[From:  1001 Surprising Things You Should Know about God, MacGregor, Prys]  "Adam's sin makes salvation by God necessary.  Sin brought death to the human race, and corrupted the entire universe.  As a result, man is in need of redemption.  Since man cannot save himself, a special act of God was necessary in order to bring about salvation.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, according to Ephesians 2:8-9.  In Old Testament times, salvation was also offered as a gracious gift of God to those who had faith--as Genesis 15:6 puts it, "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (see also Gal 3:8; Tit 2:11; Heb 4:2; and 1 Pe 1:10-11).

The Hebrew word for "salvation" can also be translated "health" or "rescue," so the saving work of God rescues us from eternal punishment.

Christ paid the penalty for our sins when he died on the cross.  As Romans 8:1 puts it, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

The word salvation refers not only to the moment an individual believes in Jesus, but also to the process of being sanctified.  That's why Paul encourages believers to "continue to work out your salvation in fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12)...

...While salvation is given by faith, rather than by our words (see Ro 3:28), our new life should manifest itself through good works (Jas 2:22-24).  As Paul put it in Ephesians 2:8-10, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works...."

The word repentance means literally "to change direction."  Believers in Christ were once headed their own way but are not headed toward the Lord.

The word justification is a judicial term in which an individual is declared innocent by a judge.  Since man is the sinner, God is the Judge.  Although man is sinful and therefore guilty before God, in the case of the believer Christ's death on the cross is presented as the full payment for sin--thereby allowing the Judge to declare those under Christ's control as innocent.

Sanctification means to be "set apart" for something sacred.  Believers in Jesus are sanctified--that is, they have been set apart from the evil in the world, for the purpose of having their lives point others to God  (Jn 17:19-21).

Believers in Jesus are "adopted" into the family of God.  That's why Jesus could call his disciples "brothers," and why the apostle John could declare, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!" (1 Jn 3:1).

The blessings of salvation include forgiveness of sin, adoption as God's child, access to God, victory over sin, peace in our current world, and the future promise of eternity in heaven.  Becoming a child of God is a process laid out in the Bible that remains true today...

Step 1:  Becoming a child of God requires us to forsake our sins.  Our sin keeps us from a relationship with a holy, perfect God who is without sin.  Jesus made reference to the need to be free of sin in order to be closer to God when he said, "Blessed are the pure in heart; for they will see God" (Mt 5:8).  There must be repentance and an acknowledgement of our complete inability to save ourselves.  We must be "justified."

Step 2:  After we have turned from our sins, there is a need to make a complete committal of our lives to Christ.  Through a faith in him, we must "believe in Christ."  Such a commitment requires both a personal, spiritual attachment to our Savior as well as an active intent to obey God in all matters.

Step 3:  We must undergo this turning from our sin to the point that we die to sin and become alive to Jesus Christ.  Furthermore, we must open our heart, soul, mind, and strength to the Holy Spirit, who will uphold us and comfort us as we begin growing in our faith.  This process is called "sanctification."

Step 4:  As we turn from sin, we must also turn from the fallen world that used to be our comfort.  We must live lives dedicated to God that are absent of idolatry for what the world has to offer.  Our lives should reflect a new commitment--a new focus.

Step 5:  We must spend time in prayer and worship of God.  God can be known in greater detail through communion with him, through study of his Word, and through reflection on his creation.  Our personal relationship with God requires us to want to seek to know him more and more in order to continue to grow in him.  The more we know him, the more we are likely to seek his will for our lives.

Step 6:  As we grow in our knowledge of God, we should have a greater desire to serve others as Christ taught us to.  A natural response to God revealing himself to us includes demonstrating that knowledge in the way we live.  Through greater knowledge of his abundant love and mercy, believers will automatically share that which has been given freely to them to others through kindness and love to our fellowmen.  As Tozer states:  "The God who gave all to us will continue to give all through us as we come to know Him better."

Step 7:  The final step breaks away from the patter of the previous six.  These dealt more with the personal relationship we have with God; the last step involves purposefully sharing this wonderful gift of God through active involvement in his church.  Our light should be evident to all, but especially to our fellow believers in the Christian community."  1001 Surprising Things You Should Know about God, MacGregor, Prys, pg. 232-234).