Good morning,
What happens when a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ? Instantly, their lives are changed.
How they are changed will be our focus for the next several weeks.
We will look at what happens when a sinner gets saved, in relation to God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and between each other.
What happens when a person believes in the Lord Jesus Christ?
When a car is running, the moment the driver releases the clutch, many things happen, but perhaps all the driver knows is that the car is in motion. This is a good illustration of what happens in salvation for the Christian!
The most dangerous part of a believer’s life in Christ is when the car first gets in motion, because the Devil is very anxious to guide it the WRONG way & thus make the new Christian’s life ineffectual. Even though the sinner is saved & on his way to Heaven, the Devil wants to make him as ineffectual & fruitless as a child of God by getting him hooked onto some ‘hobbyhorse’ such as ‘Calvinism, baptismal regeneration, tongues & healing’ etc.
Some of the things that happen once a sinner is saved are as follows…
In relation to God the Father…
1) The saved sinner has access to God’s grace – For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Eph 2v18
2) We are adopted into the family of God as God’s sons – Gal 4v5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
3) We have an inheritance. Paul preaching says that the Gentiles ‘…may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.’ Acts 26v18
4) The child of God is elected. Once a man receives Christ as his Savior, he is elected. 1 Pet 1v2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father… Eph 1v4 – According as he hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, NO MAN is chosen before the foundation of the world OUTSIDE of Christ. God doesn’t choose anybody but the people who are IN Christ, & nobody was IN Christ BEFORE the foundation of the world. As a matter of fact, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob were NEVER in Christ EVER! So the man is NOT elected until AFTER he is saved. When a man receives Christ as his Savior, then he is elected because he is IN Christ!
5) He becomes a child of God – John 1v12 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: 1 John 3v1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
6) He gets heavenly citizenship – Phil 3v20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: 7) He becomes an heir of God & a joint heir with Christ – Gal 3v29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. Rom 8v17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
8) He becomes a new creature NOT ‘creation’ as in the new CORRUPT ‘Bibles!’ 2 Cor 5v17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. We are born with the old nature i.e. the fallen Adamic nature which is called a ‘creature’ in Rom 8v20. NOW we have God’s nature, & you are a ‘creature’ that has been born again!
9) The saved sinner becomes a servant of God. Rom 6v22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
10) The saved sinner becomes a priest of God – 1 Pet 2v9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: 1 Pet 2v5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Note – NOT ‘literal’ sacrifices!
11) The saved sinner is reconciled to God. Eph 2v12+13 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: v13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Rom 5v10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
12) When a sinner trusts Jesus Christ as his Savior, he is sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus 1Co 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. Acts 26v18 lists sanctification as a direct result of conversion…To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001
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