Salvation

For Children’s Understanding

Q. Do you know whether or not you are going to heaven?

A. If you want to know for sure, then you must do this: Accept Jesus as your Savior.

Jesus is the Son of God. A savior is one who saves you from danger and/or destruction. In order to go to heaven you must say, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God his Father raised him from the dead. Jesus is our Savior who gave up his life so that everyone on earth would have an opportunity to go to heaven.

For Adult Understanding

Concerning the act of salvation: We believe it is both a required act and a process.

  1. Salvation is an absolute requirement if any man who expects to go to heaven will actually see heaven: “I tell you the truth,” Jesus said, “no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. . . Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water [woman] and of God [Spirit], he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit . . . Ye must be born again” (John 3: 3, 5-7).
  2. Salvation belongs to him who will “confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom 10:9).
  3. Until you are “born again,” you are a slave to sin and must be SET FREE from slavery
    to sin (Romans 6:18). As Jesus said, [Should] you not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins (John 8:24).
  4. NO man is born without the mark of sin upon his soul (Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12,14).
  5. Salvation cannot be bought or earned but is a GIFT: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).
  6. Salvation belongs to the Lord” (Psalm 3:8) and can be given only through the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:15-17), the Way, the Truth, and the Life who said:
    1. “no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6).
    2. I . . . am the Lord, and apart from me there is no savior (Isa 43:11).
    3. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved (John 10:9).
  7. Salvation is the reason Jesus set aside His divinity and came to earth as a man for this purpose: "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10) and destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) for our sakes.

Concerning the process of salvation:

  1. Our redemption and rescue from hell by Christ Jesus begins a lifelong cleansing process with the renewing of our mind (Rom 12:2) until we are conformed to the image of Christ (Genesis 1:26).
  2. We are commanded to work out our salvation daily (Philippians 2:12) because “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36).
  3. We are promised that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6) and that everyone born of God overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).
  4. As children of God, we stand on the gift and power inherent in salvation, for He that hath the Son hath life (1 John 5:11).