Lesson 3 Salvation: Saved by Faith, Living by Faith

He was sentenced to be crucified—with no hope of escaping the cruel punishment handed down by Pilate. Crowds taunted and soldiers prodded as he dragged his instrument of torture to the Place of the Skull. The execution would be slow and painful. Death would be a welcome friend. Roman soldiers callously threw him to the ground, gripped his arms and legs, and began to nail him to the rough wooden beams. Like his companion in crime, he screamed, swore, and tried to escape. But he was startled by the calm demeanor of the other person to die on a cross that day. No curse words escaped that man’s lips as he freely stretched out his hands to the executioners. As the three hung dying between heaven and earth, soldiers mocked the man in the center, saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” That man, Jesus, offered them forgiveness. The other criminal blasphemed Him and said, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.” But a ray of light pierced the darkened mind of the third convict. He began to connect all that he had seen and heard about Jesus and hope began to fill his heart. He told his companion, “We deserve our punishment, but this Man is innocent.” Then the undeserving sinner turned to the Savior and pled, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” At that moment, the clouds parted as Christ turned His compassionate eyes toward the only voice expressing belief in Him on that gloomy afternoon. “You will be with Me in Paradise,” Jesus assured the dying thief.

– 2 –

Church people often talk about “being saved.” What does that mean and what are the basic steps to receiving eternal life? In a few brief Bible verses found in Luke 23, we read the shocking story of a criminal whom Jesus promised would be in heaven. Yet this thief did not repay those from whom he stole. He did not go through a series of studies or get baptized. Certainly these are valuable. But in this unusual circumstance, we are reminded that the central and essential element in salvation is a belief in Jesus Christ. Without this foundation, our hope of living in Paradise is only a wishful dream. What does the Bible teach about salvation?

amazingfacts.org– 3 –

A radical change is necessary in our lives in order for us to enter heaven.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Salvation is more than an intellectual understanding of truth or a legal transaction on the books of heaven. God wants to transform us into His image. This experience is so sweeping that Jesus compared it to the birth of a child. God’s plan for every believer before Christ’s return is that “even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

When God’s love is revealed to a sinner, repentance is the first and necessary step in salvation.

When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter

said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall

receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:37, 38).

The Hebrew word for repentance is nocham and means “to be sorry.” The same word in Greek in the New Testament is metanoia and means “to change one’s mind” or “to feel remorse.” We cannot repent without the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. (See John 14:6.) True repentance results in a change of our attitude toward sin. We are truly sorry for what

we have done and turn toward God for cleansing. This was the response of the thief on the cross when he looked at Christ.

– 4 –

True repentance leads to the confession of our sins.

He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will

have mercy (Proverbs 28:13).

When David committed adultery and murder, his repentance led him to confess his sins. In crying out for mercy, he prayed, “I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:3). Such confession is motivated not only by guilt but by the desire to be made right with God. David also prayed, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (verse 2). Confession opens the heart to God’s purifying power.

When we as sinners repent and confess our wrongs, we can trust that God will forgive us.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

God promises to forgive us of our sins when we repent and confess them to Him. We can count on Him fulfilling His promise, for the Lord alone has the power and the right to forgive us. All of our sins will be removed and we will stand clean before God. This experience is called justification and means that we are made right with God, not based on our own works but based solely on His grace (see Romans 3:28). By faith we accept Christ’s death on the Cross for our sins. We are justified “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5).

When we are justified in Christ, we naturally will be sanctified by Him.

Christ … loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might

present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish

(Ephesians 5:25–27).

True repentance leads to the confession of our sins.True repentance leads to the confession of our sins.

He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will

have mercy (Proverbs 28:13).

When David commitWhen David committed adultery and murder, his ted adultery and murder, his repentance led him to confess his sins. In crying out for mercy, he prayed, “I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me” (Psalm 51:3). Such confession is motivated not only by guilt but by the desire to be made right with God. David also prayed, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin” (verse 2). Confession opens the heart to God’s purifying power.

When we as sinners repent and confess our wrongs, we can trust

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins

amazingfacts.org– 5 –

The word sanctify means to “set apart” and to “make holy.” When God forgives us of sin, the Holy Spirit enters our hearts and begins the work of restoring us into the image of God. While justification describes what God does for us, sanctification describes what God does in us. The first is our title to heaven and the second is our fitness for heaven. We are not only justified by grace, but we are also sanctified by the mercy of Jesus who works in our hearts and gives us a new and victorious life.

The Bible calls us to live a sanctified life.

Just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as

slaves of righteousness for holiness (Romans 6:19).

Paul described this transformed life: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Believers who are filled with the Spirit “do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). Christians do not remain in sin but “abound more and more” learning how to “walk and to please God” (1 Thessalonians 4:1).

We grow in the sanctified life by abiding in Christ.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

We abide in Christ by surrendering our lives to Him each day through prayer and Bible study. We do not trust in our own power but “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:14). Just as the Holy Spirit enabled Christ to partake of human nature, so the Spirit helps us as humans to take on the divine nature. This process is dynamic and advances us toward a more godly character each day.

– 6 –

God’s work begun in our lives ultimately leads to being complete in Christ.

Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the

stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

The biblical term perfection means “sound, whole, and blameless.” It describes a person who is mature and living up to all he knows of God’s ways. To be perfect as a Christian does not mean one quits growing but is continually advancing in divine knowledge. “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end” (Hebrews 3:14).

The final step of our salvation takes place at the Second Coming when we are glorified in God.

If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through

His Spirit who dwells in you (Romans 8:11).

Believers will receive glorified bodies when Jesus returns at the end of the age. Some followers of God, such as Elijah, have been translated and have already “put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:53). In one sense we are saved now because our salvation is sure in Christ, but in another sense we are not yet saved (our bodies) until Christ returns. Until then, “we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23).

Do you accept by faith God’s free gift of salvation and desire to grow in Christ and someday receive the fullness of God’s glory in your life?

amazingfacts.org– 7 –

Reformer HighlightMartin Luther (1483–1546) was a monk, a priest, a professor of theology, and a key figure in the Protestant Reformation. He came to reject many teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, such as the view that purchasing indulgences could free a person from God’s punishment of sin. His refusal to renounce his writings at the Diet of Worms in 1521 led to his excommunication by Pope Leo X. Luther held up the doctrine of salvation

by grace through faith in Jesus and the Bible as the only divine source of the revealed knowledge of God. He also translated the Bible into the common language, which made a giant impact on the church and German culture.

“I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.”

amazingfacts.org