How can I be saved?

Introduction

Thank you for visiting this page. The fact that you are reading this implies that either you are seeking salvation or looking for teaching that might help you bring someone else to Christ. It is important to understand that this page is a simple overview of your salvation journey. It is not intended to be an exhaustive explanation, but it is sufficient to bring you to Christ. We recommend that you contact us at the Jonesboro church of Christ for personal instruction and deeper discipleship training. We would be honored to study with you and your family. If you should accept Christ as a result of this study, or if you should teach someone who accepts Christ as a result of this study, please email us and let us know so we can celebrate with you and praise our common Savior.

Understanding the Holiness of God

Most brief explanations of salvation begin at the wrong place — they either begin with the cross of Christ or with an emphasis on the need to believe. In scripture, however, salvation begins with an understanding of God’s holiness. To say that God is Holy is to say many things:

  1. God does not possess holiness as an attribute; He is Holy in His essence (Isaiah 6:3);

  2. God is totally separate and above everything in creation. His Full and Holy Essence is unapproachable even by the best and most righteous of creatures. The only appropriate response to His Absolute Otherness is worship (Psalms 99:3,5,9);

  3. God is also absolutely Holy in an ethical sense. He is perfect moral purity, He rejects all that is less than perfect and everything that is evil or sinful, and sin and sinners are absolutely incompatible with His Holy Essence. God can no more fellowship a sin or a sinner than darkness could exist on the sun (I John 1:5);

  4. The bad news is that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and as thus we are not eligible to fellowship God in any way while in this condition. To further compound the bad news, not only are we ineligible to fellowship God but we are also under the condemnation of His full wrath – which ultimately is hell. According to scripture, His wrath is necessary, intense, deserved, and just in every way (Romans 6:23; Hebrews 10:27,31).

  5. Furthermore, note that even the verse most quoted to stress the universal offer of God’s love (John 3:16) is one that has as its primary backdrop the notion of “perishing” and condemnation (John 3:16-21). In fact, other than Jesus, there is not a single human being who has ever lived or will ever live on this planet that has been or will be sinless (Romans 3:23), and thus, eligible on His own to fellowship God.

Before the good news of Christ can be received, it is imperative that we each understand our utter “lostness” no matter how good we might think we are (Rom.3:9-20, 23). We will never appreciate the grace of God until we first understand the deserved wrath from which we have been delivered.

Understanding the Impossibility of Salvation by Law-keeping

God’s holy demands are not mystical or abstract. In fact, God has written His holy expectations in words. This moral record is often called the law (including the Law of Moses, but not limited to it). The All-Holy God’s law is both positive and negative. Positively, there are commands to be obeyed; negatively, there are penalties that accompany disobedience.

The primary purpose of law was to properly define right and wrong so as to enable God’s moral creatures to be perfect and to live forever in uninterrupted fellowship with the Holy God (Romans 7:10). The rule of law is simple: flawlessly obey the law in every single point, and you will have eternal life (Luke 10:28); disobey at any point, whether in deed, attitude, intention, or motive and suffer death, separation from God, and eventual hell (Genesis 2:17; Ezekiel 18:20; Romans 6:23).

Unfortunately, once man becomes a sinner, the penalty for lawbreakers must be enforced by the Holy God and no amount of law-keeping from that point on can save him (Galatians 3:21; Romans 3:28). Therefore, we must understand that good people do not get to heaven because they are good, but only because they are forgiven. In a very real sense, once we become sinners, there is no such thing as a good person (Romans 3:9-20). All men are utterly sinful before a Holy God.

Understanding the Sinfulness of Man

Sin is any violation of God’s Holy demands. Sin is any infraction against God’s holy expectations whether in deed, attitude, intention, or motive. It is not simply defined by doing the wrong thing but also by a failure to do the right thing (James 4:17). Any sin committed is foremost an assault against God Himself (Genesis 39:9; Luke 15:18). Further, it must be understood that sin has an absolute character about it. Theologically, if one man sins once but another man sins thousands of times, they are equally condemned before an All-Holy God and are both considered in this theological sense “evil” (James 2:10) and “enemies of God” (Romans 5:10). Furthermore, once sin has been established, it is permanent until punished, and no amount of goodness or righteousness can counter or remove that sin.

Therefore, one sin — no matter how small or how rare — automatically separates one from fellowship with God and places the sinner under condemnation until full punishment is paid for the sin. This is why every human being, without exception, needs a Savior. Man does not need religion; man needs a Savior. He cannot undo his sin by some self-initiated reformation or new year’s resolution. He must seek forgiveness. He must have a Savior.

Understanding the Cross of Christ

How can God be completely Holy and punish every sin and sinner and at the same time be completely loving and seek a way to forgive every sin and sinner? The answer is the cross of Christ. Many elements converge at the cross:

  1. First, the sinless life of Jesus (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus met all the holy demands of the law for Himself so He could qualify as a suitable sacrifice for others (John 1:29; Isaiah 53:1ff). On the cross is a perfect sacrifice and all the demands of a perfect law-keeper have been satisfied;

  2. Second, the wrath of an All-Holy God punished the sins of the world in the voluntary and substitutional offering of His flawlessly obedient Son. On the cross the wrath of God is poured out against sin and enables Him to be true to His utter Holiness (II Corinthians 5:21);

  3. Third, we not only have the law kept, the holiness of God satisfied, but we also have the sinfulness of man on full display. The cross provided the only suitable picture adequate to portray the human condition. It was only by means of the most dreaded, the most violent, the most tortuous death known to man in that day that God could fan the awful stench of sin under the noses of lost humanity. Anything less would not adequately picture the repulsion that a Holy God feels over sin, every sin, any sin. If we want to know how God feels about a white lie, a half-truth or embellishment, a lustful look, a touch of pride, a smattering of covetousness, then all we have to do is look at heaven’s autopsy of any and every sin – the cross!

  4. Fourth, the cross is a perfect picture of the love of God (John 3:16; Rom.5:8). God could have stooped no lower to conquer sin and death on our behalf (Phil.2:5-11). God wanted all prodigals to know that there is no limit to His love, no far country too distant, and no pig sty too filthy that would keep Him from bringing us home to Himself. In fact, God went through hell for us on the cross so that He would not have to live in heaven without us. God wanted us to know that if He was willing to die for us when we were filthy unloveable sinners, then there is one thing we should never doubt…God loves us (John 15:13; Rom.5:6-11).

  5. Finally, the cross illustrates the obedience God demands. The Holy God who willingly died on the cross for you did so not only to provide forgiveness but to also model total unswerving obedience (Matthew 16:24-26). What other response can a sinful man give in light of the love of the cross than total, unswerving allegiance to the God who hung there? Because God carried the cross on His back it should bend us to our knees in faith and dependence and grateful obedience for what He has done for us.

It is imperative to understand that when Christ died on the cross, He not only did so for the world (John 3:16) but He also did so for Me! (Gal.2:20).

Understanding Salvation by Grace

The Bible cannot be any clearer on the connection of grace to salvation: “for we are saved by grace through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph.2:8-10). Grace is that divine disposition of selfless love, which freely and without regard for man’s unworthiness, moved the heavenly Father to grant us salvation and fellowship through Jesus. Grace is the face love wears when it meets imperfection, weakness, failure, and sin. Grace has been more simply defined as God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Grace is greatly misunderstood in many discussions about salvation. It has been taught as almost a license to sin (Rom.6:1-5), a freedom from any restraint whatsoever, or even as a Divine spackle which covers any belief system or false teachings.

The fact of the matter is, grace is the free offer of God, but it is not cheap. It was expensive. The blood of Christ purchased our freedom and it was that blood that is the foundation of God’s gracious offer of forgiveness. Far from being some kind of freedom from responsibility, grace calls us to the highest of all types obedience — loving, respectful, diligent obedience to One who loved us even to the point of death. It moves men and women to intently scour scripture in order to pursue truth in all matters, doctrinal or otherwise.

Men who understand grace would rather die than be disobedient. They live in eternal obedient gratitude and thankful holiness for the immeasurable gift they enjoy in Jesus ( I John 4:10,19; ;John 14:15). Obedience is not law-based any longer but grace-based. There is an eternity of difference between the two systems:

Since God is holy and I am a law-breaker now subject to His divine wrath as a sinner, how am I able to receive this grace that God has offered to me through the blood-stained cross of His obedient Son? We are glad you asked!

Understanding Salvation through Faith

Grace is the basis and foundation for salvation, but faith is the primary condition for salvation. In fact, if faith is properly understood, it is the only acceptable condition by which grace can be embraced (Rom.4:16). There are no other avenues or conditions upon which grace can be received except through faith. Furthermore, without this essential condition of faith, it is impossible to be forgiven (Heb.11:6).

So what is “faith”? It is a surrender, an absolute trust, an unswerving reliance upon Jesus alone and all that He accomplished for salvation at the cross. While it includes belief, it is not simply belief but a full reliant surrender to the LORD. A simple definition of faith could be Full Allegiance In and To Him. It must be stressed again that faith in Jesus as LORD and Savior is the only way to God (Acts 4:12; John 14:6).

The Bible also stresses that we are saved only by faith, as long as we rightly understand Bible-saving faith. Note that we are not saved by faith plus works (Rom.3:27-31; Gal.2:16). Neither are we saved by faith minus works (James 2:17,24,26). We are, however, saved by faith that works (Hebrews 11:1ff). Therefore, we are not delivered by a “saying” faith (Matt.7:21-23) but by a “saving” faith – an active, dynamic, living, and responsive belief to what Jesus has done for us.

We are saved by a faith that repents of sin (Acts 2:38), a faith that confesses Christ as LORD (Acts 8:37), a faith that is immersed in water for the remission of sins (Acts 22:16), and a faith that strives to remain penitent, confessing (I John 1:7-10), and obedient in every possible way as a gratefully delivered child of God. This is the kind of faith that saves. Nothing more than this and certainly nothing less than this will save a sinner from the wrath of God. This is why the Bible does not speak of “sinner’s prayers” or “altar calls” or simply “calling Jesus into our hearts” but rather of penitent, confessing, surrendering men and women who stand waist deep as spiritual cadavers (Eph.2:1) in the waters of baptism (Rom.6:3-5), ready to receive the grace of God as they are buried in water, based on their faithful reliance on the cross of Christ for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). While it may not be popularly taught, scripture is clear we are saved by grace through faith at the moment of immersion in water.

Understanding Salvation at the moment of Immersion/Baptism

It seems odd in our current religious climate to have immersion in water so underplayed, even opposed, as the moment when the grace of the Holy God meets the faith of a sinful man. Most religions argue that baptism is not essential in the journey to God. They say we are saved by “faith only” when scripture says we are “not saved by faith only” (James 2:17,24,26). They say that “baptism does not save us,” but scripture says that “baptism does now save us” (I Peter 3:21). They argue that “we are not saved by works, baptism is a work, therefore baptism is not necessary . . . it is just an outward show of an inward faith.” They are correct that we are not saved by works, but they are incorrect to assert that baptism is a work. In fact, the symbolism of baptism itself stresses that it is not a work in any sense.

Baptism involves a spiritual cadaver (Eph.2:1) being buried in water because he is dead (Rom.6:1-5). Then he is raised, not by his own power or effort, but by the power of God and because of the blood of Jesus alone. Dead men are incapable of doing any work at all. When a confessing, penitent, believer steps into the water of baptism, he is inherently admitting that salvation is not by works at all, else he would not need to be buried — he could work his way out of sin. The burial in water is the most visible and public of confessions that his works got him to hell but that Christ’s work and blood which he is about to contact in baptism are the only means to get him to heaven. It is interesting that today men are asking, “Is there any reason why I should be baptized?” but in scripture believers were asking, “Is there any reason why I shouldn’t be baptized?” (Acts 8:36; 10:47).

Baptism is not the basis for redemption; grace is. Baptism is not the condition for salvation; faith is. But baptism is the moment of salvation, the moment when God’s grace meets our faith, the moment of transaction when we give our sin and penalty to Christ and He offers His blood to forgive us.

Baptism truly is a watershed moment, a moment when everything changes. Since this is the most misunderstood subject on the journey to redemption, we would like to spend more time with you exploring it. Examine the following:

Baptism is . . .

the moment when our Savior is met –

  • It is WHEN a man identifies with the Person of Jesus (Acts 8:34-35)

  • It is WHEN a man identifies with the death of Jesus (Isa.53; Acts 8:30-33)

  • It is WHEN a man identifies with the burial of Jesus (Rom.6:1-5)

  • It is WHEN a man identifies with the resurrection of Jesus (Rom.6:1-5; I Pet.3:21)

  • It is WHEN a man gets into Christ (Gal.3:27)

  • It is WHEN a man puts on Christ (Gal.3:27)

  • It is WHEN a man “calls on the Name of the LORD” (compare Rom.10:13 & Acts 22:16)

the moment when our sins are removed –

  • It is WHEN a believer becomes saved (Mk.16:15,16)

  • It is WHEN a sinner receives remission of sins (Acts 2:38)

  • It is WHEN a debtor has his sins blotted out (Acts 3:19)

  • It is WHEN our sins are washed away (Acts 22:16)

  • It is WHEN our conscience is cleansed before God (I Pet.3:21)

the moment when our status is changed –

  • It is WHEN a sinner becomes a saint – the MOMENT when the blood cleanses (Acts 2:38; 22:16)

  • It is WHEN a corpse becomes alive again – the MOMENT when the blood resurrects (Rom.6:1-5)

  • It is WHEN an outsider becomes a member – the MOMENT when the blood initiates ((I Cor.12:12)

  • It is WHEN an alien becomes a citizen – the MOMENT when the blood legalizes (Col.2:12)

  • It is WHEN a lost man becomes a saved man – the MOMENT when the blood retrieves (Mk.16:16)

  • It is WHEN a stranger becomes a disciple – the MOMENT when the blood introduces (Mt.28:19)

  • It is WHEN a slave becomes a free man – the MOMENT when the blood delivers (I Cor.10:2)

  • It is WHEN a naked man becomes clothed – the MOMENT when the blood covers (Gal.3:27)

  • It is WHEN a pauper becomes an heir – the MOMENT when the blood finances a future (Gal.3:28-29)

  • It is WHEN a Gentile becomes a son of Abram – the MOMENT when the blood transforms (Col.2:12)

  • It is WHEN a slave becomes a son – the MOMENT when the blood adopts (Gal.3:24-4:1ff)

the moment when our service commences –

  • It is WHEN formerly lost sinners are added to a group of saved sinners (Acts 2:38,41,47);

  • It is WHEN disciples are formally added to the body to serve the kingdom of God in any gifted capacity (I Cor.12:13ff).

the moment when our celebration begins –

  • It is WHEN men an women go on their way rejoicing (Acts 8:39);

  • It is WHEN heaven begins rejoicing with those who were lost and have now been found (Lk.15:1ff).

Why do all these transactions occur at baptism/immersion? Because baptism is WHEN we contact the blood of Jesus (Mt.26:28; Eph.1:7; Acts 2:38; Rom.6:3-4).

Conclusion

A simple summary of the above information would look something like this: God is Holy and we are sinners. As sinners we are lost. It is only by embracing Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior that our sins can be forgiven and fellowship with God restored. We must first come to the cross and all it stands for in unswerving trust, dependence, and surrender (faith). The basis of our salvation is, therefore, grace not works. The condition of our salvation is, therefore, faith not works. It is not a faith plus works. It is not a faith minus works. Rather, it is a faith that works. Therefore, the faith that saves is a faith that repents of sin, a faith that confesses Chist as LORD, a faith that is immersed in water, and a faith that remains dependent only upon the blood of Jesus and what He has done to secure our salvation. This is the only way a sinner can be saved according to scripture. The works that a christian does are in grateful response to the redemption he enjoys in Jesus Christ alone. We do not do good works to be saved; rather, we do good works because we are saved.

The formula is simple: we are saved by grace (salvation’s basis) through faith (salvation’s condition) at immersion (salvation’s moment) for good works (salvation’s purpose).