Salvation: The Requirements

Salvation: The Requirements

Get on Board
A certain businessman arrived at the airport 30 minutes in advance of his flight. He went to the ticket window and received his boarding pass.
Next, he checked his suitcase in plenty of time to get it on the proper flight with him, then sat down with a magazine in the lobby waiting for time to board.
Since this was his first chance to relax all day, he closed his eyes for what he thought would be a ten minute "cat nap." He rested his eyes right through the first, second, and final boarding calls on his flight.
When he awoke, a quick glance at the clock on the wall snapped him back to reality. The flight had taken off without him. He had done everything right except one. He had not gotten on board.
Some people are going to miss the plane spiritually if they do not get on board. It is fine that we have faith and Christian parents and atmospheres in our homes. But we must accept Christ to get on board. Do You Believe in Your Sins?
A pastor in New York urged an intellectual but dissipated man to become a Christian. The man replied, "I cannot believe in the inspiration of the Bible, in the deity of Christ, or in prayer." "Do you believe in your own sins?" asked the pastor. "Oh, yes," replied the honest soul; "there is no doubt about my being a sinner and sometimes I am in hell!" "Are you willing to bring your sins to Christ for forgiveness and let Him, whatever you think of Him, take your guilt?" "But," he said, "I cannot believe in the inspiration of the Bible, or in the deity of Christ, or in prayer." "Just now," persisted the wise pastor, "I am not asking you to believe these things. You know you are a sinner, and in sin there is a taste of hell. Now, I offer you Jesus Christ as your Savior from sin. Will you accept Him as such, and leave all questions that puzzle you for future solution?"
The man went to his home, and that night he accepted the Christ he knew as his Savior, and came to the meeting the next night to tell the people the joy of forgiveness that was in his soul. After several days of testimony which led others to Christ, the pastor gently asked, "What do you think now of the deity of Christ?" "Such a Savior," he said, with great emotion, "must be divine; if He were not divine He could not have done what He has done for me!"

Why the Doctor Arrived Too Late
It was almost one o'clock in the morning when the phone range in the Winters' home. Dr. Leon Winter, the highly acclaimed Chicago surgeon, was awakened with a start.
Tonight it was a young boy, they said, tragically mangled in a late night accident. Couldn't someone else handle it? Not this time. This time his hands were possibly the only ones in the city, or maybe in the whole regio n, which were skilled enough to save.
The quickest route happened to be through a rather rough area, but with time being a critical factor, it was worth the risk. He almost made it through the worst of the neighborhood. Almost. Then, at a stop light, his door was jerked open by a man in a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt. "I've got to have your car!" the man screamed, pulling him from his seat. Winters tried explaining the gravity of his situation, but the man was not listening.
The doctor wandered for over 45 minutes looking for a phone. When the taxi finally got him to the hospital, over an hour had passed. He burst through the doors and into the nurses' station, but the nurse on duty only shook her head. Too late. The boy had just died about 30 minutes earlier. "His dad got here just before he died," the nurse told him. He is in the chapel. Go see him, would you? He is awfully confused. He could not understand why you never came."
Without explaining, Dr. Winters walked hurriedly down the hall and quietly entered the chapel. At the front knelt the huddled form of a weeping father, in a gray hat and a dirty flannel shirt. Tragically, he had pushed from his life the only one who could save.
How many today are pushing from their lives the only One who can save? A New Man in the Suit
The program committee for a national barber's convention devised a graphic means of demonstrating the effectiveness of their profession. They found a social derelict on skid row with long, dirty hair. His face was unshaven and his clothes were ragged and filthy. His body reeked with odors of cheap liquor and filth.
The barbers cleaned him up. They gave him a bath, shampoo, shave, haircut and manicure. They liberally sprinkled talcum powder on him and added spicy cologne. He was dressed in a new suit and was presented before the convention as a changed man. He certainly looked the part. However, within a week the man was back on skid row, back in the gutter, back in his former pattern of living. The barbers altered his appearance, but their tonsorial services had not changed his inward nature.
Anyone who has the money to spend can put a man in a new suit, but only Christ can put a new man in the suit. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." Christ alters us from the inside out.

You Must Believe
A young nurse was helping to care for a sick, Christian gentleman whom she loved very much. He said to her, "Ellen, it is time I should take my medicine. Measure just a tablespoon and put it in a glass." She quickly did so and brought it to his bedside. He made no attempt to take it from her but said, "Now, dear, will you drink it for me?" "Me drink it? What do you mean? I am sure I would in a minute if it would make you well, but you know it won't do you any good unless you take it yourself." "Won't it really?" "No, I am sure it will not." "If you cannot take my medicine for me, neither can I take your salvation for you. You must go to Jesus and believe in Him for yourself." The dear old saint of God had been trying to explain to his young nurse that she could not be saved on his account and by serving him, but rather through her own acceptance of Jesus Christ as her Savior.

Self-Made Spiritually
A little girl baked a cake without benefit of a cookbook or her mother's advice. She knew nothing about proportions of flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and milk, and never thought of eggs or shortening. When the cake came out of the oven, it was well rounded and nicely browned. She exhibited it to her family with pride as "a cake I made my very own self," but when she took her first bite of it she found it bitter with too much baking powder, and hard as a rock. That's how our own concoctions turn out in the spiritual realm, when we blithely assume we "know that recipe" without reference to the cook or the cookbook. You must first know God in Christ through receiving Him as Savior and Lord, before you can have the spiritual discernment that will enable you to understand the doctrine revealed in His Word. No Other Way
Once we have discovered any of the laws that govern the universe, we proclaim them with absolute certainty, and admit to no rival laws and theories. In school we don't find one teacher saying that two and two are four, and another that two and two are five. Once a physical law has been defined and established, we don't hold that any man's contrary claim is equally valid. The truth of physical phenomena render its laws exclusive. Yet the human mind often refuses to grant that this holds true regarding the laws of the spiritual realm. They prefer to accept the glib assumption that all roads in the religious world lead to God and heaven. The argument goes something like this: "There's only one God, and every religion is based on serving and following and worshiping that one God, by whatever name they call Him. After all, we're all children of one Heavenly Father." Strangely enough, even some who profess to follow the teachings of Jesus blandly ignore His unequivocal statement, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Such words are totally unacceptable to non-Christians, and even some nominal Christians unthinkingly say that all religions are equally good and lead to God.

Only One Way
Jane, a deeply religious woman, presumed that the Virgin Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, could do the work of her Son just as effectively as He. And of course, being a woman, she identified more with a female. She was discussing her religious beliefs with a friend who, on the other hand, believed that no one could be what Jesus Christ was and is, and that no one else could effect the work of salvation in the human heart. But nothing could persuade Jane. The friend who believed in the exclusiveness of Jesus Christ to save was employed as a maid in a doctor's home. One day Jane became seriously ill and called for the doctor, her friend's employer. The friend answered the phone and said, "I am sorry, but the doctor is not in." Then this Christian woman, who had put all her trust in Jesus Christ, thought of all the theological discussions that she had had with her friend and added, "But, Jane, you know the doctor's mother is in. Maybe she can help you." "Is she a doctor?" "No, but she is the doctor's mother. She will do, won't she?" Immediately Jane could see what her friend was driving at. She wanted to show her in this vivid way that Mary, although highly respected and honored, cannot do the work of her Son.

Reward for Acknowledging Sins
In the early part of the reign of Louis XVI, a German prince traveling through France visited the arsenal at Toulon where the galleys were kept. The commandant, as a compliment to the prince's rank, said that he was welcome to set free any one galley slave whom he should choose to select. The prince, willing to make the best use of the privilege, spoke to many of them in succession, inquiring why they were condemned to the galleys. Injustice, oppression, false accusations were assigned by one after another as the causes of their being there. In fact, they were all injured and ill-treated persons. At last he came to one who, when asked the same question, answered to this effect: "Your Highness, I have no reason to complain. I have been a very wicked, desperate wretch. I have deserved to be broken alive on the wheel. I account it a great mercy that I am here." The prince fixed his eyes upon him and said: "You wicked wretch! It is a pity you should be placed among so many honest men. By your own confession, you are bad enough to corrupt them all; but you shall not stay with them another day." Then, turning to the officer he said, "This is the man, sir, whom I wish to be released."

Baptism of Repentance
A certain man thought that by being immersed he could find salvation. A friend of his had quite a time explaining to him that it was not so. But this man insisted that, as water would purify the body, so water consecrated by a minister or priest would purify the soul. Finally, to demonstrate that baptism did not mean regeneration, the friend decided upon an object lesson. "Here," he said. "I take an ink bottle, cork it tight, put a string round the neck, and drag it through the river. How long will it take to clean out the inside?" The answer was obvious, "You will never in the world clean it out that way." We must understand once and for all that no outward act will ever cleanse us within. Repentance is an act that takes place within us, while baptism is an outward act that demonstrates to the world what has already happened in our hearts. Thus, neither John the Baptist nor anyone else in the New Testament speaks of "repentance of baptism" but of "baptism of repentance." Baptism depends upon and is caused by repentance and not vice versa. It does not make sense for the unrepentant to be baptized. The "Yes" of Faith
A woman came up to an evangelist after hearing him preach and said that she could not understand salvation. The evangelist asked, "Mrs. Franklin, how long have you been Mrs. Franklin?" "Why, ever since I was married," she replied. "And how did you become Mrs. Franklin?" he asked. "When the minister said, 'Wilt thou have this man to be thy wedded husband?' I just said, 'Yes.' " "Didn't you say, 'I hope so,' or 'I'll try to?' " asked the evangelist. "No," she replied, "I said, 'I will.' " Then pointing her to God's word, he said, "God is asking you if you will receive His Son. What will you say to that?" Her face lighted up and she said, "Why, how simple that is! Isn't it queer that I didn't say 'Yes' long ago?" That is the simple belief the Bible calls for-for you to say "Yes" and God will receive you as long as you come in the name of Christ.

Only One Savior
It is said when one of the most noted English physicians was succumbing to a fatal disease, he went from one authority to another until he had reached the highest on the continent. Telling this man his trouble, he received the reply, "The only man who can save you is an English physician, Dr. Darwin of Derby." Sad was the reply, "I am Dr. Darwin of Derby." He was the best, but he could not save himself. Even the best of us cannot save ourselves. The Father's Child
Dwight L. Moody gives us a fine illustration of the fact that the commandment of Christ to follow Him is given to His children and not to strangers "I was standing with a friend at his garden gate one evening when two little children came by. As they approached us, he said to me, 'Watch the difference in these two boys.' Taking one of them in his arms he stood him on the gatepost and, stepping back a few feet, he folded his arms and called to the little fellow to jump. In an instant the boy sprang toward him and was caught in his arms. Then turning to the second boy he tried the same experiment. But in the second case it was different. The child trembled and refused to move. My friend held out his arms and tried to induce the child to trust to his strength but nothing could move him. At last my friend had to lift him down from the post and let him go. 'What makes the difference in the two?' I asked. My friend smiled and said, 'The first is my own boy and knows me; but the other is a stranger's child whom I have never seen before.' And there was all the difference. My friend was equally able to prevent both from falling. The difference was in the boys themselves. The first had assurance in his father's ability and acted upon it, while the second boy, although he might have believed in the ability to save him from harm, would not put his belief into action." So it is with many today who give credit to the gospel story but are unwilling to cast themselves into the arms of the Savior.

Believe and Receive
There are radio waves all around us sent out by transmitters. Only a receiving set can catch them. If you don't tune your radio to the waves of the transmitter you'll never understand what the speaker is saying. If you're not tuned in to God, you'll never understand Him either. Don't try in your unbelief to understand and know God. It's impossible. You must believe before you can receive His regenerating nature. St. Paul knew this when he said, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). Then your battles, the temptations that beset you, will be fought by Christ Himself. He can more easily bear the burdens of your life than you can by yourself.

Real Joy
A gentleman residing in the fashionable part of London, and thoroughly carried away with the follies of society life, was walking down the street one day with a Christian woman of his acquaintance. He turned to her and asked, "How is it that you religious people are always trying to rob us of our pleasure? I enjoy life, and I can't see why you should be forever trying to rob me of what pleasure this short life affords." "You are greatly mistaken if that is what you think," replied the woman. "We do not want you to give up anything, but to receive." The gentleman kept thinking of the word "receive." It refused to leave him. Not long after, he called on the woman, told her his life was miserable, and asked what he must do to receive peace of soul and joy of heart. She led him to the Savior, where he found pardon and joy he had never known before.