Salvation

Jesus came preaching “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” In Acts 20:21 we find the twin principles of repentance and faith again: “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”  From this I conclude that both repentance and faith are required for salvation. 

With the fall of Adam, sin entered the world, and all of mankind was cast into sin, and we are utterly incapable of redeeming ourselves.  While we may be able to achieve some semblance of “good” in mans eyes, God is looking for perfection, a standard that we cannot attain. 

The Fall of Man

The world was created by God in six literal days.  On the sixth day man was created in innocence and without sin, but by the voluntary exercising of his will Adam fell and was wholly corrupted by sin.  The corruption of sin affected both soul and body, resulting in spiritual separation from God, and the total helplessness of man with regard to his eternal salvation. Man is unable to produce spiritual good apart from the grace of God (Isaiah 64:6; Rom. 7:18,23; 8:7; Eph. 4:17-19; Titus 1:15). Genesis 1:27, 31, 3:6-24, 1 53:6, Ezekiel 18:19, Romans 1:20, 5:19

Repentance

Repentance is a change of heart that leads to a change of mind, that is evidenced by a change of life.  This is evident in the Lord’s repentance in Genesis 6:6.  Because it is a change of heart, it is not a work, as some men falsely claim.  Repentance must have an application, and in the matter of eternal salvation, it is the requirement that a sinner turn to God (Acts 20:21) without reservation and accept His truth about their lost estate.  Repentance is a turning of the heart from dead works, which are simply attempts to save oneself or rationalize away the need for Salvation, and a turning to God.  Lost man must be willing to end his rebellion against God’s authority over him and accept God’s power and right to judge him. 

Faith Toward Christ

In the matter of salvation, faith is not generic and without direction, and simply “believing in Jesus” is not sufficient to save the soul from an eternity in the lake of fire.  The devils believe and tremble (James 2:19).  Faith must be directed specifically to the work that Christ did on Calvary.  We must believe who He is, why He came, what He did for us, and that He rose from the dead.  This is believing the Gospel.       

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is an integral part of salvation (John 3:5).  It is the Holy Spirit that reveals to us our sinful condition before God, and the righteousness of Christ (John 16:8).  Repentance and faith are both responses to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.  Acts 20:21, Mark 1:15, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:16, Philippians 2:16, Hebrews 7:25, 2:18, Colossians 2:9, 1 53:4-5, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.

Salvation For All

The grace of God hath appeared unto all men, making salvation available to all.  True conviction brings about repentance and faith; and the only thing that prevents the salvation of the greatest sinner on earth is their own willful rejection of the Gospel.  Calvinism is a heresy which impugns the character of God and attempts to explain His foreknowledge in humanistic terms, while denying His holiness.  Armenianism rejects the convicting work of the Holy Spirit bringing repentance to the heart of man and reduces salvation to a “decision”, denying the doctrine of repentance.  Both Calvinism and Armenianism are errors that I reject.  Titus 2:11, Romans 16:25-26, John 5:40, John 3:19

Eternal Security

Salvation results in a new creature that is born again as a child of God into the family of God, which is a permanent and immutable event; therefore a truly converted believer cannot lose his position as a child of God.  The born again believer is eternally secure as a result of God’s work on his behalf at salvation, and is eternally sealed by God’s Spirit at salvation.  Ephesians 1:5-7, 13, 14, Romans 8:35-38, John 10:28-30, John 3:16, 1 John 5:13, 2 Corinthians 5:17.