The Plan of Salvation - Walker Cain - 08-03-2025

The plan of salvation. Salvation has been brought down. What kind of leader do you want to follow? One that has a plan or one that just goes day to day? Now, we need to remember there are some jobs where you have to go day to day. You can't plan it out and know exactly what is going to happen. Just ask a farmer. Now, a farmer still has a general plan. Our Lord had far greater than a general plan.

Now we look throughout history and we can see so many different leaders who had incredible plans and they followed through with them. We can look at Nebuchadnezzar, a man who took the small people of Babylon and as a general and then a king turned them into an incredible empire in a matter of decades. We can then look at the Medo-Persians after them, their ruler Cyrus the Great. He and his people took the waters that flowed under Babylon, the Euphrates River.

He took his army and said, hey, we want to get into this city that was walled. They saw the Euphrates River that flowed through it, and they said, let's take the waters of the Euphrates River and reroute it somewhere else so that the water level going under Babylon would be lower. And then they could just swim underneath and get into the city. And they ultimately crushed it. Now that was a plan. That was an incredible plan. Now without the Lord's providence would it have worked?

No. But he still used that ingenuity. There was Alexander the Great who then conquered those Persians. There were the Romans after them. All of these had incredible leaders, whether they be kings, whether they be emperors. And they went above and beyond to accomplish their goals. Their goals were self-seeking. Their goals at the very best were nationalist. We serve a king. We serve a lord. Yes, he is a nationalist. He is for his own kingdom. But he is not seeking for his own benefit.

Actually, he is seeking for his benefit. His benefit is your benefit. What he wants more than anything is for you to be in heaven with him. Let's look at the plan that our Lord had. Now he started from the very beginning, before the beginning of time, he had something in mind for us. If you will, turn to Acts chapter 1 and we'll look at when this plan came to its climax, the very hub of the Bible.

The plan of salvation, yes, most of us in here, if not all, have heard it since we were little tykes, but it is not something

to be bored over. It is not something that isn't exciting anymore just because we've heard it. It is the very reason we can be glad that we have life. Now let's look at six factors in the context of Acts chapter one that build us up to Acts chapter two.

Acts 1 verse 1, the former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandment unto the apostles whom he had chosen. If you're taking notes, note six key words, and the first being persons. In my Bible it's marked in brown. I'm not sure if you mark in your Bible, but if you do I'll share these colors with you. In brown I've marked the apostles and whom he had chosen.

There are very specific people here. They're about to receive something very specific, but first and foremost, whatever it was, was to them. They received this commandment. Now verse three, to whom he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Now verse 4, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. Christ tells them to wait for something, and it is the promise of the Father. Now verse 5 he goes to describe this promise. For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." So we have persons. We now have persons that received a very specific promise.

Now, verse 6, when they therefore come together, they ask him, saying, Lord, will thou at this time restore the kingdom again unto Israel? He said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power. We mark the idea of persons, also have the idea of promise marked in a light blue, but we also have the idea of testimony, of witness. Now, ignore the fact that we have the idea of testimony and witness and think about timing.

But wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he ye have heard of me. They are to wait for something. Now, verse 7, after they were asked a question, after Christ was asked, Lord, when will these things be? When will Thou restore the kingdom unto Israel? He says, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. There are very specific persons that received a very specific promise with very specific timing. God has left this

in his own power. Now this word for power is a Greek word, exousia. Think of our word executive. He has the authority, he has the right, he has control over the time. Now that's not the only thing he has control over. God has a very specific time in mind, but he also has power that he is going to give to these apostles. He says, the times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.

But verse 8, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you." Now, we have exousia in verse 7. This describes God's authority. But in verse 8 we have a different word, dunamis. What does that sound like in our English language? Dynamite. We can think of exousia like a police officer's badge. It says, have the authority to uphold the law. And we can think of dunamis as the tools the police officer uses in his job. He has a vehicle. He has a firearm.

He has the other things that he needs to fulfill his job. He has the authority, exousia, and he has the power, the dunamis. Now these words have overlap in how they're used. We can look at Ephesians for that. But they still both have those distinct definitions. Now we've looked at very specific persons that received a very specific promise at a particular time. Now earlier I mentioned the idea of testimony and told you to ignore that. Now think about the idea of testimony.

If we go back up to verse 3. When Luke is describing the apostles, he says to whom he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. It is very important to note that the apostles saw Christ. They saw him in his life, they saw him in his death, and most importantly, they saw him after he rose from the dead. Paul, an apostle that would become an apostle later, saw Christ.

in that bright light. No, he didn't see Christ physically on this earth, but he saw the evidence firsthand and heard Christ's voice when he went blind on the road to Damascus. This idea of witness for the apostles is vitally important. These are very specific persons that received this promise, that received power at a very specific time with a very specific testimony. Now looking through all of this, there's a final aspect of the context and its stability.

Now, verses 9 through 12, Christ was taken back up into heaven and the angels look at the apostles who are gazing up there and saying, what are you doing just standing here? This same Jesus who went up is going to come back down in the same way. Now, verse 12, then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day journey, a Sabbath day's journey. Looking at verse 13, we mention the persons at the very beginning of this lesson.

Verse 13 describes the 11 apostles that remained after Judas killed himself. Verse 14, these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, which the women and Mary the mother of Jesus had with his brethren.

Verse 15, and in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples and said, the number of names together were about 120, men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us and obtained part of this ministry. Peter goes to describe the betrayal Judas had against Christ and the fact that Judas killed himself after his betrayal.

Now verse 17, for he was numbered with us and had obtained part of this ministry. Remember that Judas was an apostle. He had a very specific role and a role that if he continued with Christ, m was very specific in leadership. The apostles were the ones that would have the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What would have been bound in heaven would be bound on earth.

Not that the apostles had authority over what was said in heaven, but they had the authority to tell earth what was already bound in heaven. Now, they had this leadership. Notice that whatever happens in Acts chapter 2, the thing that we are building up to, God did not allow that to happen before he had established his leadership. There's not supposed to be 11 apostles, there's supposed to be 12 apostles.

That was God's plan at this time and he was going to make sure that there were twelve apostles before he established what was coming. Now, Judas had died but they were going to ultimately establish this man named Matthias.

Now, looking at verse 21, describing the qualifications for this man, They say, wherefore of these men, which have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection? Again,

The main qualification here for an apostle was that he be a witness of Christ's resurrection. They appointed these two men and ultimately justice was named an apostle. So we saw very specific persons that received a very specific promise. This promise of the Holy Spirit and they would have power. And this happened at a very specific time. This specific time was the day of Pentecost as will be seen very soon. Now, with all of that, there was also the testimony they had.

They are witnesses of Jesus. They are witnesses of His resurrection. And finally, stability. God made sure that the leadership was set in place before He established what was coming. Now, with all of that groundwork laid, we are now ready for Acts chapter 2. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, They were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now those that received this baptism of the Holy Spirit, were the apostles. Verse 26 says, they gave forth their lots and the lot fell upon Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. The last group referred to was the apostles, were the apostles.

They were the ones that received the promise of the Holy Spirit, which was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They were overwhelmed with this power. Now, verse 5, and there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. They received the power in verses 1 through 4. Now we mentioned the idea of timing. God mentioned He had a very specific time. Now we get to look at why that time was so specific and why that timing is so powerful.

The day of Pentecost was either the most or second most busy day in Jerusalem, perhaps second to Passover, depending on what historians you read. Now, verse five, looking down at verses nine through 11, this power that is being shown by the Holy Spirit is shown to what was essentially the known world at the time.

Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, and Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, and Egypt, and in parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians. We do hear them speak in our own tongue the wonderful works of God. What was being spoken in Acts chapter 2 was shown to the world.

God had all of these people brought to the same place and then they would later spread out and give it to their homelands. God was very specific in His timing. He made it to where whatever was going to be established would spread throughout the world. This is beautiful. This is a plan like no other. They received this power.

We see how incredible the timing was with it being the day of Pentecost. Now, when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together and were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled saying one to another, behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in his own tongue wherein we were born? They recognized the power. Now the specific power of the Holy Ghost here was speaking in tongues.

They were able to speak in languages they had not learned. The Galileans this time were what many would consider us Southerners. Now, I'm from the South and I like being in the South. But how they looked at Galileans is how much of the world would look at us. Now, that didn't keep them from serving God. And that didn't mean they cannot be used throughout the world. Moving forward, are not all these which speak Galileans and how hear we every man in our own tongue wherein we were born?

They all heard in their own language. And we look through verses 9 through 11, all that heard. Now verse 12, and they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this? They asked a very important question, what meaneth this? If you will, turn over and look at verse 22 in Acts chapter two. Peter ultimately starts to preach a sermon, and it is the first gospel sermon.

And he says in verse 22, "'Ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know.'" Three things are mentioned here. We have miracles, have wonders, and we have signs. Now these are not three different powers of God. They all refer to the same thing, but different parts of that same thing.

The idea of miracle emphasized the supernatural aspect of the wonderful works God did. The fact that he worked outside of the rules that we abide by. He was able to go beyond nature. And then there were wonders. This referred to the reaction of the people that saw miracles. Not only was it outside of nature, it was something that amazed the people that saw it. And finally we have a sign.

Now this is where the power of the miracle really comes into place because a sign is when the people look at the miracle and they say, okay, this means something. What does it mean? Now with that in mind, turn back and look at verse 12. And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, what meaneth this? They saw that it was a sign. They saw the evidence. Keep that word in mind. They saw the evidence and were like, okay, what is happening here? We need to be listening.

Others mocking said, these men are full of new wine. There were those that would not listen. In our world today, there will always be those that just mock when they see evidence, when they see truth. But we need to keep our eyes out for those that are looking, that will ask, okay, what is this? When there are those in the world that say, okay, why are their lives so amazing? Why are they so happy? When they ask, meaneth this? They aren't seeing miracles, they're just seeing God work through us.

Are we ready to show them what Peter is about to show? Now, verse 14, but Peter, standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice and said unto them, ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words. God is about to describe a plan. And in this plan the first thing they had to do was hear something. Ye men of Israel and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you and hearken to my words.

We mentioned the first thing that they heard was evidence. They heard evidence in the miracles that would take place. But now they heard evidence in prophecy. Verse 14. For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day." Peter is saying, listen, it's too early for men to be drinking. This is not because they are drunk. This is an actual miracle. But then verse 16, but this is spoken, but this that which is spoken was spoken by the prophet Joel.

shall dream dreams. And all my servants and all my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood, fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass. that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

The great and notable day of the Lord in Joel chapter two was the day in which those that called on the name of the Lord would be saved. Now Matthew 721 says, not everyone that saith to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. But this says whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

We have to ask a question, what does it mean to call on the name of the Lord? It doesn't mean just to say his name. Calling on the name of the Lord, think about calling on the name of the law. If you watch an old western and they say stop, and they tell you criminal, stop robbing the bank in the name of the law. They wouldn't use those words, but you get the idea. They're calling on the authority of the government.

This is Peter calling on the authority of Christ and saying, listen, if you call on the name of the Lord, if you obey this authority, you will be saved. Now the first thing that they heard was evidence. Now what is the rest of what they have to do to call on the name of the Lord? That is what Acts two is about, how to call on the name of the Lord. Well first, after hearing the evidence, one must hear the essence of God's word.

Now when we use the word essence, think about essential, the thing that is core, the heart of a message, of a concept, of an idea. What is the core in the heart of God's word? It is the thing where everything behind it looked towards it. Everything after it looks back to it.

Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know." Peter says, listen, you've seen the evidence, you saw the works that he did.

Verse 23, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, he have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should beholden of it. 25 and 26 show more prophecy as we talked about earlier. Verse 27, as David describes the resurrection of Christ, says, thou wilt not leave not my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to seek corruption.

Verse 27, thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Peter then speaks more about David, and ultimately in verse 31, He says that David spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, note this, whereof we all are witnesses. Remember in Acts chapter one how important that idea of witness was. The apostles had to be witnesses.

They had to establish another witness of Christ's resurrection before Acts chapter two was going to take place. Now, looking at all of that, it mentioned the death, the bare ill, the resurrection, and witnesses of Christ. If you will, turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Now, even if you don't turn there, I will. And we'll all read it together. Starting in verse one, moreover,

Brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory that which I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again according to the scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the Twelve.

After that, he was seen of about 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain as of this present, but some are falling asleep. After that, he was seen of James, then of the apostles. And last of all, was seen of me also as of one born out of due time. Years ago a Baptist preacher named Walter Scott said that the gospel was the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. Now that is much of the gospel, but there's a fourth part missing from that.

Verse five, what is the first word? What is the first word before verse four? Why is it that we stop at verse four? Brethren, we have to keep this in mind here. We have a world where people are falling away from our Lord because they think the gospel is a fairy tale. They think that it wasn't real. Where is the evidence for it?

In the very heart of the gospel, these four aspects that are seen in 1 Corinthians 15, these aspects that are seen in Acts chapter two, and if we had time that are seen throughout the book of Acts, show that the witnesses were vital in the gospel. They were a part of it like any other. The gospel is the death, the burial, and resurrection of witnesses of Christ. Now, what is the outcome of the gospel?

Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was raised so that we could be redeemed from our sins as will be seen later in Acts chapter 2. Christ sacrificed everything for us and then he left proof for us. Now let's turn back to Acts chapter two. To call on the name of the Lord, to obey the authority of the Lord, the first thing they had to do was hear. They heard evidence in miracles, evidence in prophecy, they heard essence, they heard the whole of the gospel.

Now third, they had to hear consequence.

Verse 36, therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. They heard about how amazing this Christ was, the miracles and wonders and signs that he did. And then they hear you are the ones that killed him. We hear today our sins put him on the cross. We are the ones guilty for the blood shed by him, or not shed by him, but shed of him. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

This same Jesus whom ye have crucified is both Lord and Christ. They had to be convicted of their sin. To be convicted, they had to be told of their sin. But now, Verse 37, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? They saw the evidence and they realized that whatever is being spoken is real. They heard the word of God and then they believed it. They didn't question its validity.

They said, okay, we have done evil. This is the Son of God. What do we have to do? Now also note here, heard God's word. They believed it enough to be pricked in the heart and say, okay, what do we have to do? But what is it that Peter told them? This same Jesus whom ye have crucified is both Lord and Christ. And they said, men and brethren, what shall we do? They did not explicitly say, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. But they said, men and brethren, what shall we do?

When we baptize souls today, we say, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Because Romans 10, 10, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Confession is a vital part of this plan of salvation that we are seeing. Heard, believe, they are confessing Christ at this moment. But they did it. when they said, men and brethren, what shall we do? Because they acknowledged that they killed the Christ.

Now, is there the potential, is there possibly the need for them to have said later on that they believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of God when they would later obey the rest of the gospel? Certainly, that could certainly be the case. But at the very least, they confessed Christ here. Men and brethren, what shall we do? Now, they heard the gospel of Christ. They believed it.

They confessed, but now Acts 2.38, then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. They were to repent and be baptized. This word repent is meta-nueo, meta, change, nueo, the idea of neuron, the idea of our mind. If any of y'all have a relative who's neurotic, it's that idea. But it's meta-nueo, a change of one's own mind.

Now, a dear brother at the Memphis School of Preaching emphasizes that repentance isn't just a turning away. It is a deliberate and conscious changing of the will. If we look at the prodigal son, when he was in the pig pen, he said, he came to himself and said, why am I even here? Why am I here wanting to eat what the pigs do? He says, I will go back to my father. His point of repentance wasn't when he said he came to himself.

His point of repentance was when he said, I will go back, when he decided that he was not going to live in that sin any longer. The repentance that we are to have today, this change of mind that leads to a change of life is a deliberate changing of the will of the way we live our lives. We change that for our Lord because he told us to. We look at how his word says to live and we apply it.

Now we repent and we are baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins. This word, baptize, if it wasn't transliterated from the Greek, would literally mean immersed. Baptize was a word used to avoid the idea of immersion itself. If we looked at Romans 6, The idea of we are buried with Christ in baptism to walk in newness of life.

It further reinforces baptism isn't just a sprinkling, it isn't just a pouring, it is being immersed in water just as Christ was buried in the earth. We are to repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins. This word for is ace in the Greek, which means unto, a step towards. No other time in the Greek Many desire to say that this word ace means be baptized every one of you because of the remission of sins, because you're saved.

In no other passage in scripture does it seem to be used in that way, and there is no reason for it to be used that way here. Repent and be baptized for, unto, as a step towards the remission of sins. Baptism is the point at which our sins are washed away. That is the preaching of the first gospel sermon. Verse 39 and 40, or verse 38.

Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

They had a chance to be saved from the wickedness of that time, and we have a chance to be saved from the wickedness of our time. Now verse 41. then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day were added unto them about 3,000 souls. Brethren, right here is the turning point of history. Now, God was always in control, but this is the point God was waiting for, where God once said, okay, this is where I can establish my kingdom on earth.

Now, he could have done it any way he wanted, but with the way he did it, this is the exciting time. This, is what we look back and say, want to be like this. We want to be saved like this and we want to live like this. "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day were added unto them about 3,000 souls.

And they, continuing steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers, and fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles." Brethren, the evidence kept continuing. They didn't have the entire Word of God, but instead they had miracles, wonders, and signs in that day showing proof that God was truly God, that this Word was truly His Word. This was the turning point. history.

and all that believed to work together and had all things in common. After they were saved, they weren't to just go back to their homes, go back to their nations. They were now a part of something new, a part of something fresh, a part of something that was greater than anything else that had been. At the beginning of this lesson, we mentioned Nebuchadnezzar. We mentioned the Medo-Persians, Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, and then the Roman emperors who made an incredibly powerful empire.

What was it that killed, that destroyed all of those nations? That stone cut without hands, I believe Daniel 2.42, that was the church. That was what God established and was established here. This is the kingdom that will never be destroyed, the kingdom that will stand forever. And they were now part of it. And all that belief together were together. and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.

And they, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking of bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church such as should be saved. The Lord added to the church. This is God's model. This is model of salvation. This is his model of the everyday life of the Christian. The church was in its infant days. There were still things to be established.

Elderships were to be made. The miracles would cease, 1 Corinthians 13. But this is the point where the church was born. The bride of Christ had now come into existence. We here today get to be part of that. This building is not the church. This building, we don't go to church. We are the church. We are the one singular body of Christ. The Lord did not add to the churches daily. He added to the church daily.

He has a very specific way for us to live, a very specific way to be saved, and he beautifully showed us his plan and recorded it in Acts chapter 2. Now today, looking at the plan of salvation, here, believe, repent, confess, be immersed in water for their mission of sins, and finally remain faithful until death as they did at the end of Acts chapter 2. Is that how we are living? If you have not obeyed, hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized. Now you have an opportunity to come forward.

But also if you are a Christian, and you are one of those that is breaking bread from house to house, one of those that is with one accord with God's authority. But you have strayed from the way. Now is an opportunity to come back with an appreciation for God's church, with an appreciation for how He tells us to live. If needs be, will you come forward as we stand?