Scriptural Rule of Thumb: “We are saved not by who we are or what we have done in the past or will do in the future, but by Jesus Christ and who He was and Who He is and will always be in the future, and what He has done for us.”

There’s no question that Salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ. And the Bible clearly teaches that when the Father looks at us, He sees Jesus. So, if the only way to Salvation is through Jesus, then the only way out of Salvation is through Him too!

Many religions tell you that if you don’t behave a certain way, then you’re OUT! But that’s not what you read in:

John 3:16-18

16 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17 God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 18 Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

So, you get out like you got in.

Christ didn’t come to say: Okay, I’ll save you at the first (by forgiving you for what you’ve done just in the past only) but the minute you don’t do everything right, then you’re out. It’s up to you now! (as if you had the power to save yourself in the first place!) Only Jesus does.

Acts 26:16-18

"'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 16'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
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Now, that very clearly says that when you’re saved you receive the forgiveness of your sins and a place in Heaven because of your faith in Jesus.

2 Cor 12:7-9

7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
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This was said by Jesus to Paul and in it He said “My grace is sufficient”. Now what part of that don’t people understand? To me that says “you didn’t have to be perfect to be saved, and you won’t ever have to be perfect to remain saved, my grace is bigger and fuller than that and it grows larger to accommodate your weaknesses”.

Now, Paul, even though at times was guided by the Spirit, he was also human, and at times he struggled with the human ability to maintain salvation, but it is important to recognize that Jesus didn’t go through all of that so that WE could be in control. The Law did that and failed. Jesus made something more whereby humans could be SAVED! And it’s somewhat normal for us as humans to feel that we can or cannot have some effect on our salvation, but we cannot. It begins and ends with Jesus.

Rom 8:37-39
37 None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. 38 I'm absolutely convinced that nothing — nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, 39 high or low, thinkable or unthinkable — absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

We do have our own will, and if we decide to no longer rely upon Christ (or believe in Him), then He has nothing to rely upon from us and our reason for Salvation is no longer there, our heart is no longer His.

There are plenty of times that Jesus said “Where is your faith?” In other words, who cares about your behavior, what I’m interested in is your heart, what do you believe in? If it’s in something from yourself (your behavior) then you lose but if your heart is mine, then you win!

In the next scripture Jesus talks to the disciples about having faith that is as small as a mustard seed (that has to be really small!). But, with very little thought I have realized what He was saying. It was don’t think of yourself and how YOU are going to do things, first and foremost have your faith in ME (forgetting about yourself) and then things will happen.

Matt 17:20

20 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
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Jesus controls salvation, NOT HUMANS.

Read the following:

Hebrews 10:11-18
11 Every priest goes to work at the altar each day, offers the same old sacrifices year in, year out, and never makes a dent in the sin problem. 12 As a priest, Christ made a single sacrifice for sins, and that was it! Then he sat down right beside God 13 and waited for his enemies to cave in. 14 It was a perfect sacrifice by a perfect person to perfect some very imperfect people. By that single offering, he did everything that needed to be done for everyone who takes part in the purifying process. 15 The Holy Spirit confirms this:

16 This new plan I'm making with Israel
isn't going to be written on paper,
isn't going to be chiseled in stone;
This time "I'm writing out the plan in them,
carving it on the lining of their hearts."

17 He concludes,

I'll forever wipe the slate clean of their sins.

18 Once sins are taken care of for good, there's no longer any need to offer sacrifices for them.

On the night of the last supper Jesus said:
Matt 26:28-29
28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
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Christ clearly has forever forgiven and done away with ALL OF THE SINS of those who accept Him.
Heb 9:22-28

In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness .

23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
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