God’s Provisions in the Plan of Salvation

Wedding Feast

The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast”’” (Matthew 22:1-4).

Salvation is impossible without the Lord. Peter said, “There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus said that He is “the way” and that “no one comes to the Father but through [Him]” (John 14:6). As He explained in the parable above, He has made everything ready for us to be part of His kingdom and enjoy salvation (Matthew 22:4).

What has God done to make salvation ready for us? From before “the foundation of the world,” God “chose” to save us (Ephesians 1:4). This “eternal purpose [has been] carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:11). Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). By sending Jesus to the earth, we can be “reconciled to God through [His] death” and “be saved by His life” (Romans 5:10). We cannot earn salvation (cf. Luke 17:10). The reason is because “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Therefore, it was necessary for God to provide a plan by which we could be saved.

In His word, we can read about the plan the Lord has given for us to follow in order to be saved – hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized, and be faithful. In each of these steps, God has provided what is necessary for us to do what He requires of us. In this article, we are going to discuss these provisions that He has given in relation to the plan of salvation.

Hearing

We must hear the gospel in order to be saved. Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:8). Paul said that we are “called…through [the] gospel” (2 Thessalonians 2:14); and that gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16).

What has God provided so that we can hear?

  • The ability to hear – The wise man said, “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made both of them” (Proverbs 20:12). Even those who are deaf and cannot hear can still receive communication. Paul said we are “called…through [the] gospel” which can be taught “by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thessalonians 2:14-15). While hearing might be most common, the underlying point is that God provided the means by which mankind can receive communication.
  • The ability to understand – Not only can we receive communication, but God has made it so that we can understand the gospel by which we are called. Paul told the Ephesian brethren that when they “read” what he wrote down by way of divine inspiration, they could “understand [his] insight into the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:4). God created us (Genesis 1:27) and He made us with the ability to understand. This is why when Jesus taught “the common people heard Him gladly” (Mark 12:37, NKJV).
  • The revelation of the gospel – When Jesus began His ministry, he was “teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23). When He gave His apostles the Great Commission, He said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). The message they would preach would be revealed to them from heaven. He promised them that “the Spirit of truth” would “guide [them] into all the truth” (John 16:13). This message that was revealed in the first century was the final revelation, as Jude declared that “the faith” had been revealed “once and for all time” (Jude 3, NCV).

With the ability to hear, the ability to understand, and the revelation of the gospel, God has provided everything we need in order to hear the message of salvation.

Belief

We must believe in Christ in order to be saved. The Hebrew writer said, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Jesus also spoke of the necessity of belief when He said, “Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

What has God provided so that we can believe?

  • The word of God – Paul wrote, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). The things that “have been written” down in the word of God have been given “so that [we] may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing [we] may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
  • Evidence – In addition to the Scriptures, God has also provided evidence so that we have a reasonable basis for our faith. In defining faith, the Hebrew writer said, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1, KJV). Jesus cited the witnesses of John the Baptist, the miracles He performed, the Father, and the Scriptures as evidence for people to believe in Him (John 5:33-39). The prophecies in the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled provide “evidence” to the truth of the gospel (Acts 17:2-3). Paul cited the resurrection of Christ as “proof” that “all people everywhere should repent” and prepare for the day of judgment (Acts 17:30-31). The resurrection of Christ was not a baseless myth or legend; instead, there were hundreds of eyewitnesses to verify it (1 Corinthians 15:4-8).

By giving us His word and ample evidence to establish a reasonable basis for faith, God has provided everything we need to believe and be saved.

Repentance

We must repent of our sins in order to be saved. In the same discussion, Jesus twice said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3, 5), emphasizing the essentiality of repentance. Paul explained to the philosophers on Mars Hill that “God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30).

What has God provided so that we can repent?

  • Motivation – The motivation provided by God is twofold. Paul wrote, “Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off” (Romans 11:22). God motivates us by His kindness through the blessings and promises He has given. He also motivates us by His severity through the threat of punishment. Paul wrote earlier in the Roman letter about the positive motivation of God’s kindness: “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). Also, the Hebrew writer explained the negative motivation in the fact that God has proven His willingness to deliver “a just penalty” for “every transgression and disobedience” (Hebrews 2:2-3).
  • Free will – There would not be any reason for God to motivate us to serve Him through His kindness and severity if we were unable to choose to obey. Yet He has given us free will. This is why the children of Israel were told, “Choose life in order that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Joshua challenged the people, “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). The fact that mankind possesses free will is the reason why persuasion is used in the preaching of the gospel (2 Corinthians 5:11).

By allowing us to choose what we will do and giving us different motivations to choose to do what is right, God has provided everything we need in order to repent and turn to Him.

Confession

We must confess our faith in order to be saved. Paul wrote, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).

What has God provided so that we can confess?

  • The ability to confess – We communicate what is in our hearts. Jesus said, “For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Matthew 12:34). Therefore, the ability to confess is based upon the ability to hear and believe as we considered earlier in this article. Because we have minds that allow us to understand God’s will and have been given revelation and evidence to produce faith, we have the ability to confess that faith.

In giving us the ability to confess, God has provided everything we need in order to confess our faith in Christ.

Baptism

We must be baptized in order to be saved. Jesus said, “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). In other words, both belief and baptism are necessary for salvation. This is why Peter wrote, “Baptism now saves you” (1 Peter 3:21).

What has God provided so that we can be baptized?

  • The sacrifice of Christ – Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In the next chapter, the apostle explained the connection of the sacrifice of Christ with baptism: “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans 6:3-5). Paul described the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as the pattern we follow in obeying the gospel. The only reason baptism is effective is because Jesus died, was buried, and was raised from the dead.
  • Water – When Philip was teaching the Ethiopian eunuch, Luke recorded, “They went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:36). Baptism involves an immersion in water. When God created this world, He made water the most abundant resource on the planet. Not only is this essential for physical life, but also for spiritual life because of the place water has in baptism. This means that wherever people can survive, they can also be baptized.
  • His working in baptism – Those who contend that baptism is not necessary for salvation will often label baptism as a “work” and then argue that we are not saved by works. However, the saving work in baptism is not performed by the one submitting to baptism, but by God. Paul wrote, “And in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12). When one is baptized, his sins are washed away (Acts 22:16). However, it is not the water, the baptizer, or the one being baptized that removes the sins; God does that. There is nothing special about the water – it is just ordinary water. But when one submits to the Lord’s instructions and is baptized in response to the preaching of the gospel, God performs the work of cleansing his sins.

Through the sacrifice of Christ, the abundance of water in the world He created, and His working in baptism, God has provided everything we need in order to be baptized into Christ and be forgiven of our sins.

Faithfulness

After obeying the gospel, we must be faithful until death in order to be saved. The Lord warned the church in Smyrna about the suffering they would have to endure and provided them with encouragement to persevere: “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). Regardless of whether we will ever face the type of persecution that they did, it is still true that we must be “faithful until death.

What has God provided so that we can remain faithful?

  • The word of God – At the end of his meeting with the Ephesian elders in Miletus, Paul said, “And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). The word that God has revealed to us is able to strengthen us so that we can reach our reward.
  • The church – Those who obey the gospel are added by the Lord to the church (Acts 2:47). Within this church – particularly when we join ourselves with a local congregation – we will have others around us to be a source of strength and encouragement. There is a danger that Christians can develop “an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). To help prevent this from happening, we are to “encourage one another day after day…so that none of [us] will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). One of the ways we can encourage one another is through our assembling together as a local congregation. The Hebrew writer said, “And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25). While some may forsake the assembly, the standard practice of members of a local church should be to meet together in order to encourage each other.
  • The goal of heaven – Paul wrote, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3). We are to keep our minds focused on the reward of heaven. Paul told the brethren in Philippi, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). We need to have the same determination as Paul to obtain this goal. When God offered this reward in heaven, He gave us something to focus on as we go through life. This provides us with a reason to remain faithful to Him so that we will stay motivated in our Christian walk.

By giving us His word, the church, and the goal of heaven, God has provided everything we need in order to be faithful to Him throughout our lives.

Conclusion

Salvation is only possible because of God. We can meet His conditions for salvation only because He has made it possible for us to do that. This is not as the Calvinist supposes; he believes that we cannot have faith and, therefore, salvation without a direct operation of the Holy Spirit on our heart. Instead, God has made everything ready so that those who choose to obey Him can do so.


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Comments

  1. John Henson says

    Thanks for a great article. I’ve often thought and written on repentance and confession and how they are so closely related. One cannot confess Christ unless he/she has changed the mind. It is a rich study.

  2. Thanks, John. And good point. All of these steps naturally build upon one another.