8-Questions Regarding Salvation - RSV

1. We Come to Jesus, Accepting His Forgiveness by Faith. We Receive His Grace and Gift of Eternal Life.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through _faith_; and this is not your own _doing_, it is the gift of God--

Romans 3:22-25 The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no _distinction_; [23] since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] they are _justified_ by his grace as a gift, through the _redemption_ which is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as an _expiation_ by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine _forbearance_ he had passed over former sins;

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 And brought them out and said, "Men, what must I do to be saved?" [31] And they said, "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 Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, _unbelieving_ heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. [13] But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be _hardened_ by the _deceitfulness_ of sin. [14] For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first _confidence_ firm to the end,

Matthew 24:13 But he who endures to the end _will_ be _saved_.

1 Corinthians 15:1-2 Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you _received_, in which you stand, [2] by which you are saved, if you hold it fast--unless you _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, but they _themselves_ are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved. [20] For if, after they have escaped the _defilements_ of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and _overpowered_, the last state has become worse for them than the first. [21] For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of _righteousness_ than after knowing it to turn back from the holy _commandment_ delivered to them.

Revelation 3:5 He who _conquers_ shall be clad thus in white _garments_, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life; I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

1 Corinthians 9:27 But I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after _preaching_ to others I myself should be _disqualified_.

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 And I give them _eternal_ life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall _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.

c:\a-\bibsty\_redo_st\updatefi\k_08_rs.htm