SALVATION IS AS EASY AS 1.2.AND A 3 DA

Now let’s notice comparisons

1. The New Testament compares salvation to letting someone in the door. In Revelation 3:20 Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” There are two young people here to whom I talked yesterday about Christ and they both were saved. I explained to them, as I have done so often, that salvation is a matter of Jesus knocking at the heart and you opening the door and letting Jesus come in. It is very simple to open the door. If a friend came to see me and rang the bell or knocked on the door, would I say, “Whoopee! Come in”? I wouldn’t put it that way at all. Now it is a very simple thing–“Would you come in, please?” Then he comes in.

Jesus said that salvation is like that. He is out of your life. He is not your Saviour. You have lived without Him. You have never trusted Him. Now you simply say, “Dear Jesus, come in.” God says that is salvation.

2. Getting saved is like taking a drink of water. In John 4:14 Jesus said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” Revelation 22:17, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Now it is very simple to take a drink of water. Some people get so thirsty that when they take a drink of water they go “Whoooo.” Some people say, “Ahhh-hh-h.” Some just swallow it, and that is it. Now who gets the most water? How it makes you feet doesn’t have a thing to do with it! Jesus said getting saved is like taking a drink of water. Are you thirsty? Do you know you are lost?  Do you know you need Christ?  He is the One Who is the water! You take a drink and He comes in. That is what salvation is like, He says.

3. Getting saved is receiving a gift. Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Ephesians 2:8, 9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” I give a person a gift. He takes it. Is it his? Absolutely! What if he doesn’t feel good? The gift Is still his. What if he doesn’t shout?  It is still his. What if he doesn’t cry?  It is still his. It is very simple to accept a gift. All you do is reach out and take it and believe it is yours.

Now salvation is that way, the Bible says. Jesus is God’s “unspeakable gift.” Eternal life is God’s gift to man. Anybody who will say, “I am willing to receive the gift,” can very simply receive the gift from God.

4. Getting saved is going through a door. In John 10:9 Jesus said, “I am the door,” and in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Is it very complicated to go through a door? No. When I leave the service I most always go through this door. I will walk over there, turn the doorknob, walk through the door, and go down the stairs. Is that very complicated? I probably won’t shout. I doubt if I’ll cry or holler. I doubt if I’ll laugh, but I will go through the door.

Jesus said that on one side is eternal life; on the other side is eternal death. The difference is a door. Everybody in this house this morning who realizes he is unsaved, realizes that Christ will give him eternal life, and will say, “Dear Lord, I do accept You and come through the door of Jesus to salvation”–that minute God makes you His child!

5. Salvation is compared with coming home. This is very interesting. Here is a boy in Luke 15 who decides to leave his father and go to a far country. He takes all of his goods, goes to a far country, gets in trouble, looks for a job, can’t find a job, finds a job feeding the hogs out in the hogpen, and finally he starts feeding himself the husks off the corn that the swine would not eat-the cornhusks, if you please. He eats the cornhusks. Finally he says, “The servants back home have more than this. Why, the servants back home have some good bread and potatoes and meat and beans, and here I am eating the cornhusks. I will arise and go to my father.” He comes back to the father, and the father receives him.

Salvation is just going home. How many of you ever go home to see your father?

Let’s say a family is having a reunion. Here are some children coming home. One child says, “Oh, it’s so good to be home,” in tears. Another says, “BOY, IT’S GOOD TO BE HOME”‘ Still another says, “Brother, it’s wonderful to be home,” very sincerely Another says, “Hello, Mother, How have you been?” Now who is the nearest home? It doesn’t make any difference if one cries, one shouts, one laughs, one feels good, one sighs-they are all home! The Lord never did say that salvation is like a fellow who cries his way home or shouts his way home. It is like coming home!

Maybe you are lost from God. You are away from God. Jesus Christ is salvation. You need only to say, “Lord, I’m coming home.”

“I’ve wandered far away from God. Now I’m coming home;

The paths of sin too long I’ve trod, Lord, I’m coming home.”

6. Salvation is compared to saying “yes” to a proposal. How many of you married ladies remember very distinctly when you said “yes” to a proposal? Remember when he said, “Will you?” Was it very complicated? How many of you cried when your husband asked, “Will you marry me?” How many of you laughed when you said it? How many of you in your heart felt wonderful, but you didn’t show a lot of emotion?

Here is a proposal: I am on my knees, and I say, “Beverly, would you make me the happiest man in all the world?  Would you be mine?” She says, “OH, WONDERFUL! YES!” Now she said “yes” to my proposal, but she may just say, “Oh, (sob) yes!”  She is Just as hooked as she was the other way! Or she may just say, “Um-hum.” No matter how she may say it, she still has done the same thing.

Some of you folks are trying to get married just like everybody else got married. It isn’t how you respond; it is the response. Jesus said, “Will you be married? Will you come to Me? Will you trust Me?” If You say, “Yes,” you are saved! If you say, “No,” you are lost! The way You respond has nothing to do with your eternal soul. Jesus compares salvation with a proposal.

7. Jesus compares salvation with accepting an invitation. Jesus told the parable of a man who “made a great supper and bade many.”  Jesus says, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). I ask a friend, “Will you come over to my house to eat?” Now if he hasn’t eaten for a week, he may say, “BROTHER, WILL I? SURE!” Let us suppose he is so full he doesn’t want to eat a bite today. “Yes, I’ll come.” Let us suppose we are having broiled T-bone steak: “Boy, I’ll come!” Or, let us suppose he has been wanting to come to our house for a long time and we haven’t spoken in a year, and finally he realizes that we’re going to speak again. He says, “Oh, I sure will come!”

Now let me ask you, will he be any more invited either way he answers? Not a bit! The way he would do it matters not; he simply accepts the invitation.

Now God says, “I have made a great banquet feast. I have prepared salvation. It is a gift. Would you come? Come.”

Now then, somebody will say, “You bet I’ll come. I’m so far in sin, I’ll come”–weeping.

Somebody else says, “Yes, I need the Lord, I’ll come”-very serious.

Somebody else says, “A BANQUET? I’LL COME! “–rejoicing. Somebody else says, “Whoopee! –shouting.

No matter how you act, you will not get any more to eat. The thing that makes you come is when you say, “Yes,” to the invitation. Some folks want to get a candle, walk down the aisle with a long flowing robe and say, “I come.” Some want to do cartwheels and flop down the aisle and say, “I come.” Some want to cry, “I come.” Well, any way is all right with me, as long as you don’t trust that candle, or those cartwheels, or that feeling, or those tears, or that joy, to save you.  As long as you trust the eternal Word of God and what He said, you have salvation! Would to God folks could understand it! God simply said, “Come.” Man has been trying to make religions, to major on the minors, and major on the sidetracks, and major on the sidelines, when the truth is, all you have to do to be saved is just come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

8. He compares salvation with taking a bath. In Titus 3:5 He says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration.” In John 13 Jesus said, “You have already bathed once; now wash your feet.” Salvation is compared to taking a bath. Remember. Jesus is the One Who bathes you, makes you clean.

Many of you take a bath once a week whether you need it or not! It is not a big chore to take a bath. There have been times when I have been real hot, I mean on a hot blistering Texas day with the temperature at 109 degrees.  I recall it was 111 degrees and I laid oak floor all day long. I almost died. I got home and said, “Honey, I want a cold bath.” We turned on the cool water, and I jumped in. As I jumped in, I said, “Whew-ew!” Now there are other times when I have to take a bath real quickly; so I just rush in and rush out, but I am just as clean either way. You see, it doesn’t matter whether you say, “Whew-ew” or not. If you want to say, “Whew-ew,” that’s all right, but you don’t have to say it to take a bath. Taking a bath is very simple. You know you are dirty; Jesus has the soap. You get in; He bathes you. Now the sidelines may be different. The effect may be different. The outward results may be different, but the bath is the same. You get in and take the bath. Jesus said that salvation is that way. He cleanses all who come for “the washing of regeneration.”

Some of you are so dirty and you have been so far into sin, that when you jump into salvation you are going to realize that you are clean, and you are going to say, “Whoopee! I’m clean!” Some are going to say, “I have been so dirty; it’s so good to be clean”–crying all the time. Some are going to say, “I’m so glad to be saved.” Some, “Yes, it’s good to be a Christian.” Now it all depends on how dirty you were.  IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW HOT IT HAS BEEN. It depends on how much you need the bath, but the salvation is not the whoopee or the whew-ew or the joy or the thrill or the tears. It is getting in the tub and taking the bath.

9. Salvation is compared to putting money in the bank. 2nd Timothy 1:12b, “I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed (or deposited) unto Him against that day.” You take some money and put it in the bank. Now, two fellows go to the bank and each one puts in $100.00. One says, “0 boy! 0 BOY! I saved $100.00.” The other quietly says, “Me too.” Now which one has saved $100.00? Both have! You mean how happy you get about the money doesn’t mean who has the $100.00 in the bank? That Is right. The question is not, did you shout to the teller, or cry to the teller, or hit the teller? The question is, Did you give the money to the teller?

A lot of folks say, “I’m saved because I shouted and felt it al I over.” That is not why you are saved. You are saved because you put your soul in the hands of Jesus. You say, “I was there when it happened and I ought to know.” Pretty song, but it isn’t enough. Sure you were there when it happened and you ought to know, but you are not saved because you were there when it happened. You are saved because you trusted Jesus. You are saved because you said, “Yes,” to Calvary and said, “I will deposit my soul to Jesus’ keeping.”

10. Getting saved is like eating a meal. The Bible says, “Come, all things are now ready” When we get home some little boy is going to say, “Mom, is dinner ready?” “Yes, son.” My little boy, David, only hits the floor about twice. He dives in.  “0 boy, Mom! 0 boy! Got some gravy!” I walk in, look, and say, “Gravy again.” We eat the same gravy No difference at all. Same thing.

Becky might say, “Hot dog!” David might say, “Whoopee!”

I might say, “I’m so hungry, I’ve got to get to the food,” but we each eat the same food. How we eat it has nothing to do with it. Some fellow can sop it; another can eat it with a spoon. Some fellow can lick it up; another can eat it with a fork. Some fellow can put it on toast; another can put his biscuits in it, but it is the same gravy I’m saying, it isn’t what happened when you got saved-the experience, etc. It is, did you trust Jesus and did He save you?

III. OLD TESTAMENT TYPES SHOW THE SIMPLICITY OF GETTING SAVED.

Not only do Bible examples and New Testament comparisons show the simplicity of salvation, but the Old Testament types show us this also.

A coat of skins God offered Adam and Eve. What did they do? They took it, that is all.

A brazen serpent was placed on the pole, as we read in Numbers. Those bitten could only look at that brazen serpent and be saved. An ark was built ‘In Noah’s day. What did they have to do’? Come

inside the ark. That’s all–just come inside.

The little lamb was slain. What did a Jew have to do? Put his hand on the head of the lamb.

The Old Testament types show how simple it is on our part to be saved. To be sure, when you come to Christ your sins are forgiven, you are made a new creature, the Holy Spirit comes in to live, you become one of God’s children, and you will go to Heaven. A BIG THING. Oh, yes! Immense! But God does all the big work! All you do is take it by faith!

Recently in visitation I went to the home of a lady who is here this morning. We knelt and prayed and she said, “Yes, I know I ought to do it. I know I ought to do it.”

I said, “Will you do it?”

“Yes,” she said, “I will.” We knelt to pray. I think with some emotion in her heart but not much in her voice, she said, “Dear Lord, I confess my sins.  I pray You will forgive me. I receive You as my Saviour now.” She received Christ.

I went down the street a little further. There I met two young people who are here this morning. I explained salvation to them. One teenage girl would not look at me, but kept looking down. I told her how to be saved, how she would not have to worry any more about going to Hell. Finally she prayed. Afterward I said, “Now are you saved?”

“Oh, yes,” she said.

That girl who hesitated to decide and then timidly turned to Jesus in her heart was saved.

The other girl was joyful, immediately happy, but both girls were saved just alike the moment they put their trust in Jesus.

It is simple to receive Christ. You can open the door and Jesus will come in. You can simply receive salvation as a gift.  You can accept the sweet invitation. Jesus said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37b). If you realize that you are a lost sinner who needs saving, and if you are tired of sin and want forgiveness, then I beg you here and now say “yes” to Jesus in your heart, turn your case over to Him and depend on Him to do the saving which He promised. Will you do that today