SALVATION

Response to Salvation

•         Conviction (Jn. 16:8). The Holy Spirit witnesses to unbelievers to accept the truth and receive Jesus. No one will come to Jesus without a conviction of lostness (Acts 2:37, 9:5).

•         Repentance (2 Cor. 7:10).

           □         Repentance means more than regret or remorse (Mt. 27:3).

           □         Repentance means to change one’s mind (Acts 26:20; Rev. 2:5). In repentance, one turns from sin and then in faith turns to Christ.

•         Faith (Rom. 10:9-10; Phil. 3:9). God set forth faith without works as the means of salvation. One desiring salvation must place faith (trust of the mind, will, and emotion) in the achievement of Christ on the cross and in the resurrection.

•         Confession (Acts 2:36; 1 Cor. 12:3). Faith will confess “Jesus as Lord.” A public confession expresses what has already happened in the heart.

Results of Salvation

•         Forgiveness (Ps. 32, 51, 103; Mt. 26:28; Acts 26:18; Col. 1:14). In forgiveness, God sends off, releases, or lets go of sins.

•         Freedom from condemnation (Rom. 8:1-34, Jn. 8:10-11). Christians should not live as if God never released them from sin. God sees believers in Christ.

•         Adoption (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5). An adopted child of God shares the inheritance of the only-begotten Son of God.

•         New birth (Jn. 1:13, 3:3-5; 1 Pet. 1:23; 1 Jn. 5:1). John Wesley defined this birth as “a vast inward change, a change wrought in the soul, by the operation of the Holy Spirit.”

•         Union with Christ (Rom. 6:4; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 1:20, 2:5-6; Col. 2:12-14, 3:1). The Christian life is the union of divine life with the life of the believer (Jn. 14:20).

•         Peace (Rom. 5:1). Someone asked Gypsy Smith why he acted as though just converted. Smith said, "I never lost the wonder of it."

•         Assurance (1 Jn. 5:13). Jesus’ heavenly intercession assures the perseverance of believers (Rom. 5:10; Heb. 7:25).

•         Sanctification (Rom. 8:30). Salvation includes a past regeneration (1 Cor. 6:11), ongoing sanctification (Phil. 3:13), and future glorification (Eph. 1:14).