Eternal Salvation
The salvation of the soul is the greatest issue that anyone will ever face. It is the question of where each one will spend eternity.
Jesus Christ put it into perspective. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). This should move us to urgently address this issue.
Salvation has to do with eternal life. “And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life” (1 John 2:25). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2-3). This means endless life in a land where there will be “no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).
Those without salvation are called lost. To them Jesus will say, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:41, 46). He has said that in the end He will send forth His angels and shall gather them that do iniquity, “And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42).
“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
There is Salvation in Jesus Christ
Complete text of: Eternal Salvation
Everyone needs a Savior. Mary the mother of Jesus referred to “God my Saviour” (Luke 1:47). She needed a Savior. Everyone needs a Savior because everyone has sinned. The Scriptures say, “There is none righteous, no, not one,” and “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10, 23). Our sins separated us from God.
Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Of Him it was said, “We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42). The apostle Peter said of Him, “For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). The apostle John wrote, “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14). We read, “we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men” (1 Timothy 4:10).
Jesus Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). John wrote, “Not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He purchased our salvation and reconciled us to God.
We come to salvation through repentance of sins and being born again through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).
The apostle Peter preached, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).
A Scriptural Warning
There are warnings in the Scripture that we need to understand and give heed to.
The book of Hebrews says, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it” (Hebrews 4:1). Jesus said, “Take heed that ye be not deceived” (Luke 21:8).
Deception is a danger because of a great deceiver, who is called “the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). He is a deceiver in religion. The apostle Paul wrote about “another Jesus, another spirit, another gospel.” He said, “for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” and “his ministers also…transformed as the ministers of righteousness” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4, 13-15).
The new birth that comes through repentance and faith in Christ Jesus changes a person’s life. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The person who is truly born again has the Spirit of Jesus Christ. “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).
When a penitent sinner is born again he will turn away from sin. The apostle John wrote, “He that committeth sin is of the devil… Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin” (1 John 3:8-9).
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Remaining Saved
To remain saved after finding forgiveness and being born again has a simple requirement, which is faithfulness.
Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31).
Jesus also taught, “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). To the angel of the church at Smyrna He said, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). To the angel of the church in Sardis He said, “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life” (Revelation 3:5). The apostle Paul wrote, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2).
A heavy judgment is placed upon unfaithfulness. Hebrews 10:26-27 tells us, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” A willful transgression is not covered by the blood of Christ without repentance to come back into fellowship with Him. The apostle Peter also wrote, “For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them” (2 Peter 2:21).
Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). God has promised to keep those who are faithful and obedient to Him.
“And now, little children, abide in him” (1 John 2:28).
