The Way to Salvation
Let’s talk about this thing called “salvation.”
It's a biblical word, even though it might sound like a churchy word. It's a profound experience, and I want to help everyone receive it.
It's important to talk about because Jesus did. He said his mission was to bring salvation. Shortly after helping a man named Zacchaeus understand this, he said,
“Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:9-10).
After the church got going, it became a common question, “What must I do to be saved?” (i.e., Acts. 16:30).
The offer of salvation is at the heart of who we are and what our lives are about.
Most people live their entire lives without ever knowing why they exist.
The most basic question we can ask is, “What is the meaning of my life?” The answer is tied to salvation.
When we ask about meaning, we start thinking about happiness. We want to be happy, and happiness seems connected to our purpose. We try many ways to find it:
Through pleasure.
Possessions.
Gaining prestige and power.
These destinations are the mighty treasures of the world: money, power, and sex.
We naturally seek these as conduits to happiness. It’s what we’ve done since we were little tikes, and we simply seek more elegant forms as we age. Pleasure, possessions, prestige, and power are offered to us unlimitedly. Most advertisements hook us with multiple forms of these and all their promises. The lure is almost unbeatable.
I'm fascinated by how old these lures are. In the first century, the apostle John wrote about these four things as the way of the “world,” he told us they do not satisfy, and we should stay away. They're old and crusty traps with slick packaging.
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man {that’s pleasure}, the lust of his eyes {that’s possessions} and the boasting of what he has and does {that’s prestige and power} — comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
These things draw us, but they're impotent of real happiness. We find our greatest meaning somewhere else: in understanding and living our purpose.
What is that purpose?
Consider these six realities:
1. God made us to love us.
That is, in Christ, he chose us before the world was made so that we would be his holy people—people without blame before him. Because of his love, God had already decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ. That was what he wanted and what pleased him. (Ephesians 1:4-5, NCV)
That's an amazing thought. It certainly counters what many think about God, casting him as some bully or dictator or distant cosmic caretaker. In reality, he's love and wants us to experience his love.
2. We were created to enjoy a personal relationship with God and to experience the incredible life he has planned for us.
Jesus said,
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)
God has gone to great lengths to show us what life “to the full” is. It's incredible.
3. When we know and love God and live in harmony with his purpose for our lives, we receive tremendous benefits:
Knowing God personally (John 17:3)
A clear conscience (Romans 8:1)
Life and peace (Romans 8:6)
Help with weaknesses (Romans 8:26)
Meaning and purpose (Romans 8:28)
Confidence (Romans 8:3)
Security (Romans 8:39)
Character transformation (Romans 12:1-2)
Freedom from guilt and the judgment of God (Psalms 130:4)
Freedom from the bondage of our self-centeredness (John 8:34; Romans 8:11)
Freedom from fear (Hebrews 2:15)
Freedom to be all God wants you to be and to do all he wants you to do (Colossians 2:9-10)
And there are many more benefits.
4. But there is a problem—we have made bad choices. We have sinned and that sin has separated us from God and the life he has planned for us.
We sin when we usurp the authority of God. We do it whenever we choose to live our way instead of his. Sometimes we do something wrong, and sometimes we don’t do what is right.
At sin's core, at my core, is a rebellious and contrary disposition to God. We all have it, and it messes up everything, especially our deepest happiness.
All have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious ideal. (Romans 3:23)
If we say that we never sin, we are only fooling ourselves, and refuse to accept the truth. (1 John 1:8)
Sin breaks our close fellowship with God. It causes us to fear God and try to live our lives outside his plan for us. It moves us away from his protection and provision. It embeds loneliness and unhappiness.
The trouble is that your sins have cut you off from God. (Isaiah 59:2)
When our relationship with God is not right, it causes problems in every area of our lives – marriage, career, relationships, finances, integrity, identity, etc. We often try many different ways of coping with our problems before turning to God. Some never return to him. It's a part of our stubborn nature.
There are many ways that seem right to man, but they only lead to death. (Proverbs 16:25)
But nothing we do will fix our problems, the messes we've made with others and ourselves. We become discontented.
5. We can't remove the barrier that sin has created between God and us.
Blaise Paschal said all people are created with a God-shaped hole within them that they naturally attempt to fill, and only a genuine relationship with the living God can satisfy that emptiness. Even when we know that our deepest need is God, we often try the wrong ways of getting to know him. Some of our attempts are found in these phrases:
"I do believe in God.
Believing that God exists is not enough.
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder. (James 2:19)
"I am a good person.
Christianity isn't about doing right; it's about being right. We must be cleared of our guilt; we can’t cover it up. We're not perfect. We need to be made perfect.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)
"I go to church."
Some people think that is the fix. Go to church. Give money. Join a Christian organization at school. But sitting in the watermelon patch doesn't make you a watermelon.
“I can't remember giving my life to Christ, but I've always been a Christian.
The first part of that statement might be true, but the second part is never true for anyone.
Receiving salvation is a choice. We must decide.
Being in a Christian family or growing up in a church doesn’t make anyone a Christ-follower. We must choose Christ. It happens at a point in time, and it's excessively intentional.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
(Jesus said), "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." (John 3:3)
6. Fortunately for all of us, God solved our sin problem through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me!” (John 14:6)
God came to earth as a human being to bring us back to himself. If any other way would have worked, Jesus Christ would not have had to come. The way is a Person. Jesus has already taken care of our sin problem.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. (Romans 10:1-3)
God did this for us because he loves us and wants us to know him.
God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still separated from God by sin, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
God is on one side and all people are on the other side, and Christ Jesus is between them to bring them together, by giving His life for all mankind. (1Timothy 2:5, LB)
God has already done his part to restore our relationship with him. He took the initiative. Now, he waits for us to accept what he has done for us individually.
We each have to choose.
I like to think of this exchange as a credit card I get in the mail. The credit card is mine. It has my name on it. It's connected to an account. Lots of privileges and benefits go with it. But I can't use it yet. I have to activate it first. I have to call and say, “Yes, this is me, and I am willing to take the card.”
In the same way, we have to activate salvation. Jesus has done everything. The price has been paid. He died for everyone who will accept him. God’s wrath against sin has been satisfied through Jesus’s death. But salvation is only for those who activate his grace. How do we do that?
It's as simple and serious as ABC. God does all the work, and we can spend the rest of our lives learning about what is involved and how amazing salvation is.
To receive salvation by grace through faith, we need to ABC–Admit, Believe, and Commit.
ADMIT that God has not been first place in my life and ask Him to forgive my sins.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from every wrong. (1 John 1:9)
BELIEVE that Jesus is the Son of God who lived a perfect life and was crucified to pay for my sins. He rose again on Easter and is alive today.
If you confess that Jesus is your Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name (Jesus) by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)
COMMIT my life to follow Christ by trusting in what Jesus did and making him the boss of my life.
For it is by grace you are saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
We receive salvation not by mindlessly praying but by leaning into the relationship. It’s an authentic move of giving our allegiance to Jesus. It’s like trusting the carabiner-clipper enough to leap off the bridge with the bungee in place.
To be a Christian means to be a follower of Jesus. We must commit our life to his leadership and choose to follow him for the rest of our life.
Christ-followers, Christians, are people who follow Christ, not people who prayed a prayer. We believe that he's the King. We bow to him as our King. We become Jesus’s disciple.
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)
Jesus says, “Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in.” (Revelation 3:20)
If you have never done this, you can ask God to forgive you based on Jesus’s life and death and committing to follow him. Pray to God in your own words, saying and meaning the truths behind the ABCs.
Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. (Romans 10:13)
Need an example?
Here's a sample prayer (do it in your own words, it will feel better):
“Dear God, I want to begin a personal and intimate relationship with you. I am willing, with your help, to turn from my sins and let you be the leader of my life. Thank you for sending Jesus, who died in my place and rose from the dead to pay the price for my sins. Please forgive me and come into my life as my Forgiver and Boss. You are the King, and I will follow you for the rest of my life. Amen.”
This is the path to happiness, receiving Christ’s offer of salvation and being discipled to become like him. Remember, it’s never too late to become who we could have always been. It starts and continues with a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Here are a few more thoughts from a much wiser man than me:
“All human beings have a number of basic aspirations or longings, which (I am persuaded) only Jesus Christ can fulfill. This is not just a theory; it is a claim validated by millions of Christians, among whom I think and hope I can include myself. There is a hunger in the human heart that none but Christ can satisfy. There is a thirst that none but he can quench. There is an inner emptiness that none but he can fill.” (John R. W. Stott, Why I Am a Christian, 95)
If you give your life to Christ, I would love to know. Let me know.
If I can help you in any way find salvation or grow with Jesus, I would like to know that, too.
You're amazing, and God loves you. Run to him. Run fast!