Find your chair… Sit in it…

What is salvation all about? What does the Bible really say about such things? If I just pray a prayer am I saved? What am I saved from? Can I save myself? these are all questions that are asked every day in regards to salvation...

Seeking to find the biblical perspective on salvation it is important to begin with the most basic definition of salvation found in the Bible. Salvation ultimately is the deliverance from God’s wrath which is eternal separation from Him. John 3:36 says “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him”.

Knowing the definition only gives a partial picture though, to truly understand salvation we need to know the answer to a couple of very important questions.

First off what are we saved from? It's important to note that we are all in need of saving Romans 3:30 tells us that there are none righteous, Romans 6:23 tells us in fact that the wages of our sin is death. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 speaks of eternal punishment, separation from the Lord which is God’s wrath. But as we see in Romans 5:9 when we are bought by the blood of Christ we are declared righteous and we are saved from God’s wrath.

That leads to the next question of salvation which is who does the saving? Try as we might only God can remove sin and deliver us from sin’s penalty. This is expressed in 2 Timothy 1:9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. Also affirmed in Titus 3:5.

So now we know what we are saved from and who does the actual work of salvation but how exactly are we saved? Romans 3:23 says the wages of sin is death, we have a debt that we cannot pay on our own because of our sin, however our sin debt has been satisfied by Jesus through His death on the cross. Paul in Romans 3:25 tells us “God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.” We are saved because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for us. 

Generations have been told pray this prayer and God will save you… Let me ask you this does praying the sinner’s prayer save you? Not on its own! It’s the posture of your heart when you realize you are in need of forgiveness of your sins. There isn’t a magic prayer or incantation you have to recite, there isn’t a special sacrifice that you have to offer, Romans 10:9-10 gives us a simple easy to understand path to follow to receiving biblical salvation“⁹ If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.”

But you can’t leave it there – Remember it’s the posture of your heart, think about it like this…

If you walk up to a chair and give the chair an eloquent speech about how you want it to your own personal chair, how you will love this chair, and carry it with you always, that you will never find another chair like it, and you just keep standing there talking to the chair never actually sitting in the chair what does that say about our speech to the chair? It was worthless and empty…. How many of us have done the same thing with Christ? We have prayed the sinner’s prayer, we have said all the right words, we have made all the right changes in the eyes of the world, yet we don’t change our posture towards God in our hearts… We need to rest in the grace of God…

Are you relying on your prayers or on your posture to ensure your salvation today?