God's Plan of Salvation

By Adrian Rogers
Former Pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee

"And they said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house,'" Acts 16.31. A great truth and eternal blessing is that we can be saved.

We are saved from certain things. Sin is a debt against Almighty God: Matthew 6.12. Salvation means we are delivered from the debts of sin and we will not be cast into debtor's prison, that is eternal hell. Sin is also defilement: Jeremiah 17.9. Our hearts, our inner nature, have been defiled by sin. By salvation we are made pure and righteous in the sight of our holy God. Sin also brings dominion, Romans 6.16. By nature, we are slaves to sin; but salvation breaks the power of sin and brings liberty.

Not only are we saved from certain things, but we are saved unto certain things. We are saved to a life of fullness. Jesus came to bring abundant life: John 10.10. We are saved to a life of fruitfulness, John 15.5; not life devoid of meaning and worthwhileness. We are also saved to a life of eternal fellowship with God through Jesus Christ, and with our brothers and sisters in Christ: 1 John 1.3.

Salvation was purchased by the Lord Jesus with His precious blood on the cross. God’s nature is holiness and righteousness; He cannot merely overlook our sins; even His love will not permit that. Sin must be punished or God would contradict His holiness. Sin will be pardoned in Christ or punished in hell; but it can never be overlooked by our holy God.

Since all have sinned, Romans 3.23, all must be saved. None is so good he need not be saved and none is so bad, he cannot be saved.

There are three key prepositions in Ephesians 2.8-10, which clearly tell how to be saved:

1. Salvation is "by grace." Grace means God saves us apart from any merit of our own. Grace is the unmerited love and favor of God shown to sinners.
2. Salvation is "through faith." No one is saved by good works. Salvation is a gift totally by grace and must be received totally by faith.
3. Salvation is "unto good works." We are not saved by good works, but we are saved to do good works. Good works are not the root of our salvation, but the fruits of our salvation.

In order to be saved, one may sincerely pray a prayer like this:

Dear God, I know You love me and You want to save me. I am a sinner and my sin deserves judgment, but I need mercy. Jesus, You died to save me and promised to save me if I would trust you. I do trust You. I believe You are the Son of God. I believe You paid for my sin with Your blood on the cross. I believe God raised You from the dead. I now receive You by faith unto my life as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin, cleanse me and begin now to make the person You want me to be. Because You died for me, I will live for You. I do this not in order to be saved, but because I have been saved by Your grace. You are now my Lord, my Master, my Savior and my Friend. In Your Name I pray, amen.

From Tim LaHaye Prophecy Study Bible - King James Version
Published by AMG Publishers, 2000. Used with permission.