The Gospel: How to Be Saved

Part 1

The Law: some questions for you

God gave Israel the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1–17). They are not a ladder for climbing up to God. They are a mirror that shows us what we really are. Please answer these questions honestly, just between you and God.

1. Have you ever told a lie? Even a small one, to get out of trouble or to look better? The ninth commandment says “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16, WEB).
2. Have you ever stolen anything? It does not matter how small or how long ago: a sweet from a shop, money from a parent, time from an employer. “You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15, WEB)
3. Have you ever used God's name carelessly, as a curse word or to express disgust? “the LORD will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name” (Exodus 20:7, WEB). We would not use our own mother's name like that.
4. Have you ever looked at someone with lust? Jesus said that God looks at the heart, not just the act: “everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:28, WEB).
5. Have you ever hated someone? “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15, WEB). God counts hatred as murder of the heart.

Most of us, if we are honest, have to say yes to every one of those. That would make us, by our own admission, liars, thieves, blasphemers, adulterers at heart and murderers at heart. And that is only five of the ten.

Innocent or guilty?

So here is the question: if God judged you by that standard on the day you die, would you be innocent or guilty? The Bible says the Law was given “that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God” (Romans 3:19, WEB). No one gets right with God by keeping it, “for through the law comes the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20, WEB).

for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;

Romans 3:23 (WEB)

You might think, "But I have only broken a few." Scripture answers that too: “For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” (James 2:10, WEB) One broken link and the whole chain fails.

This matters because “it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment” (Hebrews 9:27, WEB). The Bible warns plainly that liars, the sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters and the unbelieving will have their part in “the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8, WEB). God is holy, and a good judge cannot simply look the other way.

That is not the end of the story. The Law was never meant to leave us there. It was given to drive us to the only One who can help: “the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24, WEB). If you can see your guilt, you are ready to hear the good news.

Part 3

Why He died

Picture a courtroom. You are guilty, and the fine is far more than you could ever pay. Then someone you have wronged steps forward and pays the whole fine himself. The judge is satisfied, the law is upheld, and you walk free. That is a small picture of what happened on the cross.

Jesus did not die as a martyr or as an example only. He died as a substitute, in the place of sinners, taking the punishment we deserved.

But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:5–6 (WEB)

The sinless One took our sin so that we could receive His righteousness: “For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, WEB). “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24, WEB). “Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18, WEB).

And He did this for people who did not deserve it: “But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, WEB) You do not have to clean yourself up first. He died for you as you are.

Part 5

What it means to be saved

Salvation is far more than a ticket to heaven. When someone turns to Christ, God does all of this at once:

• Forgiven. Every sin is paid for (Acts 3:19; Colossians 2:13).
• Justified. Declared righteous in God's court: “Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Romans 5:1, WEB).
• No longer condemned. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, WEB).
• Born again. Given new spiritual life by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom” (John 3:3, WEB).
• Adopted. Brought into God's family as His own child (John 1:12; Romans 8:15).
• Given eternal life and kept. Christ's sheep hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27), and He says: “I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28, WEB).
• Made new. “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17, WEB). Old desires lose their grip; new ones grow.
• Created for good works. Not saved by good works, but saved for them (Ephesians 2:10).

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10 (WEB)

Part 7

The two thieves: which one are you?

When Jesus was crucified, He was not alone. Two criminals were nailed up beside Him, one on either side. At first both of them joined the crowd in mocking Him (Matthew 27:44). Then something happened in one of them.

The first kept on sneering to the very end: “If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!” (Luke 23:39, WEB). He was a few feet from the Saviour of the world, and he wanted a rescue from the cross, not from his sin.

The second man stopped. He rebuked the first: “Don’t you even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?” (Luke 23:40, WEB). Then he admitted his own guilt, “we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong” (Luke 23:41, WEB). And he turned to Jesus:

He said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Luke 23:42–43 (WEB)

He had no time to be baptised, to go to church or to do a single good deed. He simply feared God, owned his sin, and trusted Jesus. And that same day he was with Christ in Paradise. Two men, the same distance from Jesus, the same guilt, and two completely different eternities.

So which one are you?

Every person who hears the gospel stands where those two men were. One turned to Christ and was saved. The other went on rejecting Him right up to the end of his life, with mercy hanging beside him. Will you be like him? None of us knows whether we will have a last-minute chance as the penitent thief did. Today is the day to answer.

And for those who already belong to Christ, the cross is not only where He died for us; it is where we die to ourselves. “Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.” (Galatians 5:24, WEB). Paul could say, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20, WEB), and “our old man was crucified with him” (Romans 6:6, WEB) so that we are no longer slaves to sin. Jesus calls every follower to this: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23, KJV) Following Him is not a one-off decision; it is a cross we take up again each day. Which thief will you be like, and if you already know Christ, are you carrying your cross?