The grace of God is powerful to save everyone. This means that God has chosen to display His love and power to save His people from sin, through the gospel of His son Jesus Christ. There is no salvation apart from the gospel (the good news).

John 3:16 decor God so love the world that He gave us His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish', but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world', but that the world through Him might be saved.''

God's love for us is an unconditional love, a love by choice and by an act of 'will (the agape love). There is no difference to God between the pagan, Gentiles, Jews and religious people. Romans 3:9 we can see that all human beings are under sin, so we all need salvation.

So what is Salvation?

Salvation is moral and spiritual. Salvation relates to deliverance from sin and its consequences and hence from guilt (Romans 5:1), from the law and its curse (Galatians 3:1 3).This came upon us because of our disobedience to God, so salvation brings about the deliverance we need.

Salvation is also deliverance from fear, death and bondage that comes from sin (Romans 6:23).

Salvation is for everyone, for the blood of Jesus was shed for all of us (Hebrews 9:1 3-14) “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).

The word remission signifies a release from sin, bondage, dismissal, or sending away, and also forgiveness.

In the ancient tabernacle nothing was sanctified without the sprinkling of blood. Nothing was considered or purified without the mark of shedding of about our redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. Apart from the shedding of Jesus Christ's blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

All who reject this salvation offered to us through the blood of Jesus, will die in their sins and be subject to everlasting punishment. “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation which at tie first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him (Hebrews 2:1, 3).

How can I be saved?

...Don 't I need to wait until I receive a special calling?

Some mistakenly believe that no person can be saved until he receives a special call or invitation. Although the Bible states that no man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him. (John 6:44). Jesus was actually stating that the power of the Holy Spirit was actively working in the hearts of any who had the slightest leaning towards him “drawing'' such one to the Master. One of the basic principles of divine revelation is that salvation of God is freely offered to all who will accept it. “...Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (John 6:45).

I go to a church already...

... why do I need to be saved?

You are not saved by visiting .or belonging to a particular church or denomination', no church saves you! Consider Matthew 7:21 - Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven', but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven”, Therefore, simply attending church and hearing the word is not sufficient for eternal life but a person must live by the word of God to enter into a covenant relationship with God. (Matthew 7:21).

Surely it is better that I wait. . .

...and make sure I am ready first?

There is nothing you can do to make yourself ready so why wait? It is through grace, we are saved: ice. God's tendency to give freely, with no regard to merit in the recipient. (Ephesians 2:8). There will be time in your life that it will not be possible to be saved due to eternal separation from God, therefore - Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near (Isaiah 65:6). Not tomorrow, not next week or not next year but - today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. (Hebrews 3:15).

Requirement Of Salvation

The three essential requirements of salvation are confession repentance and belief

Confession.

You must accept and confess that you are a sinner before God, as we all have sinned and fallen short. (Romans 4:23). With the spoken word confession leads to salvation (Romans 10:10).

Repentance.

To repent means that you must have a change of mind to turn away from a sinful life and turn towards God for a new life. (Mark 1 :4, 5). We are not converted and our sins are not forgiven until we repent. (Acts 2:38', 3:19). Once you have confessed and repented God will forgive your sins and cleanse you from your sinful nature, (1 John 1:9).

Belief.

You must believe in your heart, by faith that Jesus is Lord and that Jesus died for your sins. (Romans 10:9, 10). You must also believe that through Jesus you have an assurance of eternal life (John 3:16).

Once you are saved you have become citizens of the family of God, for you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26).

What is saving faith?

Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. This definition emphasises that saving faith is not just a belief in facts but personal trust in Jesus to save you. The characteristic construction for saving faith is to believe in Christ Jesus.

The believer cleaves to Christ with all his or her heart and so abides in him (John 15:4, John 4:41). True saving faith includes knowledge, approval and personal trust', knowledge alone is not enough. Personal saving faith in the way Scripture understands it, involves more than mere knowledge. It is necessary that we have some knowledge of who Christ is and what he has done for us (Romans 10:14) knowing and approving are not enough.

Nicodemus knew that Jesus was a teacher come from God for he said ‘no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him'. Although he knew all this it does not mean that he had saving faith, for he still had to put his trust in Jesus Christ for salvation (Greek: Soteria)

True saving faith includes. . . .

...Knowledge, Approval and Personal Trust

Knowledge alone is not enough

Personal saving faith, in the way the scripture understands it, involves more than just mere knowledge. It is necessary that we have some knowledge of who Christ is and what He has done, for “How are we to believe in Him of whom they have never heard” (Romans 10:14)', but knowledge about the facts of Jesus' life death and resurrection for us is not enough. For people can know facts; but rebel against them or dislike them.

Knowledge and approval are not enough

Merely knowing the facts and approving of them, or agreeing that they are true is not enough. Nicodemus knew that Jesus had come from God for he said: Rabbi we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him” (John 3:2) This alone does not mean that Nicodemus had saving faith, for he still had to put': his trust in Christ for salvation. He still had to believe in Him.

I must decide to depend on Jesus to save me personally

In addition to knowledge of the facts of the gospel and approval of those facts, in order to be saved, I must decide to depend on Jesus to save me. In doing this, I move from being an interested observer of the facts of salvation and the teachings of the Bible, to being someone who enters into a new relationship with Jesus Christ as a living person. We may therefore define saving faith in the following way: Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and eternal life with God. This definition emphasises that saving faith is pot just a belief in facts; but personal trust in Jesus to save me. The unbeliever comes to Christ seeking to have sin and guilt removed and to enter into a genuine relationship with God that last forever.

Trust is often a better word to use in contemporary culture than the word faith or belief. The reason is that we can 'believe' something to be true with no personal commitment or dependence involved in it. The word trust is closer to the Biblical idea, since we are familiar with trusting people in every day life. The more we come to know a person and the more we see in that person, a pattern of life that warrants trust, the more we find ourselves able to place trust in him, to do what he promises, or to act in ways in which we can rely on.

People's trust in Jesus Christ involves saving faith, for example, Jesus said: dials that the Father gives me all! come to me, and him who comes to me, l will not cast out (John 6:37)

Faith and repentance must come together

We can define repentance as: an act of sorrow for sins, a renouncing of it and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ. This definition indicates that repentance is something that can occur at a specific point in time and is not equivalent to demonstration of change in a person's pattern of life.

Repentance, like faith, is an intellectual understanding (that sin is wrong), an emotional approval of the teachings of scripture regarding sin (a sorrow for sin and a hatred of it) and a personal decision to turn from it (a renouncing of sin and a decision of the will to forsake it and lead a life of obedience to Christ)

The fact that repentance and faith are simply two different sides of the same coin, or two different aspects of the one event-'conversion. Repentance and faith must come together. For example penitent, faith and believing brings about repentance.