In my last post I mentioned the first step in the plan of salvation was to have faith in God and realize we are sinners in need of a saviour. Jesus purchased the atonement for us when he died for our sins on the cross. Paul said in Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. From the moment Jesus gave his life for us, that entered the dispensational age of grace, which fulfilled the old law and thus gave us a new way of life. I said in my last post how its by the grace of God that we are saved, and not by our works. He planned it this way so man would have to solely rely on the graces of God to be saved. This is something the Pharisees missed, they never got the revelation of Jesus Christ, hence they felt their works is what would save them. However, the bible plainly says Gods grace is what saves us.

Having said all of that, Jesus gave us a new plan of salvation which started in the New Testament with John the Baptist being ordained of God to be the forerunner of Jesus Christ to preach baptism and repentance. In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight (Matthew 3:1 – 3:3 KJV)…..Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins (Matthew 3:5 – 3:6 KJV)

So we can see here John was paving the way for the new birth experience.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: (Matthew 3:11 KJV)

So John first preached repentance and baptism, but he knew that wouldn’t be the complete plan of salvation. He knew the Holy Ghost would be poured out as spoken by the prophet Joel, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” (Joel 2:28 – 2:29 KJV)

So lets look at the plan of salvation up to this point. We have faith in Jesus that he is our creator, we see the need that we’re a sinner in need of a saviour, we know that Jesus nailed our sins to the cross, and its by his grace that we are saved. But that doesn’t mean that simply accepting him into our life is all we need, other wise why would John the Baptist have started his ministry by preaching repentance and baptism. There is still a plan of salvation that Jesus requires of us. That completely wipes out any notion that all we have to do is confess him as our personal saviour. This is where many people fall prey to dismissing most of the bible.

We simply cannot take one scripture and base our entire method of being saved from it. We must search out all scriptures and make sure nothing is contrary, because God is not the author of confusion. Paul told Timothy in (II Timothy 2:15) “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” He said you have to rightly divide the word of truth, we must study all scripture and make sure it all lines up.

From repentance to baptism John said Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Ghost. Jesus told his disciples before he ascended back to Heaven that he would not leave them comfortless, he told them he would pour out his spirit upon all flesh. As I said earlier Joel prophesied about the pouring out of Gods spirit upon all flesh. This dismisses any assumption that the Holy Ghost that fell on the day of Pentecost at the upper room was just for the disciples and all the apostles. He plainly said ALL FLESH…Jesus gave the disciples a promise in the book of Acts. This book ties in the entire plan of salvation that was given by Jesus Christ. And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence (Acts 1:4-5 KJV)

Here we can plainly see The plan of salvation wasn’t complete until Jesus fulfilled his promise that John the Baptist way wasn’t complete until he poured out the Holy Ghost. So hopefully up to this point you can see Gods intention and his plan being unfolded in a way only God could ordain. So we see in Acts Ch. 1 the promise was made about the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts 1:8 KJV)

This is the great commission that was given to the disciples that is still being carried out in the true church of the living God. We are to be witnesses for the sake of Jesus Christ, and we are to proclaim and preach the gospel.

Now let me go onto the bread and butter of the plan of salvation. We see by now the need for repentance, and baptism and we see the Holy Ghost was promised to us. Now in the beginning of Acts Ch.2 we see that promise fulfilled when the Holy Ghost was poured out on the day of Pentecost. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4 KJV)

The towns people heard all the commotion going on and they decided to see what happened, people accused them of being drunk, but Peter filled with the Holy Ghost stood up and preached the first sermon of the book of Acts church. You have to understand that Peter was given the keys to the kingdom and Jesus told him what ever he preached he would stand behind him in Heaven and in earth(Matt 16:19), so I think that gives Peter some powerful authority. With the authority of Jesus he stood up and preached to the curious crowd about that had just happened. He said But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke (Acts 2:16-19 KJV)

Conviction fell upon them and they asked WHAT MUST WE DO TO BE SAVED???

Peter proclaims in a nut shell the full plan of salvation to the congregation….Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call (Acts 2:38 – 2:39 KJV)

And that day 3,000 souls was added to the church. John the Baptist was the forerunner and Jesus completed the plan when he poured out his spirit.

The grace of God is what saves us by his mercies and grace on our life, but Jesus gave the plan of salvation to start our life as a new creature in Christ. We must follow the plan of salvation in order to be saved. I’m not saying this work alone will save us, but I’m saying its the beginning of a new life in Christ that he requires us to do. Peter proclaimed to the crowd the way, John the baptist proclaimed the way. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5 KJV)

I don’t know about you but I want to be a part of the kingdom of God, I want to be a part of the body of Christ which is the church of the living God. The bible clearly lays out the plan of salvation. From the days of Paul and Peter there has always been false doctrine running rampant and its none other than the work of satan because he seeks to deceive, kill, and destroy all that he can because he knows his ticket to hell was punched a long time ago and he wants to take as many as he can with him. But thanks be to God, there is hope in Jesus Christ because he is our redeemer, there is new life in him.

His desire is for all people to come to repentance and be saved, he came to save which was lost. He desires to have a relationship with us. There is no greater joy than to live for The Lord. My main objective to this article is to simply fulfill the commission that was given to me when I chose to pick up his cross and follow him. I want to spread the gospel to those who are hungry for more, for those who seem lost and in despair, I want you to know there is a better life, and its through Jesus Christ!

God bless, JDS