What does it mean to “be saved” and how does someone get saved?

What is salvation about and why do some people say that you need to get saved? What’s the big deal, and why get so worked up about salvation?

Is there really something to it or is salvation just a tradition that church people talk about?

Many people would say that being saved means that you get to go to Heaven when you die and that getting saved happens by going to church and repeating a pledge or saying a creed or other choice words. Some people even believe that simply joining a certain church guarantees them a ticket to Heaven.

But let’s take a closer look at what salvation really is and what it isn't.

First of all, being saved is more than simply deciding to go to church or become a church member.  If sitting in a church alone would get you saved or make you a Christian then sitting in a garage should be able to turn you into a car, right? There has to be more to it than simply going to church. You probably know of a few people that go to church regularly that you would tag as hypocrites and not genuine Christians. Unfortunately there are lots of people who fall into the category of “hypocrite”. Someone can’t necessarily say they are a Christian or that they are saved just because they attend church, not even if they’ve gone to church their whole life.

Experiencing salvation is not simply repeating a pledge or a creed in order to get your ticket to Heaven. And salvation isn’t simply about going to Heaven when you die. Far too many people think that’s all there is to it. But being saved is about a lot more than just going to Heaven.

Salvation is is meant to be a life-changing experience here and now. It is supposed to be a transformation from our past mistakes, failures, sins, and destructive lifestyle into a new life … living with victory over those things by the power of God working through us. God wants to transform and rebuild each of us ... to change us into the people we were always supposed to be ... the person that deep down inside you have wanted to become but couldn't seem to make that happen on our own no matter how hard you tried.

God can bring about those changes in each of us if we let him, and if we trust him enough to follow his leadership and direction. He can and will do it by his Spirit working in us and through us and do what is impossible for us to do on our own. Our human limitations can't make this happen on our own power but those changes are absolutely possible with God's power working in us.

The whole foundation of Christianity is that none of us can earn our salvation by good intentions or by doing a lot of good things … or good works as it’s often referred to in the Bible. God is perfect and his requirements are perfection but he knew that we could never live up to that on our own. He is pure and holy and none of us are able to stand before him in our flawed and unholy conditions. But he also loves us more than we know and wants us to be with him, everyone who really wants to be. So something had to be done to make a way for that to happen. He made a way for us by coming to earth to live as a human ... God in human flesh named Jesus, and then to become a human sacrifice for us. He willing suffered, allowing the very people he loved to torture him and then to crucify him on a cross. By doing this he paid the price for our salvation by taking on himself the penalty for our sins. He suffered and died in our place.

After that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and appeared to lots of his followers over the next 40 days. Then he arose back up into Heaven before their eyes as they stood and watched in amazement. Now today he offers us forgiveness and a new beginning if we would just put our faith and trust in him and what he did as a substitute for each of us on the cross.

We are all guilty of sins and guilty of not measuring up to the requirements of a Holy and righteous God. As a result justice cries out for someone to pay the price for our sins, just like the victims of a horrific crime cry out for justice to be served and for the guilty to pay. When we sin we are either sinning against God or against people, which is also a sin against God and what he desires. In doing so we are actually commiting crimes against each other or crimes against a Holy God. There are consequences for our sins and a price has to be paid for them. So Jesus came to earth to pay the price for us … to pay the demands of justice for our crimes, so to speak, 

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) We can never be good enough to make it to Heaven on our own merits ... on our own efforts. Neither can we get there by practicing any other religious belief system other than honest and sincere Christianity. We must go through Christ and his efforts ... by putting our faith in him and what he did for us … how he gave his life to purchase our salvation and the forgiveness for our sins. Ephesians 2: 8-9 talks about how we are saved by grace through faith and not of (our) works, so that no one can boast.

So at the very core of Christianity is this fact ... the way we get to Heaven is because of Christ’s righteousness and his good works, not our own, and by believing and trusting in what he did for us to pay the penalty for our sins and failures. We can only get our ticket to Heaven by accepting his free gift of grace … accepting it by faith. This is the beginning of salvation ... the first and most important step. 

But unfortunately many people stop there, never going on to what else salvation really is and they miss out on the rest of the story.  

After puting our faith in Jesus we need to be willing to follow his direction and leading and learn to live the way he wants.  Even though we can't earn our way to Heaven with our own efforts, that doesn't mean we are off the hook and don't have to live up to anything. James 2:14-26 talks about how we are justified by our faith and our good works. It says that faith is dead without our good works and that we show our faith in God by doing the things we are supposed to be doing ... the kinds of things he requires. We are supposed to keep trying to do our best and then trust God for all the rest ... putting our trust in the sacrifice of Christ to cover us for those times when we don't measure up. 

Becoming a Christian is supposed to be a lot more than just going to church and ultimately going to Heaven. It is supposed to be a way of life that impacts how we live each day, here and now. Christianity is meant to be a journey that you decide to go on for the rest of your life. And it is supposed to be a personal relationship with the one who gave up everything for you … a relationship with Jesus Christ who loves you so much that he left Heaven to come down here, suffered terribly for you, and ultimately was crucified and died for you in order to pay for your salvation and your redemption. He did this because he wants us to be with him for all eternity.

But salvation starts within you as an attitude of the heart. It’s a decision you need to make from your heart and soul first. Then it’s followed by something that God does within you that makes a huge difference with positive changes that last the rest of your life. Those changes start within you and will ultimately affect every aspect of how you live your life and what happens to you along the way. We are supposed to be discovering a daily life-changing experience that is orchestrated and led by God himself. 

Salvation is not simply trying to live differently or living by a new set of rules. Nor is it just deciding to become a better person or live your life differently. If it was that easy than we could all be our own savior and we wouldn’t need the Lord to save us and change us. We could do it all by ourselves. Many people have tried to do it in their own strength and power and have failed miserably. We eventually run out of our human power no matter how good our motives are. We can never be good enough or powerful enough to save ourselves. We need supernatural power to make it happen deep within us … a power that is much greater than our own. We need God’s power to do inside us what we can’t do by ourselves.

But this still doesn’t completely answer the question of what being saved is. So we need to dig deeper for a better understanding of it and why it’s so important.

The Bible talks about God being an incredibly powerful being who is the creator of all things in the universe, despite what evolutionists have taught us. It also says that God is totally pure and holy and that no evil can dwell in his presence. (Psalm 5:4) The Bible is full of examples about how he gave mankind a free will to choose right from wrong, and yet all of us have missed the mark of what God wants for us. We all choose to do things our way at times instead of doing things God’s way and that separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2). It separates us from the good things he wants to do in our lives and it keeps us from experiencing his love, his peace, and his blessings.

God has given us tremendous promises for blessings and good things in our lives if we choose to do things his way. And he warns us that there are consequences and lots of bad things that could come into our lives if we choose to go our own way; especially if we choose to do things that the Bible calls evil. In chapter 28 of Deuteronomy, the Bible gives a detailed list of blessings or consequences that would come on us as a result of our choices and actions here on earth, not just in the afterlife. God wanted mankind to know that he desires to bless us with good things rather than bad things coming on us. But it is our choice to choose how we decide to live our lives.

We need to understand that God is so incredibly powerful that he created the world and everything in it by speaking it all into existence. He didn't wave a magic wand, he simply spoke the word and everything happened. With that kind of power he could annihilate us with his voice alone if he really wanted to, yet he is so full of compassion and love for us that he wants to bless us with good things rather than let our lives become miserable and full of regret. The Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8). As a result of this great love he gave us a free will and freedom of choice. He will not force us to choose his will and his ways. If he did he would not be operating from pure love … he would be nothing more than a dictator or a puppet master. If he made us obey him without freedom of choice we would become his robots or puppets. So he gave us freedom of choice, even though he knew that we would decide to reject him and his ways so much of the time.

To make matters more complicated there is a being that is full of evil and wants to do terrible things to each of us. The Bible calls this evil being the devil or Satan and there are a lot of references throughout the Bible that talk about how the devil is opposite in almost every way to a loving and compassionate God. The devil hates God and he also hates people. The greatest way the devil strikes out against God is by doing terrible things to people. God loves us as the most important part of his creation. So any time the devil can do harm to any of us he is actually doing it as an attack against God as well as an attack against us.

Many people think that the devil is a fictitious character that only exists in books and movies. But people who live in countries where a lot of witchcraft and black magic is practiced know that the devil and the demons are very real. Millions have seen this evil power at work in and through other people many times and they have no doubt about the devil being real.

The Bible says that the devil has evil angels who assist him. Just as God has good angels who assist him and do what he wants, the devil has fallen angels called demons that assist him to do evil things against God and against people. But the devil is not as powerful as God … not even close. God is a lot more powerful and has a lot more good angels working for him … far more than the demons that the devil has. But without God’s protection around us the devil and his demons are often able to cause a lot of harm to us.

Jesus called the devil a thief (John 10:10) that wants to steal, kill, and destroy. The devil desires to bring destruction and loss to each of us. But Jesus also said in the same verses, "I came that they may have life and have it in abundance."  He wants to give us a richly satisfying and fulfilling life. 1 Peter 5:8 says that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He doesn’t want to just mess with us he wants to destroy us if he can. He roams around looking for people who are not under the mercy and protection of God so that he can try to destroy them.

When we choose to do things that are against God’s will the Bible says those things are called sin. Sin is disobedience to God and his desires for us. When we choose to disobey God we cut ourselves off from his blessings and from his protection. This gives the devil a better chance to do destructive things to us.

Another big problem with sin, besides cutting us off from God and his blessings, is that it affects other people in negative ways. Our sins often hurt the very people who care about us the most. Our sins also hurt God who wants us to have a close personal relationship with him and to pour out his love on us. Because sin separates us from God we cut ourselves off from him and his blessings and we eventually suffer the negative consequences for our sinful choices. Sin can keep us from knowing God personally and ultimately sin can keep us from going to Heaven.

But there’s something else that sin does. In John 8:34 Jesus said that when we sin we become slaves to sin. The devil is the one who tempts us and tricks us into doing sinful things. After that he has a hold on us in that area of our lives and he has access to a certain percentage of our lives. We become a slave to that sin and to Satan who claims ownership of us for that type of behavior. We may try to get free from it but we often keep falling back into that sin, even when we don’t want to, and even if we desperately struggle to be free from it.

This is another area where salvation can benefit us in a very practical way. Getting saved reconnects us with God and gives us the possibility to get free from the sins that have made us slaves to the devil. Salvation gives us the possibility to be free from the hold that the devil has on us. It give us the chance to be set free from the things that hurt us, causing so much heartache for us and the people in our lives … the people who we love and care about and who love and care about us.

Matthew 1:21 says that Jesus came to save (deliver) his people from their sins … to set his people free from the power that sin has over them. He came to set us free from the power that the devil has over us because of our sins. John 8:38 says, “So if the Son (Jesus) sets you free you will be free indeed.” The key to finding freedom begins with becoming one of his people. But how do we do that?

To become one of God’s people and begin our salvation journey we first need to believe what the Bible says about Jesus. It says that he is God in human form. The first chapter of John talks about how Jesus was with God the Father in the beginning and that everything was created by him. Then Jesus humbled himself, giving up his mighty power and his position in Heaven. He came to earth as a dependent newborn baby to grow up as a human and experienced all aspects of life the way we do. He went through the same types of problems, trials, and temptations that we do except with this big difference … he did not sin at all. He was 100% obedient to the will of his Heavenly Father and was perfectly able to fulfill every one of God's requirements and commandments.

Then when Jesus was 33 years old, even though he was God in human form, he allowed the people he loved to beat, torture, and kill him on a cross, which was one of the most brutal forms of torture and death known to mankind. He did this in order to buy us back from the devil; in order to pay the ultimate price that it took to pay for our freedom. He took all the consequences of our sins on himself and suffered the penalty for our sins in his own body. After he died and was taken down from the cross by some of his followers. They prepared his body for burial and placed him in a sealed tomb. But three days later he came back to life, rose from the dead, and appeared to several of his followers off and on for over a month. Then on the 40th day, while in the presence of several of his followers, he gave them some final instructions and arose back up to Heaven, to the amazement of everyone who was watching.

Some people have a hard time believing that all this actually happened but this is the very foundation that Christianity is built on. By believing this and acting on it multitudes of people throughout history have experienced salvation on a personal level. And many people have experienced such a powerful transformation and so much of God’s love and peace that they've even been willing to go through tremendous persecution and death rather than turn their back on God, deny their faith, and loose what they've gained from him.

Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice to buy us back from any claim of ownership the devil may have over us because of our sins and our disobedience to God. Salvation is the process of us taking advantage of this free offer of God’s forgiveness and of release from Satan’s hold on us. It bridges the great divide between God and us, allowing us to experience his acceptance, his love, his presence, and his peace in dynamic ways. And it puts us in a position for God to set us free from our sins and free from the power that sin has had on us.

Maybe you're tired of being a victim of the destructive power of sin and of the devil and you’re tired of not knowing God’s personal love for you or his peace. If you are and you would like to begin your journey of salvation here are the things you need to do.

1.) Have faith in what Jesus did for you on the cross. Believe what the Bible says about Jesus and believe that what he did perfectly paid the penalty for your sins and is able to save you from Satan’s hold on you. Don’t be ashamed to face the fact that you are powerless to set yourself free from Satan’s grip and that you need a savior to set you free. We are all in the same boat and need a savior. Jesus is that savior.

2.) Decide that you want to turn away from your sins and start doing things God’s way instead of your way or the devil’s way. Be comforted and confident that you will not be alone, the Lord will be with you every step of the way.

3.) Be honest with yourself and with God about how you’ve lived your life and face up to the responsibility and the guilt of your sins. God knows everything we’ve done in the past but he loves us and cares about us anyway. He wants to restore us to having a good relationship between him and us. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And even though we have sinned he’s willing to forgive us and change us from the inside out. 1 John 1: 9 says, “If we confess our sins he (God) is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

4.) Pray to Jesus and ask him to forgive you for your sins and to set you free from the power that sin has had over you. Jesus promises that he will do it for you and that he will give you his Holy Spirit, which will give you the power to live the way he wants you to. The Holy Spirit will also comfort you, teach and guide you, and step-by-step help you become the person you were always meant to be ... a person you can be glad about ... someone who brings great honor and glory to God and points others to his mercy and the love.

5.) Get a Bible and begin to read it. Start with the New Testament portion, maybe with the book of John and then the book of Acts. You need to be willing to learn what God’s will is for mankind and allow him to step by step change you into the person he wants you to be. God said, “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6) So you need to become a lifelong student of the Bible. Fortunately you don’t have to face and deal with everything over night. When you allow God to change you it is often a slow process and he gives you time to get used to each change along the way. It is a life-long journey and you will discover on that journey that the more you allow God to change you the greater peace you will have deep on the inside, even if things are crazy and out of control in the world all around you. And you will realize more and more how much God loves you and how important you really are to him.

6.) Another important part of salvation is to be baptized. Mark 16:16 says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” To be baptized simply means to be submerged in water as if you were put in a grave … a watery grave. It is a way of identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. You are in essence saying that you are laying down your own life as you go under the water and when you come up out of the water you are accepting the new life that Jesus has for you. You are washed, so to speak, by the waters of baptism and by the love and forgiveness of God through Jesus. Your old sinful life is washed away and you are raised out of the water into your new life in him, paid for by the sacrifices of Jesus Christ. Baptism is a public declaration of your faith in Jesus and what he did for you for on the cross. Whether you are baptized in front of a whole church or you do it privately with one or two people, it is a public declaration of your faith and your desire to have a fresh new start, free from the guilt of your sins and made clean by the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ. Your baptism is also your public declaration that you want to follow Jesus from now on and to live your life according to God’s will and purposes for your life. This is what it means to let Jesus be the Lord of your life. You willingly surrender control of your life over to him because he knows best how to manage your life a lot better than you do. He always has a better plan for each of us that is much greater than anything we could think of.

7.) Finally, you need to find a group of other believers to fellowship with, worship God with, and to learn from. The Bible says this is the way we are supposed to live our Christian lives, in relationship with other believers as well as with God. Worshiping with other believers is where we get a lot of our comfort, encouragement, and guidance. It is also what we are eventually supposed to be doing for other believers to help them on their journey. It is part of our mission and our responsibility to be there for others when they need what God has put inside of us. We are supposed to be like a huge family, growing up together in the Lord, and sharing our ups and down with people who care about us and who love us.

This is the basic foundation for becoming a Christian and experiencing salvation. It is not just a ticket to Heaven. It is a lifestyle that causes us to experience more and more of the wonderful things God has planned for each of here on earth. He doesn’t promise that it will be easy or that there will not be lots of struggles along the way. But he does promise that he will be with us and never leave us alone. He also promises to help us every step of the way if we will keep seeking his help and his guidance. And when we fall short of what God wants for us … if we happen to sin, we need to run to him for his forgiveness and his help to overcome that sin. Don’t run away from God, run to him and humbly ask for his forgiveness and his help because he loves us and wants to restore us to a close relationship with him. If we live that way than we can hold onto the promise that Jesus gave us in John 6:37 … “All (the people) that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out.”

Remember, salvation is a journey not a one-time event. It is a journey that will last the rest of your life and you are not supposed to go it alone. We are meant to take the journey with other people and with the Lord leading us the whole way. Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, “I am always with you, even to the end of the age.” Hebrews 13:5 says, “I will never leave you and I will never abandon you.” Jesus will be with us every step of the way.

If you haven’t yet made a decision to follow Jesus and have not prayed your prayer of salvation and commitment to him, why not do it right now. If you put it off it may be too late later on. God is waiting for you to take that first step of faith in Jesus and a commitment to him. Why not pray to him right now while it is fresh on your mind and in your heart?

After taking that first step of salvation, please email us to let us know. We would love to rejoice with you and to be praying for you as you are taking the most important step of your life.

God loves you more than human words can express, and we love you too!

Marshall Rinker and the Music Missions Team.