Salvation, or to be saved means to be saved or to be rescued
from the deleterious effect of sin – eternal
death, i.e. to be rescued from being separated from God forever, and, after
this earthly life, from being cast away into hell fire forever, from where
none can ever come back, “And besides all this, between us and you there is
a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor
can those from there pass to us” (Luke 16:26). To
be saved means to be justified before God and for eternity to
be reconciled with God through the Lord Jesus “Therefore, having
been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”; and “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”” (Romans 5:1, 10). The added
benefits of salvation or being saved are that we become
God’s children “But as many as received Him, to
them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His
name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13), and a
co-heir with Christ Jesus “and if children, then
heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him,
that we may also be glorified together” (Romans
8:17).
Every
person is born unrighteous with a natural tendency to sin, “What
is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be
righteous?” (Job 15:14);
and “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived
me” (Psalms 51:5). Unrighteousness and
sinfulness is our in-born hereditary tendency because of the effects
of the sin of our fore-parents, Adam and Eve, “Therefore, just as
through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death
spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Just as a drowning person cannot lift himself out of
the water by catching hold of his hair and trying to pull himself out of water,
similarly a person made unholy and defiled by sin cannot make himself holy and
pure by any self-efforts of being righteous, “But we are all like an
unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as
a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). Just as that drowning man needs help from someone
outside, similarly a person drowning in sin needs the help of someone to be
delivered from the sin, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash
me, and I shall be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:7).
The
Holy and Sinless God can never compromise or keep company with sin – this is contrary to His nature and character, “When
you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make
many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood “; “But
your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His
face from you, So that He will not hear”; “Then they will cry to the
Lord, But He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that
time, Because they have been evil in their deeds” (Isaiah
1:15; 59:2; Micah 3:4). But He also loves
His best creation, man, very much and wants to have fellowship with
him – even though man has now fallen in sin. Not only is God a loving
God, but He is also a just God. He cannot simply condone sin, God's
justice demands that the sinner receive and bear the just and God determined
punishment for his sin – death, i.e.
to be separated from Him, “Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the
father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die”;
“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the
father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the
righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon
himself” (Ezekiel 18:4,
20). If man were to undergo this
punishment then he would never be able to return to fellowship with
God; but God, in His great love for us, does want to have fellowship with
man.
It
was God who provided the way out of this seemingly impossible
imbroglio, so that His justice could be met, as well as He could have
fellowship with men. God was born as a man on this earth, incarnated as
the Lord Jesus Christ, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God”; “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14), and lived a sinless and
spotless even though living as a common man, “For we do not have a High
Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted
as we are, yet without sin”; “For such a High Priest was fitting for us,
who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher
than the heavens” (Hebrews 4:15;
7:26); “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in
His mouth” (1 Peter 2:22); “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins,
and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). The Lord
Jesus never committed any sin; all through His life, He knew no sin. Yet
the Lord Jesus took upon Himself all the sins of everyone
in the whole world, and by taking up the sins of every person of
earth, on the Cross of Calvary He became sin for all the people
of the world, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2
Corinthians 5:21), and He then bore the
punishment for sin for the entire mankind, He suffered death, “For the
love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all,
then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer
for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2
Corinthians 5:14-15) and separation from God in
place of man. “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out
with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is,
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" ” (Matthew 27:46). He knowingly and voluntarily sacrificed
Himself on the cross, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My
life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down
of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
command I have received from My Father” (John 10:17-18). He died, He was buried, and by resurrecting from
the dead on the third day He proved His divinity, “Him, being delivered by
the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless
hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the
pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.”;
“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 2:23-24; 17:31).
Since
it is only the Lord Jesus who has provided an everlasting and appropriate
solution for the sin of mankind, therefore salvation for mankind
is only through the Lord Jesus, no one else, “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). Now,
the way of salvation by the work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross of Calvary is
open for every person of the world, and is freely available for everyone, “But
the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many
died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man,
Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through
the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in
condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in
justification. For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one,
much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness
will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore,
as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in
condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all
men, resulting in justification of life” (Romans 5:15-18).
Now
to receive forgiveness from sins and salvation all that any person
needs to do is to believe on the Lord Jesus, ask for His forgiveness for their
sins from Him and surrender their life to Him; and nothing more, “So they
said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and
your household" ” (Acts 16:31). For everyone, irrespective of their religion
(including those born in families professing the christian religion),
caste, place, color, education, worldly status, or any other criteria,
Salvation is only possible by repentance, i.e. by coming to a
heartfelt realization of their sinful status and it's eternal consequences, by
acknowledging their sins and voluntarily asking the forgiveness for them from
the Lord Jesus and submitting their lives to Him, with a sincere heart, “Then
Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift
of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38), otherwise
not. To be saved is also known as to be Born Again – i.e. to
be born out of the perishing worldly life into eternal spiritual life; and
nobody can even see, let alone enter heaven, without being Born Again, “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” (John 3:3-5); “Now
this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;
nor does corruption inherit incorruption. For this corruptible must put on
incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible
has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in
victory." ” (1 Corinthians 15:50,53-54). This salvation
or being Born Again or being saved is not something that is neither through living according to any religion, nor is it familial,
neither is it inherited nor is
it hereditary; nor is it possible by any kind of works oe efforts, nor through fulfilling
any rituals, nor by observing and following any
traditions or custom and manners, it is purely by the grace of
God through faith and faith alone in Christ Jesus “even when we were
dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 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” (Ephesians 2:5-9).
Every
person has to be personally Born Again for their own sins. Whosoever
believes on the Lord Jesus voluntarily and sincerely, and asks forgiveness for
their own sin from Him, surrenders their life to Him, becomes His disciple, and
commits to living a life of obedience to Him, only such a person receives
forgiveness from sins and is saved from the eternal deleterious consequences of
their sin, i.e. is saved, and receives the honor of being a child of God, and
of living with Him in heaven for eternity “For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23)।
This
is salvation, or being saved – being delivered from sin and from death
i.e. from the terrible and unimaginable pain of
eternally suffering in hell, being separated from God
forever, simply by believing on the Lord Jesus and thereby entering
the eternal life of bliss with God.
So to be saved, do not rely on any thing or anyone else, except
the one true, infallible, inerrant, and irrevocable Word of God - the
Bible, and take that step of faith outlined above to secure your eternal
destiny. By doing so, you have nothing to loose except your sins and eternity
in hell, rather, you have everything to gain, for all eternity in
heaven. You can do it right now, at this very moment; you do not need the
presence or help of any other person to do this. All you need to do to be saved
or Born Again is to pray with a sincere heart a simple, honest, and
straightforward prayer, something like: "Lord Jesus I believe in you and
that you have paid for my sins on the Cross of Calvary. Please forgive my sins,
and accept me. I wholly surrender my life to you. Please help me to live a life
committed to you and according to your Word - the Bible." That is all, no
rituals, no works of any kind, no obligation to any person in any manner, but
just entering into a sincere and heartfelt relationship with the Lord Jesus,
through simple faith.
