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Introduction

The Gospel means Good News, and it is the best news that man will ever hear in this life, because it tells about what God has done so that we can have eternal life or to save us by his grace. Unfortunately, most people, including preachers and teachers, explain it in a way that doesn’t make good sense. Most of the preachers and teachers that I know say that one must accept Christ and live right or good to be saved; however, the Bible tells us that it is impossible to live good or right enough to be saved. There is no way to see or explain the Good News about how God saved by Grace without understanding salvation, which is eternal. Those who reject God’s salvation, and/or the concept of eternal salvation have incorrect knowledge of what God is offering and do not know or believe what the Gospel is truly saying. The Bible said that eternal life, and salvation, is free and a gift. Well, what does that imply? No conditions or strings attached. Remember, when what you truly know (saved by grace) doesn’t match, what you really believe (live right to be saved), you have a problem and need a better understanding.

If you want to see people, even good Christian people who love God, become confused and even angry, ask them this question: does going to heaven depend on how you live, or does it not? I have never found a Christian who did not know that salvation is by grace. They also know that it is a gift that cannot be earned. But some of these same people will also tell you that being saved and going to heaven depends on how they live. This is a direct contradiction because that makes heaven attainable by earning it. Now I’m talking about spiritual, righteous, and committed Christians. I am talking about people who believe all the same things concerning the foundation of our faith. They will become so unspiritual, unrighteous, and angry with one another that they would almost fight. They may even stop associating or speaking with one another.

Just picture going to a big interdenominational meeting with all denominations of Christianity present and someone deciding to debate eternal salvation. Can you imagine the confusion that could or would be started just from those two words? All this confusion could be eliminated if people would just take the time to investigate. You can have a lot of knowledge about something, but until you get a good understanding of it, you just have a lot of information that you do not understand and cannot explain.

It is amazing that all this confusion could happen to people who are united in the same belief. Even though their beliefs are the same, they could be separated by two simple words, so most people avoid this conversation. I call them the Christian’s “dirty” words: eternal salvation—meaning that once a person is saved, he becomes a born-again believer and that he can never become unsaved. It simply means that a person is saved eternally; once saved, a person can never be lost or go to hell. I think this could be one of the oldest arguments among believers. This is the most important truth and the only and best way to understand the Gospel’s message. If we could understand this concept, we would know what John 3:16 really means. We would realize what God’s love has accomplished for us. If you want to see something that is unbelievable, ask your pastor or any minister, “What is salvation,” and “What is the Gospel or Good News?” The Gospel is the good news that tell us what God have done so that we can be save; salvation tell us that we are saved and show us how saved we are by the presence of the Holy Spirit as a guarantee. You cannot have salvation without having the Holy Spirit.

Many of us view Christianity as a religion, but we should know that Christianity is technically not a religion—it’s a new kind of humanity (or in other words, Christ in humanity is Christianity). But when people don’t understand salvation, they turn Christianity into a religion. We must begin to see that all denominations, if they are a part of Christianity, are a part of the one body of believers—the church of God’s people, the body of Christ’s church, all who have been reborn, all having received faith in God the same way.

I will say it again everyone who has God’s salvation received it the very same way. We all received it by the preaching of God’s Word or by hearing or reading the Gospel story. We heard in the Gospel how Jesus died and was raised from the dead to pay for our sins. Then through the Power of God, the Holy Spirit gave us all the ability to believe and have that faith that brings salvation.

When a person understands what it means to be saved, what it means to be saved by grace, and what it means to have salvation, he or she will not even entertain the thought that salvation can be gained or maintained depending upon how one lives. If this were true, it would totally cancel out the concept of being saved by grace alone. I can see someone being confused who does not have the truth. But please don’t be confused with the truth.

Now if I have not offended you yet, please take the time to consider the truth. The only book in the world that can tell us about how God forgives and saves men is the Bible. It tells not what you believe or have been taught, but it tells the absolute truth. Let the truth correct you, direct you, encourage or discourage, build you up, or hurt your feelings. Just never let the truth offend you because if it does, you will never benefit from it.

In the next few chapters of this book, I will explain how the Bible teaches us eight different ways or aspect of how God saved us. Most of the words used are very familiar to us; however, you may not understand what all of them mean and represent, nor what they all have in common.

The words that are used are these: justification, redemption, reconciliation, imputation, propitiation, sanctification, salvation, and glorification. What do all those words have in common? They all end with the suffix -tion, which refers to something that has reached its goal or destination. It is in a state of completion; it is finished, accomplished, and done. Remember, -tion means done.

These words are more clearly explained in the New Testament. The first four books of the New Testament contain the Gospel that tells us the story about what God has done so that we can be saved. The Gospel is the good news about God’s saving grace for this human race. The Epistles, or letters, in the New Testament explain and help us to understand how this was accomplished with the power and provision of God. This is what gives us assurance about being secured eternally, or in theological terms, being assured of eternal salvation. You can know something you have been taught, but until you understand what has been taught, it still does not belong to you. Eternal salvation is not just the best way—it is the only way to see that God saves us by grace alone. Until you believe this, you have not heard the gospel of the Bible or the true Gospel of God (Heb. 5:9).

Grace tells us how God saves, and salvation shows us how saved we are. Anything outside of salvation by grace implies salvation by works or some human performance. If it is true that God saved by grace two thousand years ago, then it is still true today because truth cannot change. If the truth changes, it was never the truth in the beginning (Gal. 3:11, 17, 24). Remember that anything that does not come from absolute truth is absolutely a lie. Read Acts 13:38–39.

Galatians 2:21 puts it like this: “I do not frustrate (set aside) the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” That is why I say that people who reject God’s offer of salvation have confused knowledge of it, which leads to bad understanding, and this could cause one to draw the wrong conclusion.