Welcome to the Understanding God’s Great Salvation Podcast. This is episode #73.
I am your host, Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International. This podcast is designed to explain what it means to be saved from sin and from the punishment of sin through Jesus Christ. This podcast is primarily for non-believers and some new believers and it will help you understand what it means to be saved from hell and have a home in Heaven as well as the blessings of the abundant Christian life.
God made salvation simple. However, down through the years many people, including some preachers and other Christians, have made the matter of salvation complicated and confusing. I know from my own experience that many people would get saved if someone would sit down and share with them straightforwardly from the Bible what it really means to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour. That is what I intend to do with this podcast.
Let’s start out with the Word of God. The Bible says in 1 John 5:11-13: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”
Today’s God’s Great Salvation quote is from C.S. Lewis. He said: “I am trying here to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic– on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg– or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Our topic today is The Text That Made Salvation Plain to Charles Spurgeon (Part 4) from the book, “Salvation Crystal Clear” (Book 1) by Curtis Hutson.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Man who divided history into BC and AD is either the world’s greatest con artist or the Saviour. Jesus Christ is either the most fantastic liar that ever walked on this earth or He is what He claimed to be—the Son of God. And what He said is absolutely true.
Now you must decide that for yourself. I have decided He was not a con artist, that He is the Saviour. I have decided that He wasn’t a liar, that He did tell the truth. But you decide for yourself.
If He did tell the truth, then we must face what He said. And He plainly said in John 14:6, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” That needs no interpretation; it just needs to be read and accepted.
Acts 4:12 declares, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Over and over and over again the Bible makes it plain that Jesus is the Saviour.
John 3:16—the best known verse in the Bible—says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:18 says, “He that believeth on him [the Son] is not condemned [not under sentence]: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Jesus is the Saviour. The Bible says in I John 5:12, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” That is as plain as it can be. It doesn’t say, “He that hath the church hath life.” It doesn’t say, ”He that hath the Baptist label hath life.” It doesn’t say, “He that hath baptism hath life.” It doesn’t say, “He that hath a good moral life hath life.” It doesn’t say, “He that is honest hath life.” It says, “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” That word “hath” is an important word. Don’t forget it.
One is a Christian because of what he has, not because of what he does. What must one have in order to be a millionaire? You say money, and you are right. But to be a millionaire, one must have a specific amount of money—a million dollars. Very simple, isn’t it? Everybody understands that. It is not what one does nor how one lives that makes him a millionaire; it is not what one promises to do in the future that makes him a millionaire; it is what one has that makes him a millionaire. The key word, the hinge, is have, have, have; not do.
Now let me ask you a simple question, so simple that many well-meaning people stumble over it. What must one have to be a Christian? Christ. “He that hath the Son hath life.” Jesus Christ is the source of salvation.
On our next broadcast, we will continue this topic, “The Text That Made Salvation Plain to Charles Spurgeon.”
Let’s Pray —
As we close today, let me leave you with these words from Hebrews 2:3: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation…” I encourage you to not neglect the salvation and grace offered by God. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins and take the punishment that we deserve upon Himself. Romans 5:8 says that “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and you want to get to know Him today, here is how.
Please believe “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures” and you will be saved. The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Pray and ask Him to come into your heart and He will. It’s just that simple.
Until next time, my friend, thank God for His simple, great salvation. God bless you!
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