How will you be saved?

(2 Thessalonians 2:13-17)

How will you be saved? That is a question that many people have asked over the centuries, and is a pressing question today.

In a world beset with despair, fear, terrorism, pestilence, and untold human misery from disasters both natural and man-made, how will you be saved is a question on many people’s minds.

This scripture today gives us part of the story of salvation, so it is worth examining to see what it says and to find an answer to the question of how will you be saved.

Faith answers the question – How will you be saved

Before going further, let us look at this verse today.

13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17)

We see in verse 13 that a prerequisite is to have a “belief in the truth.”

Belief is faith. But it is not just any belief. It is a belief in the TRUTH.

Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” in John 14:6. Without faith in Jesus, who IS the truth, then we cannot be saved. Salvation is through faith, and specifically faith n the truth of Jesus Christ.

So that is our starting point to answering the question: How will you be saved? First you must believe and have faith that Jesus is the Son of God, that He came to earth, that He died and was raised from the dead, and that we can enter into His resurrection and death through baptism and faith.

Faith is the key and it is just a beginning.

Sanctification by the Spirit

As we read on in verse 13 we find that we are to be saved through “sanctification by the Spirit.”

To be sanctified is to be made holy. When we come to Christ and believe that He has truly set us free from our sins and that in Him we are without sin, then we are justified and made righteous by our faith.

Once we believe these things, the Holy Spirit works with us and in us to bring about a transformation. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make us into the image of Jesus Christ and thus, to make us holy as He is holy.

This is the sanctification through the Spirit. When we are changed into the image of Jesus, who is in the image of the Father, then we are made holy and sanctified just as He is. And this is a further step along the pathway of how will you be saved.

Steadfastness in the gospel

Continuing on into verses 14 and 15 gives us another solid insight that will help answer the question: How will you be saved?

The gospel is the word of God that shows us the way to salvation. And the gospel is all about the good news of Jesus Christ and how we can have salvation when we believe in Him.

We need to hold fast to the teachings of the gospel and never let it go. The gospel contains the word of truth that comes from Jesus and His words will lead us to salvation.

Verse 15 says to stand firm and hold fast to the traditions and teachings of the Apostles and the Lord.

We have those teachings in written form in the Bible. We must examine the bible to find out the truth of what will lead us to salvation. And we must reject the errors and lies that have come into the broad church over the past 2,000 years.

If we are to be steadfast and holding firm to the gospel, we had better make sure it is the TRUE gospel of Jesus Christ. There are too many lies that the devil has brought into the church by the cunning of men. Men seek power and self-glory rather than the glory of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And by doing this they have brought in all manner of false doctrines to feed their own desires and passions.

So with respect to how will you be saved, it makes sense that if we are to be steadfast and hold fast to the gospel, we need to ensure it is the truth. We need to examine EVERY church teaching to see if it aligns with the truth of the scripture.

Jesus Christ is the answer to how will you be saved

And finally we need to understand that there is no salvation except through Jesus Christ. As the scripture says:

10 be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10-12 – my emphasis)

Everything in heaven and on earth is in the hands of Jesus Christ. It is only by Him that we shall be saved.

All other so called paths to enlightenment through eastern philosophy, meditation, gurus, and so on, are just pointless. In fact they are dangerous because they lead people away from Christ and into all manner of devilish practises. Reject them all.

There is no other path to salvation than by faith in Jesus Christ.

So, in answer to the question, how will you be saved? There is only one answer: by faith in Jesus Christ.

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