How to Get Saved

What do Christians believe about salvation? Well, here it is. 

God
We believe that there is one, good, sovereign God. This God exists as one being in three Persons. What does that mean? The word "being" denotes what I am. That is, I am a human being. The word "Person" denotes who I am-my center of consciousness. My own individual self. So within the One being of God-His one mind-there are three centers of consciousness (i.e three Persons). One God who exists as Father, Son, and Spirit. (See my Mind-Model post on the Trinity for more on this) And this sovereign God existed in a state of perfect delight. Out of the overflow of His heart, not because of any deficiency in Him, He created the world. 

Original Sin
We believe that when God created the world, it was good (Genesis 1). He created waterfalls, and elephants, and rainbows, and He knows what else. He saw it all and said it was good. And God created man in His image. This image wasn't a physical image-God isn't like anything in creation. Rather, it's a vocational term. Man was created to reflect God back into this world. We were meant to participate in stewarding creation with Him-to reflect His tenderness and His goodness into this world. Yet man, being endowed the freedom to love their Creator, abused that freedom to rebel against God. This original sin resulted in the corruption of man's nature, and the corruption of creation. 

When we look around us, we know something is fundamentally jacked up. Our own hearts have deep, deep darkness that few of us are wont to admit. Yet pretending that darkness isn't there will not change it. It doesn't take too much honest introspection to realize that we are not exactly great people. In fact, the heart of man is dark. We believe this darkness can be traced right back to our choice in Adam to rebel against our Creator. 

And thus, death ensued. Whereas Adam and Eve lived in the loving protection and sustenance of their Father, they now separated themselves from God via their sin. Whereas the Giver of Life would have given them life forever, they rejected that free gift for the sake of being the gods of their own lives. This is their story...and in turn, our story. This is the plight of the human race. 

Total Depravity
We believe that as man multiplied, he spiraled deeper in his depravity. See, Adam was our "Federal Head" before God. That means that Adam was the representative of the human race. Adam was chosen to perfectly represent and embody the will of his constituency-his descendants-such that his choice to rebel was humanity's choice to rebel. That Fall from perfection is evidenced by our individual choices to do evil everyday. Murder became genocide, lust became rape, disobedience became scheming, and life became death. Man was dead to God, and in turn, dead to each other. If we're honest with ourselves, we know that there are people we hate for being better than us in some way. There are times when we get pleasure out of doing evil-when we yield to that unyielding darkness that infects our entire being. As man multiplied on the face of the Earth, so did our evil. The darkness of our hearts covered the face of the Earth. 

A Promise
Yet God was not done with mankind. Yes, God is just. Yes, God must judge crime. But He had a plan that would satisfy the demands of justice, and show His boundless love. God called a man out of idolatry named Abraham, and made a promise. Through Abraham, all the families of the Earth would be blessed. Abraham had no idea what that promise entailed. Out of Abraham, God built a nation for Himself: Israel. This nation was to be a light in a world of darkness...however, the people of Israel often rebelled against God. Rather then being the light they were called to be, they caved to their own darkness. Yet God put up with them. God extended countless pleas to return, even though they burned their children in sacrifice to false gods, and engaged in horrible evils that defiled God's image in them. Israel's story is a microcosm of the story of humanity. Israel reflects the story of a race of creatures who, though they are ruled by a patient Creator, show steadfast hate and evil. And though mankind engaged in all sorts of evil, God delayed judgment. 

God was intent on fulfilling His promise. 

The Son of God
As I mentioned before, God existed as a Trinity. God exists as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. These Persons, while distinct, exist as one Divine Being. They are not parts of God, they are each fully God. (Again, see my "Mind-Model" post on the Trinity) God sent His Son into the world-the one through whom He made all things. We believe Jesus is God the Son. That is, Jesus fully shares the Divine nature. Thus, in Jesus, the Creator-the one through whom all things were made-entered into the world. Jesus, conceived from the womb of the Virgin Mary, is God's Son. When God the Father sees Jesus, He sees His own perfections-the fullness of His own being-reflected back to Him. God's love for the Son, therefore, is limitless. 

Why send Jesus? "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes shall not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16) 

The Gospel
We believe that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, fed the hungry. All of that was part of this central proclamation: in Jesus, God was making all things new. God is doing away with sickness and disease. God is doing away with death. 

The fundamental plight of man-the one disease that wrought all other disease-is sin. Sin corrupted our hearts and the creation. In Jesus, God is putting that to rights. 

We believe that Jesus obeyed God's will perfectly. We believe that, "though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be exploited for His own benefit, but made Himself of no repute, taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a Cross." (Philippians 2) Why did Jesus have to die?

See, God is Just. A Judge cannot look at a rapist and let the rapist go off scott-free. That would be unjust! So Jesus, in an act of amazing love, willingly chose to pay the penalty we incurred on ourselves. He chose to take on the sins of the world on Himself, and bear the wrath of God for them. And Jesus completely absorbed the wrath of God on behalf of His people, that all those who believe in Him would be reconciled to God.

This is the light that was revealed at Christmas. Though we were so far lost in our own darkness, God made a way so people could return to Him. Jesus, upon taking the sin of His people and being crushed under the weight of God's just and holy wrath, died. And three days later, He rose from the dead. Why? Because Jesus had destroyed death. Death had no hold over the Son of God. Since Jesus dealt with sin, He dealt with death-for "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). The Lord Jesus did this so that you could know Him.

See, the one thing standing between man and God is sin. Yet the Cross bridges that infinite chasm. Jesus removes that obstacle by bearing our penalty and paying with His life. And He crushes death by absorbing sin onto Himself, dying (thereby destroying sin and death), and rising from the dead. 

Jesus rose so that all those who have faith in Him would live, and one day be raised from the dead too. What is faith? Faith isn't just assent to propositions. Faith is child-like dependence on the One who you know is TOTALLY dependable! Faith is the embrace of all that God is for you in Christ-Savior, Redeemer, friend, King-and banking on Him. As Martin Luther said: "Faith is a living, bold trust in God’s grace, so certain of God’s favor that it would risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God’s grace makes you happy, joyful and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures. The Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown you such grace. "

When you embrace Jesus, you are united to Him such that God sees Jesus's obedience as your own. On the basis of what Jesus has done-on that basis alone!-you are counted perfectly righteous in God's sight. In God's courtroom, you are declared perfect solely because Jesus is perfect. Jesus's perfection is imputed (i.e credited) to your account. And when you embrace Jesus Christ, God puts His Holy Spirit in you to transform you. And the Spirit is your personal guarantee that one day, you will inherit new life through Jesus.

See, the Gospel isn't about dying and going to heaven. God is making all things new. The Cross is the point at which heaven and earth, God and man, wrath and love all kiss. The fruit is the renewal of all things. The Cross is the beginning of new creation. When Jesus rose from the dead, He prefigured what will happen to everyone who trusts Him, and to the whole creation. There will be no more decay, no more sorrow, or no more pain. There will be infinite joy in the kingdom of an infinitely lovely God.

The best part of it all is this: you can know the One who made you. That doesn't sound like a lot at first. But consider who God is. Look at the stars in the sky, and think of every blade of grass. Think of the sea, and all the creatures of the deep. Think of the whole cosmos. God created those by simply thinking them into existence. Think of all good things-they flow from God Himself. When you enter into a relationship with your Creator, you find a love so sweet that you will spend nights crying for joy! You find a King so real that you can bet your life on Him a thousand times over. 

You can know the God of the seas and the stars and the galaxy! You can know the sovereign God! You can know the One who loves you so much, that He'd take your place, die on your behalf, and give you new life! You can know God! So the question is this: will you? Will you go on the craziest, most joyful ride of your life? Will you embrace the One who is all-satisfying? Will you embrace the King who loves you? Will you die to yourself, that you might live forever? 

Those are questions you have to ask yourself. They cannot be put off. If you answer yes to them, then here is what you must do to be saved.

How to Get Saved
Look at your own heart. Be honest with yourself! Stare your own darkness straight in the face and do not sugar coat it. Confess your sin before God. Pray something along the lines of this (note: these words will not magically save you. The heart behind it-yielding to Jesus as Lord and Savior-will. Therefore, this is a suggestion/a template): 

"Lord, I know I am a sinner. I know I have violated your law. I have tried to be the god of my own life, and it has failed. Lord, I confess my sinfulness before you. I confess that I am broken. And I repent of it all. I turn away from my own efforts, and my own sin-I turn away from everything that I am and I cast myself at your feet! I cannot save myself. I cannot know you by my own effort. So Lord, I embrace your love for me you showed at the Cross. I surrender my life to Jesus Christ, and I trust Him. Thank you for your boundless love and amazing grace!" 

What must you do to be saved? There are no works that can save you, nor is there a magic sequence of words. No, this is what you must do:  But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
(Romans 10:8-13 ESV)
So please, do not hesitate. Do not put this off. If you are interested in knowing God and have any questions, ask them here: ask.fm/SeanLuke
Or email me at: mrmanwookie@gmail.com
Or most ideally, contact me. If you know me personally (or even go to Neuqua!), I'd love to talk to you. I'd love to grab Starbucks or something with you and share Jesus. I can testify: knowing Him has been the sweetest, most beautiful reality in my life. There is no one like Him. My heart belongs to the King, and I'd like to share my heart with anyone who is seeking. 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! (Matthew 7:7-11 ESV)