What Happens After We Are Saved?
We are saved by believing in the “finished cross work” of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The gospel of the grace of God is the gospel of the death, burial and resurrection. We see this gospel in I Corinthians 15:1-4. The reason that this gospel is called the gospel of the grace of God is because God has given us grace, which is defined as “unmerited favor.”
Grace means that we do nothing to be saved by this gospel, other than believe this gospel. The Jews under their gospel of the kingdom were under the Law of Moses and it’s 613 laws. They had to do works to obtain salvation; we do not. Our gospel is a gospel of grace and no works are needed for us to be saved. No, we must only believe in what Jesus Christ did on our behalf on the cross. We are saved by the “finished cross work” of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I Corinthians 15:1-4 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
We see from these four verses that our Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried and arose three days later. The fact that Jesus Christ was resurrected gives us confidence that we will also be resurrected to “newness of life.” We will have a “new body” just as Christ had a “new body.”
We see the promise of our “new body” in Romans 8:29 where it tells us that we were predestined to have a “new body” just like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:29 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
We also see in Ephesians 2:8-9 that we are saved through our faith, and that our salvation is without works – so that none can boast of their salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Therefore, we are not to boast of our works. There was only one thing that our Apostle Paul boasted of and that was the cross, as seen in Galatians 6:14.
Galatians 6:14 “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”
Let us not boast before each other, but be thankful for the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on our behalf. Let us be thankful that we are saved by our belief in what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross.