8-Questions Regarding Salvation - NIV

1. We Come to Jesus, Accepting His Forgiveness by Faith. We Receive His Grace and Gift of Eternal Life.
Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been _saved_, through faith--and this not from _yourselves_, it is the gift of God--

Romans 3:22-25 This _righteousness_ from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified freely by his grace through the _redemption_ that came by Christ Jesus. [25] God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to _demonstrate_ his justice, because in his _forbearance_ he had left the sins committed _beforehand_ unpunished--

2. Salvation Is a Free Gift. We Cannot Earn It by Obedience. When the Philippian Jailer Asked What He Had to Do to Be Saved, What Did Paul Say?
Acts 16:30-31 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" [31] They _replied_, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your _household_."

3. Belief Is a Function of the Will. The Same Mind Which Chooses to Believe Can Choose to Disbelieve. Unbelief Leads to Spiritual Death.
Hebrews 3:12-14 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, _unbelieving_ heart that turns away from the living God. [13] But _encourage_ one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's _deceitfulness_. [14] We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the _confidence_ we had at first.

Matthew 24:13 But he who _stands_ firm to the end will be _saved_.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you _received_ and on which you have taken your stand. [2] By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. _Otherwise_, you have _believed_ in vain.

If we do not hold our confidence in God to the end, we will develop a heart of unbelief. We are saved only if we keep in memory what was preached from the Bible and live the life of faith.

 4. It Is Always Possible To Return To The Old Life Of Sin And Have Our Names Blotted Out Of The Book Of Life. If Our Names Are Not In The Book Of Life, We Will Be Eternally Lost.
2 Peter 2:19-21 They promise them freedom, while they _themselves_ are slaves of depravity--for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. [20] If they have escaped the _corruption_ of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again _entangled_ in it and _overcome_, they are worse off at the end than they were at the _beginning_. [21] It would have been better for them not to have known the way of _righteousness_, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

Revelation 3:5 He who _overcomes_ will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will _acknowledge_ his name before my Father and his angels.

1 Corinthians 9:27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have _preached_ to others, I myself will not be _disqualified_ for the prize.

The word which Paul uses for "cast away" in 1 Corinthians 9:27 is the same word that is used in Jeremiah 6:30 for those who are burned and ultimately lost.

 5. When We Come to Jesus We Receive Eternal Life.
John 10:28 I give them _eternal_ life, and they shall never perish; no one can _snatch_ them out of my hand.

Just as His coming into our heart by faith brings life, our unbelief brings spiritual death. We cannot be unborn, but we can die. Nothing can take us from His hand Except our own choice.

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