Going to Jesus

Gospel Tracts

 Select a tract to read:

• Tracts 1-50

  1. How I Received the Holy Ghost 2. Jesus Is Coming Again 3. You Must Be Born Again 4. Stir Up the Gift of God 5. The World’s Most Dreaded Hour 6. What is Salvation? 7. Stand Still in Jordan 9. Grieved Hearts 10. The Second Death 11. The Father and the Son 12. Suffering and the Saints 13. Cancer Conquered 14. The Church? 15. How Shall They Preach, Except They Be Sent? 16. Have You Received the Holy Ghost Since You Believed? 17. Patience 18. Alone With God 19. Tithes and Offerings 20. Prayer 21. The True Sabbath 22. The Besetting Sin 23. The Cry of the Righteous 24. What Will the Harvest Be? 25. Marriage and Divorce 26. Taking the Name of the Lord 27. The Keys of the Kingdom 28. Works 29. Politics and Believers 30. Unequally Yoked in Marriage 31. Coming Out of Babylon 32. The Forgiven Woman 33. The New Earth 34. The Sin of Silence 35. Freedom 36. Gods of the Gentiles 37. Why Some Are Not Healed 38. The Seven Pillars 39. Life, More Abundantly 40. Fear 41. The Comforter’s Testimony 42. This is My Friend 43. Conversion 44. The Time Is Drawing Near? 45. Songs in the Night 46. The Master’s Net 47. Trials are Opportunities 48. Receiving the Messenger 49. Seven Messages to the Seven Pastors 50. Keep Yourself Pure

• Tracts 51-100

  51. The New Birth 52. John the Baptist and Jesus 53. Denying Jesus 54. Bruised Reeds 56. The Wise and the Foolish 57. Holiness 58. Is Jesus God? 59. Christ or Christianity 60. Have Faith In God 61. Worthy to Suffer 63. Four Kinds of Soil 64. Communion 65. The Fullness of Time 66. Baptism 68. No Room 69. Crucified With Christ 70. Homosexuality and the Bible 71. The Kingdom of God 72. The Gospel of Christ 74. Perseverance 75. The Resurrection 76. Salvation 77. Sanctification 78. New Commandments 79. The Sacrifice of Christ 81. The Sound of the Spirit 82. The Wrath of God 84. God’s Compass 85. Perfection 86. The Abomination of Desolation 87. Antichrist 88. The Way of Grace 90. Relationships 91. The Vineyard of God 93. Subdued 94. The Spirit of Christ 95. The Blood of Christ 96. Spirit of a Serpent, Spirit of a Dove 97. Gluttony 98. The Lost Lamb 99. Scripture Burners 100. Bleating and Lowing

 

Our language is a “living language”, and as such, it is constantly changing.  Some words are becoming obsolete, while new words are continually being added.  This is a normal process, but there are some unfortunate victims.  For example, “gay” once meant “light-hearted and joyous”; now, however, gay is most often used as a synonym for “homosexual”.  This is a tragic loss to our language, for there is no single word which can adequately replace “gay” as it once was used.

A biblical word whose meaning has been recently changed is “saved”.  In the 20^th century, Christians altered its meaning so that “saved” is now most often used to mean “converted”.  But it is not so used in the Scriptures.

When Jesus said, “He who endures until the end, the same shall be saved,” was he saying, “He who endures until the end, the same shall be converted?”  Of course not.  Or when Paul wrote, “For our salvation is nearer now than it was when we believed,” was he saying, “our conversion is nearer now than it was when we believed?”  Of course not.  The clear meaning of both these statements is that salvation is the future reward for faithful saints and that we should strive to be found worthy to receive it (Lk. 13:24).

Who, then, first altered the definition of salvation to mean “conversion”?  I do not know.  But I do know that it is a definition foreign to the Scriptures and that it is non-biblical to claim that we are “saved” merely because we are converted to Christ.

So often, we tend to accept life as it is handed to us, and sometimes we are not harmed by doing so.  But to receive without question religious doctrines handed to us is extremely dangerous to our spiritual health.  Isn’t it revealing, concerning our priorities, that none of us would tolerate a dirty dish in a restaurant, yet so few have diligently searched the Scriptures to ascertain the cleanliness of the doctrines they are taught?

Eating from a dirty spiritual dish is what happened in the early 20^th century when believers blindly received Christianity’s new definition for salvation.  It is astonishing that so few seem to have noticed that this modern usage of the word “saved” differs significantly from the biblical usage.  Biblically speaking, conversion is available now in Christ for all who repent of their sins; salvation, however, is the final reward promised to converts if they are faithful to Christ after their conversion (Heb. 5:8–9). Conversion and salvation are not the same experience! Conversion begins our earthly walk with Christ, and salvation ends it.

Most frequently, salvation is referred to in the New Testament as a future hope, not as a past or present experience. Sometimes, “saved” is used in the present tense with the meaning of “healed” or “rescued”, but the notion among many modern Christians that a believer already has salvation simply because he believes in Jesus is foreign to the Bible.  Salvation is glorification with Christ, and none of us has received that yet.

When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responded, “If you would enter into life, keep the commandments” (Mt. 19:17).  Please notice that according to the Lord Jesus, the way to salvation is obedience to the commandments of God! Why else would Jesus point the wealthy young man to the commandments of God as the answer to his question?  My dear friends, as much as our carnal nature would love to have it so, there is no formula, no ceremony, no single event or confession that can save anyone.

Jesus warned us not to believe that a mere confession of faith in him will save us.  He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord!  Lord!’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”  Nor will merely knowing what is right save us, for “it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be justified” (Rom. 2:13).  Nor should we think that the presence of spiritual gifts will save us, for the Lord said, “Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord! Lord!  Haven’t we prophesied in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and performed many miracles in your name?’  Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you.  Go away from me, you who work lawlessness!’ ”

There is no way around it – we must do the will of God if we hope to be saved in the end.  Without a life of holiness, “no man will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).  The truth is never more complicated than that.