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.

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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.

Every time the Gospel is a repeated is another opportunity for a person to believe it and be saved. (The Bible says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God.)

This is why people hold up signs with "John 3:16" on them at nationally televised NFL games--the Gospel in a nutshell.

God doesn't want anyone to go to Hell, and I don't want anyone to go there, either.

God says that the way to get to Heaven (a real Place that believers will see after death), is to believe the Gospel of Christ, or, to say it another way, to believe in Jesus--to receive Him as Savior.

Salvation from Hell to Heaven is a FREE GIFT of God's Grace, received by simply believing the message.

This is the Gospel message:
The God-man, Jesus, died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose again from the dead on the third day.

God raised Jesus (the Son of God), from the dead, and this showed that God was pleased with the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

God is paying the price of God's justice for man's sins, to God.

If God had not been satisfied with His sacrifice, God would not have raised Jesus from the dead.

God incarnated a human body and died for the sins of sinful man--in place of us, as a substitute. (even though he had no sins of His own to be punished for)

He paid the ransom of God's Justice to release us from our punishment.

Without God's forgiveness, based on Christ's substitutionary sacrifice, every human being will justly be thrown into Hell to be punished forever for the sins he has committed.

God is a God of justice and He will not "just forget about our sins"--either Jesus bears our punishment, or we will.

Jesus is the only Way out of our hopeless and sinful human condition..

God is the ultimate authority figure, but He is also Love. The Bible says "God is love."

God loves you personally.

God knows who you are, He created you. He knows everything you've ever thought, felt and done. He knows your name. He loves you and He forgives you for everything you've ever done, in Christ. He wants you to receive His love and be saved through believing in Jesus.

Every other religion on earth tries to get its followers justified and into Heaven, Nirvana, Valhalla, etc., though doing good works. (But no one is good enough--EVERYONE does sinful or evil deeds and falls short of the perfection required to get into Heaven.)

Some imagine multiple lifetimes to get things right--Hinduism, and Buddhism. The only problem is that these people still do many wrongs in every life--how will they ever reach "Nirvana"? (The Bible says that everyone will die once and then be immediately judged. This is why I always say, "one minute after you die, it will not be a matter of faith. You will see Jesus and you will be in Heaven or Hell. But God is pleased only with faith--faith in Jesus.)

The Gospel message, therefore, is the most important message a human can hear in his lifetime.

Jesus suffered excruciating and unfathomable emotional, spiritual and physical pain to pay for the sins of each one of us--every human being who has ever lived.

Salvation is mankind's foremost need. Hell while perfectly just, is also unimaginably painful and endless in duration--our problem is that we don't know how bad we are or how good and holy and terrifying God is.

Then Gospel message bears repeating, then, because of its extreme importance and it's power, when believed, to save and transform human bodies and souls. ("Bodies" because there will be a resurrection of all bodies to Heaven or to Hell.)

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.

When a person believes in Jesus, the
God-man who died on the cross for his sins, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day, also known as believing the Gospel, that person becomes a permanent member of the family of God.

He becomes immediately and irrevocably and permanently ("everlastingly") saved.

In order for a person to be saved, God must enable the person to believe in Jesus.

The person who believes is immediately declared "not guilty" of his or her sins by God. (Justification.)

The person is immediately indwelled by the Holy Spirit, forever and unconditionally.

The person is immediately baptized by the Holy Spirit into the death and resurrection of Christ. (This is not water baptism. Water baptism plays no part in saving anyone.)

The saved person, because the Holy Spirit is in him, produces good works which he is able to do through the power of God. (Sanctification.)

If there are no visible good works, no change of life, the question to be asked is not "What kind of believing in the Gospel has taken place?", but rather, "Has the person believed at all?"

Saving faith is belief in the Gospel facts--that Jesus died for ME, personally.

Trusting in Jesus the God-man and what He did for me on the cross is how we are saved.

Jesus and Paul gave immediate assurances of everlasting salvation based on the professed belief of their hearers.

So should we.

If a person says he believes in Jesus, he should be given immediate assurance of eternal salvation. (If he is lying and really does not believe, that is his own affair.)

All who believe in Jesus are saved forever, by the grace of God.

When a person believes in Jesus, the God-man who died on the cross for his sins, was buried, and rose from the dead on the third day, also known as believing the Gospel, that person becomes a permanent member of the family of God.

He becomes immediately and irrevocably and permanently ("everlastingly") saved.

In order for a person to be saved, God must enable the person to believe in Jesus.

The person who believes is immediately declared "not guilty" of his or her sins by God. (justification)

The person is immediately indwelled by the Holy Spirit, forever and unconditionally.

The person is immediately baptized by the Holy Spirit in that moment into the death and resurrection of Christ. (This is not water baptism. Water baptism plays no part in saving anyone.)

The saved person, because the Holy Spirit is in him, produces good works which he is able to do through the power of God. (sanctification)

If there are no visible good works, no change of life, the question to be asked is not "what kind of believing in the Gospel has taken place?", but rather, "has the person believed at all?"

Saving belief is an acknowledgement of the Gospel facts--that Jesus died for ME, personally.

Trusting in Jesus the God-man and what He did for me on the cross is what saves me.

Jesus and Paul gave immediate assurances of everlasting salvation based on the professed belief of their hearers.

So should we.

If a person says he believes in Jesus, he should be given immediate assurance of eternal salvation. (If he is lying and really does not believe, that is his own affair.)

All who believe in Jesus are saved forever, by the grace of God.

Yes, it can.

Can "intellectual unbelief" damn you?

Yes, it can.

Someone who has trusted Jesus the God-man to forgive his sins through His death on the cross, burial, and resurrection is a saved man.

We are not saved by good works but by faith in Jesus.

Salvation is a free gift to the one who believes in Jesus.

In the phrase "intellectual saving faith," the word intellectual has NO MEANING.

Faith is not meritorious.

All who have believed in Jesus are saved and will go to Heaven no matter what.

Attempting to define what "kind" of faith in Jesus will save us is not permitted by Scripture.

Everyone who believes the Gospel to be the truth is saved, according to the Bible.

*** Who Controls the Weather?
Who Leads World Leaders?
Who Commands Satan?
Who Rules over the Great god Money?
Who is in Charge of Life and Death?
Who was here in the Past and Who will be here in the Future?
Who Oversees all of the History of men?
Who Created the Universe?
Who Made Logic and Meaning?
Who Decides what is Right and what is Wrong?
Who Presides over Heaven and Hell?
Who died to forgive sins?
Who ALONE is Worthy of your WORSHIP and your Highest love?
Who Is The KING of the Jungle?

Jesus.