Let’s make sure you have a good understanding!
You are now a partner of God’s family because by faith you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. This has brought you into a wonderful and fulfilling relationship with God who created you. Receiving Christ as your Savior begins an eternal relationship with God. It is much more than just going to heaven when you die. Salvation is a gateway that begins your new life. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
“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”. (John 3:16)
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”(Ephesians 2:8-9)
What is being “Born Again”?
A person who receives Christ as their Savior and receives eternal life begins as a new born baby in the Lord. Jesus told Nicodemus that to see the kingdom of God one must be “born again”. (See John 3:1-19) This is called the “new birth”, and means a person has become a new member of the family of God. You have much to learn about the Lord and now because you have received the new birth and been indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God you can learn about spiritual things of the Lord.
The Old Nature
Before a person is saved they do not have the nature of God. They only have what the Bible refers to as the “old” or “carnal” nature. That is why we sin. Our carnal nature is the nature of rebellion and rejection of God which is sin. It came when Adam and Eve yielded to Satan’s temptation and sinned.
Because a person who has not received Christ only has the old carnal nature he cannot please God. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8) Note what else Paul said, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12)
Sin is the reason things in the world are not as they should be. God intended that mankind would live a peaceful, satisfying, and abundant life. However, because of the presence of sin, man has not done what God intended and sin has caused all the grief and sorrow we see today.
Sin which is basically rebelling against God by not living as we should. Our loving Creator, God, wants the best for us. God’s commandments are given to us so we would know what is best for us. It is the same thing that a loving parent does for their child. The parent instructs the child not to do certain things that are harmful and would hurt them. If the child rebels and does them they will be hurt. Sin then is the destructive thing that causes us harm.
One of the problems with sin is that it can give pleasure for a time. It is like a child who loves to play in the street. Although it is fun to be there it is a deadly place to be. Many of the vices we are familiar with such as smoking, drinking, dancing, and gambling (to name only a few) do give pleasure. However, the pleasure distracts us from the fact of their deadly effects.
As a child of God, the Bible says to put away the destructive things out of your life. Paul told the Colossians to “mortify”, meaning “put to death”, sin within our lives (See Colossians 3:5-17). To the Romans, he said, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:12-14)
A Review Of The Things We Know About Salvation
1. A person must realize he is a sinner.
Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Before a person is saved, he must first realize he is a sinner and needs to be saved. We are born into sin and must be “born again”.
2. A person must realize without salvation he will go to hell.
Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This death is not only physical death, but spiritual as well. The Bible says, “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14.) Had you died before trusting the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you would have experienced the second death, which is eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire. But praise the Lord, you will now never have to worry about Hell again because God has saved you and given you eternal life. God promises, “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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” (John 3:15-16)”
3. A person must believe that Jesus died for them and rose again.
Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Do not forget that we as sinners were condemned, but Jesus was not! He is the Son of God who never sinned or could sin because He is God. He, God, came to this earth took our sins on Himself because we as sinners could not save ourselves. He died in our place and took our punishment. (See Isaiah 53, I Peter 2:24). He arose on the third day after letting death take Him, because He was God. (See I Corinthians 15:3-4, Romans 5:18)
4. A person must confess Christ as Lord & Savior and receive Him into their hearts.
Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
This decision to be saved was not to join the church, be baptized, or even change your way of living. It was asking Jesus Christ, by faith, to come into your heart and be your Lord and Saviour that saved you. Baptism and church partnership follow receiving Christ as your Savior and had no part in God forgiving you and giving you eternal life.
** YOUR ASSURANCE OF SALVATION**
Jesus died for all your sins, even the ones you have not yet committed. Yet, some Christians who lack in spiritual growth, do not have this blessed assurance. John 10:28 says, that as soon as you received Christ into your hearts you were given eternal life and shall never perish. 1 John 5:13 says, “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” As Titus 1:2 says, we can know we are saved because God said it and He cannot lie.
Do not base your salvation on how you feel. Feelings can change from day to day, but God`s word never changes (Matthew 24:35). A good feeling may be good, but it is not necessary to be saved. Did you know the Bible never says you must have a feeling when you get saved! You are saved because you have done what the Bible says and God has declared you as one of His!
Click the link below to complete the Unit Assessment for this unit.
Lesson 1 Assessment: Understanding Salvation