Chapter V
By Grace You Have Been Saved!
I know many Christians out there believe that they just need to say the “sinners pray” and that they are saved.
We do read that the Bible says:
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9 KJV)
What we need to understand is what “believing” something in our “heart” means. And why just “believing” in our “mind” isn’t enough and that it also has something to do with our heart. And that it’s not just a “thought” that saves us. For our carnal minds have many thoughts, thoughts that are righteous and unrighteous, and sometimes we ponder our thoughts. And in this case it’s not just our “thoughts that count”, but believing in our heart.
We read in James 2:19 that even the demons believe that there is a God.
You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. (James 2:19 NLT)
But we know that the demons will not repent so they’re not going to heaven. It doesn’t mean much, to just have a thought in our mind, believe something in our mind without change in our heart, because even demons have a belief, they believe and they know God is real.
For it is by grace you have been saved!
God is gracious, by His grace, He sent Jesus. That’s the grace that saves us!
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)
Lets look more at Ephesians 2:8-9.
For by grace you have been saved [God’s grace by sending Jesus.. See John 3:16] through faith… (Ephesians 2:8 ESV)
Faith is the gift from God.
So it is by God’s grace. This is the grace we have been saved. For those who believe in Jesus [Believed what Jesus said, did, done, and commanded].
We do this through faith. God has given us faith, and faith is a gift. See 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, this talks about the gifts. And in 12:9 we read that faith is one of the gifts.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (Ephesians 2:8 ESV)
Jesus came to show us the way. He died on the cross for our sins [in order to redeem us].
Jesus told us to repent.
If we believe in Jesus, we shall repent. It’s not something we can gain by working.
…, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:9 ESV)
Not as a result of our “work”. We can’t buy or work for our salvation. But we can repent! It is the action of believing that brings repentance to our heart to repent.
However, we can work for the Lord and be rewarded by our works, but those works are not what saves us. It’s through believing in Jesus. (We will briefly touch on our inheritance and how by our works we can be rewarded in the next chapter).
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him [believes what Jesus, said, did, done, and what He tells us to do] should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 ESV)
If we believe in Jesus, then we believe what he has done and what he told us to do. He showed us the way (to enter the kingdom) by doing it all himself, and though Jesus was without sin, He was baptized!
John said we are baptized for the remission of our sins and Jesus said to repent.
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1:4 ESV)
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17 ESV)
Jesus also said:
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16 ESV)
Sin is what the problem is and this is why Jesus told us to repent. (If you skipped ahead in this book, see Chapter II: Why We Need Jesus).
It is sin that separated us from God.
Adam sinned against God by eating from the tree. So God casted him out of paradise.
It was not that Adam stopped believing in God that separated him from God. It was sin that separated Adam from God.
So it would be repentance of sin to turn back to be with God and not just saying you “believe”, for if you truly believed then within your heart you would repent.
For it is sin that is the problem in the first place.
The last week, I have been meditating on the word of God day and night without intentionally doing so. When I wake up I always dig in to the word of God, either by reading the Bible, listening to the Bible audibly, or watching videos that dig in to the word of God -I do this with intentions. However, the last week when I go to sleep, my mind is just flowing, reading, through scriptures. All I think about is the word of God.
I have been trying to decided how to finish up this book. I know there is a debate on what is the defining point on how we are saved. However, I am not going to debate this. Arguing is not fruitful. We know that sin is the problem and sin is what has separated us from God from the beginning. To come back to God we need to repent, and this all starts with believing. Someone who doesn’t believe in God won’t repent because they don’t believe in Jesus. So therefor the one who doesn’t believe won’t see a need to feel that they should repent. But, just because someone does not believe in Jesus does not change the fact that Jesus is real, it doesn’t make it ok, nor does it stop His existence. (The evidence of God and Jesus can be found. Those that seek it will find it.)
The Bible tells us to repent and get baptized. Why not steer clear away from the edge of where the cliff is and do what Jesus tells us to do. Rather than debate and say, but I don’t need to do anything because the Bible says we just need to “believe” and we are saved. I would ask, “Do you really believe?” Because if you do, you would repent and do as Jesus said.
We should all be worried about our salvation and run as far as we can away from the cliff instead of barely holding on.
We need to put on the full armor of God! We need the fear of God in us to be ready for Jesus’ return!
As for me, I want to be as far away from the cliff, from falling into hell, as I can be. I don’t want to risk missing the rapture or Jesus’ return. I am not perfect, but I do my best to yield myself to Jesus, as you should too.
In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul talks about a race and not getting disqualified. He’s speaking in a parallel to illustrate discipline and obedience to the Corinthian people. What he’s saying is that he has to discipline himself too, so that he may enter the Kingdom, or he could become disqualified.
Don’t become disqualified from the great race. We need to live according to our repentance.
Repentance is an inward change, that produces an outward result. That starts in our hearts.
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. (Matthew 3:8 ESV)
For what is in our heart will flow from our mouth.
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (Matthew 12:34 KJV)
What is woven in our life will flow from us and the people around us will see our fruit, like a ship sailing on the water.
I hope you can see why all seven steps are important.
Jesus is coming soon and we need to be ready!
Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. (Revelation 3:10-11 ESV)
Continue to Chapter 6