In order to be a Christian, we must submit ourselves under the lordship of Jesus Christ.  We must allow Him to reign over us in total.  For Christians, our outward life should be a testimony of our inward faith.  We follow orders.  We obey the commands of Jesus Christ.  We live our lives in accordance with those commands.

So, salvation isn’t about works, but because we are saved, we live a certain way in harmony with the commandments of Christ.  Our faith in Christ compels us to act for Christ.  And, furthermore, faith without the works of faith is dead.  Faith in Christ has to produce the works of Christ.  And a life lived well in Christ has to produce the fruits of that life.  Christians produce Christ-like fruits – Galatians 5:22; love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.  On the other hand Christians must rid themselves of the fruits of the flesh; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness (licentiousness), idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, contentions, jealousies, anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, envying, murders, drunkenness and reveling.  Those who practice and exhibit these fruits can not inherit the Kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).

In Romans, Paul wrote about grace and sin.  He asked the question in Romans chapter 6, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  And he immediately answered it and said, absolutely not.  We don’t continue to sin because we know God gives us grace.  No, we must bury our old nature when we come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  In verse 13 of chapter 6, he says we must not yield ourselves as instruments of unrighteousness to sin.  This means we must make a conscious decision to yield ourselves as instruments of righteousness to God.  We shouldn’t be content with doing those things we know do not please God.  As a result, we make every attempt by the power of God to walk in right living.  We make every attempt by the power of God to follow his commandments and not our own desires.

How do we do that when we are so used to doing things our own way?  How do we make such a radical change.  The change comes when we truly accept Jesus Christ as lord of our lives.  When we submit our ways to his ways he provides the means for transformation to take place.  This is what Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus, you must be born again.  In order for you to live like Jesus, you have to be changed.  You can’t remain the same person you were before.  You have to be made over.

Being made over is a process.  The process starts with the salvation experience.  Below are some common definitions that comprise the salvation process:

1. Sin – Simply stated, it is the transgression of the laws of God. However, Wycliffe stated it this way:  sin is anything contrary to the character of God[i].  When you state it as such, it puts more pressure on the individual to first understand God’s character and nature and then to find ways to emulate it.  Therefore, anything we do or say outside of God’s character and nature is sin.
2. Guilt – The state of having done a wrong or committed an offense. A painful feeling of self-reproach resulting from a belief that one has done something wrong or immoral[ii].  In Christian terms, it is the knowledge of transgressing God’s laws or the knowledge that we are indeed a sinner.  These laws are not just the Ten Commandments, but anything that God wouldn’t want us to do or condone our behavior.
3. Conviction – Sense of guilt and shame leading to repentance. The Hebrew word yakah expresses the idea of conviction[iii].  It means to argue with, to prove, or to correct.  A person can not truly repent unless he feels a sense of guilt for what he has done or not done towards God.  If there is no shame then there can be no repentance.
4. Repentance – Change of mind; also can refer to regret or remorse accompanying a realization that wrong has been done or to any shift or reversal of thought. In its biblical sense, repentance refers to a deeply seated and thorough turning from self to God[iv].
5. Salvation – Deliverance from sin or the rescue from sin and death. It is a process that is brought about by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ whose death became the atonement or payment for mankind’s sins.  Once he died, he arose to signify his authority over the grave and death and that he lives forevermore.  This action cemented the process of salvation since it signals that all who put on Christ will likewise inherit eternal life.

So, salvation involves the belief and acceptance of the authority of Jesus Christ. We must confess him and believe in him and back up that belief by living in accordance with his commandments.  Baptism in water relieves us from our sinful nature and all that we did prior that was against the commands and standards of Christ.  Afterwards, we become candidates to receive the transformative power of the Spirit of God.

Paul said in Romans chapter 8 that there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.  Those who are after the flesh, mind the things of the flesh, but those who are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit.  It is the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in man that gives man the authority and power to live holy.  Yes, you have to have a mind, a strong desire to do right.  But the mind or the spirit of man must be enhanced by the Spirit of God to perform the things of God.  So then, it is vitally important that individuals who want to live for Christ are filled with God’s Spirit – see Acts chapter 2.  The disciples and others were all in one place and suddenly they heard a sound like wind blowing in a storm.  They were surrounded by this wind and saw tongues that looked like fire showered down on them.  And they were filled with the Spirit of God.  They began to speak in other languages.  Languages that they had not studied and the people around them were amazed.  They were dancing and leaping and praising God.  And it appeared to outsiders that they were drunk.  But the Apostle Peter spoke to the men around them and explained that this was a fulfillment of prophecy from the book of Joel, chapter 3.  God said he would send his Spirit upon all flesh.  And, God wants to engulf you with his presence and power to give you the ability to overcome sin.  And once the engulfing occurs, he says he will be with you and dwell in you.  And this indwelling allows a person to overcome his fleshly desires most of the time.  I say most of the time because we aren’t perfect.  But, we must avoid willful sin.  We avoid willful disobedience.  We avoid willful defiance of the law of God.  And the occasional slip up where our flesh causes us to do what we don’t want to do, that can be overcome by requesting and asking for forgiveness.  And once we request forgiveness, God asks us to take note of our wrong and correct it.  Make steps to not repeat the same mistake.  It may take time, but we must make a concerted effort to relieve ourselves of the thing that God hates.  And, we know God hates sin.  So, we should never be satisfied with sin of any kind.

Once we are born again and begin the process of a life in Christ, the next step is to live that life with Christ.  And, that means to follow his blueprint.  His blueprint was to establish a physical church on the earth so that the Christian would have likeminded individuals with whom he/she could have fellowship.  And not only fellowship, but be nurtured, taught, and fed in the ways of Christ.  The church is the mechanism that allows us to grow from an infant to a complete person in Christ.  And it is also a sanctuary, a haven of rest and rejuvenation from the constant bombardment against us that is brought about by Satan, the enemy of Christ.  Our enemy doesn’t want us to follow in the footsteps of Christ.  He wants us to follow him.  But, the church helps us stay focused and protected from his cunningness.

[i] Wycliffe’s Bible Dictionary, p. 1593

[ii] Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary

[iii] Holman’s Bible Dictionary, p. 336

[iv] Holman’s Bible Dictionary, pp 1375-76