Understanding Salvation
Salvation is like falling in love. Something sparks your interest and draws you to a person. It’s like that with God, who provides the grace that awakens us to him. After we are drawn to him, we have to openly declare our faith and believe in our hearts that Jesus is the son of the living God and ask him to forgive us for our sins. We are saved by grace through faith, and faith alone. Through God's grace and the Holy Spirit, we are motivated to live upright godly lives in Christ. We come into the family of God by grace through faith and live in the family of God by a life of good works and active love. Faith and good works are like breathing in, breathing out, you can’t do one without the other. We enter into a relationship with God through Christ and we live a saved life by conforming to the will of God. Our first act of obedience toward God is baptism, which is an outward sign of our salvation. God designed it to be an outward sign of an inward reality. He wants us to be a witness in this world by demonstrating to others with baptism that we have died with Christ and have been resurrected to a new life. God’s grace frees us to think of others rather than ourselves, and to love others as Christ loved us.
It is impossible for us to fully understand the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will and responsibility. Only God truly knows how they work together in his plan of salvation. Scripture is clear that God determines who will be saved.
The Bible also says that we are responsible for receiving Christ as Savior. If we believe in Jesus Christ we will be saved (John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10). God knows who will be saved and God chooses who will be saved, and we must choose Christ in order to be saved.
*The following are scriptures that detail God's Plan of Salvation... Romans 3:23For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 14:6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Ephesians 2:8-9For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Romans 5:8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 1:9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Romans 10:9-10, 13 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Acts 2:38Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Sinner’s Prayer“Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive you as my savior and lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person that you want me to be.”
It is impossible for us to fully understand the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will and responsibility. Only God truly knows how they work together in his plan of salvation. Scripture is clear that God determines who will be saved.
The Bible also says that we are responsible for receiving Christ as Savior. If we believe in Jesus Christ we will be saved (John 3:16; Romans 10:9-10). God knows who will be saved and God chooses who will be saved, and we must choose Christ in order to be saved.
*The following are scriptures that detail God's Plan of Salvation... Romans 3:23For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 14:6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Ephesians 2:8-9For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Romans 5:8But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
1 John 1:9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Romans 10:9-10, 13 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Acts 2:38Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Sinner’s Prayer“Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive you as my savior and lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person that you want me to be.”