In the letter to the Romans we find the apostle Paul’s clearest and most detailed explanation of the Gospel message. After his customary salutation, Paul explains his unabashed passion for taking the Good News of Christ to the ends of the earth: “it is the power of God to Salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom.1:16). The Greek word for Salvation used by Paul literally means “deliverance” or “preservation.” In a spiritual context, the idea is rescue from the power and dominion of sin. Paul’s fervor for preaching the Gospel was rooted in its power “to free” or “to rescue” people from the tragic consequences of their own sin.
Paul and the other the New Testament writers portray Jesus Christ, on the basis of His sacrificial death on the Cross in the place of sinners, as the Author and Provider of Salvation (Rom.3:24-25; 5:21; Acts 4:12; Heb. 12:2). This spiritual deliverance is graciously and lovingly offered by God to all people, but only those who repent and trust in Jesus will experience its blessings (John 3:16; Eph. 2:8, 9; Heb. 2:3).
What exactly are those blessings? Some Bible teachers summarize them as Salvation from the penalty of sin, Salvation from the power of sin, and Salvation from the presence of sin. Theologians use the terms Justification, Sanctification, and Glorification.
Justification is the divine act of declaring sinners to be righteous on account of their faith in Jesus. He paid for their sins completely and finally on the Cross, and through faith in Him their sins can be forgiven (Rom.3:21; 4:5; 5:1). Closely related to justification is regeneration, in which the Spirit of God indwells a repentant sinner and imparts eternal life to his or her spiritually dead soul (Eph. 2:1–5).
Sanctification is the process in which God develops the new life of the believer and gradually brings it to perfection (Rom.6:11; Phil. 1:6). Sanctification is also the living proof of the power of the Holy Spirit indwells in the new Christian's life (Rom. 8:9-10; 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 4:22-24; Gal. 5:16-26).
Glorification is the ultimate Salvation of the whole person. This occurs when we are face to face with our Savior in His coming kingdom. At that time, God will completely mold us into the image of Christ (Rom.8:29, 30; Phil. 3:21). Then we will be able to enjoy complete fellowship with God, singing His praises forever.
Other benefits of Salvation include Reconciliation and Adoption. When our sins are forgiven, we move from a position of being God’s enemies to being His beloved children (John 1:12; Gal. 4:4, 5; Eph. 1:5).
Is it any wonder that the apostle Paul was so excited about the Gospel and its power to save? The more we consider the marvelous truth of Salvation, the more enthusiastic we will be, thankful to God and eager to share with others the hope that is in us (1Pet. 3:15).
-- ... Study Bible
| Salvation: Man’s Greatest Possession | ||
| Justification (Past Tense) |
Sanctification (Present Tense) |
Glorification (Future Tense) |
| Saved immediately from sin’s penalty |
Saved progressively from sin’s power |
Saved ultimately from sin’s presence |
| --
Ephesians 2:8-10 "8 For by Grace you have been saved through Faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the Gift of God. 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." | ||
The central theme of the Christian Gospel is Salvation. The Gospel proclaims that as God saved Israel from Egypt and the psalmist from death (Ex. 15:2; Ps. 116:6), so He will save all who trust Christ from sin and its consequences. This Salvation from sin and death is wholly God’s work. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).
The Hebrew words that express the idea of Salvation in the Old Testament have the general sense of deliverance from physical danger or moral distress (Ps. 85:8-9; Is. 62:11). In such passages the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament) uses Greek words that mean to save from death or dangers, as well as to preserve or to heal. New Testament passages that speak of Salvation use all these ideas to explain the acts of God on behalf of the lost.
Salvation delivers the believer from the wrath of God, the dominion of sin, and the power of death (Rom. 1:18; 3:9; 5:21; 1Thess. 5:9). God liberates sinners from the natural condition of being mastered by the world, the flesh, and the devil (John 8:23-24; Rom. 8:7-8; 1John 5:19). He frees believers from the fears that a sinful life generates (Rom. 8:15; 2Tim. 1:7; Heb. 2:14-15), and from the vicious habits that enslaved them (Eph. 4:17–24; 1 Thess. 4:3–8; Titus 2:11–3:6).
Salvation brings not only the promise of spiritual wholeness and peace, but also of physical healing (Matt. 9:21-22; Mark 10:52; James 5:15). Although Christians have already received Salvation, they will experience the benefits of Salvation in their fullness only when Christ returns at the end of the age (Heb. 9:28; 1Pet. 1:3–5).
Salvation is accomplished through what Christ did in history and by what He continues to do in believers by the Holy Spirit. The basis for our Salvation is Jesus’ death on the cross (“The Atonement” at Rom. 3:25) and the righteousness He achieved for us in His active obedience. It is realized in our lives as Christ lives in us (John 15:4; 17:26; Col. 1:27) and we live in Christ, united with Him in His death and risen life (Rom. 6:3–10; Col. 2:12, 20; 3:1). This vital union, sustained by the Spirit through faith and formed in our new birth, presupposes our eternal election in Christ (Eph. 1:4–6). Jesus was foreordained to represent us and to bear our sins as our substitute (1 Pet. 1:18–20; Matt. 1:21). We were chosen to be effectually called, conformed to His image, and glorified by the Spirit’s power (Rom. 8:11, 29-30).
-- ... Study Bible.
-- Psalms 69:13Deliverance from the power of sin; redemption.
In the Old Testament, the word “Salvation” sometimes refers to deliverance from danger (Jer. 15:20), deliverance of the weak from an oppressor (Ps. 35:9–10), the healing of sickness (Is. 38:20), and deliverance from blood guilt and its consequences (Ps. 51:14). It may also refer to national deliverance from military threat (Ex. 14:13) or release from captivity (Ps. 14:7). But Salvation finds its deepest meaning in the spiritual realm of life. Our universal need for Salvation is one of the clearest teachings of the Bible (Romans 8:19-22).
The need for Salvation goes back to the removal of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). After the Fall, the lives of people were marked by strife and difficulty. Increasingly, corruption and violence dominated their world (Gen. 6:11–13). When God destroyed the world with the Flood, He also performed the first act of Salvation by saving Noah and his family. These eight people became the basis of another chance for mankind. The Salvation of Noah and his family was viewed by the apostle Peter as a pattern of the full Salvation we receive in Christ (1Pet. 3:18–22).
The central Old Testament experience of Salvation is the Exodus (Ex. 12:40–14:31). Much of Israel’s worship of God was a renewal of this mighty experience that brought them from Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land (Ex. 13:3–16). The mighty saving power of God was demonstrated dramatically as the Israelites formed a holy nation of priestly servants of the Lord (Ex. 19:4–6). The Exodus became a pattern of Salvation by which God’s future deeds of redemption would be understood.
But just as the Exodus symbolized their Salvation, the Captivity of the Israelites in Babylon was a disastrous return to bondage. The people responded to this plight with expectations of a new and better Exodus (Is. 43:14–16) in which God would forgive their sins and restore their hearts to faithfulness (Jer. 31:31–34).
This hope for a new Exodus merged with expectation of a full realization of the rule of God (Ezek. 36:22–38). Since God was Lord and had shown Himself to be righteous and faithful, He must one day overpower His enemies and perfect the life of His people. This hope is expressed through the concept of the “day of the Lord” as described by the Old Testament prophets (Joel 2:1–11; Amos 9:11–15). But this hope also focused on the role of the Anointed King and the coming of the Messiah (Psalm 2).
Even Israel’s return from the Captivity, however, failed to fulfill all their hopes (Hag. 2:3). So a new understanding arose: the full realization of God’s purpose of Salvation would involve the coming of a completely new age (Is. 65:17–25). This doctrine of Salvation reached its fulfillment in the death of Christ on our behalf. Jesus’ mission was to save the world from sin and the wrath of God (Matt. 1:21; John 12:47; Rom. 5:9). During His earthly ministry, Salvation was brought to us by His presence and the power of faith (Luke 19:9–10). Now, our Salvation is based on His death and resurrection (John 10:25-27; Rom. 5:6-21; 10:9-10;...).
The Salvation that comes through Christ may be described in three tenses: past, present, and future. When people believe in Christ, they are saved (Acts 16:31). But we are also in the process of being saved from the power of sin (John 3:3-7; Rom. 8:13-17; Phil. 2:12-13). Finally, we shall be saved from the very presence of sin (Rom.13:11; Titus 2:11-15). God releases into our lives today the power of Christ’s resurrection (Rom. 6:4) and allows us a foretaste of our future life as His children (2Cor.1:21-22; Eph. 1:13-14). Our experience of Salvation will be complete when Christ returns (Heb. 9:28) and the kingdom of God is fully revealed (Matt. 13:41–43; Rev.20:11-15).
-- ... Bible Dictionary
-- Exodus 15:2+ God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, "I love you." -- Billy Graham
+ Suppose you could gain everything in the whole world, and lost your soul. Was it worth it? -- Billy Graham
+ + "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" -- Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:26)
+ You're born. You suffer. You die. Fortunately, there's a loophole. -- Billy Graham (See John 3:16)
+ Salvation is from our side a choice, from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our "accepting" and "willing" are reactions rather than actions. The right of determination must always remain with God. -- A.W. Tozer
+ Salvation comes through a cross and a crucified Christ. -- Andrew Murray
+ He who created us without our help will not save us without our consent. -- Augustine
+ Forgiveness is the remission of sins. For it is by this that what has been lost, and was found, is saved from being lost again. -- Augustine
+ Whom should we love, if not Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us? - Augustus Toplady
+ There were many who saw the babe (Jesus), but did not see the salvation. -- Unknown
+ God has landed on this enemy-occupied world in human form. The perfect surrender and humiliation was undergone by Christ: perfect because He was God, surrender and humiliation because He was man. -- C.S. Lewis
+ Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it. -- C.S. Lewis
+ A world of nice people, content in their own niceness, looking no further, turned away from God, would be just as desperately in need of salvation as a miserable world-and might be even more difficult to save. -- C.S. Lewis
+ Jesus Christ did not say, 'Go into the world and tell the world that it is quite right.' -- C.S. Lewis
+ A man can accept what Christ has done without knowing how it works: indeed, he certainly would not know how it works until he has accepted it. -- C.S. Lewis
+ As our Lord asked the sick man whether he wished to be healed, so, without our consent, He will not save us; and sinners are without excuse for not consenting to the will of the Lord and their own salvation. - Cardinal Bonaventura
+ The Gospel that represents Jesus Christ, not as a system of truth to be received, into the mind, as I should receive a system of philosophy, or astronomy, but it represents Him as a real, living, mighty Savior, able to save me now. -- Catherine Booth
+ The gospel to me is simply irresistible. -- Blaise Pascal
+ I am ready to meet God face to face tonight and look into those eyes of infinite holiness, for all my sins are covered by the atoning blood. -- R.A. Torrey
+ You are saved - seek to be like your Savior. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ I would sooner pluck one single brand from the burning than explain all mysteries. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ As soon as a man has found Christ, he begins to find others. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ If thou wouldst be justified, acknowledge thine injustice. He that confesses his sin, begins his journey toward salvation. He that is sorry for it, mends his pace. He that forsakes it, is at his journey's end. -- Francis Quarles
+ Every natural longing has its natural satisfaction. If we thirst, God has created liquids to gratify thirst. If we are susceptible of attachment, there are beings to gratify that love. If we thirst for life and love eternal, it is likely that there are an eternal life and an eternal love to satisfy that craving. -- Frederick W. Robertson
+ And now let me address all of you, high and low, rich and poor, one with another, to accept of mercy and grace while it is offered to you; Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation; and will you not accept it, now it is offered unto you? -- George Whitefield
+ The gospel is the proclamation of free love; the revelation of the boundless charity of God. Nothing less than this will suit our world; nothing else is so likely to touch the heart, to go down to the lowest depths of depraved humanity, as the assurance that the sinner has been loved - loved by God, loved with a righteous love, loved with a free love that makes no bargain as to merit, or fitness, or goodness. -- Horatius Bonar
+ To every toiling, heavy-laden sinner, Jesus says, Come to me and rest. But there are many toiling, heavy-laden believers, too. For them this same invitation is meant. Note well the words of Jesus, if you are heavy-laden with your service, and do not mistake it. It is not, Go, labor on, as perhaps you imagine. On the contrary, it is stop, turn back, Come to me and rest. Never, never did Christ send a heavy laden one to work; never, never did He send a hungry one, a weary one, a sick or sorrowing one, away on any service. For such the Bible only says, Come, come, come. -- Hudson Taylor
+ Saving faith and real converting grace will always produce some conformity to the image of Jesus. -- J.C. Ryle
+ One single soul saved shall outlive and outweigh all the kingdoms of the world. -- J.C. Ryle
+ There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. not merely that we know God, but that He knows us. -- J.I. Packer
+ I have taken much pains to know everything that is esteemed worth knowing amongst men; but with all my reading, nothing now remains to comfort me at the close of this life but this passage of St. Paul: "It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." To this I cleave, and herein do I find rest. -- John Selden
+ God draws, but He draws the willing one. -- John Chrysostom
+ Christ is wont to catch every man in the way of his own craft - magicians with a star, fishers with a fish. -- John Chrysostom
+ Christ is the desire of nations, the joy of angels, the delight of the Father. What solace then must that soul be filled with, that has the possession of Him to all eternity! -- John Bunyan
+ Since no man is excluded from calling upon God the gate of salvation is open to all. There is nothing else to hinder us from entering, but our own unbelief. -- John Calvin
+ It is as absurd to argue men, as to torture them, into believing. -- John Henry Newman
+ If there be ground for you to trust in your own righteousness, then, all that Christ did to purchase salvation, and all that God did to prepare the way for it is in vain. -- Jonathan Edwards
+ It is always the case that when the Christian looks back, he is looking at the forgiveness of sins. -- Karl Barth
+ No one can be saved - in virtue of what he can do. Everyone can be saved - in virtue of what God can do. -- Karl Barth
+ Is it not wonderful news to believe that salvation lies outside ourselves? -- Martin Luther
+ If in preaching the gospel you substitute your knowledge of the way of salvation for confidence in the power of the gospel, you hinder people from getting to reality. -- Oswald Chambers
+ See that you buy the field where the Pearl is; sell all, and make a purchase of salvation. Think it not easy: for it is a steep ascent to eternal glory: many are lying dead by the way, slain with security. -- Samuel Rutherford
+ We may sing beforehand, even in our winter storm, in the expectation of a summer sun at the turn of the year; no created powers can mar our Lord Jesus' music, nor spill our song of joy. Let us then be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord; for faith had never yet cause to have wet cheeks, and hanging-down brows, or to droop or die. -- Samuel Rutherford
+ Should you suffer your weary soul this day to sink into the arms of that Saviour who rejoices to pardon and is mighty to save, the first entrance of such a word, and the first response of such a faith, would be the date of your better life and the commencement of your union to Christ. The graft has taken. At first the juncture may be very slight - a single thread or fiber - and it is not till you try to part them that you find that they are knit together; that their life is one, and that the force which plucks away the graft must also wound the vine. And your faith may yet be no more than a single filament. It may be only one point of attachment by which you are joined to the Lord Jesus. It may be only one solitary sentence, one isolated invitation or promise, of which you have undoubting hold. But hold it fast. If it be the word of Jesus, cling to it. -- James H. Aughey
+ Christ is the Son of God. He died to atone for men's sin, and after three days rose again. This is the most important fact in the universe. I die believing in Christ. -- Watchman Nee
+ It is a fact that the Lord Jesus has already died for you. It is also a fact that you have already died with the Lord Jesus. If you do not believe in your death with Christ, you will not be able to receive the effectiveness of death with Him - freedom from sin. -- Watchman Nee
+ Since this life is God's and cannot die, it follows that everyone born anew into possessing this life is said to have eternal life. -- Watchman Nee
+ What is salvation? It is none other than God saving man out of himself into Himself. Salvation has two facets: a cutting off and a uniting with. What is cut off is self; the uniting is with God. -- Watchman Nee
+ Because the Lord Jesus died on the Cross, I have received forgiveness of sins; because the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, I have received new life; because the Lord Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of the Father, I have received the outpoured Spirit. All is because of Him; nothing is because of me. -- Watchman Nee
+ That is what it means to be saved. You declare that you belong to another system of things. People point to you and say, "Oh, yes, that is a Christian family; they belong to the Lord!" That is the salvation which the Lord desires for you, that by your public testimony you declare before God, "My world has gone; I am entering into another. -- Watchman Nee
+ In saving the world, therefore, He does not try to alter man's flesh; He instead gives man a new life in order to help put it to death. The flesh must die. This is salvation. -- Watchman Nee
+ People shall never enter the kingdom of God through our encouragement, persuasion, argument, inducement, excitement, or attraction; entrance can be gained only by new birth, by nothing less than the resurrection of the spirit. -- Watchman Nee
+ It is imperative that man receive God's life. The way of salvation cannot be in human reform, for "death" is irreparable. Sin must be judged before there can be rescue out of death. Exactly this is what has been provided by the salvation of the Lord Jesus. -- Watchman Nee
+ Christ is the Son of God who died for the redemption of sinners and resurrected after three days. This is the greatest truth in the universe. I die because of my belief in Christ. -- Watchman Nee
+ If one believes in the death of the Lord Jesus as his substitute he already has been united with the Lord Jesus in His death. For me to believe that in the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus is to believe that I already have been punished in the Lord Jesus. The penalty of my sin is death; yet the Lord Jesus suffered death for me; therefore I have died in Him. -- Watchman Nee
+ The Apostle put to those at Corinth this question: "Do you not know that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Cor. 3:16). Paul seemed to be surprised at their ignorance of such a sure fact. He viewed the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as the foremost consequence of salvation, so how could they miss it? -- Watchman Nee
+ What a sinner needs is life, not some sublime thought. A believer needs whatever can nourish his spiritual life, not mere Bible knowledge. If all we communicate are excellent sermonic divisions, wonderful parables, transcendent abstractions, clever words, or logical arguments, we are but supplying additional thoughts to the people's minds, arousing their emotions once again, or activating their will to make one more decision. A sinner needs to have his spirit resurrected, not to be able to argue better, shed profuse tears, or make a firmer resolve. -- Watchman Nee
+ Poor souls are apt to think that all those whom they read of or hear of to be gone to heaven, went thither because they were so good and so holy. Yet not one of them, not any man that is now in heaven (Jesus Christ alone excepted), did ever come thither any other way but by forgiveness of sins. And that will also bring us higher, though we come short of many of them in holiness and grace. -- John Owen
+ Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason. -- Thomas Aquinas
+ Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do. -- Thomas Aquinas
+
I must assert in the most unqualified way that it is primarily and mainly for the sake of saving the soul that I seek the salvation of the body.
-- William Booth
+ And as the circumcised in the flesh, and not in the heart, have no part in God's good Promises; even so they that be baptized in the flesh, and not in heart, have no part in Christ's Blood. -- William Tyndale
+ Galatians 3:27 -- For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
+ Philippians 3:3 -- For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
+ Romans 6:3-12 -- 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. .... + 10 The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
+ John 3:6-7: 6 "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.'" -- Jesus Christ
+ John 6:63 -- "The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life." -- Jesus Christ
+ The inner change, justification, is effected at the moment of salvation. The outer change in the believer's daily walk, sanctification, continues throughout life. But the progressive work of sanctification is only fully effective when the radical, inner transformation of justification is realized and appropriated by faith. -- Neil T. Anderson
+ The gospel comes to the sinner at once with nothing short of complete forgiveness as the starting-point of all his efforts to be holy. It does not say, "Go and sin no more, and I will not condemn thee." It says at once, "Neither do I condemn thee: go and sin no more." -- Horatius Bonar
+ The cross stands for definite realities which embody and express the leading characteristics of Christ's agony. -- A.W. Pink
+ But when you take the Bible literally, for what it says, you have to come back to the fact that there is only one way of salvation; there's only one Savior. -- Tim LaHaye
+ In Christ alone, and His payment of the penalty for our sins upon the Cross, we find reconciliation to God and ultimate meaning and purpose. -- Dave Hunt
+ For all their raving, ranting, and name-calling, these atheists will stand before God one day--and they will exist for eternity, though sadly they will be separated from God unless they repent and receive the free gift of salvation. -- Ken Ham
+ I came all this way for a reason. Today is the day of salvation. Trust Jesus to save you. Then be sincere as God knows a pretender. -- Kirk Cameron
+ How often God takes away our consolations, that we may only love Him for Himself; and reveals our sinfulness, that we may better appreciate the completeness of His salvation! -- F.B. Meyer
+ The certainty of our salvation rests on the character of God. -- F.B. Meyer
+ + My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things; That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour. -- John Newton
+ When I was young, I was sure of many things; now there are only two things of which I am sure: one is, that I am a miserable sinner; and the other, that Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour. He is well-taught who learns these two lessons. -- John Newton
+ We are not saved in order to be a blessing to other people -- you will be that inevitably -- but primarily we are saved in order to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ, God's Son. -- Alan Redpath
+ The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, but the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime. -- Alan Redpath
+ Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and out future is secured. -- Rick Warren
+ There's a pardon for every sinner on the topside of the earth, but you have to call for it by faith before it becomes yours. In other words, you have to trust Christ as your Savior. -- J. Vernon McGee
+ However tiring our work may be, how could it ever be tiresome? How could it be anything less than a joy to serve the One who has given us all things for life, and enrichment, and enjoyment? Jesus, who suffered so much to secure our salvation. -- Joni Eareckson Tada
+ Saving us is the greatest and most concrete demonstration of God's love, the definitive display of His grace throughout time and eternity. -- David Jeremiah
+ The Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is Good News to be believed. -- Harry Ironside
+ You could not be saved through any effort of your own, but now that you are saved it is necessary for you to put forward every effort you can to glorify Him. -- Harry Ironside
+ We could not take one step in the pursuit of holiness if God in His grace had not first delivered us from the dominion of sin and brought us into union with His risen Son. Salvation is by grace and sanctification is by grace. -- Jerry Bridges
+ Because the Scriptures say that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him, we need not conclude that a murderer cannot be saved. He can be if he will come to Christ and receive Him as Saviour. -- Theodore Epp
+ Salvation is the root -- the resurrection is the fruit. -- T.D. Jakes
+ Salvation is a helmet, not a nightcap. -- Vance Havner
+ The purpose of the Bible is simply to proclaim God's plan to save His children. It asserts that man is lost and needs to be saved. And it communicates the message that Jesus is the God in the flesh sent to save His children. -- Max Lucado
+ Though the Bible was written over sixteen centuries by at least forty authors, it has one central theme--salvation through faith in Christ. -- Max Lucado
+ It is altogether doubtful whether any man can be saved who comes to Christ for His help with no intention to obey Him. -- A.W. Tozer
+ Jesus is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is He the best of several ways; He is the only way. -- A.W. Tozer
+ If there is anything excellent, it is salvation; if there be anything necessary, it is working out salvation; if there be any tool to work with, tis holy fear. -- Thomas Watson
+ The cup which my Saviour giveth me, can it be anything but a cup of salvation? -- Alexander MacLaren
+ Christ's voice sounds now for each of us in loving invitation; and dead in sin and hardness of heart though we be, we can listen and live. Christ Himself, my brother, sows the seed now. Do you take care that it falls not on, but in, your souls. -- Alexander MacLaren
+ The protestant martyrs and their monuments testify to the fact that they died, not on account of ecclesial differences, but because the issue was the way of salvation. -- Alistair Begg
+ It is never on account of its formal nature as a psychic act that faith is conceived in Scripture to be saving. It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively, not in the act of faith or the attitude of faith or nature of faith, but in the object of faith. -- B.B. Warfield
+ Our faith itself, though it be the bond of our union with Christ through which we receive all His blessings, is not our saviour. We have but one Saviour; and that one Saviour is Jesus Christ our Lord. Nothing that we are and nothing that we can do enters in the slightest measure into the ground of our acceptance with God. Jesus did it all. -- B.B. Warfield
+ Just as the angel's announcement to Joseph declared Jesus' primary purpose to be to save His people from their sins, so the first announcement of the kingdom (delivered by John the Baptist) is associated with repentance and confession of sin. -- D.A. Carson
+ Emmanuel. God with us. He who resided in Heaven, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, willingly descended into our world. He breathed our air, felt our pain, knew our sorrows, and died for our sins. He didn't come to frighten us, but to show us the way to warmth and safety. -- Chuck Swindoll
+ The thief had nails through both hands, so that he could not work; and a nail through each foot, so that he could not run errands for the Lord; he could not lift a hand or a foot toward his salvation, and yet Christ offered him the gift of God; and he took it. Christ threw him a passport, and took him into Paradise. -- D.L. Moody
+ You've got to get people lost before you can get them saved. -- D.L. Moody
+ If He hides the sin, or lesseneth it, He is faulty; if He leaves it still upon us, we die. He must then take our iniquity to Himself, make it His own, and so deliver us; for thus having taken the sin upon Himself, as lawfully He may, and lovingly He doth, it followeth that we live if He lives; and who can desire more? -- John Bunyan
+ We must never think of salvation as a kind of transaction between God and us in which He contributes grace and we contribute faith. For we were dead and had to be quickened before we could believe. No, Christ's apostles clearly teach elsewhere that saving faith too is God's gracious gift. -- John Stott
+ The only thing of our very own which we contribute to our salvation is the sin which makes it necessary. -- William Temple
+ All I know is this works. It's not only worked for me, but I've seen it work for literally thousands and thousands of people. I have seen the transformation on people's faces when they receive Christ. I've seen the glory come on them, the light. -- Joyce Meyer
+ From time immemorial men have quenched their thirst with water without knowing anything about its chemical constituents. In like manner we do not need to be instructed in all the mysteries of doctrine, but we do need to receive the Living Water which Jesus Christ will give us and which alone can satisfy our souls. -- Sadhu Sundar Singh
+ Being Born Again is a prerequisite to the in filling of the Holy Spirit. -- Rod Parsley
+ Christ is the very epitome of innocence, and without the blood of Christ, shed on Calvary, God's plan of salvation would not have been fulfilled. -- Alan Keyes
+ When you get saved, you get saved not because you deserve it, but because you simply let God save you and because you confess your own poor sinful state and your inability to save yourself. -- John R. Rice
+ If indeed Christ provided a propitiation and expiation for all human beings and for all their sins, then, clearly, all persons would be saved. Universal atonement, if it is actual, and not merely potential, means universal salvation. However, the overwhelming majority of Christians who reject limited atonement also reject universal salvation. They are particularists, not universalists. -- R.C. Sproul
+ If the final decision for the salvation of fallen sinners were left in the hands of fallen sinners, we would despair all hope that anyone would be saved. -- R.C. Sproul
+ Nobody is born into this world a child of the family of God. We are born as children of wrath. The only way we enter into the family of God is by adoption, and that adoption occurs when we are united to God's only begotten Son by faith. When by faith we are united with Christ, we are then adopted into that family of whom Christ is the firstborn. -- R.C. Sproul
+ Perhaps the most difficult task for us to perform is to rely on God's grace and God's grace alone for our salvation. It is difficult for our pride to rest on grace. Grace is for other people - for beggars. We don't want to live by a heavenly welfare system. We want to earn our own way and atone for our own sins. We like to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there. -- R.C. Sproul
+ The Father did not strip the Son of His eternal glory but the Son agreed to lay it aside temporarily for the sake of our salvation (Jn. 17:1-5). -- R.C. Sproul
+ Our salvation is not in some father or human instruments. It is sad to see people so blinded, worshiping the creature more than the Creator. -- William J. Seymour
+ Indeed, in conversion, a man must make a decision. We shy away from that term because in modern jargon a "decision" has come to be identified with an outward expression, such as raising the hand or going forward to the front. While such external acts have nothing to do with forgiveness of sins, the heart must make a decision to be saved. -- Walter J. Chantry
+ Believing is accepting as a fact and making a commitment of your own future to the promises of God to save you -- simply by believing in Christ. -- John F. Walvoord
+ To achieve the divine purpose of becoming the Savior, the divine glory needed to be veiled. Christ voluntarily, moment by moment, submitted to human limitations apart from sin. The humiliation was temporary. The incarnation was everlasting. -- John F. Walvoord
+ We need a quickening of faith; faith in the power of the God of Pentecost to convict and convert three thousand in a day. Faith, not in a process of culture by which we hope to train children into a state of salvation, but faith in the mighty God who can quicken a dead soul into life in a moment; faith in moral and spiritual revolution rather than evolution. -- A.C. Dixon
+ + If turning from your sins means to stop sinning, then people can only be saved if they stop sinning. And it is unlikely that anyone has ever been saved, since we don't know anyone who has ever stopped sinning. -- Curtis Hutson
+ + There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is good and never sins. -- Ecclesiastes 7:20
+ I think there are many who would like to be saved but have been presented the faulty idea that repentance is turning from sin and therefore they are convinced that they cannot be saved. Oh, if we would only make salvation plain and explain to men that we are not saved by doing anything; rather we are saved by trusting in what Jesus has already done. -- Curtis Hutson
+ In addition to saying that the believer has everlasting life the moment he believes, Jesus adds the promise that he shall not come into condemnation; that is, the sentence of sin will never be put on the believer again. -- Curtis Hutson
+ There is not a verse in the Bible that teaches that God places the believer in a position to be saved provided he does other things. No. No. The Bible says He saves the believer. -- Curtis Hutson
+ Before an individual can be saved, he must first learn that he cannot save himself. -- M.R. DeHaan
+ Why God should choose the meanest, basest, most unworthy individuals with absolutely nothing to commend them at all to God, except their miserable, lost condition, and then exalt them to become the sons of God, members of the divine family, and use them for His glory, is beyond all reason and human understanding. Yet that is grace. -- M.R. DeHaan
+ Jesus, as He was going up the hill, fell beneath the load. Loss of blood, breaking of heart, weary in body, blind from his own blood that came from a crown of thorns. And Jesus said "I can't make it any further." Yet He climbed on up to Calvary and stretched out his arms as he hung on the cross, and said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." He went on when He couldn't go on. He finished it when He couldn't, but He did. -- Lester Roloff
+ Salvation is worth working for. It is worth a man's going round the world on his hands and knees, climbing its mountains, crossing its valleys, swimming its rivers, going through all manner of hardship in order to attain it. But we do not get it in that way. It is to him who believes. -- D.L. Moody
+ It won't save your soul if your wife is a Christian. You have got to be something more than a brother-in-law to the Church. -- Billy Sunday
+ When you come to knowing God, the initiative lies on His side. If He does not show Himself, nothing you can do will enable you to find Him. -- C.S. Lewis
+ A child of five, if properly instructed, can as truly believe and be regenerated as an adult. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ A man is not saved against his will, but he is made willing by the operation of the Holy Ghost. A mighty grace which he does not wish to resist enters into the man, disarms him, makes a new creature of him, and he is saved. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ From the Word of God I gather that damnation is all of man, from top to bottom, and salvation is all of grace, from first to last. He that perishes chooses to perish; but he that is saved is saved because God has chosen to save him. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ Genuine faith that saves the soul has for its main element - trust - absolute rest of the whole soul - on the Lord Jesus Christ to save me, whether He died in particular or in special to save me or not, and relying, as I am, wholly and alone on Him, I am saved. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ I remember one who spoke on the missionary question one day saying, "The great question is not, 'Will not the heathen be saved if we do not send them the gospel?' but 'Are we saved ourselves if we do not send them the gospel?' -- Charles Spurgeon
+ If anyone should ask me what I mean by a Calvinist, I should reply, "He is one who says, Salvation is of the Lord." I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this. It is the essence of the Bible. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ If it were Christ's intention to save all men, how deplorably He has been disappointed! -- Charles Spurgeon
+ It is not faith in Christ that saves you (though faith is the instrument) - it is Christ's blood and merits. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ It is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not even thy faith in Christ, though that be the instrument; it is Christ's blood and merit. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ Let this be to you the mark of true Gospel preaching - where Christ is everything, and the creature is nothing; where it is salvation all of grace, through the work of the Holy Spirit applying to the soul the precious blood of Jesus. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ Let your tears fall because of sin; but, at the same time, let the eye of faith steadily behold the Son of man lifted up, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, that those who are bitten by the old serpent may look unto Jesus and live. Our sinnership is that emptiness into which the Lord pours his mercy. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ Not that our salvation should be the effect of our work, but our work should be the evidence of our salvation. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ There are two great truths which from this platform I have proclaimed for many years. The first is that salvation is free to every man who will have it; the second is that God gives salvation to a people whom He has chosen; and these truths are not in conflict with each other in the least degree. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ They believe the doctrine of election, but they have not the faith of God's elect. They swear by final perseverance, but persevere in unbelief. They confess all the five points of Calvinism, but they have not come to the one most needful point of looking unto Jesus, that they may be saved. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ Those children who are of sufficient years to sin and be saved by faith have to listen to the gospel and receive it by faith. And they can do this, God the Holy Spirit helping them. There is no doubt about it, because great numbers have done it. I will not say at what age children are first capable of receiving the knowledge of Christ, but it is much earlier than some fancy. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ We say that Christ so died that He infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ's death not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved, and cannot by any possibility run the hazard of being anything but saved. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ When a man is saved by divine grace, he is not wholly cleansed from the corruption of his heart. When we believe in Jesus Christ all our sins are pardoned; yet the power of sin, albeit that it is weakened and kept under by the dominion of the new-born nature which God doth infuse into our souls, doth not cease, but still tarrieth in us, and will do so to our dying day. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ You will find all true theology summed up in these two short sentences: Salvation is all of the grace of God. Damnation is all of the will of man. -- Charles Spurgeon
+ For those who have not yet turned to the Lord for His salvation, their condition of suffering often creates compelling opportunities for them to cry out to God for His help. To those who do so in truth, He shows His mercy for their temporal plight and provides grace for their new life in Christ and their eternal destiny. -- T.A. McMahon
+ Saving faith is not just believing that Jesus lived and died. Faith that saves is the confident, continuous confession of total dependence on, and trust in Jesus Christ to meet the requirements on your behalf to give you entrance into God's Eternal Kingdom. It's the surrender of your life in complete trust to Him to do what you cannot do. -- John MacArthur
+ A person who is not concerned about having his present sins cleansed has good reason to doubt that his past sin has been forgiven. A person who has no desire to come to the Lord for continued cleansing has reason to doubt that he ever came to the Lord to receive salvation. -- John MacArthur
+ Salvation by faith does not eliminate good works per se. It does away with works that are the result of human effort alone. It abolishes any attempt to merit God's favor by our works. But it does not deter God's foreordained purpose that our walk of faith should be characterized by good works. -- John MacArthur
+ Salvation is not verified by a past act, but by present fruitfulness. -- John MacArthur
+ Works are not necessary to earn salvation. But true salvation wrought by God will not fail to produce the good works that are its fruit. -- John MacArthur
+ O what a narrow way is that which leads to life! -- William Tiptaft
+ God has set us in His Son, hidden us in Him. As Moses was put into the cleft of the rock, so God has put us into Christ. -- G.V. Wigram
+ There is no knowledge like that of a man who knows he is saved, who can look up and see his "title clear to mansions in the skies." -- D.L. Moody
+ There is either of two things we must do. One is to send back the message to heaven that we don't want the blood of Christ to cleanse us of our sin, or else accept it. -- D.L. Moody
+ If you receive Him it will be well; if you reject Him and are lost it will be terrible. -- D.L. Moody
+ One of two things you must do; you must either receive Him or reject Him. You receive Him here and He will receive you there; you reject Him here and He will reject you there. -- D.L. Moody
+ The mightiest man that ever lived could not deliver himself from his sins. If a man could have saved himself, Christ would never have come into the world. -- D.L. Moody
+ The grace of God hath power to bring salvation to all men, and if a man is unsaved it is because he wants to work it out; he wants to receive salvation in some other way than God's way; but we are told that "he that climbeth up another way, the same is a thief and a robber." -- D.L. Moody
+ When Christ was on the earth there was a woman in the temple who was bowed almost to the ground with sin. Satan had bound her for eighteen years; but after all these years of bondage Christ delivered her. He spoke one word and she was free. She got up and walked home. How astonished those at home must have been to see her walking in. -- D.L. Moody
+ Do you believe that He would send those men out to preach the gospel to every creature unless he wanted every creature to be saved? Do you believe He would tell them to preach it to people without giving people the power to accept it? Do you believe the God of heaven is mocking men by offering them His gospel and not giving them the power to take hold of it? Do you believe He will not give men power to accept this salvation as a gift? Man might do that, but God never mocks men. And when he says "Preach the gospel to every creature," every creature can be saved if he will. -- D.L. Moody
+ Look at Him at Gethsemane, sweating as it were great drops of blood; look at Him on the cross, crucified between two thieves; hear that piercing cry, "Father, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." And as you look into that face, as you look into those wounds on His feet or His hands, will you say He has not the power to save you? Will you say He has not the power so redeem you? -- D.L. Moody
+ True salvation brings with it a desire to be made holy. When God saves us through Christ, He not only saves us from the penalty of sin, but also from its dominion. -- Jerry Bridges
+ Except a mineral be born "from above"-- from the Kingdom just ABOVE it -- it cannot enter the Kingdom just above it. And except a man be born "from above," by the same law, he cannot enter the Kingdom just above him. -- Henry Drummond
+ Each man, in the silence of his own soul, must work out this salvation for himself with fear and trembling -- with fear, realizing the momentous issues of his task; with trembling, lest, before the tardy work be done, the voice of Death should summon him to stop. -- Henry Drummond
+ Just because God worketh in him, as the evidence and triumph of it, the true child of God works out his own salvation -- works it out having really received it -- not as a light thing, a superfluous labour, but with fear and trembling as a reasonable and indispensable service. -- Henry Drummond
+ Salvation is a definite process. If a man refuse to submit himself to that process, clearly he cannot have the benefits of it. "As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God." He does not avail himself of this power. It may be mere carelessness or apathy. Nevertheless the neglect is fatal. He cannot escape because he will not. -- Henry Drummond
+ Christ is much more powerful to save, than Adam was to destroy. -- John Calvin
+ God gave the law originally as a railroad track to guide Israel's obedience. The engine that was supposed to pull a person along the track was God's grace, the power of the Spirit. And the coupling between our car and the engine was faith, so that in the Old Testament, like the New Testament, salvation was by grace, through faith, along the track of obedience (or sanctification). -- John Piper
+ What could God give us to enjoy that would prove Him most loving? There is only one possible answer: Himself! If He withholds Himself from our contemplation and companionship, no matter what else He gives us, He is not loving. -- John Piper
+ It is not right to credit salvation to good works. It is right and necessary, however, to expect good works to follow salvation. Salvation is not the result of good works, but good works are the result of salvation. -- Tom Wells
+
Becoming mature Christians will require the sovereign work of God. Only God can save and sanctify. Still, God uses men and means. Certainly we as parents must seek to bring our children to Jesus Christ for salvation. But salvation is not the end of the journey. It is only the beginning. The destination toward which we are headed with our children is nothing less than maturity in Christ.
-- Wayne Mack