Simple Biblical Plan of Salvation Explained

Last week as we ended the year, I talked about that we need to go light the world and I gave you a few steps to think about in how to do that. I talked about praying for the fire of God to consume you and one of those ways is to read God’s Word and I put out a challenge to everyone to read through the New Testament together as a church.

At the come and go communion, I put out promise sheets for anyone that would do it; to read through those set of scriptures together. As I was reading through this week’s 4 chapters, Bob, triple dog dared me to read out loud this morning the Genealogy of Jesus. No, I am not going to do it. But that was part of our reading. But I do want to point out that back then to list women in a genealogy was unheard of but 5 women are listed in Jesus’ genealogy and one was a prostitute.

Anyway, since we are starting on a new adventure and this is in the scriptures that we read, God laid it on my heart to talk about the simplicity of His plan of salvation. We muck it up sometimes with our rules and our traditions, but it is a fairly simple thing.

In Chapter 4, Jesus calls Peter and Andrew to follow Him and from the NLT, “I will show you how to fish for people.” Not, come follow me and you will have it all perfect. Not, come follow me and you already know how to fish for people, but I will show you how to.

Let’s read our main text. Matthew 3:1-10

It’s that simple. For people, such as ourselves, that like things to be simple, we sure make it hard sometimes. God’s whole gameplan is as easy as 1, 2, 3.

So, let’s start with 1!

1. Repent!

Matthew 3:1-2

Matthew 4:17

I John 1:9

There is this story about a student that said a lot of hateful things, insulted people and lied a lot. No matter what they tried at school they could not get this young man to quit doing it. They sent a note home for the parents to read and sign explaining the boy’s behavior.

The dad read the note, called the school and asked to have a meeting with the principal and all the teachers that had a problem with his son. A meeting was arranged and when they met, the dad asked for the teachers to send him a letter every time the boy lied, insulted or was just hateful to anyone and they all agreed.

The father started getting letter after letter and for everything that the letters said the boy did, the father had the boy put a nail in a 4-foot 2X12. After the boy did that, the father told the boy that he needed to apologize to the people that he was hateful to. When he apologized the dad would have him remove a nail after about 2 weeks the board was full of holes, the dad, told him that when you say something bad to someone and apologize, you may get forgiveness but you leave damage behind that will be remembered for a long time. As the boy looked at the wood, he realized what his dad meant and he changed who he was to other people.

There is a difference between God and people though, and this is really cool! When you repent of the sins (bad things) that you have done against God. He promises to remember them no more. In Hebrews 8:12 it says, “I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

People remember your faults, mistakes, and the ways that you have wronged them, but God does not.

So, when you repent, which means that you are truly sorry, ask for forgiveness and turn away from your sin, God forgives you completely. That is awesome.

For the person, that is a Christian, we are called to be imitators of God. We must forgive those that have wronged us. Matthew 6:14-15 - “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Repentance is step 1 in God’s gameplan for your life. Step 2 is..

2. Be baptized.

Matthew 3:5-6

Matthew 28:19

Why do we get baptized? What I believe the bible teaches is that when you repent, you are saved. Jesus died on the cross as payment for our sin and it is through His death and blood shed that my sins can be forgiven. I believe that if you have the opportunity to be baptized that you should do it as an act of obedience and a public proclamation of your faith.

Obedience is the key. Obedience to God, God’s Word and the prompting of the Holy Spirit is what we need to do after we repent. Baptism is key in obedience. Jesus was baptized, not for the forgiveness of His Sin because He had no sin, but as an act of obedience to the Father. Listen to what it says in Matthew 3:16-17 After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”

If you haven’t figured it out, we are having a baptismal service this morning. We have 2 former shady characters that have repented of their sins and want to be obedient to God by making a public statement. We always have time for another baptism if you would like to this morning.

We have steps 1 and 2 let’s see what 3 is.

3. Go do it.

Matthew 3:7-10

John 15:1-6

I have been helping coach Wyatt’s basketball team. Some of the boys haven’t played in a few years and some of them have never played organized basketball.

We started off with the fundamentals of basketball, like ball handling, form shooting, blocking out and passing. We had done several drills and coached the boys to have good technique. Practice does not make perfect, but rather perfect practice makes perfect.

As the team continued to get better on the basics, we introduced some plays. We walked through these plays and practiced these plays and walked through and practiced and some of the boys got it…sort of and some not so much. The thing is when we did a scrimmage, panic set in and most of the boys did a free for all instead of running the play. It was a mess. But as the scrimmage went a long, it started to click with some of the team and they were starting to figure it out.

Jesus tells us to bear fruit and go and make disciples. What kind of fruit do followers of Jesus bear? Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” So, if you follow Jesus, you will have all this fruit and through your fruit, disciples can be made. If the fruit is there, you will not look like the world and people are typically drawn to those that are kind, loving, faithful, gentle, good and have joy. Those things are so much different than what our world looks like.

I used the example, in point one, of the student that was just horrible and the dad that corrected the problem. That seems to be the exception to the rule. If you are employed by the school, you see firsthand how parents will not correct the student but rather blame the school. They cause problems for teachers, bus drivers, administration and everyone else that works at school.

ABCD’s of faith in the bulletin… Attend, so you can be fed and grow with others, believing John 3:16, commit yourself to following God, and do…do whatever God tells you to do.

The bible says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard.” And “And the price for sin is Hell, but the gift of God is Heaven through Jesus.” And “If we confess our sin, He is faithful to forgive us and clean us up.”