He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit SINCE you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” Acts 19:2
In whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also AFTER you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians 1:13
So ingrained into the thinking of those who are lost in the false teachings of christianity is the notion that man is the one who “decides” to be saved (which is false), and that, at the moment of one’s belief (repentance from unbelief), he is immediately indwelt by the Holy Spirit (which, again, is false).
Such false teaching flies in the face of what we are shown by the entirety of the scriptures on the matter of salvation. And, the two verses posted above both show that belief is not salvation, but salvation follows AFTER one has believed (after a period of testing—James 1).
Hebrews 10:39 explains further about those who are given salvation: “But we are not of those who shrink back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” And, understand that, in the Greek, the phrase “to the saving of the soul” implies a distinct point in time. Today, we would say, “but of those who believe all the way to the saving of the soul.”
The same was shown in the Torah as a physical foreshadow (picture, or representation) of Messiah’s bride Y’isra-el receiving the covenant (the spiritual real substance was revealed on the Feast of Weeks—Acts 2). “Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to TEST you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you will not sin” (Exodus 20:20).
Belief is not salvation, but the first requirement to be able to be given salvation by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The other requirement is to confess Messiah Yahoshua to others, which is to be completely open and public about the true Gospel of Messiah Yahoshua (as opposed to the false gospel peddled by christianity), regardless of the relational consequences for doing so (the world hates Messiah, so when one is true to his belief in Messiah Yahoshua, the world will also hate that person—John 15:18-19). As Paul explained to Timothy, “If we endure [in belief], we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us (2 Timothy 2:12).
For more information: Between Belief and Salvation