With over 200 posts pointing to the One True TRIUNE God who exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it finally occurred to us that we have never written or dedicated an entire page to the SIMPLICITY of SALVATION…and keep it at the top of the page, where it belongs!
After reading much of this blog, you may have some very basic questions.
- What is Salvation?
- Why do I need to be “saved”?
- How do I get saved?
- What are the next steps once I am saved?
WHAT is salvation?
Salvation is God’s Rescue plan for mankind. Salvation literally means deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss. SALVATION is DELIVERANCE from the consequences of sin and also FREEDOM from the power of sin. Salvation is the RESTORATION of LIFE that was lost during the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Jesus’ Hebrew Name (YESHUA) literally means’ YHWH’S SALVATION!
Although most people do not realize this, salvation is the single most important event that can ever happen in a person’s life. It is more imporant than the birth of a child. It is more important than a wedding, a birthday or an anniversary. It is more important than a successful career, than amassing great material wealth, than finding a cure for cancer, or winning the nobel peace prize. There is NOTHING in life as significant, meaningful, or important as SALVATION.
Why is Salvation so important? Salvation is important because every single person who has ever lived on this planet (except ONE – JESUS CHRIST), is under the “death penalty”. We all have an incurable disease called DEATH.
In the eternity of time, our lifetimes on earth are but a mere breath, a vapor….we are here today and gone tomorrow.
However, God built within each person the DESIRE to live beyond death. The Creator God, who created mankind in HIS IMAGE, placed eternity into the heart of man. This is why death is so frightning to us. The thought of taking our last breath, of drifting into nothingness, is more than most people can bare. When loved ones die, we MOURN, because the loss, the separation, is so tragic and depressing.
The truth is that God CREATED MANKIND in HIS IMAGE. Mankind did NOT “evolve” from an ape! Evolution is a LIE straight from the pit of hell! Yes, there is “microevolution” , or what is more correctly termed ADAPTATION; however, there NEVER WAS and will NEVER BE ANY evidence that shows one species “evolves” into another. God made each part of HIS CREATION…after its own kind!
Genesis 1:25: God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
Mankind is a UNIQUE CREATION OF GOD! God, who is an ETERNAL and SPIRITUAL BEING, made mankind in HIS image. Mankind is made of body/soul/spirit. We are MORE than just our physical bodies, and there is MORE to life than what we can PHYSICALLY see, taste, smell, touch, or hear with our physical bodies.
Man is a triune being because he is created in the image of God. “God said, Let us make man in Our image” (Genesis 1:26). We know that God EXISTS as a Trinity (TRIUNE GOD). The Holy Trinity is clearly set forth in the Apostle Paul’s benediction that closed his Second Corinthian Epistle:
2nd Corinthians 13:14: The grace of the (1 ) Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of (2) God, and the fellowship of the (3) Holy Spirit, be with you all.
Our Lord Himself said, in what we call “The Great Commission”:
Matthew 28:19: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the (1) Father and the (2) Son and the (3) Holy Spirit,
Christians are NOT polytheistic! We believe in ONE GOD who EXISTS in 3 forms. Think about H20….which can exist as water, steam, or ice….One substance existing in 3 forms.
Because God created man in HIS image, man is likewise a “trinity”. We have a spiritual nature that is separate and distinct from the body in which we dwell. The two following passages from the Bible clearly establish the fact that mankind has a triune nature, being composed of spirit, soul, and body:
1 Thessalonians 5:23: I pray God your whole (1) spirit and (2) soul and (3) body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow (body), and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
In the outer circle the ‘Body’ is shown as touching the Material world through the five senses of ‘Sight,’ ‘Smell,’ ‘Hearing,’ ‘Taste’ and ‘Touch.’
The Gates to the ‘Soul’ are ‘Imagination,’ ‘Conscience,’ ‘Memory,’ ‘Reason’ and the ‘Affections.’
The “Spirit” receives impressions of outward and material things through the soul. The spiritual faculties of the ‘Spirit’ are ‘Faith,’ ‘Hope,’ ‘Reverence,’ ‘Prayer’ and ‘Worship.
The Spirit
Prior to the Fall of man, the ‘Spirit’ of man was illuminated from Heaven. However, after the Fall, sin closed the window of the Spirit, pulled down the curtain, and the chamber of the spirit became a death chamber and remains so in every unbelieving heart. Only in the heart of the BELIEVER, does the human spirit COME ALIVE with THE LIFE and THE LIGHT giving POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT who FLOODS that chamber through the BORN AGAIN experience.
The human spirit requires “the spark of regeneration” before there is an understanding of the things of God. Only one thing stands as a guard at the door of man’s spirit, and that is his own will. When we WILLINGLY SURRENDER our will to the Will of the Father, receiving the SACRIFICE /ATONEMENT for our SIN through the SHED BLOOD of the SON OF GOD (JESUS CHRIST), then…..the Holy Spirit takes up RESIDENCE in the spirit of man.
Romans 8:16: The Spirit Himself (Holy Spirit) testifies with our spirit (human spirit) that we are children of God,
The spirit of the unbeliever CANNOT appreciate or UNDERSTAND (SEE) the things of God. Only when a person is BORN AGAIN (BORN FROM ABOVE), can he/she begin to understand and appreciate SPIRITUAL TRUTHS, the things of God. Jesus said this very thing to a Jewish Pharisee named Nicodemus, who had just asked Jesus HOW it was that HE was able to perform the signs and Miracles that they were seeing.
John 3: Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, UNLESS one is BORN AGAIN he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
The Soul
Man not only has a living soul but he is a living soul.
Genesis 2:7: Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living SOUL.
We have seen that the spirit of man is where the Holy Spirit operates in regeneration (BORN AGAIN EXPERIENCE). THE SOUL IS WHERE SATAN OPERATES MAKING HIS APPEAL TO THE AFFECTIONS AND EMOTIONS OF MAN.
It is in the soul where fleshly lusts, desires, and appetites arise:
1 Peter 2:11: Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.
The SOUL OF MAN, that is, his AFFECTIONS and DESIRES, are never directed TOWARD GOD UNTIL AFTER the SPIRIT has become REGENERATED . Man can never love God nor the things of God until he is born from above (BORN AGAIN). Man’s desires and affections are turned toward God AFTER he realizes his sinful condition and his NEED for a SAVIOR.
Psalm 23:3: He restoreth my SOUL: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
The Tabernacle of Moses
The pattern for the Tabernacle of Moses was given by GOD to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The Tabernacle of Moses is divided into three parts: The Outer Court, Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Man is also divided into three parts: The Body, Soul and Spirit. The Body is like the Outer Court in the tabernacle of Moses; the Soul is the Holy Place while the Spirit of man is the Holy of Holies which is God’s dwelling place within the born again (born from above) Christian.
Through 6000 years of human history man has looked upon immortality as a reality. Universally believed, it is the most indestructible of all instincts and the most penetrating of all intuitions. Even the ancient pagan religions of Egypt, of Africa, of Native Americans all had a belief in life after death. Why? Because God built immortality into the heart of man who exists as body, soul, and spirit.
The Word of God ASSUMES the eternal existence of every soul regardless of its destiny.
Matthew 10:28: Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Man can kill the body, but that is the worst he can do. God alone can take hold of both body and soul and condemn them.
If the Father deigns to touch with divine power the cold and pulseless heart of the buried acorn, and make it burst forth from its prison walls, will He leave neglected in the earth the man, who was made in the image of his Creator? If He stoops to give to the rosebush, whose leaves and withered blossoms float upon the breeze, the sweet assurance of another springtime, will He withhold the words of hope from the souls of men when the frosts of death’s winter come?
If matter, mute and inanimate, though changed by the forces of nature into a multitude of forms, can never die, will the imperial spirit of man suffer annihilation after it has paid a brief visit, like a royal guest to this tenement of clay?
Rather let us believe that He who in His apparent prodigality wastes not the raindrop, the blade of grass or the evening’s zephyr, but makes them all carry out His eternal plans, has given immortality to the mortal, and gathered to Himself the generous spirit of our friends.
William Jennings Bryan
WHY do we NEED to be SAVED?
God created mankind in His Divine, TRIUNE Image, body, soul, and spirit. The soul who sins will die. But what is death? Death is a separation from everything that is ALIVE. Atheists believe that once a person dies, that’s it…they’re just dead. But that’s not true!! The truth is, everyone will be resurrected after death..some to ETERNAL LIFE and GLORY with JESUS CHRIST. Others will be resurrected to ETERNAL DEATH, SUFFERING, PERMANENTLY SEPARATED from the presence of GOD (HELL/LAKE OF FIRE).
In the Bible, there are 2 Resurrections….
The FIRST RESURRECTION is the resurrection of the BELIEVER.
Like our Triune God, and our triune human nature, The First Resurrection of LIFE consists of three companies of believers who will have been raised at different times. Let us say, for clarity, there are three stages of the resurrection of believers that are “typed” in the Harvest. There is the “Firstfruit Harvest (Barley), the Wheat Harvest, and the Grape Harvest.
(1) Matthew 27: 51: When our Lord was crucified on the Cross, we read: “And, behold the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose”.
2) 1st Thessalonians 4:16: “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first” .
3) The third and final stage of the First Resurrection occurs about seven years after the resurrection of saints at Christ’s coming at the rapture. “Those resurrected near the close of the seven years’ period of the tribulation are the multitude of believers who were led to the truth through the witness of the 144,000 and the TWO WITNESSES.” Because they would not receive the mark of the beast in their hands and foreheads, they were martyred. These are brought forth from the dead at the end of the Tribulation just before Christ comes to earth to reign for one thousand years.
Revelation 14:13: And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
Revelation 20:6: Blessed and holy is he who has part in the FIRST RESURRECTION. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
The Second Resurrection is a resurrection of the wicked
Revelation 20:12: And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
The 2nd Resurrection, also known as “The Great White Throne Judgement” occurs at the END of the 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth.
While the 1ST RESURRECTION leads to ETERNAL LIFE, the 2nd RESURRECTION leads to ETERNAL DEATH.
The 2nd resurrection does NOT take place until the 1000 year Millennial reign of Jesus Christ on the earth is complete. The 2nd Resurrection is for ALL those who REFUSED JESUS CHRIST as SAVIOR. This group will be JUDGED according to their deeds, a type of judgment in which NO MAN can stand. Mankind has sin imbedded in our flesh. There is only ONE WAY that we get to be in the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN…and that is through our SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST. The 2nd Resurrection can also be called the “resurrection of damnation”, and is associated with the 2nd death, the final PERMANENT DEATH or SEPARATION from our CREATOR GOD and everything that is LIVING. Every person who tries to go before a HOLY GOD based on their OWN DEEDS, and NOT by the blood of Jesus, will take part in the 2nd resurrection..and subsequently the 2ND DEATH.
Hebrews 9:22: And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (of sin).
This is why we need to be SAVED! If we want to ESCAPE HELL, DAMNATION, and the LAKE OF FIRE (ETERNAL SUFFERING AND TORMENT)…we MUST, MUST, MUST receive JESUS CHRIST NOW as our SAVIOR. Jesus Christ is our LIFE RAFT, He is our ONLY HOPE! Have Faith in Jesus Christ’s shed blood on the Cross, and you will be SAVED from the WRATH of GOD!
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Now that we know what SALVATION truly IS..and we know WHY we NEED TO BE SAVED, let’s talk about HOW to get saved! It’s really very SIMPLE.
HOW do we get saved?
- All we need to do is ACCEPT that fact that we are SINNERS in NEED of a SAVIOR.
- We need to REPENT or TURN from our sin, making the decision that we no longer DESIRE to walk in sin.
- We need to BELIEVE on the FINISHED WORK of JESUS CHRIST, the SON OF GOD, at the CROSS OF CALVARY..that Jesus DIED for our SINS, and that HE ROSE from the DEAD 3 days later. IF WE Have Faith in Jesus Christ’s shed blood on the Cross,✝WE will be SAVED from the WRATH of GOD! HALLELUJAH!
- We need to ask Jesus inside of our hearts, receiving the GIFT of the HOLY SPIRIT so that we can walk in NEWNESS of life.…making JESUS LORD of our LIVES!
When we do this, we will be BORN AGAIN, CLEANSED from all sin, and we will RECEIVE the GIFT of the HOLY SPIRIT who will lead us into ALL TRUTH, and give us the POWER to OVERCOME SIN and the DEVIL. This does NOT mean we will NEVER sin; however, it does mean that when we walk by the spirit, allowing God’ s Spirit to lead us, then sin will lose it’s POWER over us. As soon as we receive the FREE GIFT of GRACE (God’s RICHES at CHRIST’S expense), we are SAVED!
Romans 10:8: But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Perhaps you have heard of the sinner’s prayer? The sinner’s prayer itself is only words; however, if you BELIEVE these words with all of your heart, confessing them with your mouth, you will be SAVED!
Sinners Prayer…repeat this prayer and believe it with all your heart, and you will be SAVED!
Dear Heavenly Father, I know that I’m a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins, and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins. I repent of my sins. I invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.
In Jesus’ Name…Amen!
WHAT are the NEXT STEPS?
As soon as we receive Jesus Christ into our hearts as our personal Savior and Lord, we are JUSTIFIED before our Holy God. This means that legally, before the courts of Heaven, God sees us as though we have NEVER sinned. Hallelujah! 💕 Although we still have the sin nature in our flesh, God now calls us a NEW CREATION because our sin has been BLOTTED OUT and the POWER of SIN over our lives is broken!!! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
As new Christians, we need to now follow the leading of the Holy Spirit who will lead AWAY from sin and into ALL truth. God’s Truth is contained in the Bible. Holy Spirit will help us to understand the Bible like we never could before. Holy Spirit is God’s GIFT to the Believer. 🕊️ He is present in our hearts when we believe and receive Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit is our comforter, teacher, guide and friend. His “job” is to guide us and mold us into something that looks more like our Savior Jesus Christ. ✝️ This process is called progressive sanctification.
