In religious circles it’s called “witnessing.” It’s telling other people about how you became a Christian, with the intent of encouraging them to do so. I would like to tell you my conversion experience. It thrills my soul to think of it to this day! But you will be better served if I relate to you some conversion experiences the Holy Spirit tells us about in the New Testament, and maybe you’ll want to come to Christ like they did.
Today we are going to be doing some case studies in salvation. In television news, and in other programming, when a solution to some of our social or educational or economic or other problems seems to have been discovered, they will give us an example—a case study they’re sometimes called—to show us how this thing really works. That’s what we’re going to do here today. The problem is sin. The solution is salvation in the name of Jesus Christ. People are often encouraged to just “accept Jesus” or “receive Christ into your life.” Very well then, tell me how I accept Christ. At that point we are usually given a personal testimony. Some religious broadcasts will have an outstanding sports or entertainment personality or a politician to tell how he or she “accepted Jesus.” These are sometimes called “case studies in salvation.” Say, you know, since this is a Bible subject, I would imagine the Bible has some case studies in salvation, wouldn’t you?
The passage I read a while ago is what is often called the Great Commission. It is a great commission. It is our Lord’s commission to His disciples to teach people of all nations, tribes, and tongues the message of salvation, with the sole intent of making them His disciples. And the disciples were called Christians in the New Testament (Acts 11:26). The person who criticizes Christians for their evangelistic zeal, just doesn’t understand that the true disciple can’t be any other way. It is part of being a disciple.
In his account of the life of Christ, Mark records this charge in a little different way. He says, “And He [meaning Christ] said to them [meaning the eleven], ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned’” (Mark 16:15–16).
The people being discipled must be taught about Christ, and on the evidence presented in that teaching or preaching they must believe in Him as the Son of God, the Savior. They must then be baptized. Then follows the promise of salvation: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.”
Luke says it in still another way. He says Jesus said to His apostles, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46–47).
The Lord went on to tell them that they were not to begin this teaching until the Holy Spirit had come upon them. He had promised them that the Holy Spirit would bring to their memories what He had been teaching them those three-and-a-half years, guide them into all truth, and reveal certain new knowledge to them (John 14:26; 16:7–14). Well, when the Holy Spirit had come upon them to guide them, they were to begin their teaching, preaching, discipling of the people of the whole world. Luke also introduces something new into the commission: repentance. He quotes Jesus as saying that “repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name” or by His authority. Repentance is a change of heart that always results in a change of conduct or behavior. The person being taught about Christ must be taught to repent; he must assume responsibility for his own sin, and in godly sorrow turn from it and be baptized. The promise is “remission of sins,” what Mark called “salvation.”
Now, if you’re a Bible reader you know that the fifth book of the New Testament—Acts—opens with the apostles doing what they had been told to do; they were waiting in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come, and suddenly it happened. He came (Acts 2:1–4). And the teaching, preaching, making disciples began. Peter preached Jesus Christ, whom they had crucified, to be raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of God.
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit . . .” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them (Acts 2:37–41).
Case Study Number 1: What happened? Peter, one of the ones to whom Jesus had said go teach or preach and lo, I’ll be with you, did so. A multitude heard his message about Jesus: how with their own hands they had crucified the Lord of glory, whom God had raised up from the grave. They were cut to the heart and asked, “What shall we do?” Peter told them to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins. Sound familiar? I guess so! That’s what Jesus had said in His great commission to them. And about three thousand of them were baptized that day. Is there anything about that that’s hard to understand? No, not at all.
Then let’s hurriedly move on to Case Study Number 2. From that explosive beginning among the Jews in Jerusalem, we continue to read such statements as “when the number of the disciples was multiplying . . .” (Acts 6:1), and “the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great number of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).
Case Study Number 3: In Acts 8:1 a severe persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem—collectively, the disciples are called the church—and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and into Samaria. One of them whose name was Philip went to the city of Samaria, and Acts 8:5 says very simply, he “preached Christ to them.” And “when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized” (Acts 8:12). Really now, these case studies are very, very simple, don’t you think? Look. Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned” (Mark 16:15–16).
And Philip went to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.
Case Study Number 4: Here in Samaria was a false teacher. He was a magician, actually, who used his craft to deceive people into thinking he was a great power of God. He had been doing it for a long time. All the people, both great and small had been taken in by this deceiver. His name was Simon and to distinguish him from the other Simons in the Bible, we call him Simon the sorcerer. There seems always to be a Simon around deceiving people with his trickery saying that he has some special power of God to heal, and multitudes of people flock to him. But this one was honest enough that when he heard Philip’s preaching, he, too, believed and was baptized (Acts 8:13). What convincing power there is in Christ-centered preaching!
From there Philip was directed to go to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza. When he arrived, he found a man from Ethiopia riding in his chariot reading the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Philip was invited to join the man in the chariot and the Scripture says,
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch [he was a high ranking official] said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him . . . and he went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:35–40).
Case Study Number 5: Our next case study is that of Saul of Tarsus in the very next chapter. It is recorded three times (Acts chapters 9, 22, and 26), and we will glean our information for this study from all three accounts. This is the same Saul who became the apostle Paul. We are introduced to him in Acts 7 where he was leading in the stoning of Stephen. He continues that vigorous campaign of persecution against the disciples of Christ pursuing them to distant cities. And here he is on his way to Damascus, Syria, for that purpose when suddenly a light brighter than the sun at noonday shined upon him and a voice asked,
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting . . .” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do” (Acts 9:4–6).
Saul arose and entered the city, where he spent three days in very fervent prayer. In Saul’s own rehearsal of the event in the twenty-second chapter of Acts, he said a certain disciple there whose name was Ananias came to him and said,
“Brother Saul, receive your sight.” And at that same hour I looked up at him. Then he said, “The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:13–16).
In Acts 9:18–20 Luke says, “Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales: and he received his sight at once, and arose and was baptized . . . Immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.”
Case Study Number 6 is in the tenth and eleventh chapters. It is about the first Gentile as such to become a disciple of our Lord. His name was Cornelius and he was an officer in the Roman army. He was “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always” (Acts 10:2). He was told by an angel, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for one Simon, whose surname is Peter . . . he will tell you what you must do” (Acts 10:4–5), or as Acts 11:14 says, he “will tell you words by which you and your household will be saved.” Acts 11:15 says that as Peter began “to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them.” Then Peter asked, “Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:47–48).
Hurriedly we move to the seventh Holy-Spirit-inspired case study in salvation, which is found in the Acts 16. The apostle Paul and his missionary companions Silas and Luke arrived on the European continent where Christ had not been preached. To find someone who might listen to them, on the Sabbath day they went out to the riverside where some Jewish women were gathered to pray. One of them named Lydia was a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira. Luke says: “The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized,” she begged Luke and Paul and the others to abide at her house (Acts 16:14–15). Notice now the language Luke uses in verse 15. He says, “And when she and her household were baptized.” The use of the word when indicates that it was expected that when she heard—received—the message, she would be baptized. Certainly so, that is what the Lord had said, isn’t it?
Paul and Silas continued their ministry in Philippi which resulted in their being imprisoned. But instead of feeling persecuted, at midnight they were heard praying and singing and praising God, when a great earthquake shook the prison to its very foundations. All the cells were opened and every prisoner’s bands were loosed. They could easily have escaped, and the jailor fearing some had done so, was about to kill himself. However, Paul and Silas persuaded him not to do it. Perceiving them to be men of God, the jailer cried out,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house (Acts 16:30–34 kjv).
What a great story! This man was taught; he was told to believe, and he obviously did; he repented, as is indicated by his change of heart and treatment of these men of God, and he and his family were baptized. That is what the Lord said in the great commission was necessary to making disciples.
Oh, we have had to be so brief! We have had to pass over some very interesting details in every one of these case studies. You know what I think I’ll do? I think I’m going to develop a series of more detailed examinations of these case studies in salvation. Why should we preachers and other teachers give case studies of prominent people of our own times to show the way of salvation and discipleship when we have these that have passed twice under the careful analysis of the Holy Spirit and that are so clear and plain and powerful? Why not study and accept these?
And my friend, if you are not a Christian, if you have been earnestly looking for the way of salvation, for your own security and for your own comfort and assurance, please study and accept the Lord’s way, the New Testament way. Don’t, please don’t accept some kind of modern substitute, or short-cut, some easy plan, bargain-basement kind of idea like an “altar call” or “sinner’s prayer.” Did you notice the absence of those expressions in these case studies in Acts? Those are not biblical ideas or doctrines.
From the great commission we learned that in making disciples or Christians, the gospel—good news—of Jesus must be taught and believed. The believer is then told to repent and be baptized. And that is what happened in all those case studies which the Holy Spirit chose from the thousands of them, to tell us about in Acts. And following that there was rejoicing. |