Gospel Plan of Salvation

Plan of Salvation Synopsis

How does God save lost people?  To answer such a question, we need to examine a few Bible basics.  Let us simply allow the Bible to speak for itself.  Toward that goal, let us consider the following:

·           All accountable people have done wrong, and thus fall short of God’s perfect glory (Rom. 3:23).

·           God’s love sent Jesus to bear the quilt and punishment for the sins that separate us from God (I Pet. 2:24-25).

·           Through faith in Jesus we can choose life rather than death (John 3:16).

·           The answer is grounded in God’s grace (an undeserved gift) and not from any response we could make to “earn” our salvation (Eph. 2:8-10).

Now we come to the question, “if we are going to be saved, what kind of response does God ask of our faith?” (Rom. 1:5, 16:26). Obedience to the faith is necessary!

·           To one that does not have faith, the first step toward salvation is to believe that Jesus is the Savior (Acts 16:31).

·           To those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, repentance (a change of thinking) and baptism for the remission of sins are both instructed (Acts 2:36-38, Luke 24:46-47).

·           Biblically, both belief and confession are inseparably linked with salvation (Rom 10:8-10; 1 Tim. 6:12).

·           To the believers who have repented, baptism is prescribed as the way to call on the name of the Lord and have their sins washed away (Acts 22:16).

·           Baptism (immersion) as a response of faith is clearly linked to entering into a saving relationship with Jesus (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3 26-27; 1 Pet. 3:21).

·           We are making a life-long commitment to walk in the new life of God’s light (Rom. 6:4; 1 John 1:7).

·           In all of these things, we must respond in faith to receive the gift of grace (James 2:26); any response, however, from an attitude of boasting, or of trying to earn our salvation, would not be acceptable (Rom. 3:27; 4:1-2).

Many religious people believe a response of some kind on the part of man is required for salvation, although they differ on the nature of the required response.  The real issue, however, is not what men teach or think (Jer. 10:23 “It is not in man to direct his own steps”)                                                                                                                it is about what the Bible teaches.  Jesus has been sent, the Bible reveals the way of forgiveness, the decision to act is yours and yours alone.