Salvation
There are some very important questions about salvation that need to be totally understood:
1. What is salvation?
2. Who is eligible to receive salvation and be saved?
3. When does salvation begin?
4. Where can salvation take place?
5. Why is salvation so important?
6. How can I be saved and accept this salvation?
These are questions many people have stumbled and fumbled over for years. Many Christians do not even partially understand what salvation is all about. Therefore, it is more than necessary that we cover this topic to begin with for without it, the rest of this class is useless and any one trying to walk as a child of GOD without it is simply living a big lie and fooling themselves!
1. What is salvation?
A. Biblical implied definition---being delivered from the deadly clutches and eternal effects of sin.
B. Understanding the makeup of all humans by GOD
1. We all are made spirit first
2. We have been given possession of a soul
3. We all have been temporarily housed in a body
C. Salvation is the first step we must all make if we want to be pleasing and accepted by GOD!
2. Who is eligible to receive salvation and be saved?
A. Anyone is able to receive it based on their willingness to believe!
B. What we must all do to even have a chance to be saved…
1. Realize that we are totally lost and have no fellowship with GOD!
a. Admit that we have sinned (Romans 3:23)
b. Admit that we have been living wrong before GOD
c. Realize that being good-natured does not mean we are saved.
d. Understand that JESUS CHRIST is the Way to GOD, the Truth in GOD and the only Life through GOD that no one can get to the Father without (John 14:6)
2. Realize that salvation is a willfully conscience decision made when we accept that no matter what we have or have accomplished, we are still ultimately helpless and empty without GOD in our lives!
3. When does salvation begin?
A. Salvation begins at the point where a person has been exposed to the life-changing Word of GOD and conscientiously realizes that they can not possibly have the Peace of GOD until they fully give themselves to GOD!
B. Confession has to be made that:
1. JESUS CHRIST is the only begotten Son of GOD!
2. JESUS CHRIST has died for your sins!
3. JESUS CHRIST paid your penalty of death in your place!
4. JESUS CHRIST has been resurrected from the dead by GOD never to die again!
C. At the point where a person can confess this with their mouth and believe it totally within their heart, salvation begins to clean them and make them as GOD would have them to be.
D. Special note: It should be understood that salvation is a process and not an immediate perfecting!
E. Salvation begins to clean us and help make us into what GOD would have us to be so that, even in the slightest of changes that GOD begins to be pleased with, we can affirm that we are not what we ought to be, but we truly thank GOD that He has made us to be better than what we used to be!
4. Where can salvation take place?
A. It is not necessary to be in an actual church building to be saved!
B. No certain age is required to accept salvation just as long as a person is able to know right from wrong!
Special note #1: The truth is that at whatever point in a person’s life, no matter where they may be, when GOD speaks to their heart and spirit for them to open up and let Him come in and live within them as He chooses to and they willfully allow GOD to be received into their spirit and soul, it is there that salvation begins to take place!
C. Once a person recognizes the Voice of GOD and gives place to His Spirit, salvation begins to take place and can not be stopped by any other person, place, thing, idea, custom, or tradition!
Special note #2: Salvation is not a feeling! It is a reality! Once you are saved, no one can take that away from you. Satan will try to make you feel that you are not saved when you mess up, but you must remember that no matter what your life and salvation are both hidden in GOD and no one else can take that away! (Read Colossians 3)
5. Why is salvation so important?
A. Knowing JESUS CHRIST as your personal Savior and Lord is the most exciting relationship you can ever have on this earth for it puts you into full fellowship with GOD constantly! It is also the beginning of a life of faith-based adventure with the All-Loving and All-Powerful GOD! At this point, we can begin to use more scripture reference for you to plainly see exactly how salvation works and why it is so important! Let us consider:
John 3:16-18
Romans 3:23
Romans 5:8-11
Romans 6:16-23
B. Remember that Christianity is a relationship and not a religion!
1. In religion, you have to “earn” your way into righteousness!
2. In Christianity, JESUS has already paid your way and all you have to do is accept what He has done and believe totally that He did it for you!
3. The resulting relationship with JESUS CHRIST is totally accepted by GOD, thus, meaning that all that are a part of the relationship are accepted by GOD as well!
C. Threefold purpose of salvation in our lives:
1. Salvation has rescued us from the penalty of sin which is death!
2. Salvation is rescuing us from the principle of sin in our daily lives!
3. Salvation also is further working to rescue us from the overall presence of sin while we continue to live!
6. How can I be saved and accept this salvation?
A. Understand and perform Romans 10:9-10, 13!
B. Further scriptures to solidify your understanding:
II Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 1:7
Ephesians 2:8-9
John 1:12
I John 5:11-13
Now read & pray this prayer out loud where ever you may be right now:
Father GOD, I thank You for allowing me this chance to come to You even as I am right now! I thank You for not allowing me to die soooo many other times in my life because You were trying to preserve me for this exact moment in time! I realize that out of whatever I may have thought I accomplished in my life that without what I am doing right now, it all means nothing! I first confess to You, GOD, that I truly believe in You and love You! I openly confess that JESUS CHRIST is Your only begotten Son and that He has paid the price for my sins back when He died on Calvary! I believe that He suffered that gruesome act just for me and I love Him for it right now! I believe that He died in my place and, by Your mighty power, was resurrected from the grave! I now confess that JESUS CHRIST the Lord of my life! I now accept this ever-precious gift of salvation that You designed just for me! I love You, GOD! I praise You, GOD! I thank You, GOD! I now give my life totally to You and will focus on pleasing You from this moment on! My past is forgiven! My present is in focus! My future is fixed in You! I claim all of these things right now through You, GOD the Father, You, JESUS CHRIST the Son, and You, HOLY SPIRIT my Helper and Comforter! In the name of JESUS…Amen!!!
