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The Gospel Observer
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them
to observe all that I commanded you, and lo, I am with you always,
even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:19,20).
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October 6, 2013
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Contents:
1) The Steps That Lead to Salvation (Tom Edwards)
2) News & Notes
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-1-
The Steps That Lead to Salvation
by Tom Edwards
The Bible shows that every accountable person (with the exception of
Jesus Christ) has become guilty of sinning against the Almighty
God. For "...'There is none righteous, not even one'...
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:10,
23).
Furthermore, the "wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23), which
culminates in an eternal separation from God in a terrible place
called hell, which Jesus describes as being "an unquenchable fire,
where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Matt.
9:43, 44). It is a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth"
(Matt. 8:12).
The Good News, however, is that the Lord is "...not wishing
for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Pet.
3:9). For He "...desires all men to be saved..." (1 Tim.
2:4). Jesus states, "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" (Jn. 3:16); and the Lord came "to
seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:10).
In giving His Son to die for us sinners, God has expressed His
love for humanity in the greatest way possible. For what other
method could have indicated any more compassion than that which God
has already shown in the giving of Jesus, who willingly came to our
world, where He was cruelly mocked, severely scourged, and poured
out His very life in agony, to atone for our transgressions?
Jesus is our Creator (Jn. 1:1-3,14); but He also became a man, while
still retaining His Deity, "...so that by the grace of God He might
taste death for everyone" (Heb. 2:9).
How thankful we can be for what Jesus has accomplished at Calvary;
but how sad to think of the majority of this world of whom the
Lord's death on the cross is nothing but a vain, ineffectual thing
to them. For they have rejected its atoning power by their
unbelief and disobedience (cf. 2 Thess. 1:7-10). Paul
says, "For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing
foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God"
(1 Cor. 1:18).
To benefit from the Lord's atoning sacrifice, to have sins forgiven
and become Christians, we must meet the necessary conditions, which
can be referred to as "God's plan of salvation."
Must Hear the Gospel
It begins with hearing God's word. For that is how faith is
acquired: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of
Christ" (Rom 10:17). John declares, "Therefore many
other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples,
which are not written in this book; but these have been written so
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and
that believing you may have life in His name" (Jn. 20:30,31).
And Paul speaks of "the gospel" as being "the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes..." (Rom. 1:16).
Must Believe in Jesus
So God's word will instill faith in us, through which we can come to
believe in Jesus -- and that is essential. For the Lord says,
"unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (Jn.
8:24). He also declares elsewhere, "He who believes in Him is
not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because
he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God"
(Jn. 3:18).
To truly believe in Jesus, we must not only accept the facts about
Him, but also obey that which He commands. So that our faith
will be an obedient faith. Notice, for instance, the
contrast in John 3:36: "He who believes in the Son has eternal life;
but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of
God abides on him." So from this, we see that the opposite of
the one who "believes" in Jesus is the one who "does not obey"
Jesus. Therefore, to believe is also to obey, if you want the
kind of faith that will save.
James also speaks of this by pointing out that "...faith without
works is useless" (Jms. 2:20) and that "faith without works is dead"
(v. 26). It is also in this same chapter where the phrase
"faith only" or "faith alone" is used. Many people today teach
that simply accepting the fact that Jesus is the Savior and Deity is
all that is necessary to be saved, and they use the phrase "faith
only" to express that. But the real irony of this is that the
only place in all the Bible where this phrase is used is in James
2:24; and, here, James teaches the exact opposite by declaring, "Ye
see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith
only."
Must Repent of Sin
So if a person truly believes in Christ, the next step should be
repentance. For what good would one's faith be without
that? Jesus says, "...unless you repent, you will all likewise
perish" (Luke 13:5). In part of his sermon to the Athenians,
Paul shows a good reason why people need to repent: "Therefore
having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to
men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a
day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man
whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising
Him from the dead" (Acts 17:30,31). So let us not be
like those who had believed, but had not repented and remained lost
in their sins (cf. Jn. 12:42,43; Jn. 8:30-32,37,44).
Bible repentance is more than feeling sorry for sin. Judas,
for example, soon came to experience "remorse" (Matt. 27:3) in
having betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. But instead of
turning to God, Judas went out and hanged himself (v. 5).
In true Bible repentance, there is not only a turning from the sin,
but also a turning to God. Paul speaks of the church in
Thessalonica as being made up of those who had "turned to God from
idols to serve a living and true God" (1 Thess. 1:9). Through
Isaiah, the Lord declares, "Let the wicked forsake his way And the
unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He
will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly
pardon" (Isa. 55:7).
Even "godly sorrow" in itself is not repentance, but it can help
lead to that (cf. 2 Cor. 7:10).
Repentance, therefore, involves not only a change of thinking (and
for the better), but also a change in one's lifestyle. For
example, John exhorted many of the Pharisees and Sadducess to "bear
fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matt. 3:8). In his
preaching, Paul had instructed others "...that they should repent
and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance" (Acts
26:20).
Must Confess Faith in Christ
Though not seen in as many verses as some of the other steps to
salvation, still it is there. The Bible shows "that if you
confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the
heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the
mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation" (Rom. 10:9,10).
This, of course, is not the only step, though some might teach as if
it were. For as we previously saw, repentance is also a
necessary condition toward benefiting from the Lord's
sacrifice. Yet, we don't see that specifically mentioned in
Romans 10:9,10. Rather, we see that elsewhere in the
Scriptures.
It can also be pointed out, however, that the word "Lord" literally
means "ruler." If a person, therefore, is acknowledging Jesus
as being the ruler of his life, that person would be hypocritical if
he would not be complying with the Lord's rules -- and the command
to repent being one of them.
We can also infer a practical usage of this confession. For
before a person can be baptized, that person must believe (cf. Mk.
16:16); and how would the baptizer know that, unless the one seeking
baptism has acknowledged it. Acts 8:36-38 gives an example of
this: "As they went along the road they came to some water; and the
eunuch said, 'Look! Water! What prevents me from being
baptized?' [And Philip said, 'If you believe with all your
heart, you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God.'] And he ordered the chariot
to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as
the eunuch, and he baptized him."
Must Be Baptized
This now brings us to the final step that puts one into
Christ. The penitent believer must be baptized in water.
Jesus Himself declares, "He who has believed and has been baptized
shall be saved..." (Mk. 16:16). Going along with that, Peter
told believers who were convicted of their sins and wanted to know
what they needed to do to be saved to "...'Repent, and let each of
you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins...'" (Acts 2:38).
By their being baptized in water, they were also being put into
Christ. Notice the way Paul speaks of this: "For you are all
sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who
were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Gal.
3:26,27). From this, we see that baptism not only put them
into Jesus, but also enabled them to become "sons of God through
faith." And being in Christ is where all the spiritual
blessings are (cf. Eph. 1:3).
Paul shows that it is when the penitent believers come up out of the
watery grave of baptism that that is the moment they become
Christians, living the new life. He says: "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." What is the purpose for baptism,
according to this passage? As Paul says, "in order that...we
too might walk in newness of life." So the new life follows
baptism, rather than being something that we have prior (as many
people teach today). As mentioned, all spiritual blessings are
"in Christ"; and Paul also declares that "...if any man is in
Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold,
new things have come" (2 Cor. 5:17). And how did we see that
people get into Christ? By faith and baptism (Gal.
3:26,27).
Though Paul had met Jesus (after His ascension) on the road to
Damascus (Acts 9, 22, 26) and then fasted and prayed for three days,
yet Paul wasn't forgiven until he obeyed the command to arise and
"be baptized" (Acts 22:16). For baptism was the last step for
Paul's being able to begin benefiting from the atoning sacrifice of
Jesus Christ.
Though baptism in itself doesn't save (apart from believing and
repenting, etc.), yet it does save when combined with the other
requirements God has commanded. In 1 Peter 3:21, for instance,
the gospel 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." Though the word "appeal" can mean "an earnest plea"
or "entreaty," here we see it being made by baptism, rather than
verbally. For through baptism, one "calls" upon the Lord (cf.
Acts 22:16). Consider also Acts 2:21,36-38, where it shows
people "call" by believing, repenting, and being baptized. All
is necessary.
We can compare this to those things that help sustain our physical
lives on earth, such as food, water, the air, and the sun.
Does food keep us alive? Does water? Does the air?
We can say yes to each of them. But we cannot say that "food
only" keeps us alive, or "water only," etc. The same can also
be said for each of the steps that lead to salvation. Each one
is necessary for the saving of the soul -- and without the exclusion
of the other requirements.
During the Gospel Age, non-Christians have never been commanded in
the Scriptures to simply pray for forgiveness and to become
Christians. Rather, they were to obediently submit to the
previous steps we just considered. Praying for forgiveness is
for the Christian who would fall into sin and need to be restored to
God (cf. Acts 8:22; 1 Jn. 1:9).
Must Continue in the Faith
After becoming a Christian, we need to grow in the Lord (cf. 2 Pet.
3:18) and strive to be faithful unto God throughout our lives (Rev.
2:10; Heb. 10:36-39). We need to be concerned of serving and
worshiping with a congregation of God's people, where we can each do
our part toward the up-building of the body of Christ, and
encouraging one another to continue on the road that leads to
everlasting life in heaven.
We would be glad to have you visit with us at the Park Forest church
of Christ that meets at 9923 Sunny Cline Drive, Baton Rouge,
LA 70817 -- and hope to see you soon! We can also be
reached at (225) 275-4684.
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-3-
News & Notes
We extend our sympathies to the family and friends of Bill
Barfield (Virginia Fontenot's brother) who passed away during
the early morning of October 3. He was 86 and had been ill for
a long time, which also required his being to several different
hospitals successively since around March 2012. Let those of
us who are God's children be remembering all his family and friends
in prayer.
Michelle Fleeman is now back home, after having spent several
days longer in the hospital than initially thought. Let us
also continue to remember her in prayer. For her husband Ken
writes that it will be a "Long recovery ahead" and also expresses
his gratefulness for prayers on his wife's behalf.
In addition, for all of the following who have health problems, let
us be praying for them, too: Virginia Fontenot, Jean Calloway,
Shirley Young, Cheryl Crews, and Terry and Pam MacDonald.
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The Steps That Lead to Eternal Salvation
1) Hear the gospel, for that is how faith comes (Rom.
10:17; John 20:30,31).
2) Believe in the deity of Christ (John 8:24; John
3:18).
3) Repent of sins (Luke 13:5; Acts 17:30).
4) Confess faith in Christ (Rom. 10:9,10; Acts
8:36-38).
5) Be baptized in water for the remission of sins
(Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4; Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet.
3:21).
6) Continue in the faith; for, if not, salvation can
be lost (Heb. 10:36-39; Rev. 2:10; 2 Pet. 2:20-22).
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Park Forest
CHURCH OF CHRIST
9923 Sunny Cline Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70817
Sunday services: 9:00 AM (Bible class); 10 AM & 6 PM (worship)
Tuesday: 7 PM (Bible class)
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520
Tom@ThomasTEdwards.com
http://ThomasTEdwards.com/go
(Gospel Observer website)
http://ThomasTEdwards.com/audioser.html
(audio sermons)