Salvation is….

 

Don Barrett

 

Salvation is more than just a ticket to heaven.  Salvation is more than probation from hell.  Salvation is the beginning of a grand and glorious relationship (contract, the new covenant) between the believer and God.  The new covenant was made possible when Jesus Christ surrendered himself to die on the cross for our sins.

 

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander of every kind.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (1 Peter 2:1-3 NIV)

 

t        We have been taught the gospel of Christ, we have purified ourselves by obeying the truth (1Peter 1:22)

t        We understand that our salvation is sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13, 4:30)

ุ     And that the Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21)

t        We have received the great commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40)

ุ     To love God with all our heart (soul, the inner man), with all our mind (understanding, objective reasoning), and with all our strength (the physical man)

ุ     To love our neighbor as ourselves.

ุ     And to love one another as Christ loves us. (John 13:34,35)

t        We have received the great commission – to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Mark 16:15)

t        We have received the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. (John 14:26)

t        We are to go forward at all times to prove ourselves worth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

t        We have become the adopted children of God with full rights of inheritance. (Romans 8:14-18)

 

As you come to him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that ou may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  (1 Peter 2:4,9,10 NIV)

 

 

Heavenly Father, claim me as your own and shape me into a spiritual rock – living stone- that you can use in building a spiritual house (temple) for yourself.  Thank you for choosing me to be a vital part of your Kingdom.