Salvation Summaries

I am going through each book in the New Testament (again) and writing bullet point comments about how a person becomes a Christian and how a Christian should live.  The comments below are from the gospel book of Luke.

Summary of how to become a Christian according to Luke

You need to realize that trying to obey all of God’s commandments (which include the 10 commandments) will not save you, for no one can perfectly do this.  It is impossible to save yourself; only God can. Also, it is difficult for a wealthy person to become saved since wealth can easily become more important than Jesus.

Once you realize that you cannot save yourself, you must fear God and believe in Him. You must also repent of your sins, and believe in God’s Son.  However, a casual belief in Jesus is not good enough. You must put your faith in Him.  He must become more important to you than your own life, and you must be willing to follow Him.  When you believe in God, repent, and surrender your life to Jesus, Jesus forgives you of your sins and makes you a Christian.

How a person becomes saved (or a Christian)

• It is impossible to save yourself; God must do this (Luke 18:26-27)

• Salvation means having your sins forgiven.
  • According to Zachariah’s prophecy, his son John was to go before the Lord and prepare His ways…to give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins (Luke 1:76-77).

• Fear God
  • A fear of God appears necessary. According to Mary, who quoted OT scripture, God’s mercy is upon those who fear Him. (Luke 1:50). Non-Christians have no fear of God. Thus, it is possible that God may not have mercy on them.
  • See Luke 23:40 where one criminal on the cross asked the other, “Do you not even fear God…”

• According to Jesus’ parable of the soils, believing the word of God is how a person is saved (Luke 8:12), but not everyone who believes is saved (Luke 8:12-14). There appear to be two types of belief: one that saves (a strongly convicted belief that is synonymous with faith), and one that does not (a casual belief that a person can lose).
  • You can hear the gospel and not believe it. Thus, you will not be saved. This is the first soil. (Luke 8:12)
  • You can hear the word and believe it at first, but then no longer believe when trials come (Luke 8:13). Thus, you will not be saved. This is the second soil. (Luke 8:13).
  • You can hear the word and believe it, but no longer believe when worldliness sets into your way of life. Thus, you will not be saved. This is the third soil. (Luke 8:14)
  • If you hear the word, accept it as true, and bear fruit on account of your belief, you will be saved. This is the fourth soil. (Luke 8:15).

• Faith
  • Jesus forgave the sins of a sinful woman based upon her faith in Him and the love she showed to Him. He told her “Your sins have been forgiven” and “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:47-50)
•  Ask
  • Becoming saved can be as simple as asking to receive His Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13).
  • The criminal on the cross simply said the following to Jesus “…remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” and he was saved (Luke 23:42).
    • The criminal knew what it meant to fear God (Luke 23:40)
    • He understood that Jesus was without sin (Luke 23:41)
    • He knew that he was sinful (Luke 23:41).
    • The criminal went straight to heaven after his crucifixion, for Jesus said “Today, you will be with Me in paradise.” (Luke 23:42)
•  Strive
  • While it is possible to become a Christian by asking, it is also true that a person must strive to become one. Jesus said “strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” (Luke 13:24)

•   Repent
  • There are certain what I call “salvation absolutes” in the Bible. These are things a person must do to be saved according to Jesus. One of them is repentance.
    • Jesus said, “unless you repent, you will perish.” (Luke 13:3).
    • Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32).
    • Repentance is an integral part of the gospel message per Luke 24:46 “…Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations.”
  • Repentance appears to have more than one meaning in the Bible.  Here it means turning from your evil ways and turning to God.
  • Repentance is an action we take based upon a decision we make.  The verse does not indicate whether God causes a person to repent or if a person does this apart from God’s influence.
  • The parable of the lost son is a good illustration of repentance that leads to or results in salvation (Luke 15:11-32).  This story also shows that prior sins, regardless of their severity, can be forgiven.
  • John the Baptist preached the need for repentance before he baptized.
  • Jesus’ stories of the lost sheep, lost coin and lost son in chapter 15 illustrate the joy of salvation after repenting.
    • Story of the sheep – there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (or becomes saved) than over ninety-nine righteous (those who claim to be but aren’t) persons who need no repentance.
    • Story of the lost son – the son was spiritually dead before he repented and became a believer, at which time he became alive.  He was lost, then found.

• The story of the Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-30) is a great illustration on how a person is saved. It begins with a ruler asking Jesus this question: “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
  • Trying to obey all of God’s commandments will not save you; no one can do this
  • It is impossible to save yourself; only God can (Luke 18:27).
  • It is difficult for a wealthy person to become saved as it can become more important than Jesus (Luke 18:24-25)
  • If the Ruler had chosen to give up everything to follow Jesus, he would he have been saved.
  • “Come, follow Me” is how a person is saved according to Jesus (Luke 18:22)

• Be completely dependent upon Christ
  • You must depend upon the Lord to save you, just as a child depends upon his or her parents (Luke 18:17).
  • Becoming a Christian is not something you earn or are entitled to. It requires you to realize that you can’t become one by your own efforts.

• Lose your life
  • One of the most convicting set of verses in the Bible about becoming a Christian can be found in Luke 9:3-25, Mark 8:34-38 and Matthew 16:24-27 (which all talk about the same thing).  Luke 9:23-25 says “Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
  • Jesus must become more important to you than your own life.  A casual belief in Him is not enough.

• Count the cost (it is too great for many people)
  • Jesus must become more important than your parents, siblings, spouse, children, & your life (Luke 14:26).
  • You must be willing to endure sacrifices for Him (Luke 14:26).

• Don’t delay in becoming a Christian, for if you do, you may never become one.
  • We see this when two different people said they would follow Jesus, but needed to do something else first (“bury my father”, “permit me to say good-bye to those at home.”).  (Luke 9:57-62).

• Assurance and security of salvation
  • The 70 people that Jesus sent out to witness had assurance of their salvation, for Jesus told them “rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” (Luke 10:20). Their names were written in the Lamb’s book of life.
  • If they can have eternal security, it would seem that people today can too, for people are saved today in the same way they were then.

• Realize that relatively few people become a (true) Christian (Luke 13:24).

How a Christian should live

• According to Jesus in Luke 6:27-37, you should:
  • Treat others the same way you want them to treat you
  • Do good to those who hate you
  • Love your enemies
  • Bless those who curse you
  • Pray for those who mistreat you
  • Show mercy to others, including your neighbors (Luke 10:37)
  • Not judge or condemn others

• Be righteous and walk blamelessly in God’s commandments, like Zacharias and wife Elizabeth (Luke 1:6)

• Be humble like Mary, the mother of Jesus, who did not brag or exhibit pride when the shepherds told her what the angels had told them about Mary’s newborn Son. Mary “quietly treasured these things in her heart.”

• Live with the Lord’s prayer in mind:
  • Lord, may I honor You today in all that I do and say.
  • I hope your Kingdom comes soon, so that justice prevails, and I can be with You.
  • Lord, today, please meet my needs. Forgive me.  Help me forgive those who have sinned against me.  Also, please keep me from yielding to the temptation to sin, for I understand the sacrifice your Son made because of sins, including mine.

• Love God with all of your heart, soul and mind
  • Luke 10:27-28 7 And he answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

• Be persistent in your prayer life; cry out to God day and night and don’t lose hope. (Luke 18:1-7)
  • Although these verses are about God bringing about justice for a widow, it would appear that persistent prayer may bring about God’s help for problems other than injustice.
  • Jesus prayed all night (Luke 6:12); can’t we afford to spend 30 minutes, or one hour, in prayer?

• Seek to know and do God’s will, not your will. This is what Jesus did (Luke 22:42)

• Do not worry (Luke 12:22-34)

• Treat God’s word as important as the food you eat.
  • “Man shall not live on bread alone” (Luke 4:4). Here Jesus quoted part of a verse in the OT which reads “…man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
    • This shows us that the Bible is to be our daily sustenance too.
    • To help you obey what Jesus said, it may be a good idea to read a verse, or recall a verse, whenever you eat in order to remind yourself how important He is in your life

• Obey the word of God (Luke 8:21) and you will be blessed (Luke 11:28)

• Store up treasures in heaven, not earth (see Parable of Rich Fool in Luke 12:13-21)

• Bear fruit (Luke 8:15)
• If a fellow believer sins against you, you are to rebuke him/her. If he/she repents, you are to forgive him/her.  You are to forgive every time regardless of the number of times.

• Be alert for the end times and coming judgment, and pray that you will have the strength to escape the problems that are to come (Luke 11:36)

Faith

• Faith appears to be a special type of belief, or something that goes beyond belief; it is not a casual belief. In the examples below, the person’s belief goes beyond an understanding of something that is possible to accepting something as true even when it seems impossible.
  • A Roman officer believed what seemed impossible – that Jesus could heal the officer’s slave, who was near death, without physically seeing the slave. In response to this, Jesus said, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” (Luke 7:9)
  • Mary believed what was humanly impossible, and was blessed for this. The angel Gabriel told Mary, who was a virgin, that she would have a son by the power of God and the Holy Spirit. The baby would be holy and called the Son of God. Mary’s response was “I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever He wants. May everything you have said come true.” (Luke 1:38, NLT). Because of her belief, or faith, Elizabeth told Mary that she was blessed (Luke 1:45).

• Willingness to leave everything to follow Jesus would seem to be an act of faith.
  • When Jesus told Matthew (Levi) to “Come, by My disciple” Matthew left everything and followed Him. Matthew would have needed faith to do this. (Luke 5:27).
  • If Jesus appeared on this earth today, and asked you to leave your spouse, your family or your friends, would you do it? If not, does that mean that you do not have faith in Him?

• If faith can move a mountain, it can’t be something we create or produce; it must be from God.
  • If faith is a gift from God, it appears unlikely that He would take it away, for this would imply He made a mistake in giving it.
  • You can believe but not have the type of belief, or faith, that saves (parable of soils).  These terms are not synonymous. There is more than one type of belief. Not all beliefs save.

Relationship between faith/salvation and deeds

• You can tell whether a person is saved, or unsaved, by their fruit, or their deeds.
  • A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A good person produces good deeds; a bad or evil person produces evil deeds. One has a good heart; the other an evil heart.  (Luke 6:43-45)

• A person can claim that Jesus is Lord of their life and not be a Christian.
  • A saved person is one who (Luke 6:46-49) comes to Jesus, hears His words and obeys (acts on them). Obeying is proof of whether you are saved.
  • Jesus illustrated this by telling a story of a man who built a house on a foundation and another who built one without a foundation. When a flood came, it did not harm the house with the foundation, but destroyed the other one.

• See the comments above about the Parable of the Soils

• Jesus said that His mother and brothers are those who “hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:21)
  • In response to a woman who told Jesus that blessed is the mother who bore Him and nursed Him, Jesus said “blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” (Luke 11:28).

Who God is

• Creator of angels – God sent them to earth to communicate messages to His people.
  • An angel told Zechariah that Elizabeth would bear him a son (Luke 1:13). This same angel said that he stood in the presence of God and had been sent to speak to Zechariah and to bring him this good news (Luke 1:19). Angels visited shepherds to tell them about the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:8-11)
  • Although God could use angels to communicate with humans today, His primary means of communication would seem to be His word.
  • Because angels are real, according to the Bible, and spiritual rather than physical beings, this poses a problem for those who believe in evolution.
• Merciful – to those who fear Him (Luke 1:50, 58). Does this mean He is not merciful to those who don’t fear Him? What does it mean to “fear” God?
• Worthy to be praised (Luke 2:13)
• One to be feared – Jesus tells people not to fear those who can kill you (your body), but instead, to fear the One who has authority to cast you into hell. (Luke 12:5).
  • Too many people today view God simply as One who loves everyone and everything they do, regardless of whether God views it as a sin, and that God does not punish people for sin. Hell is the ultimate punishment for unrepentant sinners.

• Holy (1:49), mighty (1:49), exalts the humble, scatters the proud (Luke 1:51-2)
• Glorious (Luke 2:9)
• Giver of peace on earth to those whom He favors (Luke 2:14)
• Performs miracles (granted Elizabeth the ability to have a child in her old age (Luke 1:36)
• Knows the future.
  • Through the HS, God told Simeon to tell Mary and Joseph that their child will be rejected by many in Israel, but will be the greatest joy to many others. He also said that a sword would pierce their soul. (Luke 2:34-35)
• “Fills” certain people with the HS (Luke 1:67, 2:25)
• Sent Jesus to preach the gospel (Luke 4:18)
• Able to limit our (humans’) ability to understand or comprehend something.
  • When the two men were walking with Jesus, their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. (Luke 24:16, 31)

Who Jesus is

• Son of Joseph (Luke 4:22)
• As a boy, Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men (Luke 2:52). At the age of 12, amazed others with his understanding and answers to teachers of the law (Luke 2:47)
• A teacher who amazed people with His teaching (Luke 4:32); taught daily in temples where he preached the gospel too (Luke 19:47 – 20:1)
• Son of God (Luke 22:70)
• Holy One of God (Luke 4:34)
• A Savior, the Lord, the Messiah (Luke 2:11)
• A light of revelation to the Gentiles (Luke 2:32)
• Lord of the Sabbath (Luke 6:5)
• Written about by Moses and the prophets (Luke 18:31, 24:27) and in the Psalms (Luke 24:44); He fulfilled the prophecies about Him in these books (Luke 24:44)
• Tempted by the devil (Luke 4:2-13)
• Able to cast demons out of people (Luke 4:35)
• Healer of the sick (Luke 4:40), and those with leprosy (Luke 5:13) and blindness (Luke 18:42)
• Power to bring a child back to life (Luke 9:54)
• Preacher of the Kingdom of God (Luke 4:43)
• Performed miracles – fish in net (Luke 5:6), healed those with leprosy and blindness, healed a man’s ear that had been cut off (Luke 22:51), fed more than 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish (Luke 9:16)
• Man of prayer. He spent the whole night in prayer to God His Father (Luke 6:12). He prayed for His disciples, specifically Peter (Luke 22:32). He prayed often (Luke 5:16)
• Had authority to forgive peoples’ sins (Luke 5:21-24; 7:47-50)
• Came to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32)
• Came to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10)
  • Most people do not realize that they are lost.  Until they do, they won’t realize they need a savior.
• Came to bring division not peace. Luke 12:51-53
  • Many people on this earth will not become a Christian. Many families will have all members who are unbelievers. Some families will have one or more members who become a believer, and this can cause a division within the family, especially if the family is of the Islamic or Hindu faith (a Muslim who converts to Christianity can be shunned, beaten and even killed).
• Knew the future (at least to some extent), as he predicted his own death and resurrection (Luke 9:2; 18:32-33), Peter’s denial of knowing Jesus (Luke 22:34), etc.
• Submitted to God the Father to do God’s will (Luke 22:42)
• Wept over the city of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41)
• Mocked and beaten (Luke 22:53), crucified (Luke 23:46)
• Came to die and rise again so that those who repent would receive forgiveness of their sins (Luke 24:47)
• Rose from the dead (Luke 24:6, 34-43)
• After He rose, his body had changed. He was able to disappear and suddenly appear (Luke 24:31, 36)
• Instituted the Lord’s supper, where the bread represents Jesus’ body and the wine his blood (Luke 22:19-20)
• Fulfilled Scripture that was written about Him (Luke 4:21)

Other

Baptism

• John the Baptist’s baptisms resemble “believer’s baptisms” today, though not everyone who experienced John’s baptism was saved (see Acts 19:2-3). The verses about John’s baptisms do not support infant baptism, but that does not mean infant baptism is wrong.  Rather, one would need to use other verses to support this.
  • John’s purpose was to turn the hearts of the people of Israel back to God before Jesus came. (Luke 1:16-17).
  • John’s preaching was not just about repentance.  He was to tell them about salvation, which takes place when one’s sins are forgiven (Luke 1:76-77)
  • John combined the two by preaching “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Luke 3:3)
  • John preached the gospel (Luke 3:18)
  • As part of preaching the gospel and telling others about how to be saved, Paul told them about Jesus and the need to believe in Him.
    • Acts 19:3-4 3 “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.” 4 Paul said, “John’s baptism was to demonstrate a desire to turn from sin and turn to God. John himself told the people to believe in Jesus, the one John said would come later.”
  • John warned Jews who were going to be baptized that they needed to bear fruits in keeping with repentance, or to live in such a way to prove that they had repented.  They could not rely upon their Jewish faith or identify to bear fruit (Luke 3:8). He warned that every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:9).
  • John’s baptisms were for those old enough to repent; thus, this would exclude infants.
  • We don’t know if John sprinkled, poured or immersed. The water he used to baptize would likely have been symbolic of something, since water has no power.  If water represents cleansing, his baptisms may have been symbolic of a person having been spiritually cleansed.
  • John baptized with water; Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16).

• Jesus’ baptism – After Jesus was baptized, the HS came upon Him.

• Meaning of baptism – The word baptism appears to have more than one meaning in scripture. In Luke 12:50, baptism appears to mean death, or at a minimum, going down into something (“But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! This verse can be used to support the practice of those who believe baptism is symbolic of dying to self and use immersion to illustrate this).

Examples of people (Christians) receiving the Holy Spirit

• God filled certain people with the Holy Spirit
  • John the Baptist was filled with the HS while in his mother’s womb.
  • Zechariah was filled with the HS (Luke 1:67).
  • Simeon was also filled with the HS (Luke 2:25).
  • Revealed to Simeon that Simeon would not die until he had seen the Messiah (Luke 2:26)
  • What does it mean to be “filled” with the HS? Is this different from simply receiving the HS upon becoming a Christian? Are people today “filled” with the HS like they were in NT times?

Prayer

• God may not answer your prayers, in the way you expect, for a long time.
  • Zacharias and Elizabeth wanted children but had remained childless until they were very old (Luke 1:7). Elizabeth said she was a disgrace among other men for being childless (Luke 1:24).
    • Imagine how long they had prayed for a child; and their anguish for not having any children. God heard their prayers though, and chose to give them a son in His good timing.

Christians should be pro life, not pro choice

• John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15).
  • John was alive – a living being, a human, a person – while in the womb.
  • Aborting, or killing, a living person in the womb is murder.  Christians should not murder another person; this violates one of God’s 10 commandments.

Hell is real and a place of torment

• Parable of Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)