What Does It Mean to Be Saved?

A lot of people say they are saved by grace. They say it easily, almost out of habit. But of what value is the claim if there is no evidence of it in the way you live? We have quietly reduced the whole gospel down to one thin thing — the minimum you need to get into heaven when you die. Our salvation ends up being of great heavenly relevance and almost no earthly value.

I want to challenge that today. Because salvation is so much larger than a ticket you tuck away for later. To understand it, we have to start where Jesus started, with a single sentence: “I have come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Luke 19:10 (NKJV)

Getting heaven into you

What does it even mean to be lost? And how is someone who is lost saved? By being found. By being put back on track. That is the whole shape of it. To save the lost is to get them heading in the right direction again.

So hear this carefully. Salvation is far more than the bare requirement to enter heaven when you die. It is more than getting you into heaven; it is about getting heaven into you. That is why in the very first chapter of Mark, the gospel is announced as news that the kingdom of heaven is now available to you — not later, now.

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.

Mark 1:15 (NKJV)

This is why we say a heavenly person is not simply someone who will go to heaven when they die. A heavenly person is someone who is living on earth the way they would live in heaven right now. Heaven is not only a place you go to. It is something you carry inside you. And so salvation becomes this: taking your next step toward becoming who you already are in God.

Everyone starts out lost

In Jesus, you are already loved. In Jesus, you are already holy. In Jesus, every deep desire of yours is met. In Jesus, you are in heaven and heaven is in you. But here is the trouble: you are lost. You are looking for the very thing that is only in Jesus — and you are looking for it in sex, in marriage, in a new car, in money, in the approval of people, in one more shining tree that promises to satisfy and never does.

And everyone starts out this way. The prophet said it plainly.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way.

Isaiah 53:6 (NKJV)

Picture it. Jesus is over here. You are over there, walking your own direction, wandering like a sheep without a shepherd. From one relationship to another, from chasing money night and day. Your true soul is searching for you — because the real you is found in Jesus — but you are out there, lost, still looking.

So who will tell you what your next step is? Not me. Not a bishop. Not the pastor. Only Jesus. That is exactly why God sent Him — to come and save those who are lost. And how does He save you? With two words: “Follow Me.” Do you want joy? Follow Me. Are you mourning? Follow Me. Are you hungry and thirsty for righteousness? Follow Me. The One who came from the Father is the only One who actually knows who you are in the Father.

Saved means following Jesus

So to be a Christian, to be saved, is simply this: following Jesus, because He died for you. Taking your next step toward God by following Him. He is Savior only to those who follow Him.

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:9 (NKJV)

And what matters when you are following someone is not your first step, and not your last step, but your next step. Maybe for a long time you were taking steps away from God, going your own way. To be saved means that one day you came to yourself. You realized you were in danger of getting lost forever, of missing the whole plan of God for your life, and you turned and said, “Lord, I have decided to follow You.”

That is why the only command Jesus ever gave the people He met was the same command: follow Me. Which brings two honest questions to your door.

• Are you saved — by which I mean, are you following Jesus? When someone betrays you, injures you, when a big opportunity lands in your lap, whose voice sets your next move? Where does your next step come from? That is what tells me whether you are saved or still lost.
• Are you helping those who are lost take their next step to Jesus? That step may not be a sinner’s prayer. It may be coming to church once a month, learning to pray, opening the Bible for the first time. To save the lost is simply to give them one real step in the right direction.

No two next steps are the same

This is why everyone can be welcomed here and no one should be judged here. I cannot use my next step to measure yours, because my next step is not your next step. For someone reading this, the next step is simply to decide to be in church every Sunday. For another, it is to make it to Bible study on Wednesday. For someone else, it is to finally turn your back on a relationship that is abusing you. For another, it is to guard your mouth — you know the trouble your words have cost you.

To be saved is to follow Jesus, to be taking your next step from Him, trusting that He is forming you, changing you, making you into who you were always meant to be. And you can only take that step by faith working through love — by realizing how deeply Jesus loves you and putting your whole trust in Him. That is why I always say my job is not to tell you what to do. My job is to tell you one thing: do whatever Jesus tells you. Follow Him. Because there is no problem under heaven that following Jesus cannot solve.

How the world actually changes

Why should you become the kind of person who goes out of their way to find the lost? Let me give you three reasons. First, the love of God. Compassion is knowing something better is available to someone who is being denied it. When you love people that way, you cannot help but join God in going after them.

Second, it is simply evidence that you are growing. If you are truly walking toward God, becoming who you are in Him, then at some point you will discover that one of your own next steps is joining Jesus to seek and save the lost. A person who is being saved becomes a person who wants others saved.

Third, this is the only way God has designed to heal the world. We will not fix the corruption in politics by voting one party over another; it changes when people in both parties start following Jesus. We will not turn a city like Baltimore around by building more prisons; it turns when lost people are found and helped to take one small step toward God. That step may be as small as coming to church three times a year, or joining a small group, or letting someone sit and have lunch with you. All of it is evangelism. That is how revival breaks out — from the inside, one person at a time deciding to stop drifting and start following.

So I am done. Now it is your move. Maybe your next step is to make a commitment to follow Jesus. You cannot do this on your own strength; you have to receive His new life, the life that wakes you up, turns you around, and gives you the power to follow. If that is you, take the step now, and step out in faith.