WHAT IS SALVATION?
Today I want to talk about salvation, who needs it and why.
The first step in understanding salvation is for people to realize that we are all sinners, and how we become sinners in the first place?
Until a person realizes that he is lost and why, he'll see no need to be saved, they naturally want to know, "saved from what."
Listen, > 1 Cor. 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. -- The natural man is a person that is not yet born again, he is still in his natural unsaved condition, they simply don't understand as yet.
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Listen, God is Holy that is, He is sinless, He is absolutely pure and perfect, sin can not come before His presents, He can not look upon sin.
That is why He turned His back on Jesus when Jesus was on the cross bearing the SINS of all man kind, Jesus had at that time the sins of us all on Him, He was paying our sin debt, God would not look upon sin.
>Matt. 27:46 - My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
>> 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,--
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Because our first parents Adam and Eve disobeyed the only law that God gave to them to keep they became lost sinners, listen, and all their offspring would inherit this terrible blood disease called SIN.
>> Gen. 3:20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
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„« God said to Adam in;
>> Gen. 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, ** saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Adam died spiritually that day although he lived physically for 950 years according to Gen.5:5.
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>> Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, (Adam) and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
18 Therefore *(because of) as by the offence of one (Adam) judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one (Jesus) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19For as by one man's disobedience (Adam) many were made sinners, ** so by the obedience of one (Jesus) shall many be made righteous. ****
>>2 Cor. 5:21 For HE (God) hath made** HIM (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made** the righteousness of God in him.
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„« All lost sinners are under condemnation, but once we're saved;
>>Rom. 8:1 There is therefore now** no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, --
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God has made a way for us that are lost because of the sin that we inherited from our 1st parents, He has made a Way to come back into fellowship with Him, sin can not go unpunished, there is a price to be paid for our sins;
>Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Notice; eternal life is a gift, it is free to us, if it cost us any thing at all then it is not a gift. *** Christmas gifts--
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The wage, or price lost sinners must pay if he or she should die in their sins will be a Christ less eternity in Hell, or he or she can accept the price that Jesus paid for their sins and be saved. It's really not all that hard to understand.
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God looked upon "hopelessly sinful men and women," and sent His Son to bear His wrath (Gods wrath) against sin on the cross, and to show His power over sin in the resurrection of Jesus so that everyone who repents and believes in Him will be reconciled to God forever.
>> Rom.5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
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We often hear about praying "the sinner's prayer," but let's be careful that the sinner's prayer does not become a few spoken words simply recited that were spoken by the person leading the person to Jesus, think of the meaning of what is being spoken.
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Listen, a person doesn't need to pray a quote unquote "sinner's prayer" to be saved; but it is appropriate and a good testimony of sincerity.
The sinner's prayer is actually after the fact. A person prays because they have already believed in their heart.
I believe that when a person hears and believes the WORD and leaves their pew to come to the Altar that they are already saved.
>Isaiah 65: 24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
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„« Uttering words in a prayer will not bring salvation.
>Matt. 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
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„« What is the will of the Father?
>John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth ** (eye of faith) the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The Father's will that is revealed is the preservation of those who believe. A person cannot fall from grace. Everlasting life guarantees security because this is the Father's will. No one will be lost again. -- may have ever lasting life --
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>John 1:12 -13 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
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„« The will of God is to believe upon Jesus Christ.
>>John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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Notice, we don't see anything about water baptism in this verse, or speaking in tongues, or making a commitment to Christ, or the seven-sacraments that the Catholics do, or good works, or church membership, or turning over a new leaf, or becoming religious-- all that God requires of a person for him to be saved is to BELIEVE UPON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
>Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, (deeds) but according to his mercy he saved us...
Jesus paid our sin debt because we cannot pay it.
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„« We don't read about a "sinner's prayer" in Acts 16:
>>Acts 16: 27-32 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29Then he (jailer) called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
The repentant thief on the cross didn't pray a sinner's prayer.
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James 2:19 points out that simply knowing about Jesus existence will not save any one either.
>>James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Saving belief involves a faith that trusts 100% upon Jesus Christ ALONE for salvation. Many people claim to believe in Jesus; but they've never solely rest upon His finished work of redemption. The only good work required for salvation is to believe upon Jesus Christ.
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Have we placed all our trust for eternal life upon the finished work of Christ, upon His blood sacrifice for our sins? Jesus shed His blood for our sins, and applied that blood to the Mercy Seat in Heaven before the Father, so we could be forgiven and saved from Hell.
„« Listen to this illustration; A person can say that they believe a stepladder will support my weight if I stand upon it. But that is only OPTIMISM; NOT faith. Faith is standing upon the ladder.
People may speak highly of Christ, (represented by the ladder). They claim to believe that Jesus can save them, and that Jesus is good, but they've never actually placed their weight, their complete trust, upon the Savior. --
To trust upon ANYTHING other than Jesus Christ ALONE is the same as holding onto a big rope while standing upon the ladder (just in case the ladder fails).
This shows that their NOT truly trusting the ladder if you have to hang onto a safety rope. This is where a lot of people are today in religion.
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There are people that see nothing wrong with adding works and religion to their faith in God. Doing good works after we're saved is how we'll receive rewards after we get there, but has nothing to do with saving us.
It is important for a sinner to come to the realization that he MUST personally trust upon the Savior, who shed His blood to wash away their sins; it's an insult to God as well as Jesus Himself to add works to His finished work.
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The lost sinner must see God for who He is, their sin for what it is, themselves for who they are, and Christ for who He is and what He has done, then by the grace of God through the Spirit of God they are more than able to call out in repentance and faith in their own choice of words from their heart.
A specific "sinner's prayer," is not found in the Bible; often repeating a "sinner's prayer" has being abused among Christians, in that people are assured of their salvation simply because they said the prayer. Many times the prayer was said without understanding what's going on.
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„« A repentant sinner should pray in his or her own words in sincerity, words similar to these; --
"Heavenly Father, I confess that I am a sinner, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that He died on the cross so that I may have forgiveness for my sins and eternal life.
I believe in my heart that you, Lord God, raised Him from the dead. Please forgive me of all my sins, Lord Jesus forgive me and come into my heart and life as my personal Lord and Savior. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ." Amen.
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Assurance of salvation is not found in a prayer that we prayed or a decision we made however many years ago, it is found in trusting in the sacrifice of Christ for us. -- Assurance of salvation is always based on His work, not ours."
When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savoir, He is faithful to do what He said He would do- He forgives us and saves us.
1 John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have ** eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
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I remember a preacher saying one time that he returned to this particular town and was to hold a revival, he had been there many years ago, he said a drunken man came to him and ask him if he remembered him, the drunken man said that he (the preacher) had saved him many years ago.
And the preacher said as he was telling about it, that he must have saved him because the Lord sure didn't.
There's no one that can save another person, we might have the privilege in leading some one to the Savoir, but it's Jesus that does the saving not us.
„« There is only One Savoir, the best way to understand that wonderful truth is to simply ask yourself, Who it was that died on the Cross for our sins, that will eliminate all others.
>>1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. >>>>>>>>
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„« There's no set method of how to lead some one to Jesus. &&&&--
„« Garvin Durham &&&
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We have all heard of the "Romans road" to lead some one to Jesus and it's a great way to explain how and why to be saved.
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Romans 3:10 - As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans 3:23 - For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Romans 5:8 - But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 10:9-10 - 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. -- For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:13 - For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
There are some people that already know that all are sinners, and all of the Romans road might not be necessary in every situation.
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Romans 5:1 therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: -- just-if- I'd never sinned.
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