WHAT IS SALVATION?

Today, we want to take time to look at “WHAT IS SALVATION?” When you look at the life of many people in the church today, you wonder whether they are really saved. In a generation marked by spiritual highs and moral decadence, many are falling away, not because they weren’t moved emotionally when they received Christ, but because they were never taught what salvation truly is.

 

They thought it is a transaction. No, it is a transformation. They thought it is a decision. No, it is a direction. 

“…whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be SAVED” (Rom. 10:13).

 

What is salvation really? Salvation is the saving of human beings from sin and its (spiritual) consequences which includes death and separation from God by the death and resurrection of Christ. Sin leads to death.

 

However, if we reduce it to a single decision, a raised hand, or a moment of emotion at an altar, then naturally we treat it as something we can drop, misplace or walk away from. But salvation is not just a moment, it is a movement. It is not just an event, it is a journey. 

 

Salvation is in three stages: The Past, the Present and the Future. 

1. Salvation is what has happened: Justification. In Justification, the court of Heaven declares you righteous just as if you never ever sinned (2 Cor. 5:21). You are justified the moment you are declared righteous before God by faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1). This is a legal declaration; the verdict has been rendered.

 

Therefore, Satan has no more right to condemn you. You are no longer guilty. You are no longer spiritually dead. That is why Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved (you have been saved) through faith…”

 

You have been saved is past tense: Something has happened. For the true believer, justification is irreversible, not because we hold unto God perfectly, but because He has gripped us in grace.

 

2. Salvation is not only what has happened: It is also what is happening right now. This is Sanctification, the ongoing Spirit-empowered process of becoming like Christ. Paul writes in Philippians 2:12 saying, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…”

 

This does not mean that you have to do some work in order to earn your salvation. It means you are living it out day by day, choice by choice, temptation by temptation. It is the fight against sin. The obedience when it costs. The forgiveness when it hurts. The repentance when it humbles. It’s when the Gospel is not just something you believe. It is something you practice.

 

This is where so many believers get stuck. They confuse justification with sanctification, and assume that because they still struggle with sin, they are not saved. But that you are struggling with sin does not mean absence of salvation. It often proves it. 

 

Before you came to Christ you did not struggle against sin because you were enslaved to it. But now you are saved you have to resist, you war, you repent. That is the evidence of sanctifying grace. 

 

3. Then there is the future aspect of salvation - Glorification: This is what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 15:2 when he says, “By this Gospel, you are being saved if you hold firmly to the Word I preach to you.”

You see, salvation is also about what is coming: The day when every struggle comes to an end.

The day when the flesh is finally silenced, temptation removed, and we are raised with Christ in glory.

This is the promise of eternal life, not just escape from judgment, but union with God forever. 

And it is secure for those who endure. 

 

That word endure is not popular in Christian circles. We want to be done with the journey immediately we get started. But Christianity isn’t microwave faith. It is covenant relationship with the Father.

 

For instance, think of marriage: You don’t measure the health of a marriage by whether a couple said, “I do years ago.” You measure it by whether they are still loving, still fighting for one another, still growing in faithfulness. The vows were the start, not the finish.

 

Salvation works the same way: the moment of surrender is real, but it must be lived out, worked out, wrestled through.

 

And this is why so many look confused today. They look back on a spiritual moment – a sinner’s prayer, a baptism, and they ask, “Was that real?” But a better question should be, “Is it real now?”

The evidence of past justification is present sanctification. The fruit of genuine salvation is in enduring faith.

 

So, if you are wondering where you stand today, don’t just look back. Rather Look at the journey. Are you still trusting? Are you still repenting? Are you still becoming more like Him or like the world? That doesn’t mean perfection. It means progress. It means your faith didn’t stop at the altar. It kept moving toward the throne. Because salvation is not just what Jesus did for you once. It is something He is doing in you right now. And it’s something He shall finish in you if you let Him.

 

The journey is real and it leads home. If salvation is more than a moment, if sanctification and glorification all unfolding in the life of a believer, then it makes sense that Jesus didn’t call us to make a one-time decision and move on. 

 

He called us to endure, not just to begin in faith, but to remain in Him, to abide in Him, to walk, stumble, repent, get up again, and keep going.

 

He warned not only of the joy of being saved, but of the danger of not finishing the race, of starting in faith but not continuing in it.

 

And when Jesus warned, He didn’t speak theological riddles. He gave pictures, vivid unforgettable images that demand reflection, and often trembling.

 

In Matthew 13 He told the parable of the sower: A farmer sowed seeds on four different types of soil. Only one, the good soil produces lasting fruit. The other three represent the people who receive the Word. They respond. They may even rejoice at first, but eventually the sun scorches, the thorns choke, or the soil lacks depth. And what began in excitement ends in silence.

 

Listen to Jesus’ own words about the rocky ground: This is the one who hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while and when tribulation and persecution arise on account of the Word, immediately he falls away (Matt. 13:20-21).

 

Did you catch it? He endures for a while. That is what makes it so sobering. Jesus is not warning about people who outright reject Him. 

 

He is warning about those who say yes, but don’t endure. Here is the Lesson: Starting the race is not the same as staying in it till the end.

 

Jesus continued this theme in John 15 where He said, “I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Gardner. Remain in Me and I will remain in you” (Jn. 15:1, 4). But then comes the warning: If you don’t remain in Me you will be like a branch that is cut off. Such a branch is picked up and thrown into the fire (Jn. 15:6; Matt. 3:10).

 

Salvation is not a pass. It is a path. And abiding in Him is the only way to stay alive spiritually, and it’s not just spiritual theory. It is the core of intimacy with God.

But remember that it is only he that endures to the end that shall be saved (Matt. 24:20).

Your friend, I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor, HOG)                25.05.2025