You're A Christian--Now what?? Part I

This past Saturday, I had the blessed privilage to be on the phone when my sister prayed to repent of her sins and trust Christ as her Savior. I have been praying for this for more than a decade. I am so thankful to God for His blessing in this regard.

I began to reflect, since she is my baby sister in the Lord and by birth, that I should make some effort to help her along in the early stages of her walk with our Lord. Since I was going to be writing this anyway, I thought I'd interupt my expositions of Matthew and II Peter to present these same truths to you. I hope you are encouraged in your faith and that you will share these with other believers as well.

Things I wish someone had told me when I got saved.

1) You can't loose your salvation.

Dawn, when I first got saved one of the things that I had the hardest time with, because no one bothered to explain it to me, was coming to realize that once I was saved that my salvation was a done deal. I would sin. Afterwards, because the Holy Spirit lived inside of me, I would feel conviction that I had done wrong. I believed that because I had sinned that I had lost my salvation and had to get "re-saved".

Now, it's perfectly normal for a Christian to feel guilty when we sin. But what we should do in response to that is repent of that sin and ask God to forgive us. However, we have not lost our salvation when we sin. Our salvation did not depend on us being good enough for God to save us. Therefore, it can't depend on us being good enough to "stay saved". We are saved and counted right in God's eyes solely on the basis of Christ's sacrificial death on the cross. His blood redeems us. In other words, He paid our debt with His blood.

So, realize that you are still, all through this life going to struggle with sin, but that sin cannot "un-save" you.

I John 1:8-9 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Romans 7:18-25 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.

Ephesians 1: 13 In Him, you also, after listening to athe message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were bsealed in Him with cthe Holy Spirit of promise, (In other words, God placed the Holy Spirit in you as a downpayment on your future in heaven with Him).