Being Saved is So Simple!

What would you do if someone you knew came up to you and provided you with an airline ticket to Hawaii for two weeks. All expenses paid, airfare, hotel and car rental were all included and upgrade to the very best money could buy. There is even traveler's checks included for all the expenses you might incur from souvenirs, meals, you name it. You didn't have to provide anything except to accept the ticket, pack your bags and show up. Would you accept it?

Or would you stand back and wonder how real this all was? What if the ticket is fake? What if there really isn't a place called Hawaii, I mean you never have been there before, maybe it really doesn't exist after all? What if the plane doesn't show up? What if my seat assignment is wrong? What if my luggage gets lost? What if the plane doesn't start? What if ....???

Why is it, that when we put our faith in Jesus, for our salvation, we can't accept it as freely as we would a plane ticket and trip to Hawaii, no questions asked?

Because it is too simple!

We have all heard the saying, nothing in this life is really free. That is true but it isn't in this life, that we are taking about.

People who purchased tickets on the Titanic were of one of three classes of people. Those in first class got the most opulent accommodations that were available. Those in second class, were in what many would call coach on airlines today. And then there were third class passengers who would have had to sit in the baggage compartment, but they all got to travel.

When reports from the newspapers got back to New York about the sinking of the disaster, however, there were only two lists of people, lost and saved. It didn't matter what class passengers were on. They were either lost or saved.

All of humanity is placed into one of two groups today. Lost? or Saved?

You have the opportunity to change today, which list your name will appear on.

Grace defined is simply unmerited favor. You don't need to do anything to receive it.

Just like you get a present for your birthday from friends and family, you simply accept it if it is given to you. You don't have to do anything to earn it. Such is the way of salvation in Jesus Christ. We simply must accept the gift He gave us, that if we believe in Him and accept what He did for us in our heart we can be saved.

James 1:17 (NIV) ~ "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows."

Ephesians 2: 4-5, 8-9 (NIV) ~ "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast."

1 Corinthians 15:50, 53-55 (NIV) ~ "I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. For the perishable most clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the say that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

The minute you confess and place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you are saved! Instantly! No works are needed.

What happens now if you are still among the living is that you will begin to battle against your old sin nature. The way you were living your life before you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Our old ways are no longer appealing to us.

Hebrews 9:24 (NIV) ~ "For Christ did  not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one: he entered heaven itself, not to appear for us in God's presence. "

Which means that at this moment, Jesus is standing before God getting from Him, everything you need to get through your day. Jesus is now our mediator before God, helping us get through our days by giving us strength, grace or mercy when we need it.

Hebrews 10:10 (NIV) ~ "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

This means we have been sanctified through the death of Jesus Christ once and for all. It isn't what we can do, but what Jesus did for us that will get us into Heaven.

Hebrews 10:14 (NIV) ~ "Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy."

At the moment of the rapture or when you die, you enter into heaven, your faith will no longer be needed. We are saved from sin at that moment for all of time and eternity.

Romans 5: 9-10 (NIV) ~ " Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be save through his life!"

We have been justified when we place our trust and faith in Jesus Christ. It was as if we had never sinned. We need to believe that we are saved and begin living our life out now for Jesus.

Matthew 10:8b (NIV) ~ " Freely you have received, freely give."

2 Corinthians 9:15 (NIV) ~ "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"

Romans 5:15 (NIV) ~"But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!"

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV) ~"It is by grace you have been saved."

Start using the same faith you have when you get ready to go to the store and get in your car, that it will start and you'll get to where you're going, as you do in your faith in Jesus Christ that you are saved. Stop doubting it! It is received by faith alone! Let us start using it!