Salvation Summaries

In my prior post, I summarized in three steps how a person becomes a Christian.  I also provided an outline of the thought process a person should go through in order to understand what a Christian is and how to become one.

In this post, I’ve added the details to the outline. This post is long (OK, it’s very long), but if you are serious about learning how to become a Christian, it will be well worth your time to read it.

But before I start filling in the outline, I feel the need to mention again an important point that I may not be communicating well enough.  I don’t want you to think that becoming a Christian is simply a matter of checking off a list of steps, and once the last step has been completed, you are automatically saved.  As I’ve mentioned before, God saves; we cannot save ourselves.  We are the recipients of His salvation.  Also, we cannot earn salvation, for no one is truly good enough to be saved.

On the other hand, there are things a person should do to at least prepare himself/herself for salvation, for God does not simply “zap” people to save them. For example, we know that faith comes by hearing the gospel, and faith is required for a person to be saved. Thus, a person must hear and understand the gospel in order to receive faith.  Also, Jesus commands us to repent and believe the good news.  Repenting is something that we do; it requires a conscience decision on our part.

You might compare preparing yourself for salvation to saying an important prayer. Typically, you would close your eyes and bow your head before praying.  Some may even get on their knees and place their hands together or extend them toward heaven. This is something you do in preparation before saying a heart-felt prayer to God.  This has no effect, though, on whether God answers your prayer, for He alone can answer it, and this will depend upon whether your request falls into His will and purposes for you. Remember, God knows everything about you.  He knows what you think, what you say and what you do (even before you do these things). Before God created the world, He knew who would become a Christian.  As a result, you simply can’t earn your salvation (no one can); you can only prepare yourself for what the Lord may do in your life, and I believe one of the best ways to prepare is to follow the steps I’ve included below and in the prior post.

OK, on with the steps to becoming a Christian…

You need to hear the gospel to learn about Jesus and believe in Him.  A casual belief in Jesus is not sufficient to save you. 

One of the first steps in becoming a Christian is to hear the gospel, or the “good news” about Jesus Christ, and to believe in Him. Jesus uses a parable to illustrate this.

The parable, which is found in the gospel books of Matthew, Mark and Luke, is about a sower who plants seed in four types of soil. The seed is the word of God (the gospel), and the soils represent four types of people.  There are two parts to the parable: the parable itself, and its meaning. I’ve shown both below, and added my commentary. Read the parable and its meaning to see which soil best describes you.

Parable

Matthew 13:3-9 “A farmer went out to plant some seed.  ⁴ As he scattered it across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them.  ⁵ Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The plants sprang up quickly, ⁶ but they soon wilted beneath the hot sun and died because the roots had no nourishment in the shallow soil.  ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades.  ⁸ But some seeds fell on fertile soil and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted.  ⁹ Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand!”

Meaning

Matthew 13:18-23 ¹⁸ “Now here is the explanation of the story I told about the farmer sowing grain:  ¹⁹ The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the Good News about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the seed away from their hearts.  ²⁰ The rocky soil represents those who hear the message and receive it with joy.  ²¹ But like young plants in such soil, their roots don’t go very deep. At first they get along fine, but they wilt as soon as they have problems or are persecuted because they believe the word.  ²² The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the Good News, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares of this life and the lure of wealth, so no crop is produced.  ²³ The good soil represents the hearts of those who truly accept God’s message and produce a huge harvest– thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted.”

Commentary

This parable shows us three important truths.

First, it shows us that temptations and afflictions can affect a person’s willingness to believe the gospel, including the gospel’s central figure, Jesus.  Most of the people in the parable yield to temptations and crumble under afflictions because they have only a casual belief in Jesus. A casual belief in Jesus does not save a person, because no fruit is produced. Instead, a person must be convicted in his/her belief in the gospel to the point that Jesus becomes more important than anything else, including money, wealth…even one’s life.  This convicted belief is what the Bible calls “faith.”  In my post on the book of Hebrews, I define faith. Feel free to read this post if you have not.

Second, it shows us that some people may hear the good news, but not believe in a way that saves.  In the Bible, we learn that faith comes by hearing the good news (Romans 10:17), but while some hear and receive faith to believe, others do not, and this is a mystery to me.  I have relatives who have heard the good news, but they do not believe with conviction; it’s as if the news did not “register” or “click” with them, at least at that time.

And last, this parable indicates a truth that many may find hard to believe.  Of the four types of persons in the parable –  which would represent most people in a society – how many were not Christians?  That’s right.  Three of the four, or 75% (only one in four bore fruit).  Now, compare this to another set of verses in Matthew 7:13-14, where Jesus says, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  In these verses, how many people are not Christians?  Right again, most are not (for only a few find life).  So the truth you need to realize is this:  most people on this earth – contrary to public opinion – are not Christians, and as a result, most people will not go to heaven.

Thus, one of the first steps in becoming a Christian is to hear the gospel message about Jesus, and to put your faith in Him.    

You need to understand who Jesus is and why He came to this earth.

This step is similar to the last one, but focuses on who Jesus is and why He came to this earth.

When I was in middle school and high school, I attended a Methodist church in a small, rural town.  The minister preached on a variety of topics, and told many interesting stories.  But I can honestly say that even after attending that church for at least eight years, and joining the church too, I never knew the gospel, and I had no concept of what it meant to be saved or a Christian.  It was not until I attended a beer drinking, partying, secular college that I – through the providence of God – became a believer, and understood who Jesus is and why He came here.

The gospel books of Matthew, Mark and Luke (and to some extent John) show us that Jesus’ primary purpose in coming to this earth was not to give an eternal reward (a place in heaven) for people who try to be good.  Rather, it was to save people from death – spiritual death – that was caused by their sins, and to forgive them from these sins.

• Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
• Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

These books also show us that Jesus alone has the authority to forgive sins, for this is something we simply cannot do.

• Matthew 9:2 Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.”
• Matthew 9:6-7 ⁶ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.”  ⁷ And the man got up and went home.

So, another step in becoming a Christian is to understand that Jesus did not come to this earth to give a reward (heaven) for people who think that they are good.  Instead, He came to save people from spiritual death, which results from the sins they commit against God.  In short, Jesus came to save sinners.  While everyone on this planet is a sinner (for you have to be perfect to not be a sinner), Jesus will not save all sinners.  Jesus saves only those who realize that they are a sinner, and need to be forgiven from their sins.  

You need to realize that you can’t make it to heaven by trying to be good enough.   

When I travel to various cities for work, I frequently take a taxi cab, and during my taxi rides I often talk to the driver about religion. I usually start with asking how long the driver has driven a taxi, how many days per week he drives, and if he drives on Sunday.  The driver’s answer to this last question gives me the opportunity to inquire about his religion.  From here I can begin to talk about Christianity.

Setting aside the responses I receive from Muslims (which many of my taxi cab drivers are), most of the drivers I have used do not go to church.  When I ask them if they think they’ll go to heaven when they die, most will say something like “I don’t know” or “I think so,” and then add “I try to be a good person and treat others fairly” or comments similar to this.  With few exceptions (actually, I can’t think of any), none mentions anything about sin or Jesus, for these are not part of their how-I-get-to-heaven equation.

A recent example of this was when I was in San Francisco. My taxi cab driver was a relatively young guy (probably early 30’s) named Ryan. Ryan was very pleasant to speak with, and I could tell he’s a caring person.  He was raised a Catholic, but has not attended church for a number of years.  When I asked him about heaven, he responded by saying that he tries to treat other people well, as he did with me. Ryan is like many people though, who have good intentions, but house sin in their heart, and this sin will prevent them from going to heaven and experiencing a more abundant life if the sin is not removed.

Now, some of you might be thinking that I’m unfairly judging Ryan; that I’m being critical rather than loving and compassionate. On the contrary.  As I’ve mentioned in prior posts, you can know whether you are saved, and whether are another is saved (with a great deal of certainty).  I talked with Ryan enough to know where he’s at spiritually, and when I learned this, I not only spoke to him about how to become a Christian, I also gave him the address of my blog (so that he can read about how to become a Christian) and prayed for him (later that day).  I care about Ryan, and I hope he reads these posts, for I want him to spend his eternity in heaven.

I honestly believe that one of the main reasons why many people will not go to heaven is because they have not heard and understood the gospel message about sin, the forgiveness of sin, and how Jesus is an integral part of this salvation equation.  Because of this, they believe that heaven is a reward for doing more good things than bad things.  But that is not what the Bible says.

According to the Bible, sin – rather than the failure to do enough good things – is what keeps a person out of heaven, and Jesus – rather than trying to act better – is required for a person to get into heaven.  Sin is the problem; forgiveness of one’s sins (by Jesus) is the solution. Once a person becomes aware of his/her sins, the consequences of sin (spiritual death, Jesus had to die) and the solution (forgiveness of sins), only then can he/she be in a position to repent and become saved.  This will become more clear to you when you read my comments below about the Rich Young Ruler and the beatitudes.     

Rich Young Ruler

There is a great story in Matthew (Mathew 19:16-26) that illustrates the common misperception I mentioned above – that heaven is a reward for doing good things. In fact, this story shows that it is impossible to get to heaven this way.

¹⁶ Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”  ¹⁷ “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” ¹⁸ “Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, ¹⁹ honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”  ²⁰ “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”  ²¹ Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”  ²² When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.  ²³ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  ²⁴ Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”  ²⁶ Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 

Here are the main points I believe you need to know about this story:

• The young ruler asked Jesus a question that everyone should be asking, which is, “What good thing must I do to get eternal life?” (16).

• The ruler thought that doing good things is what would allow him to get to heaven. We see that in his opening question, where he says “what ‘good thing’ must I do…”(16).

• The ruler overestimated how well he complied with the commandments Jesus mentioned. For example, no one truly loves their neighbor as much as they love themselves, so we sin all of the time with this commandment alone.  The ruler’s overestimation was either the result of pride or ignorance (20).

• When Jesus told the ruler to sell everything he owned and give it to the poor, this was a test to see if the ruler would make Jesus more important than anything and everything else, including his wealth.  It was not a requirement, for a person does not have to be financially poor to become a Christian (only spiritually poor). The ruler failed the test (21).

• This story shows us that it is difficult for rich people to go to heaven. Why? With their financial, security and other needs met, they start to or may forget about their greatest need, which is Jesus (22-24).

• It is impossible to save yourself; only God can save you (25-26).

Thus, another step in becoming a Christian is realizing that your good deeds cannot save you, for to be saved in this way, you would have to be perfect (perfectly obey all of God’s commandments in the Bible) and no one is perfect.

You need to realize what your spiritual condition is; that you are a sinner, and thus spiritually inadequate to go to heaven.  In response to this, you must become poor in spirit, or recognize your need for God to save you, and mourn over your sins.  

Beatitudes

Once a person learns that trying to be good enough to make it to heaven is impossible, that begs the question, “Then how does a person get to heaven?”

We see from other comments I’ve made that the only way a person goes to heaven is by having his/her sins forgiven.  There is a certain thought process, or understanding, a person must go through and have, though, in order to want to have their sins forgiven.  This process is illustrated in a portion of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount called the beatitudes.

The primary purpose of the beatitudes is to show us how a person is blessed, or made happy.  But I believe the first part of the beatitudes can also be used to show how a person is saved, for that is the ultimate blessing from the Lord.  I’ve copied the relevant part of the beatitudes below, and in two different translations of the Bible.

• Matthew 5:1-4 NIV Matthew ¹ Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ² and he began to teach them, saying:
  • ³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
  • ⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
• Matthew 5:2-4 NLT ² This is what he taught them:
  • ³ “God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them.
  • ⁴ God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

According to Jesus in verses 3 and 4, a person is blessed when he/she is poor in spirit, and when he/she mourns.  What do these mean?

Poor in spirit does not refer to money, for if it did, Jesus would simply say “the poor.”  But because “spirit” is part of this phrase, it means that a person is lacking spiritually; that their spiritual condition is insufficient.  Insufficient for what?  To have a blessed life here on earth, and to be blessed with eternal life in heaven.

The NLT says “God blesses those who realize their need for him,” and I believe this does a better job of conveying what “poor in spirit” means.  People who realize that their spiritual condition is inadequate in turn realize that they need God.  They realize that their sins are a problem, and understand that God needs to remove these sins.  This realization, or understanding, is a blessing by itself, for it is one of the first steps a person must take to become a Christian.

Jesus’ next saying, “Blessed are those who mourn” relates to his prior comment about those who are poor in spirit.  Jesus does not mean that a person is blessed if he/she mourns over something sad, such as a death in the family.  Rather, Jesus means you are blessed if you mourn over your spiritual condition; over your sins.  Why?  Mourning over your sins puts you one step closer to being saved by the Lord.  To ask the Lord to forgive you from your sins, you first need to realize that you are a sinner, and that your sins prevent you from having a blessed life, as well as eternal life in heaven.  Once you realize the consequences of your sins, your next step is to mourn over them.  After these take place, the next step is confessing and repenting of your sins, which I will have more to say about in my next post.

This is another major stumbling block many people face on the road to becoming saved.  Before you become saved, you must realize that you can’t be saved on your own merits; your spiritual condition is not good enough.  As part of this, you need to become aware of your sinfulness, and mourn over it.  This must be done before a person goes to the next step of confessing and repenting of their sins. 

You need to repent of your sins.  

This is an issue I will be addressing in my next post, so please see Matthew – Part 5 of 5.

Last, you must “come to Jesus.”  

When you realize you can’t make it to heaven by your good deeds and that you’re spiritually inadequate, the appropriate response is to mourn over your sins and repent of them.  But there’s one more step you need to take on the path to become a Christian, and that is to “come to Jesus.”

Come to Jesus is a phrase we hear once in awhile, but often in a secularized and negative way.  Forbes started an annual contest in 2012 to identify and vote on the 32 most annoying buzzwords, cliches and euphemisms that “threaten our collective sanity.”  Guess what the winner was in 2013? That’s right.  It was “come to Jesus,” which Forbes defined as “melodramatic gibberish to describe time reserved for cold, hard truth.”

So, according to the Bible, what does “come to Jesus” mean?

Jesus says “Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The rest Jesus refers to is not physical; rather, it is rest for your souls.  The restless soul is one that tries to make it to heaven on his/her own efforts, and over time realizes that it is simply impossible to do, no matter how hard one tries.  The only solution for this, and the only way to have rest, is to go to the One who can save you, and that is Jesus (Mt 11:28-30; 18:3-4).

• Matthew 11:28-30 ²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

But “coming to Jesus” means more than this. It also means that you must deny yourself (Mt 16:24-26), take up your cross (Mt 16:24-26), and follow and obey Him (Mt 7:21; 12:50; 16:24-26).  This means that you are to place His interests above yours, be willing to make sacrifices for Him, and be willing to do whatever He asks you to do.  This is an often overlooked component of the path to become saved.

• Matthew 16:24-26 ²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  ²⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.  ²⁶ What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

The final component of coming to Jesus is the hardest one.  It is based upon a set of verses I believe few people have fully considered (for I have rarely heard about it in sermons) and likely not viewed it in relation to salvation. The verses relate to salvation though, as they are part of coming to, coming after, or following, Jesus.

• Matthew 10:37-39 ³⁷ “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;  ³⁸ and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.  ³⁹ Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

These verses show us that there is a “cost” to coming to Jesus, and this must fully be weighed before you commit your life to Him and call yourself a Christian.  What is this cost?  The cost is losing your life for Him.

Losing your life for Jesus is a decision and a commitment to make Jesus more important to you than anything else.  It means surrendering your life to Him, and transferring ownership and control over to Him.  In short, Jesus becomes your owner, your master, and your boss. But most of all, He becomes your Lord – and there is no middle ground on this – He either is, or He is not. Losing your life for Jesus the Lord is the climax of becoming saved; it is the personal signature you make on the “I am now a Christian” document.  However, from a practical standpoint, it will take time and spiritual growth for you to fully obey what Jesus says here, and that is why sanctification – or the process to become more spiritually mature – will be important for you to pursue going forward.

Conclusion

If you have made it this far, and followed each step, you’ve prepared yourself well to be saved, according to the verses in Matthew.  There are other aspects of salvation I did not discuss in this post, such as repentance, grace, calling, election, being born again, and to some extent faith, and these should also be understood if one wants to more fully know how one is saved.  However, you have enough information from this post to adequately understand how to become a Christian.

“So,” you might ask, “I have followed these steps and understood them, I prayed to Jesus and asked Him to forgive me of my sins, and I completely surrendered my life to Him as Lord and Savior.  Does that mean that I’m now saved?”

I do believe that most people who go through these steps, pray for forgiveness and surrender their life to the Lord will be saved (see Romans 10:13), for a person simply cannot do the last one unless God causes that person to “come to Jesus”(John 6:44). The steps themselves don’t save, but they are a tool, and maybe the last tool among many, that God uses to save a person. Others may be saved, but not immediately, for God may choose to wait for another tool to be used.  It is possible that still others go through these steps and not be saved, but I believe that is highly unlikely.  Why?  As sinners, we naturally rebel against the things that are required in these steps, and we would not be able to complete them without God working in us to do them.

In my personal experience, after reading and understanding the gospel (based upon the booklet, God’s 4 Spiritual Laws), and committing my life to the Lord, I thought that I was saved, though I didn’t know for sure.  Within months though, my desires and behaviors started to change, and I wanted to tell others about the Lord.  This was the first sign for me that God was working in my life and had likely saved me.  As I continued to read my Bible, interact with a Christian mentor and pray, it became increasingly evident that yes, I had been saved, was saved, and would always be saved.

What I recommend you do now is read some of my prior posts on how to tell whether you are a Christian (there are ways you can determine whether you are one, but it may take some time for you to really know), and begin reading a good Bible if you have not done so already.  I would not rely upon emotion, or how you feel though, to determine whether you are saved, for your emotions can be just that – an emotion rather than a true life-changing event whereby God forgives you of your sins and gives you the Holy Spirit.  According to research from Billy Graham crusades, there are many people who have said a quick “salvation prayer” and thought they were born again, but their life never changed after that, and because of this, they were likely never saved.

In my next post, I’ll be talking about repentance, which is part of becoming saved, so please be sure to read it too.