What about Salvation?

What about salvation?

Morris Hatton

What about salvation?

What about salvation?
What happened?
Introduction:
Today you made the most important decision that you will ever make in your life.
Today you started on a journey by choosing to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Savior. I would like to talk to about what took place the moment that you received
Jesus as Lord. As you read through this book I believe that it will help you understand
the choice you’ve made and discover what’s next.
Welcome to the family
Understanding who you are.

Before we can understand our salvation.
I believe we must discover just who we are and how we were created. Most people have
never come to grips with the fact that we were actually created in the very image of
God.

What about salvation?

What about salvation?

In the book of first Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23, it says “. . . And may the God of
peace sanctify you wholly; (completely) and I pray your whole spirit and soul and
body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This verse actually teaches us that we are a spirit and that we have a soul and we live in
a body. Hebrews 4: 12 states “For the Word of God is quick, and the powerful and
sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit and of the joints and morrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart.” So in other words the Bible clearly teaches that you are a spirit entity., that
you have a soul, which is you’re mind, will and emotions. And that you live in a suit of
clothes called a body

Let’s go to the book of Genesis chapter 1 verses 26-28 “… and God said, let us make
man in our image and after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the foul of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and
every creeping thing that creeps up on the earth”.

So God made us in His image and after His likeness. The question is what is His
image? What is His likeness?

In John 4:24 Jesus gives us an idea of what God’s image really is “. . . God is a spirit
and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth”.

God’s image is spirit and we were created just like him. Genesis 1:27 “so God created
man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he
them.” In Genesis 2:7 it says. . . And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living
soul.”

I want to submit to you that what God created in Genesis chapter

What about salvation?

What about salvation?

1. He blew into what he formed from the ground in Genesis chapter 2. The coming
together of the spirit that he created in His image and a body that he formed caused to
come into being a living soul. You are a spirit you have a soul and you live in a body.
This is who you are. Once you understand this it makes it easier to deal with the
concept of salvation.
The part of you that was born again at salvation is actually your spirit. When Adam
sinned it caused his spirit to immediately die. God had told him that the day you eat of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you will die.
Physically he lived 934 years but spiritually he died immediately and from that point
on he was separated from God the spirit.
The moment that you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior your spirit, which
was created in the image of God, came alive again. You came back into fellowship with
God. Again this is who you are.
Understand your salvation
When you first hear the word of God and you receive it into your heart the devil
immediately tries to steal that word of God from your heart (Matt 13:19). However he
can only steal the word from you if you don’t have understanding. People ask me why
did you teach all the time. I teach because if I can get you to understand then the
enemy of your soul cannot take the benefits of your salvation from you.

What about salvation?

What about salvation?

Gods word promises “that if thou shalt confess with the Lord Jesus, and shall believe
in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you Shall be saved for with the
heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made into
salvation” (Rom.10:9-10). “ . . .for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved.
I want to ask you a question have you done this? Have you owned or confessed with
your mouth the Lord Jesus? Have you? Do you believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead? Are you whosoever? If your answer is yes, then you’ve been saved.
God said “I give unto the him eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man take them out of my hand. My father, which gave them to me, is greater then
them all. And no one is able to take them out of my fathers hand.” (John10: 28-29).

What about salvation?

What about salvation?

Since you’ve given Him your life He will keep you. “…for this reason I also suffered
these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am
persuaded that he is able to keep what I have committed to him until that day”

( 2 Tim. 1:12).

God is faithful even when we are not! “…this is a faithful saying: for if we died with
him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny
him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless he remains faithful; he cannot deny
himself” (2 Tim.11-13). When you make mistakes or feel discouraged, just remember----
God can’t deny himself, because he always keeps his word.

Knowledge and experience

Knowledge that comes from God’s Word helps you comprehend what took place in
your life at salvation. You began and eternal everlasting relationship with the most
wonderful Person in the universe. Knowing and following Him will bring you Joy
unspeakable and full of glory.

Salvation is not just going to heaven when you die; God wants you to start
experiencing the benefits of your salvation immediately.

This requires knowledge an understanding from his Word. As you understand as you
comprehend and act on that knowledge, you will experience the benefits of salvation.

God has given you everything you need for life and godliness through the knowledge
of him. “Grace and a piece we multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God,
and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power has given unto us all things that
pertain unto life, and godliness through the knowledge of Him that has called us to
glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:
that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature. Having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1: 2-4).

What about salvation?

What about salvation?

The knowledge of God gives you access to His promises. Believing in the acting on
them, you’ll partake of His divine nature. This actually means you will experience all
of God’s love, Joy, peace health, deliverance prosperity etc. That’s already in your
spirit by Christ Jesus. As your thinking begins to change and you line up with your
born-again spirit, your life will change too. For instance, perhaps there’s been a
situation or day of the week that you have dreaded for long time. You’ve always given
it over to the devil by believing, speaking and expecting the worst of that situation but
now because you’ve given your life and all your situations to the Lord and you have
the knowledge of Gods word it is causing you to act and understand this situation in a
different way. As the Word changes the way you believe, speak and expect things to be,
you’ll start experiencing your salvation benefits-----even on the worst days!
Change your mind!

Your whole outlook will change as you grow in the knowledge of God and His
promises. This is called “renewing your mind”. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable
unto God which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but
be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God”. (Romans12: 1-2).

What about salvation?

What about salvation?

The way you think must line up with your born-again spirit. At salvation, your spirit
became an entirely new creation. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature; openings have passed away; behold all things are become new” (2
Corinthians 5: 17) Your born again spirit is always an agreement with God. The Word
will renew your mind to what’s already happened.

God wants you to think and act like him. By giving yourself to his Word, your life will
change like a caterpillar transforming into a beautiful butterfly. Don’t allow worldly
pressure to conform you into its ungodly mold. Renew your mind. Be transformed by
the knowledge of God, and your life will increasingly reflect Christ Jesus.

The part of you that changed is your spirit.

Some people don’t understand the spiritual nature and total radical change that
occurred the moment they committed their lives to Christ. For example, a lot of
people received Jesus while being incarcerated because they were desperate for change.
Waking up the next morning. They find themselves in the same jail, wearing same
uniform and eating the same food. They don’t feel any different and their
circumstances, well, they haven’t changed. Because of the lack of immediate
transformation they become discouraged thinking that nothing really happened.

Unfortunately because of incorrect assumptions many never go on to renew their
minds and enjoy the benefits of salvation.

Your body and soul (mind, will, and emotions) didn’t change at salvation the way
your spirit did. If you were overweight when you were born again, you were still
overweight afterward. If you were bad at history before being saved, you’ll stay bad
that history until you increase your learning. Your mind is not instantly changed; it’s
your spirit that’s made bran new.

What about salvation?

What about salvation?

Since you can’t see or touch your spirit, God’s word is the only way that you can
know what happened inside. “…it is the spirit that makes alive; the flesh profits
nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).
Faith is simply trusting what the Word says happened in your spirit more than what
you see in the natural.
Trust the Word

In 1968 I accepted Jesus Christ as a senior in high school. I had made many confessions
of Jesus before that time, but that evening in the home of a friend I knew what I was
doing. I experienced an inward knowing that I remember vividly unto this day.
Although being a preachers kid I still hadn’t renewed my mind the way I should have.
I relied on my experiences of growing up in the church and hearing my father and
others preach and teach the word.
But when the day came that I started to study God’s word for myself and renew my
mind then I increasingly partook of His divine nature and have enjoyed living in His
promises.
Feelings change but the truth doesn’t! If you genuinely commit your life to the Lord,
the truth is that He will always honor that commitment, He will never deny.

What about salvation?