What does the Christian term 'Saved' mean?
1. Saved from what?
Ans:- Saved from God's wrath and subsequently from Hell Fire.
2. Saved by What & through Whom?
Ans:- Saved by God's grace through Jesus, the only begotten, sinless, Son of God. [Jesus came in human form, suffered, shed His blood to wash our sins away, was crucified and hung on a cross, died, was buried, on the 3rd day He resurrected victoriously. After 40 days with His disciples He ascended into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father interceding for all who believe in Him.]
In John 14:6 ESV
Jesus said to His disciple Thomas and all His disciples, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
3. What must one do to get saved?
Ans:-
👂Hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
❤Believe that Jesus, the sinless Son of God Himself paid for our sins by His cruel death on the cross and His resurrection.
💔Repent of all our sins.
🤝Willingly accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour and follow Him.
[To follow Jesus is to do the will of the Father, that is, to do what Jesus tells us to do. From then on there must be no looking back. That means we should give up all our former practices of religion, idol worship and sin. We must willingly obey Jesus out of love for Him.]
Matthew 7:21-23 ESV
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' [23] And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
Luke 6:46-49 ESV
"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you? [47] Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: [48] he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. [49] But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great."
4. What happens when one gets saved.
Ans:- When we get saved:-
🔺 All our sins get washed away supernaturally by the blood of Jesus.
🔺 We receive God's Holy Spirit as an assurance of our salvation.
[He is known as 'The Helper, The Comforter, The Advocate' etc and is only given to those who truly believe in Jesus, as a seal, to ensure our close walk with Jesus and our sure entry into heaven by the narrow gate.]
In John 14:26 Jesus tells His disciples,
"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you."
[Then with the help of the Holy Spirit, we who are saved will begin to live a transformed life in Christ Jesus. We will begin to do good works as a result of our being saved. We will not do these good works to earn salvation as we did before we were saved, because good works will never save us. Only faith in Christ Jesus will save.]
5. How do we keep that position of being saved?
Ans:- We can't keep it by ourselves. It's impossible. We are sinful creatures. This work is done in us by the Holy Spirit.
[The Holy Spirit will give us the power not to sin and empower us to live a life pleasing to God. That does not mean we instantly begin to live lives without a single sin. Yet, it means He will create a repulsion for sin in our hearts. We will not look at sin like something that gives us satisfaction or pleasure any longer. Even if we, through years of practising sin, do something wrong, He will convict us and give us no peace of heart till we repent and be transformed through the renewing of our mind.
Romans 12:2 ESV
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
We also get the strength from the Holy Spirit to cooperate with Him to 'work out our salvation in fear and trembling'.
Philippians 2:12 ESV
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,]
6. How can we work out our salvation in fear and trembling?
Ans:-
🔸By having a deep reverence for God and His Word.
🔸By reading the Bible daily and staying rooted in Jesus.
🔸By meditating day and night on God's Word.
🔸By praising and worshipping God through hymns, our daily lives, our speech, our actions and our sacrifices.
🔸By loving God and showing it by obeying every command of Jesus with the Holy Spirit's help.
🔸By being humble and bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
7. What if a person who is saved continues to sin?
Ans:- The Holy Spirit will sanctify the person who is saved.
[One who is truly saved will have his conscience pricked every time he rebels against God and sins. God is merciful to the sinner. He gives chance to each one to turn away from sin until the last minute. The Holy Spirit using various methods will get that person to turn away from sin and into repentance. He takes over this moulding and pruning process of each believer in Christ Jesus, which is known as sanctification. We will be progressively sanctified until we are transformed into the very image of God. A new branch when grafted onto a tree takes time to bear leaves and fruit. It does not happen instantly.
For those who keep backsliding this sanctification process will be painful but will be employed by the Holy Spirit for the good of him/her. He will never let them go. Just like a grafted branch is constantly monitored and pruned to bear leaves and fruit, the Holy Spirit constantly does His work of regeneration in each believer.]
Jesus said in,
John 10:27-30 ESV
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. [29] My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. [30] I and the Father are one."
[If you continue to rebel and do not hear the voice of Jesus and follow Him(obey Him) then you are not His sheep and you are not saved. You are a branch which is superficially grafted into the tree and will soon wither away.]
8. What is the evidence of being saved?
Ans:- Matthew 7:16 – “You will know them by their fruits," says Jesus.
🔹Those who are truly saved will have the reverent fear of God in them. They will shudder to offend a merciful and loving God by their sins. With the help of God's Spirit who lives in them, they will repent and avoid all situations that make them sin.
🔹They will bear fruit. They will exemplify love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in their character. This character is produced by the Holy Spirit in those persons who obey Jesus.
🔹They will walk humbly before God and men.
🔹They will love God and love their neighbour as themselves.
🔹Their lives will be marked by an obedience to God's Word.
9. Are all who profess to be Christians, or Believers truly saved?
Ans:- No. Some just take on a Christian sounding name and say they are Christians. Some go to church but do not repent of their sins nor live the life God wants them to live. Many are born into Christian families but have not repented nor accepted Jesus on their own accord. They continue to live the same sinful and prideful lives as before without any form of repentance. Sadly many of them have said the sinner's prayer as a form of ritual and also have been baptised because they were forced into it or all their friends got baptised so they followed suit. The sinner's prayer and baptism are not magical formulas. There must be true repentance of heart and a total submission to the will of the Father. Remember not all vehicles parked in a carpark are cars. Not all who go to church are true Christians.
Jesus said in Matthew 7:16 that we will know them by their fruit. Here Jesus was warning his disciples to be wary of false prophets. This was His context:-
Matthew 7:15-16 ESV
"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. [16] You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
He also said in
Matthew 7:19 ESV
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
He was at the same time warning his disciples and all who were gathered there, that if they themselves did not bear good fruit, they will be thrown into fire, that is hell.
Let us look at the following analogy:-
Imagine you just cut a branch and graft it to a tree. If you do not graft it properly, the sap {Sap is a sugary liquid filled with water and nutrients that are carried throughout the tree via two types of tissue called phloem and xylem. Phloem carries nutrients from the leaves to other parts of the plant, while xylem carries nutrients upwards from the roots.} from the tree will not flow into the branch. Then the branch will wither away because it is devoid of nutrients needed to bear fruit.
In the same way if we are not honestly abiding in Jesus, obeying Him out of love, then we are not truly sincere and will not receive the Holy Spirit Who is 'the nutrient' needed to bear spiritual fruit. Thus we will be cut off.
Jesus went on to say this:-
Matthew 7:21-23 ESV
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. [22] On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' [23] And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
This clearly shows that not all who call themselves Christians will go to heaven. Only those who are sincere in their repentance and acceptance of Jesus and have a reverential fear of God and are obedient to His Word are saved by the blood of Christ Jesus and will enter heaven. That is, those who bear good fruit.
Jesus told Nicodemus in
John 3:5 ESV
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
Being born again is the second birth, which is spiritual, when we repent and accept Christ Jesus and obey Him.
[Now before I sound judgemental, let me say this:- Although I said not all who go to church are true Christians, we must remember that our Sovereign and merciful God can draw them to Himself at any given moment. He is God and we are not. We will only know if they are truly saved if we meet them in heaven.
Therefore, we will be making a grave mistake if we keep looking at others for their fruit instead of bearing fruit ourselves.
Let us look at ourselves and examine ourselves and see if we are truly saved. Just by saying we are 'Believers' and living in the old sinful ways of our flesh, we will be mocking God.
If we truly believe in Jesus and have surrendered our lives to Him,
💠 we will have a repulsion for / a disgust for sin,
💠 the desire to turn from our old sinful habits,
💠 we will humbly yield to the sanctification of the Holy Spirit and
💠 obey Jesus.
Only then can the Holy Spirit produce the fruit in us and we will be able to bear it.
🔺If we continue to have pride and unforgiveness in our heart;
🔺If we continue to slander or curse others and plot wicked plans as we did before;
🔺If we do not repent and come under the Lordship of Jesus till our death;
Then we might seriously doubt our own salvation.
Having said all that, only God knows and weighs each person's inner motives and heart condition.
Proverbs 16:2
All a man’s ways are pure in his own eyes, but his motives are weighed out by the LORD.
We must not go around telling others that they are not saved. If we are truly saved, our hearts will be filled with a holy compassion for their lost souls. The Holy Spirit will prompt us to pray for their salvation.]
10. What must one do after he truly repents, believes in Jesus and accepts Him as the Lord of his life?
Ans:- The next step is to get Baptised.
11. Is Baptism necessary to be saved?
Ans:- Baptism does not make you a follower of Jesus. It alone does not save you.
Baptism has been described as an outward expression of an inward commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It is a public proclamation of a personal decision to identify with Christ. In baptism, we illustrate the powerful truth that, in Christ, we have died to sin and are raised to new life in Him (Rom. 6:4).
12. If Baptism does not save a person, why do we need to be baptised then?
Ans:- We need to be baptised because it is a 'Command' of Jesus. In Matthew 28:18-20 ESV, before Jesus ascended into heaven on the clouds He called His disciples together and told them this:-
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
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Dearly beloved,
Jesus, the Son of God did not come to save just one single race, the 'Jews' nor only the Christians. It was God's plan to save the entire human race from Satan's grip, after Adam and Eve sinned and surrendered their lives and subsequently all the lives of their descendants (entire humanity) to Satan.
In order to save the entire humanity, God had a plan. Abraham was chosen and promised by God that, "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you," in Genesis 12:3. By this, God meant that all people of all nations will be blessed through Abraham, by a specific descendant of his, who will come after David . That descendant of Abraham Who came after David is Jesus.
The phrase, 'All the people of every nation' refers to you and me. Adam and Eve sinned and that separated them from a holy God. We who are born with Adam's and Eve's sinful nature continue to sin and are separated from God. The entire humanity has been living under the evil grip of Satan. Only the blood of one who is sinless can be shed to wash away every sin we have committed. No blood of a goat or lamb can wash our sins away. Therefore God sent His only begotten Son Jesus to be born as a human being, through the bloodline of Abraham and David and live a sinless life and be sacrificed for our sins. God did this for every human being born on earth, from Adam till the last one on earth. Jesus after His resurrection commanded His followers who believe in Him, to go and tell the Good News to all the nations until the ends of the earth.
Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
God has given us a free will. He does not want us to be robots. Those who exercise their free will to *hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and *repent, *believe in Jesus and accept Him as their Lord, will be washed clean by the blood of Jesus and become God's children. They will inherit heaven.
God is merciful and has given everyone a chance to hear the Good News, through numerous mediums. Those who do not repent, believe and accept Jesus will not be able to enter heaven nor become God's children. I am not saying this. Jesus Himself said this.
Here is a chance for you to discover for yourself Who Jesus is. Do not blindly believe me. Do your own research. Ask God to reveal the truth to you. When God removes the blinders from your eyes you will see. Do not stop searching and asking questions. Get a copy of the bible and read it. Read my posts on fb. In many of them I have shared the Good News in bite sizes. When you stand before God after you die, you will not have any regrets if you allow God to remove the blinders and reveal the truth to you.
I am praying for each one of you...
🙏 those who do not know Jesus,
🙏 those who keep rejecting Jesus and
🙏 for those who are not bothered about what happens after death.
May you surrender yourself to God Almighty 🙌 and let Him open your eyes 👀 to the Truth 🔥.
Come to Jesus when you still have time!
For further questions please refer to the following link below:-
https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-doctrine-salvation.html
Praying sincerely for you!🙏
Mary Augustine🔥
15th May 2022✍
