Salvation

by Michael Nicholson

 

 

Introduction:  In order for a person to live eternally with Jesus Christ, they must be born again.  Jesus says in John 3:7 "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."  There is no other way to heaven unless you are born again.  Today I am going to cover the basics.  I am going to ask a group of questions, then give you the answers according to the Word of God.  This is not going to be my opinion, somebody else's opinion, but simply "THUS SAITH THE LORD".

 

Outline:           I.  Why must we be saved?

                     II.  What must we do to get saved?

                    III.  When do we need to get saved?

                    IV.  Who can be saved?

                     V.  Where can we be saved?

 

 

I.  Why must we be saved?  Romans 5:12 "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."  Since Adam disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden we all are sinners.  Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."  Our sin separates us from God, and until a person receives Jesus Christ as their Saviour, they will not have fellowship with God.  What is Sin? The Bible tells us in James 4:17 that sin is doing something we know we are not supposed to do.  For example, Adam was given a command from God to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Then after given this command he ate of the tree anyway.  That was sin.  So through that Sin in the Garden we are all sinners.  Why must we be saved?  Because we are all sinners bound to the pits of Hell.  Revelation 20:15 says "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."  Our eternity will be spent in the lake of fire if we do not get born again.  I remember in Luke 16 about the rich man and Lazarus.  That when the rich man died he opened up his eyes in Hell.  That shows that there is no pause after you die, it will be the moment you take your last breath on earth.  In verse 23 it says "...he lift up his eyes being in torments,..."  That shows that Hell is not a place of Happiness but of torments and sufferings.  I have talked to many people about Hell and one guy said to me, “I don't care if I go to Hell all of my friends will be there" I said, "Your friends might be there, but they will not be your friends."  "God says that there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth, they are going to be screaming just like you."  He didn't say anything after that.  I am not trying to say that the only reason we need to be born again is to escape Hell.  I am just giving the consequences if we don't get born again.  Why must we be saved?  So we can spend eternity with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  Next, we need to know what we must do to be saved.

 

II.  What must we do to be saved?  Luke 13:3 “I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”  The key that most people fail to realize in Salvation is Repentance toward God.  It’s not saying that ye must repent of all the sins that you have ever committed.  It is saying to repent from the sin of unbelief, because that is the only sin that will put a person in Hell.  What is repentance?  Repentance is turning from something and not doing it again.  To completely turn a 180 degree turn and go in the opposite direction.  Acts 16:30 "And brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  Here in this Chapter Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned.  During there imprisonment they prayed and sang praises unto the Lord.  Then the Lord brought an earthquake and all of the prison doors were opened.  The jailer thought they had all escaped and was going to kill himself when Paul told him that everyone was there.  The Philipian jailer asked what he must do to be saved.  The Bible says in 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."  All a person must do to be saved is to put their faith and trust in the Gospel of Christ.  Well, what is the Gospel?  I Corinthians 15:1-4 says, "1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” That is the gospel of Christ, believing that Jesus died for our sins and that he was buried and rose again the third day.  A person must believe in the resurrection of Jesus to be saved.  It takes believing in all three.  If we just believed in the death and the burial we wouldn’t have salvation because if it wasn’t for the resurrection of Christ we wouldn’t have Salvation.  So, in order to be saved a person must believe in the death, burial, AND resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I get so fed up with people preaching different ways to get to Heaven.  Its people preaching not preachers, because if they are preaching something other than the blood of Christ to get to Heaven they were not called by God to preach, because God will not go contrary to his Word.  Some say that baptism gets you to heaven; some say riches get you to heaven, and some say good works get you to Heaven but brother it is only through the blood of Christ.  Ephesians 2:8-9 says “8For by grace are ye saved through FAITH, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.”  That right there tells us that it is only through faith.  So we know why we need to be saved, what we must do to be saved, next we need to know when do we need to get saved.

 

 

III. When do we need to get saved?  II Corinthians 6:2 “(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)”  If you are not saved today needs to be the day of your Salvation.  James 4:14 says “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”  We do not know what tomorrow may bring.  We don’t even know if we will be alive in the next 5 minutes.  So what assurance do you have if you do not receive Jesus as your Saviour now?  You have none.  Hebrews 9:27 says “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” We all have an appointment with death we don’t know when it is but we know we won’t be late for that appointment.  I asked a guy one time, “Do you know when you are going to die?”  He said, “No” I said, “So, when you said you would be at church some day, you don’t actually know if you will die before that day comes, do you?”  he said, “no”  I said, “Let me tell you something if you were to die today, you being lost, you would drop off into the pits of Hell and spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.” he said “probably” I said “No, God says you will.”  And then he left it at that.  I went back to my work station got a tract out of my Bible took it to him and told him to read it.  “Ok” he said.  We don’t know when we are going to take our last breath and we do not know when Jesus will return either.  So, if Salvation is needed in your life, you better get it settled now.  Or you will spend eternity in torments Luke 16:23, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth Matthew 8:12 and 13:42, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched mark 9:46.  Don’t wait another moment to receive Jesus Christ, Do it today.  We know why we must be saved, what we must do to be saved and when we need to be saved.  Next, we will find out who can be saved.

 

IV.  Who can be saved?  Luke 18:26 “And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?”  The bible tells us that anyone can be saved, Romans 10:13 “For whosoever.....” John 3:16 “....for whosoever...”  It does not matter what you have done in your lifetime.  Jesus can save you no matter what.  When Jesus was nailed to that Cross he paid the debt of sin for everyone.  For the dirtiest, deadliest, ungodly man Jesus died for.  Some in prison or even on the streets may say, “Well, I don’t know if God will save me because I have killed someone.”  That’s no excuse.  Take a look at the Apostle Paul, before he got saved he was known as Saul and executed thousands of Christians because that is what he thought he needed to do.  He was there when Stephen was stoned and yet God saved him on Damascus road.  God even lead him to write most of the books in the New Testament, so don’t say God won’t save you because you have killed someone.  Maybe you haven’t killed anyone; maybe you have committed adultery and don’t know whether or not God will save you.  Adultery is having sex without being married.  Something that most teenagers in this world today are committing because their parents don’t love them enough to teach them the Word of God.  The Bible also says in Mat 5:28 “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”  So if you look at a person to lust after them you commit adultery with them in your heart.  Abraham committed adultery when they thought Sarai would not conceive after God had promised him a son.  Then Sarai gave her maid unto Abraham and she conceived.  Abraham still went to heaven even though he committed adultery.  Just because a person has committed adultery does not mean they cannot be saved.  Jesus fulfilled the law when he died on the cross.  There is no sin that a person can commit that will keep them out of heaven except the sin of unbelief.  If a person does not believe that Christ died for them on the cross then they cannot get to heaven.  Anyone that puts their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ can get to Heaven.  We know why we must be saved, what we must do, when we must do it and who can be saved.  Last, we will find out where we can be saved.

 

V.  Where can we be saved?  Luke 23:42-43 “42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” The thief on the cross is a prime example in this question.  There is no certain place a person needs to be to be saved.  Some people think that you have to be in church to be saved but you don’t.  One of the greatest preachers I know was saved in his own bathroom.  I was at my dad’s house in his kitchen when I realized my need for salvation and received Jesus as my Saviour.  No place you need to be to be saved.  The thief was hanging on the cross when he believed in Jesus.  He didn’t have to come down from that cross, go to the nearest Tabernacle to be saved.  Jesus wasn’t going to reject him just because he was on that cross.  It doesn’t matter where you are when you ask Jesus to save you.  It is the position of your heart that matters.  Take a look at Paul; he was on the road to Damascus when the Lord saved him. He wasn’t in any church building; he wasn’t around a preacher or anything.  It was just him a God, that’s it.  The Philippian jailer wasn’t in the church house when he got saved.  He was guarding the prisoners and an earthquake came, opened all of the doors.  He was going to kill himself when Paul said they were all there.  Then he asked “sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They didn’t say, “Well, you must come with us to the nearest tabernacle and then ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart.  This isn’t the right place to be saved, you must be here.”  No, they told him what he needed to do.  Anytime anyone says that a person must be in a church house, or in some church gathering to be saved they are completely wrong.  God is not going to reject a person if they are not in the church house if a person realizes their condition and realize that they are lost and on their road to Hell.  God isn’t going to say wait for another five minutes when church starts.  Another thing that gets me is that people think that they have to wait until the invitation to go forward to receive Jesus as their personal Saviour.  They don’t, I would rather go down there at the point that I realized I was lost then wait 30 more minutes to go forward.  Nobody knows when the rapture is going to take place.  They could be sitting there, waiting for the preacher to give an invitation and the rapture take place while they were waiting.  Then they would spend eternity in the Lake of Fire because they were waiting for the invitation to come around.

 

Conclusion:  We realize now the important things of Salvation.  We have learned that the reason every Man, Woman, boy and girl needs to be saved is because we are all sinners. Romans 3:23.  We learned what a person must do to become a child of God.  We learned that today is the day of Salvation because we don’t know when we are going to die and the best time to get saved is now.  We learned that no matter how bad of a sinner people think they are that they can still be saved, because Jesus paid the punishment for all those who believe.  Last we learned that there is no specific place we need to be to get saved and that it is the condition of our heart, not the position of our body.  After learning these things there is only on thing that needs to be done if is hasn’t been done already.  That is: if you haven’t received Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour it needs to be done today before you wind up burning for all eternity in the Lake of Fire.