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Salvation – What does it mean?
What does salvation mean to you if your ship goes down and leaves you out in the middle of the ocean? There is no question that if someone does not show up to rescue you, you will drown.
You may be able to swim or at least tread water for a few hours, but without help, you will sink below the surface. Without help, there is no way you will live more than a few hours.
You can not save yourself. In this case, physical death is a sure thing.
Salvation is someone finding you and pulling you out of the water.
Spiritual salvation
Spiritual salvation is much like someone rescuing you from drowning in the ocean.
Your ocean is the world of sin in which you live. It is all around you as far as the eye can see. But sin is not just around you; it is a part of your very being. Every day you add to your list of sins against God.
The question, “why be saved? or “why do we need to be saved?” seems evident to most of us. Even if we think that we are “good,” we know that we do and say bad things every day. We say things that hurt people and fail to say what God would have us say.
Even more important is that we fail to do and say the things God has called us to say. As a result, we fail to give God the honor due Him and do what He has commanded us to do.
Most of us recognize that we are not what we should be. We do wrong, we hurt people, and we could go on listing as we review our lives. The scripture says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 (NKJV)
Even in today’s social environment, where many do wrong or are excused or even praised for what they do, most realize we must pay the penalty for what we do wrong. So, as good parents, we discipline our children and guide them in their life choices.
Like a good parent, God has given us a set of rules to bring us closer to Him.
The problem
The problem we face is that we all fall short of His perfect will. Yet, his righteousness is so far above ours that we can never achieve it. As a result, we can not keep from sinning, which is breaking God’s rules.
So, we must ask ourselves what happens to us when we sin.
Scripture is clear that only the righteous will enter God’s kingdom. Yet our nature is to sin, and our greatest sin is not accepting God’s authority over us. Instead, we want to do what we want and often don’t care what God has said in His Word.
The Apostle Paul tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23 (NKJV) Because the wages of sin is death; we need to be saved. The price of sin is too high for us to pay.
Like the person adrift in the middle of the ocean, we cannot save ourselves. We have sinned, and the cost of that sin is death and eternal separation from God and His glory.
How can we pay for our sins? What do we have to offer that God needs?
We are adrift in a sea of sin and no way to pay for what we have done.
How can we escape? What hope do we have of salvation?
The good news
God has provided a way for your salvation!
You now have the bad news! That you are a sinner and that your sins separate you from God. As a righteous God, He will not allow evil into His kingdom. Although you may be a very good person by the standards of this world, it is clear that you fall very short of what God requires.
He requires you to be righteous to enter into His presence.
God made a way for you to stand before Him.
Our loving God provided the way for you to come into His presence. He offers you the gift of eternal life, but to accept His gift, you must confess (agree with God) that you are a lost sinner on your way to hell and need a Savior.
God sent His Son to pay the price for our sins and to stand in our place before Him.
Scripture tells us, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9-10 (NKJV)
When does salvation take place?
Salvation occurs when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Once you trust entirely in the finished work of Jesus, His Life, Death, Burial, and Resurrection as full payment for your sins, you will be saved.
However, accepting Jesus is not the end of the story. Instead, it is the beginning of a life committed to serving and following His leading.
The salvation of your soul is only the beginning.
Many treat salvation as the end instead of the beginning. I did!
My story
My mother raised me with faith in Jesus from my early years. However, my faith was not saving faith. I knew God had sent His Son to the world to die for the lost. I even knew that I was a sinner and needed to be saved.
When I became a teenager, I began to teach my age and younger in Sunday School. No one noticed or asked if I had ever accepted Jesus as my personal Savior. Like many raised in the church, everyone assumed I was a Christian. They thought that I had given my life to the Lord.
As an adult, while serving in the army, my Pastor asked if I could preach at a small church every other weekend. Of course, I accepted, and later they asked me to stay as their Pastor. I never thought to say no. I knew the scripture and wanted to see people get saved.
I did believe that Jesus was the Savior of the World, that He was God’s Son, and that He died for our sins and rose again. However, I never accepted Him as my personal Savior and asked Him to come into my heart.
The Holy Spirit convicted me one Sunday as I prayed alone in the church for another man’s soul. I had never realized that I had never done what I was praying this man would do.
I tried to serve God in my power without the infilling Spirit to guide and help me.
Why be saved? Because there is work for you to do!
Salvation is not one-sided. God did everything needed for you to be saved. However, your life will change once you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.
You may already be doing some ministry, but it will no longer be the same. Instead, there will be a new urgency. Your desire to share the fantastic news of God’s salvation will become a driving force in your life.
If Christ does not become a driving force in your life, you have not accepted Him as Lord of your life. It is as simple as that. Following Jesus will change you into a better person and give you the vision to serve others.
Every one of us has a unique ministry given by God. It does not have to be one of the few mentioned by Paul in 1st Corinthians 12 and 13. God equips the saints to do all good work. So Ephesians 2:10 says, For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
God created us to do good works. He saved us so we could do good works and equipped us for the tasks. It is a straightforward statement. It needs little explaining. God did not exclude anyone, and Paul is talking about you and me.
You do not have to be a Bible scholar, have a degree, or even special training. When you accept Jesus into your heart, you also receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to dwell in you and guide you as you minister.
As you pray, the Holy Spirit will guide you to those you need to minister to and give you the words you need to say. Your best testimony is to tell those you meet what God has done for you.
First
At first, it may be the simple joy of knowing that you are a part of God’s kingdom. But then, you can share with people that you have an eternal home with God. Salvation is the gift of God to all who believe in Jesus as their Savior.
Jesus clearly says in John 14:6 NKJV, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
There is only one way for a person to be saved. As a Christian, you have the key. You can share that key with your neighbor, friend, or stranger. They need salvation just like you. However, this knowledge places a tremendous burden of responsibility on you.
And last but not least
The last answer I have to “why be saved” is for the joy and peace you can have.
Of course, there are many more reasons, but joy and peace of mind are two that have helped me most after accepting Jesus as my personal Savior. I wake in the morning with joy and rejoice throughout the day at all God has done.
Paul tells us in Romans 14:17 NKJV, “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
His statement is so different from what we hear all around us every day.
The world tells us all kinds of ways to feel joy, but it often ends in sorrow. Having parties and owning things do not bring real happiness. Jesus tells it like this in Mark 8:36 NKJV, 36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?
Owning things will not protect you in this world or eternity. Whatever you gain in the physical world will mean nothing when you pass from this life.
When we accept
Once we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we don’t stop there. We grow, and one way we grow is to recognize that everything we have belongs to him. This giving up of possessions is one of the ways we gain joy and peace.
So many precious promises and benefits come with being saved, delivered, and a child of God! If you genuinely accept what God has done for you, there will be a change in what you desire. There will be growth in the fruit of your life.
In Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV the Apostle Paul says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control. Against such, there is no law.”
My witness to you is that if you are not enjoying the joy of the Lord in your life, you need to go back to Jesus and ask Him to show you the way to joy. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:8b NKJV, “Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,”
Conclusion
First: You need to accept the saving grace of Jesus to gain access to heaven and avoid paying the penalty for sin.
Second: You must be saved to fulfill God’s plan. He created you to do good works.
Finally: Salvation brings the joy you need to be happy. The world can not give you that kind of joy.