Salvation
In order to dive into salvation, we need to back up and start with what got us into this mess! It shouldn’t take too long to catch us up.
In God’s grand design, we had paradise, health, everlasting life, and pretty much anything we needed. But NO!... We had to have the knowledge of good and evil so we could be like God.
As a result, we fell from grace. This led to us having to work for everything we needed our entire lives. All while dealing with sickness, wars, pestilence, anchovies on pizza, and death! If that’s not bad enough, then there was HELL!
As much as I would like to go into this further, the heading of this page is “Salvation.” So, fast forward to about 2000 years ago, when a sweet little baby boy was born named Jesus. Mat. 2:1 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, There are many biblical references to the birth of Jesus. I can't list them all here.”
Jesus was so much more than just a baby boy. He was also much more than the son of God. Jesus was actually God in the flesh. John 1:1-14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
The reason I have tried to explain the birth of Jesus and show you that he is God in the flesh, is to show his authority. How can you deliver the world from sin, if you don’t have the authority to do so?
The most popular scripture showing the way to salvation is 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.” This is a powerful verse, showing the requirement on our part for being saved. (Believing) This scripture is backed up by Romans 10:9,10 “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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” This scripture adds that we should confess the Lord with our mouths. If you think about it, you are going to confess what you have in your heart.
So that’s it, Jesus paid the price for us. He not only taught us and bought us on the cross. Jesus did all of this with the authority of God in the flesh!
There is nothing left to be done! Your works by themselves are not going to get you into heaven. 2 Timothy 1:8 “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 don’t have to follow a made up doctrine of man that will most definitely distort the doctrine of Christ.
It comes down to this. God wants you! He already knows who and what you are. You can’t impress him now or in the future. His love is there for the taking no matter what your situation is or how miserable of a person you or someone else thinks you are. He just wants you to believe in him because he loves you.