— Ephesians 2:8-9
Salvation cannot be earned through good works, religious rituals, or moral behavior. It is a free gift from God that comes only through faith in Jesus Christ.
"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law."
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified."
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit."
"But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness."
Abraham was saved by faith 430 years before the law was given. The same faith that saved Abraham saves people today. Salvation has always been by faith alone.
"Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
"Just as Abraham 'believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham."
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Being born again means being transformed from a sinner to a sinless person in God's sight. You become God's child with a new nature, born of the Word of Life.
"Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever."
"Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."
"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'"
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
The complete gospel includes both water (Jesus's baptism - transfer of sins) and blood (Jesus's crucifixion - payment for sins). You must believe in both!
"This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth."
"For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one."
"One Lord, one faith, one baptism."
"There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."
Jesus took your sins upon Himself when John baptized Him
Jesus paid for your sins when He died on the cross
Believe in both the transfer and the sacrifice - this is the gospel that saves!
The only thing left is to simply accept this salvation and believe it fully! Just like receiving a gift - you don't pay for it, you just accept it with gratitude.
When someone gives you a gift, you receive it for free and you accept it. But if you decided to give money to the person who gave you the gift, you would be buying the gift and that would be totally wrong! The gift would no longer be free.
This is exactly what God has done for us. We accept God's salvation and believe it fully - not by our own deeds, but because God loved us.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
"But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many."
"We love Him because He first loved us."
When you believe and accept God's gift, He confirms that you are now His children, sinless in His sight, and His saints.
"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name."
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him."
"The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."
"In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight."
"For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified."
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people."
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."
You are God's beloved child - holy, blameless, and perfect in His sight!
Jesus didn't just take your past sins - He took ALL your sins forever! The sins of yesterday, today, and tomorrow were all transferred to Jesus at His baptism.
When Jesus was baptized by John, all the sins of the world were transferred to Him - not just the sins that had been committed up to that point, but all sins for all time.
This includes every sin you committed yesterday, every sin you commit today, and every sin you will commit tomorrow. Jesus took them all!
"By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."
"But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God."
"He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."
"And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."
"All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more."
"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
All your sins - past, present, and future - are already forgiven!
To those who believe: Stop trying to fight sins! Jesus already defeated sin completely. Your job is to focus on Him and keep the faith of salvation.
Because we are still in the flesh, the flesh will continue to sin because it is weak and serves the law of sin and death. But it is your soul that is saved from condemnation, not your flesh.
The flesh cannot stop sinning - it's impossible! But thanks to Jesus Christ, even these daily sins of the flesh were already taken by Him, and we believers are not condemned.
You are freed from the law of sin and death in your spirit and now serve the law of the Spirit of life. Don't fight the flesh - focus on Jesus who already won the victory!
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death."
"For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."
"Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh."
"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith."
"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."
"Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it."
"That through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil."
"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus."
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find."
"Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."
"But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"
"I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."
"For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish."
"For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh."
"The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
"And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day."
Stop fighting - Start believing! Jesus has already won your victory!
If you believe in the complete gospel of water and spirit, you are now saved! You are God's child, holy and blameless in His sight.