HOW DOES A SINNER GET SAVED?

"How does a sinner get saved?" That is a question that must be answered and we have the book, the Bible, which supplies the answer. Yet, ask that question and people will present you with all sorts of different kinds of ideas about it and claims that they got their ideas from the Bible. Overcoming these differences can be difficult at times, but I am convinced that it is not impossible. I believe that sincere people, wanting to know the answer to the question, "How does a sinner get saved?", can go to the Bible, study together, and agree upon the answer. This little tract is designed for that very purpose.

For example, let's consider Romans 3:23. There Paul wrote, 'for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" This is a simple point upon which all who read can agree. It doesn't matter what name you wear. It doesn't matter if you belong to the Assembly of God, Baptist Church, the Lutheran Church, the Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, or any other denomination. Surely we can all agree on this point.

Let's move over in Romans just 3 chapters, to chapter 6, and another simple point upon which we can all agree. In Romans 6:23, we find, "For the wages of sin is death..." Can we not all agree on that point? Such teaching transcends all the boundaries of division.

Since all sin, and spiritual death is the consequence of sin, let's consider together how man can escape the condemnation that sin brings. What we want in our study is a Bible answer-not my opinion, your opinion, or anyone else's opinion. We need a clear book, chapter, and verse Bible answer. Look at a few verses. In Romans 5:9, Paul wrote, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." Hebrews 9:13 & 14, tell us, "For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" From these two passages it is obvious that the blood of Jesus Christ is our hope for escape from the wages of sin. Without the blood of Jesus we would all be hopelessly lost.

I am confident that most, if not all, would agree up to this point. We have three points of agreement. (1) All have sinned. (2) The wages of sin is death. (3) The blood of Jesus is our only hope of escape.

We move now to a fourth point that I am certain we can all agree upon. Man did nothing to earn, or to be owed by God, or to merit the sacrifice of Jesus. Once again we turn to the Bible for solid book, chapter, and verse answers. In John 3:16, we read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." Back in Romans 5, verses 6-8, tell us, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Notice from John 3:16, that God "gave" His Son. He did not owe a plan of salvation to us. He was not indebted to give us a way to be free from the guilt of our sins. This plan of salvation was given as unmerited favor by God to mankind while we were still dead in our sins. Paul wrote in Eph. 2:8 & 9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."

God eliminated all possible boasting from salvation. No man can boast that he has earned his reward, that he has earned his salvation. Thus, we should now have four points of agreement. (1) All have sinned. (2) The wages of sin is death. (3) The blood of Jesus is our only hope of escape. (4) Not a single one deserves God's plan of salvation.

In Ephesians 2:8, Paul introduced another element of salvation that we will all agree upon I am sure. Paul taught that we are saved by grace "through faith ". It is through the avenue of faith that we take hold of God's grace and gain the salvation that is in the blood of Jesus. In Acts 15:9, speaking of Cornelius and his household, Peter said, "and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith." Again we see that it is through the avenue of faith that we reach the saving blood of Jesus. It is not faith that washes away our sins, but rather it is through faith that we reach the saving blood of our Lord.

In Hebrews 11:6, we find, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Faith is absolutely essential. Surely we are still in agreement through these five points. (1) All have sinned. (2) The wages of sin is death. (3) The blood of Jesus is our only hope of escape. (4) Not a single one of us deserves God's plan of salvation. (5) Without faith it is impossible to please God.

The next obvious step in our study is to identify and define saving faith. What is its character and its nature? How does a person exercise saving faith? The Bible speaks of two kinds of faith. James tells us about one of the kinds in James 2:17-26. He wrote, "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say 'You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works'. You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS, 'and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead"

Why is the faith of this passage dead? Because it did not obey the truth. This dead faith recognized the facts and understood the truth, but did not do the will of God. James' message is clear-faith that does not obey is useless. Only a demon would encourage such a faith. Indeed, the demons have that kind of faith!

We have another example of such a dead faith in John 12:42 & 43. This passage says, "Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God" These men believed, but did not act. They did not obey. This is a clear example of a dead faith that will not save. Jesus said in Matthew 10:32 & 33, "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven." The rulers in John 12 would not confess Jesus even though the Holy Spirit through John tells us that they believed. Therefore Jesus will deny them before His Father. The truth is that faith alone was not enough. A faith that recognizes the truth but does not surrender to God's will is dead and does not lead to the saving blood of Jesus.

Obviously, we want the opposite of that dead faith. We want a faith that is alive, surrenders to God, and actively does His will. But we need book, chapter, and verse to prove that. In Matthew 7:21, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven." The Hebrew writer, writing of Jesus, wrote in Hebrews 5:9, "And being made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." Paul warned in 2 Thessalonians 1:7 & 8, that when Jesus returns it will be, "with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus."

Can we not all see that the faith that leads to the blood of Jesus is an active faith, a faith that does the will of God? It is a faith that makes a personal surrender to 8 whatever God may require. It is a faith that says, "What wilt thou have me do, Lord?, and then does it. So now we have six points upon which we can all agree. (1) All have sinned. (2) The wages of sin is death. (3) The blood of Jesus is our only hope of escape. (4) Not a single one of us deserves God's plan of salvation. (5) Without faith it is impossible to please God. (6) Saving faith obediently surrenders to the will of God.

Next we need to consider the terms of surrender that lead to the blood of Jesus. We must find a book, chapter, and verse answer from God's word. In John 6:28, Jesus was asked, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" The Lord answered the question in the very next verse. He said, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.

To a lot of folks today, "believe" seems like an odd answer to that question. People today tend to view belief as something that is passive; but the people of the Lord's day knew that faith without works is dead. In the Bible, saving faith and obedient surrender are so closely related that sometimes the ideas are interchangeable. Let me show you what I mean. In 1 Peter 2:7 & 8, Peter wrote, "This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER STONE,' and, 'A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE ', for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed" Did you note that to believe is to obey and to be disobedient is to fail to believe?

Saving faith is a firm conviction, a personal surrender, a conduct of life based on that surrender. This is in fact the first term of surrender. The first term by its very nature includes all the other terms of surrender. In other words, if a person truly exercises saving faith than all of the other terms naturally follow. If any of the other terms are rejected, than a personal surrender was not made in the first place.

So what, if any, are the other things that the Bible connects to salvation? Once again, we want solid book, chapter, and verse Bible answers to this question. Nothing else matters.

The Bible clearly commands repentance. In Luke 13:3 & 5, Jesus said, "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." In Acts 17:30, Paul said, "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent." Consider also 2 Peter 3:9, where Peter wrote, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

What is this repentance that God demands of all men everywhere? Repentance is a change of heart brought about by godly sorrow that turns away from sin and unto God. The fact that God requires us to turn from sin and unto Him is just common sense. To expect God to save us without our turning to Him would be absurd. It would also be completely contrary to the obedient surrender of saving faith. So, while we can speak of saving faith and repentance separately in this little tract, in practice the two cannot be separated. This now gives us seven points to agree upon because we have found book, chapter, and verse for each of them. (1) All have sinned. (2) The wages of sin is death. (3) The blood of Jesus is our only hope of escape. (4) Not a single one of us deserves God's plan of salvation. (5) Without faith it is impossible to please God. (6) Saving faith obediently surrenders to the will of God. (7) God commands all men everywhere to repent.

The Scriptures also show us that confession is vitally connected to salvation. Remember Matthew 10:32? Jesus said, "Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven." In Romans 10: 9 & 10, Paul wrote, "That if you confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

What is this confession that we must make as a part of our surrender? It is a confession that Jesus is Lord, a declaration of our acceptance of Him as our Lord and Savior. We cannot be like the rulers we studied earlier in John 12:42. We must openly confess that Jesus is the Christ, just as the Ethiopian eunuch did in Acts 8:3 7. If a person will not make that confession, than that person has not obediently surrendered to the will of God. That now gives us eight point of agreement. (1) All have sinned. (2) The wages of sin is death. (3) The blood of Jesus is our only hope of escape. (4) Not a single one of us deserves God's plan of salvation. (5) Without faith it is impossible to please God. (6) Saving faith obediently surrenders to the will of God. (7) God commands all men everywhere to repent. (8) We must confess our faith in Jesus as the Son of God.

That brings us to what is for some reason the biggest hurtle of all: baptism. As always we must have a solid book, chapter, and verse answer from the Bible. Here it is. In Mark 16:16, Jesus said, "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned"

In Acts 2:38, we find Peter saying, "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Acts 22:16, depicts Ananias saying to Paul, "And now why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name. Romans 6:3 & 4, teaches us, "Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." Galatians 3:27, informs us, "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

And 1 Peter 3:21 says, "And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you-not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience-through the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

Friends, baptism does not merit salvation anymore than faith does. Baptism is simply one of the terms of surrender that God designated. If a person truly surrenders to the will of God, he or she will submit to God's will in baptism. If he or she refuses to be baptized, 'for the forgiveness of sins ", that person has not surrendered to the will of God.

That gives us nine points that we can all agree upon, founded on book, chapter, and verse answers in God's Word. These nine points answer the question, "How does a sinner get saved?" They are: (1) All have sinned. (2) The wages of sin is death. (3) The blood of Jesus is our only hope of escape. (4) Not a single one of us deserves God's plan of salvation. (5) Without faith it is impossible to please God. (6) Saving faith obediently surrenders to the will of God. (7) God commands all men everywhere to repent. (8) We must confess Jesus as the Son of God. (9) He that believes and is baptized for the remission of sins shall be saved.