|
|
 |
|
||
|
Home › Bible Study Discussions > Bible Study Discussions with Gary PanellQuestion: A person from the Netherlands left us this discussion question: Salvation, what does it mean to you?Answer: To answer this question, of course, I will refer to the Bible. There is another discussion of this in our tract, Heaven, How to Get There. Thanks for asking the question, I'm sure that many people have this question. They might be thinking what gives you the authority to say that you have the only right answer? Good point. My authority is in the Word of God. It is the only true revelation from God. Jesus being God's only begotten Son would know what His Father requires to get into His heaven. Personally, I believe the clearest, simplest book on the subject of salvation is found in the New Testament of the Bible. The place you need to look at is the book of Saint John or the Gospel of John as it is sometimes called. If you pick up a Bible and let it fall open more than half way, you will probably be in the New Testament. The Old Testament is the first half of the Bible. Once you find the New Testament you will need to find the first four "books," Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There are actually other Johns but they are toward the last part of the Bible, and these are called 1st John, 2nd John, and 3rd John. So now we want to look at Saint John or the Gospel of John in the front of the New Testament. I hope you have your own Bible and will look up these verses to see it is not something I am making up. But if you do not have a Bible handy I have written out the verses that we need to look at. Turn now to Saint John chapter one to start with, and look at these verses, "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus Christ)* and the Word was with God (the Father)*, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." We need to understand first that Jesus is not just some prophet, some good moral teacher, some miracle worker; He is the Son of God! He was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, look at these verses in the first book of the New Testament, Matthew 1:22-23. "Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which is translated, 'God with us.'" You need to believe first of all that Mary was a Virgin; if she were not a virgin then Jesus is just like every other person. So it is essential that you believe in the virgin birth. When you believe this you see that Jesus is both truly God and truly Man. The only way He could save us was to come to earth this way, that is why Joseph (who was sent to help take care of Jesus and Mary) was told by the angel, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." So Jesus (the second Person in the Holy Trinity) was sent to this earth to save us from our sins. You ask, "How does he do that?" Good question, now look back at the Gospel according to John, or Saint John chapter 3. We want to quote verses 1-7 to begin with. You will see that Jesus is speaking to a religious leader of Israel. This man was searching for the truth. If anyone wants to know the truth God will reveal it to him or her. "There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, 'Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Nicodemus said to Him, 'How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?' Jesus answered, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 'Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'" So now this is Jesus speaking and not me, He tells us we have to be "born again." Nicodemus was confused, but interested, so Jesus went on to explain, and we take up the story again in verse 8 and go through verse 21. "'The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.' Nicodemus answered and said to Him, 'How can these things be?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.'" Now Jesus is telling Nicodemus in no uncertain terms how to get saved or how to go to heaven when he dies. This same message is for us as we will see in these next few verses. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and doe not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God." Jesus made it clear we need to repent, this means turn from our sins and turn to God in heart felt sorry for the wrongs we have done. ".but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3, 5) "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 1730-31) We need to realize Jesus is the only way to heaven and to the Father. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (1 Timothy 2:5-6) The way of salvation as given by Jesus is very simple, and that is why people stumble on it, they are looking for something hard to do to get saved. They think their baptism, or their good works will save them, but Jesus says nothing about those things saving us. He simply says we must believe in Him alone as our Savior, and that is because He is the only way of salvation. Jesus does have something to say about how we need to admit that we are sinners in order to be saved. "Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God , I thank You that I am not like other men-extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' 'I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'" (Luke 18:9-14) Also Paul says by the Holy Spirit about our need of salvation. "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption (salvation)* that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation (mercy seat)* by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3: 21-26) Jesus loves us and that is why He died to save us through His blood, Romans 5:6-11. "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were sill sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than, having now been justified (made righteous in the sight of God)* by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (He came to life again.)* And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation (been made right with God through Jesus blood.) So we need to admit we are sinners in need of salvation. We believe Jesus is God's Son born of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We then come to Jesus for salvation by faith. We receive salvation as a free gift of God coming because of His grace (unmerited favor). In other words, we do not deserve it but God gives it freely when we come to Him in faith. Look at Romans 3:22-23, "But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Also Ephesians 2:8-9) "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:4-7) Once you have believed and received the free gift of salvation you need to confess Christ as Lord to others. "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 preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, 'Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.' For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For 'whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.'" (Romans 10:8-13) So this is what it means to be "born again" or saved, and that is why it is called "good news" or the Gospel. "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you-unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:1-3) We need to believe that we are saved and have a strong assurance of salvation when we receive Jesus as our Savior. For this look at 1 John 5:10-13, "He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God." This witness is the Holy Spirit or Christ's Spirit Who indwells us when we receive Christ by faith. He comes into us by His Holy Spirit. "So then, those who are in the flesh (not saved yet) can not please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone doe not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (Romans 8: 8-9) Now you are a new creation, your old sins are forgiven and you are born again when you receive God's Son Jesus into your heart. He comes into your heart by God's Holy Spirit which is Christ's Spirit as well dwelling in you. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) If you have not yet prayed to be saved, would you pray this prayer to God: Father God in Heaven, I believe that your Son Jesus Christ came to this earth through the Blessed Virgin Mary. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins because I am a sinner in need of salvation. I believe the blood of Jesus alone can wash away my sins. I believe that Jesus died and rose again. Right now I invite Jesus to come into me to take away my sin and to save me. Thank you God, in Jesus name amen If you prayed this prayer or your own prayer and truly meant it you are now born again. You now know what it means to be saved. In Christ, For more information e-mail me at To view other questions visit our Interactive Bible Study Page or read some of our Christian Literature at Bible-Christian.org |
||
|
|
Please feel free to contact Bible Christian: Gary Tomás Panell © 2005-2009 by Gary T. Panell The articles on this website may be freely copied and distributed. Source credit with a link to bible-christian.org would be appreciated. Keywords: salvation, saved, repent, repentance, born again |
