Salvation

In Acts 16:30, the jailor in Philippi asked his prisoners, Paul and Silas, the most important question that any man can ask, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” You may ask, what does it mean to be saved? Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines salvation as the act of saving; preservation from destruction, danger or great calamity. God desires that all men be saved (1 Tim. 2:4) and preserved from destruction.

When all is said and done, every person will have to stand before a holy and just God to give account of himself (Rom. 14:11–12). You have a choice to make: stand before God in your own righteousness or stand before God in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness is God's standard of perfection. Entrance into God's eternal heaven requires 100% righteousness, no wrongdoing. The bad news is that you are not righteous. Rom. 3:10 says, “There is none righteous, no, not one”.

Sin makes you unrighteous. Rom. 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”. To sin is to miss the mark or to be unrighteous (1 Jn. 3:4). Rom. 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Sin earns you death, separation from God and an eternity in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11–15).

How can you remedy your utterly sinful condition? You can't. But God can! Rom. 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God sent His Son to die on the cross and pay for the sins of the world. This is the gospel, or the good news. The great news is that Christ died for your sins too.

If you will place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection as the full and satisfying payment for sin; God will save you by exceeding abundant grace. 1 Cor. 15:3–4 says, “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures”.

Your good works could never earn you eternal life. But God be thanked that He will save you by grace through faith in the perfect and finished work of Christ. Eph. 2:8–9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

The very moment that you believe the gospel you are instantly and permanently justified by the faith of Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16), forgiven all sins (Eph. 1:7), given the righteousness of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:21), sealed by the Holy Spirit of God (Eph. 1:13–14) and eternally saved from the penalty of sin (Rom. 6:23).