Salvation & Conversion

Are you saved? Is it the same thing as conversion? Many are asked that question as if the two things are the same! No one in the Bible ever spoke of the day that they "got saved" as so many people do in this time. What does the Bible say about the subjects of salvation and being saved?

Jesus said that he who endures to the end will be saved. Paul wrote of the "hope of salvation" and Peter spoke of salvation being the end of our faith to be revealed in the latter time. What is the truth? Are you already saved, or not?

Study this page to learn the truth about Salvation. There are also audio clips taken from the What Must I Do to be Saved CD teaching series. Click on an article title in the box in the right column to read from a range of articles covering different aspects of the truth about salvation.

What Must I Do to be Saved CD Set

What Must I Do to be Saved? examines an issue that everyone needs to understand. Confusion and error are everywhere on this subject and your eternal fate depends on understanding these things. Learn about salvation, being saved and the things you must do to be saved. This 4 CD set available at cost price from our eBay store

. This is vital understanding for walking with the Lord.

Thought for Today
Oct. 02

A SAVED SINNER?

From a story told by Preacher Clark in a Sunday afternoon prayer meeting at Grandma's farmhouse in mid-1978.

In a conversation with Preacher Clark, one man made the typical Christian claim of being "a sinner saved by grace." To which the wise old preacher responded, "I'm neither one; I'm not a sinner and I'm not saved."

The apostle John made the following statements, and many more, concerning sin in the third chapter of his first epistle:

Verse 6: "Whosoever abideth in [Christ] sinneth not."
Verse 8: "He who commits sin is of the devil."
Verse 10: "In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God."

There is no such thing as "a sinner saved by grace." If you are sinning, you are of the devil. You are not being saved by anything, least of all the grace of God. Every person being saved by the grace of God is no longer a sinner. Paul said it this way (Tit. 2:11-12): "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." The grace of God that saves is the grace that both teaches men how to live in this present world and empowers them to do it. Every person being "saved by grace" has been delivered from sin's power and is no longer sinning. No person living in sin is being saved by grace. Sin and saving grace do not dwell together in the same body. Are you being saved by grace or are you sinning?

Jesus said that those who do good will be given eternal life and that those who do evil will receive damnation (Jn. 5:29). Then, it is eternally important, isn't it, that we do not sin? Being "saved by grace" means that we are kept from sinning by the power of God so that when the fearful Day comes when we must stand before Christ, we will be spared (saved from) God's wrath. This being the case, there cannot be such a thing as a "sinner saved by grace." That is an impossible combination. Sinners are sinners because they are not being saved by grace. Sinners are sinning because the grace of God is not saving them. Sinners are those who are being lost without grace, not saved by it.

Every time the Final Judgment is described in the Bible-every single time-the Bible states clearly that men will be judged by God on the basis of the deeds they have done. No man will be judged on the basis of his faith; rather, his deeds will determine his eternal destiny (cp. Mt. 7:21-23). Paul warned the saints, "We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2Cor. 5:10). This is a frightening thought. Paul continued in the next verse to confess that knowing God's power and His wrath against sin both terrified him and motivated him to warn others.

Jesus made it possible for every person on earth to live above sin, and all who fail to take advantage of the power over sin that the holy Ghost provides are guilty of rebellion against God's grace and are worthy of the coming damnation. People need to know this! If there is anything that God hates, it must be Christian ministers who teach that the bondage of sin is so great that even Jesus cannot set man free from it. That is a graceless doctrine if there ever was one.