Featured Salvation Process

As I understand it, at the most basic level, it is a matter of accepting His gift of Grace by faith (Eph 2:8- "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it it the gift of God,") and of holding on to that gift (I Cor 15:1,2- "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you- unless you believed in vain.")

So what do you believe is required of someone to be saved?

 

I know a lot of people that believe that Jesus is our Lord and savior, and they believe that He died for us on the cross so that we could be saved.

But even after knowing all of the scripture, and confessing all of these beliefs in Jesus, they still refuse to repent. These things of the world are more important to them than turning from their sins.

Matthew 19:23-24

King James Version (KJV)

23Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

I believe thay Jesus was speaking of anyone that puts the desires of the world over the gospel. rich and poor alike. Even poor people have worldly desires that they refuse to tuen away from......such as substance abuse and sexual desires.

I believe that it is highly probable that the rich man in Matthew 19 did indeed believe that Jesus was the messiah. But his desire for worldly things was too much for him to give up.

And I believe that this is why many people that do actually believe in Jesus are not saved. They refuse to repent and turn from worldly desires.

Yes, salvation is a process, and repentence is crucial to the process. Perhaps even the final step in the process. Lots of people get to that point in the process and cant go any farther.

Hear the Word, believe the Word, confess we are sinners in need of salvation, and repent.

John

 

Here's What I Think of Your Question, FAL!

:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

 

Seeking- Repentance is undeniably part of true acceptance of His gift because His way and our way are so incompatable.

 

My thoughts on bowing are figurative not literal...

Before I respond, I have to ask you FAL, is this one of your trick questions? :laugh:

I would hope, that when I asked Him into my heart as Lord and Savior, I also confirmed that He is Lord of all, and the process of sanctification [spiritual growth] began! As those who were saved under Jesus proclaimed, when asked, "You are Lord!"

As for bowing, we bow in many different ways. One way to bow is literally, the other is in a figurative/metaphorical sense. However, both have to begin in one's heart, and I would think that anyone subjecting their life to Him, is simultaneously bowing from within, as a figurative recognition of Jesus being the only Son of God, and the only one with the spiritual power to forgive and cleanse sin.

For this reason, I can only assume that the person has bowed to His Lordship at the time of their salvation. To actually be required to genuflect at the moment of our salvation would also represent the need in the child of God to have to subsequently, genuflect every time they enter His presence, for example when we pray, and there will be times that physical genuflecting is prohibited by one's environment or personal circumstances.

It is my belief that God knows the heart, and therefore, knows the humbling of the heart before Him.

 

Here's Romans 10:9

Romans 10:13

Acts 17:30

Acts 16:31

So what are the elements of salvation? Repentance and faith, the object of which is the LORD Jesus Christ.

Repentance comes on the heels of Holy Spirit illumination, conviction and drawing. The Holy Spirit makes you aware of your sin, brings you to the point where you see your sin as God does, and leaves you nowhere else to turn but to the Lord Jesus.

Faith (belief) is simply putting all my eggs in one basket, believing the truth that Jesus died for sinners like me, rose from the deal to seal his victory over death (and show that he was God). In many ways it is intellectual assent to the truth, but it is more than that. It is recognizing that if you are to be saved from your sin and sinfulness, you have nowhere else to go.

If there is another way, then I'm a dead man, because my eggs are all in Jesus' basket.

 

Yeah, and my eggs are in there too.

...and my name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life! AMEN!

 

I think we need to be very careful in the use of the Sinner's Prayer as a soul-winning tool. Now don't get me wrong. I believe that a lost sinner who cries out to God for salvation will be heard. But I have seen this corrupted in to "say these magic words."

I shudder when I hear someone instruct a lost person "repeat after me. Lord Jesus, I confess that I'm a sinner........etc...."

What am I to think when someone tells me that their hope of heaven is "well, I said the prayer."

If I have to lead someone to repeat a prayer after me, I have failed miserably to instruct them properly on the way of salvation.

 

Can't beat that! For the basic elements of the salvation process it both Biblical and sound, anything more or less is a falsification of gospel of Jesus Christ.

BTW - when we receive eternal salvation, according to scripture, is at the moment we are regenerated. - we are a new creation in Christ, old things are passed away (no more, does not exist) behold or take notice, all things are made new (having no spot, stain, or taint). Thus justification and sanctification have taken place in the life of the one who has believed and is the very act of God upon them

 

:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

 

Brother FAL,

Here's how God dealt with me. I was coming home from work one sunday morning, and I was listening to a FWB preacher(like I did on many occasions), and he was preaching on Daniel ch. 3. I came to the realization that this was the road I was on, and if He didn't save me, I was a goner. I didn't know how to save myself, but I began seeking His forgiveness. I went to church, I read the bible, I begged, pleaded, cried, groaned to Him for His mercy. I had it in my mind that if I would quit doing "this" He'd save me. WRONG!! Still lost, ruined and undone. I thought if I quit doing "that", He'd save me. WRONG!! Still lost, ruined, and undone. I had gotten to the point where I thought I might have sinned away the day of Grace for me, and that He would not accept me. I honestly didn't know what else to do. One night at work, May 24th, 2007, I was in complete misery. I was lost, seperated from Him because of my sins. I didn't know what to do to find His forgiveness. I had been praying to Him all night at work(on the inside), and I was a complete mess. It was when I quit trying to save myself, that He took over, and did a work that only He could do. In the salvation process, it comes down to this. It is when we quit trying to make ourselves good enough for Him to save us, and quit trying, that He will take over and do His job the best way He knows how.


Sure, we must repent, humble ourselves under His mighty sovereign hand, pray to Him, but at the end of the day, the job of saving is His, and not ours. We must repent, and believe the Gospel, and then, He'll come in, raise us up out of the mirey clay, set us upon a Rock, establish our goings, and put a new song in our mouth, even praises unto Him.

 

Reading the mail this morning on the forum and could help but notice a Hockey Game broke out.

:laugh:

 

I think we should be careful about the terminology we use with regard to salvation.

Let's take "I prayed to receive Jesus," for instance. Elsewhere, I said that God will hear those who cry out to him in repentance and faith. But one doesn't have to pray to receive Jesus. The scriptures tell us that confessing our sin, being sorry for that sin and trusting Christ for salvation (which includes declaring him our Lord) is sufficient.

Now, "I asked Jesus into my heart." Nice, gentle,touchy-feely, but nowhere does the scripture tell us to do that to be saved. There was nothing touchy-feely or gentle in Paul's statement on Mars Hill that God COMMANDS us to repent. It is a command, not a request.

Next, "Come to the altar." I used to tease a former pastor of mine when he used that terminology. I asked him "where is the altar in a Baptist church?"

The point is, let us not blow an uncertain trumpet or try to soften the message when calling men and women to repentance and faith.

 

Tom, I agree.

There will always be some "repeat after me" methodology man has desired as a sure indication that a person is saved. That is the distraction from the truth evil will always present.

There is a difference in true repentance unto salvation and repentance for just being caught.

When one presents God as an angry, vengeful, beastly figure ready to strike down the wicked with the wrath of His commandments, I am not certain the picture is accurate to repentance unto salvation as much as one expressing repentance for just being caught.

We are to be, as Christ prayed, known for our love. Love does not embrace evil, love does not embrace sin. Love rebukes both, but does not leave truth without mercy, nor does the peace of God forsake the embrace of righteousness.

The cross of Christ is the love of God presented in the midst of the most vile and sin filled world condition. At no other time in the world's history did the actual holders and keepers of the truth along with the holders and keepers of the social/political/civil realms meet with the singular determination to stamp out the very God. Yet, God loved.

The unrighteous will make much of their own right but miss God's love. (Luke 11:42)
Some will not have repentance unto salvation because they do not have God's love. (John 5:42)
The repentance unto salvation comes because God loves. (Titus 3)
The believer serves God because God Loves. (1 John 3)
The believer has hope because of God's Love. (Romans 5 and Romans 8)
The believer has peace, hope, and communion with both God, fellow believers and heavenly saints because and through God's love. (2 Corinthians 13)

 

There have been lots of posts making fun of or belittling the altar. Had on grown up in a church that never had an invitation, that one joined a church by memorizing a set of questions like a history test, then one might have a different perspective. (Presbyterian)

While I do not condone a "repeat after me" invitation, or "one more round of Amazing Grace," (one more time!!!), I do very strongly support the notion of having a time at the end of a service to let the Lord deal with you, to publicly express or confess whatever needs to be accomplished.

If one had gone to a cold, empty service, year after year, of a boring sermon, a prayer, and end the service, as everyone walks out like stoic robots, maybe the thoughts would be different.

Again, the choice is presented here of kumbaya or a angry God with a whip. That is not the two choices. It is like the choice between Obama and Romney, one does not have to choose false doctrine A or false doctrine B. If I remember correctly, when the Lord saved Paul, He did not say, I'm ok, you're ok. Neither did He have a whip and brass knuckles to beat Paul into submission.

If the purpose of the altar is kept in a correct mindset, it is a wonderful thing. The altar does not save, and neither do all the interesting theories in the previous posts, Jesus Christ does.

The testimony above that talked about stopping trying to do things to please the Lord, and let Him take over the salvation process (convicted1), is the best I have heard in a long time. If we depended on the Lord instead of worrying about what a couple of dead 16th century theologeans thought about the matter, we would all be better off.

There are many issues on this board that are presented in the format of two choices, and we feel obligated to limit our minds to choosing one of the two. There is nothing that limits God or us to man made, flawed choices. When all of you started school, and a professor got up and said, you can choose to earn a D or F, and the syllabus said you could earn an A, B, C, D, or F, which would you believe?

 

Since saturneptune and I serve in the same church, he knows where I'm coming from when I kid my former pastor about "coming to the altar." Those who employ that exhortation don't mean there's a real altar in a Baptist church. It's another way of saying, "come down here where I am."
Too often, "come down here," suggests that one has to go down front in order to be saved, in order to re-dedicate one's life, or whatever.

And, of course, it has to be done right after the sermon and before the benediction, because that's the only time the Holy Spirit can illuminate, convict and draw sinners.

There is not a thing wrong with exhorting men and women to repent. Peter did it on the Day of Pentecost. Paul did it during his sermon at Athens on Mars Hill. But Paul's exhortation was part of the sermon, not an appendage to the sermon.

Interesting. Peter had already finished his sermon. Obviously, he had said all he planned to say. His exhortation came in response to a question, "What shall we do."

Paul's exhortation in Acts 17 was "repent." The response was "some believed."

My concern is not the use of an invitation, but the abuse. My own pastor gives one, but it is not manipulative in any way. I have seen all sorts of little psychological tricks employed to get some kind of response from the congregation--any response, just some kind, so it can count as a "decision."

Someday, some preacher is going to shock his congregation by presenting the gospel, calling men and women to repentance and faith, and then---then---just shut up and wait on the Holy Spirit.

 

This is Fabulous....

.....great testimony, brother. You get a great big AMEN

 

getting saved by God is an immediate act of His grace, ONLY requiring us to place faith in Jesus to be our saviour, which is done while we realise that we are sinners that cannot be perfect, and we place faith in the Chrsit of the Bible to be our saviour!

salvation itself is by faith/grace alone, but then we start a lifelong conforming into image of jesus process!