Explaining Salvation
According to Matthew 7:13-14, there are two gates (roads), narrow
and wide. We must walk through the narrow gate to reach salvation
(heaven). The wide gate leads to destruction (hell and then into the
lake of fire). Most people want to get to heaven but are not willing to
do what it takes to get there.
To reach salvation and keep it, we must have discipline. Discipline comes through conviction. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes through receiving Jesus. Jesus comes when you truly accept Him. If we truly have received Jesus, the Holy Spirit will dwell in us. We will begin to change through the conviction of the Spirit. Are we willing to accept discipline to be saved?
Many people believe that salvation is making a vow to God and you have a finished product. Making a vow means that we have made a pledge or promise. Multitudes of people have made the vow that leads to salvation. Because they made a vow, they believe that they have made it through the narrow (sheep) gate.
When the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by Nehemiah, the first gate rebuilt was the sheep gate. The sheep gate led them straight to the temple where God d welled. One thing that all Christians can agree on is that it takes Jesus Christ to receive salvation. Jesus is the sheep gate that every sheep must enter in order to reach the promise land (heaven). In many people's minds, salvation is kept forever no matter what they do after they receive Christ. I beg to differ. It is a life long process and is up to us to keep it. We all must work out and fully complete our own salvation. Now whether we keep it, lose it or walk away from it is up to us. I will explain what salvation is and how we can receive it. Afterwards, I will make my case on how salvation can no longer be apart of us if we do not do what we need to do to keep it.
What is salvation? Salvation is the deliverance from the penalty of sin (eternal death). Before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there was no redemption for our sins. We would have to suffer the consequences. But God is such a loving God that He sent His only begotten son to die for us (John 3:16). Thank God for Jesus. Jesus took our death so that we may have life. Too many people have looked at salvation as something they receive in a church building. Salvation can take place anywhere. The key is that we must have faith in Jesus in order to be free from the penalty of death.
Faith is an action word. Believe in Him and let your actions (lifestyle) follow your belief. We believe that Jesus made us righteous. So we must walk (live) like we are righteous. Our lifestyles should exemplify that of Jesus. You have many believers that believe that their lifestyles do not have to change after accepting Jesus. That is one half of salvation. Let us let the scriptures speak for themselves. When God (the Father) looks at us when we receive His son, He sees the purity of His son and not the filth of man. Jesus is salvation. Without Him, there is no salvation. We must walk in the image of God to fulfill our salvation.
There are three steps to salvation:
A. Admit that you sin. You will be surprised at how many people believe that they do not sin or there is no such thing as sin. Sin is anything that contradicts the word of God. It is more likely that you will not believe in sin if you do not believe in the Word. If we truly believe there is sin and God is not pleased with our sin, we would do what we need to do to be delivered from sin. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of his glory. Many people try to get their lives right before they submit their lives to God. That is the biggest joke ever. If your life is not together by now, it will not be without Jesus. It takes the power of Jesus to get you to the state that is pleasing to God, the Father. We all need help. With the help of Jesus, all things are possible. We can therefore begin to live holy lives. Other people feel that they can not be amongst the church folk because of their sin. Church folk sin. The only difference between Christians and people in the world is that their sins are covered and they do not suffer condemnation from God because we accepted His son and began to live Christ-like. We have to quit waiting and do what we need to do before it is too late.
B. Believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Without the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no redemption of sin. I don't know how many times I can say that. In Romans 10:9-10, we must believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior. We must believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and we shall be saved. Our faith in Jesus that dwells in our hearts (spirits) brings salvation onto us. Many people have a hard time believing that He actually was resurrected because they listen to other unbelievers. People believe that it is a fable or story made up by people a long time ago. We must allow Jesus to open up our eyes to a whole new realm of knowledge and wisdom. Many of us are Christians but are still lost because of what people are saying around us. Let people believe what they want to believe and you believe what is right and true.
C. Confess your sins (Repentance). Once we admit our sins and believe in Jesus, this should be the easy part. Well, this is not always the case. People think they have repented when they apologize for their sins to God. That is not repentance. 1 John 1:9 tells us to confess the sins so that God can forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Pride is putting many people in eternal fire. They are too proud to confess their sins. Therefore the sins stick with them and they are under condemnation as that of a worldly person. Part of confessing your sins is telling God that you are ready to change. We tell God through confession that we are ready to do a new thing in our lives. We want to get away from the things that are not of God. We want freedom from things that have us in chains. We must begin to admit, believe, confess and start to live godly lives.
Repentance is repentance. No matter if we look at it in Hebrew, Greek or in other languages, it should have the same meaning. Repentance is having sorrow or regret for one's sin. If we truly know God and the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us, we will be convicted. If we are not convicted, we may want to question ourselves to see if we have really received Jesus. The Hebrew word for repentance is teshuvah. It means to return to God. If we have to return to God, that means we turned from God previously. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia. It means to think differently after the fact. There is a change of mind. In other words, we sinned against God, we felt remorseful, and we changed our thought process so that we do not commit the same sin again. So, are we truly repenting or just making apologies to God?
Once we are saved, what do we do to keep it? Those who accept Christ were previously in the world. At that point, we still have the mindset of the world. It is our responsibility to change our mindset by getting into God's word. God's word will renew our minds so that we may stay on track and stay on that narrow road to heaven. When we renew our minds, our thought process should go from worldly to godly. We renew our minds to do the will of the Father. If we continue to do the will of the Father, we are pleasing in His eyes and therefore our place in heaven is waiting for us to occupy it.
In Romans 12:2, it states that we are not to be confirmed to this world (mindset), but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Why do you think God wants this? In the second half of the scripture, it tells us. We renew our minds so that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and the perfect will of God. I do not know if you got it yet but it is about allowing God's will to be done in your life. For this to happen, we must develop a relationship with God. In order to develop a relationship with God, we must renew our minds so that distractions and hindrances will not deter us from doing His will. Meditation on the word will renew our minds.
I can remember when I was upset about something. I began to meditate on Romans 12:2. I quoted that scripture over and over again believing in the words that I was quoting. My mind was renewed so that I could focus on what God wanted me to do. Too many people are quoting scriptures and do not believe the words that they are quoting. Why are you quoting them? Renew your minds. Now that our minds are renewed, we can begin to fully complete our own salvation. In Philippians 2:12, Paul writes to the Christians in Philippi. Paul said that I am leaving. I have set an example for you to follow. You obeyed me when I was there. Continue to obey my words in my absence. Do not let any temptations distract you from fully completing your salvation. Work it out until it is complete. Again, it is a life long process. Stay within the will of God and you will stay within the arms of salvation. Don't let the world turn you from God and from fully completing your salvation.
When we are saved, we live life in the Spirit. What does this mean? When we accept Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides, leads and directs us. In Romans 8:1, the text says that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus and we are free from the law of sin and death. Thank God. But wait. There is another part to verse 1. The second part of the scripture says that there is no condemnation for those who do not walk after the flesh but walk after the Spirit.
Someone would call that fine print. It is bold print to me. Church leaders often forget to tell people that we cannot just talk the talk but walk the walk. What is walking after the flesh versus walking in the Spirit? Walking after the flesh means that your mind was never renewed. You are doing the same things that you did before you received Christ. Walking after the Spirit means that you allow the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and direct you to complete your salvation. Those who walk in the flesh have carnal minds and carnal minds bring death according to verse 6. Spiritually minded people inherit life (salvation). Is your mind spiritual or is it carnal? Only you know. Receive salvation and allow the Holy Spirit to keep you there.
People are looking for a way out. The way out is through Jesus. Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Him. If you are ready to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, please repeat the salvation prayer below. Thanks.
Heavenly Father. I confess my sins to You. I am a sinner. I am tired of being in the same predicament day after day. I am looking for a change in my life and a new beginning. I come to You for this change because I know that only You can change me. I feel all alone in this world and I need your protection and your guidance. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and were raised on the third day. And because of this, my sins are forgiven and washed away. Forgive me for my sins knowing and unknowing. Jesus, I recognize You as my Lord and Savior. Take over my life. Come into my heart. Allow your Holy Spirit to dwell within me. Holy Spirit, fill me with your spirit. Lead me, direct me, comfort me, and be by my side the whole way through. Get out of my life devil. For I am a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away and all things have become new. In Jesus name,Amen
To reach salvation and keep it, we must have discipline. Discipline comes through conviction. Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes through receiving Jesus. Jesus comes when you truly accept Him. If we truly have received Jesus, the Holy Spirit will dwell in us. We will begin to change through the conviction of the Spirit. Are we willing to accept discipline to be saved?
Many people believe that salvation is making a vow to God and you have a finished product. Making a vow means that we have made a pledge or promise. Multitudes of people have made the vow that leads to salvation. Because they made a vow, they believe that they have made it through the narrow (sheep) gate.
When the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt by Nehemiah, the first gate rebuilt was the sheep gate. The sheep gate led them straight to the temple where God d welled. One thing that all Christians can agree on is that it takes Jesus Christ to receive salvation. Jesus is the sheep gate that every sheep must enter in order to reach the promise land (heaven). In many people's minds, salvation is kept forever no matter what they do after they receive Christ. I beg to differ. It is a life long process and is up to us to keep it. We all must work out and fully complete our own salvation. Now whether we keep it, lose it or walk away from it is up to us. I will explain what salvation is and how we can receive it. Afterwards, I will make my case on how salvation can no longer be apart of us if we do not do what we need to do to keep it.
What is salvation? Salvation is the deliverance from the penalty of sin (eternal death). Before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there was no redemption for our sins. We would have to suffer the consequences. But God is such a loving God that He sent His only begotten son to die for us (John 3:16). Thank God for Jesus. Jesus took our death so that we may have life. Too many people have looked at salvation as something they receive in a church building. Salvation can take place anywhere. The key is that we must have faith in Jesus in order to be free from the penalty of death.
Faith is an action word. Believe in Him and let your actions (lifestyle) follow your belief. We believe that Jesus made us righteous. So we must walk (live) like we are righteous. Our lifestyles should exemplify that of Jesus. You have many believers that believe that their lifestyles do not have to change after accepting Jesus. That is one half of salvation. Let us let the scriptures speak for themselves. When God (the Father) looks at us when we receive His son, He sees the purity of His son and not the filth of man. Jesus is salvation. Without Him, there is no salvation. We must walk in the image of God to fulfill our salvation.
There are three steps to salvation:
A. Admit that you sin. You will be surprised at how many people believe that they do not sin or there is no such thing as sin. Sin is anything that contradicts the word of God. It is more likely that you will not believe in sin if you do not believe in the Word. If we truly believe there is sin and God is not pleased with our sin, we would do what we need to do to be delivered from sin. Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of his glory. Many people try to get their lives right before they submit their lives to God. That is the biggest joke ever. If your life is not together by now, it will not be without Jesus. It takes the power of Jesus to get you to the state that is pleasing to God, the Father. We all need help. With the help of Jesus, all things are possible. We can therefore begin to live holy lives. Other people feel that they can not be amongst the church folk because of their sin. Church folk sin. The only difference between Christians and people in the world is that their sins are covered and they do not suffer condemnation from God because we accepted His son and began to live Christ-like. We have to quit waiting and do what we need to do before it is too late.
B. Believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Without the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no redemption of sin. I don't know how many times I can say that. In Romans 10:9-10, we must believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior. We must believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and we shall be saved. Our faith in Jesus that dwells in our hearts (spirits) brings salvation onto us. Many people have a hard time believing that He actually was resurrected because they listen to other unbelievers. People believe that it is a fable or story made up by people a long time ago. We must allow Jesus to open up our eyes to a whole new realm of knowledge and wisdom. Many of us are Christians but are still lost because of what people are saying around us. Let people believe what they want to believe and you believe what is right and true.
C. Confess your sins (Repentance). Once we admit our sins and believe in Jesus, this should be the easy part. Well, this is not always the case. People think they have repented when they apologize for their sins to God. That is not repentance. 1 John 1:9 tells us to confess the sins so that God can forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Pride is putting many people in eternal fire. They are too proud to confess their sins. Therefore the sins stick with them and they are under condemnation as that of a worldly person. Part of confessing your sins is telling God that you are ready to change. We tell God through confession that we are ready to do a new thing in our lives. We want to get away from the things that are not of God. We want freedom from things that have us in chains. We must begin to admit, believe, confess and start to live godly lives.
Repentance is repentance. No matter if we look at it in Hebrew, Greek or in other languages, it should have the same meaning. Repentance is having sorrow or regret for one's sin. If we truly know God and the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us, we will be convicted. If we are not convicted, we may want to question ourselves to see if we have really received Jesus. The Hebrew word for repentance is teshuvah. It means to return to God. If we have to return to God, that means we turned from God previously. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia. It means to think differently after the fact. There is a change of mind. In other words, we sinned against God, we felt remorseful, and we changed our thought process so that we do not commit the same sin again. So, are we truly repenting or just making apologies to God?
Once we are saved, what do we do to keep it? Those who accept Christ were previously in the world. At that point, we still have the mindset of the world. It is our responsibility to change our mindset by getting into God's word. God's word will renew our minds so that we may stay on track and stay on that narrow road to heaven. When we renew our minds, our thought process should go from worldly to godly. We renew our minds to do the will of the Father. If we continue to do the will of the Father, we are pleasing in His eyes and therefore our place in heaven is waiting for us to occupy it.
In Romans 12:2, it states that we are not to be confirmed to this world (mindset), but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Why do you think God wants this? In the second half of the scripture, it tells us. We renew our minds so that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and the perfect will of God. I do not know if you got it yet but it is about allowing God's will to be done in your life. For this to happen, we must develop a relationship with God. In order to develop a relationship with God, we must renew our minds so that distractions and hindrances will not deter us from doing His will. Meditation on the word will renew our minds.
I can remember when I was upset about something. I began to meditate on Romans 12:2. I quoted that scripture over and over again believing in the words that I was quoting. My mind was renewed so that I could focus on what God wanted me to do. Too many people are quoting scriptures and do not believe the words that they are quoting. Why are you quoting them? Renew your minds. Now that our minds are renewed, we can begin to fully complete our own salvation. In Philippians 2:12, Paul writes to the Christians in Philippi. Paul said that I am leaving. I have set an example for you to follow. You obeyed me when I was there. Continue to obey my words in my absence. Do not let any temptations distract you from fully completing your salvation. Work it out until it is complete. Again, it is a life long process. Stay within the will of God and you will stay within the arms of salvation. Don't let the world turn you from God and from fully completing your salvation.
When we are saved, we live life in the Spirit. What does this mean? When we accept Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides, leads and directs us. In Romans 8:1, the text says that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus and we are free from the law of sin and death. Thank God. But wait. There is another part to verse 1. The second part of the scripture says that there is no condemnation for those who do not walk after the flesh but walk after the Spirit.
Someone would call that fine print. It is bold print to me. Church leaders often forget to tell people that we cannot just talk the talk but walk the walk. What is walking after the flesh versus walking in the Spirit? Walking after the flesh means that your mind was never renewed. You are doing the same things that you did before you received Christ. Walking after the Spirit means that you allow the Holy Spirit to lead, guide and direct you to complete your salvation. Those who walk in the flesh have carnal minds and carnal minds bring death according to verse 6. Spiritually minded people inherit life (salvation). Is your mind spiritual or is it carnal? Only you know. Receive salvation and allow the Holy Spirit to keep you there.
People are looking for a way out. The way out is through Jesus. Jesus the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the Father but by Him. If you are ready to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, please repeat the salvation prayer below. Thanks.
Heavenly Father. I confess my sins to You. I am a sinner. I am tired of being in the same predicament day after day. I am looking for a change in my life and a new beginning. I come to You for this change because I know that only You can change me. I feel all alone in this world and I need your protection and your guidance. I believe that Jesus died on the cross and were raised on the third day. And because of this, my sins are forgiven and washed away. Forgive me for my sins knowing and unknowing. Jesus, I recognize You as my Lord and Savior. Take over my life. Come into my heart. Allow your Holy Spirit to dwell within me. Holy Spirit, fill me with your spirit. Lead me, direct me, comfort me, and be by my side the whole way through. Get out of my life devil. For I am a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away and all things have become new. In Jesus name,Amen
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