he posts a new article every Sunday and he also has a Q&A! (I wasn't the one who did the re-arrangement!)
Did God Say That?
Everything else you may have heard about salvation is man made, not God breathed. For example;
The Bible does not say we have to agree to stop sinning in order to be saved. It does say we have to change our mind and agree we are sinners, because people who don’t think they sin don’t ask for a Savior.
The Bible does not say that before He created any of us, God selected some of us to be saved, left the rest to suffer the second death, and there’s nothing any of us can do to change that. The clearest verses on the subject tell us that God doesn't want any of us to perish (2 Peter 3:9) but instead wants everyone to be saved (1 Tim. 2:3-4). Both the Old Testament and the New Testament tell us that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13).
The Bible does not say we can only be saved if God deems us worthy of such a blessing. It says we aren’t saved because of righteous things we have done but because of His mercy (Titus 3:5).
The Bible does not say we have to contribute our own effort to the salvation process. Is says we are saved by grace through faith and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9).
The Bible does not say we can be saved by simply joining a particular church or denomination. It says we have to be born again (John 3:3).
The Bible does not say we can be saved by obeying God’s Law. It says no one will be declared righteous by obeying the Law (Romans 3:20) but that we have a righteousness apart from the Law that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Romans 3:21-24).
The Bible does not say we will get another chance to be saved after we die. It says we’re only given one life and when it ends we’ll face our judgment (Hebrews 9:27).
The Bible does not say we need to be baptized in order to be saved. While baptism is important, it serves as the public declaration of our private decision to join the family of God, not as a prerequisite for doing so.
The Bible says we were included in Christ when we heard the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation. Having believed we were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance, until the redemption of those who are God’s possession-to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13-14).
Who Can Be Saved?
The Bible tells us God wants everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4, 2 Peter 3:9) and that whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but will have everlasting life (John 3:16). In fact it says believing that God sent Jesus to save us is the only thing God requires of us (John 6:28-29).
It also says the decision to be saved is ours to make. In Matt. 7:7-8 Jesus said everyone who asks will receive, everyone who seeks will find, and to whoever knocks the door will be opened. Paul said if we confess with our mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead we’ll be saved (Romans 10:9).
He said everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13). The only condition is that our decision has to be made during our lifetime (Hebrews 9:27). After we die our destiny is sealed for eternity.
What Does It Take To Be Saved?
Understanding what the Bible says (and doesn’t say) about salvation is obviously our number one priority. Let’s begin by defining the term.
The Bible says we are all sinners (Romans 3:23). This means we've repeatedly violated God’s Law. How we got into this situation is a long story but the end result is that our sins have gotten us into big trouble with God. In fact the Bible says our sins are punishable by death (Romans 6:23).
Being saved means to be rescued from the death penalty due us for the sins we've committed.
The Bible mentions two births and two deaths. The first birth and the first death are physical and relate to our physical body, which usually wears out and ceases to work after 70 or 80 years. The second birth and the second death are spiritual, and relate to our soul and spirit, which live forever.
Salvation was not intended to save people from their physical death, but from their spiritual death, which the Bible defines as being consigned to a lake of fire to be tormented forever. In Rev. 20:14 and Rev. 21:8 this lake of fire is called the second death. So in the most literal sense, being saved means escaping the second death.
We are saved from the second death by experiencing our second birth. In some circles this is called being born again and it’s absolutely necessary in order for us to be saved from the penalty due us for our sins.
Here’s how it works. Knowing it isn't entirely our fault that we’re in this predicament, God promised to send His Son to pay the penalty for our sins by dying in our place. His name is Jesus, and in the eternal sense, His death has saved our lives, if we’ll let it.
In John 1:12-13 we read the following;
“Yet to all who received Him (Jesus), to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision, nor of a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Our first birth made us a child of our earthly parents, but our second birth makes us a child of God. It’s our second birth that qualifies us for entry into the Kingdom of God, for without it no one can enter therein (John 3:3). In John 3:6 Jesus said flesh gives birth to flesh (first birth) but the Spirit gives birth to spirit (second birth).
These verses tell us our second birth takes place when we receive Jesus and believe in His name. Receiving Him means taking Him to ourselves or making Him our own, and believing in His name means believing Jesus is the one through whom God brought our salvation.
In Hebrew, the name of Jesus is Yeshua, a contraction of the phrase that means “God is salvation”. His name explains what He has done, so by believing in His name we are believing in what He has done for us.
To summarize, if we’re only born once we’ll die twice, but if we’re born twice we’ll only die once. (Some of us won’t die at all, but that’s a topic for another discussion.)
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