How Do People Get Saved

Copyright 2023 by Joseph F. Harwood

https://www.abookofbiblestudy.net/

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB

When we consider the question of how people get saved, many of us will be
sure that we know the answer, because we have heard an answer to this question
articulated many times before, whether in a church service, a Sunday school class,
or somewhere else. And that answer, which has been embraced by many, is that we
must, as an act of our own will and volition, choose to believe in Jesus Christ and
“accept Him” as our personal Lord and Savior.

There are Scriptures that would seem to agree with that answer, if these
Scriptures were to be isolated from many other passages in the Bible. But when we
consider all that the Bible has to say about the salvation of men, is this really what
the Bible teaches about how people get saved?

There can be no better way to begin to answer the question of how people
get saved than to consider the Parable of the Sower, which is recorded in each of
the synoptic Gospels (Matthew 13:1-23, Mark 4:1-20, and Luke 8:1-15). A proper
understanding of this parable is essential to understanding how people get saved,
and in fact it is essential to understanding all the parables that Jesus gave to us
(Mark 4:13).

The Parable of the Sower is probably the best illustration of the results that
God will bring forth from the preaching of the Gospel of Christ in the hearing of
men. In Matthew’s account of the parable, Jesus first gave this teaching to the
crowd that had gathered to hear what He had to say, as we read in Matthew 13:1-9.
He gave the teaching in the form of a parable, using analogies or metaphors to
convey His message, and then later we see that He explained the meaning of the
parable to His disciples in Matthew 13:18-23. Between these two passages, Jesus
revealed to His disciples that the understanding of His teachings has been hidden
from many (Matthew 13:10-17, and especially 13:11).

Speaking to the crowd as recorded in Matthew 13:1-9, Jesus taught using the
analogy of a farmer sowing or spreading seed over the ground, expecting to later
reap a harvest from the plants that spring up from the seeds. The sowing of the
seed is the metaphor that Jesus used to symbolize the proclaiming of the Gospel
message, which is the outward call for men to repent and put their faith in Him for
the forgiveness of their sins and reconciliation to God. Many hear this
proclamation of the Gospel, or this outward call, but as we can see from many
other Scriptures, it has only been granted to God’s elect to be able to come to
Christ (Matthew 22:14, others), and only those who come to faith in Christ will
bear spiritual fruit to the glory of God (Matthew 7:15-23, John 15:8).

In this parable we see that the “seed” of the Gospel message fell on different
types of “soil”, and the different types of soil symbolize different people who hear
the message. But the only place where the seed bore fruit is where it fell on the
“good soil” (Matthew 13:8, 23). The “good soil” in the parable symbolizes God’s
elect, or Jesus’ sheep, those to whom it has been granted to hear His voice and
follow Him (John 6:65, 10:1-9).

God’s elect are those whom God chose before the creation of the world to be
holy and blameless before Him (Ephesians 1:4). They are those who have been
predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ (Romans
8:29-30). They are those “who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and
be sprinkled with His blood…” (1 Peter 1:1- 2). They are those who have been
“appointed to eternal life”, and therefore they believe the Gospel message (Acts
13:48). They are those who receive mercy from God, while all the rest are
hardened (Roman 9:1-24). They are those whom the Father has given to His Son,
and they will all come to Him (John 6:37).

When the “seed” of the Gospel message “falls” upon the hearing of God’s
elect, these individuals will all, by God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), and in His time,
hear it and understand it, and they will all be brought to faith in Christ. As a result,
they will all bear fruit to the glory of God. Through the hearing of the Gospel
message (Romans 10:17), God’s elect will all be effectually called to faith in
Christ (Acts 2:39, Romans 8:29-30, Hebrews 9:15), and they will all come to Him.
None will refuse, and in fact none can refuse.
 When we consider whether an individual can refuse this effectual calling of
God, we should consider the calling of Saul of Tarsus to faith in Christ on the
Damascus Road, even when he was still hostile toward the Gospel message and
intent on persecuting the church (Acts 9:1). Saul’s conversion is recounted three
time in the book of Acts: in chapters 9, 22, and 26, and we should not miss the
lesson here about how people get saved. The conversion of Saul, who would
become the apostle Paul, stands as an example to every believer of how God
intervenes in our lives as His elect to overcome our stubborn wills (Romans 8:7)
and effectually bring us to faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, apart from our own will
and decision in the matter.

Saul had heard the Gospel message; he knew what it was about, and he was
opposed to it. But Saul was indeed one of those whom God had chosen before the
creation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him (again Ephesians 1:4-5),
and in God’s time he was brought to faith in Christ apart from His own will and
decision in the matter. Any insistence by man that one’s own will and agreement
is necessary in the matter of salvation is something that is not contained in the
Scriptures. Rather, it is an idea that man has added to the Scriptures.

We should note that there is nothing in the Bible to suggest that apostles get
saved contrary to their own will, as did Saul (again Acts 9:1), while everyone else
must agree to “accept” Jesus Christ as their own personal Lord and Savior. The
Bible teaches that all people, in their unregenerate state, are totally depraved and
opposed to the Gospel message (Genesis 6:5, Romans 3:10-18, Romans 8:7); they
will not believe in Christ unless and until God intervenes in their lives to bring
them to faith in His Son (John 6:44), just as He intervened in the life of Saul of
Tarsus when the time came for his conversion.

Saul’s “agreeing” to believe had nothing to do with it. After Saul was
confronted by Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road, the only possible response was
to get up and obey the One who had just revealed Himself to be Lord, and to do the
things that had been appointed for him to do (Acts 22:8-10). It is also significant to
note that Saul understood the voice of Jesus speaking to him, but the others who
were with him did not. (Acts 22:9; also consider Matthew 13:11, 23.)

“Choosing” or “deciding” to believe in Christ is not the thing that one must
“do” in order to get themselves saved (again Ephesians 2:8-9), rather believing in
Christ is evidence that God has already intervened in an individual’s life to bring
them to faith in His Son. And God calls all of His elect to faith in His Son in His
time (John 6:37, 44, 65, 10:2-3, Romans 8:29-30), just as He did with Saul of
Tarsus. The reason that all the others do not believe is because they cannot hear
and understand His voice, and therefore they cannot believe (John 8:43, 47, 10:24-
26, 12:37-40).

So, when we consider the question of just how people get saved, and how do
people come to faith in Jesus Christ, we should go to the Scriptures for our answers
and consider only what is written there. We should refrain from adding any other
thought or condition that is not stated in the Scriptures, no matter how many times
we may have heard these thoughts and conditions declared by men, and no matter
how confidently we have heard them declared.

We know from the Scriptures that God’s elect, or those whom He foreknew
(1 Peter 1-2), are those who were predestined to be conformed to the image of His
Son (Romans 8:29). And we also know that “these whom He predestined, He
also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He
justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:30). All of the actions mentioned in this
chain of events in Romans 8:30 are God’s actions, and man’s action or
cooperation is not mentioned at all. (Consider Romans 9:16). Notice also the
“link” in this chain of events where Paul wrote: “these whom He called, He
also justified”. This link makes it clear that there is an effectual calling of God,
and that those who receive this calling will be justified and ultimately glorified.

This effectual calling of God is the “drawing” of an individual to faith in

Jesus Christ that we see mentioned in John 6:44, where Jesus taught that those who
are drawn to Him by the Father will be raised up at the last day. And again, in John
6:44 we see no mention of man’s action, cooperation, or agreement whatsoever.

Speaking of salvation through faith in Christ, Paul wrote: “So then

it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who
has mercy.” (Romans 9:16, emphasis added). An individual’s salvation does not
depend on their own will, desire, decision, or effort of any kind, but on God, who
shows mercy to those whom He wills (Romans 9:15.18). Those who receive God’s
mercy are all effectually called to faith in His Son, and they all come to Him, as
we see revealed in John 6:37, 6:44, Romans 8:29-30, and other passages as well.

The Bible teaches that God calls His elect to faith in His Son Jesus Christ
through the hearing of the Gospel message (Romans 10:17), and He does so in His
time. Having heard, they all come to Him, and none refuse (John 6:37). God’s
calling of an individual to faith in His Son is not a “take it or leave it” proposition,
with the individual’s consent and agreement being necessary for salvation. This
lesson was made very clear to Saul on the Damascus Road, and none of us should
miss this lesson. To state it another way: When God calls, you come!