What is Bible Salvation?

As a Pastor, I constantly try to speak to people about Jesus. In these conversations, I find it alarming that most people don't  have a solid knowledge of what Bible Salvation really is. I hear statements like, "I believe in God.",  "I'm on the right path.",  "I think I'm doing pretty good.",  "I was baptized when I was young.",  "I go to a church and am involved in that church.",  "I have been through confirmation."

As good as all those things sound, not one of them will get you to heaven. The Bible says it's by GRACE through FAITH. (Ephesians 2:8) Ultimately, it's not about what you feel, or what you think, or what makes the most sense to you, it's about whether or not you have a PERSONAL realtionship with Jesus Christ.That relationship begins when the Holy Spirit convicts your heart, and you receive Jesus Christ into your life by believing in his death, burial, and ressurrection. The Bible uses the word "Repent." Repentance means more than just feeling sorry or guilty, but it's a change in heart that will result in change of actions. I believe that when a person receives Christ, they become a new creature- or creation!  (II Corinthian 5:17)  It means that there is a change in their life. True salvation always results in repentance. I John is a book in the back of the Bible that talks a lot about the changes that take place when we have have Christ in our life.

Are you trusting in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation? Or, are you counting on all the things you do, or do not do for salvation? True salvation realizes it's not in what we do, but in what Jesus Christ has already DONE by his finished work on the cross.

I know this article is brief, but I hope that after reading this, you would examine your life and see if you have experienced a true, Bible salvation. Your experience and testimony doesn't have to line up with mine, or anyone else's, but it must line up with what the Bible says salvation really is.

Pastor Joel