According to the Gospel:The bible says that in order to be saved or be a born again Christian you have to repent and have faith in Jesus Christ. And once the father has begun a good work in you he will finish it.The following scriptures deal with the plan of salvation. Isaiah 55:77 aLet the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his bthoughts; And let him creturn to the LORD, And He will have dcompassion on him, And to our God, For He will eabundantly pardon. John 1:12; 3:3; 5:2412 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become achildren of God, even bto those who believe in His name,3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one ais born 1again he cannot see bthe kingdom of God.” 24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and abelieves Him who sent Me,has eternal life, and bdoes not come into judgment, but has cpassed out of death into life.Romans 10:9-10; 139 1that aif you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and bbelieve in your heart thatcGod raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, 1resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth heconfesses, 2resulting in salvation. 13 for “aWHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”Ephesians 2:8-98 For aby grace you have been saved bthrough faith; and 1that not of yourselves, it is cthegift of God; 9 anot as a result of works, so that bno one may boast. Titus 3:5-75 aHe saved us, bnot on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, butcaccording to His mercy, by the dwashing of regeneration and erenewing by the HolySpirit, 6 awhom He poured out upon us brichly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made aheirs 1according to the hope ofeternal life. 1 John 5:11-1311 And the testimony is this, that God has given us aeternal life, and bthis life is in HisSon. 12 aHe who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not havethe life. 13 aThese things I have written to you who bbelieve in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have ceternal life.Revelation 3:2020 ‘Behold, I stand aat the door and bknock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, cI will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. (Referring to knocking on a door of a church)Modern Day Evangelism:When people come forward to be saved by Jesus Christ or to attain salvation theEvangelist will ask them four questions.1. Do you believe that you are a sinner? When they answer yes they will proceed.2. Do you want to go to heaven? When they answer yes they will proceed with the next question.3. Do you want to pray and ask Jesus Christ into your heart? When they answer yes and pray the prayer they will ask the final question.4. Were you sincere? When they answer yes they will declared that person saved.Now let’s review this…First off, saying that you are a sinner means absolutely nothing. To prove my point just ask the devil if he is a sinner and he would probably reply, “Yes, and a mighty fine one at that.” We are all sinners. We were born sinners. We were conceived from our mother’s womb as a sinner and God hating. The question is NOT are you a sinner. The questions is this, has god so worked in your heart that the sins you once loved you now hate. Now, when the evangelist asks if you want to go to heaven it also means absolutely nothing. Everybody wants to go to heaven. They just don’t want God to be there when they get there. The devil even wants to go to heaven so long as he doesn’t have to obey God. So the question is NOT do you want to go to heaven. The real question is since the gospel has been preached to you, has the holy spirit worked in your heart in such a way that the God you once hated and ignored you now love and deem worthy above all else. For the third question about praying and asking Jesus into your heart in order to be saved is in fact not found in the bible. The bible clearly says to repent of your sins and believe in Christ in order to be saved. So it isn’t about praying one prayer and being saved. It’s about understanding what it means to sin against a holy and just God and why you need Jesus in your life to help you turn away from your old self and be born a new creature that lives like Jesus. To be sure that you were saved you will be born a new creature and you will continue to repent and continue to have faith. The evidence that you have been truly born again is this. You will continue to repent of your sins and you will continue to believe in Jesus Christ and when you stray off that narrow path God will discipline you and put you right back on it.
