How Can a
Lost Person Be
Saved?
The
churches of Christ Greet You (Romans
16:16)
God
wrote the book on salvation! That should not surprise us, seeing that
He is "the
God of our salvation" (Psalm 68:19). Thank God that He gives each
one
of us the opportunity to have our sins forgiven. How can a lost person
be saved
from his/her past sins? Let us see what the Bible teaches about this
great
topic.
GOD
HAS MADE PROVISION FOR OUR SALVATION
What
is there that God has done to make salvation from sin possible? The
Bible
points us to God's mercy, God's grace, and God's love. These three
great
concepts are linked together in the following Bible passage: "But
God,
who is rich in mercy. because of His great love with
which He
loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together
with
Christ (by grace you have been saved)" (Ephesians 2:4,5,
NKJV).
God's Mercy
- What a
sinner deserves for his/her sin against
the Lord is eternal punishment, because "the wages of sin is
death" (Romans 6:23). However, by His mercy, God allows us to
escape
such punishment; He permits us to avoid the horrors of hell. Would it
be
correct, then, to think of salvation being by mercy? Yes, for the Bible
says
that "according to his mercy he saved us" (Titus 3:5).
God's Grace
- This is
kindness or favor that we do not
deserve. Again, by His mercy God allows us to escape that
which we do
deserve, and by His grace He allows us to receive that
which we do
not deserve. So, is it safe to conclude that sinners are saved by
the grace
of God? Absolutely. In Titus 2:11 it is written, "For the grace of
God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." The Bible is
plain
in showing that without God's grace, not one person would have a chance
to be
saved. Is it possible for you and me to earn our salvation? No. Can we
be saved
by our good moral deeds? Never. Would it be possible for us to devise
our own
scheme or checklist of actions whereby we might save ourselves? The
answer is
still "no."
God's Love - What is
there that motivates our Creator to
make a way for all humans to be saved from sin? His love. Because of
God's
great love, He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4, NKJV). In addition to
God's desire
for our salvation, we must not miss the action which He
has taken to
bring about such salvation. The good news for us is that "the Father sent the
Son to be the
Savior of the world" (1 John
4:14). It was God's love that made it happen: "In
this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent
his only
begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him" (1
John
4:9).
Any
person that is saved from sin owes the God of heaven a debt which
he/she could
never repay! Thank God for His mercy, His grace, and His great love.
The Bible
tells us that redemption or salvation is available in and through Jesus
(Romans
3:24; 2 Timothy 2:10). Why? Because that is God's plan. Even before the
foundation of the world, that plan for our redemption was in place (1
Peter
1:18-20). What a great, loving God He is!
BEING
SAVED - OUR GREATEST NEED!
The
Bible says that sin is "lawlessness" or "transgression of' God's
law (1 John 3:4). It also reveals that all people have sinned, making
everyone
of us a sinner (Romans 3:23). The awful consequence of sin is that it
separates
a person from the God of heaven, and sin keeps him/her
separated from
Him. "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
and
your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (Isaiah
59:2).
Does
this not mean that all of us are in a hopeless situation? Without
Jesus, yes.
But, through Jesus there is hope! Remember, Jesus came into the world
to save
sinners, to give us life, and He accomplished it by shedding His blood
on the
cross of
WILL
ALL PEOPLE BE SAVED & GO TO HEAVEN?
Jesus
taught that there are two possible paths that we might take in life,
and two
possible destinies to which those paths lead. One path leads to
destruction,
while a second leads to life. According to Jesus, those that enter the
gate to
destruction are "many," but those that enter into life are
"few" in number (Matthew 7:13,14). The Christ further taught that
while some will go into "life eternal," others will go into
"everlasting punishment" (Matthew 25:46). Thus, while it is true that
God's grace makes salvation available or possible for all, not everyone
will be
saved eternally.
WHAT
ABOUT "REALLY BAD" SINNERS?
As
humans, we may tend to think that there are some sins that are worse
than
others. There is no doubt that some sins have greater earthly
consequences than
others do. Yet, in truth, any sin is horrendous and condemns the
sinner. Still,
there are a lot of people that express the following or similar
sentiments:
"I have done such wicked things that there is no way that the Lord
would/could ever forgive me." The problem with such reasoning is
simple:
the Bible does not teach it. Instead, the Bible teaches that God is
willing to
forgive us of any and all past transgressions, regardless of what they
might
be.
Before
he became a Christian, Saul of Tarsus, later known as Paul, greatly
persecuted
the Lord's church, even causing some of its members to be put to death
(Acts
26:9-11). Yet, this evildoer was later saved by the grace of God. We
also read
in the New Testament that thieves, drunkards, adulterers, homosexuals,
idolaters, and other immoral people were saved from their past life of
sin (1
Corinthians 6:9-11). So, yes, even those that some may count as "really
bad" sinners can be saved by the blood of God's Son. God's salvation is
available to all.
SALVATION:
CONDITIONAL, OR UNCONDITIONAL?
There
is no doubt that the Bible calls salvation a gift from God (Ephesians
2:8). We
know that some gifts or blessings in life are conditional, while others
are
unconditional. What about salvation from sin, is it a conditional gift,
or an
unconditional one? It is conditional, which simply means that
God saves
a person only when he/she complies with the terms or conditions that He
has set
forth in the gospel. The Bible teaches that Jesus is "the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey him" (Hebrews 5:9).
Jesus
saves. Jesus saves lost people. Which lost people does He save?
According to
Hebrews 5:9, Jesus saves those lost people that obey Him. No obedience
means no
salvation. Therefore, salvation is conditional. Jesus Himself taught
that only
those that do the will of God the Father shall enter in to the kingdom
of
heaven (Matthew 7:21).
WHAT
MUST A LOST PERSON DO TO BE SAVED?
We
know and agree that redemption is made possible only through the blood
of Jesus
(Ephesians 1:7). Thus, if the question is, "What can wash away
my
sins?," the answer is ''the blood of Jesus." However, if we ask, "When
does Jesus' blood wash away a lost person's sins?," that is an
entirely different question. Here is the scriptural answer: the blood
of the
Christ cleanses a person of past sins when he/she obeys Jesus ("obeys
the
gospel"). [Please stop, read, and pray about Romans 10:16 and 2
Thessalonians 1:7-9].
What
does this obedience include? Just what must a lost person do in order
to become
a saved person? Many people of our generation have never heard the
correct
answer to this question. Why? Because they have only listened to and
been
influenced by those that give a man-made answer instead of stating what
the
Bible teaches. Maybe you have heard or read something like this: "In
order
to be saved from your sins, all you need to do is pray to Jesus,
confess your
sins to Him, and receive Him into your heart as your personal Savior."
This is an extremely popular and widespread idea that untold millions
of people
have accepted. It is sometimes called "the Sinner's Prayer." But, do
you know what? Such an idea is nowhere to be found in the Bible. It is
just not
in there! "Pray to Jesus and confess your sins to Him" is one answer
to the question, "What must I do to be saved?" The problem, though,
my friend, is that this answer is not from the Bible, but rather comes
from the
imagination of man's heart.
In order to
be saved, having faith or believing is certainly
required, for "without
faith it is impossible to please him" (Hebrews
11:6). In whom or what must one believe? The Bible teaches that a
person must
believe in God's existence (Hebrews 11:6). It also teaches that in
order to be
saved, a person must believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus said, "For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life ... He
that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of
God" (John 3:16,18).
How
does one become a believer? The Bible says, "So then faith cometh
by
hearing, and hearing by the word of God' (Romans 10:17). So, one
must hear
or read the gospel before he/she can become a believer in Jesus. Let us
be
clear in stating that the Bible clearly teaches that a person is saved
or
justified "by faith" (Romans 5:1), but it just as plainly shows that
a person is not justified "by faith only" (James 2:24). There is a
huge difference in declaring that salvation is "by faith," and
stating that it is "by faith only." [Above we have already shown
that one cannot be saved without God's mercy, grace, and love.
How then
can anyone say one is saved by "faith only'?]
In
addition to believing in Jesus as God's Son and our Savior, what else
must one
do in order to be saved from sin? A
person must repent of every past sin. In the first
century,
sinners were told, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that
your
sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19). Jesus said, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise
perish" (Luke 13:3, 5). God is "not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter
3:9).
"Repent" does not mean simply to say, "I am sorry," but
rather it means to change one's mind. In the process of genuine
repentance,
after one has sinned against God, he will: (1) Regret what he has
done/be sorry
for it; (2) Determine in his heart not to repeat this mistake (i.e., he
will
change his will); and (3) Change or reform his life.
Confession
of faith in Jesus is also required. "For with
the heart
man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made
unto
salvation" (Romans
10:10). We read in the Bible of some that believed on
Jesus, but out of fear and pride, would not confess Him (John
12:42,43). Jesus
said that He will confess a person that confesses Him before men, but
He will deny
in the Father's presence anyone that refuses to confess Him (Matthew
10:32,33).
Baptism in
water is another condition of salvation. The Bible
does not teach
that one should be baptized after he is already saved. Nor
does
the Bible teach that a person ought to be baptized as an outward sign
to show
that he has been saved already prior to baptism. Jesus Himself
said, "He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth
not shall
be damned" (Mark 16:16). According to these words of Jesus, who
shall
be saved? One that just believes? No. One that is just baptized? No.
Rather,
one who believes and is baptized. If Jesus said it, how can it
be
wrong?! In the New Testament, we also read that a sinner (Saul of
Tarsus) was
told, ''And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized and wash
away thy
sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16).
No,
water cannot save a person. It is not water that washes away sins. It
is the
blood of Jesus that has the power to remove sins (Colossians 1:14), not
water.
Yet, and this is important, if God has made water baptism a condition
of
receiving the forgiveness of sins, then a lost person must comply with
that
condition. Water baptism is a command of God (Acts 2:38; 10:48), and we
remember that only those who obey Jesus' commands are saved (Hebrews
5:9).
Baptism is no more important than hearing the gospel, believing in
Jesus,
repenting of sins, and confessing faith in Jesus, but like these other
matters,
it is required in order to be saved. In fact, it is only through
baptism that
one can get into the Christ (Romans 6:3).
We
hasten to emphasize that in the New Testament, the word "baptism"
means an immersion or plunging, not a sprinkling or pouring of water.
Baptism
involves a burial (Colossians 2:12) and requires going down into the
water and
coming up out of the water (Acts 8:36-39). Scriptural baptism is an
immersion.
Once
a person has been saved from past sins and is a Christian, what then?
The Bible
teaches that the Lord adds saved people to His church (Acts 2:47), so a
saved
person is a member of the Lord's church (Matthew 16:18). One that has
been
baptized into the Christ is now a new person with a new Master, new
desires,
new priorities, and new obligations (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Being
"baptized into Christ" (Galatians 3:27) is not the end of
one's spiritual life in the Christ, but only marks the beginning of it.
After
water baptism, one must live a life of faithful service to the Lord. "Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the
Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Jesus
wants His followers to obey Him in all things (Matthew 28:20). He wants
all
Christians to put the Lord's Cause first in their lives (Matthew 6:33).
The
Lord wants us to live a holy life, one in which we are distinct from
the world
in the way that we think, talk, act, and dress (Romans 12:1,2).
Attending the
assemblies of the local church is an important aspect of a Christian's
life
(Hebrews 10:25), as is personal Bible study and prayer (1 Peter 2:2;
Philippians 4:6,7). In order for the church to grow in number, it must
actively
teach the gospel to lost people, so teaching others ought to be part of
the
life of every child of God (Acts 8:4).
Christians
are going to make mistakes. They were forgiven of all past sins when
they
obeyed the gospel by being baptized for the remission of sins, but how
do they
obtain the cleansing of the sins that they commit after baptism?
A child
of God that sins must repent of his/her sins, confess such sins to God,
and
pray for Him to remove those sins from His record (Acts 8:21,22; 1 John
1:7-10).
Friends’,
following Jesus is no small matter. It is a life-long commitment that
requires
our greatest effort and sacrifice (Luke 13:24; 14:33). Being a
Christian is not
just one type of lifestyle, but rather it is the greatest life in the
world!
May the Lord bless you as you strive to live for Him.