Following Jesus
Salvation
Salvation is a gift from God. You are saved from the eternal consequences of your sin and given eternal life. Salvation is about what God has already done for you – not what you can do for Him.
How am I saved?
Ephesians 2:8 says "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith –and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." You have been saved by the grace of Jesus through faith; not because of anything you have done but rather, because of what he did for you when he died on the cross and rose again.
What do I need to do to be saved?
Romans 10:9 says, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Salvation is when you turn away from sin, repent, and believe and confess that Jesus is Lord. You don’t have to work for salvation, you can simply believe for salvation.
(References: Romans 3:20, Romans 5:8, Romans 10:13)
Why is following Jesus the most important decision I’ll ever make?
Surrendering your life to Jesus is the greatest decision you can ever make. Through Jesus, you are given a living hope (1 Peter 1:3-6). Your sin is forgiven and your relationship with God has been restored.
Salvation begins the process we call sanctification. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” This means that your former way of life has ended and a new life with Jesus has begun. No longer are you bound to past mistakes and failures; you now live in the freedom that Jesus brings.
Finally, making Jesus Lord of your life gives you direct access to God the Father. According to John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is, in fact, the only way to the Father and the only way to receive salvation. Accepting him gives you access to everything that God has for you.
As you start to understand what salvation is, you will likely be led to ask more questions
Why is there sin in the first place?
Why did Jesus need to die for my sins?
Why do I accept the gift rather than earn it?
In order to gain a deeper understanding of God’s plan, not just for your life, but for all of humanity, you have to become a student of His Word.
“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3
The Bible is the living word of God. Every part of it is divinely inspired and written. It is how He speaks to us. It tells us His story – and our part within that story.
The Word Of God
The Bible is fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and God-breathed
The Bible is the word of God, written by faithful men chosen by God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. While humans were the vessels God used to write down the passages, the truth of the Bible did not come from human understanding or knowledge. Every part of the Bible is God-breathed. While various writers bring different perspectives, the Bible is inspired by God and reveals his identity, nature, and divine plan for all of humankind.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…”
2 Timothy 3:16
So let’s look at His word…
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
All that you see and all that you can sense was created by God. The very first book of the Bible, Genesis, gives us an account of creation. God spoke all things into existence, including humans.
Scripture tells us that God then placed the first humans, Adam and Eve, into a garden called the Garden of Eden – to work it
(Genesis 2:15). These humans were special, set apart from the rest of creation because God breathed his own breath into them and gave them dominion over all living things (Genesis 2:7).
God’s intention from the very beginning was for humans to share in his royal position and carry His authority in the world. But He gave us the choice to live according to His wisdom and share in His inheritance or to follow our own wisdom and live according to what we think is best. He gave us free will.
In the Garden of Eden, God placed a tree known as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree, but rather to trust in His knowledge of good and evil. But, tempted by a serpent (Genesis 3), Adam and Eve took from the tree and ate the fruit, acting in disobedience to God and introducing sin into the world.
They chose to go their own way rather than to walk in God’s way.