____________________________________________________ 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" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ February 17, 1991 ____________________________________________________ Climbing The Steps To Salvation by Tom Edwards God's will for our lives is not learned in just one verse of Scripture, nor is His plan of salvation elaborated in merely one passage. We need to earnestly examine the full scope of the Lord's panoramic revelation; and, as we do, we are made aware of various requirements that lead to the redemption of one's soul -- such as, the need to believe, repent, be baptized, and continue faithful throughout life. These various steps that lead to the gate of heaven have been likened to a man who is on a journey from California to Florida. As he draws nearer to his destination, he will hear different answers to his question, ``How far is it to Florida?'' We would not expect the same answer to be given in Nevada as in Texas nor in Alabama. Throughout the New Testament, it might appear as if different answers are being given pertaining to the question, ``What must I do to be saved?''; but these are not different plans of salvation, they simply imply that the inquirer is not always in the same state, and these various answers are relevant to the specific individual(s) so addressed. Some had progressed closer to salvation than others due to their belief, and others even more closer because of their belief and repentance. But no matter where one is in his relationship to God, all must do the same things in order to be saved. The half-brother of the Lord speaks of this "common salvation" in Jude 3. For the one who was unaware of the Messiah, he would first be told of his need to ``believe in Jesus.'' Such was the case of the Philippian jailer in Acts 16. He was near unto taking his own life because of the great earthquake which he feared had set the prisoners free who had been entrusted to his charge. That night Paul preached the gospel to him so that he could know what he was to believe and obey. He, therefore, heard, believed, and was baptized near the midnight hour -- he and all his household. In Acts 2, Peter was preaching to an enormous multitude of Jews who had come from various nations in order to observe the feast of Pentecost in the holy city of Jerusalem. As he spoke of the resurrected Jesus whom God had made both Lord and Christ, he conveyed to his listeners that they had been the ones responsible for the execution of God's Son and had been no better than murderers in this act. As 3,000 of them intently listened to Peter's riveting and convicting message, the Bible states they were ``pierced to the heart'' (v. 37), which denotes they had changed in their attitude towards Jesus and now viewed Him as who He really is -- the Son of God. This faith had also prompted within them a godly sorrow which could lead to repentance (2 Cor. 7:10). If they had continued to regard the Lord as nothing more than an impostor and troublemaker, who was simply agitating the crowds, the fact that they consented to His death, as Peter's sermon emphasized, would have had little or no impact upon them whatsoever. Their conviction, therefore, is an indicator of their belief. Now when they, as those who already believed, cried out, ``what shall we do?,'' they were not told to ``believe'' -- because they had already done that. Their next steps were to ``repent and be baptized'' so that their sins could be forgiven (v. 38). In the case of Paul, prior to his conversion, we have a record of a man who ``believed'' after meeting the Lord on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) and, apparently, ``repented'' while he spent three days in fasting and prayer in this city where the Lord had told him to go. Jesus said that it would be in this place that Paul's question of "What shall I do, Lord?" would be answered. When Ananias, whom the Lord had sent, finally arrived, he declared unto Paul the answer of his enquiry, by saying: ``And now why do you delay? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name'' (Acts 22:16). It wasn't by calling on the Lord for three days through fasting and prayer that enabled Paul to contact the blood of Jesus and be saved from his past sins, but it was when he called on the Lord through his obedience to the gospel, which included his belief, his repentance, and his being baptized (1 Pet. 3:21). This is the way the penitent believer called upon the Lord for the new birth in Christ, and the way in which we must, also. Where are you on the steps to eternal salvation? Have you rested on the first step of hearing the word so that you can believe, without progresssing farther? It's a step in the right direction, but you must not remain there. Remember, ''...the demons also believe, and shudder'' (James 1:19) and ``faith without works is dead'' (James 2:26). To proceed, you must next move up to the step of repentance (Luke 13:5; Acts 2:38), as we noted in last week's bulletin. There are many people today who believe in the deity of Christ and all which He taught and that which the Bible teaches about Him, yet they have not made this step of repentance; and they know that if they were to die, prior to having done so, they would remain lost in their sins and separated from God throughout eternity. The step following this is the step of baptism which is preceded by one's confession of faith in Christ (Rom. 10:9,10; Acts 8:36,37; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3,4; Gal. 3:26,27; 1 Pet. 3:21). This step is often overlooked today by many of our religious friends, who feel that baptism is irrelevant to the plan of salvation; but the Bible shows it is just as necessary as believing (Mark 16:16) or repenting (Acts 2:38). The final step is simply remaining faithful throughout life (Rev. 2:10). The Hebrew writer gives the following exhortation: ``Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised...But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul'' (Heb. 10:35-39). Yes, it is better for one to have never known the way of salvation than after having been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, through faith and obedience to the gospel message, to then turn from it by reverting back into sin (2 Pet. 2:20-22). The steps of salvation that we must comply with have been revealed by the grace of God, and though they take determination and effort on our part to climb, we must realize that it is not by our efforts in some meritorious sense that we will eventually be able to arrive at the destination to which they lead. If it were not for God's boundless love and infinite mercy, all the believing and repenting that we could possible do would be meaningless. For, first of all, there must be a yearning on God's part to redeem sinful people; and fortunately for us, according to 1 Tim. 2:4, the Lord ``desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.'' And as John writes, ``In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins'' (1 John 4:10). God has graciously provided us with the way of salvation, and we must humbly take advantage of it by yielding our lives to Him through faith and obedience. Will these steps be climbed by you? or will you remain at the foot of them in the pleasures of sin or on the mat of indifference? Remember: the steps of salvation are useless to the one who is not willing to climb them. Let us, therefore, grab hold of the banister of God's loving care and continue our climb toward the threshold of His glorious eternal abode. ___________________________________________ At ASTROWORLD, a famous amusement park in Houston, there are clever and strategically placed maps all over the grounds. They are all just alike except for one very important distinction: each of them has a little arrow, each pointing to a different place, which says, "You are here." A sense of direction begins by first knowing where you are. God's word tells where we are in relation to where we ought to be. -- C. M. Williams ___________________________________________ BIRD-LIKE TRUST Said the robin to the sparrow, "I would surely like to know Why these anxious human beings Fret about and worry so!" Said the sparrow to the robin, "I imagine it must be That they have no heavenly Father Such as cares for you and me!" -- author unknown ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 713 13th Street, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________