Salvation and Transformation
Why is salvation necessary? Before we can truly understand salvation we must understand why salvation is necessary
why we need to be saved. The need for salvation began in the Garden of Eden with the very first humans. God had created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden where He told them to care for it. In return for their service, they could eat of any fruit in the Garden except the fruit from the tree of "Good and Evil". God told them if they were to break this command, they would surely die.
Satan (the devil) possessed a serpent and tricked Eve through deception causing her to eat from the tree of Good and Evil. She then took some of the fruit and gave it to her husband, Adam, who also ate. This rebellion caused a break in the relationship they enjoyed with God. The rebellious act opened a door for sin and death to enter the world and it broke the close relationship God and man enjoyed. Because of the sin of Adam, all humans are born with sin passed to them from their father and thusly are born separated from God.
Because of this rebellion, all mankind was doomed to an eternity separated from God our Creator. But God loves mankind so much that He formulated a plan to restore the relationship between Himself and mankind. The plan would be costly. It would require someone to live a perfect life on earth without rebelling against God (something Adam didnt do) and then die in our place to pay for this original sin. God chose His Son for this mission. He would be the second Adam. Approximately 2000 years ago Jesus came from Heaven and was born of a virgin. He grew and became a man with the same temptations as every other man, but Jesus never sinned against God. After living a perfect life for about 30 years, He entered fulltime ministry. Jesus went all around His country setting people free who had been taken captive by the devil through, oppression, depression, sickness etc. Jesus has great compassion form people and demonstrated His love by healing all those who came to Him.
But He knew there was more. Jesus knew the original sin committed by Adam would have to be paid for with His own blood. So, at the appointed time, He gave Himself over to be humiliated, beaten, spit on, and crucified. He became rejected and despised by the very ones He came to save. However, Jesus knew this had to be and one of His last acts was to forgive them and ask God to forgive them.
After Jesus was taken down from the cross, He was placed in a tomb much like a small cave. A stone was rolled in front of the opening and guards were placed there to keep anyone from stealing His body. But on the 3rd day, a great earthquake because an angel sent from Heaven by God came and rolled the stone back. Jesus death paid the price for sin and now mankind has a way to restore his and her relationship with God. But, a decision to accept what Jesus did must be made by each individual who wants to be restored to God. God knows mankind cannot do anything on his own to earn back what Adam gave away. The Father knows mankind cant live a good enough life to earn his way into Gods favor. But we can have a restored relationship with God and receive His favor.
Salvation and returning to God's favor is as simple as the ABC's.
A...accept that we are sinners by birth and cannot do anything to earn a relationship with God
B...believe with our heart that Jesus is Gods Son and that Jesus died, was buried, rose from the dead and now lives
C...confess our own sin of rebellion for living our lives without accepting Jesus sooner and confess Jesus as our Savior and our Lord
Jesus told Nicodemus that no one could see God's Kingdom unless he or she is born again. When we confess Jesus as Savior and Lord we become new creatures. The salvation experience recreates our spirits, we become "born again", and our relationship with God is restored. We are then able to live eternally in God's presence. Although our spirits are reborn (recreated), our minds (the way we think) doesnt become completely transformed. Although we do have a new life in Christ now much of our thinking is exactly the same as it was before we came to Christ. We will spend the rest of our lives becoming transformed into Christs image in attitudes, thinking, speech, and actions. This transformation process happens as we renew our minds. It is important to remember we are human and will make mistakes. We may even commit a huge horrible sin the very same day we met Christ and became forgiven. This can cause us to question the sincerity of our decision and if we really are born again.
Sanctification is a life long process. Jesus paid for all the sins we've ever committed but He has also paid for all the sins we will commit in the future. When we mess up, we simply need to fess up (confess our sin to Jesus), ask Him to forgive us, forgive ourselves, and then move on and forget it. Paul said we were to forget those things that were behind us. This is excellent advice to follow.
If after reading this you made a decision to accept Christ as your Savior, please use the "contact us" link to let us know of your decision.
