What Does it Mean to be Saved? It Means to Have Faith

Romans 1:15-17  "So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  For therein is  the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith."
 
There are certain things that a Christian believes and does and if you don't believe and do those things you are not a true Christian.  The gospel defines what a Christian is.    A profession does not define a Christian, nor does love, but truth. God's word defines a Christian.  Salvation is what God says it is, salvation is God's way of saving sinners.  Previous in this series are the topics of being born again, conviction of sin and confession of sin, and then repentance, how important it is to turn away from sin and to God.  These are the minimum you must believe to be a Christian.

Faith follows repentance. 
"Repent and believe"  Salvation is like  a wonderful cake made of different ingredients but when they are all put together you have one cake.  There are certain parts of salvation that affect our lives: being born again, conviction of sin, confession of sin, repentance, faith, holiness, perseverance, these affect our lives. And there are parts that affect our legal standing:  justification, sanctification, reconciliation, atoned for, these are the things of salvation.  Its because salvation is so wonderful that so many words are needed and used to describe it because salvation does so much for us.  You can't describe it in one word.  There is the legal aspect: we are declared righteous, there is relationship: we are adopted into God's family, there is the comfort angle: we are forgiven, there is the sense of value angle: we are so precious that we were redeemed and purchased by the blood of Christ, God's son.