What Does It Mean to Be "Saved"?

"So," you might be asking, "Saved from what? And why do I need it?"

Read on.

1. God is everywhere, and sees everything we do.
    
   • The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good (Proverbs 15:3).

   • The LORD searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of thee; but if you forsake him, he will cast you away forever. (1 Chronicles 28:9).

   • The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him (2 Chronicles 16:9).

   • [Jesus] said unto them, You are they who justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God (Luke 16:15).

   
   
2. God Has an Absolute Standard
   
   
   • But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:17).

   • All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

   • The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18).

   
   
3. Man is a sinner and separated from God.
   
   Running from God?

   
   

   The Hound of Heaven
   by Francis Thompson
   (Excerpts)

   I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
   I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
   I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
   Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
   I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
           Up vistaed hopes I sped;
           And shot, precipitated,
   Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,
   From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
           But with unhurrying chase,
           And unperturbèd pace,
       Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
           They beat -- and a voice beat
           More instant than the Feet --
       "All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."

   "All which I took from thee I did but take,
           Not for thy harms,
   But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms.
           All which thy child's mistake
   Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
           Rise, clasp My hand, and come!

           "I am He Whom thou seekest!
   Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest me."

   
   

   • . . . all our 'righteous acts' are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

   • There is none righteous, no, not one . . . . there is none that does good, no, not one (Romans 3:10, 12).

   • The heart is deceitful and wicked above all things. Who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9).

   • If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. . . . If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us (1 John 1:8, 10).

   
   
4. There is a penalty for sin.

   Whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15).

   • The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord (Romans 6:23).

   • It is written . . . `Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue confess to God. So, then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God (Romans 14:11-12).

   • It is appointed to man once to die, but after this the Judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

   • Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death (James 1:15).

   • The soul that sins shall also die (Ezekiel 18:4, 20).

   
   
5. Man cannot save himself.

   ". . . a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation . . ." (Hebrews 10:27)

   • By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight (Romans 3:20).

   • There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Proverbs 14:12).

   • Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us . . . . (Titus 3:5).

   • By grace are you saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves -- it is the gift of God -- not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

   • . . . by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified (Galatians 2:16).

   
   
6. God loves us and wants to restore us to himself.
   
   • In this was manifested the love of God toward us, that God sent his only Son into the world, that we might live through him (1 John 4:9).

   • Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son as propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).

   • God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever would believe in him might not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16).

   • For God send not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17).

   • God commends his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

   

   
   

7. There is only one way of salvation.
   • I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man comes unto the Father but by me (John 14:6).

   • Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).

   • There is one God, and one mediator between God and men:   the man, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5).

   • I and my Father are one (John 10:30).

   • He that has seen me has seen the Father (John 14:9).

   
   
8. We must repent of our sins.
   
   Let Jesus break the chains of sin!
   • From that time Jesus began to preach, and say, `Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17).

   • Then Peter said unto them, `Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit' (Acts 2:38).

   • The times of this ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness . . . . (Acts 17:30-31).

   • Remember, therefore, from where you are fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto you quickly and will remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent (Revelation 2:5).

   • Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19).

   
   
9. God tells us in his Word how we can be saved.
   
   • Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness . . . . Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (Romans 4:3, 8).

   • If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved (Romans 10:9).

   • With the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:10).

   • Whoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God (Luke 12:8).

   • I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes . . . . For in it is the righteousness of God revealed . . . as it is written, `The just shall live by faith' (Romans 1:16-17).

   
   
10. God will forgive anyone who receives Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
    • If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

    • Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:21, Romans 10:13).

    • Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your household shall be saved (Acts 16:31).

    • As many as received him, to them He gave power to become the children of God, even to those who believe on his name (John 1:12).

    • I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

    

11. Jesus himself takes our place.
    • In Christ, God reconciled the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them . . . . For He has made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:19, 21).

    • And you, being dead in your sins . . . He has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Colossians 2:13-14).

    • God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. (Romans 5:8-10).

    
    

12. Jesus Can Break the Power of Sin
    
    • And such [sinners] were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).

    • Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit: for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2).

    • Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:3-5).

    • If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

    • Jesus Christ . . . gave himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father (Galatians 1:3-4).

    • The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished (2 Peter 2:9).

    • Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4).

    
    
13. For Those Who Know Jesus, There is Great Reward.
    
    • Jesus answered and said, Truly I say to you, there is no man that has left home, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundred times as much . . . and in the world to come, eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).

    • I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand (John 10:28).

    • Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which will not grow old, a treasure in the heavens which will not fail, where no thief can reach, nor moth corrupteth: for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Luke 12:32-34).

    • I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.' God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

      He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new. . . . I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give freely from the fountain of the water of life to him who is thirsty. He who overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son (Revelation 21:4-7).

    
    

If any man is 'in Christ,' he is a new creation

all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17)

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