This is a very important time to pray for our community, and especially for our church and our nation. We need to pray for those who are in Christ to remain in Him, and for those who are not following Him that they will recognize and seek the truth.
In these uncertain days you will hear people proclaim that “I am saved,” yet, there are many whose actions do not follow the righteousness of Christ. We’re living in a world that is full of darkness. The person who lives a reckless, careless life while declaring that he or she is saved is playing a dangerous game with their soul.
Salvation is to be taken very seriously. The Word of God must fall in line with a person who is truly saved. Salvation is to be understood through the teaching of the Word of God through the Holy Spirit’s guidance. After all is said and done, only you and God will know that you are truly saved. The evidence of your life would support it. There must be a distinction in your life that people would see. If someone were to watch you for ten minutes, would they see a distinct way of living in you?
1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons.
2 Peter 1:10
Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble.
2 Peter 2:21-22
21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command delivered to them. 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to its own vomit, and, “a sow, after washing itself, wallows in the mud.”
There is one thing that God confesses in Revelation: you need to be either hot or cold; if you are lukewarm, He will spit you out of His mouth.
Hebrews 3:11-12
Therefore I was provoked with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known My ways.”
11 So I swore in My anger,
“They will not enter My rest.”
12 Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God.
1 John 3:6
Everyone who remains in Him does not sin; everyone who sins has not seen Him or known Him.
2 Corinthians 13:5
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves. Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless you fail the test.
Matthew 7:22-23
22 On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ 23 Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’
Salvation is too serious for carelessness. You can’t say that you are saved and yet continue to walk on the edge. There must be a faithfulness to God’s Word and a wholehearted commitment to follow it.
2 Timothy 1:12
…and that is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day.
Salvation transforms us. It makes something beautiful of our lives…if we truly understand it.
The meaning of salvation:
a. Greek: simply denotes “deliverance”
b. Latin: denotes one who is “safe”
c. It is “immunity from harm or danger”
d. It is to be “rescued from all harm”
Salvation is the process by which we are delivered from all that would prevent us from attainng the highest good that God has prepared for us (Daniel 10:13).
Psalm 84:11
For the Lord God is a sun and shield.
The Lord gives grace and glory;
He does not withhold the good
from those who live with integrity.
Romans 8:28
We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
James 1:17
Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning.
John 3:27
John responded, “No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven.
Salvation comes to us because:
1. Of who He is. God reveals His love for us.
1 John 4:8-9
8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His One and Only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
Romans 5:8
But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
2. Of His promises.
Galatians 3:14
The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Romans 4:21
…because he was fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Matthew 1:22-23
22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 See, the virgin will become pregnant
and give birth to a son,
and they will name Him Immanuel,
which is translated “God is with us.”
The source of our salvation:
1. The love of God (John 3:16)
2. The wisdom of God
1 Corinthians 2:6-7
6 However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory.
1 Corinthians 1:21, 24
21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.
24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom,
3. The power of God
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.
John 1:12
But to all who did receive Him,
He gave them the right to be children of God,
to those who believe in His name.
1 Corinthians 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.
1 Thessalonians 1:4-5a
4 knowing your election, brothers loved by God. 5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance.
In the work of salvation there is no weakness on God’s part. The failure is on our part when we do not confess our sin and the need for a Savior to realize our true salvation.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. The love, wisdom and power of God, with the proper investment on our part, reinforces the salvation that we can possess.
Do you value the investment that God has made in you? Your salvation is covered in the blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for you.
Akron Alliance Fellowship 