Salvation?

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Permalink Reply by TL Cook on October 20, 2011 at 1:47pm

Hi David, Well it's quite a story. I did repent of my sins in 1996, but I kept backsliding, and than in 1998 God said that's enough and I was in a deep spiritual battle for my soul. After that was over, I repented with a sincere heart and was given his precious Holy spirit. I also exercised the gifts of the spirit immediately. Acts 19:2 This is my testimony. See book

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Permalink Reply by C on October 21, 2011 at 10:28am

I was spending the night with my aunt when I was 7.  She was 7 years older than me and I had always looked up to her.  We got into a discussion about Santa Clause.  I was raised in church so I knew the true meaning of Christmas, but for some reason I was arguing with her about Santa Clause being real.  I don't remember all that happened except she ended up telling me that I needed to ask Jesus into my heart to forgive my sins.  I am sure I had heard it many times before, but it never really sunk in until then.  So, I accepted Jesus into my heart.  I was so excited that I couldn't wait to see my mom the next morning and tell her!

Permalink Reply by Ryan Strickland on December 14, 2011 at 1:56pm

I was saved at the Cross..So were you bro! I just havent had my eyes open to what was done for me till about 2 years ago...But i was saved 2000 years ago! :)

Permalink Reply by Rebecca Sanchez on January 10, 2012 at 4:36am

I became a Christian about eight years ago when I was about 8-9. I decided to let Jesus into my heart and repent of my sins but I did not really understand what this meant until I was about 12 when I moved to Nevada and found a church that was truly alive. Then I understood and repented again and here I am today. :)

Permalink Reply by Dee on January 10, 2012 at 5:35am

Well David. I was raised a christian and was one all my life until just recently and I'm 50 now. I doubt the story of Jesus, but I do believe in God. GOD IS REAL! Some things have happened in my life that were just simply unbelievable!!! But, I would have to say I have lived in blind faith most of life and now I have finally awakened to reality. I dont believe God wants us to be naive with our faith; he wants us to be totally cognizant of what is going on! Now I live my life with God totally differently from the way I used to...

Permalink Reply by ka on February 27, 2012 at 1:04pm

When I realized that I was a sinner deserving of hell, I asked God to forgive me of my sin and I trusted in Jesus Christ to save me. I trusted in Jesus because He paid the punishment for my sin by dying on the cross and rising again 3 days later. Now, my debt has been paid, and I live in grateful service to Jesus Christ. 

I recently wrote this on how the Bible says to be saved:

I long for the new heaven and the new earth when Jesus Christ will reign!

Revelation 21:1-5 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' And he who was seated on the throne said, 'Behold, I am making all things new.' Also he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"

But please realize that it won't matter to you whether everything is new if you are not saved. The Bible says in Mark 8:36-37, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?" You might be wondering what it means to be saved and what a person needs to be saved from. God, the One who created the world, gave us rules to live by. These were called the 10 commandments. And just like it is not unreasonable for a master potter to expect his pot to do exactly what he formed it to do, it is not unreasonable for God to expect mankind to do what he created him to do. The Bible says that all things were created to give praise and glory to God (Revelation 4:11). But we fell from our original purpose when we chose to disobey Him. For example: a few of the commandments are to not steal, lie, or covet. Who hasn't done those things? Children do them all the time and so do adults. Although those things seem small, the Bible says that God sees them as big. God looks at a man's heart and can see that a man who does these things does not really care for his neighbor-- a fellow human created by God -- or for God (because he has disobeyed Him). God calls any disobedience to Him sin (Romans 3:23). The Bible also says that every man is naturally a slave to sin and that any good he tries to do is like trying to cover an open wound with dirty rags -- it only makes everything more sinful (Isaiah 64:6; Genesis 6:5).

This is a serious matter because from the very beginning, God said that obedience to Him would bring life, but disobedience would bring death (Romans 6:23). The ultimate result of this death is eternal punishment in hell (Matthew 25:46). It would be very unjust of a judge to let a convicted criminal go free without paying for his crime, and it would be unjust of God to let a sinner go free without justice being served. God is a very just Judge and therefore required you to have to pay for your own disobedience. But the requirement is eternal death... the price is eternal death because you sinned against an eternal God (Romans 6:23). 

But God says that He loved us so much that over 2000 years ago He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place. Jesus chose to take our punishment for us so that we might have the opportunity to be saved from it. No mere man could've done this because they would have their own sin too. Jesus was able to pay for our sins because He is fully God and fully man, He's never sinned. Galatians 1:4 says, "[Jesus Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father."

The Bible says that Jesus died and rose again for our sins. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures."

Just knowing that Jesus is God and that He died on the cross will not take you to heaven (James 2:19). God has to look at you and see you as sinless. This would be impossible if it weren't for Jesus. The Bible says that if you confess your sin to God and turn from it (this is what the Bible calls repentance) and trust in Jesus alone to save you then God will "blot out" all your sin (Acts 3:19). Repenting and trusting in Jesus makes it so that when God looks at you, He doesn't see what you do but what Jesus has done. And because God loves His Son unconditionally, He will love you unconditionally. The Bible says that when a person gets saved, he is placed in God the Father's hand and no one is able to take him out of it (John 10:28-29). This is what's called eternal security. When a person truly gets saved, they can actually get to know God and who He is by reading the Bible and obeying it (James 1:21-27).

A person can know that they are saved because God gives the Holy Spirit to help change him-- the person will begin to actually want to please God, do what's right, and obey Him. If a person says he is saved and yet continues to live like he used to in disobedience to God, then that person has not truly repented and believed God. The Bible says that works cannot save a person (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16), but it does say that works will show that person whether or not he truly is saved (James 2). When a saved person sins again, he does not lose his salvation since the Bible says it's eternal and God will not love him any less (Romans 8:37-39), but he does grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) and ought to repent in order to restore fellowship (1 John 1:9). This is similar to the way a son ought to apologize for disobeying his father.

God loves you and has provided a way so that you can know Him by being saved from the punishment of your sins. Isn't that good news? This is something that everyone should seriously consider. It's the eternal destination of a soul. Many people believe different religions and ideas, but the Bible says there is only one way: "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:6). What I've presented is God's plan of salvation as laid out in the Bible.

I would like to encourage you today to seriously think about what the Bible says. Please confess your sins to God and turn from them, believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again to save you from your sins, and you will be saved.

1 John 5:12 "Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."

(For more information please visit http://vimeo.com/8218310 )

Permalink Reply by Merissa Anderson on October 11, 2012 at 1:26pm

Hi!

I was saved in my Sunday School class when I was eight in 1994. I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. I knew I was a sinner and needed to repent. I knew Christ died for my sin and rose again. I also knew that if I was to die before excepting Christ as my savior that I would for sure go to hell. Romans 3:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life."  My works could not save me: Titus 3:5 "Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us." 

So! I prayed! I asked Christ to come into my heart and save my soul. I believed on him and trusted in him. John 14:6 "I am the way the truth and the light. No man cometh unto the father but by me."

That's my short story :)