Gospel and Salvation

The Bible’s answer is short. When a jailer asked, "what must I do to be saved?", he was told, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:30-31).

You need saving because "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Jesus warned, "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).

But "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15). He lived, died and rose again for them. In the gospel, God "freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved" (Westminster Confession 7.3). He calls you to:

Believe. Faith is a saving grace "whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel" (Shorter Catechism 86). It does more than agree that the gospel is true. It "not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth" (Larger Catechism 72; see Westminster Confession 11).

Repent. Seeing both your sin and God’s mercy in Christ, turn from your sin to God (Shorter Catechism 87). God "now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30).

Take God at His Word, both its warnings and its promises. "God is not a man, that he should lie" (Numbers 23:19). He invites you: "whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17), and "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 45:22). If you are yet without Christ, here is your warrant, here is your right. You do not need to make yourself better first. Give up pride and self-righteousness and go to Christ, for "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). He promises, "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).

Call on God and ask for mercy for Christ's sake: "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). Come and hear the Word preached. And speak with an elder or use our contact form.

Read: God's Way of Peace, Horatius Bonar; Sinners Welcome to Come to Jesus Christ, Archibald Alexander; The Anxious Inquirer After Salvation, John Angell James.

You are told to repent and believe. Conversion is not a third thing to wait for first.

The word converted is used in two ways. Sometimes it means God's work in us: "When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin" (Westminster Confession 9.4). Sometimes it means our own turning to God: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19). When God converts a sinner, the sinner really turns. Those whom God calls "come most freely, being made willing by his grace" (Westminster Confession 10.1). Scripture gives a prayer that holds both together: "turn thou me, and I shall be turned" (Jeremiah 31:18).

So what are you to do? God "now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30). Jesus says, "repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). You do not need proof that you have already been converted before you obey it. Nor must you first feel a set amount of sorrow. You need as much sorrow as turns you to Christ (Q&A with Rev. R. McCurley, 2024).

But what if your heart is hard? That is where God's work comes in. In effectual calling the Holy Spirit convinces us of sin, shows us Christ, and renews our wills, and so "he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel" (Shorter Catechism 31). He ordinarily does this through the Word (Westminster Confession 14.1). So hear the Word, ask God for the faith and repentance He commands, and come to Christ as you are. The cry "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13) is enough.

Listen: Spirituality, Simplicity and Worship, Romesh Prakashpalan (from 37:22); The Art of Prophesying, Craig J. Scott (from 56:30). Read: God's Way of Peace, Horatius Bonar; Faith Born of Need, J. Gresham Machen.

No. There is no set form of words, and no measure of sorrow or misery you must reach before you may pray. Come as you are, requiring anything adds conditions to the grace of God.

Repentance is not something we work up before we come to God. It is Christ's gift: God exalted Him "for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins" (Acts 5:31). So ask Him for it, as Ephraim did: "turn thou me, and I shall be turned" (Jeremiah 31:18). The tax collector simply prayed, "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13), and he "went down to his house justified" (Luke 18:14). There is no "true prayer" with special words; true prayer is the cry of a soul that sees its emptiness and looks to Christ, however worded (Q&A with Rev. R. McCurley, 2024).

How much sorrow or misery is needed? Just as much as is needed to turn you to Christ. For some that is a storm, for others it is quiet, but the end is the same (Q&A with Rev. R. McCurley, 2024). A sinner repents "out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ" (Shorter Catechism 87). You do not need to feel sorry enough before you look to Christ. Looking to Him is what softens the heart.

As you look to Christ, God works true repentance in you: "godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10), and a turning from sin to God "with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience" (Shorter Catechism 87). These grow over time; you need not find them in yourself first. God will not despise "a broken and a contrite heart" (Psalm 51:17). Bring Him the heart you have, and ask Him for a new one.

Listen: Spirituality, Simplicity and Worship, Romesh Prakashpalan (from 40:18). Read: Q&A with Rev R. McCurley (April 7, 2024), R. McCurley; Sinners Welcome to Come to Jesus Christ, Archibald Alexander; A Body of Practical Divinity (includes The Ten Commandments and Repentance), Thomas Watson.

Both sayings come from Jesus, and they fit together. He says, "Ask, and it shall be given you" (Matthew 7:7), and a few verses later, "Enter ye in at the strait gate" (Matthew 7:13). In Luke He says, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able" (Luke 13:24).

Both are calls to come in now. "Strive" is a strong word. It means deep earnestness, not half-heartedness. Jesus is urging us not to put it off; nor is He telling us to earn our way in. We enter by faith, which receives and rests on Christ "as he is offered to us in the gospel" (Shorter Catechism 86). Earnest asking, seeking and knocking is that faith in action.

Why do some seek and not enter? Jesus speaks of a day when the door is shut. Some knock too late, pleading, "We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets" (Luke 13:26). They trusted in being near Jesus instead of coming to Him, and they left it too long. "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near" (Isaiah 55:6).

What this means for you. The command and the promise are both for you, today (Psalm 95, Hebrews 3:13). In the gospel God "freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ" (Westminster Confession 7.3). Do not wait until you feel ready. Ask God for mercy in Christ's name, and keep asking. Jesus promises, "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).

Listen: Strive to Enter, Gavin Beers. Read: Sinners Welcome to Come to Jesus Christ, Archibald Alexander; Exposition of the Old and New Testament, vol. 5 (see Luke 13:22-30), Matthew Henry; God's Way of Peace, Horatius Bonar.

Election means choosing. Before He made the world, God chose a people to be saved in Christ. God "hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love" (Ephesians 1:4).

• It is free. God chose "out of his mere free grace and love" (Westminster Confession 3.5), not because He saw that some would believe or be better than others.
• It includes the way. God also "foreordained all the means thereunto" (Westminster Confession 3.6). Those He chose are called to faith in Christ by His Spirit, forgiven, made holy, and kept to the end.
• It is for comfort, not for guessing. "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us" (Deuteronomy 29:29). What He has revealed is the gospel: Christ is offered to you, and you are called to repent and believe.

So do not wait to find out whether you are chosen before you come to Christ. Only the elect believe, but you need not know you are elect before you may believe. It is the other way round. We come to know we are chosen because we have believed (Q&A with Rev. R. McCurley, 2024). Those whom God's call has brought to Christ may "be assured of their eternal election" (Westminster Confession 3.8). Seen this way, election is not dark or frightening but rather it shows the glory of God's grace, and brings humility and "abundant consolation" (Westminster Confession 3.8). (Westminster Confession 3.8).

Read: Q&A with Rev R. McCurley (April 7, 2024), R. McCurley; God's Will vs Man's Will, C. H. Spurgeon; Canons of Dordt; An Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Robert Shaw.

Scripture teaches both, and so must we. God rules over all things, and people are truly responsible for what they do.

God is sovereign. "God from all eternity did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass" (Westminster Confession 3.1).

God is not the author of sin. The same sentence goes on: "yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures" (Westminster Confession 3.1). God's providence reaches even to sin, yet "the sinfulness thereof proceedeth only from the creature, and not from God" (Westminster Confession 5.4).

People are responsible. Scripture puts both truths side by side. Christ was "delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God", and yet "by wicked hands" He was crucified (Acts 2:23).

Unable, yet without excuse. Since the fall, a sinner has "wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation" (Westminster Confession 9.3). The trouble is in the will. Jesus said, "ye will not come to me, that ye might have life" (John 5:40). Those who finally refuse Christ are "justly left in their unbelief" for "their wilful neglect and contempt of the grace offered to them" (Larger Catechism 68). The fault is ours, not God's.

We cannot fully explain how these fit together, and we do not need to. "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us" (Deuteronomy 29:29). What is revealed is plain: God "now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30), and all who come to Christ "come most freely, being made willing by his grace" (Westminster Confession 10.1).

Read: God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility, C. H. Spurgeon; Canons of Dordt; An Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Robert Shaw.

In the Christian life the choice is not grace or effort. It is effort that grace makes possible.

The Confession says that believers' ability to do good works "is not at all of themselves, but wholly from the spirit of Christ". Yet they are not "to grow negligent", but "ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in them" (Westminster Confession 16.3). Paul says both at once: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:12-13). So trying hard is not a bad sign; God commands it.

How can you tell grace from self-improvement? These are not tests to pass first, but questions to bring to God:

• Where does your strength come from? Grace leans on Christ: "without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). Growth shows in leaning less on your own resolutions and more on Him (Samuel Hayward, Assurance of Growth in Grace).
• Where do you go when you fail? Grace runs back to Christ for forgiveness. Pride gives up, or tries to pay God back.
• What do you see? Grace sees more of your sin and more of Christ's sufficiency (Hayward).
• What fruit is growing? "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith" (Galatians 5:22), with meekness and temperance (verse 23).

Do not lose heart if old sins still fight. The Confession says remaining corruption "for a time may much prevail", yet by the Spirit "the regenerate part doth overcome" (Westminster Confession 13.3). Growth is often slow. The credit belongs to God: "by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10). Keep looking to Christ.

Read: The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, Walter Marshall; Assurance of Growth in Grace, Samuel Hayward.

John wrote his letter "that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). The Confession says that those who truly believe in Christ and love Him "may in this life be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace" (Westminster Confession 18.1).

Think of assurance as a stool with three legs (Westminster Confession 18.2; Larger Catechism 80; Q&A with Rev. R. McCurley, 2024):

• God's promises. Start by looking away from yourself to Christ and to what God has said: "whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). If you believe on Him, that promise is yours.
• The marks of grace. Scripture describes those who are saved, and the Spirit enables believers to see those graces in themselves: sorrow for sin, trust in Christ, love for God and His people.
• The witness of the Spirit. "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8:16). This comes "without extraordinary revelation" (Larger Catechism 80).

All three legs are needed. Promises alone leave a false hope untested; marks alone leave a believer staring at himself.

Infallible assurance is not of the essence of faith (Larger Catechism 81). A true believer "may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties, before he be partaker of it" (Westminster Confession 18.3). Still, seek it: "give diligence to make your calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10). God gives it "in the right use of ordinary means" (Westminster Confession 18.3): His Word, prayer, and the Lord's Supper if you are a communicant.

Assurance does not rest on a checklist of experiences. It rests on God's Word. If you are troubled, please speak with an elder or use our contact form.

Read: The Assurance of Faith, Ebenezer Erskine; Self-Examination, Samuel Hayward; Heaven on Earth, Thomas Brooks.

Many true believers feel this way, it does not mean your faith is false.

The Confession says plainly that faith "is different in degrees, weak or strong" (Westminster Confession 14.3). Assurance is not of the essence of faith (Larger Catechism 81), so a true believer "may wait long" before he has it (Westminster Confession 18.3). Those who once had it may find it "shaken, diminished, and intermitted" (Westminster Confession 18.4): through neglect, through some sin that wounds the conscience, or because God for a time withdraws "the light of his countenance" (18.4). Even then the Spirit gives "such a presence and support" as keeps them "from sinking into utter despair" (Larger Catechism 81).

Faith and feelings are not the same thing. You can have faith without feelings, and feelings without faith. Job felt God was nowhere, yet he said, "he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). That is strong faith with no feelings (Q&A with Rev. R. McCurley, 2024).

So do not measure your faith by what others seem to feel. Weak faith that looks to Christ is true faith, and He is gentle with the weak: "A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench" (Matthew 12:20). A troubled father cried, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24). To the one who "walketh in darkness, and hath no light", God says, "let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God" (Isaiah 50:10).

Keep using God's means: His Word, prayer, and the Lord's Supper if you are a communicant. Weak faith "gets the victory" (Westminster Confession 14.3). And please speak with an elder or use our contact form.

Read: The Poor Doubting Christian Drawn to Christ, Thomas Hooker; Distinguishing Faith and Feelings, Samuel Pike; The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax, Richard Sibbes.

Feelings have a real place in faith, but they are not its foundation. Faith rests on God's promises in Christ, whatever we feel at any moment, for "we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Faith rests on God's Word. Assurance is "founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation", the inward evidence of grace, and "the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God" (Westminster Confession 18.2).

Feelings are fruit. Among the benefits that flow from justification, adoption and sanctification are "assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost" (Shorter Catechism 36). But they are the fruit of faith, not faith itself; you can have faith without feelings, and feelings without faith (Q&A with Rev. R. McCurley, 2024).

Faith can be strong when feelings are low. Job could not find God anywhere he looked, yet he said, "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). A true believer may "wait long" for assurance, and may have it "shaken, diminished, and intermitted" (Westminster Confession 18.3-4). So a dry season does not prove your faith is false. God's word to such a person is, "let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God" (Isaiah 50:10).

What to do. Look to Christ and His promises, not into your feelings. Keep using the means God gives: His Word, prayer, and the Lord's Supper. As our Who We Are page says, faith is not "based upon, or validated by, a checklist of experiences rather than on the Word of God".

Read: Distinguishing Faith and Feelings, Samuel Pike; The Assurance of Faith, Ebenezer Erskine; The Poor Doubting Christian Drawn to Christ, Thomas Hooker; Q&A with Rev R. McCurley (April 7, 2024), R. McCurley; Soul Heights and Soul Depths: An Exposition of Psalm 130, Octavius Winslow.

No. A true Christian may fall into sin and may even terribly backslide, but he cannot fall out of Christ, he cannot be cut off from Christ (Q&A with Rev. R. McCurley, 2024). Those whom God has "effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace" (Westminster Confession 17.1). Jesus says of His sheep, "they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28). Nothing, Paul says, "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).

This rests on God, not on us. Perseverance "depends not upon their own free will" (Westminster Confession 17.2), but rests on God's unchanging love, Christ's merit and prayers, the Spirit within, and the covenant of grace.

But it is no licence to live carelessly. Believers who neglect the means God gives may "fall into grievous sins; and for a time continue therein" and lose "some measure of their graces and comforts" (Westminster Confession 17.3). They keep their justification, yet "fall under God's fatherly displeasure" (Westminster Confession 11.5) until they humble themselves, confess and repent. Some who seemed to be Christians fall away because they never truly were: "They went out from us, but they were not of us" (1 John 2:19).

What about "ye are fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:4)? Paul is writing to "whosoever of you are justified by the law" (Galatians 5:4). To go back to the law for righteousness is to leave grace behind.

The comfort is real, and so is the call: "give diligence to make your calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10).

Read: Canons of Dordt (Fifth Head of Doctrine); Q&A with Rev R. McCurley (April 7, 2024), R. McCurley; An Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Robert Shaw.