Ten Ways to Be Saved

In this sermon the speaker works through a series of biblical passages to answer the question, “How do we know we are saved?” He begins with Luke 14:26‑33, emphasizing that true discipleship requires denying even the closest family ties and bearing one’s cross. He then surveys a litany of scriptural requirements—calling on the Lord’s name (Romans 10:13), believing in Christ (Acts 16:31), repentance, public confession (Matthew 10:33), baptism (Mark 16:16), being born again (John 3), and pursuing holiness (Hebrews 12:14). The preacher argues that these are not separate doors to salvation but facets of a single commitment: a life devoted to following Jesus. The message stresses that salvation is not measured by a remembered moment or a specific ritual, but by ongoing discipleship, good works, and a willingness to give up anything that competes with Christ—whether wealth, comfort, or personal ambition. He illustrates this with stories from his own ministry, including the example of a devoted football player whose daily commitment mirrors the kind of total surrender required of believers. Ultimately, the sermon calls listeners to examine their lives for genuine, continual devotion to Christ, assuring them that true salvation is found in a steadfast, all‑encompassing commitment rather than a checklist of actions.

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Houston's First Baptist Church is a relevant biblical community where we gather our hearts, grow our souls and give our lives as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). This podcast provides weekly messages from Pastor Gregg Matte and others. Visit us at HoustonsFirst.org to learn more about HFBC, and visit us in person the next time you're in Houston!

with 10 ,000 to meet him all that behold it be my 13, verse number 26 Luke chapter 14, beginning in the 26th verse, and continuing to the verse number 33. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own wife, he cannot be my disciple. And who forever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. So if you intend to build a power, so if not going to, and power for talk, so that he had sufficient to finish it. Less happily, after he had laid the foundation, and was not able to finish it, all that behold it began to march in. So this man began to build, and was not able to finish. Oh, that king going to make words instead of a king, so if not going first, and comes first as ever he'd be able, with 10 ,000 to meet him, that's going to make him, with 20 ,000. Or else while the other is yet a great word off, he's still looking and bashing, and devorous conditions of peace. So after I, you forever, he'd be of you, that forsaketh not all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. The interface, the interface, of this passage of scripture, is that it is not from the starting, but the continuing and finishing of the affairs of life that are of importance to God. This is an illustration of discipleship. The same words I want you to remember tonight. One of the most frustrating things that a teacher has to deal with is the problem of good people continually being confused as to whether or not they have been saved. I confess to you that I have, quote, been baptized, unquote, some people that I really believe really have been saved the first time. That somehow they were never going to be satisfied, that they had done the right thing until they went through it again, and seeing they had the more or less authority, if you please, of a second supposed decision for Christ. Now, when I began to trust the people, I have found that most people have problems at the picture of Him and Him and Him, and they are willing to say that, at the point of the two verses of scripture that say, He shall always shout, Call in the name of the Lord, Jebedee, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I shall be saved. I remember how many thousands of hours I have spent, probably listening, talking to people about these two verses of scripture. Well, I went down, but I don't know whether I really meant it or not. Well, do you remember praying? Well, yes, I think I prayed, but did I just talk to the preacher, or did I really pray to God? Mary, you'd better come in Monday for an appointment. Now, after about two hours in the counseling session, we are still primarily not concerned with Mary following Christ, not concerned with Mary's life, not concerned with Mary's discipleship, but we are testing Mary's salvation and the validity of it, all contingent upon the fact that Mary can remember what she did or did not do back in the catacombs of her memory about 26 years ago when she was a girl. Now there are these two verses of scripture that most people get hung up on. The Bible says, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And I've spent hundreds of hours with people trying to remember, not knowing if they're saved or not, did I really call upon the Lord when I came forward? And I raised the question, does one actually have to verbalize the prayer? Can I come forward and say, pastor, I'm giving my heart and life to Jesus Christ. I'm trusting him. I'm committing my life to him. I'm believing on the Lord Jesus with all my heart and be saved. Or do I actually have to pray to God myself? Do I have to pray thusly? Dear Jesus, come into my heart, forgive my sins and be my savior. Do I actually have to verbalize a prayer upwardly directed to God or can I just trust Christ as my savior? And then I come to a verse of scripture that gives me a second seeming way to be saved. It does not say that I have to call on God to be saved, as does Romans 10, 13, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But it says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved. And so I talk to a person and they're trying to decide, going through great mental agony and spiritual duress attempting to remember whether years ago, I really believed or just called or whether I just believed and didn't call. And they're all frustrated because they cannot remember whether they believed or called and whether they really meant it when they called or whether they forgot to call and just meant it. And they're confused. And so am I. Now, anybody that's done much counseling has dealt with that problem. And so I decided one day that I would go through the Bible and find out whether you were supposed to call on God to be saved or merely to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you could believe on the Lord Jesus Christ without calling on him or whether you could call on him without believing on him. And I got the socks scared off me because I found out that there were a whole lot more things the Lord said to do to be saved than that. Now, once in a while, a preacher will preach a rip -roaring sermon that I, as I've done a thousand times on the subject of repentance. And I have preached on what is repentance? How does one repent? When do we repent? How do we know we've repented? And be sure you do need to repent of your sins to be saved. Confession of sin, repentance is turning from sin and turning by faith to God. And it's kind of all wrapped up in one together. But I suppose that every time an evangelist comes and he preaches, except you repent, you shall all likewise carry. You have to repent. You'll go to hell if you don't repent. And that's true. Half of my church members get all confused and they start crowding down the aisle again. Oh my Lord, did I really repent when I went up? I called on the Lord and I believed on the Lord, but did I repent when I called on him? Or did I repent and believe and not call? Or did I call and repent but not believe? Or did I do any of it? And the thing that they're trying to base their salvation on, whether they are a Christian or not, is whether they can remember what they did years and years ago. And I kept reading in the Bible and I found out that there was a fourth thing the Bible says to do. The Bible also says, confess me before men. For whosoever shall confess me before men, I will confess before my heavenly Father. But whosoever will deny me before men, I will deny before my Father, which is in heaven. So suppose I believe and I've accepted and I've called and I've repented, but I haven't confessed him. What if I don't walk down in front of the church and say to the world, I'm accepting Christ? Or what if I have done that, but somehow I didn't really repent? Or what if I repent and confess, but I leave out calling on the name of the Lord? Oh, I forgot that. And I turn in the word of God and I find that there is a fifth thing. The Bible says, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Well, does that mean if a man is not baptized, he is not saved? Or does it mean because by the same logic he that gets on a train and sitteth down shall go to dallas but sitting down is not contingent upon the the subject of the sentence of believing is it also true that just believing doesn't mean a man also has to be saved uh be baptized but it is a part of a figure of speech more or less it's just understood he that believes will be baptized like he that like he that gets on the train will sit down but it is not a part of the being saved and so i really get confused and i open the bible again and i find out that the bible says you must be born again and i say uh -oh i'm really in trouble now i've been baptized and i believed and i've called and i've repented but have i really been born again there was a man in the bible whose life was so totally devoid of anything good that jesus said man we can't patch up a thing on you you're gonna have to start all over again and you must be born again now to be born again means a new life and new affections and new desires and a lot of people say well i do love jesus i am trying to serve him i've accepted him i'm doing better i'm going more to become like christ but there's still some things in me that pulled to the old world so i guess all of me wasn't born again now i must really be in trouble i turn over in the bible and i find out that in luke chapter 14 jesus says that any man hates not his father and his mother and his wife and his brother and his daughter and his son and his sister he cannot be my disciple and you know what i love my life and kids i love my mom and daddy i don't hate him boy i'm no disciple of jesus man i'm really in trouble well i turn over in the bible again and i find that one day a very rich man in the chapter 18 of the book of luke came to jesus christ and jesus christ said to that man who talked to him of the way of life and about the commandments that he had kept and how good he had been and he said there's one thing thou lackest yet what was go and sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and then come and follow me else you cannot be my disciple i've got some money in the book i don't have much but i've got some i must be lost with a goose now i love my mother and my dad and my family and i haven't given away all my money to the poor and he says unless you do that you cannot be my disciple so he tells somebody else something they have to do and i turn over in the bible again and i find a nice thing over in john chapter 1 verse 12 it says as many as you see he's not saying believe he's not saying pray he's not saying repent he's not saying be baptized now he says receive christ and if you will see the context the question is whether or not jesus is the creator of this world and he is saying receive the lord jesus christ in the totality of lordship and then you will be saved and i turn again over to hebrews chapter 12 verse 14 and i find a 14 a 10th way to be saved it says that men and women are to forsake the world and pursue and seek after holiness without which no man shall see the lord and i thank my soul i have believed i have called i have repented man i'm going to do it all i'm not going to take a task but down on the inside i am not the holiest guy that ever lived i mean i do sin every two or three years and i am not absolutely holy i don't live a perfect life and so i must not be saved and if i went that far i would throw my hands up and go out in frustration and bewilderment and confusion and say the bible is a perplexing and confusing book written by confused men for confused people and then i began to see a pattern form in the word of god and i see it crystallized over in the book of matthew i'd like you to turn with me there if you will in the seventh chapter the 15th verse beware of false prophets which come to you in cheap clothing but inwardly they're ravening wolves he shall know them by their fruits and then gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. Even so, every tree bringeth forth good fruit that is a good tree, but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. That means the life that has no good works is one that's going to go to hell. That's just exactly what it means. Therefore, by your fruit ye shall know them. Not every one that sayeth, mark that word, sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth. The will of my Father which is in heaven. Now, ladies and gentlemen, listen very, very closely. Jesus Christ is called Savior in the Bible about 20 times. Now, what is a Savior? A Savior is somebody that saves you from something. If I'm burning up in a fire, drowning in a pool, and someone rescues me, I've been saved. But Jesus Christ is called Lord a hundred and twenty times. Now, if somebody pulls me out of the water and I say, thank you very much, and I split my way and he goes his way, he may be my Savior, but he's not my Lord. And Jesus Christ is called Lord ten or six times more than he's called Savior. And I look in the Word of God and I find that the words converted, conversion, or convert, are in the Bible fifteen times. But I also find that the word disciple is in there a hundred and ten times. And so I see a pattern begin to develop. And that is that salvation is commitment to Jesus Christ. Salvation is followership to Jesus Christ. And the important thing is not which one of eight or ten doors you might have walked into to get in this room. The difference is there's only one room where folks are going to heaven, and that's commitment to Christ. Now, Jesus may say to the very richest man in the world, you're going to have to give up your riches to be saved. But he may not say that to a poor man, because riches may not be keeping that man from commitment to Christ. Now, let's don't have any confusion on this point. There is only one way for a man to be saved, and that is that he gives his life to Jesus Christ. He begins to follow Him. He begins to serve Him. And he continues to serve Him. Discipleship. Commitment. Followship. Service. If I understand anything about the Word of God, it is that this is the best of the validity of a supposed profession of faith. There are a lot of folks that come down the aisle and say a lot of different things. I don't think that Jesus Christ is particularly concerned with what you said or the way you said it. I don't think He is particularly concerned whether you were saved, whether you called on the name of the Lord, standing up, sitting down, whether you signed a card or didn't, whether it was in a Methodist church or it wasn't, whether you were standing on your left ear or it was on a Thursday or on Christmas Eve. Man, what he says is, are you following me or aren't you? Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. The emphasis is upon discipleship, upon following Jesus Christ. And whatever little individual thing you might have to deal with personally for you is the thing that you're going to have to do to be saved before you can get in the room of total commitment to Christ. You say to me, do I have to, somebody said, do I have to, do I have to be baptized to be saved? I said, yes. They said, why? They said, because you asked. Jesus said to a man, you're going to have to forsake mother and father and everything to follow me. Why? Because Jesus looked in the heart of that man and knew that before he could enter into the room of following Jesus Christ, he was going to have to deal with a prior love, a prior commitment to his family. You see, Jesus says to us, I do not want, nor will I have any part or parcel in a secondary love. I shall be first. Kids say to me, do I have to give up dancing to be saved? And I say, yes. And they say, why? And I say, because you asked. Do I have to give up eating asparagus to be saved or wearing green socks? Yes. Why? Because you asked. Now here's a college young person who lives in an intellectual world where Jesus is not loved and Jesus is not revered and Jesus is scoffed out on the intellectual college campus. And Jesus says to that young person, unless you confess me before men, you can't be my disciple. Because they're not willing to. Because it's hard to. Now he may say to you, you may have to give up your money. You may have to be baptized. You may have to quit some civic club. You may have to forsake your parents. You may have to stand up in English class in the face of an infidel professor and say, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ as a qualification of salvation. Why? Because you don't put any strings on it, neighbor. You don't hold anything back. Salvation is commitment. It is discipleship to Jesus Christ. And whatever door, whatever problem, whatever mountain might be standing in front of you that is hard for you to do, that is hard for you to give up, that is difficult to break with, that's the one thing you're going to have to break with. That's the one mountain you're going to have to climb. That's the one commitment you're going to have to make to give Jesus Christ your all. Now, I was the pastor of a church in Oklahoma City where if I had to choose, I would say that by far the outstanding Christian young couple was a young Air Force captain and his wife. Their names were Bob and Linda Steele. They've been in this church. I have never known next to my own wife a more fine and spirit -filled, sweet, consistent Christian woman. She really was an inspiration to a lot of people. She never missed anything. If I've ever known a woman whose life and was committed to Christ, that was always in the choir, that was always praying, that was winning souls, that was always serving the Lord Jesus, that was always filled with the Holy Spirit, that always did the right thing, they tithed 20%. It was that woman. Now, they were not doing it to be saved. It was the evidence of the fact that they had been saved. But I was down here but a few months and I heard the story one day, guess what? Linda Steele has been saved. And she was re -baptized. And I asked someone, why? What happened? And they said, well, the preacher got to preaching a sermon and I've done it and still do it. And it ought to be done that you need to call on the name of the Lord to be saved. Now, I believe that. I'm not saying you have to do it. You can commit your life to Christ and follow Him without initially verbalizing that prayer. But I believe it really helps you to nail it down and remember it when you do pray for yourself to God. And they said she got to thinking back. As she heard a sermon on whose service, she'll call on the name of the Lord to be saved. And she sat in the pastor's office and shook and talked and thought and remembered and prayed and sweat and trembled. And for four and a half hours, as far as she could remember, when she went down, she didn't call on the name of the Lord. And they tried to remember where she sat and who talked to her and what time it was. And did she fill out the card first? And she said, I just can't remember. I must not be saved. I will never believe the longest day I live. And only God knows I may be wrong. But I'll never really believe that if there was never ever a Christian woman, it wasn't Linda Steele. And there are a lot of you tonight that the devil is dragging down and frustrating and defeating and you don't know if you're saved or not because it is impossible to remember what happened 26 years ago. Man, when you're nine years old, you can take up a cross and give your heart to Jesus and start following as well as the worst sinner in the world. But you're not going to have an emotional traumatic experience in which you repented of a lot of things because there wasn't much to repent of. But you can repent of everything there was. And many of you tonight, the devil is defeating that doubt is coming from Satan and you need doubt and question and wonder in bewilderment and confusion no more. Because I say to you, if there was a time in your life, regardless of all of the things you did or didn't do or remember that you haven't done or did do, that's not the important thing. The thing is, to the best of your ability was there a time in your life when you turned away from your will and yourself and turned to Christ and loved him and embraced him in faith and began to follow him and serve him and you are his disciple. By their fruits ye shall know them. That's the important thing. The overwhelming burden of the New Testament is on discipleship, on followership. The Bible does say faith without works is dead. It does not say that those works are a part of salvation, but there is a saving faith and there is a mouth faith. Many shall say the words. Many shall speak the words. You say you believe in Jesus. Fine, so do the devils and tremble. How can I know if it was a saving faith, a saving belief by whether or not it was followed with a life naturally of good works and discipleship to Jesus Christ? You can check up on yourself. You can look inside. You can examine the record. You can inspect the proof. You can know. You can know. Now, it is conversely true that many people that think they are saved are as lost as a goose in a hailstorm. You know, folks go to church and it's really distasteful to them. Boy, if they are at the Indianapolis 500 or playing golf at the latest show, the hours would sail by. But in church, man, it's uncomfortable. They squirm. They're miserable. They think they're going to die and hocus pocus. They're going to go to heaven. You wouldn't be in heaven five minutes. You'd be asking how to get out. I believe the Christian, I believe the child of God that loves Christ, that is indwelt by the living Christ, that loves Him, that follows Him, is going to have a taste for spiritual things. They're going to hunger from the Word of God. Boy, they can't wait to get to prayer meeting. They can't wait to go to church. Tell me, do you hunger to come to the house of God? Do you relish and look forward to the fellowship of God's people? Boy, I do. I want you to know there are no strings attached to me. And any day I wanted to walk back out in the drunken world, the dance band world from which I was saved, I really could. But I just have lost my appetite. There's no taste for it. But the things of God and the Word of God succor and sustain and bless my life and the life of the believer in Jesus Christ. Now, listen to me. There are some of you tonight, you may be a deacon or a teacher or an elder in somebody's church. You have your name on the rolls of a church. You have been baptized. You've partaken of the Lord's Supper. You've gone through the confirmation class. And you have done one of a number of things which you are counting on. You're holding on to what you did way back there. And you think that's your salvation. And you're going to wave that confirmation record. Or you're going to wave that baptismal certificate in the face of the Lord at judgment and say, look what I did. I'm saved. Not everyone that sayeth. But he that tooeth. For many will come and say, Lord, all kinds of excuses. and Jesus will say, I never knew you. Now that word knew is a Greek word. It means oneness, unity. When Christ comes in, he takes the body, the eyes, the mind, the heart, Christ indwells a man. He lives in him. He breathes in him. He lives his life through him. He knows him. He's one with it. And it is as right and normal and natural for the child of God to love the word of God and the people of God and the church of God as it is for the sap to run in the tree or the bird to fly in the heavens or the fish to swim in the sea. It's all commitment. The overwhelming message of the New Testament is that salvation is a life that is committed to following Jesus Christ. I want to repeat, while those works have nothing to do with contributing to the finished work of him who died and said it is finished, there is a false profession and a genuine one. While I do not believe a man can lose his salvation, I'll tell you the truth is that a lot of people that are cold and have no taste for spiritual things, no love to follow Christ, that are holding on something they did back there years ago, didn't lose their salvation, but in reality never got it in the first place. Faith without works is dead. For by grace, Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and 10 are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath ordained that we should walk in them. God hath ordained that the child of God is created in Christ. How does he say? By good works? No. Unto good works. Through faith, by the grace of God, unto good works. And the man that has been saved, the man whose life is centered in unity with Christ, will follow him in a life of discipleship. He says, my sheep know my voice. They follow me. I was in a revival meeting down in McAllen, Texas. The first time that I ever preached an encounter crusade. Our Baptist Department of Evangelism has a terrific program. An area is encountered for Christ through a whole year's evangelistic ministry that climaxes in a central stadium, in a football stadium for a week. And I have committed all of my outside time for revivals to four of them a year. They're wonderful things. It's not just a city -wide revival, but a part of an impact on a great area. The first one down there in McAllen, we had about 930 people accept Christ. Rudy Hernandez was preaching with me. I would preach, and he would interpret in Latin, and over 300 Latin Americans were converted. It was a wonderful experience. On Thursday night, we were going to go over to Reynosa. That's the place. A little Mexican city, a little border town. And they were going to take us over there to eat. Oh, it sounded so wonderful. It was called Cabrito. I wanted some Cabrito. And I got over there and saw what Cabrito was. It was barbecued goat. But there was another reason we didn't go eat Cabrito down in Mexico. Because when we met a young man at the airplane, who was coming from St. Louis to give his testimony that night, something happened that changed our plans. His name was Jerry Stovall. You might know Jerry Stovall. He's now a player coach with the St. Louis Cardinal football team. And for the 13 years that he played was 11 years. All pro linebacker, than which there was no greater. Jerry Stovall got off that plane. He had three things. He had a big Bible under his arm and a grin on his face. A great Christian athlete coming to give his testimony for Christ. And he also had a big suitcase that he was carrying. And he had some things in it. And over his arm, a duffel sack, a duffel bag. That's it, isn't it? A duffel bag. Well, we walked along, and pretty soon I began to talk, and my curiosity got the best of me. I said, Jerry, what's in the big bag? Are you going to give us a demonstration tonight of how to throw and catch a football? He said, no, preacher, that's my workout thing, my jogging suit and my weights and all the rest of that stuff. I said, well, are you going to be down here a few days? He said, no, I'm going back first thing in the morning, around 9, 30, 10 on the early flight. I said, well, Jerry, you can do it when you get back. Why don't you have to bring it with you? He said, oh, I always take it with me. I said, overnight? He said, overnight. Well, we went to the motel, had a word of prayer. About 6 o 'clock we finished, and I put the last -minute touches on my sermon for the meeting that night. I heard something. I looked out the window. There was Jerry Stovall running up and down like an idiot in front of the motel. He got warmed up. Pretty soon, boy, he peeled out, and there he went, a cloud of smoke. He came back, just wetting, huffing, puffing, took a shower, and we started to go to the tent. The stadium, I said, Jerry, that was really impressive. I said, by the way, after the service was over the night, we're all going down to Mexico and have barbecued billy goats. He said, preacher, I'll have to pass. I said, well, I don't blame you. I would really like to pass, too. I can't stand the thought. He said, no, I've got to run again. I said, again, you just ran? He said, yeah, but I was on the plane, had a layover in Dallas, and I didn't get to do it at noon today. That was my catch -up jog, so I've got to go four more miles tonight. I said, more? You've already been four since you got here? He said, yes, that's right. Well, the next morning, I got up bright and early, about 11 .30. That was earlier than that, and out in front of the motel, I looked out. There was that same Jerry Stovall, up and down. He brought those things with him down there and ran all that time. We took him back to the airport, and I said, Jerry, I must say I'm impressed. And I said, I think I know a little bit about why you are an all -pro defensive end. I said, I have learned a little bit about the word, a linebacker, a little bit about the word commitment. I said, may I ask you a question? How many years have you been in the pros? He said, 13. And then college ball before, yes. I said, Jerry, how many times, how long have you done this? He said, four miles each morning, four miles at noon, four miles at bed, three times a day, every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, for 17 years. I said, you've never missed? I've never missed, unless I've been in the hospital. I said, well, Christmas Day, the family and all, he said, I never miss. I said, sometimes, you know, it's raining, it's snowing, man, it gets cold in St. Louis. He said, I've never missed. I am committed to being a pro football player, and I shall be the best I can be. Now, Jerry Stovall was not a St. Louis Cardinal football player, because one day he walked into that office and signed a piece of paper. He was a pro, he was a ball player, he was a cardinal, because he played the game. Let there be no question of it. It mattered not whether he signed or did not sign, whether he stood on his left ear or signed with his left hand, or did it upside down, standing in the shower, or on the rooftop, or on the head of Bush Stadium. Jerry Stovall was a football athlete, a cardinal, because when he made his commitment, he meant it, and he committed himself to being a pro ball player. I may never be a John, or a Peter, or a Paul, but I'd sure like to be a Jerry Stovall. I'd like to have a church full of Jerry Stovalls, not just that signed a card. Although there must be a specific experience when you say an eternal no to self and an eternal yes to Christ, and he saves you and infuses you and gives you the power to live that life, but whatever it may be that is keeping you from that commitment to Christ, that specifically is what you're going to have to deal with, and it may be different for one than for another, it may be riches for the rich man, it may be dancing for the teenager, it may be popularity for the student, it may be a thousand things. Whatever it is, when the pact is signed and the commitment is made, let there be commitment. Let there be discipleship. For not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. May we pray. Our Father, we thank Thee for new birth, we thank Thee for salvation, we thank Thee that being saved is a specific experience. When a man repents of his sins, turns to Christ in faith, believes on the Lord Jesus, and is saved. It happens. It happened to me at three minutes after 9, August the 1st, 1952. It really happened. But because it happened, I have lived a life committed to Jesus Christ. As weak and poor as it might be, it has been Thy life. And I pray tonight, Lord, that nobody shall be confused. But I pray that those who are counting on some little something they did when there's been no discipleship shall be greatly disturbed. And I pray for those that love Jesus with all their heart, but are confused at trying to remember some little something they did or did not do, that they shall be comforted with the peace of God that says, I know I am Christ's and He is mine. Help us to know that discipleship, a life given to Christ, this is salvation. And whatever each individual might have to do to keep themselves, to get themselves in a position where they can follow Thee, then that's going to be a qualification of salvation for them, for we come with no strings attached. Give us Christians committed to Christ. Not professors, but possessors. Not talkers, but followers. Not sayers, but doers. For we pray in the Master's name.