What is salvation?
Salvation is the restoration of man’s relationship with God. Salvation happens when an individual is reconciled to God.
The spiritual gap between God and man is bridged. The words “restore,” “reconcile,” and “bridge” tell us that man is not born into this world in right standing with God. Every person is born seperated from God through Adam and Eve’s trangression.
The Bible calls this sin. A person’s conscience bears witness to the wrong they have done. People have broken the laws that God has placed in their hearts. Every person has stolen, lied, cheated, cursed, envied, hated, or done something sinful at some point. All peole have felt the sting of their conscience saying “You are guilty.” It doesn’t matter if anyone else catches us doing wrong. God and our conscience know what we have done.
Because people have done wrong and broken God’s laws, they are guilty before God. It doesn’t matter how “good” or “bad,” “religious” or “nonreligious” a person may feel – all are guilty before God. No one is innocent because they consider themselves less guilty than another person. It is like a person who has stolen $100 versus a person who has stolen $1000. The person who has stolen $100 is not innocent because he stole less. Both are guilty.
People try to justify their own wrongdoing because they go to church, give money to a good cause, volunteer their time, or help someone in need. Doing many seemingly good things doesn’t negate the fact that we still have done wrong. Should a judge excuse a theif’s actions just because he has a previous record of good deeds? Do those good deeds make him innocent of his crime? Certainly not. Neither is any person exempt from being guilty before God.
However, there is good news. Salvation is the good news. Although man is guilty, God offers pardon. He also offers every person a new nature. God removes the sinful nature we are born with, that wants to do wrong. In turn, God gives us a new nature – His very own nature.
How is this possible? It is possible because of Jesus Christ. The punishment for our sin was put on Jesus when He died on the cross. God does not forgive us by simply overlooking the wrongs every individual has done. Rather, Jesus Christ was punished for every person so that we could have peace with God. Each individual receives peace and right standing with God through having faith in Jesus Christ. Having faith means believing with one’s whole heart in what Jesus did for us by paying the debt for our sin. Jesus said, “No one can come to God except through me” (John 14:6)
People in themselves as sinners can not come to a holy, perfect God. Yet, when we ask for forgiveness and are given a new nature, it becomes possible to personally know God. Every person was created to know and worship God. Sin ruined man’s ability to know God. Salvation has made it possible agian.
Jesus’ death satisfied the requirement of punishment for your sin. You don’t need to be isolated from God any longer. You can accept His forgiveness for your life. If you have not already prayed and invited Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Lord, you may pray the following prayer:
“God I come to You in the Name of Jesus. I realize that however hard I try, I cannot save myself. All my good deeds don’t measure up in comparison with Your holiness. So God, I come to You on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done for me. I believe Jesus died and rose again in my place. Right now I invite You, Lord Jesus, to come into my life. Thank You for forgiving my sins and for living inside me. I turn from sin. I believe that I am God’s child and for the rest of my life I will follow Jesus. Amen”
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