Salvation Isn't Based On Performance


When Jesus was lifted up on the cross, He offered up His body as a blank check for the balance transfer of every sin-debt of every human being that ever lived. When you acknowledge to God that you accept His terms of reconciliation through His son’s atonement for your sins, then you are spiritually reborn right then and there. God submerges your living spirit into Himself, giving birth to a new spirit within you. And this spiritual rebirth places you legally, spiritually, and one day physically, into the kingdom of God.

Spiritual rebirth is not reversible once it has taken place. Just as no one can revert into a fetus and crawl back into their mother's womb, neither can anyone undo what God has done to their spirit after they're reborn. The rest of the Christian life is filled with many possibilities and challenges, but losing your salvation isn't one of them. God did not save you and adopt you as His child to live in a performance-based relationship with Him.

For many of us, one of the more difficult realities to grasp is the fact that God has already done everything necessary to save us and make us one of His children. We keep making it harder than it really is by thinking we have to bring something to the table. But there's nothing else needed to be saved but to accept His salvation.

One of the mental barriers that continues to block a lot of people from allowing God to save them is the long list of changes they feel they will have to make in order to be worthy. They think, “I’ll have to start going to church, start doing good deeds, stop cussing, quit drinking, quit smoking, quit thinking impure thoughts, only pure thoughts, etc...” but none of those things are necessary to get saved, to be saved or stay saved. Your salvation is not dependent upon you, other than your willingness to accept His invitation. The only part you play in salvation is accepting or rejecting the invitation, and that's all.

You can go to church, do good deeds, stop cussing, quit drinking, quit smoking, think pure thoughts, but if you haven't accepted His invitation for reconciliation through His Son’s atonement for your sins, then you ARE NOT saved.

On the other hand, you could cuss, drink and smoke all you wanted, skip church and forget all about doing good deeds, if you have accepted His invitation for reconciliation through His son’s atonement for your sins, then you ARE saved. You might not look saved to any body else, but you ARE saved because looking saved isn’t what saves you.

That simple little fact rubs a lot of people the wrong way but the fact is, what gets you saved is the blood of Jesus plus NOTHING. If it's the blood of Jesus plus anything else, then Jesus could not have said, “It Is Finished, Paid In Full.” He didn't say, “It's almost finished, now it's up to you.” All of your sins are paid for, as a matter of fact, your sins are paid for even if you don't accept the invitation! That's what makes rejecting the invitation such a tragedy.

As far as God is concerned, His demands for justice have been satisfied at the cross. That's why Jesus could say, “Paid In Full.” Your sins have already been paid for even if you don't accept that. Everything you owe to God, as far as God is concerned, has already been paid. You've already been forgiven. But if you reject that forgiveness, then you reject His terms for reconciliation and you remain separated from Him. But if you accept His terms for reconciliation and accept His forgiveness, then He will spiritually rebirth you into one of his children.

This and this alone is what places you PERMANENTLY in God’s kingdom as a member of a royal family. Your spirit is now sealed with God's Spirit. You're legally adopted as a child of God which makes you royalty. And when your body physically dies, your soul and spirit will be uploaded into a new body, placing you PHYSICALLY into God's kingdom. Until then, you have the rest of your natural life to invest in that kingdom. But investing in the kingdom is not a requirement for salvation, it's an opportunity for those who are already saved!

The relationship you now have with God is no longer the relationship between a criminal and their judge, it's the relationship between a child and their Father. It's not a performance-based relationship. If it were, who could ever be good enough?


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