I believe that a person must acknowledge that they are sinful by nature, see their need for salvation, turn from their sin, accept and follow Christ wholeheartedly in order to be saved. Take these examples:
· A Good Man – Matthew 19:16-22; Here we find the rich, young ruler has approached Jesus and asked him, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life.” Jesus responded to him in verse 21 by saying, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Basically it amounted to the ruler understanding that nothing was greater and could come before his commit to Christ. Unfortunately, the ruler rejected Christ’s gift.
· A Bad Man – Luke 23:39-43; As Jesus hung suffering on the cross, a criminal who had also been crucified made the acknowledgement, “We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” At the point of death, this man made the confession that Christ was who he said he was and accepted the sacrifice Christ was making. All heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7)!
· A Religious Man – Acts 9:1-18; Paul, who was circumcised when he was eight days old, a pure-blood citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin – a real Hebrew, a Pharisee, so zealous that he harshly persecuted the church, and obeyed the law without fault (Philippians 3:4-6), was converted on the road to Damascus, where he was going to “kill the Lord’s followers”. Here he has an encounter with the Living God and it changed his life forever!
· I believe that we each have a story, a testimony of salvation that is unique. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was 10 years old. I was at a children’s activity where we were sending invitations to heaven to family members who didn’t know Christ. It was then that I realized that because of my sinful nature I would be eternally separated from God without Christ in my life. I remember praying and asking Christ to come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. It wasn’t long after that I followed in baptism – my unspoken testimony of my personal commitment to Christ.
I believe that the Bible is God’s written instructions of His plan of salvation. Christ provided the salvation that we read about in God’s written word. And Christ alone is sufficient for our salvation. He is the one that paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we, sinful man, may have eternal life. Hebrews 2:9 says, “What we do see is Jesus, who was given a position ‘a little lower than the angels’; and because he suffered death for us, he is now ‘crowned with glory and honor’. Yes, by God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for everyone.” “So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself,” Hebrews 2:3a.
Fortunately for us, we cannot convict of sin and we cannot make someone “be saved,” this is part of the work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-9). A person’s salvation experience will be the work of the Holy Spirit convicting them of their need for the Savior, Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility as workers to “pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest (Matt. 9:37)”. Pray for workers, pray for souls. The Spirit of God intercedes for us but we are also to pray for one another (James 5:16). For someone, today is the day of their salvation! What about yours?
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