salv100 The Marks of the Redeemed examines what marks a saved person, his faith, being born again, growing, walk, worship, etc.

By David Cox

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1 John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

1 John 1:4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

Since the Bible declares to us that a person can know without a doubt that he is saved, then, salvation is something that is definite. There is no doubt about it. But many Christians do not understand the importance in knowing that. There are two very important matters in this.

First, a person has to clearly define salvation in their own mind, because if you doubt that you are saved, it is doubtful that you saved. (1 John 5:13 cited above). Salvation is faith, and faith is the opposite of doubt. Believing God we are saved, so belief excludes not knowing.

Secondly, salvation is a matter in which the person enters into the group of the redeemed, and your salvation is more than just you and your Savior. This implies that your salvation is involved with relationships with this group of the redeemed. Being saved is confirmed by your relationship with these redeemed. The joy of being saved is, in part, understanding what salvation is, and how you are involved with it as one of the redeemed.

The saved understands these things, but they are not present in the life of an unsaved person. Because he will consider these marks as good works in order to be saved, which is wrong. We are saved by faith, not works Ephesians 2:8-9.

Christian Faith

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance (the certainty) of things hoped for, the evidence (conviction) of things not seen. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Nobody can please God without having faith, specifically, believing in the existence of God and in His being our moral Judge. Faith is to believe something when you do not see evidences but have that certainty in the heart of the believer just because God has said so. Salvation does not rest in what you “do” in order to be saved, but in believing (your confidence that it is certain) in what God has done to save you.

This is not to say you do not participate in your salvation, because your faith is demonstrated by your life. (Hab. 2:4: Rom 1:17, Gálatas 3:11; Hebreos 10:38). What you believe becomes an integral part of what you think, how you live, in what you are, and your faith composes your moral character.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

To believe or have confidence in what God has said, in what He has promised, is the definition of salvation. The person that says he believes, but his life doesn’t change is still unsaved.

Moral Change

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

The point is that salvation is not only in the head, but salvation is in the heart, in the morality of the person, seen be their actual lives. Nicodemus was a rabbi, knowing much about the religion of the Jews, an expert. Jesus saw his principal failure was not understanding the moral change that God demands in every saved person. That is the definition of salvation. Being born again is a conversion, moral change. Its there or its not.

The Saved are Guided by the Holy Spirit

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

To be guided by the Holy Spirit is to be holy as He is holy. But the saved are marked by his mind being occupied with the spiritual. The physical and material is of little priority to him in comparison to spiritual things.

Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Being Born Again, You have to Grow

1 Peter 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.

In this point, we have to understand that we are BOTH saved the moment we receive Jesus, but that salvation is also a process. A baby is born, has life, but that life includes a continuing of that life, growing.

In the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13), Jesus taught that to be saved is like planting a seed. What is important is the desired spiritual fruit. The seed in the soil with weeds and little depth do not represent being saved in the end.

We are not saved by good works, but are we lost again because of a failure, nor do we retain salvation by good works. But salvation is a natural process in every redeemed in that his life is producing spiritual fruit, in the image of the moral character of Jesus, that results in this desired fruit at the end.

Hebrews 10:36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. Faith and hope are never giving up.

When everything seems to indicate problems, faith forges ahead as if nothing has happened. Perseverance is a mark of salvation (2 Timothy 2:12)

The Saved Walk in Christ

Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

It is not sufficient to wait until you die, the saved walks in Christ while he lives on earth, in other words, he walks and lives as Christ lived. This is an aspect involved with being guided by the Holy Spirit (Colossians 2:9-10) linked with this knowledge and understanding of the Word of God, and the will of God. It is discipleship, to follow Christ. Ephesians 4:14-15 indicates that it is not instability, but spiritual maturity, that with time and faith (constancy), will appear.

The Saved Produce Good Fruit

John 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

The saved produce the good fruit of salvation.

Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

While many people affirm that they are saved, the fruit of their lives testify that they are entirely unsaved, without spiritual life. Examining the fruit of their lives, you detect that they are the children of Satan, not of Jesus Christ.

The Saved Worship God by their Lives

1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

The redeemed live their lives in such a way that they highly worship God, and they sacrifice for Him. What he does and what he doesn’t do are sacrifices that are decided by what pleases or doesn’t please God.

The Saved has a Celestial Vision

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Many of these points integrate one with another. Faith is implied when a person believes in the existence of God, and specifically that God is that person’s Judge. If we have a Judge watching us, we have to know when we are wrong, not do that, and instead to walk in righteousness. This speaks of morality, in that, God will judge every person on the morality of their life. (Matthew 6:33)

The saved lives constantly with this thought overseeing his actions, or what he does and doesn’t do. He will always seek to walk so as to please God. He will be conflicted with himself if he sins. Moses distinguished himself because “he had respect unto the recompence of the reward” (Hebrews 11:26). Philippians 3:20 For our conversation (conduct) is in heaven (heavenly oriented); from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

The Saved Loves

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

The essence of God is love. Biblical love is a spiritual activity. “Love is my sacrifice for your benefit.” But the mark of the redeemed is this specific moral change. A person cannot be saved if he does not understand love. God loves us (John 3:16), and a person cannot receive the love of God without love flooding his heart, filling his soul, and saturating his life. This love will shine in how he treats others (Mark 12:30-31). The spiritual activity of loving others Is involved with what saves a person.

1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Again, doing this does not make a person saved, but love naturally flows from a saved person as a consequence of being saved.

The Saved Imitate God, Jesus

Ephesians 5:1 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children.

Jesus is the image of God in person as a human. So the saved corrects his life because he knows that to enter heaven, he has to morally be like God is. Once again, this is not a work that he does in order to be saved, but it is a confidence that God gives those that are saved because their goal is to be like Jesus, their Savior. God sends the Holy Spirit to change us, because we cannot do this by ourselves.

The Saved Always Worship God

Luke 4:8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Hebrews 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

God is so magnificent that all creatures should worship Him. Worship is to understand how God is morally, in His character and acts, and to imitate Him. So, a saved person understands that reading, studying, and applying the Bible to his personal life is this worship. The saved always puts priority in doing worshiping in the fellowship of his brethren in Christ, Sundays in church. Formal congregational worship marks the services on the Lord’s day every Sunday.

The Saved Values Scripture

John 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

The saved understands what he has in his salvation. Because of this, he loves his Savior, and he morally imitates God that gives him salvation. But the heart of the saved is always overflowing with gratitude to his Savior for having saved him. This is seen in all of these points, but especially in honoring what the Scriptures, God’s Word.

2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

The saved highly respects and values when God speaks to him. He never despises the importance of any word from the mouth of God.

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

The Saved Value the Church

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The saved does not despise the gifts of God given to him by means of his brethren in his church. One gift is the church itself, their communion among brethren in Christ, and what they can do to help and edify each other. Moreover, it is a blessing when the saved can help, support, and build up their brethren in Christ.

The Saved Depends on Prayer

Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

We can say that a redeemed person perseveres in the doctrine of the apostles and in their practices. A saved person believes in prayer, that it actually can change their situation and the situation of others. This is because, in praying, they received Christ to change their eternal destiny from hell to heaven, so prayer works and is a vital force in how we resolve or endure the problems of this life.

The Saved Strives to Reach Others for Christ

His salvation is real, so he has compassion towards others, reaching them with the same marvelous solution he has found.

salv100 The Marks of the Redeemed

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