sanctification happens at the moment of salvation, when a believer is spiritually set apart for a special use by God. It is seen as an immediate and definitive act. To be sanctified (the process of being made holy) means that God loves you too much to let you stay the same.
The second phase of sanctification follows and is the “rest of your life-long process” of growing as a Christian by obedience to God through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the process of changing, growing and becoming more Christ-like every day as evidence and assurance of your faith until God calls you home.
Bring your salvation into full effect by actively pursuing Christlikeness and spiritual maturity. Use serious caution and self-evaluation to avoid anything that might offend God or discredit the name of Christ. (adapted from Philippians 2:12–13 AMP)
You work out what He works in you. Faith in Christ produces good, righteous works. Works are the actions… what you say and how you say it and what you do and how you do it, as you live out how He’s made you new and alive in Christ. You have completely changed for all to see! The standard of your behavior, what you say an do, is: “it’s either Christ-like or it’s not and it pleases God or it doesn’t.”
“God’s divine power has given us everything we need for a Godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by your evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:3-4)
The Fruit of the Spirit exemplifies the character of Christ that you live be each day: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Scripture also teaches that there are the “Seven Qualities” (fruit) we are instructed to add to our faith after we become a Christian, a born-again believer in Jesus Christ: (adapted from 2 Peter 1:5-7 ERV with notes added)
If all these things are in you and growing, you will never fail to be useful to God. You will produce the kind of fruit (thoughts, attitudes and actions) that should come from your knowledge of your Lord Jesus Christ and your faith in Him.
“Because of all your blessings,” be diligent” and make every effort to add these things to your life:
–To your faith (turning to, trusting in, and relying on Christ because of who He is and what He has done for you through His death and resurrection) add goodness (virtue, moral excellence, the nature of God);
-To your goodness add knowledge (insight & understanding, by reading God’s Word every day, without exception; wisdom is the timely application of knowledge, discerning how to act and react in all situations.);
-To your knowledge add self-control (discipline, doing things the way the are supposed to be done; doing all the right things the right way; restraint, saying and doing what you should say and do and not saying and doing what you should not say and do);
-To your self-control add patience (a good attitude when waiting; steadfast and calm despite opposition, difficulty, adversity or inconvenience);
-To your patience add godliness (simply put, it’s living a fruitful and obedient Christian life, devotion to God; a relationship to Him that drives a different behavior from the inside-out, Christ-like character reflected in your thoughts, attitudes & actions… how you think, what you say and how you say it and what you do), all which should be Christ-like and pleasing to God;
-To your godliness add kindness (friendly and forgiving; brotherly affection toward whoever crosses your path, especially your brothers and sisters in Christ).
-And to this kindness add [Christian] love (Love is a virtue grounded in the nature of God; characterized by deep affection and adoration. It means serving God and others by unselfishly seeking what is best for them and to do things for their benefit.”
Commit this to memory: To your faith add goodness; to your goodness add knowledge; to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control add patience; to your patience add godliness; to your godliness add kindness and to this kindness add love.
“God called you and chose you to be His. Do your best to live in a way that shows you really are God’s called and chosen people. If you do all this, you will never fall.” (2 Peter 1:10)
And you can simply say that you have been saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ!
All the important roles you play in life are changed as is the quality of life you live each day.
And the standards by which you live are reflected in everything you think, say and do: “Are they Christ-like or is it not?” and “do they please God or do they not?” And if your thoughts, attitudes and actions are not Christ-like and don’t please God and you do think it, say it and do it anyway, then you must understand His wrath.
You cannot be saved, you cannot accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and make Him the Master of your life and still be the same person you have always been and keep doing all the things you have always done. You have been transformed by God Himself through His Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit reveals the truth to your spirit that you are indeed “saved” and a child of God.
theattituderules.com 