Basics: An Overview

                                                          Basics: Salvation

The word salvation means safety, deliverance, preservation from danger or destruction. The word
saved is the past tense of to save, deliver, make whole, preserve safe from danger. So the question
is: From what danger are you saved? God delivers you from the dominion of sin.

Salvation from God through Jesus Christ can set you free from the tainted, sin infected heart that you
were born with. The heart that wickedly swerves from God and chooses the self can be replaced by a
heart that chooses Him instead. There is an actual deliverance that can change your sinful tendencies.
No longer do you have to be enslaved to daily sin, swerving from the heart of God; no longer do you
have to live not knowing what His will is for your life; and no longer do you have to be separated from
Him for eternity.

Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin – to make a way for you to have eternal
relationship with your Creator. But accepting the story of Jesus is not salvation. Wanting to be saved
is not salvation either. You have salvation when you repent and respond to the grace-influence of
God. You must allow Him to apply the cross of Christ to your life.

                                   For by grace you have been saved through faith . . .

You are delivered from the bondage of sin when you trust the grace-influence of God. If you claim to
be saved but still practice sin – it is because you have trusted something or someone else other than
God. Since an authentic faith comes by hearing the spoken word of God, it is paramount that you
seek Him and His will for your life.

When you hear and trust God’s voice – He washes you with the water of His spoken word and your
heart is cleansed when you trust that word. This is what it means to embrace the cross. The cross of
Jesus is applied to your life when you obey God’s voice and die to your self. The dominion of sin you
were born with will be broken and you will be delivered.

Now you can experience a new life where the blood of Christ cleanses you from all sin,   not just
some; now you can have true forgiveness   and can know that you are saved because God tells you
so;   and now you can be more than just one of the many called – you can be one of the few that are
chosen.

So choose to be one who has been

                                   . . . saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus.

1. Spiros Zodhiates, TH.D., The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament, D/B/A AMG Publishers, copyright 1992
by Spiros Zodhiates and AMG International Inc., Strong’s #4991.
2. Ibid., Strong’s #4982.
3. Colossians 1:13-14
4. Ephesians 2:8
5. Romans 10:17
6. Ephesians 5:26
7. Acts 15:8-9
8. Colossians 2:13-14, Romans 8:2
9. Romans 6:4
10. I John 1:6-7
11. Colossians 2:13-14, Acts 10:43, Ephesians 1:7
12. Romans 8:16
13. Matthew 22:1-14
14. Acts 15:11