Salvation & Conversion

Gospel Tract #

Salvation

by John David Clark, Sr.

A young pentecostal minister was alone in fervent prayer early one morning, when the word of God spoke forcibly and clearly, "Stop lying to my people!" Shaken by the sterness of the tone in the Lord's voice, the young man prayed to understand how it was that he was lying to God's people. He knew of nothing he was teaching wrongly. Then the Lord answered his questioning prayer with these words, "Tell my people to get to work for that which they allege now to possess!" Immediately the young preacher understood what "that" was: salvation.

As with many of his fellow believers, this preacher had acquired the habit of testifying of having already received salvation. Yet now, in a moment's time, he had seen the error of such thinking. One scripture after another took on a new and, now, right perspective. From Jesus, "he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (Mt. 24:13). From Paul, "now is the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1Pet.1:9).

Salvation is the end, the reward, the hope of every child of God. Actually, because he himself is our salvation (Isa.12:2), to be in the presence of the Lord is to be saved. And we "work out our salvation" (Phip.2:12) by obeying him. The author of Hebrews, with this understanding, described by Jesus as "the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him" (Heb.5:9). Our salvation was seen as a baby in the temple at Jerusalem in Luke 2:30. Our salvation walked on earth as a man (Lk.19:9) and is now ascended into heaven to sit at the Father's right hand. Have you ever noticed that none of the apostles claimed to have "gotten saved"? Or that they never told anyone else that they had "gotten saved" by believing in Jesus? However, they did express confidence that they would be saved (Acts 15:11). The testimony of the saints is not that they have received salvation, but that they are rejoicing in the hope of it (Rom. 5:2). This is a hope which the unbeliever doesn't have (Eph. 2:12). We are converted, or born again, into this hope (1Pet. 1:3), and as we grow in the knowledge of God our hope grows brighter and brighter.

"For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen [already experienced] is not hope, for what a man seeth [has experienced] why doth he yet hope for it? but if we hope for that [salvation] we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Rom. 8:24-25

In short, if salvation is already possessed, what do we have to hope for? "It is good", Jeremiah prophesied, "that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord" (Lam. 3:26). And as Paul later phrased it, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

Because most of us have grown up hearing the phrase "get saved", we assume that believers have always used that language. But there are some still alive who remember when that was an unknown term, even among the Baptists. My father, who had been reared in the Baptist faith, was a Baptist seminarian in 1924 when a visiting lecturer introduced the term "getting saved" to his ears. He and his best friend gave each other a puzzled look and did some scripture searching together. Of course, they found that the Bible contains no such doctrine. While "being converted" or "being born of the Spirit" is a priceless experience purchased by Jesus' sacrificial death and freely offered to all, the evidence points strongly to the conclusion that the doctrine of "getting saved" is largely a 20th century phenomenon. And my, how it has swept across the plains of faith like a fire over dry ground! For some, "getting saved" has become virtually the very heart of their gospel!

One brother confided to me that when he first heard this message, he could see the sensibleness of it, but he could not, for a time, embrace it. He feared that Jesus would be displeased if he admitted that he had not received salvation. But the Lord delivered him from that fear so that he could confess the truth. And today, he is better prepared to receive salvation than when he claimed he already had it. Actually, had he not been taught that doctrinal error in the name of the Lord, it would not have so bound him. It was his love for Christ and his desire to please him that compelled this sincere brother to cling to it, for he had been persuaded to believe that Jesus wanted him to confess that he had "gotten saved". This is the condition of very many others today. They, too, need spiritual strength and guidance to "get to work for that which they allege now to possess."

As with many other words, "saved" can have different usages. It is, in the New Testament books, occassionally used to mean something other than deliverance from the coming wrath of God (for examples, "healed" or "rescued" or "kept from sin"); however, by far the most frequent and important use of "saved" and "salvation" is in the futuristic sense. And our testimonies and preaching should reflect that biblical emphasis. To exclude or downplay this most important definition of salvation is truly misleading. To emphasize salvation as a past event always dulls the saints' zeal for holiness. And the minister who fails to warn God's people that salvation is at the end of their journey and awaits only those who "endure" in holiness and love is, as the Lord bluntly told the young evangelist, "lying to my people".

"And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Isa. 25:9