Bibliology (under construction)

Have you heard the good news of the gospel?

The gospel message is:

...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

The gospel message is the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and not just that He reversed the curse of sin, but that He is also in the process of restoring the world and human-kind back to its place before the fall of man. 

Believe and you shall be saved!

There are over 150 references in the Bible to "belief" or "trust" being the sole condition for salvation. Some would argue that you also need to be baptized or do good works to be saved. These things are important, but not a condition for our salvation. There are three tenses to our salvation: justification, progressive sanctification, and glorification. We are justified by faith. This is the first tense of salvation, and it is based on our faith or belief that Christ died for our sins. In essence, when you believe, you are repenting. Repenting here does not mean stop sinning as many will preach. Repenting is the act of doing a "180" degree turn from your UNBELIEF to your BELIEF in Jesus Christ for salvation. It is your unbelief that will send you to hell (John 16:7-9). Once you believe, you are saved from your sins and you begin the lifelong process of sanctification. Your sins are covered with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and with the help of the Holy Spirit who now lives inside you, you have the grace to grow in your faith. That said, we are in no ways to keep on sinning (John 8:10-12, Romans 6:12-14, Galatians 2:16-18, Hebrews 10:25-27). Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to help us in our weakness and He will help us walk like Jesus. The second you believe, the Holy Spirit comes to set up residence in you and you receive Christ's imputed (credited) righteousness. You cannot get to heaven on your own righteousness. 

Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain (1 Corinthians 15:1-2).

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17).

So if you have heard the gospel message and believe in your heart that Jesus is the way of salvation; congratulation - you have been saved!

If you want to understand more about salvation the best two books in the Bible are the book of John and the book of Romans.