Since you have been baptized into Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, you are a Christian. From the minute of your baptism you became a different person. You now have spiritual blessings and spiritual privileges you never had before. God now looks at you as a new person.
A Christian is a new person because he is saved. Being a Christian means I have become a saved person. Jesus came to save people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). People obey Jesus because they want that salvation. Baptism into Christ destroys sin and brings salvation. Jesus said, "He that believes and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). Peter told the first people who heard the gospel to be baptized for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38). Saul was told to be baptized and wash away his sins (Acts 22:16). These scriptures show that when we are baptized we are saved from our sins. Paul told Timothy that the Lord " saved us and called us with a holy calling" (2 Timothy 1:8,9). John wrote, "These things have I written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you continue to believe in the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13).
What does it mean to be saved? From what am I now saved? When you are baptized, you are saved from all your past sins. Baptism by the power of the blood of Christ removes all past sins from your life, it washes all your past sins away. Those past sins no longer have power over you. You are saved from the slavery of your old sins. No longer can Satan hold you in bondage. Your past wicked life is now dead. You are now saved from your guilt and can now live in peace with your conscience and with God.
You are saved from God's punishment. At baptism God not only forgives your sins: he also forgets your sins. He will remember your sins no more (Hebrews 10:16, 17). This is one of God's greatest gifts to the Christian. Man can forgive a wrong, but man never forgets the wrong. God both forgives and forgets the sins. Since God will not remember your sins, you should not fear God. God is now your Savior through Jesus Christ. Your old sins are now dead and forgotten--- God will not punish you for those past sins.
If a Christian is saved from something, he is also saved to something. Being saved puts you into Christ and into God's family as sons and daughters of God (Galatians 3:26,27). In Ephesians 2:19, 20 Paul reveals this great blessing. The Christian is no longer a stranger and foreigner to God. He is now a fellow citizen with all other Christians in the kingdom of God. He and all Christians are now in God's own household.
A Christian is given salvation at his baptism into Christ, but he must be careful not to lose that salvation. To receive the crown of life, he must be faithful to Christ until death (Revelation 2:10). He must spend the rest of his life living for Jesus. If a Christian ever stops being faithful to Christ and returns to his of life of sin, that Christian loses his salvation. As long as a Christian lives faithfully in obedience to Christ, he keeps his salvation (Hebrews 5:9). If you are a Christian, you are saved. You must live like a saved person.
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