The Plan of Salvation CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
People often talk of the “plan” of salvation when in reality they are talking about the “presentation” of salvation, like the Romans Road, Evangelism Explosion or the Four Spiritual Laws. Today we want to discuss the plan of salvation.
It is an Eternal Plan – Rev 13:8, Eph 1:4 – God came up with the plan of salvation from the foundation of the world – he knew what he was going to do before he ever created man – and his plan not only came from eternity but will continue on through eternity – Jn 3:14-16 shows us that we have eternal life, everlasting life. When Jesus was unfolding part of the plan for the disciples in Mk 10:33-34 he gave them 10 particular details of the plan and every one of them happened just the way he mentioned.
It is an Exclusive Plan – This is God’s plan and it is not adaptable to any man’s concept of what his plan should have been – when you examine Adam’s generations [plural] in Gen 5, you see that all of his offspring died – when you examine the generation [singular] of Jesus in Matt 1, you don’t see the mention of anyone’s death. That’s because in Adam all die… in Christ shall all be made alive, 1 Cor 15:22.
In Gen 15:5-6 the Lord promised Abraham a seed that would be as numerous as the stars. That seed began with Isaac, who typified the Lord Jesus Christ [the promised seed, Gal 3:16]. In Gen 22, the sacrifice of Isaac pictures perfectly the offering of Jesus Christ. It is by the offering of Jesus Christ on the cross that we could become his seed, his generation and be born again [Ps 22:30-31, Is 53:10, Jn 3:3-7] and thus live forever. The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is the major part of the plan and no one but Jesus accomplished it [Jn 14:6; Jn 19:30].
It is a Faith Plan – Gen 15:5-6 shows us that when God told Abraham of the miraculous birth of his seed, Abraham believed God. He had faith that what God said would come to pass. And as a result God accounted Abraham’s faith to him as righteousness. Abraham believed the Lord so much that when the Lord commanded him to sacrifice Isaac, he knew that God would either raise him from the dead [Hen 11:17-19] or provide a substitute [Gen 22:8] which is what he did.
In Rom 4:3 we see that the faith of Abraham is identical to our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation [Rom 10:9-10]. We believe in Jesus Christ in the sense that we trust him fully for eternal life. You may believe that Jesus Christ was a real person just like you believe that John F. Kennedy was once the president of the U.S.A. But that’s not the same thing as trusting him by faith to save you.
It is a Universal Plan – Rev 5:8-9 – the people around the throne that John saw praising God in heaven were from every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation – they come from all over the world – that’s because the plan is for every one [1 Tim 2:4-6] – the Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” [Rom 10:13].
Conclusion: So, if you are not saved, you are included in the plan and by receiving Jesus Christ by faith, you can become a child of God. If you are saved, you need to “preach” the gospel to every one you meet because the gospel is available to “whosoever.”