A message for Akron Alliance Fellowship Church, Akron OH, Sunday, June 21, 2026.
For the “Live in Church” audio of this message, click HERE.
One of the most important messages that you will ever hear is the importance of recognizing Jesus as Lord of your life. Well, today, I will share with you what I deem to be the second most important message that follows your relationship with Jesus, and that is what happens when you do accept Jesus.
A believer in Jesus is a changed person. You’re a changed person when you accept Jesus, and you will continue to change as a person in the aftermath. In fact, if you are not changing, then something is wrong. First, let’s qualify something about the actual experience of being saved. It typically does not make you feel any different from how you felt before the experience. You likely won’t experience anything like flashes of light or a current of energy passing through your body. If someone else happens to have a “special” experience when they get saved, your lack of one does not mean that you are deficient in any way. Your experience is solely your own, and the common factor for all believers in Jesus is that the Holy Spirit comes to reside within you (which is also not a palpable feeling), and that you become an official member of His church, the body of Christ.
In this instance, the change is very, very good.
So what kind of change is this thing we refer to as salvation? Well, as you may have guessed, it is a life-changing and life-altering experience. Will get into this in greater detail, but before we do, I’m making a disclaimer now for all of the persons who already know what it is to have a relationship with Jesus: It is not so much about your present experience as a believer, but it is more about the mechanics of your relationship with Him. The mechanics of a spiritual relationship with Jesus requires self-awareness, your personal growth in Christ and how your life reflects His life (for example, are you Christlike in your actions?). In other words, are you living according to God’s IMAGE? So, you won’t be able to sit back and say, “I’ve got this relationship thing with Jesus down pat.” Here’s what I have to say about that…”NO you don’t!”
For as long as we live, we should readily admit that our human existence resides in the “room for improvement” category. Now, if you don’t think that way, I won’t hate on you…out loud. But I will pray for you that God reveals to you the ways that you fall short of His glory. Let’s explore this concept and the study of salvation more deeply.
We will use Scripture to reveal three different phases of the journey for a person who recognizes the importance of salvation:
1. Need. People are created in God’s image yet are fallen in sin; as a result, they are in need of salvation.
First, let’s deal with the reality that all of us are sinful:
Romans 3:10-23 NLT
10 As the Scriptures say,
“No one is righteous—
not even one.
11 No one is truly wise;
no one is seeking God.
12 All have turned away;
all have become useless.
No one does good,
not a single one.”
13 “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave.
Their tongues are filled with lies.”
“Snake venom drips from their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “They rush to commit murder.
16 Destruction and misery always follow them.
17 They don’t know where to find peace.”
18 “They have no fear of God at all.”
19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
Next, we are not just sinners—we were born this way.
Psalm 51:5 NLT
For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
We are all under God’s wrath because of our sinful nature.
Ephesians 2:1-3 NLT
1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
John 3:18-19 NLT
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.”
Finally, when it comes to God, we are without excuse.
Romans 1:18-20 NLT
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Thankfully, while we were without excuse, we are not without hope. God provides us with a Remedy for our consideration.
2. Means. Only through God’s grace through faith in Jesus’ work on the cross can people be saved.
When Jesus was introducing Himself to the people in His new ministry, He went to Galilee and began preaching the Good News. He told the people to repent from their sin and believe.
Mark 1:15 NLT
“The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”
This is important to acknowledge because while faith is all that is necessary to believe in Jesus, we need to see that the way we are to come to Christ is to do so with reverence and respect for who He is. He is our Lord and Savior, and we need to approach Him by turning away from our sin and recognizing His holiness. (This applies to those in a new relationship with Jesus, and it also applies to a believer. We often must come before Jesus with clean hearts and minds because of His holiness.)
1 Peter 1:15-16 NLT
15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
We can experience salvation by grace through faith.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Salvation is God’s precious gift to the people. Faith in Jesus Christ is to be our response to this gift. We must receive Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior in order to receive His gift.
John 1:12-13 NLT
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
To summarize the means of coming to Jesus Christ, Paul gives us the Good News verses that we can all share with those that we know who fit the description for being in need of Jesus as Savior:
Romans 10:9-10 NLT
9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.
Salvation is as close as declaring Jesus as the resurrected Lord who paid for your sins on the cross. And yet, it is far, far away from those who choose not to believe. Having the free will to choose Jesus is indeed a blessing, but those who fail to do so remain under God’s condemnation.
Romans 6:23 NLT
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:1-2 NLT
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
3. Results
Our third point emphasizes the results of our salvation. We receive justification through believing in Jesus Christ because we are declared not guilty and righteous before God.
Romans 5:1 NLT
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
Titus 3:7 NLT
Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.
Our justification leads to eternal life with Jesus.
John 3:16 NLT
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Within our justification, it is the indwelling Holy Spirit that provides regeneration. Regeneration is what God does for us at the moment of salvation. There are several things that take place simultaneously when you make the decision in faith for Jesus:
We are made new. It is a “new birth,” which is to be born again
We are made alive in the power of the Spirit.
John 3:3, 5 NLT
3 Jesus replied (to Nicodemus), “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
Being born again is a spiritual rebirth. The reference to the water and the Spirit reflects the cleansing power of the indwelling Holy Spirit for the believer.
And Jesus says these words with emphasis. There are no shortcuts to salvation.
Acts 4:12 NLT
“There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”
John 14:6 NLT
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
Another part of regeneration is that believers are sealed with a guarantee from God Himself:
Ephesians 1:14 NLT
The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
We are sealed as God’s adopted children. This is what it means to be a “child of God.”
Galatians 4:5 NLT
God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
We are made new in Jesus Christ. Out with the old and in with the new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
Finally, we are reconciled to God through the ministry of reconciliation:
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 NLT
18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
All of these things take place when you believe in Jesus. And for those of us who know Jesus, we are Christ’s ambassadors. We are called by Jesus to be disciples to all people and nations for God’s glory. We are to proclaim the Good News and speak to others about Jesus Christ and salvation.
Matthew 28:18-20 NLT
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
We’re fast approaching the return of Jesus. There’s no better time than now to experience the peace of God through salvation in Jesus Christ.
He awaits your decision and your commitment to Him.
Copyright © 2026 Melvin Gaines.
Melvin Gaines 