For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)
What joy we find in the verse above in knowing that we are among the “whosoever” mentioned! The assurance and peace we find in the promise “shall be saved” are matchless and beyond comprehension. We would be hard-pressed to find a true, born-again Christian who wouldn’t say that he was thankful for his salvation and for God’s grace.
However, it is very easy (especially, when caught up in the affairs of daily life) to forget just how amazing it is that God saved us! We forget what we were before salvation, and we forget what God did for us. Let us take a few moments to remember…
What We Were
Dead.
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; (Ephesians 2:1)
In a nutshell, before we received Christ, we were dead. That’s it. We weren’t just good people trying to make our way in this world. We weren’t just “poor, misguided souls.” We were dead, spiritually good for nothing.
Condemned.
He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)
We tend to think of condemnation as something that will take place at the end of the world or maybe after we die, but the Bible tells us that, before Christ, we were already condemned. The word condemn means “to separate or to put asunder; to judge.” This tells us that God’s judgment was upon us before we received Christ, and that judgment was separation from Him, spiritual darkness in this life followed by eternity in Hell.
Under Wrath.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)
“The wrath of God”—What a scary thought! The very God of the universe, Who created everything, has great wrath stored up against those who do not believe in Jesus as their Saviour. Before salvation, that wrath was upon us as well.
What We Had to Do
Repent.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out… (Acts 3:19)
Repent means “to change one’s mind.” Someone once defined repentance as “a change of mind resulting in a change of heart.” We had to reach the point in our lives when we admitted that we were sinners and no longer thought that it was all right to sin.
Confess and Believe.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)
When we confess something, we admit that we are guilty of what we’ve been accused. When we confessed our sins to God, we showed Him that we understand that we are sinners in need of a Saviour. However, notice that a verbal confession was not enough; we had to couple it with a true belief in our hearts. To truly believe is to put the full weight of our trust in Jesus Christ.
Call.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Romans 10:13)
After confession and belief came the physical act of calling on Jesus’ name for our salvation, realizing that He alone could save us.
What God Did for Us
Washed Us.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)
The Bible tells us in 1 John 1:7, “…the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Jesus had to die on the cross and shed His blood so that He could make us clean.
Justified Us.
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (Romans 3:24)
It is no mistake that this verse comes immediately after “For all have sinned…” God wanted us to know that while we are all sinners, when we accept Christ as our Saviour, He justifies us—makes it as though we’d never sinned.
Adopted Us.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (Romans 8:14, 15)
Jesus called it being “born again.” The moment we received Christ as our Saviour, we became children of God.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12)
Regardless of our earthly situations, we have a Heavenly Father Who loves us as His own.
Made Us New.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We were dead before salvation. Once we received Christ, He made us alive. He rescued us from our old lives and started us on a new path full of joy.
In Conclusion…
Have you lost the joy of your salvation, Christian? Perhaps you have allowed yourself to become bogged down by the pressures of this life, or maybe you have allowed sin to come between you and your Saviour. In Psalm 51, we read David’s prayer of confession after he had sinned with Bathsheba. David understood what it meant to lose his closeness with the Lord, and he knew what he needed to do to make things right. If you’ve been feeling like David did, make his prayer yours today:
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (Psalm 51:10-12)
Perhaps you have never felt the joy of salvation because you’ve never accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour. Please click here to view the Bible Way to Heaven.