God wants everyone to be saved.

People do not want God, His moral authority, His sovereignty, or His forgiveness.

They want their independent pride and sin.

They will go to Hell when they die, as sinners who have rejected God and His forgiveness.

I love Pastor Matt Heard's preaching. Sometimes, though, he seems to say that people can be saved by "following Jesus."

I was wondering what the rest of you thought about this...

Precisely speaking, according to the Bible, no one is saved by "following Jesus."

Judas, who *never believed* in Jesus, "followed Jesus" around the Holy Land, literally, for three years.

Only those people who, by God's grace, "believe in Jesus" are saved.

So, what does "believe in Jesus" mean? To "believe in Jesus" means to believe Who He Is (true God and true man), and to believe what He did (died on the cross for MY sins, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day.)

We believe in what HAS BEEN DONE for us by Jesus. That alone is what saves us: Jesus and His blood shed on the cross for our sins.

We are saved by Jesus alone--with *nothing* added to His finished work.

That is the Gospel.

People who "believe in Jesus" are irrevocably saved.

They have eternal security: they will never go to Hell, no matter how little they follow Jesus or how much they sin.

They are saved forever.

Salvation is a *free gift*.

It is, of course, God's will that they love and obey Him and become progressively holy through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and through God's "grace." (unmerited favor).

It is God's will that through prayer, through reading His Word, and through following Him, believers would enter a fellowship "relationship" with Him.

But even if they make no progress in following God, even if they sin a lot, they are saved forever, and will be in Heaven, because Heaven, everlasting life and salvation are *free gifts* from God through faith in Jesus, with *no strings attached*.

This is the meaning of "grace."

They will have, however, fewer rewards than they would have had if they had they faithfully served Him. They also may have no peace of mind or assurance of their salvation, even though they are saved.

Here are some Bible verses that tell you how to get saved:

"...the Word (Jesus) was God..."

"...the Word (Jesus) became flesh..." >>John 1:1;14.

"He who believes in the Son (Jesus) *has* everlasting life;

and He who does not believe the Son (Jesus) shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." >>John 3:36.

For by *grace* you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the *gift* of God, *not* of works, lest anyone should boast. >>Ephesians 2:8,9.

Believe in Jesus: that He is God, that He suffered and died on the cross for all of your sins: past, present and future; that He was buried, that He physically rose from death on the third day--and you will be immediately forgiven, saved forever, and go to Heaven the minute you die.

The question many people are asking today is, "What kind of faith is it that saves a person from Hell"?

The answer is: "The faith that saves a person from Hell is the faith that has the true Jesus as its object."

There seems to be a lot of confusion out there about what "saving faith" is.

First of all, faith is not the Savior, Jesus is.

(Repentance and Water Baptism are also not the Savior.)

Jesus is the Savior.

There are some who teach, contrary to the Bible, that a person can truly believe in Jesus, that He is true God and true man, and that He died on the cross for his or her sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day--and still not be saved.

These people have denied the Gospel.

They say you also have to have a certain kind of faith.

The Bible does not agree with this.

For salvation, these people require a faith that involves an emotional experience and a "commitment."

But this is not biblical.

An emotional experience and a life-commitment may come after, but they are not essential to salvation. The "commitment" is actually God's commitment toward us, through His Holy Spirit.

The Bible says that the kind of faith that saves a person is a faith that believes that Jesus is God and man, and that He died on the cross for MY sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead on the third day.

It's personal.

It's between You and Jesus.

It involves your conscience and your mind--and secondarily, your emotions.

Saving faith is faith that believes a proposition about who Jesus is and what Jesus did for you. That proposition is called "The Gospel."

We receive Jesus by faith.

By believing in Him.

I think the confusion comes in when people carelessly use the word "believe."

"Believe" is maybe the second most important word in the New Testament.

It has a very defined meaning.

It means, "to account as true."

The believer who is saved believes the facts of the Gospel, believes that Jesus is Who He said He is, and that He did the things that the Gospel says that He did.

He puts his faith in Jesus.

He doesn't merely "know about" the Gospel.

To "know about" the Gospel is not the same thing as to "believe" that it is true.

Knowing some facts about Jesus doesn't save anyone.

The one who believes in Jesus is a saved person, indwelled by the Spirit of God forever.

The saved person will produce the good works that God has prepared for him to do. ("Good" works without faith depending and relying on Jesus are not truly good.)

He is saved forever whether he sins or whether he is devoted to God.

Salvation is all of Jesus Christ and it is all a free gift.

Anyone who truly believes in the real Jesus, even for a moment, even for a momentary glance at Jesus on the cross, is saved forever. >>John 3:14-15.

He is indwelled by the Holy Spirit forever.

If his faith decreases, if he persists in willful sin without confessing those sins to God--he may lose his assurance of salvation, but he will never lose salvation itself.

There will be people who have no assurance of salvation who will be in Heaven.

There will also be people who had false assurance, who trusted in their own good works, who will be in Hell.

But there will be no one in Hell who believed in Jesus--who believed in who He is and what He did for him.

The verse is often deceptively referenced about the devils believing in God, and that they tremble. What is left out when this is mentioned is that the devils are not the objects of salvation, nor do they believe in Jesus as their Savior, nor were they offered salvation.

~~~

After people have believed in the Jesus of the Bible, and are therefore forever forgiven of all sins, and are therefore forever saved, and are therefore forever indwelled by the Holy Spirit: it is God's will that they follow His Spirit in their consciences.

If they do not follow the Spirit, even though they have salvation, they may be miserable.

They will have no peace.

They may experience God's chastisement (earthly punishment).

They may lose rewards in Heaven, but they will not lose Heaven itself.

Heaven is free gift from Jesus.

As we actually follow God's Spirit, we develop a fellowship relationship with Him. (This fellowship relationship is what most of the book of 1st John talks about.)

Fellowship with God is not an automatic thing.

If you do not *will the will of God* for every aspect of your life, and progressively obey Him while living under God's grace, you will never experience it while on this earth--it is a blessedness reserved exclusively for those who are devoted to Him in spirit.

Only the pure in heart can see God.

Jesus said that He personally manifests His presence in this way only to those individuals who obey Him.

Many Christians don't want to hear this or believe it, but it is biblical--the Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught it.

The problem comes when we lump all of these different things together: endless confusion results.

Preachers start saying that if you are doing certain sins, or that if you don't feel the presence of God, that you aren't saved.

Wrong.

What you are doing may certainly be against the will of God, but that does not mean that you are unsaved.

Let's review some terms that come directly from the Bible, and are not my invention nor the invention of any theologian:

SALVATION: the entire process of God delivering a person from sin, death and Hell, and into Heaven.

PREDESTINATION: God graciously (with undeserved love) choosing individuals to be conformed to the image of Christ.

CALLING: The Gospel of Christ is preached and the Holy Spirit works. The Father draws us to Him.

JUSTIFICATION: God declares those who believe in Jesus "not guilty" of all their sins--forever.

ASSURANCE: *Knowing* that we are saved in our conscience, through the Holy Spirit.

OBEDIENCE/FOLLOWING: Living the way God wants you to, according to Scripture.

SANCTIFICATION: The Holy Spirit makes us holy and good and loving.

FELLOWSHIP: The warm relationship of love we can *experience* obey God and grow in grace, (and simultaneously confess to Him our faults and sins), by God's GRACE, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

GLORIFICATION: Our final step in salvation, when our bodies are raised to live in immortal, glorified, heavenly bodies.

Those who believe in Jesus will be saved.

Those who trust Him and obey Him will be blessed and have fellowship with God.

People are saved by believing in Jesus--Who He is and What He did, for us.

People are not saved by following Jesus' commands to live a holy life--that's sanctification--which can be enjoyed only by those who already believe.

The Bible says that everyone who receives Jesus by believing in Him will be saved.

If we pray, obey, and live by his power under grace and by God's Holy Spirit, we will know Jesus, personally, as well.

If we have believed in Jesus, we are saved.

If we follow and obey Jesus, we will experience a fellowship relationship with Him, and we will know Him and sense His presence in our spirit, our conscience.

Believing in Jesus and following Jesus are not the same thing.

Amen.