Explanations on salvation - the gospel made clear

 - Explanations on the gospel -

*The words ''faith'' and ''believe'' mean ''to trust''. The word ''grace'' means ''unmerited favor''. You must depend on Christ and His righteousness alone to get to heaven and not on your own works. There's nothing we can do to earn salvation. It is a free gift bought and paid for by the blood of Christ (In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace). Your sins need to be paid for (atoned, covered, washed away) in order to go to heaven. You cannot pay for your own sins by doing good works and by repenting from sin- that's why redemption (the fact of being redeemed and made righteous before God) is only possible through faith in the blood of Jesus. If you do not believe on Christ for salvation (if you do not accept the payment He made for your sins), you will have to die in your sins (John 8:24) and spend eternity in the lake of fire to be punished for every sin you've ever done (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:14-15, 21:8).

Salvation only concerns Christ's payment for our sins and whether we accept it or not. It is not based on how we live our lives, the good that we do or the sins that we repent or turn from. Jesus does the saving and the keeping, all of it (he saves you and keeps you saved forever - Jesus saves you and gives you eternal life and He won't take it back because it's not probationary life - it's not based on how you live). The only commandement God gave us to be saved is ''Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.''. You do not need to do any works because salvation is not by works, it's only through the blood of Jesus (Jesus' blood pays for your sins in full - you cannot add works to it. God will only accept Jesus' payment alone, and if you believe that He did it for you and rely entirely upon that payment without adding anything to it, you will be saved.). Once we believe on Christ, all of our sins (past, present and future) are washed away in the literal blood of Christ (Rev. 1:5) and there's no further effort to do on our part. The only change that happens in a person's life and body is chastisement (correction from God). The flesh stays the same after getting saved. Only the spirit (the mind) is renewed (quickened or born-again) by the Holy Spirit as a response to a person's faith in the gospel. It is the Spirit of Christ dwelling in every saved person which enables the person to understand the Bible on her own, or to preach the gospel (the real gospel of faith alone without works and eternal uncondtional security). However, it is possible and it is very common for saved persons to do zero works for the rest of their lives after gettting saved (such as the Corinthian believers in 1Corinthians 3). You can decide to walk in the flesh for the rest of your life, do zero work and still go straight to heaven when you die because your sins are covered (and that is a fact, because works do not count for salvation, so you cannot be lost even if you had none). The judgement seat of Christ is all about receiving or losing rewards in Heaven (for soulwinning or prayer, or things that matter to the Lord). If a believer fails to yield to the Spirit and disobeys the Lord, he gets punished in this life and loses eternal rewards in Heaven, but his soul will be saved, yet so as by fire (1Corinthians 3).

Since salvation is by faith alone (and faith means ''to trust'', ie., what we believe and rely upon to save us) then you don't need works to prove that you're saved (because faith is invisible, we are to judge a person's confession, not lifestyle (if a person is a reprobate then they'll have the wrong answer for salvation anyway and they won't be chastised by God so they will do the worst imaginable sins). Those who say that trusting (relying upon) Christ alone ''isn't enough'' and that you must also do the works and repent of your sins and make Jesus the Lord of your life (live a clean life and stop sinning) and surrender to Him/keep the commandements are NOT fully trusting the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and are NOT saved - (they haven't received the gospel as payment for their sins and are too proud to realize they cannot please God by their efforts to merit salvation). They have failed to separate salvation from service (because service or the christian life after salvation is optional). They are ''establishing their own righteousness'' which is of the law (through their efforts to keep the law and commandements). They think that they are good enough '' and are working at it'' but the Bible is clear that we must rest completely in Christ and cease from trusting our own works of righteousness in order to be saved (Hebrews 4:4, Titus 3:5).

The death, burial and resurrection of Christ is the only thing that can get us saved and it is the only thing we must trust in order to go to heaven- it's a free ticket! In the Old testament, a sinless and spotless animal had to be offered as a sacrifice and its blood was sprinkled on the altar (to picture the coming blood atonement of Christ). That's why our righteousnesses (good works) are filthy rags in God's sight. Only a perfect, innocent victim was to be slain for the people's sins. We're not perfect, and we are not innocent so our righteousness doesn't measure up to God's.

Sadly, the english word ''repent'' does not convey the meaning of the equivalent greek and latin words for repentance (in greek: metanoia and in latin: resipiscere) (which are defined as a change of mind - and means to rethink - NOT to change our lives!). The closest word that represents this meaning in English is ''resipiscence''. In regards to salvation, repentance is simply a change of mind which leads us to admit that we are lost sinners, unable to save ourselves by our own efforts and leads us to trust, hope and rest in Christ as Savior by receiving the gospel (His death, burial and resurrection -1Cor. 15:3-4) as the full payment for our sins and as the only means of redemption - without a further need to change our lives or to do works for our justification - which would be the keeping of the commandments (the Law - Rom 4:5, 10:4, 11:6, Ga. 2:16). 2Timothy 2:25 proves this definition: ''if God peradventure will give them repentance (the change of mind) to the acknowledging of the truth''. So when the Bible says ''repent and believe'' it's not saying ''repent from sin'' but rather ''change your mind TO believe the gospel'' (Matthew 21:32). 

In order to be saved, we have to stop trusting in our religion and good works (including ''repentance from sins or being a good person/keeping God's commandments, our own faithfulness'') and simply trust and rest in Christ because of his finished work - through faith in his blood for the remission (forgiveness) of sins - Rom. 3:25. The bible says in 2Corinthians 11:3 that those who have corrupted the meaning of repentance have perverted the gospel and are corrupting people's minds concerning salvation. This is causing people to trust in themselves instead of Christ alone - ''But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.''. The simplicity that is in Christ means that it's simple and easy to be saved! Those who say that believing and resting in the gospel is not enough and that we must also do works to stay saved or to prove our salvation are not saved! Those who mock faith alone as easy believism and call you ''antinomian'' are ''men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith'' - 2Tim. 3:8. They are guilty of preaching another gospel - a gospel of works! ''For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him''.

Don't trust in yourself- Only trust the blood of Jesus. The blood saves! Once we have believed on Christ, all of our sins have been forgiven and washed away forever - ''Jesus Christ ... washed us from our sins in his own blood'' (Rev. 1:5). Those who call God's grace ''cheap grace'' are blaspheming the spirit of grace. Hebrews 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Our salvation depends on Christ alone. Our own works (such as repentance from sins, church membership, baptism) have nothing to do with salvation - we're saved apart from our works, by faith alone in the gospel alone. If you are trusting your own works to save you, you will go to hell. You need to put 100% of your faith in Jesus alone to be saved. Romans 4:5, 24-25: 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed (counted), if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

The promise of eternal life is '' upon all them that believe'' (Romans 3:22) - In John 5:24 Jesus says: Verily, verily, I (Jesus) say unto you, He that heareth my word (the gospel), and believeth on him that sent me (God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead), hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (shall never go to hell for any reason); but is passed from death unto life (eternal life- heaven).

By trusting Christ alone as your Savior (by believing that He died, was buried and rose again to pay for all of your sins (the gospel - 1Corinthians 15:1-4)) you are saved from your sins and hell (the second death- the lake of fire) forever. You receive eternal life the moment that you put all of your trust in Him for salvation - 1 John 5:11-13 - 11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Once you believe on Christ, you receive God's righteousness (His justice, His moral perfection, His goodness, His sinlessness - Romans 4:5, 2Corinthians 5:21) and it is imputed (counted and accounted for) to your account by faith (after trusting Christ as your Savior - Ephesians 1:13-14). There is absolutely nothing you can do to lose your salvation after having believed because salvation is not of works (it doesn't depend on how you live nor what you do after getting saved-eph. 2:8-9). It's only what Jesus did that gives us redemption and forgiveness of sins (Romans 3:24). Christians are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a down payment until the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30). We have received salvation and the remission of our sins the moment we believed (trusted) in Him (Titus 1:2, Acts 10:43).

God will chastise you (judge you) if you choose to disobey His commandments on this earth (1Cor. 11:31, Hebrews 12:6, Revelation 3:19) but he will never disown you as His son or daughter (Hebrews 13:5). If you do good works as a service, and not as a means to buy your way into heaven, He will reward you - especially for soulwinning (Pro. 11:30-31).

You can doubt your salvation (even all your life because you've done x, y, and z), but if you have trusted Him, God abides faithful and has promised to give you eternal life and to keep you saved (2Timothy 2:13). It's the record of God.

If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you have received eternal life and you are now saved. ''Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ''. - Romans 5:1. Assurance comes from trusting what the Bible says about salvation and not trusting your experience/feelings/doubts.