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He who
believes in the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not believe shall not
see life but the wrath of God abides on him
(John 3:36).
And
the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does
not have the life (1 John
5:11-12, NAS).
John 14:2-3
In My
Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for
I go to prepare a place for you. 3 ?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be
also.
And He shall
wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death;
there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have
passed away. (Revelation
21:4, NAS)
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Salvation is God's gift
of everlasting life. It is freely available to all who want
it. Salvation is a matter of personal privacy between an
individual and God.
The purpose of this FAQ is to answer the most frequently asked questions by those who want to know God. The questions are direct and the answers are simple. If you have never made the greatest of all decisions to believe in Jesus Christ and receive God's free gift of eternal life, this FAQ will answer your questions. Browse the list of questions to get the answers you seek.
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How can I be saved?
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What is the gospel?
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How can I know God?
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What do I do to be saved?
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How do I receive Eternal Life?
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What are the steps to be saved?
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Why do I need to be saved?
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What does God do?
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What is faith?
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What does believe mean?
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How do I know whether I am saved?
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But I don't feel saved; am I saved?
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Do I have to go to church?
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What will happen when I die?
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If I don't sin, do I still need to be saved?
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Can I be saved and lose my salvation?
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I have heard of Jesus Christ; does that make me a Christian?
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Still Confused?
The Lord Jesus Christ through His work on the cross made being saved easy. Through His work on the cross, Jesus Christ paid for the sins of the world and removed every barrier that could separate mankind from God. To be saved, simply believe in the Lord Jesus.
(Acts 16:31).
There is really nothing else to it. The door is wide open for us to be saved. All that is required on our part is to believe in Jesus Christ. He did all the work that is required on the cross.
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The word gospel means "good news." The good news is that Jesus Christ has provided salvation for mankind. Jesus Christ paid for the sins of the world on the cross. While He was hanging on the cross, all of our sins were poured out on Christ and judged.
He (the Father) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin as a substitute for us in order that we might become the Righteousness of God in Him
(2 Corinthians 5:21).
After He had
finished bearing the sins of the world, He bowed His head forward, and said,
"Finished"
(John 19:30).
Then he breathed His last and on
the third day arose from the dead with a resurrection body. The hope
of our salvation is alive, resurrected! If we believe in Jesus Christ,
we will also have Eternal Life and will receive a resurrection body when we
die. The gospel is the story of the death, burial, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received,
that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, (NAS)
The gospel is the information that must be communicated to a person in order to be saved. It is important that the simple truth of the gospel be communicated. Then the Holy Spirit will make the spiritual content of the gospel perspicuous to the person who wants to know God so that a decision can be made to believe or not to believe in Jesus Christ.
For I am not ashamed
of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who
believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (Romans 1:16).
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The only way to
know God is to be born again. Since God is Spirit and dwells in
unapproachable light
(1 Timothy 6:16),
to walk into His presence would mean instant death. It would be like flying
into the eye of the sun. But, there is hope. He has provided a way for us to
know Him. It involves being born again.
But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised
(1 Corinthians 2:14).
Since God is
Spirit and the "natural man" does not have a human spirit, there is no way
for spiritually dead mankind to have fellowship with Spiritual God.
Communication with God is only possible through the Spirit. Just as
communication with a computer requires electricity, communication with God
requires a spiritual link. The only way for anyone to communicate
spiritually is to be born again
(John 3:3, 7).
As Jesus Christ told Nicodemus,
You must be born again
(John 3:7).
Being "born again" means to be spiritually regenerated, to receive a new spiritual life.
When a person accepts Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit creates in him a human spirit so that he can have fellowship with God. God the Father also imputes Eternal Life and His own Righteousness to the new believer. The person who is born again is a new spiritual species. He is spiritually alive and able to have fellowship with God.
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To be saved, one does not actually do anything. A person is saved by a single thought: "I believe in Jesus Christ." This is non-meritorious. No effort is required on our part. To be saved, we simply:
Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved
(Acts 16:31).
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Eternal Life is one of the things we receive at the moment of salvation. At the moment an individual believes in Jesus Christ, God gives that person Eternal Life.
For the wages of sin
is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord (Romans 6:23).
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Listen to the gospel, which is the good news about Christ's payment for our sins on the cross.
Simply stated, the Lord Jesus Christ was judged as a substitute for us on the cross.
"He (the Father) made Him (Jesus Christ)
who knew no sin to be sin as a substitute for us in order that we might
become the Righteousness of God in Him"
(2 Corinthians 5:21).
All of our sins were poured out on Christ and judged. He paid for
our salvation. All the work has been done. After He finished
paying for the sins of the world, He bowed His head and said,
"Finished." Then He died physically and was resurrected the third
day with a new Resurrection Life. We will also have this
resurrection life when we die, if we are saved.
Do you want to be saved? Then, form this sentence in thought only: "Father, I believe in Jesus Christ."
That is all.
At this point God the Father will give you salvation, everlasting life.
In whom also when you heard the
message of truth, the gospel of our salvation, in whom also when you
believed, you were sealed by means of the Holy Spirit
(Ephesians 1:13)
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At the moment of physical birth, God judges us with the sin of Adam. Since we are descendants of Adam, God judges us with Adam's sin. The result is that we are born physically alive but spiritually dead. Sin cost Adam his spiritual life. Since we have in our bodies the sin of Adam, we have no spiritual life. Because we are born spiritually dead, we need to be saved so we will have spiritual life. Our new spiritual life has Eternal Life from God.
We need God's Eternal Life if we are going to live forever, and have
fellowship with God. Without it we are hopelessly separated from God
and spiritually dead. If we die without accepting Christ, we will be
cut off from God for eternity. We will not escape condemnation to
the Lake of Fire
(Revelation 20:14-15)
if we neglect the gift
of salvation (Hebrews 2:3). So, in order to have Eternal Life, we
need to be saved.
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After believing in Christ, the word of
God is fulfilled: "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life
(John
3:36a)."
If we meet God's criteria, He keeps His word. He gives us Everlasting Life
and we can never lose it. "I give to them Eternal Life and they shall never
perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand
(John 10:28)." We can never lose our salvation because we are held by the
power of God, and there is nothing greater.
At the moment of salvation, God the Holy Spirit creates in the believer a
human spirit. God the Father imputes to the human spirit, His own
Righteousness and Eternal Life. The new believer receives the
Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is the Holy Spirit entering the believer
into union with Christ. The new believer is viewed by
the Father as positionally in Christ. The new believer shares
Christ's Eternal Life, positional sanctification, justification,
inheritance and receives many things.
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Faith is that which is believed. To have faith in something, means to believe in it. There is no reason to make this complicated. Even a young child believes in things. Faith is a non-meritorious method of perception. It requires no ability on our part. We simply have faith in (or believe in) the object.
In the case of salvation, the object is Christ. The object has merit - not us. The object is able to save us - not we, ourselves. Faith requires no ability on our part. To have faith, we simply believe, or accept something as true. In the original Greek of the New Testament, the root pistis is a noun which is translated, faith, while the verb form of the same root is translated, believe.
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To believe means to accept something as it appears to be without question. In other words, the person who believes in something accepts it as truth without any proof. No logic or talent or great ability is involved. Believing is an act of faith. Even a child can believe. The merit must lie in what is believed, that is the object. If the object is true, then the truth is believed. If the object is false, then something false has been believed.
In the case of salvation, we must believe in Jesus Christ. He is
true and is not a lie, but this must be revealed by the Holy Spirit
(John 6:44, 65; 1
Corinthians 2:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 John 2:27).
An unbeliever cannot
understand the gospel without the ministry of the Holy Spirit to reveal
the truth. When the issue of the gospel is made clear by the Holy
Spirit, a person may choose to believe or not to believe.
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If you have believed in Jesus Christ, then, on the authority of the word, you are saved.
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not believe shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him
(John 3:36).
And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life
(1 John 5:11-12, NAS).
Salvation is
received by faith alone in Christ alone. That means that believing in Christ
is the only possible way to be saved. If you, in the privacy of your own
soul, expressed your faith in Jesus Christ, then God has given to you
eternal life. But if you did something else for salvation, such as doing
good works, going to church, going to confession, or inviting Christ into
your heart, then you have not complied with the simple truth of scripture.
Such activity will not bring salvation. There is only one way to be saved
and that is God's way. Anything that man does to add to God's procedure
nullifies the result and does not lead to salvation
(Ephesians 2:8, 9).
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But I don't feel saved; am I saved?
Feeling is an emotional response. Salvation is not related to the emotion. It is not a feeling. How you feel has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is based upon God's perfect integrity. If He said He would save us by faith in Christ, He will keep His Word. Salvation is the truth of God. How we feel about it has no bearing on the case.
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No, you do not have to go to church for salvation (before, during, or after). However, at the moment of salvation, the believer is entered into union with Christ by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Since Christ is the head of the Church, the new believer is automatically a part of the one universal Church, the body of Christ
(1 Corinthians 12:13).
Not going to church after salvation is not very smart. It is like getting a new computer (fully loaded with all the latest features and software) and refusing to turn it on. You will never lose your salvation, even if you don't go to church. However, you will miss out on learning about the wonderful blessings of salvation that are for this life and not the hereafter.
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At physical death, the believer's soul will go to be with the Father in Heaven. Heaven is a wonderful place with perfect happiness.
2 “In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
And He shall wipe away every tear
from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no
longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed
away.?
(Revelation 21:4, NAS)
The soul of the unbeliever, in contrast, will go to Hades where it will await the final Great White Throne judgment of being thrown into the Lake of Fire to burn forever and ever
(Revelation 20:14-15).
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Yes, because at the moment of physical birth God judges everyone with spiritual death. Everyone who is a descendant of Adam is cut off from God at birth, and everyone is free to accept or reject Salvation.
For as in Adam all
die, even so by agency of Christ shall all be made alive.
(1 Corinthians 15:22)
The decision to receive Salvation is a personal decision. When a person believes in Jesus Christ, he or she is spiritually regenerated by the Holy Spirit and given Eternal Life. Those who do not choose Salvation remain in the default state of spiritual death.
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After believing in
Christ, the word of God is fulfilled: "He who believes in the Son has
everlasting life
(John 3:36a)."
If we meet God's criteria, He keeps His word. He gives us Everlasting Life
and we can never lose it. We can never lose our salvation because we are
held by the power of God, and there is nothing greater.
"And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."
(John 10:28-29, NAS).
"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"
(Romans 8:38-39, NAS).
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No, simply hearing about Jesus Christ, does not make one a Christian. A person must make a conscious decision to be saved. He must decide to believe or not to believe in Jesus Christ. If a person does not consciously believe in Jesus Christ, then he will remain under just condemnation and will go to Hades.
"He
who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son
of God"
(John 3:18, NAS).
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Then, you are not alone. If you have never believed in Jesus Christ, then I will be happy to answer any question that is related to salvation. Just send me an email at the address below.
salvation@custom-laser-engraving.com
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