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SAVED  (SALVATION)

Many people have asked me what it means to be saved or how does one get saved. First, we must define what "saved" means. This adjective refers to those people who've accepted God's offer of salvation. The following verses show what the Bible has to say about the method of "being saved".      Isaiah 45:22 Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other. Unless we turn to, or believe in, the one true God, we can't be saved.      Joel 2:32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved. We can call on the Lord to be saved, but there is more.      Matthew 1:21 ... and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people. Jesus is now introduced as the way to be saved.      Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Jesus proclaims that any person who believes in the truth of God's Word and in his life, death, and resurrection will be saved.      John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. It's made very clear we have to believe in Jesus to be saved.      John 10:9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. Jesus proclaims he is the only way to salvation.      Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. This refers back to Jesus mentioned in verse 10.      Acts 16:30,31 "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They [Paul and Silas] replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." Again, it is through Jesus we are saved.      Romans 19:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. This is an explanation of what and how we are to believe. It isn't enough to believe that Jesus was a man who lived at some point in history. We must believe he is our Lord and God raised him from the dead. We must believe in our hearts, which is to say, we must be sincere in our belief and be fully committed to that belief.      1 Corinthians 15:2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. Paul tells his listeners they are saved by the gospel he preached. We must not only read or hear the gospel, but also believe it. As can be seen by the other passages, the main theme is that it takes a belief in Jesus to be saved.      1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Jesus saves sinners if they fully accept the truth.      People who are saying they're saved are also saying that they've accepted God's offer of salvation. Although there's no amount of money we can spend or any good deed we can perform to buy our salvation, we must make the choice to accept God's offer. There are a few things we must do to be saved:          1. We must turn to God, in other words, believe in God.          2. We must believe in Jesus.          3. We must confess that Jesus is Lord.          4. We must believe, not only that Jesus died for us, but also that God raised him from the dead.          5. We must be sincere in our beliefs and be fully committed to those beliefs.      If you haven't yet done these five things, you aren't saved. I can't personally condemn you, only God can do that; however, the steps above are from God. Being baptized as a baby didn't save you. Taking communion and going to church won't save you. And if you belong to one of those churches that doesn't believe that Jesus died for your sins, you've got a big problem. Think about what you believe before you leave this page. Only God knows your heart and only Jesus Christ can save you.