A guide to the
Gospel Plan of
Salvation
Compiled by the
11/02/2006
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the
end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Before we discuss how the scriptures tell us to obtain
salvation, let us define what salvation is.
Salvation basically means to be “saved”…. What does being “saved” mean? Being
saved implies being righteous in God’s eyes, (1 Peter 4:18) having your sins
forgiven (Romans 4:7-8), and being numbered with the “called” (Romans
8:28) so that you may be Abraham’s seed (Galatians 3:29)/the called/Christians
(Acts 11:26). What are we hoping to be
saved from?
Mat 1:21 And she
shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save
his people from their sins.
1Ti 1:15 This is
a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
What do we have to do in order to be “saved” or
obtain “salvation”?
James
1:21-25 (21) Wherefore
lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with
meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. (22)
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers
only, deceiving your own selves.
(23) For if any be a hearer of
the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a
glass: (24) For he beholdeth
himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. (25)
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of
liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a
forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his
deed.
The “word,” which John
1:14 tells us is Jesus, is able to “save our souls” if we do what it says. Note
that phrase – “do what it says” – not just hear it, not just believe it, not
just have faith in it, but if we do it, it can “save our souls”….
Matthew
7:13-27 (13) Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad
is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many
there be which go in thereat: (14) Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the
way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that
find it. (15) Beware of false prophets, which come to you
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (16)
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or
figs of thistles? (17) Even so every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth
evil fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit. (19) Every tree that bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (20)
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (21)
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven. (22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? (23) And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (24)
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house
upon a rock: (25) And the rain descended, and the floods came,
and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was
founded upon a rock. (26) And every one that heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man,
which built his house upon the sand:
(27) And the rain descended, and
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and
great was the fall of it.
Matthew
25:14-30 (14) For the kingdom of heaven
is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and
delivered unto them his goods. (15) And unto one he gave five talents, to another
two, and to another one; to every man according to his
several ability; and straightway took his journey. (16)
Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the
same, and made them other five talents.
(17) And likewise he that had
received two, he also gained other two.
(18) But he that had received one
went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's
money. (19) After a long time the lord of those servants
cometh, and reckoneth with them. (20)
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five
talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five
talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. (21)
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good
and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make
thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (22)
He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two
other talents beside them. (23) His lord said unto him, Well
done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I
will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy
lord. (24) Then he which had received the one talent
came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou
hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strewed: (25)
And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there
thou hast that is thine. (26)
His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant,
thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and
gather where I have not strewed: (27) Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers,
and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. (28)
Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten
talents. (29) For unto everyone that hath shall be given,
and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away
even that which he hath. (30) And cast ye the unprofitable servant into
outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Basically, the point of these two sets of verses is that you
can’t truly believe in Jesus’ power and authority to save you if you don’t
accept his power and authority to tell you how to live your life. In other
words, if his authority isn’t enough to compel you to listen to his voice, then
how do you believe his authority will compel God to save you when you stand
before the judgment seat? God sent us
his word through Jesus, and assured us that if we follow the word, and not add to or take away from it (as
we’re warned against in Revelation
22:18-19), then we can be saved.
Let’s take look at
what “the word” tells us will play a
part in our salvation.
Faith… many will tell you that
faith is all one needs to be saved. This
is both completely true, and utterly false. Again, please look at James 1:21-25
James 1:21-25 Wherefore lay apart all
filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the
engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be
ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man
beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth
himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a
doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
This tells us that we must be
"a doer of the work." What work should we do? Faith only?
James 2:14 What doth it profit, my
brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save
him?
James 2:17-20 Even so faith, if it hath
not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without
thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my
works. Thou believest that there is one God;
thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou
know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Apparently, faith alone doesn't
answer the question of what work we should do. Incidentally, while we are
here in James 2, read on after verse 20 and note that Abraham’s faith in
following the instructions of God was "imputed unto him for righteousness."
Also read Hebrews 11 to see more
examples of what is counted as true faith by God. On the other hand, we
read...
Eph 2:8 For by
grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God:
… which
seems to say that we are in fact saved by faith.
Rom 3:28 Therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Do you think the two ideas contradict
themselves? Where does faith come from? (Romans 10:17) So we receive faith by hearing the “Word of God.”
What is the “Word of God”? John 1:1-14
tells us that Jesus was the “Word of God.” So those things that Jesus taught
the world are the "Word of God." How do we know what he
taught? Because the apostles repeated everything that Jesus taught them,
when they were teaching according to John
14:26, Mathew 10:19. By those verses we know that what the
apostles taught in their sermons and letters was the "Word of God."
This helps us to understand what was meant by faith, the Gospel, and probably
the “will of God” since John 7:16-17
tells us that the doctrine of Jesus is the “will of God.”
What is repentance? Read Luke 16:19-31 (story of rich man and
Lazarus) and it implies in verse 30 that repentance is changing your ways. Then
read Luke 17:1-4 and it will give
you the idea that repenting is similar to apologizing, which will coincide with
Luke 16:30's definition, because if
you are truly sorry for something, then you will do your best not to do it
again. Then there are verses like this…
Luke 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but,
except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
… which
show us just how important repentance is.
What is confession?
Romans 10:8-11 But what saith it? The
word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of
faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the scripture saith, Whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
From that verse we can learn that
the confession we are to perform requires belief before it is valid.
Matthew 10:32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him
will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
…and…
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that
God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved.
From those two verses we can learn
that our confession must be before man and with our mouth, not just in our
mind. To see an example of that, you can
read Acts 8:26-40.
What is baptism?
John 3:3-7 (3) Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. (4) Nicodemus saith
unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be
born? (5) Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Why should you repent and be baptized? "For the remission of sins." Not just to
obey some ritual, but to obtain remission of sins. Baptism is to Christians what
circumcision was to the Jews…. God told Abraham in Genesis…
Genesis
17:9-11 (9) And God said unto
Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou,
and thy seed after thee in their generations.
(10) This is my covenant, which
ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every
man child among you shall be circumcised.
(11) And ye shall circumcise the
flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant between me and
you.
…and in…
Gen 17:14 And the uncircumcised man
child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut
off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
Does that mean that one was a Jew because he
circumcised his flesh? No, look at these
next two verses and see how they seem to teach the same thing about two
different acts.
Romans
2:28-29 For
he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is
outward in the flesh: (29) But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose
praise is not of men, but of God.
1 Peter 3:21 The like figure whereunto even
baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,
but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
Neither of these acts are based upon the physical
ritual itself, but upon the spiritual acts that they are evidence of.
Colossians
2:10-12 And ye are complete in him, which
is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him
in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
This goes right along with Romans 6:1-9 which explains that the former
person who lived for himself/herself is buried at baptism, and the new person is
born to live for God, and God alone.
1 John 5:1-8 Whosoever
believeth on Jesus Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him
also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God,
when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world:
and this is the victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came
by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and
blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness,
because the Spirit is truth.
We can understand from these verses that believing,
loving, and faith entails keeping the commandments of God, and also that coming
by water and blood was necessary for Jesus and is necessary for us. Furthermore…
Galatians
3:27-29 For as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in
Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and
heirs according to the promise.
… we find
that by being “baptized into Christ” we are then counted as “Abraham’s seed”
and “heirs according to the promise.”
Blood of Christ is?
Matthew 26:27-28 (27)And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them,
saying, Drink ye all of it; (28) For this is my blood of the new testament,
which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
…and…
John 6:53-56 says (53) Then Jesus
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. (54)
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (55)
For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. (56)
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in
me, and I in him.
…and…
Act 20:28 Take heed therefore unto
yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers, to feed the
…and…
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Throughout the Bible, God has used blood to purify things,
and there is a reason for his doing so.
Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh
is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an
atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Genesis 2:15-17
(15) And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of
Eden to dress it and to keep it.
(16) And the LORD God commanded
the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat: (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die.
In the beginning, God told man what would happen if man
failed to honor God’s authority. God said that death would be the punishment.
Genesis 3:7-10
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (8)
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the
LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
(9) And the LORD God called unto
Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (10)
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because
I was naked; and I hid myself.
Here we find record of man disobeying God, crossing the
boundary that God gave him, and then realizing what he had done and trying to
hide himself from God out of shame.
Genesis 3:21-22
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins,
and clothed them. (22) And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is
become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.
Here is the first record of a
sacrifice for the sins of man. Because
Adam and Eve sinned and were needful of coverings, innocent animals had to die
in order to make them clothes. This
shows God’s grace towards mankind. Back in Genesis
2:15-17 God told Adam that death was the punishment for disobeying God, yet
the death of innocent animals, and the spilling of their blood, their
life-giving liquid (as Leviticus describes it) satisfied God’s statement and
allowed Adam and Eve to continue living.
This became the cornerstone of man’s relationship with God – the
transferring of man’s sins into innocent sacrificial animals, so that man could
continue to live in God’s eyes. So we see that in the Old Testament, there were
sacrifices, rituals, and sanctifications using the innocent blood of sacrifices.
The same can be said of the New Testament, except that only one sacrifice’s
blood was necessary – the blood of Jesus (read
Hebrews 9). The ultimate sacrifice was made by the ultimate
“innocent being” not just of the most “innocent being,”
but Jesus knowingly sacrificed himself for us, and his blood, his life-giving
liquid, that all Christians come in contact with by obeying the gospel,
provides us with access to the eternal life that Jesus has promised those who
follow him and his example. Therefore it must be assumed that by obeying the
gospel, one will come in contact with the “blood of Jesus.”
Belief should be fairly self-explanatory,
but let’s look a little closer just in case.
Trust in God and what he taught us is one way we could define belief. We
know from Mark 9:24 that all things
are possible to those who believe, so naturally it is important to a Christian.
Mark 11:23 says that belief is the
absence of doubt in one's heart, thus trust fits nicely. John 8:24 tells us that the belief that God wants us to have is
that Jesus was not of this world and was sent to us by God.
Acts 16:29-31 (29) Then he called for a light, and sprang
in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, (30)
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (31)
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (32) And they spake unto
him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
Here in Acts we find the jailer asking Peter and Silas
what he needed to do to be saved. Peter
and Silas replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” and then they explained just exactly what
the jailer was to believe…. “the word of the Lord.”
Calling on the name of the Lord….
Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass,
that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Okay. Does that mean that you just
have to say "Hey Jesus!" and you are saved? (Please nobody say
or even think yes, as that will make that joke very sad). If you keep reading
Acts 2, you will see the Jews who
were receiving the sermon ask Peter what they have to do because they didn’t
understand what exactly “calling on the name of the Lord” entailed.
Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their
heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren,
what shall we do?
What did Peter say was involved
with “calling on the name of the Lord” as we read in verse 21?
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Peter didn’t say, “I have already
told you, just call on his name.” He didn’t tell them, “Pray for your
salvation,” or any number of other things that some so-called religious people
will tell you can save you. Peter told
them to repent and be baptized, and then went on to explain many other things
that those Jews needed to know in order to be saved.
Acts 2:40 And with many other words
did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves
from this untoward generation.
2 Timothy 3:15-17 (15) And that from a child thou hast known
the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus. (16) All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: (17) That the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
From these verses we can find that
all scripture was given by the inspiration of God, that the man of God could be
perfect. If man can be perfect in God’s
eyes, then that means that there is no room for improvement. We also see that Scriptures can make us wise unto
salvation, not just wise, but wise to the point of being saved.
Okay, that’s ten different “acts/methods” of obtaining salvation. Taken just
by themselves, any one of these sets of scriptures will lead you to believe
that the one act will save you, but that can’t be right, can it? We know
from 1 Corinthians 14:33 that God
isn’t the author of confusion, and Ephesians
4:5 says there is only one faith, so there must be some logical
explanation that harmonizes all of these things together.
The
only way one can get all of the things we’ve studied today not to completely
contradict themselves, and Ephesians 4:5,
is to understand that they are all a part of the same “gospel plan of
salvation” and that they are all things that we need to do in order to obtain
salvation. Many claim that because all
of these acts were not specifically mentioned every time someone was told what
to do in order to be saved, then they are not all necessary. There is however a very clear reason that
each of them was not specifically mentioned every time the statement “[something] saves” is used….. Let’s go to Acts 15:28-29 and see what the Church said was
required of Gentiles in
Acts
15:28-29 (28) For
it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden
than these necessary things; (29) That ye abstain from meats offered to idols,
and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if
ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well, Fare ye well.
Faith
was not mentioned, baptism was not mentioned, repentance was not mentioned, all
that was said was to keep away from meats offered to idols, from things
strangled, from blood, and from fornication. Does that mean that all I have to
do is avoid those same things and I will obtain my salvation? No. If
we look back at who was being spoken to, and where they were in their
“spiritual path,” we will find that they are already established in what Paul
calls the “principles of Christianity”…..
Hebrews 6:1-2 (1) Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance
from dead works, and of faith toward God,
(2) Of the doctrine of baptisms,
and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal
judgment.
In Acts 11:19-22 we find that the Church
had already been preached there, in Acts
15:1 we see that the idea of circumcision being necessary for Gentiles to
become a part of Christianity was being taught to the brethren at Antioch by
some men from Judea, and in verse 2
we see that Paul and Barnabas were arguing with them. This led to the meeting of the elders of the
Church we read about in Acts 15:4-21
and that produced the letter we read of in verses
28-29. These Gentiles in
Acts 8:26-39 (26) And the angel of the Lord spake unto
Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from
Here
we find a eunuch who was studying scripture, and trying to understand it. Phillip, being led by the Spirit, asked him
if he understood what he was reading.
The eunuch said, “how can I unless someone
explains it to me” (Romans 10:14). So Phillip sat with him and preached Jesus,
starting there in Isaiah and working his way into the teachings of the New
Testament. Then as they were traveling
along, they come upon a body of water and the eunuch wanted to know what he
needed to do before being baptized. That
in itself can prove that baptism is a necessary part
of becoming a Christian. The only thing the scriptures tell us is that Phillip
preached Jesus, and then this eunuch wanted to immediately be baptized. This
shows both that he recognized baptism as important, and that there were things
required before his baptism would serve its intended purpose. Phillip replies that if the eunuch believed
with all his heart, then he could be baptized.
One must stop here and ask what the eunuch was required to believe. What did Phillip just teach? Phillip just preached Jesus, which would have
to be the equivalent of all the ideas and principles that we today can find in
the complete New Testament. Then the eunuch confessed. What did the eunuch confess? He confessed before man that he believed that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Matthew
16:15-18) Then the eunuch was baptized, and at that point (after baptism)
the Spirit had Phillip move on.
Apparently, after the eunuch was baptized, there was nothing more that
the Spirit required Phillip to do for the eunuch, which signifies that the
eunuch was soundly positioned within the Church. How many of the “saving acts”
that we’ve discussed did the eunuch actually perform?
It would seem that the eunuch
believed that all of these things were necessary to please God, and it would
also seem that the Holy Spirit agreed. The only question left worth answering
on this subject is this… “What do you believe
is necessary?”