How to Save the Hypothetical Man
Part 3 of 3
A FINAL WORD
One of the most quoted Bible verses is
John 3:16. There John writes:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
Thus, God’s love is shown through Jesus dying for our sins. The correct response to that sacrifice is “whoever believes in him.” Such belief is not just what you think, but also involves the action you take because of that thought. Those who take the correct action will “not perish but have eternal life.”
Earlier in
John 3, Jesus told Nicodemus that a person must be “Born Again” of the “water” and of the “Spirit” to both “see” and “enter” God’s Kingdom (see
John 3:3,
John 3:5). This agrees with Peter’s message of the necessity to be baptized in Jesus’ name (“born of the water”) and to receive the Holy Ghost (“born of the Spirit”) to receive salvation (see
Acts 2:38;
John 3:5). Thus, Jesus came to make a way for men and women to be saved (
Matthew 1:21,
Matthew 18:11), and the men and women who obediently respond to this plan receive eternal life (
Mark 16:16).
In my opinion, one of the worst doctrines affecting believers in Christ today is the claim that salvation comes by “receiving” a “personal savior.” Jesus did not tell Nicodemus that a person is “Born Again” when they “receive a personal savior.” Also, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter did not preach salvation comes from “receiving a personal savior.” As a matter of fact, nowhere in the Bible do we find anyone preaching salvation coming from “receiving a ‘personal’ savior.” This is easily proven by a simple word search for “personal” in the New Testament. What you find is there is not one passage that uses this term. With all the electronic Bible study programs available today, it is shocking this fact is not more widely known. A “personal savior” all to often is a savior that fits a person’s personal lifestyle. Yet the Bible tells us Christians are to die to their former ways (
2 Corinthians 5:17;
Romans 6:4-6). Like I said earlier, when I lived according to my ways, I was a miserable failure. Therefore, I didn’t need a savior that was comfortable with my lifestyle, but rather, I needed a savior that could transform me so I could be conformable to His. Such a Savior is what our hypothetical man needs too.
At the beginning of this study, I said hypothetical questions can be answered with hypothetical answers. Well, here goes my hypothetical response to the question of our hypothetical man: our hypothetical man’s heart reached out to his creator. God answered him in the depth of his jungle, just like God answers those at a college, or those whose life has hit bottom, or anyone else who hungers and thirsts for Him. Then God loved this hypothetical man so much that He sent a hypothetical preacher to teach him the Word of God. Afterward, the hypothetical man believed the gospel and repented of his sins, was baptized in Jesus’ name, and received the Holy Ghost. This is how our hypothetical man was saved. And, the fact is, this is also how actual men, women, and children have received their salvation since the time Peter first preached the gospel message in
Acts 2:38…that is not a tale of fiction, but fact.
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