ICS Daily Devotions
Accepting Salvation

The acceptance of salvation is done through two steps: repentance and personal faith.

Acts 3:19a Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out.

Repentance simply means to change the mindset, to turn away from sin. When Jesus began preaching the message of God’s kingdom, He said

Matthew 4:17 Turn away from your sins, because the Kingdom of heaven is near.

Once you turn away from sin, you will turn back to God. You accept salvation by applying your personal faith by confessing Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour and believing that He has been raised from the dead by God.

Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

There are only 2 places where we can spend eternal life. We will either live in the Kingdom of God that is full of God’s justice, joy and peace or we will be part of the Kingdom of Darkness where there is a lake of fire, “gnashing of teeth”, and an eternal separation from God (Luke 13:28).

Sinners belong to the Kingdom of Darkness by default. However, sinners can choose to repent, accept the salvation that is in Jesus and become the citizens of the heavenly kingdom. In the moment that we confess and believe in the Lord Jesus, God instantly exchanges our sins with the robe of Christ’s righteousness and we break free from the Kingdom of darkness. We have regenerated to become new creations.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Obviously, when we are regenerated, the body still looks the same. The part of us that has been born again is the spirit man within us and therefore, we must start to feed our spirit man with spiritual food which is the Word of God and by praying in the Spirit.

This righteousness of God is a gift from God. Based on our own strength and work, there is no way for us sinners to redeem ourselves, become sinless, and draw close to God who is holy, just and righteous. We can only draw close based on the redemptive work of Christ on the cross and it is Jesus’ blood that is able to completely wash away all our sins and cause us to be hidden in Christ and to be sealed with the Holy Spirit.

This should indeed keep us humble before God.

Sermon Series: CG Campaign – A Transformed Life