How to Be Saved and Know It — Welcome Detweiler

The Authority of the Word of God

The subject that I have chosen for this broadcast is how can a person be saved and know it? I am assuming that there are some honest, earnest souls in my radio audience who have already heard dozens of sermons on this subject, but some of you are still confused because you have listened to the conflicting ideas regarding the way of salvation.

It is not my purpose to add to your confusion by presenting my own personal opinion. That would be unprofitable. The statements that I make on this broadcast are based upon the authority of the Word of God.

I am assuming that you do accept the Bible to be the inspired Word of God. If you do not, there is no hope for you. The future holds nothing but darkness and uncertainty. The man who has no Bible has nothing.

The man who has a Bible and doesn't believe it is not reasonable, for the Bible is the only source for spiritual guidance. When I accept the authority of the Word of God on this subject of how to be saved and know it, I can make each statement in the form of a challenge.

One Way of Salvation

My first statement is that there is only one way of salvation. In order to be popular, I am supposed to believe that God has many ways of saving a soul and that sincerity is the basis upon which God saves people.

I am supposed to believe that God will save all good people, but they haven't told me how good I have to be. I am supposed to preach every sinner into heaven on the day of his funeral. I am supposed to believe that everyone will be saved in the end.

I am even supposed to believe that the devil himself will be saved. My depraved human nature may even impel me to accept such reasoning, but my Bible, which I have accepted to be the divine authority, will not allow me to believe in many ways of salvation.

It may seem narrow, surely anything but liberal, but I am not responsible for the writing of the Bible. I am only responsible to believe it. Now, let me give you the scriptures which prove that there is only one way of salvation.

Jesus as the Only Way to Life

Matthew's Gospel, chapter 7, verse 13. The Lord Jesus is speaking. These are his words. "'Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.'.

Verse 14. "'Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way,' did you notice that? Narrow is the way, not narrow are the ways, but narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.'.

John 14 .6. The Lord Jesus is speaking again. "'Jesus saith unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the light. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.'. That's rather than narrow, is it not? But it verifies the statement that there is only one way of salvation.

This overrules the sincerity theory, for Mohammedans are most sincere, and so are others. John 10 .9. Jesus is speaking again. "'I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.'. Notice not I am one of the doors, but I am the door.

The definite article is used. Acts 4 and 12. "'Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.'. 1 Corinthians 3 and 11. For other foundations can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

If you believe anything in the Bible, these verses should be sufficient to prove to you that there is only one way to be saved. If you want to know the reason for so many confusing ways existing today, your Bible will answer that question.

Why Human Ways of Salvation Fail

Proverbs 16 and 25. Here it is. "'There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death.'. Isaiah 53 .6. "'All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way.'.

Proverbs 3 and 5. "'Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.'. One more, in Isaiah 59 and verse 8, these words, "'They have made them crooked paths. Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.'.

These are only a few of the many scriptures that present the negative side and account for so many ways of salvation being propagated. Human experience bears witness that the Bible is true. The last verse I read in Isaiah 59 and 8 says, regarding the various ways of salvation, that "'Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.'.

So I am very emphatic when I say that unless you have come to God and accepted his one and only way of salvation, you have no peace. There is no peace in saying, the idea of salvation that I have found seems reasonable.

There is no peace in saying my mother's religion is good enough for me. There is no peace in saying I belong to the largest body of religious movement. There is no peace in saying my church is as good as any of the rest.

There is no peace in hoping that somehow all will turn out well in the end. The only people that have peace are those who are sheltered from God's wrath by the one and only way of salvation, and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Justification by Faith and Peace with God

In the scripture for it, Romans 5 and 1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. You may live a good, clean, moral life for fifty years or more, and apart from Christ and his finished work, you are still destitute of peace and salvation.

God's one way of salvation does not produce temporary results, but a work of divine grace which gives peace and assurance, that is, of as permanent as eternity. Here's the verse, 2 Corinthians 5 .17,.

Eternal Life and the New Creation

Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. Permanent conversions are the only kind that bring glory to God. Temporary conversions make a mock of God and stumble other sinners who turn away disgusted.

You have no right to tell anyone that you are saved unless you are the possessor of eternal life, and of course that will last for all eternity. Honest soul, would you like to have peace with God? Would you like to be absolutely sure of eternal life?

Christ's Substitutionary Atonement

It's available, but it's available only in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must remember that Christ went to Calvary's cross and died in your place. He took your judgment, he paid for your sins, and apart from his substitutionary atoning death, there could be no salvation offered to you.

But thank God we have the record in the Bible that Christ did die for our sins, and therefore through his work he can offer salvation to everyone who desires to be saved. It must all begin with a sincere desire to be saved.

I wonder if you have that desire? If so, you are eligible to put in your claims, and God asks of you just one thing to bow your heart before him and to say, Lord Jesus, I want to thank you for dying for my sins.

I want to thank you for paying on the cross of Calvary the sin debt that I owed, and I'm going to receive the Lord Jesus as my substitute, as my savior. And the moment you do it from the heart, the word of God says, that person shall never perish, but is now the possessor of eternal life.

I trust this very hour you will turn to this wonderful savior. You will enjoy the salvation that is offered through the Lord Jesus Christ, and then you will be able to say, I am saved, and I know it. The reason I know it is because God's word says that I have everlasting life.

May God bless his word, and we thank you for listening to this thoughtful program.