What is salvation?

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
 

How does a person become "saved"? What does that mean? Is it difficult? How do I do it?

These are questions that millions of people ask themselves on a daily basis. Salvation is defined as:

1. the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
2. the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
3. a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
-Dictionary Reference.com

So, what exactly are you saving? Your eternal soul! Your body is just a shell for the spirit that you have in you. Eventually, your body will die. But because He loves us, and He gives us both His Grace (God's un-merited, unearned favor) and His Mercy (His un-merited, unearned compassion toward us), He gives chance...after chance...after chance to get it right before we die. But the chances....just like our lives....don't last forever. God told Adam as he banished Man from Eden, "In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return." (Genesis 3:19)

It seems that you are asking yourself the same question the prison warden asked Paul as he sat in the Phillipians prison, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30) Here's the good news - IT'S NOT DIFFICULT! It takes an inward, or internal conviction in a person to realize that they don't have all the answers. That they need help from someone who holds power in the palm of their hands. So how do you do it?

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway." (Acts 16: 27-33)

Paul also wrote in Romans, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." (Romans 10:9-12)

We can't put our faith in man because man is an imperfect, sin-natured creature. All men - ALL - sin and fall short of God's Glory. Anyone that tells you different isn't telling you the truth. John wrote that, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:10) Let's be real here. This isn't a 'feel good' message. There are some things you just can't sugar coat.

There are only two places a person's soul will end up once they leave this Earth:

• Those that do not have Salvation will stand before the Great White Throne of Judgment - "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them." (Revelation 20:11)
   
• Those who have Salvation (they believe on the Lord God through Jesus Christ) will have their names in the Book of Life, and will be judged by their works before the Judgment Seat of Christ - "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For 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." (2 Corinthians 5: 8-10)

If your name is in the Book of Life, you will dwell with the Father in Heaven: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." (Revelation 21: 1-3)

But, if your name is not in the Book of Life, you will be cast into the Lake of Fire: "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20: 14-15)

You don't have to join Mt. Nebo to be saved.  But you DO need to be under the Arc of Safety somewhere.  If you are in the Omaha area, we encourage you to join us here at Mt. Nebo MBC if you have questions or concerns about salvation. If you are elsewhere, we encourage you to visit your local Baptist church and speak with someone in depth about the Plan of Salvation.
 
If you are a more visual person, here are a few tracks that speak on Salvation and the consequences of not being saved.