Salvation is an act of God that saves us from sin and death, giving us eternal life with Him. We can only receive this gift by placing faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Man was created to be in close fellowship with God. However, we chose to rebel and decide for ourselves how to live apart from His rule (Genesis 3:6). God then promised to restore the fellowship by providing a savior (Genesis 3:15). Throughout the Old Testament, God showed us how to be forgiven from sin and pointed to the Savior who would put an end to our rebellious slavery once and for all. When Jesus arrived, He declared Himself to be our salvation, the one who would restore our relationship to God. Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice, taking all of God’s wrath against sin on Himself. He was buried, resurrected and now offers this gift of salvation to all who trust and surrender their lives to Him.
We cannot save ourselves. Only God who created mankind can save rebellious, sinful mankind, and He has provided the way of salvation through , the death of His only begotten Son, Jesus, on the cross and His resurrection from the dead (Romans 5:10). Because He died for us and lives again, so can we die physically, then live eternally with Him. We do not deserve salvation. Salvation is God's gift (Ephesians 2:5, 8) which comes to us only through the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12
).We receive salvation by faith imparted to us as a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9), by hearing the "good news" of the gospel of salvation (Ephesians 1:13) and believing it. But salvation is more than saying "I believe." Salvation requires repentance, and repentance goes beyond saying, "I'm sorry." Repentance involves a 180-degree turn away from sin; that is, to go in the opposite direction, to forget the attractions of the world and follow the teachings of Jesus the Savior (Matthew 6:24
).Salvation is defined as being delivered, by God's grace, from sin and its consequence of eternal punishment and being raised to newness of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:4). Salvation comes to those who repent and, by faith, receive Jesus alone as personal Savior and Lord (John 1:12).