How to be saved?

This is a question that is asked about, talked about, and just focused about A LOT in church, and in our faith.

Everyone close their eyes, reflect when was the time you had accepted Jesus?

What am I being saved from? Why do I need to be saved? Who can be saved? How do I become saved? Can I fall out of being saved? What if I doubt my salvation does that mean I am not saved?

First, I want to let you know that you are not alone if you cannot answer these questions, because 35% of adults continue to embrace the biblical view of salvation. ACU Cultural Research 1 in 3 US Adults Embrace Salvation.

SO MANY QUESTIONS!! Thankfully the bible is VERY clear about the answer to this question and hopefully this morning we can answer all of them.

Let’s review so far what we have talked about!

Who is God?

God is the loving creator & sustainer of everything. He is unchanging in his goodness, wisdom, and power.

Why did God create humans?

God created humans to worship Him by bearing His image to the world.

What is Sin?

Sin is loving anything more than God. It is thinking, speaking, or acting in ways that are against Gods will for us.

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is God’s eternal Son and Israels Messiah, the promise savior. Through Jesus, we know who God is.

How do I become saved?

We are going to look at a historical story in the book of Acts, when Paul & Silas was beaten and thrown into prison.

Little backstory of this. Paul was going around the Roman Empire, planting churches and spreading the Gospel of Jesus to everyone, not just jewish people. So, they came to this city of Philippi, and they were imprisoned because they were spreading this news of Jesus’ resurrection.

Acts 16:25–34 NLT

25 Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. 26 Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! 27 The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. 28 But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” 32 And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. 33 Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. 34 He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.

The jailer asked a very specific question, “What must I do to be saved?” What did they answer back to him? “Believe in Jesus.”

What am I being saved from?

We are saved from God’s punishment of sin.

From the beginning we have Romans 3:23 “23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” because Psalm 51:5 “5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” We are all born into sin. Just talked about what sin was, loving anything more than God, and speaking, doing, or thinking in ways that are against Gods will for us.

No matter how hard we try, we cannot escape this punishment. Nothing we can do.

Watch Bible Project Video on Sacrifice & Atonement.

Evil has infected this world, and if God was to get rid of evil all together then he would have to get rid of you and me. Because the same evil that is in this world is also in me.

So, instead of getting rid of humanity he let the Israelites use animal sacrifice as a subsitute.

Atonement: covers someone else’s debt. Be at one with one another.

This evil also vandalized the environment in which we live also, so there was another ritual called PURIFICATION. Now that ritual makes things right between Israel & God.

They now experience His love & grace, because it should of been them to die, but that lamb was taken in their place.

How is Jesus the perfect Sacrifice?

how does baptism symbolize what happens when a person gets saved?

Christians have the same power that raised Jesus from the grave.

2 Corinthians 5:14–21 NLT

14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. 16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Romans 10:9–10 NLT

9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.

Romans 6:1–4 NLT

1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

When we realize who Jesus is and that he has come to save us, its natural fro us to wonder how we can recieve that salvation. It may seem complicated at first, but its really as simple as confessing that Jesus is Lord and believing in your hear, that his death on the cross paid for our sins.

If you are a christ follower you are an ambassador in this world. So what things do you need to change so that you can relfect him well?

Answer: By the grace of God, we confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead.