There is no human being on earth without sin. This is because everybody is born with the Adamic nature. As a result, our relationship with God was disconnected. Sin separates us from God. However, God, in His infinite mercy, made another way out so that we can be reconnected to Him. The article examines the reevaluation of your salvation experience.
God’s provision is in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the bridge to the Father, and we all need salvation to get connected with God. Assuredly, it is the will of God that we all reign with Him in heaven, but sin is the only deterrent to being saved.
Therefore, we need to confess, repent and forsake our sins before we can be saved. By accepting Jesus as both saviour and Lord, we are assured of heaven. When we genuinely repent and totally submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ, we will have eternal life.
We must, therefore, trust Jesus Christ on n daily basis to forgive our sins and determine to obey Him for the rest of our lives. That way, we can know God, enjoy God’s peace and be saved eternally.
To educate members on the essence of salvation, we shall discuss how to confirm or re-evaluate our salvation experience and our spiritual growth.
Understand Man and Salvation
Man, through Adam, sinned (Romans 12 & 14). Every man has a nature that delights in and craves sin. The sinful nature we inherited and the sins we commit by ourselves earned us condemnation from God. Not only that, sin also makes us susceptible to the power of the Devil.
This pathetic situation renders us incapable of saving ourselves, hence the need for a saviour. Salvation is, therefore, the work of God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus offers us deliverance from sin and its consequences and earns for us eternal life.
It is in Jesus Christ that we have redemption through His blood, (and) the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his (God’s) grace (Ephesians 1:7).
Understand What Salvation Entails
Salvation is a product of God’s love and is available to whoever would accept it. Whoever chooses to accept Jesus as his/her saviour receives God’s forgiveness for his/her sin and God justifies him/her because of the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross of Calvary (Romans 3:26).
Such a person becomes born again and is thus a child of God (John 1:12, 1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18; 2 Peter 1).
The person also becomes a recipient of the Spirit of God that makes one a new creature and also makes one hate sinning (1 John 3:9). The new nature will want to gratify the flesh; this new nature will ceaselessly seek to please God.
This is the nature that God loves. It is the Spirit of God in a person that will give him/her the power to reject the promptings of the old nature and to do the will of God (Galatians 5:16).
Know What The Experience of Salvation Is
The experience of salvation is real and personal. Paul, on his way to Damascus, had such an experience. It was real and unforgettable. He could recount in detail who he was before he encountered Jesus Christ and what happened to him after he met Christ.
It was an experience that granted him victory over the past and gave hithe m courage to move into the future unhindered by the past. Genuine salvation experience teaches one to strive to make others experience the truth. The hallmarks of your experience are a period of conviction, confession and conversion.
1. Understand Conviction Clearly
The definition of conviction as a word depends on the context of usage. As a legal term, it means “being found guilty”. In general language usage, it means a firmly held belief or opinion, while in theology, it means “concluding the prompting of the Holy Spirit that one is guilty of sin and liable to suffer from the judgment of God.”
A convicted person sees him/herself as guilty, sinful, filthy, defiled and completely unable to save him/herself (John 16:8). This type of conviction comes only through an encounter with one or all of these agencies, as directed by God:
- The Holy Spirit (John 16:8)
- The Gospel (Acts 237)
- One’s conscience (Romans 215) and
- The Law (James 2 )
- God’s Servant (Acts 2:37-41)
A likely effect of such conviction is a strong desire to obtain forgiveness for all sins and a cleansing from guilt. One can only obtain these through Jesus Christ because He has paid the price.
2. Have a Genuine Confession
Confession is an outward sign of repentance. It points to the desire for forgiveness through Christ (1 John 1:9-10). With the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10 9-10). This is the message of John the Baptist, who preached dependence for the remission of sins.
True confession brings relief and frees sinners from the guilt of sin. For a believer, even when he/she sins, it is appropriate to confess. If need be, to other believer(s) (James 5:16). It will make such a believer interested in the family of believers and restore fellowship with God.
The word “confession” is usually used to refer to an act done either in relation to one’s faith (confession of faith) or one done in relation to sin (confession of sin).
I. Understand the Confession of sin
This is a public act done by either an individual or a congregation in which Christ is acknowledged as the Son of God (1 John 1: 3-4, 1 John 4: 15) who came in the flesh (1 John 4: 2, 2 John 7) to die for the salvation of humankind (Matthew 16: 16; Mark 4: 29); who resurrected and has since ascended into heaven (Romans 10: 9; Philippians 2: 11).
He, thus, gave man the hope of life in eternity with God. By this public acknowledgement, loyalty and allegiance to Christ are emphasised or reiterated. It is often seen as the opposite of “denying” Christ (Matthew 32-333; 2 Timothy 2 11 13.
ii. Understand and Have a Confession of Faith
This means an acknowledgement of one’s guilt and sin in the light of God’s revelation through His Word, His law or at the Holy Spirit’s prompting. Confession is primarily addressed to God but may also be made before men.
Where an act of confession will be beneficial to a group, a congregation, or the body of believers as a whole, confession of sin may be made openly in the presence of such a group, congregation or body of believers (Acts 19:18; James5:166).
However, care must be taken to ensure that Christ is not neglected in the process (Ephesians 5:2). Where all that is required is an acknowledgement of guilt to a brother/sister, such should be undertaken without the involvement of a group or a church (Matthew 5:23-24).
3. Take a Step of Conversion
Conversion is a term that denotes a change from an old way of life to a new one. To buttress the definition, conversion expresses the act of turning a soul from sin to God. As such, it can be said of a convert that Old things have passed away and all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It involves more than a mere regret of one’s sinful ways. Regret will not avert God’s wrath upon the soul that sins. There must be a confession of such sins and repentance such that one refuses to repeat the sin.
Conversion is an integration of confession of sin, genuine repentance and a turning to the Lord in faith. It must be stressed here that conversion is ultimately a matter of choice. God has given us His word concerning sin and salvation.
He has also given us the Holy Spirit to impress upon us the truth and stir our conscience that could lead us to repentance. However, it is left to each person to make a choice whether to be converted or not.
Conclusion
No man lights a lamp and hides it under a bushel. He puts it in a place where people can see the light (Luke 11:3). No one who has really experienced the joy of genuine salvation would keep it to him/her.
Rather, such a person will share it with others so that they can experience the same too. If you truly are saved, then go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). Read the similar post on this page.
