“What is a simple way to present the plan of salvation?”

March 2016 – Grace & Truth Magazine

QUESTION: What is a simple way to present the plan of salvation?

ANSWER: Many papers have been written to attempt to answer this question, but that fact already shows the futility of that effort.

When we read John 14-16 where our Lord speaks about the Holy Spirit, we see that the Holy Spirit’s task here on the earth is to glorify Christ and to present the things of Christ both to us and to this world which has rejected Him. Acts 1 shows the Lord, just moments before He ascended back to glory, promising to send the Holy Spirit who would empower them so they would be witnesses for the Lord Jesus, beginning where they were and reaching out to the farthest parts of the earth. The Lord in saying these things strongly implied that we need help from above with this tremendous task He has entrusted to us, and that there is not a simple, easy, foolproof way to present God’s plan of salvation to the world which has rejected His Son. The messages of the apostles and other believers in the book of Acts give us good lessons on how to present the gospel to others.

The persecuted believers in Acts 8 preached the Word. Philip in verse 5 preached Christ to the people of Samaria. His action in the latter part of the chapter gives us a good example of how to proceed with individuals. He was obedient to the Spirit, running to join himself to the eunuch’s chariot. He struck up a conversation by asking the eunuch a simple question, and then he answered the eunuch’s question about the passage he had been reading, beginning at that very passage to present to him Jesus.

Peter in Acts 2 began by answering the questions on people’s minds as to what was going on with these followers of the Lord Jesus. He went on from there to present Christ and His resurrection from among the dead, proving what he was saying from Old Testament Scriptures. Know your Bible! Use God’s Word; it is not called the sword of the Spirit for nothing! Peter took advantage of every opportunity to speak of Christ, whether to those who were astonished at the healing of the lame man in chapter 2, to those trying to forbid speaking in Jesus’ name in chapters 4 and 5, or to those gathered to hear what he would tell them in chapter 10.

Paul’s messages to a Jewish audience were founded on the Old Testament writings and pointed out how the prophecies therein were fulfilled in the sufferings and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. His message in Acts 16 to the jailor at Philippi, who was about to kill himself, was brief and to the point: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (NKJV). Speaking to philosophers in Athens, he began by commenting on his observation of their religious idolatry in the city, going on from this to the God of creation and His desire and provision for mankind, and to Christ’s resurrection and the judgment to come. To some men in government or positions of authority, he began with a few words of defense, but he was soon presenting Christ. Christ must be the center of all gospel presentations!

We never find the apostles rude or argumentative. The town clerk of Ephesus bore witness to the fact that they did not attack the patron goddess of that city or her temple. Yet the silversmiths’ business of making souvenir models of Diana’s shrine and statue had fallen off so noticeably that they were alarmed, and all in the Roman province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

Present Christ! Preach Christ! Present God’s Word. Get well acquainted with it! Avail yourself of every question you are faced with and every opportunity to speak of Christ, His person and work on Calvary. Be alert for every opportunity the Lord gives you. Set apart the Lord in your heart and be ready to give an answer to every man that asks a reason of the hope that is in you – doing this with meekness, fear and a good conscience (see 1 Peter 3:15).

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.