Who Is Saved?            

I John 5:1

 

     Let no one deceive you. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the Scriptures, you are born of God. It is of absolutely no importance for you to determine when you began to believe, how you began to believe, or who was preaching when you first began to believe. These are questions often raised by men, but never once raised in the Bible. If you trust Christ Jesus, the Son of God, you are saved. If you do not trust him, you are lost.

     However, we know that faith is based upon knowledge, knowledge of God's revealed truth. It is not necessary that you know everything God has revealed. But you must know some things. The dying theif, the Philippian jailor, and the Ethiopian Eunuch did not know much. But they did now something. And that which they knew was the basis of their faith. What did they know? What is that knowledge which is essential to salvation? It is essential to faith that you know these three things:

     1. RUIN BY THE FALL - You must know yourself to be a sinner, utterly helpless, totally depraved, fully deserving the wrath of a holy God. Anyone who really acknowledges his sin is saved (I John 1:9).

     2. REDEMPTION BY THE BLOOD - You must know that the only way a sinner can be accepted with God is through the merit of Christ's obedience unto death as the sinner's Substitute. Any sinner in all the world who trusts the crucified Christ as his only hope of acceptance with God is saved (John 3:13-15).

     3. REGENERATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT - You must know that "salvation is of the Lord", by the grace and power of God alone, without works, not by the will of man, but by the will of God. Any sinner who truly acknowledges salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone is born of God (Eph. 2:1-10).

     To some, this will seem to be a very strict interpretation of Scripture, requiring too much knowledge. Them I ask,"Where in the Bible can you find a saved person who knows less?" To others, this will seem to be excessively lenient, requiring too little knowledge. Them I ask, "Where in the Bible can you find more required?"

 

Don Fortner