I had a buddy ask me not too long ago what it meant to be saved. He told me it was always extrememly confusing when the Christians he knew talked about "getting saved." Unfortunately he's right. Christians often do a poor job of communicating the truths in the Bible and his question made perfect sense. I know I probably won't do the best job of explaining it either so let me try and clarify by sharing an audio clip. I heard this a few years ago from a preacher in Alabama named David Platt. He spent 5 minutes basically summing up the portions of the Bible that explain what it means to be saved and why Jesus came to earth and died on a cross.
When you read the Bible you'll notice it is a collection of stories and testimonies of peoples lives. It is a phenomenal depiction of thousands of years and generations of people living in harmony with God's word and out of harmony with God's word. It is amazing to see that from the very beginning God has set forth guidelines that He expects us to live by. When we ignore what He tells us and pursue our own desires we are sinning. It is that sin that separates us from having fellowship with a Holy God, and that same sin that puts us in need of a Savior. By simply admitting that we need Jesus to help us and to save us from that sin is the first step in beginning our relationship with Jesus Christ.
There's a verse in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 20 that says...
'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
That verse is such an amazing picture of God asking us to come in and save us from our sins. The flip side is what Romans says in chapter 6...
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)"
You must believe that Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sins. The penalty for our sin is death. God loves us so much that He provided a way for us to escape that penalty.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)
Belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus for your sins is essential for being saved, but it is not enough.
"You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe God and tremble." (James 2:19)
So the last thing you must do is to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life. Confessing Jesus as Lord means to commit total control of your life to Christ. You give him the ownership of your life.
Romans 10:9-10 says:
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:13 says:
For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.
If you know you want to spend eternity in Heaven and you know that you are in need of a Savior then pray the following prayer. It doesn’t have to be word for word because it’s your heart that matters. I just know there will be some of you that won’t even know where to start so I wrote something similar to what I said below…
"Dear God, I admit I am a sinner in need of you. I understand I can do nothing on my own to earn your salvation. In honesty and sincerity of heart I now ask you to please forgive me of my sins, cover me and wash me in the blood of Jesus, give me abundant life here on earth and the free gift of eternal life with you in heaven. I believe Jesus died and rose again for my sins. I confess you Jesus as Lord and Savior of my life. Come into my heart right now, save me and make me whole.”
Guess what, you don't have to have a masters degree to ask Jesus to run your life. You don't have to be a biblical scholar to need a Savior. All of us need to pay for the penalty of our sins and the beauty of all this is that is exactly what Jesus did when He died on the cross for our sins. He paid the way for you to spend eternity with Him in Heaven.
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