The Discipline Of Disciple-making – What Must I Do To Be Saved

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Biblical Exercises for Spiritual Health & Fitness in 2014 Series

The Discipline of Disciple-Making:

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

Acts 16:31 explained from Acts 2-28

Transcript

Let’s open our Bibles right to the middle of the book of Acts, right about the middle, chapter 16, verse 31. What I’m talking about this morning is how the Bible presents salvation. Now, I would love for you to have a concept or a picture in your mind, and it’s like this: if you buy a car, if it’s a truly functioning car, then when you turn the ignition switch, it starts. When you pull the gear shift down, wherever it is here or there it actually goes into gear, and there are actually tires and they move. And if it’s winter and you turn the heater on, there’s a heater; if it’s summer, air conditioning. You understand what I mean? That if you buy a car and it has these functions, it starts the wipers working, the systems work, then if those things don’t happen, what you do is you take it somewhere and say, hey, this is supposed to have this, and I need that to be the functionality of this car.

Let me get to that first slide. I didn’t even notice we were on the wrong slide. There we go. There it is. I was wondering what they were waiting for back there. Boy, that’s interesting. Do I have to unplug it and replug it? I will. See, I’m so used to speaking at conferences. Wow. That’s interesting. I can talk all day without this. Who needs technical stuff? Okay, Phil, wherever you went. Someone go find Phil and have him fix it, and I’ll talk to you. Think of salvation like an operating system, and the operating system of salvation is this. What we’re going to go through in the book of Acts is: if there is salvation, these things are present.

So, this morning, we’re going through these items, and as we cover what it says in the book of Acts that salvation is all about, if you’re sitting out there and you say I am a born-again Christian. I know Jesus Christ. Thanks, Dave. Go find him because this, of all Sundays, this is the Sunday we need this to work because I’m covering all of the book of Acts in one message. But if, as we’re going through these, if one of these areas, you’re sitting out there and you’re saying, if saved people have

that is not functioning in my life, then the lesson of the Scriptures is this: Jesus Christ has put within us an operating system. In fact, my phone has an operating system. In that operating system, all the functionality promised in iOS, whatever, 9.9 that we’re on, is there. It’s just my lack of knowing how to get to it, how to appropriate it, how to cause that functionality to begin.

So, there he is. Aren’t you a blessing? And so, in chapter 16, what we’re looking at is the simplest description of the work of salvation. So, look down your Bibles at Acts chapter 16, and I could summarize the entire message of salvation in this way in the words of Acts chapter 16 in verse 31. In fact, the whole book of Acts is about what happens to those who believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ. So, thank you, Phil. What does it mean to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Let’s all stand. Isn’t it good to have people who are gifted and know what they’re doing, who help old people who don’t know what they’re doing? Acts chapter 16 in verse 31. You follow along in your Bible, and I’m going to read it. It says this: So, they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It goes on to say you and your household. So, if someone is saved, what does that mean? And as we go through each of these examples of salvation, I encourage you, don’t merely be a hearer this morning. But as we go through each of these descriptions of salvation, if that part of your operating system is not operative, then one of two things is true. Either you have never asked God to unleash that part of His great salvation in your life, or you’ve never connected with Him, because what we’re going to look at this morning is how people saved by God operate. Okay? Let’s bow before Him in a word of prayer.

Father in Heaven, I thank You, in Jesus’ name, for the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. The simplest expression of salvation and acts of belief in the Lord Jesus Christ encompasses every single functional work of the Spirit of the living, eternal, infinite God within us. And all we have to do is reach out to You, and You do everything that this book describes. I pray for someone this morning that’s going to hear and see, maybe for the first time, that maybe they don’t even have the operating system, or maybe they’ve never yielded and surrendered and unleashed You to be at work in their life. And I pray that they will today. In the name of Jesus, we ask this, Amen. You may be seated.

Each of these 22 different individual portraits of salvation that God records for us is from God in the book of Acts. You can go back to chapter 2, that’s where we’re going to start. I would encourage you, as I go through each of these that you just keep following along. The references are up there on the screen, and I’m going to be reading portions. I’ll tell you what verse I’m reading from. But each of these 22 individual portraits of salvation are the ones God recorded for us as the way to eternal life. So, each one of these individually is the way that these people came to embrace Jesus Christ as the giver of eternal life. But all of them are true about the life of everyone going to Heaven. In other words, if you are going to Heaven, all of these things are true, but if your wipers are not working this morning, then you need to either know that there’s a wiper button or you need to go and ask for the wipers to be repaired. You understand that. It is talking about the fact that all of these things are operative in the life of a believer who is truly born again.

What does it mean to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Basically, this: to the jailer’s simple question in Acts 16:31, we can answer with God’s complete record of all He wanted us to know. Now, remember, there were hundreds and then thousands, and then tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands, and potentially millions of people that were saved during these 30 years of the birth of the Church. God only records these 22. This is the record. This is the picture. These are just the keywords that we’ll find in Acts. It’s coming to Christ, wanting Christ, seeing, finding, receiving, believing, knowing, turning, having, asking, heeding, following, reaching, entering, repenting, and experiencing Christ. But it’s all Christ. He’s the door. There are many different ways that people explain the door, but He is the door.

So, if we were to summarize the book of Acts, it’s coming to Christ and away from religion, it’s wanting Jesus more than my sin. The third word there is seeing Jesus Christ as the only door of salvation. The fourth word is finding that the Holy Spirit has changed my life. The fifth word is receiving a new heart, and the sixth word is believing with all my heart. The next word is it’s knowing the peace of sins gone and turning to the Lord in repentance and having both the penalty and record of all my sins forever gone. The next word is asking God to purify my heart. He’s in the heart purifying business. The next word, heeding God’s Word from an open heart. It’s following Jesus. He’s the new king of my life. It’s reaching out to God as the true creator and the one I want to repent of all my idols in order to know and serve and follow. It’s entering God’s kingdom and following God’s way, no longer my own ways, and it’s repenting and believing in the kingdom of Christ. Finally, it’s experiencing, God opened eyes, and God turned living.

Now, that’s the testimony God gave. That’s the book of Acts. I just summarized every Gospel account in the book of Acts. That list is what they are. That’s the record God gave us. That’s what God wants us to know. The book of Acts is a report that God gave to us of how the Apostles that Jesus personally trained and the disciples that they trained, shared the Gospel message in every possible setting. That’s the record. And what we get to see is how those eyewitnesses and those they trained and shared with the world what happens because of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, embraced by individuals. That’s what the book of Acts is about.

So, what is salvation? Look at chapter 2, verse 21. Number one, salvation is coming to Christ away from religion. Now, remember, who’s this first group that Peter’s talking to in verse 21? It shall come to pass that whoever calls the name of the Lord shall be saved. I’m sure that incensed many of them; they were the uber religious of the day. They were the ones who altered everything. They altered their diet, they altered their dress, they altered their schedule, they altered their finances. They altered everything to be centered around Jerusalem, the Temple, the sacrifices, and the seven-day cycle, the seven-month cycle, and the seven-year cycle, and every other part of the Mosaic Law. They were very religious. Jesus talked to some who even went through their garden every day and pinched off every 10th leaf and gave it to God. They were very religious.

Do you know what Peter said? To be saved, you have to come to Christ away from your religion. Religion is man’s desire to achieve. We achieve through giving money or through ceremonies like baptism, or through us saying something and people affirming that we said it, or through some ceremony that we participate in, but we achieve what we think is enough to get us to Heaven. That’s religion. There are many religions in the world, from all of Islam and Mecca, to the incredible labyrinth of Romanism and all of its pieces. Peter said to the most religious people of his day, you’ve got to come to Christ. He is salvation. When you come to Christ, you have to go away from religion.

So, this morning, is your salvation that you’re holding onto …I’ve been watching all the different ways they do the airline, get ready to fly ads, and they’re getting creative. On one of the flights going back and forth to upstate New York, they were really harping on getting your cushion. I’ve never seen the flight attendant actually get a cushion and hug it. I thought, what is it? Lake Erie? What are we going over? And besides that, I’ve seen what happened when they shot the plane down in Ukraine. Your cushion wouldn’t help, but what they were talking about is that you’re supposed to take your seat and put your arms through and hug it tight. And they said, leave everything else behind. Don’t even take your electronic devices. Hug you’re a cushion. Wow. Boy, that was a picture of salvation. You don’t want to hold onto anything else. If you want to make it, you have to turn away from all that and hug, hold onto, receive, and believe in Christ.

The second one, if you look at chapter 3, salvation is wanting Jesus more than my sin. Look what it says in verse 19 of chapter 3. Not only is salvation coming to Christ and away from religion, and we repent and receive the Spirit and all that is there, but in chapter 3, verse 19, salvation is wanting Jesus more than my sin. Repent therefore of what? Of my sin and be converted. Why? That your sins can be blotted out. Look at verse 26. To you first, God, having raised up His servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you. How does Jesus bless me? In turning away every one of you from your iniquities. This morning, if you and I are born again, we want Jesus more than our sins. If you don’t, then you need to check your operating system and see if that option is on there and turn it on. Because if you don’t want Jesus more than your sin, that’s the operating system of salvation. Jesus, like the hymn says, is standing with His arms open wide and He says, if I save you, I change your wanter and you want Me more than your sin.

Now, here’s a little test. If your operating system is operating the way the Bible says, then Jesus Christ, look at verse 26, has turned every one of us away from our sins, our iniquities. We want Him more. Now they are still alluring and they’re still tempting, and they’re still there, and they still sometimes reach out and grab us, and we trip and fall, but we don’t like that anymore. It’s kind of like the difference between a pig and a sheep. Sheep don’t like to get in the mud, and they don’t like to get wet because if they get in that they sink and they drown. Pigs, they just wallow in it. When we get saved, our operating system terms from pig to lamb. You understand there’s a complete change in what we want and desire that God marvelously works out.

Thirdly, look at chapter 4 in verse 12. Salvation is seeing Christ as the only door to salvation. Neither is there salvation in any other, verse 12 says. There’s no other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Jesus is the only door. It’s not Jesus plus anything. You understand He’s the only door, and we know and believe and trust and come and have entered through Him.

Salvation is also in chapter 5. I love this one. This is Peter talking back to the religious people, and he says, if you’re saved, salvation is finding that the Holy Spirit has changed my life. This morning, if you’re saved, the Holy Spirit has changed your life. In fact, I had an incredible note this week. I was up in New York, and I got a note from someone, and they said, I’m heading off, I’m going to school. I grew up here, and I listened to messages for 20 years. But they said, I still know where I was sitting. They told me they were between that door and that door on the back pew. And they said they were sitting there, and for the first time, they realized that Jesus was knocking on their heart’s door and that He wanted to come in and change them from the inside out.

Now, have you found that Jesus Christ has changed your life through His fear? Look at what it says in verse 31. Him, this is Peter preaching away, God is exalted to the right hand to be Prince and Savior. That’s Jesus. What does Jesus do? He gives repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Verse 32. We are as witnesses; we know this has happened to us and to us also as the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him. You see, in the operating system God has designed called salvation, those who come to Christ, God gives them an operating system. The Spirit of God changes them on the inside, that they want to obey God now. The Holy Spirit changes us on the inside.

Has that happened? Have you found that the Holy Spirit has changed your life, or did you do something? Did you pray something, or did your parents tell you [that] you prayed something? And down deep nothing is different on the inside. In fact, it’s getting worse and darker, and you can hardly hear God’s voice. It’s so dim out there. In fact, you don’t even know what you’re doing here, some of you this morning. There’s a million places you’d rather be. See, salvation is when you realize the Holy Spirit’s changed your life.

How does He change our lives? That’s in chapter 8. This is fascinating. We receive a new heart. That’s what 8:13 says if you turn the page over there. By the way, look at this. This is a before-and-after and one of those demonstrations. I was stuck in one airport with endless flight delays, and I saw, I wish I could have gotten the name of it. You know how on television, they sell these products that are too hard to believe that they’re possible. But it’s a little tiny bottle this big. You put it on a cloth and you rub it on your car, and when you rub it, your car looks newer than when you bought it. It only costs $19.99 plus shipping and handling. I saw that ad over and over, and I wonder if you wipe it on your hair [poof], if it comes back. I thought there were all kinds of things. They took an old wreck and went like that, and that bumper became blazing, glowing. It looked like, wow.

Do you know that was fake? Or maybe it does something. I don’t know if they allow fake stuff on TV, but you know what I mean. But salvation is real. Look what it says in 8:13, it says, then Simon believed and he was baptized and he continued. But look at verse 21, when Peter gets there to do a little examination of whether this belief and baptism are real, he says, you don’t have part or portion in this matter. Why? For your heart is not right in the sight of God. Salvation is when I receive a new heart, a new operating system. You understand that. If I’m truly saved, at the center of my being radiates outward a brand new operating system that I wasn’t born with, and that my parents or my church or my friends cannot plant in me, only God can put that operating system into me.

So, this morning, if you aren’t sure you have a new heart, then do you know what you have to do? You have to just reach out to the Lord. Jesus, the hymn writer, put it this way, softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling to you and to me. He’s saying, I want to give you a new operating system. I want to give you a new heart. Look what Peter says to Him, verse 22. How do you get that new heart? Repent of your wickedness. Pray to God. Reach out to Him. Perhaps He’ll forgive you because, in verse 23, you are poisoned by bitterness. You are bound by inequity. Anybody who claims to be a Christian who is poisoned and bound, Peter, in the authority of God says, you don’t have a new heart. If you are poisoned with bitterness, if every part of your life is that you’re embittered about everything in your life, and if you are bound by iniquity, you haven’t got a new heart, Peter said. That’s the Gospel.

So, Philip listened to all that, and look at chapter 8, verse 35. Salvation is believing with all your heart. It’s asking people to make sure. Philip, in 8:35, began with the Scriptures, preached Jesus to him, and the guy said, I’m interested, I want to be baptized. Philip said in verse 37, if you believe with all your heart. Philip said, I want you to make sure that you know Jesus Christ before I will make you think that you know Jesus Christ.

Salvation in chapter 9 is wanting Jesus as the Lord to obey. This is Paul’s testimony. Look what it says in 9:1-6. Basically, in verse 4, he fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? That was the Lord speaking. He said, who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus. Look at what it says in verse 6. He, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what do You want me to do? This is Paul’s conversion. And conversion was when he wanted Jesus as the Lord to obey Him. There are many people who want salvation. Actually, theologically, they want a savior without a Lord, and they come packaged together. You can’t get a savior without a Lord in the Bible. Now, you can, in pop-religion, but that’s why we have so many misfunctioning, dysfunctional, non-alive believers. They got some kind of a savior they thought, and they never realized that He was a Lord to obey. That’s why Jesus says, why call you me, Lord, Lord, and don’t do what I say? And many will say unto me that day, Lord, Lord, didn’t we do everything else? He says, yeah, but you never did My will. You never submitted to Me. So, this morning, the operating system God gives is that He plants within us a desire to want Jesus to be the Lord that we obey.

Now, this morning, think about that. Has that happened? If it hasn’t, before you lose that thought, right where you’re sitting, reach out and say, Lord, I need to reinstall. I need to redownload. This isn’t happening. I know You’re the source. I want You to change my life. I want You, Jesus, as my Lord to obey.

Look at chapter 10. This is phenomenal. This is what empowers us as we go out and share the Gospel with people. Salvation is knowing the peace that my sins are gone. In Acts 10:36, the Word was sent to the children of Israel preaching peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all. Verse 39, they hung Him on a tree at the end of it. In verse 43, to Him all the prophets witnessed that through His name, the one hung on the tree, the one who is Lord of all, verse 36, the one who brings peace through His name, whoever believes in Him. That’s like the hymn writer said, only trust Him. Only Trust Him. He will save you. He will save you. Only trust him now. That one, through His name, whoever believes in Him receives remission of sins. They know the peace that their sins are gone. Do you know the peace? Your sins are gone this morning? That’s salvation.

Jesus Himself, do you know the book of Revelation repeatedly says that Jesus right now is walking around this Church? Because this is one of His lampstands where we’re proclaiming His Word, and He is the Lord of this Church. He is right here. He knows if everyone has a connection or is not connected, and He’s right here, ready to connect. That’s the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And what happens when that happens? Chapter 11. We went on to see that salvation is turning to the Lord in repentance. God gave, it says in verse 17, to them the same gifts as He gave us when we believed. Then it says at the end of verse 18, God has granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. Those who have life have been granted repentance, and everybody who is saved has turned to the Lord in repentance, and that’s the Gospel. You know what? There’s a new pop version of the Gospel that is not true. It says that you can make that decision and pray that when you’re two years old, but you can live like the Devil, become a Muslim, and you can become a Mormon, you can become a Jehovah’s Witness, and you can end up as a practicing homosexual because you did something that God has to save you. He does save all that He saves, but His salvation contains this: God granted repentance to life. You can’t come to life in Christ without repentance. So, you have to turn away from religion to Christ, or you could put it, you have to turn to Christ away from religion. Whichever way you want to say it. There’s the turn.

If you keep reading, it says at the end in verse 21 of chapter 11, it says and the hand of the Lord is with them and a great number believed and turned. They believed the message, and God supernaturally turned them to Himself. This is something I can’t do, and you can’t do; only God can do. Make sure He’s done it because salvation is turning to the Lord in repentance.

It goes on in chapter 13 that when He turns us in repentance, look what verse 38 says. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through what this man has preached to you, forgiveness of sins. That’s the one thing every one of us here who are going to have and know is were forgiven.

And not just forgiveness; it’s having both the penalty and the record of all my sins forever gone, which equals forgiveness of everything. It isn’t like I’m scared. One’s going to slip in. It’s going to be one too many, one too bad, one too, whatever. No. Everyone that God saves, think about this, in His wisdom, which is also known as His omniscience. At the instant of our salvation, God, who equally vividly sees all things past, present, and future, at the instant of our salvation, He already knows our entire life and all of its inequities and transgressions, and sins. At the instant of our salvation, He credits to us the justifying work of Christ that has both the penalty and record of all my sins forever gone. And boy, is that a witnessing tool.

I told the story; in fact, I told a lot of stories. It’s hard to go through that whole series I went through this week without telling you. I told a story of the power walker who burst into my office many years ago and pushed my secretary. He would not take no for an answer. He pushed her right through, opening the door with her pushing back on him, and burst into my office. And he said, I want to know what people in this church have because I don’t have it. I’ve never had anybody ask me to lead them to the Lord in that manner before.

As I shared the Gospel with him, I actually stood up from my desk. I was sitting there in the middle of my study studying, and I stood up with my Bible and I said, so you want me to share the Gospel? I will. I started through the Romans Road, and I got to about the third point, you know, that you have to call in the name of the Lord. I looked up and he was gone. I thought, ugh. Here I interrupted everything, and I looked down and there he was down on the carpet with his face flat down, weeping, and I thought, wow, it works. We all know that, but it’s fun to see it now and then. This was the most pagan man, and when he heard what Jesus offered, then he knew, look what it says in verse 39, everyone who believes is justified from all things. And he believed, and the Lord transformed him.

Boy, did he give a great testimony. He stood next to me. He was a Special Forces, one of the most worked out muscular people I’d ever seen. He just read Titus 2:3-5 for his baptismal testimony. It says, for you are also once disobedient and hard and malicious and hating, and he went through that whole list, and he said, but then the kindness of God. And he said, that’s what happened to me. It wasn’t by works of righteousness because he said, I’ve never been righteous. But by His mercy, He saved me by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And he turned and folded his hands and waited for me to dunk them. It was so precious.

Do you know that both the penalty and record of all your sins are gone? When that happens, look what Chapter 14 says, the Lord does. Salvation in verse 15. Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men with the same nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God. Salvation is turning from useless things to the eternal God. Right now, where you’re sitting, if most of your life is consumed with what in God’s sight and a thousand years from now will be totally useless, think about the past 168 hours. What part of that past 168 hours will even matter a thousand years from this moment?

The parts of your past week that will matter a thousand years from now are the parts that were useful to God. Yet the vast amount, in fact, Bloomberg said this week in his financial review, he says Americans are doing the one thing they know how to do: spending money and going into debt. The uselessness of looking for pleasure in buying things we can’t afford with money we don’t have, longing for something someone else has, is useless. And that’s why materialism is an idolatry. People who get saved turn from that.

Do you know what’s so amazing? Think. This morning, if we had an invitation, we all stood and sang Just As I Am and someone toddled down the aisle pulling a wagon with a Buddha statue, big Buddha sitting there on the statue. And they were pulling that thing, and they came bowing to Buddha, putting little flower petals on him and everything. They came up with their little wagon with Buddha on it and said, I want to be saved. Not a person in this room would have a doubt that they need to turn from Buddha and that idol that they’re trusting in for their hope of eternity.

But yet there are people all the time who come with something else in their wagon. They’re living for their own physical pleasures. They’re living in illicit immorality. They’re living in absolute consummate materialism. They’re living so much unChristlike, living in their wagon, but they’re all acceptable. Buddha isn’t, but pride, total self-absorption and focus, and total bitterness, and deceitful business practices, and cheating, and lying, and rejoicing when you take someone in a deal and snooker them, they don’t even know. You win and you get what they had at such a small price, and you’re rich and they are poor. That is in so many wagons, but they don’t realize that we have to turn. Salvation is turning from all of those things, those useless things to the Lord, that you should turn from these useless things to the Lord.

Verse 21, they preached the Gospel. That city made many disciples. Verse 27, when they’d gathered the Church, they reported all that God had done. Did you know only God can make the Buddha trailer wagon person renounce Buddha? And only God can make us renounce our materialism and our dishonesty and our living for ourselves. But if you’re saved, you’ve turned from useless things to the Lord. Then you ask, look what chapter 15 says, you ask God to purify your heart. Salvation is asking God to purify my heart. In Acts 15 and verse 7, Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago, God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the Word of the Gospel and believe. Okay, Peter, so when they hear the Word of the Gospel and believe what happens? So that God, who knows my heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us, and He made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts. See, people who believe the Gospel and receive the Holy Spirit, God purifies their hearts.

It’s like when you wash your hands and you’re headed to eat something, and you’re going to use your hands for it, you don’t touch other things. You push the door open, you don’t want to touch it, and people take a paper towel and turn the handles, and then they throw it on the floor. Have you ever seen that in public bathrooms? All those [paper towels] thrown on the floor? But they don’t want to get anything on their hands. That’s because they’re clean. That’s what happens when God purifies our hearts. We don’t like the things we used to like, and God has changed us. So, is that how you are? If not, you need to say, Lord, could you turn that functionality on here? I don’t think my heart is purified. Reach out to Him. Let Him purify your heart.

Next, in chapter 16, heeding God’s Word from an open heart. In Acts 16:14, it’s so beautiful. This is such a contrast. This is Lydia. A certain woman named Lydia, in verse 14, heard of us. She was a seller of purple who worshiped God. She was very attuned. She said, I know there’s a true and living God, and I know it’s the one that’s in this book, but she hadn’t yet understood how to connect to Him.

I’m afraid that’s what is going on in many churches across America. They’re there because they’re quite interested, but they have never been born again. And that’s the problem with the non-evangelical churches in America, of which more than half are. What’s a non-evangelical church? It’s a church where they don’t preach that you have to be born again or saved. They just act like they’ve always been saved, kind of their parents were, and something happened when we were eight days old, and something else happened when you were 12. And don’t bother me, I’m in. That’s a non-evangelical church. An evangelical church is one that you were born a sinner, and you continue a sinner until the moment you call on the name of the Lord and are born again. When did that happen? And people get uncomfortable with that. They’re non-evangelicals.

By the way, the word evangelical is just a Greek word that means the Gospel, the good news of the Gospel. So, what they’re saying is they’re non-Gospely because the Gospel is you’re born lost and you get saved. There is a moment, it’s called the new birth. Most of us know when we were born, and the ones that don’t keep them in special places. Either they’re too little or there’s something wrong if you don’t know when you were born. Yet, we have churches filled with people who don’t know when they were born again, the most radical transformation in the universe. They go, I don’t know. They’re not even alarmed that they don’t even know.

Salvation, look what happens in verse 15. It’s when God does this, or verse 14. It says, and the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. That’s how people get saved. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. You hear it, you realize it’s true, and you say yes, and you reach out. You cry out. You ask, you believe, you repent, you turn, you respond. That’s salvation. It isn’t static. It isn’t kind of like it’s going to happen. It’s like osmosis, it’ll just happen. You reach out by faith. That’s the Gospel, and that’s how it’s always portrayed. She responded to the thing. She heeded the thing spoken by Paul, and she and her household were baptized, and she begged us. Why? She heeded God’s Word from an open heart. The Lord opened her heart.

Salvation is also, and this is the quintessential, the belief in the Lord Jesus Christ passage. In chapter 16:25-34, it’s to believe. Look at what verse 31 says. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, that’s the connection to God in the Old Testament. The Lord Jehovah. Jesus, that’s that man you see walking around. That’s the connection. Jesus was a normal name. There were so many people named Jesus in His day. He was a hundred percent human, but he’s the Christ. He’s the one who is the fulfillment of all the promises God made. So, He is God the man, the fulfiller of all the promises, Lord Jesus, and Christ. You’ve got to believe in Him. You believe in God the Son as the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe that God came down as a human. He’s God the Son, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.

When you’re saved, look what Acts 17 says, you start following Him as the new king of your life. Either you’re following someone or you’re not. Get in your car. If someone says, let’s go here to eat, follow me. You can look in your rear-view mirror and either they’re following you or not. And you can look at the car in front of you, and either you’re following them, or you’re not. And if you are following them, you’re watching everything. You’re looking to see where they’re going. You’re saying, no, no, don’t bother me. I don’t want to lose track of where they are. That’s the Christian life. Following Jesus. Is Jesus out in front? Today, when you started your day, did you say, oh, okay, Lord, I don’t want to get You out of sight. I’m following You. When You look in Your rear view mirror, you’re going to see my two eyes fixed on You. That’s the Christian life.

And look what it says. It’s so interesting. It’s pagans who said this. Verse 4, some of them were persuaded, a great multitude, not a few of the leading women joined. But in verse 5, the Jews were not persuaded. In other words, they heard what Paul said and they didn’t like it. Look what they said in verse 6. They dragged Jason and some of the rulers out of the city, or to the rulers of the city, crying out, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here. Verse 7, Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of our king, who is Caesar, saying there’s another king, Jesus. The unbelievers understood that the Gospel message was that you start following a new king of your life, and his name is Jesus.

When you follow Him, you reach out to Him as the true creator, and you repent of all idols. Look what it says in verse 22. Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, men of Athens, I perceive you’re very religious. They were. Look at verse 24, God who made the world and everything in it, He’s Lord of Heaven and Earth. He’s the one that I’m introducing you to. Verse 25, nor is He worshiped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, since He gives to all life and breath and all things. So, the God I’m introducing to you is the life-giver, breath-giver, all-things-maker. And He has come, verse 27, so that we should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him. Salvation is reaching out. See, salvation is a response to God. We reach out to Him, it’s reaching out to God as the true creator, the one who made everything.

Then, look at verse 30. Truly, the times of ignorance got overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. He says, you have got to repent of all your idols. You Athenians, you’ve lived your whole life, your culture is idols. You have got to disavow, you have to reject, you have to turn away from all those idols to the true living God. Wow.

When you do that, chapter 18 says, you believe in worshiping this God. That’s Acts 18, verse 8. The ruler of the synagogue believed in the Lord with all his household. And look what it says in verse 13: this fellow persuades men to worship God. Believing and worshiping God. That’s salvation. If you don’t believe in Him, if you’re right now worshiping, and a worshiper, not just when there’s music. Worship is so much bigger than music. It’s a life of adoration of God, and I can adore Him in prayer. I can adore Him in ministry. I can adore Him in seeing His creation. I can adore Him by singing His praises. But I have a life of worship because I have a new heart.

So, the Apostle Paul explained again that this event is when I enter God’s kingdom and follow God’s way, and I’m not going my own way anymore. That’s Paul’s testimony as he preaches in the city of Ephesus. He says that you have to follow a new way and you have to let Jesus into your life. It says in verse 17, at the end, the name of Jesus was magnified. Verse 18, many believed and confessed and told their deeds and the Word of the Lord, and verse 20 mightily prevailed. God, through Paul in verse 26, persuaded and turned many people away from their gods.

Salvation is entering God’s kingdom and it’s following God’s way, and I no longer want my way. We’re like Jesus in the garden; not my way, not my way, not my way.

In Acts chapter 20 verse 21, salvation is repenting and believing in the kingdom of Christ. We went through that just recently.

Then, the next one I told you about when Paul shared with Festus, salvation is following the way of God’s righteousness. It’s now that my life has turned from following the way of the God of this world, my father, the Devil, and my whole life is now following the way of God’s righteousness. And it’s following the way of self-control, that I want to mortify and to be crucified with Christ, and I want to no longer live as unto myself, but unto Him, because I’m going to give an account. It’s the way of God’s righteousness and a way of self-control and judgment.

Chapter 26, look what Paul says in 26:18. He says this. He says, God opened my eyes, verse 18. He turned me from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. And I received forgiveness of sins and inheritance, and I’m sanctified by faith in Christ. Christ said, and that’s what you’re supposed to present to everybody. That salvation is when God opens your eyes and when God turns the way you live. So, this morning, either your eyes have been opened and you see clearly Christ in His Word, or you have cataracts. And if you have cataracts, all you have to do is talk to the Lord. He gives eye-openers. He gives heart turnings. He wants to.

Finally, the book ends with the salvation is entering God’s kingdom. Look at the very last time, verse 28, the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. Verse 31, preaching the kingdom of God and the things that concern Jesus Christ.

So, what does it mean to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? It means that we come to Christ. We want Christ. We see Him as our only hope. We find in Him that He is the way that we want to live. We receive His Spirit, and He changes us. We believe in Him, like the life jacket on the airplane. We cling to Him. We know Him. We turn to Him away from our religion and our idols. We have Him. We ask Him to cleanse us. We heed what He says. We follow Him through life. We reach out to Him. We enter His kingdom, repenting of our own, and we experience Christ. Now, that’s salvation according to God. That’s the Gospel record that God laid down in the book of Acts, and that’s what Jesus Christ is softly and tenderly offering today. And what each of us has to consider is whether we have embraced Christ?

Let’s stand for a word of prayer. As you stand at the end of every service, we have men and women here at the front, leaders and Godly servants of the Lord here, Elders, and our Titus 2 women. If you say, you know what, yeah, I have tires and the car starts, but nothing else works, I don’t have all those things; they can explain to you how to reconnect with the Lord. Or some of you say, my car’s never started, ever. None of that. And I thought I was a Christian. They’d like to lead you to Christ. Did you know that right where you’re standing, you can reach out to Him? Kind of like the email I got this week, they knew they were sitting between that door and that door on the back row. They said for the first time, I heard Christ wanting me, and I wanted Him, and He saved me. Now, do you know what happened to you? Do you know when Jesus saved you? If you don’t, maybe you need to say, Lord, could you bump me today? I need to know I have that new heart.

Let’s bow for a word of prayer. Father in Heaven, I pray that You would draw to Yourself this morning, some who have heard about You, but like Lydia now, as they hear the truth of the Gospel, You’re opening their heart. May they just flee to You and receive You as Savior and Lord and have that new heart and that new spirit. And for some, they have just gotten away. They want with all their heart to know and love and follow You, but they just have gotten away. They have a flat tire. They’re in the ditch, and I pray that today they would cry out to You and call out to You and let You tow them back onto the road of the way of walking in Your truth. But I pray that none of us would leave today without saying either yes or no. I have that new operating system of salvation, or I don’t. If I don’t, I pray that You would convict and draw and that they would respond and believe and let You save and transform them. Thank You for this wonderful day. Bless us as we go out with Your Spirit, that we might live this new life You’ve given us in power and in knowing our sins are forgiven, following You as our king. In the name of Jesus we pray, and all God’s people said, Amen. God bless you as you go.

Notes

God has given us an amazing picture of salvation in Acts. Salvation has only one Door (Christ), but has many descriptions (these accounts). Every one of us who comes to Christ, finds that He does what these accounts describe when He enters our lives.

Each of the 22 different individual portraits of salvation God records for us, are the way to eternal life; but all of them are true about the life of everyone going to Heaven. You see, when God saved us He made us new creations, and transformed us into the sons and daughters of God.

Welcome to the Gospel of God, written down for us in Acts. For the opening thirty years of Christ’s church, from Christ’s Ascension in AD 30 until Paul’s arrival in Rome to await trial in AD 60: God has given us a Divine Summary of the Gospel. Paul, Peter, James, Jude, and John all explain the doctrine surrounding salvation; but the Book of Acts gives the actual words of the actual messages, when salvation is offered and received.

In the study of the sharing of the Gospel, there is really nothing more vital than the words we have before us today in Acts. Today we are going to step back and look at the entirety of this history of the Gospel’s spread. Right almost in the middle of Acts these most famous words are spoken by the jailer of Philippi to Paul: “What must I do to be saved?”

The answer can be found in the sum of all the parts as well as in the simple response of Paul in Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.” Salvation is both simple and profound. It is impossible yet so constantly effective. Salvation can be perplexing, confusing, and incomprehensible to so many, but to those who believe and respond it is always the power of God.

Join me in Acts 16:31, as we listen to this simple explanation of the Gospel by Paul.

Acts 16:31 (NKJV) So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

Pray

What Does it Mean to Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?

To the jailer’s simple question, we can answer with God’s complete record of all that He wanted us to know, to hear, and to see in these 28 chapters. What Must I do to Be Saved? Simply believe that Salvation is:

1. Coming to Christ and Away from Religion (Acts 2:21, 37-38)
2. Wanting Jesus More than My Sin (Acts 3:19,26)
3. Seeing Jesus Christ as the Only Door to Salvation (Acts 4:12)
4. Finding that the Holy Spirit has Changed My Life (Acts 5:31-32)
5. Receiving a New Heart (Acts 8:21-23)
6. Believing with all your heart (Acts 8:35-37)
7. Wanting Jesus as the Lord to Obey (Acts 9:1-6)
8. Knowing the Peace of Sins Gone (Acts 10:36,39-43)
9. Turning to the Lord in repentance (Acts 11:21)
10. Having both the Penalty & Record of ALL my sins forever gone (Acts 13:38-48)
11. Turning from Useless Things to the Lord (Acts 14:15,21,27)
12. Asking God to purify my heart (Acts 15:7-9)
13. Heeding God’s Word from an Opened Heart (Acts 16:14-15)
14. Believing in God the Son as the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31-34)
15. Following Jesus as the New King of my life (Acts 17:6-7)
16. Reaching out to God as True Creator & Repenting of all Idols (Acts 17:22-34)
17. Believing & Worshipping God (Acts 18:8-13)
18. Entering God’s Kingdom & Following God’s Way and no longer mine (Acts 19:8-26)
19. Repenting & Believing in the Kingdom of Christ (Acts 20:21-25)
20. Following the Way of God’s Righteousness, Self-control & Judgment (Acts 24:14-27)
21. Experiencing God-opened Eyes & God-turned Living (Acts 26:18)
22. Entering God’s Kingdom & Living God’s Way (Acts 28:28-31)

The Testimony God Gave Us

The book of Acts is a report that God gave to us, of how the Apostles Christ personally trained, and the disciples they trained, shared the Gospel message in every possible setting.

What we get is to see how the eyewitnesses and those they trained, shared with the world what happened in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Salvation Is: Coming To Christ And Away From Religion By Repenting & Receiving The Spirit

Message one (Peter): The first Gospel presentation is in Acts 2. Peter preaches the first sermon after Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and sending the Holy Spirit down to indwell the Church. What does he say?  Note in Acts 2:21, 37-38:

And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Salvation Is: Wanting Jesus More than My Sin

Message two (Peter): As we move on we find the second Gospel presentation in Acts 3:19,26:

1. 19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
2. 26 “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”

Salvation Is: Seeing Jesus Christ as the Only Door to Salvation

Message three (Peter): We come to the third Gospel presentation in Acts 4:12:

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Salvation Is: Finding that the Holy Spirit has Changed My Life

Message four (Peter): The next Gospel Presentation comes in Acts 5:31-32, as Peter is again speaking, declaring the way of salvation:

“Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Salvation Is: Receiving a New Heart

Message five (Philip & Peter): The next Gospel Presentation is no longer directed just to Jews, now Samaritans, half Jew and half Gentile, are getting the message. Now we see for the first time a false believer. Jesus warned of this in the Gospels, now we see it. Note Acts 8:13:

Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs, which were done.

So he believed and was baptized, but something was missing. Listen and note the report in Acts 8:21-23:

“You have neither part nor portion in this matter (what matter? Salvation), for your heart is not right in the sight of God. (Wow, what makes a heart right in God’s sight Peter?) 22 “Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 “For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.”

Simon believed and was baptized but did not receive the Holy Spirit, which was the seal of true conversion and New Birth.

This means that belief and baptism without repentance was insufficient.

He never repented of his sin so he was never saved! Salvation again is stated by Peter to involve a turning from sin, which is called repentance and conversion.

Salvation Is: Believing with All Your  Heart

Message Six (Philip): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 8:35-37:

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. 36 Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” 37 Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

Salvation Is: Wanting Jesus as the Lord to Obey

Message Seven (Jesus): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 9:4-6 which records the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, into Paul the Apostle. This event is described at length in Acts 22 and again in Acts 26.

Acts 9:1-6 (NKJV) Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

Salvation Is: Knowing the Peace of Sins Gone

MESSAGE EIGHT (Peter): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 10:35-43 where salvation is described as believing, receiving remission of sins, and God granting repentance.

Acts 10:36, 39-43 (NKJV) The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ—He is Lord of all— 39 And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 40 Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. 42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. 43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

Salvation Is: Turning to the Lord in repentance

MESSAGE NINE (Peter & others): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 11:17-21 where salvation is described as believing and turning.

Acts 11:17-21 (NKJV) If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” ¹⁸ When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” ¹⁹ Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. 20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

Salvation Is: Having Both The Penalty & Record Of ALL My Sins Forever Gone = Forgiveness Of Everything

MESSAGE TEN (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 13:38-39, 48 where salvation is described as forgiveness of everything to all who believe.

Acts 13:38-48 (NKJV) Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; 39 and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you: 41 ‘Behold, you despisers, Marvel and perish! For I work a work in your days, A work which you will by no means believe, Though one were to declare it to you.’” 42 So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. 43 Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. 44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. 46 Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’” 48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

Salvation Is: Turning from Useless Things to the Lord

MESSAGE ELEVEN (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 14:15, 21, 27 where salvation is described by Paul after his journey through Asia Minor as: turning to God who opens the door of faith.

Acts 14:15, 21, 27 (NKJV) and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, 21 And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, 27 Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

Salvation Is: Asking God To Purify My Heart

MESSAGE TWELVE (Peter & James): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 15:7-9, 19-20 where salvation is described as turning to God and away from what offends God’s Word and people.

Acts 15:7-9 (NKJV) And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

Acts 15:19-20 (NKJV) Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, 20 but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

Salvation Is: Heeding God’s Word From An Opened Heart

MESSAGE THIRTEEN (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 16:14 where salvation is described as the Lord opening a person’s heart to heed His Word.

Acts 16:14-15 (NKJV) Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.

Salvation Is:  Believing In God The Son As The Lord Jesus Christ

MESSAGE FOURTEEN (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 16:25-34 where salvation is described as believing.

Acts 16:25-34 (NKJV) But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” 29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.

Salvation Is: Following Jesus As The New King Of My Life

MESSAGE FIFTEEN (Pagan description): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 17:1-7, where salvation is described by pagans, who observed the process they saw happening as lost people believed and received Christ, as: getting a new King of your life.

Acts 17:1-7 (NKJV) Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2 Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. 5 But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. 6 But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. 7 Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.”

Salvation Is:  Reaching Out To God As True Creator & Repenting Of All Idols

MESSAGE SIXTEEN (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 17:22-34 where salvation is described as God commanding all to repent.

Acts 17:22-34 (NKJV) Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their pre-appointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” 32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Salvation Is:  Believing & Worshipping God

MESSAGE SEVENTEEN (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 18:8-13 where salvation is described as believing, and being drawn by God to worship Him.

Acts 18:8-13 (NKJV) Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. 9 Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” 11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12 When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him to the judgment seat, 13 saying, “This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law.”

Salvation Is: Entering God’s Kingdom & Following God’s Way And No Longer Mine

MESSAGE EIGHTEEN (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 19:8-26 where salvation is described as a Kingdom, following a Way, which people follow instead of their own way.

Acts 19:8-26 (NKJV) And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 11 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 19 Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. 21 When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” 22 So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time. 23 And about that time there arose a great commotion about the Way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no small profit to the craftsmen. 25 He called them together with the workers of similar occupation, and said: “Men, you know that we have our prosperity by this trade. 26 Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.

Salvation Is: Repenting & Believing In The Kingdom Of Christ

MESSAGE NINETEEN (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 20:21-25 where salvation is described as repentance, faith, and entering into God’s Kingdom.

Acts 20:21-25 (NKJV) testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. 24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.  25 “And indeed, now I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more.

Salvation Is: Following The Way Of God’s Righteousness, Self-Control & Judgment

MESSAGE TWENTY (Paul): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 24:14-27, where salvation is described as a Way of Worship, that involves righteousness, self-control, and averts judgment; and that message makes the lost to fear.

Acts 24:14-16; 24-25 (NKJV) But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets. 15 I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. 16 This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. 24 And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, “Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.”

Salvation Is: God-Opened Eyes & God-Turned Living

MESSAGE TWENTY-ONE (Paul recounting Christ’s words): The next Gospel Presentation is in Acts 26:17-20 where we see the Gospel Message directly from Jesus, who is at work doing soul winning on Paul right here in the Book of Acts.

Jesus describes salvation as opened eyes, turning, receiving, and being sanctified. Jesus who saved Paul, explained to him that the same miraculous events of salvation, accomplished by God’s power, was what God also wanted to see happen in the lives of lost people everywhere Paul preached:

Acts 26:17-18 (NKJV) I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, 18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’

So what did that mean to Paul? He explains it in v. 19-20:

“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 “but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

What did Paul tell the lost pagans? Did his message differ from one he had for the Jews? No, one Gospel, one salvation, one faith!

Salvation Is: Entering God’s Kingdom & Living God’s Way

MESSAGE twenty-TWO (Paul): is the final Gospel Message is in Acts 28:28-31 where salvation is described as coming into God’s Kingdom. The starting message in Acts is: repent; and the concluding message is: enter God’s Kingdom, both rarely if ever used today.

Acts 28:28-31 (NKJV) “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!” 29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves. 30 Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

What Does it Mean to Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?

Coming, Wanting, Seeing, Finding, Receiving, Believing, Knowing, Turning, Having, Asking, Heeding, Following, Reaching, Entering, Repenting, & Experiencing… Christ!

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