WHAT IS SALVATION? 5

WHAT IS SALVATION? 5

Text: John 1:10-13
Memory verse:
”“I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”“
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In yesterday’s edition, we considered two things that have the resemblance of salvation but which are not. Let’s consider others today.
Salvation is not an inheritance but a personal relationship. “They did not become God’s children by natural means, that is, by being born as the children of a human father; God himself was their Father” (John 1:13 GNT). Gift or anointing may be transferred from a parent to a son or from one person to another. Faith can be a tradition in such a way that a family is known as a Christian family but that does not pass salvation to the family members. I was born into a well known Christian family, my father was a priest and my great grandfather brought Christianity into my town. His salvation experience caused him to confront the idolatrous new yam festival and that led to his imprisonment. If salvation is by inheritance, with this impressive Christian tradition, all his descendants would have been qualified to have it. But this is not so, for salvation must involve the will of the individual. To be saved, a person must make a personal decision to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus and this, I did at a stage in my life.
Also, salvation is not a change of church. A church is more than a place of worship or a religious group. The New Testament word for “church” is ekklesia, meaning the called out ones. It’s the fellowship of the called out ones, the believers who were called out of the world unto Christ. The church is the body of Christ and the believers are baptized into Him, having renounced the world and accepted His Lordship (1 Cor 12:13). Someone can associate with a church and attend a church but not part of the church. Some boast about the mega church they attend and the pastor but have no relationship with Jesus, the owner of the church. Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd, and I know [without any doubt those who are] My own and My own know Me [and have a deep, personal relationship with Me]—“ (John 10:14 AMP). Salvation makes God our Father and we, His children. A father knows his children just as Jesus knows His own. Only bastards claim to be sons of a father they don’t have a relationship with.
Friends, if you have gotten the idea of salvation wrongly, don’t pretend about it or patch it, but do the right thing now and while time lasts.

Prayer points
1. Father, please, correct every wrong belief about salvation in Your church and let there be genuine salvation, in Jesus’ name.
2. Father, let this truth set Your people free from every deception of religion, in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. I didn’t receive salvation by inheritance but by a personal decision to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus.
2. I am not a bastard because I know my Father and my Father knows me.

Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng