Thou Shalt Be Saved
Have you ever wondered if you have salvation? Have you ever thought, "Hey, am I going to heaven or to hell?" Have you ever thought that you just weren't good enough to spend eternity with God, the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? That maybe you need to work a little harder, do a little better before you earn a spot in heaven? If you have,don't worry, you are not alone. So, for all you seekers out there,here"s what the Word of God says about YOUR salvation.
Ephes. 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Okay, so all the work you do or don't do won't get you saved because the work you do is of yourselves and God says that you won't be saved of yourselves. It is by Grace, he says, the gift of God. It is God that does the saving, not we ourselves.
2 Tim. 1:9
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
We were saved and called according to God's own purpose. He called and saved us according to grace not according to our works. One other clue here about where our salvation comes from is that it was given us in Christ Jesus. From the verses we've read, we can see that our salvation is the gift of God which was given us in Christ Jesus according to God's own purpose,and according to God's grace. If salvation is given according to God's own purpose and grace, then to whom does he decide to give it? The answer can be found in Romans.
Romans 10:9-10
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the LordJesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.10. Forwith the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confessionis made unto salvation.
Let's look at these verses a little more closely. It says that if we confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus... how do we confess the Lord Jesus? This is simply confessing that Jesus is Lord. When God says for a person to confess with the mouth in this verse, it is not a mere saying of the words "Jesus is Lord" it is an admission, a covenant, an acknowledgment in your life. It is this mental acceptation of the truth that Jesus is Lord that you speak with your mouth. In other words, you genuinely make Jesus the Lord of your life by agreeing with yourself that he is. The other part of that verse is that we are to believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead. If you don't know the history, read Matthew, Mark, Luke,and John. All are accounts of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Do you believe what is written there? Do you believe that God raised his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, from the dead? Well, either you will believe it or you will not believe it. If you do believe it and you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord, you have salvation and righteousness. This is why 2 Timothy 1:9 says that our salvation is given us in Christ Jesus,because it is in our making him Lord and believing that God raised him from the dead that we have salvation. Is it work to acknowledge something? Is it work to believe something? No. It is by grace that we are able to believe.We are not saved by works but by grace. So now what? How do you keep salvation once you've got it?
Just try to get rid of it. You can't.
Romans 11:29
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Doesn't Ephesians 2 :8 say that our salvation is the gift of God? Doesn't 2 Timothy 1:9 equate our salvation to our having been called by God? So if the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, then our salvation is without repentance. God couldn't take it back even if that's what He really wanted. Therefore, just as there was no work you could do to obtain your salvation, there is absolutely no work that you can do to keep your salvation. You have salvation now whether you like it or not. Nothing can change that. How long will it last? This salvation is unto eternal life.
1 John 5:10-13
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witnessin himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. 11. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12. He that hath the Sonhath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13. These things have I writtenunto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know thatye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
When you believed on the name of the Son of God you got salvation that will last forever. Can you grasp the meaning of eternal? Try to imagine how long that is. It is genuinely something to be excited about! You have eternal life and there isn't a force big enough on this earth to stop you from living it -- and your getting it was as simple as believing on the name of the Son of God. It came with the salvation package at no extra charge.
Why would God do this? Why would he make it so easy? Why not make us prove ourselves worthy of salvation? The Word of God provides a rather logical reason as to why God could not do that.
Ephes. 2:8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.
We were saved by grace, not of ourselves, so that no man can boast that his works are;better than anyone else's.
Acts 10:34
Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
God is no respecter of persons. He has the same amount of love for each of us. He doesn't want any of us to have more to boast about than anyone else.
Romans 12:3
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
This measure of faith is the faith of Jesus Christ. We all believed that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and we all made Jesus the Lord of our lives. Therefore, we all have the same measure of faith. Nothing to boast about there. None of us ought to think more highly of ourselves than we thinkof anyone else because we all were saved by grace, not of ourselves.
I know it can be difficult to believe that it is THIS easy to gain salvation,righteousness, and eternal life, but it really is. The Bible is very clear in this. There is only one passage that leads the Christian to perhaps believe that salvation is by works as well as by faith, but when it is understood in its proper context, it is easy to see that it is not speaking of eternal salvation.
James 2:14
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
This verse, taken alone, would seem to support the argument that one must work for salvation, but if you read on, you can see that what needs to be saved here is not spiritual but physical.
James 2:14-17
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a mansay he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?15. If a brother or sister benaked, and destitute of daily food,16.And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?17.Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
God clearly states that our physical needs will be met by our works. You can think of the works spoken of here as your job. If you don't work,you won't eat. Or if you see a believer burdened with an extra heavy load and they need some help with food, clothing, or shelter, it's your works that will help them, your faith won't put food in their bellies. That is the context here. God is saying that our faith (our belief that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and our confession of Jesus as Lord in our lives) will not feed us or anyone else. It is work that will keep us fed. Same of clothes. If we work, we will be clothed. If we are to be saved from nakedness and destitution, then we must work because, in that context, our faith won't save us.
Additionally, the entire book of James is all about entreating Israelites who are scattered abroad to not just say they are believers, but to act like they are believers. If you say that your faith is SOOOO awesome but you don't act on that faith, then really you don't have faith at all, because faith IS believing in action. If you really have believing that God meets your needs, then giving to those who have need or healing a neighbor who is sick will be how you show that believing.
Besides, if this meant that our eternal salvation could not be from faith alone, then it would be by works and Ephesians 2: 8-9 would be a lie. We know that the Bible is the Word of God and Numbers 23:19 says God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? So if God cannot lie and if He always makes good on what he says, then there will be no contradictions in the Bible. So if it says that we are saved by grace and not of works in one place and then in another place it says that we have to work for salvation, then one of the two statements would have to be a lie. Obviously that is not possible. We must look to our understanding of the scripture and read it in context. The context of James 2 14-17 is not eternal life, righteousness, or spiritual salvation. The context of James 2:14-17 is that we are to utilize our believing or faith to do good works; else it isn't really believing at all... this is day to day belief that God does what He says He will do; not salvation faith.
God is love. Because He loves us, He wants the best for all of us. He remembers our frame, that we are made of dust (Psalm 103:14). He knows that it would be impossible for any of us to save ourselves by our own works (Romans 8:3). None of us would be good enough. That's why He made it so easy for us to be obtain salvation. He WANTS us to be saved.
1 Tim. 2:4
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
That's why God made it so easy for us to be saved, because it is His desire for us to be saved. He loves us and WANTS to spend eternity with us. He is our father and as a father loves his children, so God, the Father, loves each and every one of us.
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.