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Salvation
“Repent ye and believe in the Gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
These words may be regarded as a summary of the method of salvation; repentance and faith!
Are you you are saved, reconciled to God, declared righteous with the Father through the righteousness of His Son, a Christian and follower of Jesus Christ, a born again believer, a new creation in Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, delivered from the darkness of sin, an adopted child of the one true and only living, Creator God, and a joint-heir with Jesus to eternal life?
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’
And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
They were trying to enter the kingdom of heaven without being “truly” saved.
It is imperative for you to understand that because of the curse and consequences of sin we are all born “not saved,” lost, without faith in Christ— spiritually “dead” in our sin, and condemned without hope. (Ephesians 2:1)
There are people who are not saved and know they’re not saved and don’t care. They will not see the kingdom of heaven. And then there are those who are not saved and either don’t know they aren’t saved or think they are saved, and they remain condemned to face God’s wrath and rightful judgment. They, too, will not see the kingdom of heaven. The only ones who will are those who are saved and know that they know that they know they are saved— and are no longer condemned.
“Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him, put their faith and trust in Him as Lord and Savior].” (Romans 8:1 AMP)
Which one are you?
Do you know that you know that you know that if you died today you, would spend eternity in heaven in the presence of God?
Salvation means your sins are forgiven— past, present and future— and are set free from the penalty of sin and its eternal punishment— God’s rightful judgment, and given eternal life, only because of your faith in who Jesus is and what He did for you on the cross and by His resurrection.
This is the Very Heart of the Gospel:
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Jesus became the sinless human substitute that God’s justice required.
He (God) made Jesus sin— not that He made Jesus commit sin; He never sinned, but He made Him sin in this sense— He treated Jesus as if He had personally committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever live— though, in fact, He committed none of them.
Hanging on the cross, He was still holy, harmless, and undefiled. Hanging on the cross, He was the spotless Lamb of God. He was not—even for a split second—a sinner, but the Holy God bearing your sin, nailed to the cross.
But God is treating Jesus as if He had lived your life. God punished Him for your sin and then—even two thousand years later— turns around and treats you as if you had lived Christ’s perfect, sinless life.
And what you get is complete forgiveness covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
When God looks at the cross, He sees you and when He looks at you, He sees Christ.
Thank you Lord Jesus!
Scripture tells us that salvation is a free gift— offered by God’s grace and received through faith. You are saved by grace only through faith in Christ and there are no works that you can do to earn it.
“Salvation is found in no one else but Jesus Christ, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 14:6)
There must be a great sense of urgency for you to come to salvation because you really don’t have much time. Your earthly life is short, like a mist or vapor, and time passes quickly with no time-outs or do-overs. You are not guaranteed another day of life, not another breath, not one more heartbeat and you will eventually die… we all will, and you don’t know the day and the hour when Christ will return to bring history to its proper conclusion. Life’s brevity must awaken us to our need for God, prompt urgency in seeking Him and highlight the hope of eternal life through Christ.
The Grace Period (note: add link)
Jesus came to purchase salvation, and will, when He comes again, bring salvation with Him, full and final deliverance from the wrath which is yet to come. Let all, without delay, flee from that wrath, and seek refuge in Christ and His salvation. (commentary on 1 Thessalonians 1:9)
Salvation comes only to those who hear and believe in their heart the facts of the gospel.
The Holy Spirit does a supernatural work of grace to reverse your unwillingness or ignorance and releases you from the bondage of your sin leading you to genuine repentance and enables you to come to faith in Christ and then transforms you into a spiritual rebirth (regeneration), where you are “born again” as a new creation in Christ and justification, where God declares you righteous through the righteousness of Jesus!
“The greatest of all God’s miracles is the salvation of a soul.” C.H. Spurgeon
Indeed.
We Believe…
There is only one true, sovereign, living, Creator God — One Savior — One Mediator between God and man — One Holy Spirit — One true religion — One holy book — One gospel — One way to be saved — One way to eternal life.
Jesus—the Christ, the Son of the Living God—is that WAY. He is the ONE way— the ONLY way to salvation. Without Him, you will not see the kingdom of heaven.
“For there is [only] one God, and [only] one Mediator between God and mankind, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom [a substitutionary sacrifice to atone] for all, the testimony given at the right and proper time.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6; emphasis added)
The gospel is the most offensive claim to the many who are lost. It just happens to be the TRUTH— the absolute, unchanging, indisputable and exclusive truth of Christianity and the Bible is the source of that Truth.
The Bible is the Source of the Gospel Truth
You are saved by God’s grace through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
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