Question:
Last week on your Breakthrough television program, you had people come to the front of the church if they wanted salvation. Is that the same thing as being born again? Can you explain to me what really happens to someone who gets saved?

Answer:
There are different ways to describe the salvation experience:
Being saved - Romans 10:10
Being born again - John 3:3
Receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior

What is received through salvation?
Substitution: One that takes the place of another
Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many - Matthew 20:28
The Lamb of God takes away sin - John 1:29

Redemption: To buy back or return to the original state of affairs
You are bought with a price - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Christ paid the price - Galatians 3:13
Old Testament atonement vs. New Testament redemption
Old Testament atonement required the blood of bulls and goats - Hebrews 9:18-22, Hebrews 10:1-4
New Testament redemption requires the blood of Jesus Christ - Hebrews 9:13-15, Hebrews 9:23-28

Propitiation: The satisfaction of God's righteous demands - Romans 3:25

Reconciliation: Exchanging hatred for friendship; the act of God which enables man to fellowship with Him - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Forgiveness: To pardon and renounce anger or resentment against another. It also involves forgetting past sins - Psalm 103:12, Hebrews 10:17

Justification: The establishment of a right relationship between man and God in which God declares the sinner innocent, as if he had never sinned - Romans 3:26, 1 Corinthians 6:11

Sanctification: To be made holy and set apart for God - 1 Corinthians 6:11, Hebrews 10:10

Eternal life: Union with God that is not affected by the temporal boundaries of life - John 3:15-17, John 3:36

How do you receive salvation?
Repent: Turn around or turn away from. First you change your mind, then you change your behavior.

What do you turn away from?
Sin! Sin is rebellion toward God, disobedience to God's Word, a wrong attitude about Jesus Christ - John 16:9
The nature of the devil and separation from God - John 8:44

What (or who) do you turn toward?
Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the will of God for your life
Real repentance = Real conversion
No man can serve two masters - Matthew 6:24
Change occurs from the inside out

Believe
How do you believe? God gives you faith to believe - Ephesians 2:8-9

What do you believe?
God raised Jesus from the dead and He is alive! - Romans 10:9-10
Jesus died for my sins, and God has forgiven them all - Ephesians 1:7

Why do you believe?
The resurrection of Jesus is the basis for Biblical Christianity - 1Corinthians 15:12-22
It was the central theme of the preaching of the New Testament church
In the book of Acts - Acts 2:32, 3:15, 4:10, 5:30, 10:40, 13:30
In the Epistles, the letters to the church
Romans 1:4, 1 Corinthians 15:1-3, 2 Corinthians 4:14, 2 Corinthians 5:15, Ephesians 1:20, 2:5
In the book of Revelation - Revelation 1:8

Confess
What do you say? Romans 10:9-10
You say what you believe
You say what God's Word says

Why is saying it so important?
There is power in testimony - Revelation 12:11
What you say is what you get - Mark 11:22-24
Your confession will cause you to operate in the principle of faith
Believe it
Say it

What happens to you inside?
Before salvation
You were spiritually dead - Ephesians 2:2-3
You were corrupt on the inside - Ephesians 4:22
You were separated from God - Ephesians 2:12

After salvation
You are spiritually alive - Colossians 2:13
You are made holy - 1 Corinthians 1:30
You are drawn near to Christ - Ephesians 2:13
Scriptural contrast - 2 Corinthians 6:14
Before Jesus Christ After
Unrighteousness Righteous
Darkness Light
Belial Christ
Infidel Believer
Idols Temple of God

The end result of salvation
Life everlasting - 1John 5:13
Eternity in the Presence of Christ - Ecclesiastes 12:7, Luke 23:42-43, 2 Corinthians 5:8