What happens when you get saved?

by S.L.W.
(from the California coast)




What a great question! So many incredible things happen when you trust Jesus Christ alone and get saved. What follows is just the tip of the iceberg. Please click on the text links for more information.

1. You are placed into the body of Christ. When you get saved, the Holy Spirit baptizes you into the body of Christ - 1 Cor 12:13. That is a spiritual baptism, not a water baptism. Your water baptism is something entirely different from being baptized by God’s Holy Spirit.

2. You are sealed to the day of redemption. Once the Holy Spirit places you into the body of Christ, he seals you “until the day of redemption.” You don't seal yourself - the Holy Spirit seals you - Ephesians 1:13-14.

3. You are kept by the power of God. That means that you have eternal security because you are kept by the power of God, not by your good works, John 10:27-28.

4. You are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit not only seals you but He dwells within you - 1 Cor 6:19. He is the guarantor of your eternal salvation. He keeps you until “the redemption of the purchased possession” - Eph 1:14 which takes place at the Rapture - 1 Thess 4:16-17.

5. You are hell-proof forever. That's why even if a born-again Christian backslides or gets so despondent that (s)he commits suicide, that born-again believer does not go to hell but instead goes to Heaven.

When God saves you He does a complete job of it. Yet our salvation does not guarantee we will never face hardship, trials and great difficulties. People who think getting saved should insulate them from difficulty and disaster are not living in the real world. Life can get messy and being a Christian doesn’t guarantee us freedom from a messy life.

6. All your sins paid for forever. When Jesus died on the cross, all our sins were future. He shed his precious blood to pay for every sin you and I would ever commit - I Pet 1:18, 19. He took God's law - “the handwriting of ordinances that was against us...out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” - Col 2:14

7. Jesus' payment for your sins was accepted by God. The payment Jesus made for our sins was the only payment God the Father could accept. We know God accepted Jesus' payment for our sins because God raised Jesus from the dead - Romans 8:11.

Based only on the sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross and based on God the Father accepting Jesus’ substitutionary death on our behalf, our sins are completely, finally, totally, presently forgiven when we get saved, because Jesus already paid the sin penalty that God demanded and God accepted His payment. Scripture assures us on this point when it says: “having forgiven you ALL trespasses.” - Col 2:13.

8. You are given the righteousness of Christ as a free gift. This is called justification by faith. God forgives and takes away ALL of your sins, past, present and future. In return, God imputes - freely gives you the righteousness of Christ so that it is as if you had never sinned and never could.

This is your standing before God. Your actual state is, you are a sinner saved by grace who still struggles with sin, because you are still in an unredeemed fleshly body. Yet in the eyes of God, you are already as sinlessly perfect as Jesus because you are "in Christ."

9. You get a brand new clean fresh start. “Therefore if any man" (man is used generically here, not limited to males but referring to all human beings) "be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold ALL things are become new.” - 2 Cor 5:17

10. You're already in heaven spiritually. And once you're in Christ, you become schizoid, if you'll pardon the expression. By that I mean that physically, you're still on earth but spiritually, you're in heaven right now, as we speak!

“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” - Eph 2:6

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This page updated 1-14-2013

Comments for What happens when you get saved?

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Mar 06, 2021
 Substitute?
by: MB

I don’t like this idea of Jesus being a substitute. You use a court example on some of your other pages, about a judge not letting you go if you are guilty just because you admit your guilt. I would agree.

I also don’t think a good judge would look at an innocent person, in this case Jesus, and say "ok, you did the murder, but I’ll torture this person instead and let you go free because of it".

It does not seem just for an innocent person to be punished so that a guilty one goes free. That seems evil.

Rick's comment: Hi MB- I understand that you don't like the idea of penal substitution. However, it is important to line up your beliefs with what the Bible plainly says, instead of rejecting what the Bible says.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:4.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:6.

That is crystal clear. God bless you as you work through your doubts. May our gracious Lord give you a believing heart as you study the scriptures of truth.
Sep 04, 2018
 Once Saved Always Saved
by: Harold

I for one disagree with that one can loose their salvation. Here is why. When you (first) come to Jesus you are now sealed by the Holy Spirit by God, Ephesians 1:13

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."

Nowhere else in the NT does it say the Holy Spirit is removed until when? We are told in Ephesians 4:30
"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

Only here are we told when God removes the seal of the Holy Spirit, the day the saved person is redeemed. This means God and only God removes the seal.

This seal is of many things. Shows ownership. You been bought with a price.

1Corinthians 6:20 "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

The holy Spirit does not just remove itself due to sin. On the other hand He is to CONVICT you of sin!

Then in Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

Once you are saved, God WILL start works in the believer. God ever NOT FINISH his works in anything? Therefore to say you can just walk away and stop serving God to loose your salvation is in correct. Cannot happen.

Let alone in Colossians 2:13 "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;"

Colossians 2:14 "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;"

Sins are judged at the cross! Sins are nailed to the cross! So what sins remain to condemn a saved person? NONE!

Rick's comment: Hi Harold - Amen Brother!
Jun 24, 2018
 I can't get behind you on OSAS
by: olan

You mention that we can be hell-proof forever, but I agree with user jcg who says that we can lose our salvation if we choose to turn away from God.

S/he says "... for example what if someone is born again but then turns away and worships evil."

You then quote scripture (John 10:27-29) to argue that "once saved = always saved" is substantiated by it.
It says " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."

"We can be hell-proof forever because when Jesus died on the Cross, He was our Substitute."

Yes he was, and we still have the free will to say no to him being our substitute. I'm kind of surprised that you argue like this, because I just came here from one of your pages explaining salvation (a reminder of how it works is always good) and how one accepts it, which includes being repentant. But turning back to old ways of sinning is the opposite of being repentant.

You also use Acts 2:31 from the King James Version (KJV): "31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

When He died, Jesus went to hell, Acts 2:31 but thank God He didn't stay in hell. He arose from the death and is alive forevermore and has the keys of death and of hell. THAT is why when we get saved, we are hell-proof forever."

And again I do not understand your line of logic. Indeed HE (Jesus) was brought out of hell and risen from the dead because he could pay our debt. If we choose to turn our back on God after being saved, we reject the sacrifice of Jesus and our name can be blotted out of the Book of Life. To make one more attempt to get my point across: Do you think God will still save someone who changes their mind and says "Nah, screw you!" to him? That's what willingly sinning is, even after being born again and getting saved.

Even Paul mentioned this thing about sinning after being saved in Romans chapter 6.
Read Ezekiel 18:24
Pay close attention to verses 11-24 in chapter 11 of Romans. Pay CLOSE attention to verses 21 and 22.

I am bringing these details to your attention because what you are teaching people here is DANGEROUS. You almost got me, and it was a close call. Remember what Paul encourages us to do in Romans chapter 14: "make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister."

When checking if the Bible affirms what you believe, be mindful and look around to also check if it denies the idea that you want to share with others.

Rick's comment: Hi Olan- I approach the Bible from a dispensational point of view. All scripture is written to us but all scripture is not written for us to practice.

Therefore all scripture must be understood as God intended, in its biblical, cultural, doctrinal, historical, linguistic, literary and religious context.

For example, the Old Testament law is inerrant and infallible scripture and is true but no Christian has to go to the Jewish temple to offer sacrifices for sin (even though that is what the law commands) because Jesus is our ultimate sacrifice, Hebrews 10:1, 4, 14.

When Jesus died on Calvary, Matthew 27:50, the Old Testament ended and the New Testament began. We know that because of Hebrews 9:16 tells us:

"For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator." Jesus was the testator and when He died, the New Testament came into force and the Old Testament was abolished and done away, 2 Corinthians 3:6-13.

Christians are not under Old Testament law.

"For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Romans 6:14

When Jesus saves someone, He saves them forever. That is what the apostle Paul understood because that is what God showed him.

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" Philippians 1:6

If you as a born again, saved Christian, walk away from God and stop believing, how does God react to that?

"If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." 2 Timothy 2:13

"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25

Those are great promises God has given us to cling to and trust. But here is an even greater truth. If we are saved, we are justified by faith. THAT is why we have eternal security in Jesus.

I encourage you to get grounded in the truth of justification by faith, Romans 5:1, 5:9.

What does it mean to be justified by faith?
Mar 01, 2016
 Still unsure
by: Maddy

Im still unsure i'm saved, i've asked God to forgive me and have accepted that Jesus died for my sins, but i'm still scared. I feel like im lukewarm, and i've watched/read near death experiences that make me question my salvation and worry that God is disappointed in me.

Rick's comment: Hi Maddy - The ONLY basis for believing you are saved is the written word of God in the Bible. So, it is important to be reading the New Testament. Once you've read through it once, then read it again and again.

Ask God to make it clear to you that you are saved, based on what scripture says. At the bottom of this page I'm linking to, are pages which help you know for sure you are saved. I encourage you to review those page.

What must I do to be saved?
Jan 05, 2016
 Actual witness to Holy Spirit
by: JB

From my first hand experience.. The feeling one gets from being saved is - one feels the devil ripped from ones soul by the hand of God and replaced by the Holy Spirit. Scared me too death but now I can see the Kingdom. Other gifts are given too one also, those I will enjoy but will keep private - the gifts are invaluable!

Rick's comment: Hi JB - Faith in biblical facts produces feelings. Feelings do not produce faith and can often lead you astray from Christ.

I encourage you to read the New Testament over and over and get the written word of God in your heart and mind. Study your Bible - 2 Timothy 2:15. Too many people rely on what they think are spiritual gifts instead of studying their Bible and that can lead to spiritual ineffectiveness and spiritual disaster.

There are unclean spirits who counterfeit feelings and gifts. Those unclean spirits want you to focus on ecstatic gifts and spirit manifestations instead of learning the Bible and basing your life on the written word of God, in context.

Please do NOT be deceived. Are deliverance ministries scriptural?
Jan 13, 2015
 how can u be hell proof forever?
by: jcg

i dont understand..just because someone turns 2 Jesus and is born again..it doesnt seem that they r saved "(hell proof") no matter what they do o_0 for example wat if someone is born again but then turns away and worships evil. also… i read a website and its article on hell seemed pretty persuasive that it was a Parable re. lazarus and the rich man. so hell depicted in the parable isnt necessarily the literally true description of what hell is like. ? what do u think in response to this view? many thanks. :)

Rick's comment: Hi jcg- Thanks for the good questions. We have the testimony of Jesus in John 10:27-29 (old KJV), that we can be hell-proof forever.

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."

Concerning hell, I'm always wary of people who try to "air-condition hell," and teach that it is not a place of fire, torment and punishment. Think about it. Why would Jesus tell us about a man who died and went to hell if people don't die and go to hell?

I recommend that you do our FREE Bible study, Jesus Teaches Hell 101. Please print it out and then answer the questions with an open Bible and a heart open to God's truth so the blessed Holy Spirit can teach you from the scriptures of truth.

We can be hell-proof forever because when Jesus died on the Cross, He was our Substitute. He died in our place, as us for us. Jesus suffered the wrath of God that we deserved and in doing that, Jesus paid our sin debt.

When He died, Jesus went to hell, Acts 2:31 but thank God He didn't stay in hell. He arose from the death and is alive forevermore and has the keys of death and of hell. THAT is why when we get saved, we are hell-proof forever.

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