Gospel Audio Transcript from a Drive-in Gospel Meeting by Malcolm Radcliffe.
What is Salvation?
Acts 4: 11-12
- This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
- Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Acts 16:29-34
- Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, And brought them out, and said, 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.
Jeremiah 8:20
- The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
The Need
I want to speak to you this afternoon, as the Lord gives help on the great subject of salvation, it's a tremendous thing to be saved. You know, the Bible speaks about being saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation. I noticed that when God looked on his work at Creation, he said it was good. He said it was very good. That was true. But when he speaks about the salvation of the soul, the salvation that would fit a man or woman, or boy or girl for heaven, he calls it. Great. And the question is asked in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 3, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation”. You know, there are things in life that you might neglect and you'll get through maybe not so bad, but you cannot afford to neglect the matter of salvation.
If you miss this salvation, let me assure you. You are going to miss heaven. And if you miss heaven, I say to you kindly, but definitely, you will not miss Hell. You'll notice how vital this matter is of being saved. I want you to notice in my first reading the need of salvation, that was a message of the apostle Peter. As he stood before the high priest of Israel and all his family circle, he reminded them that the one that they had crucified was the very same one that God had raised from the dead. Peter put it like this, the stone, which you builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner then said, Peter, neither is there salvation in any other. “There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved”, you see this matter of getting saved is absolutely vital. It's absolutely essential. I'm glad I can tell you this afternoon that you could be saved.Our Hope
I want to give you hope at the very outset of my remarks. What is Salvation? That is described in the verse that I read in John chapter 3 and verse 17 “For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world. But that the world through him might be saved”, there is a possibility you could get saved this afternoon. That's why God sent His Son. That's why the Savior suffered on count of sin at the cross. He did it all that you might be saved. But Peter here was saying not only that we might be saved, he said, we must be saved. This matter of getting saved. I say to you, again, is absolutely vital. I want you to notice in act 16, at Philippi, he learned the must of salvation and he learned it very quickly. You know, his story gives me great confidence in the preaching of the gospel.The Jailer's Reality
I judge that when this man went to bed at night, he had little thought about his sin. Little thought about his soul, a little thought about salvation, but he was saved before the morning. What happened? You say, well, God sent an earthquake in, into the setting that not only shook the foundation of the buildings, but shook the foundation of the man. He understood. I have God to meet. And all I have is my sin, brought him in before two preachers of the gospel with only one question on his mind “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” He was asking "What is salvation?". You see, he learned the must of salvation. And more than that, he was going to learn the means of salvation. What a question, what must I do to be saved? You notice he didn't say, what must we do to be saved. His wife wasn't saved.It's Personal
None of the family in the house were saved, but he understands this business of getting saved is a very personal matter. What must I do to be saved? What did they tell them? You know, I was thinking if the man had asked me that question, I might well have said to him “You know, sir, you should start coming to the meetings that are happening. We're having great meetings down at the Riverside and God is working and souls are getting saved. You should start attending the meetings”, but they had more sense than that. It's good to come to the Gospel meetings. Now don't underestimate that. But before the man could have got to a meeting, he could have been in Eternity. What did he say to him? I like the way that Luke puts it. Luke says, and they said, you know, the question was asked to two preachers, Paul and Saul, but it just seems that the two men responded at once and they said, “believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved”.The Means
This is the means of God’s salvation. You know, Paul, didn't say to him, you should try this and say, well, if that didn't work, you could try something else. No, no. There is only one means whereby you and I can be saved. It's faith alone in Christ alone. Believe on the Lord. Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved, you know, salvation is on the principle of faith. It's not a works. That’s a fact. We read in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8 “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast”. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Depend upon him. Rest upon Christ. You say, why should I put my trust? And why should I rest upon the Lord Jesus? Because he is your only hope he is the only savior.One Way
We've read that already in act chapter 4 verse 12, “Neither is there salvation in any other. There is none other name under heaven given among man whereby we must be saved”. Put your faith, put your confidence, put your trust in the son of God for he was the only one who was competent to deal with your sin. Mind you. It meant for him, the laying down of his life. It meant for him, the shedding of his precious blood, but he did it all that you and I might be saved and get a place in heaven. I wonder this afternoon, have you learned the must of salvation? Have you realised what is salvation and why you need it? We must be saved because we are lost. That's a great lesson to learn, but the means of salvation is faith alone in the son of God, “Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ”. And what a promise thou shall be saved, I read further down the chapter of this man.Don't Miss It!
He believed in God with all his house. He took God at his word. If this is what God says, I'll depend upon it. I’ll rest upon it. I’ll put my trust alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, what a promise thou shall be saved, but I've read another verse. I've called it. The missing of salvation. Here are a people and they say the harvest is passed. The summer has ended and we are not saved. I say to you this afternoon, what a harvested has been. You know, the Lord Jesus in John chapter 12, spoke about himself as a corn of wheat, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”. He was a solitary corn of wheat that day at Golgotha. He fell into the ground and died. But what a harvest. What a harvest of souls, there has been all because of the work of Christ upon the cross, but here are a people and they, they say the harvest is passed. Don't miss it. Or you'll miss Christ and miss heaven.Notes
This is the edited transcript for a Gospel Audio Podcast Episode by Malcolm Radcliffe. Some of the notes will vary slightly from the original podcast audio as a result of editing transcript errors but the message is still exactly the same.