Salvation

Acts 15:1- And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” NKJV

Recently, I read a poem by Langston Hughes titled “Salvation”. In the poem, Langston describes how his auntie wants him to be saved. Her church is having a big revival service. Every night he went to church, people sang, prayed, shouted, and got saved. Many were added to the church. Then, the night came for him to be saved. Auntie placed him on the mourner’s bench, the preacher preached, the congregation sang songs, and then came the time for him to be saved.

My aunt told me that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life! And God was with you from then on! She said you could see and hear and feel Jesus in your soul. I believed her. I had heard a great many old people say the same thing and it seemed to me they ought to know. So I sat there calmly in the hot, crowded church, waiting for Jesus to come to me.

Langston Hughes, “Salvation”

Unfortunately, it never happened. He never saw a light. He didn’t experience God coming inside of him. He didn’t feel Jesus in his soul. Nothing. Because he was waiting for God to do something in his life, and nothing happened.

In our verse, there is another group of people seeking salvation. As a matter of fact, they have been told that they are saved. But some men came from Judea and told them that they weren’t saved.

“Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 

Acts 15:1 NKJV

What a disappointment! Paul and Barnabas have told these people that they are saved, and some other people have come and told them that they have to be circumcised according to the custom of Moses, or they cannot be saved! What’s the truth?

In Langston Hughes’s poem, he wrote:

I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved. 

Langston Hughes, “Salvation”

Many people today are getting saved, but not really saved. Langston spoke of waiting and waiting for Jesus to come to him, but He never came. So eventually, he just stood up and received “salvation” because he was tired of waiting and it was getting late.

Others come to the altar because of the Pastor’s persuasion, or the fact that someone else went, or because it is just the thing to do. But obviously, it isn’t in the going to the altar, or waiting to see Jesus, or any other thing, except what you believe.

Peter said,

“Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 

Acts 15:7-9 NKJV

Peter and the other apostles and elders are in a meeting where Paul and Barnabas have traveled to get the facts straight. After much arguing and bickering had transpired, Peter stood up and said that God had used him to share with Cornelius the word of the gospel. And after they heard the word, they believed. Then God, knowing the hearts of the people who were present, gave them the Holy Spirit and purified their hearts by faith. Just like he did with Peter, James, John, and the other disciples. Without distinction.

In other words, once the gospel is declared, people have to decide for themselves if it is true or not true. Is Jesus who He said He is? Did God raise Him from the dead? Is He the Son of the Living God? Can He forgive their sins and make them whole? Did He come that they might have life and have it more abundantly?

I’m convinced that Langston Hughes was never introduced to Jesus. He was introduced to preaching, singing, praying, and shouting, but he was never introduced to Jesus!

That night, for the first time in my life but one for I was a big boy twelve years old – I cried. I cried, in bed alone, and couldn’t stop. I buried my head under the quilts, but my aunt heard me. She woke up and told my uncle I was crying because the Holy Ghost had come into my life, and because I had seen Jesus. But I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me.

Langston Hughes, “Salvation”

How sad! He was hungry for God. He wanted to know Jesus as the “old folks” in the church knew Jesus, and yet, he went home unsatisfied because they didn’t tell him the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so he cried because he had lied and deceived everybody in the church, and he didn’t see Jesus!

Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”

Acts 15:10-11 NKJV

Peter said it quite well in this chapter. It’s not Jesus and something else. It’s not Jesus and anything. It’s simply a faith in Jesus that His grace is sufficient to save us today as it saved them back then. You don’t need to be circumcised, and you don’t need to see Him. You simply believe that the gospel is true and that He so desperately wants to save you, and you can be saved.

If you haven’t given your heart to the Savior, then I encourage you to not let another day go by. He isn’t in the feelings or the singing, He isn’t in the dancing or shouting, He isn’t in the persuasion of the altar call. His gospel message is simple: If you can believe, then receive Him today.

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12 NKJV

Wonderful Jesus!