How does salvation work for an individual?

Notes and thoughts from Bible Study with Pastor Terry Gray

Ephesians 2:8-10

"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. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

The source of salvation is God.

Salvation does not come from man; not from our mom, not from our pastor, not from ourselves. Salvation comes from God and God only. It is a gift from God. 

John 19:30

"When he had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

Matthew 27:51 "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."

The veil was a physical separation of the most sacred part (inner chamber) from the rest of the temple. Only the high priest can enter this inner chamber. The high priest enters it once a year (Day of Atonement) with blood to atone for the sins of the people for that year. And before he could enter it, he must fully cleanse himself. For if he did not cleanse himself as instructed by God (both physically and spiritually), he will be stroke dead upon entrance. This is why high priests enter the inner chamber with a rope tied around his ankle. For if he were stroke dead, he could be pulled out by his people.

The veil thus separated God and man. Man needs to be separated by the veil because we have sinned and can no longer be in the presence of our perfect God.

But.

But, the veil was torn in two upon Jesus death. It was ripped in half. This was certainly a miraculous feat, because the veil was a huge curtain (60 feet long, 30 feet high, and about 4 inches thick). It is so heavy that it required 300 men to lift it! Hence, God ripped this veil in half at the exact moment of Jesus' death. This is such an incredible message directly from God. This is God telling us that with the death of His only Son, the barrier that separates us from God has been broken down. This also fulfills Jesus' statement, "No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

Because Jesus was perfect, His blood fulfilled what animal blood could only symbolize. The animal blood was a band-aid. Jesus is our eternal fix. With His blood, Jesus atoned for our sins--past, present, and future. And because of Jesus, we can once again be in the physical presence of God. And thus, with the death of Jesus, the veil was no longer necessary.

Hebrews 10:19-22

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."

Coming back to Ephesians 2:8-10, we need to realize that Jesus did it all. "It is finished," He said. Only through Him, can we enter God's kingdom. Jesus is therefore our only way to salvation. And the base of salvation is grace. It is not something we can earn. To stress this point, Pastor Chuck Missler has said, "Jesus Christ did it all. To add anything to it is blasphemy." That is, Jesus did it all for us. There is nothing we can add to it. And to think we can do anything more to work for our salvation is a sinful pride.

As Christians, we therefore live under God's Grace. 

Therefore, NOT by works. Salvation cannot be earned. We cannot be saved by living a moral and good life. Because in comparison to God's perfection, we will never be good enough. We are saved by Jesus alone. For He did all the work. "It is finished," Jesus said as He died on the Cross. Our salvation is sealed through Jesus and Jesus only.

Faith in Christ thus brings us salvation.  And it has to be a personal faith. It can't be just intellectual. The intellectual knowledge of God our Father has to be realized by HEART. That is, it is not enough to just acknowledge God's existence. We have to individualize the Gospel. We can't be saved because our loved ones pray for us. Because the only person who can choose salvation for me is me. I must personally choose it!

Ephesians 2:10

James 2:14-26

Being a Christian does NOT end at accepting God's salvation. For faith without works is dead. Our discipleship BEGINS at accepting God's salvation. When we receive Jesus, we are born again, for our souls are transformed. We need to allow God to work within us and become an example to others, to show others how God works in our lives.

1 Corinthian 2

And so, when we truly understand AND ACCEPT God's Grace and salvation, we start to live differently. The Holy Spirit would work within us, leading us to serve God. And we would therefore serve God with all the right motives.

In sum, we still need to work. But we work NOT for our salvation, because salvation has already been graciously given to us by God. Jesus alone fulfilled our inadequacies of our sins and imperfections. We work, instead, by allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us, to guide us, to use us as examples of those who walk with God.

So, the order is, we receive salvation and then do good work. We do good work not for salvation but because we found salvation.

Revelation 3:20

Jesus said, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

Take that door, open it, and welcome Jesus in.