How God Saves You

Grace saves you through unmerited favor. There is no way you can merit nor earn the favor of God. It comes to you only as the gift of God. Faith in Jesus Christ saves you by the grace of God. Don't fall for the idea that you can somehow be good enough to merit God's favor. Grace is not for good people. Grace is for sinners, and that includes all of us (Romans 3:23).

God saves you from the curse of sin and death. It is by grace through faith you are saved (Ephesians 2:8-9). God works in and through you to do his will by grace. The Spirit of grace works in your heart, which is your mind, will, and emotions. God's grace gives you the ability and desire to do God's will (Philippians 2:13).

God saves you by grace alone. "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (First Corinthians 15:10). Every believer can say," by the grace of God, I am what I am."

God saves you through love divine. Grace gives God's love to you, while you were yet a sinner. His love is received through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5, 8). It's not what you do for God (Romans 11:6). Love is God's grace for you at the cross of Jesus. All that you are, or ever hope to be, is by God's grace.

God Is Good to All

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made (Psalm 145:9). Many theologians refer to this as common grace. That's not because grace is common, but it is common to all mankind. The line is drawn between common grace and saving grace. Common grace restrains evil, gives people time to repent, provides fruitful seasons and food, and many other benefits that are common to all mankind.

Bruce Demarest wrote, "In sum, God's common grace facilitates that sustains and enhances life on a fallen planet." This planet is morally fallen with the sin of all mankind. While judgment is coming, until then God is good to sustain the world in which we live.

God shows common grace even to those who reject God's goodness and compassion. They falsely believe there is no God who will judge them. To others, the goodness of God leads them to repentance. Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4).

God is temporally the Savior of all mankind in grace common to all. God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe (1 Timothy 4:10). However, the time of God's common grace will end for those who reject his goodness and grace in Christ. To the contrary, saving grace in Christ Jesus our Lord is everlasting.

Covenant Promises

Covenant is made with an oath that cannot be broken. In ancient times, a covenant oath was sealed in the death of a sacrificial animal. God's everlasting promises are sealed in the blood of His Son (Hebrews 13:20-21). God's promises in the Bible are for you and every believer in Christ.

God's oath promise is forever. Our faith in God, the forgiveness of our sins, our eternal destiny, and God's work in our lives is forever. Forever O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89). God's covenant promises are based upon an oath forever.

God's covenant oath is our guarantee. His oath of covenant promises are for us as believers in Christ. Jesus is our surety or guarantee to the covenant oath that cannot be broken (Hebrews 7:22). The Bible declares God's word is forever settled in heaven. That's God's covenant oath of promise. 

God's promises are Yes and Amen for every believer in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). Read the covenant promises in the Bible, which are forever the same. God has sworn with a covenant oath, and will not repent. He will not change His mind. God, who cannot lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:2). That's what God promises with an oath to us in Christ.

When You Are Saved

You are saved, when you trust in Christ. It is not your works, but the work of God in you. Grace is not something that you deserve, but God freely gives you (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace takes away all our sins at the cross of Jesus (1 John 1:7). Grace gives you the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Grace gives you faith to trust in Christ (Philippians 1:29). Faith comes to you by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).

You are saved, when you receive the gift of God in Christ. He is the fullness of grace (John 1:16). Believing on the Lord Jesus is receiving the gift of God. Preceding grace awakens you to your need to believe in Christ (John 16:7-11). Grace enables you to believe on Christ (Acts 15:9-11). Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. 

You are saved, when you believe the gospel of Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Christ is the gift of God to you through the gospel. That gift can never be bought, earned, nor achieved through personal effort. The gift of God is bestowed through the gospel of Christ. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).

You are saved, when the Holy Spirit changes your heart. The Spirit of grace operates directly on your heart, to change you from the inside out. God's grace changes your mind to understand the things of God (Romans 12:2). Grace changes your will to desire God's good will (Philippians 2:13). Grace changes your emotions to give you a tender heart toward God (Ezekiel 36:26).

How Your Faith Abides

Abiding faith in Christ is in all who are saved, as a gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 13:13). Abiding faith is from God the Father, through the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. It is anchored to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for your sins and was raised from the dead. The Spirit of grace enables you to believe the gospel of Christ.

Abiding faith is not just mental assent nor human effort. It is a result of the Holy Spirit bringing you to a point of confidence, assurance, and trust in the living Christ. It's faith that the world didn't give you, and the world can't take it away. Abiding faith pleases God, because He is working in you. "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). 

When you have abiding faith in Christ, be assured that God is working in you what is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, "the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). "But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).

God is the one who gives you abiding faith in Christ. It is by the grace of God that you are enabled to live by faith. "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God"(Ephesians 2:8). It's all of grace as the gift of God in Christ.

Christ in the Psalms

The apostles in the New Testament preached Christ from prophecy in the Old Testament Scripture, and that includes the book of Psalms. Before the New Testament was completed, they preached the gospel of Christ according to the Scripture, which meant the Old Testament Scripture (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

Prophecy reveals the gospel of Christ in the Psalms. We see Christ dying and rising again. We see Christ coming the second time and reigning over all. Verses in the Psalms are quoted in the New Testament. Psalms revealed Christ in prophecy.

The Psalms prophesied Christ suffering death at the cross (Psalm 22). Psalms also declared the resurrection of Christ (Psalm 16:8-11). That is the gospel of Jesus Christ foretold in the Psalms.

The book of Psalms prophesied the present day priestly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, as our Intercessor with God the Father (Psalm 110). Psalms also prophesied the second coming of Christ (Psalm 2).

The apostle Peter preached Christ and the resurrection on the Day of Pentecost from the book of Psalms (Psalm 16:8-11; Acts 2:25-28). That means the first gospel sermon in the Christian church was on Christ from prophecy in Psalms.

God's Chosen People

God's chosen people are in Christ. He foreknew us as justified and glorified in Christ. God foreknew our salvation in Christ. In Romans 8:28-30, God foreknew us as glorified in Christ. God foreknew all who shall be in Christ (1 Peter 1:2).

God's chosen people believe the gospel of Christ. That includes everyone who repents and believes the gospel (Luke 13:3, 5; Acts 16:31). Only those who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. As believers, we experience the gospel in power with assurance. That is the Holy Spirit working in our hearts (Romans 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:5).

God's chosen people are saved by grace through faith in Christ. We are justified through the death of Jesus Christ for your sins. Justification is by faith in the power of his resurrection. Justification means all your sins are taken away through the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7). The righteousness of Christ is accounted to you (2 Corinthians 5:21). God declares you justified by faith in Christ. "It is God who justifies" (Romans 8:33).

God's chosen people shall be glorified into the image or likeness of Christ. Glorification is salvation complete. "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). What is future for us as believers in Christ is now in the foreknowledge of God. Therefore, God foreknew us as glorified in the very image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-30).