Have you ever thought what some of the greatest miracles in the Bible are? Perhaps you thought of Jesus rising from the dead or maybe God creating the universe out of nothing. But may I submit to you that a miracle of equal stature is the salvation of a human soul. For we read in (Ephesians 2:1): “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” For you see not only are we dead in our trespasses and sins but on our own we don’t even have the capacity to seek after God for we read in (Romans 3:11): “…There is none who seeks after God.” In other words, we on our own, are hopelessly lost and without a miraculous intervention by God we will remain spiritually separated from Him for all of eternity.
As the title of this devotion reads I believe that the four key components to bringing us to the miracle of salvation are the Bible, prayer, apologetics, and love. Today in Part I of this devotion, I would like to discuss the role of the Scriptures in our salvation. In Part II we will share why prayer is so essential. We will discuss the role of apologetics in part III, and finally in Part IV tie everything together with love.
The Bible
Not only does the Bible tell us how to live but it shows us that Jesus Christ is the only way to be born again. We could cite many verses that clearly show us that believing in Jesus is the only way to obtain our salvation. Two such verses are (John 3:16) and (John 14:6) which read: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” and: “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’”
While we don’t need the Bible to know that God exists, since we can clearly see Him in the works of nature, this natural revelation is not enough to save us. In order to be saved we need to believe in the person and promise of Christ which can only be known through what is called special revelation or the Bible. While a person can be saved without reading the Bible, he can’t be saved without hearing and believing in the message of the Bible. And that’s where sharing the gospel message is so critical for without hearing the message how can we believe. While I have heard of cases where Jesus appears to some, especially in third world and Arabic countries, through a dream, again, when this happens they are still hearing the message of the gospel contained in the Bible.
But there can be nothing more wonderful and powerful than having someone read about Jesus and salvation from the very pages of the Scriptures. I know in my own salvation story, I had very little witnessing from people. Almost exclusively I heard about Jesus through my own reading of the Bible. Not only does the Bible tell us who Jesus is but as we read the Scriptures the Holy Spirit can convict us of sin and show us how spiritually bankrupt we really are and how desperately we need Jesus as our Savior and Lord.
So, we see that the Bible and the message of the gospel play a powerful role in bringing us to Christ. Many people have come to Christ, like myself, chiefly by reading the Scriptures and seeing who Jesus is. And that’s why I believe that giving someone a Bible is one of the most powerful ways to help them see how desperately they need Christ in their lives. Not only is the Bible our basic instructions before leaving earth, but it is the only book that shares the way of salvation.
In tomorrow’s Part II of this devotion, we will share how prayer is so essential in the salvation process.