SALVATION

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Therefore, salvation is an act of God. Jesus declared that salvation by man’s efforts is impossible but it can be achieved by the act of God through Jesus Christ. After the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden, it was clear that man was not equipped to save himself. Therefore, God came in flesh as Jesus Christ to save mankind from the penalty and affects of sin. Because we are born in sin and shapened in iniquity (Psalms 51:5) in order for us to be saved we must accept the act of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection so that we could be saved from sin and eternal separation from God.  Jesus Christ has done the works necessary for man to receive salvation; so now all man has to do is to believe and acknowledge that the works of Jesus Christ are sufficient for his salvation. “He that cometh to God must first believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). 

When you recognize the awesome works of Jesus Christ’s love in the world and His commitment to seeing the world saved (2 Peter 3:9), you will repent and turn to God. Then you will accept the baptism in water in Jesus name so that you can identify with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 6:1-8) which will remove your sin. Then your heart will be opened to God so that He can fill you with His Spirit , known as the Holy Ghost, so that you can live an empowered life for Jesus (Acts 1:8). At that point, you are saved and can walk in the freedom and power of God that comes with true salvation.  On the day of Pentecost, the sorrowful Jews and others cried out and asked what should they do now that Jesus was already crucified and they had rejected Him. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:37, 38). Now after living a life of rejecting Jesus, you can be saved if you follow the instructions delivered by Peter on that great day.

REPENTANCE

The Necessity of Repentance for Salvation

Repentance is a godly sorrow that comes to one’s heart that causes them to turn away from their life of sin and turn to God. Repentance is a releasing of one’s total self in order to take on all of God’s nature, love, and power. Repentance is a rejection of the life once lived and an acceptance of the life that can be lived in Christ Jesus because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, a person cannot come to God unless they first repent or turn to Him for the purpose of surrendering their life to Him.

More Scriptures to Study Concerning Repentance

II Peter 3:9  - “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Acts 2:38 – “ . . . Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”

Psalm 51: 1-7 – (Example of Repentance) “Have mercy upon me, O God, accord to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions . .”

WATER BAPTISM

The Necessity of Water Baptism for Salvation

Baptism comes from the word “baptizo” which means to submerge or go under. As in the Bible, people were submerged under water because the natural cleaning power of water was symbolic of the spiritual cleansing of one’s soul that takes place when one is washed in the water. After a person repents, they need to be baptized in order to wash themselves of their old sins and nature. Water baptism is an identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism shows that a person is dying out to themselves; burying their old man, and coming out of the water with a new life. 

More Scriptures to Study Concerning Water Baptism

•Acts 2:38 – “Then Peter said, Repent and be baptized everyone of you . . .”

•John 3:5 – “. . except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

•. Romans 6: 1-6 – “. . .Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we also, should walk in the newness of life.”

•Acts 10: 44-48 – “ . . .Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?  And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord . . .”

INFILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The Necessity of Infilling of Holy Spirit for Salvation

As earlier mentioned,  Jesus says in John 3 that “. . except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” So baptism in water alone cannot save an individual’s soul. It is the baptism in the Holy Spirit that fills man with the nature, character, and power of God. God is a Spirit (John 4:24), so to have the Spirit is to have God in you. Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17); therefore, again Spirit of God is indeed God coming to live in us and wherever God is there can be nothing but freedom. The Spirit of God frees you from the bondage and death that is in the flesh and gives us access to the promises of God. The Holy Ghost comes from the Hagios Pneuma “Holy or Set Apart” ,“Breath or Wind” of God that enters a heart that is emptied out before God and totally open to God. The purpose of the Holy Ghost is to empower man with the ability to represent God in the earth having dominion over the enemy through God’s Spirit in the inward man. John writes that “as many as received him [Jesus], to them gave he [Jesus] power to become the sons of God (St. John 1:12). So only those that receive Jesus through the Holy Spirit are able to become child of God. Therefore, the Spirit is mandatory for one to claim complete salvation. We further understand that from the beginning of the Christian Church that came out of the Book of Acts until now that the initial evidence that someone has received the Spirit is that they speak with tongues or in a heavenly language that only God can give (Acts 2; Acts 10; Acts 19).

More Scriptures to Study Concerning the Infilling of Holy Spirit 

•Acts 2:38 – “ . . .Repent and be baptized . . . and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost . . “

•Luke 11:9-13 – “ . . .how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to them that ask him?”  

•Acts 1:8 – “But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you . . .”

•Acts 2: 1-4 – “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come . . .and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance [ability].”