What is Salvation All About?

I had a dream recently that put at the forefront of my mind again that so many people never really hear the full story about salvation. And even if they do, they are, for the most part, left to dry without any insight as to what they will face next (this will be covered in a later post). The sad thing is that this isn’t just a make believe scenario that I happened to dream up; it is running rampant in every part of the world. The true Gospel message of Christ gets lost within the static of what we see and hear every day. We turn on the television to see televangelists wanting big checks from you, sidewalk protestors holding up hateful signs and yelling without a solution things like, “You’re going to hell!” Celebrities like Oprah say we can believe in whatever we want because one truth doesn’t exist (this will also be covered in a later post), and that we actually ourselves are gods. Many sit in churches today waiting to hear life changing messages only to hear sermons that try to highlight all the facts and hard to pronounce words that the preacher knows. Churches try the whole “we aren't going to mention anything about Heaven, Hell, or salvation; we just want to help make you a better you” stunt. And don’t even get me started on some of the books and music that is out there. There are genuine preachers, books, music and further resources available. But I am afraid to say that the not-so-genuine ones are filling our pulpits, airwaves, bookshelves, and newsstands, and are leading people further astray.

Most likely, you have heard of the phrase “being saved” and wondered what that means. Ignoring worldly wisdom, let’s dig into God’s Word to see directly what He has to say salvation is all about.

Do you know for certain that you will go to Heaven when you die? No one gets out of this world alive, so this is without a doubt the most important question you can ever ask yourself. But before we can tackle this question we must first understand the context of mankind’s condition.

In the beginning, God made mankind, Adam and Eve as His first human creations, to be in close alliance in His presence forever. Adam and Eve were created in a state of innocence and had not committed any sin. Part of the relationship was the inclusion of one simple rule. Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from one tree and only one tree in the entire Garden. God put the tree “of knowledge of good and evil” in the Garden of Eden to give Adam and Eve a choice to obey Him or disobey Him. Adam and Eve were free to do anything they wanted, except eat from the tree (Genesis 2:16-17). Eve was tempted by God’s enemy, Satan, “the serpent,” to eat from this one tree. The serpent’s lie was that knowing good and evil would make them gods (Genesis 3:1-5). By doing so, the enemy was attacking what God loved the most; humankind, and ambushed them, trying to destroy their connection with God. Eve and Adam both ate from the forbidden tree, sinning against God and losing their innocence (Genesis 3:6-13). If God had not given Adam and Eve the choice, they would have essentially been robots, simply doing what they were programmed to do. God created Adam and Eve to be free beings, able to make decisions, able to choose between good and evil. In order for Adam and Eve to truly be free, they had to have a choice. Their sin of disobeying God brought sin and evil into the world and into their lives. Eating the fruit, as an act of disobedience against God, was what gave Adam and Eve knowledge of evil. Sin brought consequences. God cursed Eve to pain in childbirth and conflict with her husband, and He cursed Adam with toil and hardship in his labors (Genesis 3:14-19). Part of the consequences for their sin included Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden. Evil, suffering, sickness, and death have plagued the world ever since. Adam and Eve's decision results in every person being born with a sinful bloodline, a tendency to sin.

From the beginning, humanity has attempted to remove the stain of sin by good deeds. God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments to show them that they couldn’t live up to His perfect standard on their own. Instead of looking to Him in faith, many of them looked to themselves and thought they could please God in their own strength. But God saw their “righteousness” as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). God gave the Israelites the sacrificial system. Every time a Jew sinned, he or she was to sacrifice a goat without blemish. Think about that; if you were a Jew in the time of the Old Testament and had to make a sacrifice every time you lied, lusted, gossiped, complained or argued, etc., you would soon run out of goats! Other offerings included bulls and sheep.

“We have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Just as a job pays a wage at the end of the week, our sins will yield a result at the end of your lifetime. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). And death with sin will result in justly forever going to a place without escape that the Bible refers as a real place called Hell. Sin has separated you from God, because He is holy. The Bible says that, because of our sinful condition, our sinful nature from birth, you cannot do enough good things to save yourself. There recently was a missionary who moved into a cottage where she was staying. She was a good house keeper and the floor there was dirty. And so she got her scrub brush and a pale of soapy water and began to clean the floor. The dirt began to come up. She scrubbed and scrubbed and rinsed and scrubbed. She finally threw her hands up and said, “I don’t think I’ll ever get this dirty floor clean!” Somebody smiled and said to her, “I’ll tell you why; it’s a dirt floor.” That floor symbolizes our nature. We can scrub all we want, but we can never make ourselves clean.

Every one of us has sinned, and the Bible says that our sins must be dealt with. God cannot allow sin to enter into Heaven. As loving as God is, His nature also demands justice; sin demands death. You might have a hard time with that concept and want to argue that you aren’t too bad of a person. However, unless you are perfect, according to God’s standard, then you are a sinner. “Compared to some people I am a saint” you may say. Yeah that may seem to be true, but the standard is God’s law; not other people. Even if you sin just five times a day, in one year, that comes to 1,825 sins. If you live to be seventy years old, that would come to over 127,000 sins. And you’ll have to answer for every single one of those on judgment day when the Bible says each of us will have to give an account of ourselves to God.

Even though the sacrificial system doesn’t apply to us today, the 10 Commandments still do. Have you kept the 10 Commandments? Let’s take a test. Have you ever told a lie? Of course you have. Have you ever stolen anything? Come on, you just said you were a liar! Have you ever committed adultery? You may not think so, but God says that if you even look lustfully at another person you have already committed adultery with that person in your heart. Have you ever used Gods name in a disrespectful way? Sure you have. Have you ever murdered someone? You may not think so, but God says that if you hate another person you are a murderer at heart. That go to show how high of a holy standard God has. So by your own admission, you are a liar, a thief, an adulterer, a blasphemer, and a murderer at heart, and that’s only five of the 10 Commandments!  But God will forgive me, right? Let’s try that in an analogy of court. A man is in the presence of the judge and says, “Hey I know I keep breaking the law, but can’t you just let it slide? Only a corrupt judge would buy into that argument. A good judge would say that justice demands that you pay for your crimes. Because you have sinned against God, a debt is there. That sin has separated us from God. And somebody has to pay the debt; somebody who is absolutely perfect.

I’m sure you now see a trend; from the 10 commandments, to the animal sacrifices, and to our useless scrubbing, that we can never do enough ourselves to earn going to Heaven. You may now come to the question of, “Well how can anyone get to Heaven with a standard like that?”

Remember all the consequences I mentioned earlier about what Adam and Eve did? Included in those consequences is a message of hope. The first mention of the coming Messiah is found in Genesis 3:15; He would come to crush the serpent. Remember the verse above from Romans 6:23 saying, “The wages of sin in death?” The remaining part of that verse reads, “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Jesus is mankind’s solution; our Savior. What you cannot do for yourself, Jesus has done for you! “God demonstrates His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

God sent His only Son Jesus to live a perfect life that only He could. He never sinned; not even once. He then offered to take the punishment for all guilty sinners. He was beat and nailed to a cross to die. Even though Jesus never committed a single sin, God poured out His wrath on Him like He was a sinner, a sinner who took all the sins from all of creation onto Himself to be blotted out. Just before Jesus died on the cross He screamed the words, “It is finished!” What He meant by these words was that the price for our sins was completely paid in full by His shed blood; justice was served. Romans 3:21-26 speaks of Christ’s death as a “propitiation” for our sins. This word in Greek (the original written language of the New Testament) is “hilasmos,” which means “an offering satisfying God’s wrath towards sin.” Because He defeated death and rose from the grave three days later we know that Jesus was who He claimed to be, God in the flesh. To use an analogy of a bank, the check cleared! “God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was not forced to give up His life; He chose to in order to rescue us (Mark 10:45; Galatians 1:4).

Jesus Christ, through His death and resurrection, provides the only way for a relationship and eternal life with God the Father to be possible (Romans 5:10). You can’t earn eternal life; it’s a gift from God to everyone who humbles themselves and would come to trust Jesus as their Savior. He’ll forgive you, wash you clean, and give you a new heart with new desires. “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. You are spiritually “born again” (John 3:3). You die only once, but can be born twice! The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). You become a brand new person in the eyes of God; you get a brand new fresh start in life. Does that mean you will live a perfect life never sinning again? No. But it means that, when we falter at times in our lives, the blood of Jesus Christ is continuously cleansing us of all sin. How far has God removed your sin from you? “As far as the east in from the west” (Psalm 103:12). He didn’t say from the north to the south. You can measure from the North Pole to the South Pole, but there is no east pole or west pole! If you start going east you just keep going east. If you start going west you just keep going west. That is how far He has removed our sins from us.

In the beginning, the human race was created to be in close alliance with God. He still wants to be close to each and every one of us. He wants to walk with you and talk you through the difficult moments that life throws your way, and direct you to the paths that are going to provide protection, fulfillment, and purpose. Although God longs for a relationship with everyone, not all will walk with Him. To have a personal relationship with God, you must first recognize that you need Him.

It all starts with accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you have not begun your personal relationship with God, understand that the One who created you loves you no matter what you have ever done. And He wants you to experience the profound depth of His love and care. God is love (1 John 4:16). God has done His part by extending His grace to everyone (Titus 2:10), and our part is to accept that grace. Our responsibility is to accept His sacrifice as full payment for our sins, which means we are to accept Him as our Savior. Once you are willing to do that, recognizing that you have sinned against God and that you cannot save yourself, in that moment your sins are wiped clean, your name is written in His book of life, you begin a personal relationship with God, you can then start a prayer life with Him, and Heaven becomes your eternal home.

Because they don’t like church, or “churchy” people, many have decided that they don’t want religion. Guess what? Religion isn’t what anyone has ever needed. “Getting religion” has never gotten anyone into Heaven, and pious living hasn’t gotten anybody closer to God. It was religious people who killed Jesus; they tried to ten times before they crucified Him. It was religious people who stoned prophets to death. You say you don't like religion; well, God doesn’t like religion either. The Bible says it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to God’s mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). Salvation is by God’s grace, “not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The living God who created the universe is not sitting up in Heaven hoping you find religion; He is waiting for you to find Him! Christianity is not a religion; it’s a relationship. You may now be wondering, “So how do I come to know God?”

“For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16-17).

This is without a doubt the most famous verse, the most life-changing verse, and one of the most misunderstood verses in the whole entire Bible. “Believe” here does not mean to simply believe. If we were to read this verse in Greek the word for “believe” would be “pisteuo,” which means to commit and to trust. Even Satan’s demons believe there is one God (James 2:19). So with both of these statements in mind, simply believing that God exists is obviously not enough. It’s one thing to believe in Jesus, but completely another thing to view Him as your needed Savior. It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first changing your mind about who He is and what He has done. This is what the Bible calls repentance; the changing of your mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ; confessing that you are a sinner and that you need God’s forgiveness through Christ who you now trust as your Savior. Fully trust, not just believe, who Jesus is (God’s Son, God in the flesh, Savior for mankind), and what Jesus did (died in your place as the sufficient sacrifice for your sins, and rose from the grave). That is the biblical method of salvation. God has made a way for anyone to be saved who will come to Him. Do you trust what Jesus has said and done? If you come to Christ in faith, God promises to save you: “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). Jesus promises that “the one who comes to Me, I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). If you desire to have a personal, saving, and eternal relationship with the Lord, it can be accomplished right where you are. Make your journey to the cross right now through such a prayer of commitment to Him:

Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned, and that I cannot save myself. I trust that you are the Son of God and that you died and defeated death  for me, to wash away my sins; to be my Savior. I turn from my sins, and I ask for you to forgive me. I receive you into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Jesus, thank you for saving me now. Thank you for granting me eternal life. Help me to live the rest of my life for you. In your name I pray, Amen.

Just words alone cannot save you. A sinner’s prayer only represents what a person knows, understands, and believes about their sinfulness and need for salvation. Praying a sinners’ prayer is simply a way of declaring to God that you are relying on Jesus Christ as your Savior. There are no magical words that result in salvation; it is only trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection that can save us. The words are not what are saving; it is the heart behind such words. So with that in mind, a sinner’s prayer, in fact, does save if you are committing to God that you understand your sinful condition, you understand who Jesus is and what He did for you, and that you need Jesus to save you since you cannot save yourself.

Jesus was stripped and given a robe, had a crown of thorns set it on His head and had a staff put in His right hand. People knelt in front of and mocked Him saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" They spit on Him and took the staff and struck Him on the head. He was beat and cut up (John 19:1) so bad that he was disfigured beyond recognition (Isaiah 52:14). Every hit and slash that He took was due to what we deserved for each and every sin; as if it were our hands that hurt Him. And, carrying the cross by Himself, He was led away up to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha (Matthew 27:29-33). With long stakes He was put on a cross; one through each hand, and one going through both crossed ankles. The only way to breath was to lift up on the stake through His ankles long enough to get a short breath of air. With the sun beaming down, and mocking all around, after hours of this suffering on the cross, He suffocated. One can imagine He thought of your face and mine during every second of those long agonizing hours to and on the cross; the only relief being that He knew He was freeing us of what we had coming. His side was pierced with a spear in order to make sure He was dead, and, immediately, blood and water came out (John 19:34).

“He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Imagine our risen Savior on His Heavenly throne bearing His hands the print of the stakes. Picture those scarred hands reaching to you right now. Death can come unexpected; tomorrow is not a guarantee for any of us. If you have never done it, or if you are not completely sure you’ve previously been saved, would you put your hands in His hands and say save me Lord Jesus?

Jesus carried those scars from the stakes and spear with Him to Heaven. Did you know that the only man-made things in Heaven are those scars? Jesus has kept those scars as a lasting memorial of His becoming man, God in the flesh, for us to see for all eternity. ‘“And one shall say unto Him “what are these wounds in thine hands?” And he will answer “those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends”’ (Zechariah 13:6). And when we see Him in Heaven, we will see those scars that show Jesus saves.