Salvation

Confession is an admission of guilt. In this case, it is the confession of sin against God and disobedience to what He says in the Bible. Confessing to Jesus is recognizing that you will obey Him through His Word, the Bible. 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. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:9-10)

Are you trusting that Jesus is your Savior? Are you relying on His death as the full payment for your sin debt? Are you depending on His resurrection as the guarantee that you, too, will be raised to eternal life after death? If you understand and believe what the Bible says about Jesus, and if you are trusting in those truths as the basis for salvation—you are saved! You “believe in Jesus”. To verbally express your new faith here is a sample of what you may say: “Jesus, I know that I have sinned. I know that my sin separates me from you. I know that if left unforgiven, my sin will separate me from you. I believe and trust that you, Jesus, are my Savior, that you died to pay the full penalty for my sins and that you rose from the dead. I am relying on you alone to bring me into a right relationship with you. Thank you for forgiving me. Thank you for saving me. Help me to grow closer to you each day for the rest of my life.”

Receiving Jesus involves turning to God from self, which is repentance and trusting Jesus to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. To agree intellectually that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for your sins is not enough. You receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will. “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). “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). When we receive Christ, we experience a new birth. Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20).

Baptism is a key element that is performed after Salvation, It symbolizes the regeneration of the mind, heart and spirit (soul). The act of baptism is an outward demonstration to others that you have buried the old person, the old life that did not obey God. This is indicated when being submersed in water. Upon surfacing from the water this is an indication that a new person has been born through the spirit of God through Salvation. Baptism is taught as a needful act to signify to yourself as well as to others. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 28:19)