It is as easy as ABC

We designated today, specifically, as a day to invite as many people as possible to church, and I have a simple message. A message that is as easy as ABC.

We are going to tell you what you need to do to be saved. Do not turn me off. If you are saved, you can take what I am sharing this morning and formulate a personal witnessing program for yourself. Being saved is as easy as ABC. It is that simple.

A couple of Wednesday nights ago I was sitting at the altar something I often do on Wednesday nights, and Clayton came down and gave me a big hug, and I asked him if he had a good day at school, and he said yes in the way that only Clayton can say it, and I asked him if learned his ABCs that day, and his response was yes, and then I asked him to say his ABCs, and his answer was, you guessed it, A-B-C. The innocence of a child. Well dear friend, getting saved is as easy as Clayton and his ABCs.

Do not get me wrong.

Getting saved, for you is easy, but providing for your salvation was not easy for God as He had to sacrifice His only Son to make salvation possible.

Never think salvation is cheap, and never think salvation is free. Salvation is neither cheap nor free. Salvation was purchased by the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus was what it took to purchase your salvation. You cannot buy your salvation because you cannot pay the required price. Only Jesus could pay the price. Imagine offering your only child as payment for what someone else did. Would that be simple? Would that be ccheap? How would you react if someone called that decision simple or cheap?

Today, let’s see how it easy it is to be saved.

(1.) ADMIT.

To be saved, you must make an admission. You must admit that you are a sinner.

Make no mistake about it. You are a sinner.

(A.) You are a sinner. (Rom. 3:10-12, 23)

Romans 3:10–12 NKJV

10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

You can argue that you are not a bad person. You can try to claim that you are good. You can try to claim that you are better than Bruce Davis, but the fact still remains that you are a sinner.

(B.) You were BORN a sinner. (Rom. 5:12, Psalm 51:5)

Here is what you must understand.

You are a sinner not because you do or do not do certain things. You are a sinner because you were born a sinner. You are not a sinner because you sin. You sin because you are a sinner.

Romans 5:12 NKJV

12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

Psalm 51:5 NKJV

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

Children are not born godly and then turn into sinners. Children are born sinners. Our nature is to sin. Our nature is to do what we are not supposed to do or to do what we are not supposed to do.

(C.) Because you are a sinner, you are going to DIE. (Romans 6:23)

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The moment you were born you started the journey to death because you are a sinner.

Now, you know all three of those statements about sin is true. You know that you have sinned. You know that you were born a sinner, and you know that you will die because of sin, and you know that you want to go to heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

You want to go to heaven, but you cannot because you are a sinner.

When I say that you have to admit that you are a sinner, I am just asking you to simply admit what you know is true. You may not have done the things I have done or that Anthony Parham has done, but that is irrelevant. It is not what you do that makes you a sinner. You are a sinner because that is who you are.

Sinners cannot get to heaven. You were born a sinner. You are desperate. There is nothing you can do on your own to change your nature, and your nature is that you are a sinner.

Now, you might be asking this.

“What do I need to do to go to heaven?”

(2.) BELIEVE. (Rom. 10:9-10, Rom. 8:32)

Romans 10:9–10 NKJV

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Now, as you come to the realization that you, as a sinner, are lost and desperate, and by the way, the Holy Spirit will convince you of that fact, you must believe.

Now, let me say this about believing.

Believing means that you, with all of your heart, body, and soul know that you cannot get to heaven unless God makes it possible, and God did make it possible.

Romans 8:32 NKJV

32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Believing is a deep, active trust in God that involves committing your life to Him. There is no belief without commitment.

When you believe in God, you are committing your entire being to Him as the only One who can keep you out of Hell. You are committing to the absolute fact that salvation is a gift from God.

Ephesians 2:8 NKJV

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

Believing is a firm conviction in who God is, His promises, His offer of salvation, and His demand for obedience resulting in a transformed life.

What must you believe?

(A.) You must believe that Jesus Christ is the SON of GOD. (John 10:30, 1 John 1:1-3)

John 10:30 NKJV

30 I and My Father are one.”

1 John 1:1–3 NKJV

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 NKJV

16 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.

Jesus Christ is not less than God. Jesus Christ was not created. Jesus Christ is God. To take care of your sin nature, you must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

(B.) You must believe the Son of God DIED for you as a sinner. (Job 9:32-33, 1 Cor. 15:3)

Job 9:32–33 NKJV

32 “For He is not a man, as I am, That I may answer Him, And that we should go to court together. 33 Nor is there any mediator between us, Who may lay his hand on us both.

1 Corinthians 15:3 NKJV

3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

It is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who became the Mediator Job needed. Jesus Christ linked man to God through His death on Calvary. It is by the death of Jesus Christ that a sinner can be born again.

(C.) You must believe that the Son of God was RESURRECTED on the 3rd day. (1 Cor. 15:4)

1 Corinthians 15:4 NKJV

4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

The death of Jesus on the Cross took away your sin. The Resurrection of Jesus makes a new life possible. The Resurrection guarantees you a new birth.

The New Testament teaches that sinners must be born again; there is no new birth without the Resurrection.

It is as easy as ABC.

Admit that you are a sinner.

Believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for your sins and was resurrected on the third day.

Now, we come to the C which is the hardest for most people when it really should not be if you have taken care of admission and believing.

(3.) CONFESS. (Rom. 10:10)

To be saved, one must CONFESS what he or she is, a sinner, and who he or she believes in, Jesus Christ.

Romans 10:10 NKJV

10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Now, there are many who get hung up on confession. To be saved, must I really confess?

Well, the answer is yes, but you must understand what it means to confess Jesus.

Paul, in verse 10, is not talking about confessing Jesus by words. Now, stay with me.

Paul is talking about confessing Jesus through a changed life. He is talking about repentance.

Do you remember what Jesus told the woman caught in adultery?

John 8:11 NKJV

11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

By going and sinning no more, this woman would be confessing the Lord Jesus Christ. Did Jesus mean to be saved this woman could not sin anymore?

No, what He meant was that her life would be changed. She would be a new creature and proof of that was her confessing Jesus Christ through her lifestyle. By believing in Jesus Christ, this woman could leave the lifestyle of a prostitute because she had been changed.

It is repentance that produces obedience.

Now, this is where we have blurred the lines in Christianity. We have convinced a society of sinners that all they have to do is pray a certain prayer and say a few words. Well, dear friend, a repeatable prayer and a few words is not what salvation is about. When I confess Jesus Christ, I am linking myself to Him, and that will change my life. It will produce a desire to be obedient to Christ’s commands.

Acts 3:19 NKJV

19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Dear friend, Peter says it quite clearly here.

Repentance is linked to conversion and forgiveness. Confession is more than saying a few words. Confession means that you belong to Jesus.

Do not get me wrong.

When a person is saved, because he or she has been changed, that person will want to “confess” Jesus Christ. That person will want to unite with a church, a body of believers, and that person will want to follow through with baptism, but confession is more than that. We confess Jesus Christ daily through a changed life.

Now, do not get mad at me, but I must ask.

If you claim to be saved, are you, through how you present yourself and your actions, daily confessing Jesus Christ to a lost world? Are you sure you are saved?

2 Corinthians 13:5 NKJV

5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

Do you know if you are in the faith? Did your so-called experience produce a new creature? Were you born-again to a new life?

If not, dear friend, will you be saved today?

If you truly believe in Christ, you will repent, and you will confess Him daily as you live your life in obedience. I believe that is why so many try to push repentance to the side. As Jesus told the prostitute caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” Salvation produces a changed life, a life that daily confesses Jesus Christ.

You are a sinner.

You must believe in Jesus Christ.

You must confess Him.

Will you do that today? You may put up a facade to the world, but God can see straight through that facade. Be saved today while you still can.