THE GOSPEL OF SALVATION

            In Him you also, who have heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of Salvation, and have believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.  (Ephe 1:13)

The truth which the believers in Christ receive is called the "Word of Truth." It is also known as the "Gospel of Salvation." Believers in the Lord Jesus who have received the true Gospel of Salvation should receive the promised Holy Spirit.

A.     What is the gospel of salvation?

When a criminal has received death penalty one thing which he wants most is freedom and life pardon.  If for some reason a kind-hearted person were to die in his place, would he not accept the offer and cry out in happiness?  In the olden days slaves were bound to serve their masters for life.  Can you just imagine how happy those poor people must have felt when they heard the good news that they would be set free?

The Bible states that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23).  As sin came into the world "through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned" (Rom 5:12), "for the wages of sin is death..." (Rom 6:23).

Since the days of Adam human beings have sinned more than ever.  They refuse to acknowledge God.  They are filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, and gossips.  They are slanderers, haters of God insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless and ruthless (Rom 1:28-31).  The consequence of sin is eternal death.  They will be cast into hell "where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mk 9:48; Mt 25:46).

The reason why human beings behave the way they do is that they are enslaved by sin.  Looking back to the time before he was saved Apostle Paul observed, "We know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal, sold under sin ...For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me" (Rom 7:14,18-20).  The Lord Jesus also said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin" (Jn 8.34). So it is true that, although human beings know what it is to be good, they are unable to do so because they are enslaved by sin.  How often do they cry out in despair like Paul at one time.  "When I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self; but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom 7:21-24

The Bible states very clearly that every human being has original sin even from the mother's womb (Ps 51:5).  His evil ways begin from the time of his birth (Ps 58:3).  This is sin inherited from Adam (Rom 5:1214, 16, 13-19).  Moreover, there are sins which every individual person commits (Rom 3:9-18,23).  All these sins can only lead everyone to one thing - DEATH (Rom 6:23), and after death, the judgment (Heb 9:27; Rom 2:6).  Every person therefore needs salvation in order .to escape from eternal death.

B.     How can a sinner be saved?

            "This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim 2:3-4)

When the devout Jews came back to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost and heard the apostle Peter's testimony on the resurrected Christ, they were pricked in their hearts and they wanted to know how to receive salvation.  Peter's reply was: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, every one whom the Lord our God calls to Him" (Acts 2:36-39).  The Bible clearly tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only Savior (Acts 4:12) and that "He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit" (Tit 3:5).  Here then we have the four important steps in the Gospel of Salvation.

Step l. FAITH: many people came to the Lord Jesus and asked him: "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (Jn6:28-29). “But to all who received Him, who believed in His Name, He gave power to become children of God (Jn.1:12). Faith in the Lord Jesus is the key to salvation.  These are the grounds for the believers to be saved by the Lord Jesus Christ:

a. Jesus is sinless and He died for our sins (2 Cor. 5:21).

b. He was tempted but had victory over sin (Heb. 4:15, 2:13).

c. Through His death He destroyed the devil who is the power of death (Heb 2:14; Acts 2:24)

Step 2.  REPENTANCE: "The times of ignorance God over looked, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30).  During our Lord Jesus Christ's ministry on earth He preached: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Mt 4:17).  When sinners confess their sins before God and turn from their sins then He will forgive them (2 Chr 6:26-27).  The Lord Jesus declared: "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance" (Lk 15:7,10).  "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret..." (2 Cor 7:10).

Step 3. WATER BAPTISM: when sinners repent of their ways God washes away sin through baptism in the Name of JESUS (Acts 2:38; 10-43).  Baptism is more than a symbolic gesture of the believer's new relationship with the Lord Jesus (Gal 3:27).  "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?" (Rom 6:3).  When the believer is immersed in the water and is buried with the Lord Jesus in the likeness of His death with his head bowed", then he shall be also resurrected with Him (Rom 6:3-8; Jn 19:30).  "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body" (I Cor 12:13).  Through the witness of the Holy Spirit the believer is baptized "not with the water only but with the water and the blood" (1 Jn 5:5-8).  The blood and water which came out from our Lord's pierced side became the fountain to cleanse away sin and uncleanness (Jn 19:34-35; Zech 13:1).  It is through baptism that God cleanses and makes righteous of His people (Eph 5:25-27; Acts 20:28; 1 Cor 6:11).  Baptism is directly connected with salvation (I Pet 3:20-21).  Hence our Lord Jesus declared: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mk 16:16).  No gospel can be considered the full Gospel of Salvation unless it includes the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins (Mk 16:15-16; Mt 28:19; Acts 2:38, 8:35-39).

Step 4. RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT: God has promised to bestow the gift of the Holy Spirit on those who believe in Jesus Christ, repent and are baptized in His Name (Acts 2:38,39).  It is clear from the description in the Bible that water baptism and the receiving of the Holy Spirit are two separate experiences.  The disciples of Jesus had been baptized in water, yet the Lord told them that they would have to wait for "the promise of' the Father" and be baptized with the Holy Spirit at another time (Lk 24:49; Acts 1 :4-5).  The Christians in Samaria had believed on the Lord Jesus and had even been baptized, but the Bible clearly states that they did not receive the Holy Spirit until the apostles from Jerusalem came down, prayed for them and laid their hands on them (Acts 8:12-17).  The Lord Jesus had taught the disciples that the gift of the Holy Spirit would be given by the heavenly Father to those who ask Him (Lk 11:13).

Baptism of the Holy Spirit is related to God's plan of salvation in the following ways:

 a.      The Holy Spirit gives us rebirth (Jn 3:5; Tit 3:5).

 b.       He bears witness that we are children of God (Rom 8:14-16; Gal 4:6).

 c.      Only those who have received the Holy Spirit truly belong to the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 8:9; 1 Jn 4:13).

 d.      The Holy Spirit enables us to have resurrection when the Lord comes (Rom 8:11-, 1 Cor 15:42-44).

 e.      The Holy Spirit gives us the guarantee of our inheritance in heaven (Eph 1:14; 4:30).

C.     What is the evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit?

When Jesus was twelve years old he and his parents went up to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.  As they were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.  His parents did not know it until they went a day's journey.  They vainly sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances and so returned to Jerusalem to find Him in the Temple (Lk 2:42-45).  It is possible that some people may continue to think that Jesus is with them but in actuality He is not.  The disciples from Ephesus must have thought that they were saved when in fact they did not even have the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-6).  They might have learned from Apollos who was "an eloquent man, well versed in the scriptures" but knew only the baptism of John (Acts 18:24-26).  When the apostle Paul met these disciples he asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" (Acts 19:1-2).  These disciples not only had no knowledge of the Holy Spirit but also knew very little about the Lord Jesus and His baptism.  After Paul had expounded to them the full gospel of Jesus Christ "they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus.  And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied" (Acts 19: 2-6).  We can find many good Christians who are honest and sincere in their beliefs but unfortunately know little about the true Jesus and His baptism which can lead to salvation.  The disciples from Ephesus were humble and ready to accept sound doctrines which they did not have the opportunity to do in the past.  They knew and understood that their form of baptism was questionable because they did not have the true knowledge about Jesus Christ.  If Apostle Paul had not thought that water baptism was essential for salvation, he would not have re-baptized them.  We should note that the Ephesian Christians were baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:5), just as the three thousand Jewish Christians (Acts 2:38-41) and the first Gentile converts (Acts 10:48).  We should also note after the Ephesian Christians were re-baptized and hands laid on them, "the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues" (Acts 19:5-6).  Speaking with tongues was the external sign which God had given to the apostles and disciples on the day of Pentecost to show that He had given them the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4).  In fact the apostles had used "speaking in tongues" as the criteria for receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44-46; 11:15-18).

It will be worth our while to ponder over the important questions regarding salvation.  Have I accepted the true Gospel of Salvation?  Do I believe in the true Jesus Christ?  Is my baptism based on the teachings of the Bible?  Have I received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues which is accepted by the apostles?  These and other significant Christian teachings will be discussed in future issues of the Living Water.